I never win anything. Well, that’s not entirely true. I did win back money I’d already played in Las Vegas one time. However, I don’t think you can consider it winning when you break even. The world seems to be … Continue reading
I consider myself a fairly savvy shopper, but I was unaware of the possible price difference between an item in-store vs. online. I figured if it was the same store, the price should be the same regardless if I ordered it online or purchased it at the store. Wow, was I in for a surprise!
I’ve been shopping for a replacement patio umbrella for a week. I’d forgotten that our last one had been destroyed by the wind at the end of last summer. We have open fields on the south and west side of our property and our strongest winds come from the southwest. We’ve lost countless umbrellas, at least one glass table and a barbeque (yep, rolled right off the deck!) to those strong gusts. The last umbrella had lasted longer than the others because I learned to close it when we weren’t using it. However, I left it open because I was babysitting my granddaughter who was about three months old at the time, and she very suddenly needed something, so I took care of her and thought I’d close the umbrella later.
I heard an awful sound and looked out the window to see the umbrella turned inside out and dragging our table along the patio. Oh, well! I can always buy another umbrella and table, but I won’t always have the opportunity to spend time with my granddaughter.
I’d forgotten all about the need for a new umbrella until we finally got the table (yes, it survived the dragging!), chairs and cushions cleaned and ready for use. Oh, right, no umbrella. So I started looking around our small town for one, but everywhere I went they were sold out. Before wasting my time and fuel driving to a larger town to check the stores there, I went online to see if I could determine whether anyone still had patio umbrellas this late in the season.
I scored at Target.com! The closest store had “limited quantity” in the color I wanted for $69.30. I called the store and asked if they’d set one aside for me. They agreed to hold one at customer service for the day and told me the price was $99. What?! That’s nearly a $30 difference! I asked if they’d match the online price, and fortunately they did. However, if I hadn’t checked online and just gone to the store, I would have paid 30 percent more unnecessarily.
The lesson learned is to check online before going to the store, and always, always, always close the umbrella when not in use!
My shopping finesse level:
Novice Advanced beginner Competent Proficient Expert
What’s your shopping finesse level?
I’m fascinated by DIY projects. I love the idea of taking something that’s not so great and turning it into something fabulous. I could spend all day watching HGTV (if we had cable) and flipping through the pages of Better Homes and Gardens (if I subscribed). With a little hard work and *finesse, anything seems achievable!
This attitude is what drove me to convince the husband to attempt a four-day DIY project to turn a pile of dirt (remember the photo from last week?) into a beautiful water feature. We attended a seminar a few years ago and the process seemed fairly straight-forward. The husband had also done all the electrical, HVAC and plumbing when we built our house and everything still works perfectly after 12 years, so a simple water feature should be a piece of cake, right?
We began by carving out the pond. With shovels in hand, we began digging away the dirt. With each scoop of soil removed, I could hear the soothing sounds of water splashing on a warm summer evening. Ah, it was going to be so peaceful!
The soil soon became hard clay, and I was having a difficult time scooping anything but air. Out came the husband with the adze to break through the clay. I hate to see him work so hard, but readily admit that seeing his muscles at work gets my heart pumping. For what seemed like hours, he broke the clay then took a break while I shoveled it out.
I kept asking/whining, “Isn’t it deep enough?”
His reply, “No!”
I trust his calculations, because he’s a very analytical guy, but I was so hoping he was wrong. I was hot and tired!
Finally, after six hours, we reached the required depth and set the skimmer. YEA! That was the end of day one.
Day two started with a trip to the local nursery to buy plants to place around the water feature. Oh, I was really envisioning this thing of beauty now. We made our purchases, brought them home and began shaping the two short waterfalls that would feed the pond. We had plenty of rock we’d excavated from our property, so we were ready to go.
We laid the liner and began placing the rocks. This is where it all began to deteriorate. I won’t go into all the details, but there’s apparently an art to the process that we were missing. At 4:30 p.m., I simply said, “We’re done.” My very frustrated husband did not argue. That was the end of day two and I was pretty sure there would not be a day three and four on this project.
We showered and went out to grab something to eat. Over dinner we began speculating on where we’d gone wrong. Maybe if we did this or that. No illumination. It was time to admit that this wasn’t going to be a DIY project, after all. I admitted defeat and called an expert on Monday.
My DIY finesse level:
Novice Advanced beginner Competent Proficient Expert
What’s your DIY finesse level?
*finesse (skill, flair, grace elegance, poise, assurance)
I was asked recently if I was a tightwad. I tend to think a tightwad is a miserly person, holding onto their money with an iron fits. That’s not me – just ask my husband! I’ a very generous person, but also very frugal, and that’s why I LOVE Thredup. (I blogged about my first shopping experience earlier this year)
Thredup is an online children’s consignment site (they’ve recently added women’s clothing, as well). You can shop by size, item, brand and condition, and the selection is HUGE! On my first visit to the site, I had more than $300 worth of clothing in my cart. All the items were new with tag (new, never worn item) and so cute, but I had to do some serious editing. There was no way I could convince my husband I needed to buy that much, even if I was saving a ton of money!
Their everyday prices are great, so when I got an email announcing their semi-annual sale, I had to see what was available. As providence would have it, my granddaughters have birthdays within a few weeks, so the hunt was on for gifts!
I found a LOT of nice things, so I had to edit my cart before checking out (that’s par for the course!), but the end result is some pretty great bargains.
For my granddaughter, who will be two in July, I ordered the following:
Gymboree pink jumper (original price $36.95/Thredup price $11.99)
Kobe purple sweater (original price $28/Thredup price $4.99)
Gymboree denim skirt (original price $25/Thredup price $4.99)
Hartstrings cream-colored sweater (original price $64.95/Thredup price $4.99)
For my granddaughter, who will celebrate her FIRST birthday, I ordered the following:
OshKosh B’gosh pink winter jacket (original price $60/Thredup price $11.49
Hello Kitty pink fleece jacket (original price $26/Thredup price $4.99)
Disney pullover hoodie (original price $32/Thredup price $4.99)
Carter’s polka-dot leggings (original price $12/Thredup price $3.49)
I purchased $284.90 worth of new kids clothing for a grand total of $51.92 for a savings of more than 80 percent! AND, the shipping was free because I spent more than $50. That beats thrift stores any day of the week! I also saved on fuel since all the shopping was done from the comfort of my couch.
If you’ve never shopped Thredup, use this link to get a $10 credit on your first purchase. In the interest of full disclosure, I receive a $10 credit on my future purchases for each referral, but I’d share the information regardless. I love shopping for the grandbabies, and even more when I can spend the same amount and get so much more! Now that’s shopping with *finesse!!
My shopping finesse level:
Novice Advanced beginner Competent Proficient Expert
What’s your shopping finesse level?
*finesse (skill, flair, grace elegance, poise, assurance)
Some of the beautiful landscape at Eagle Crest
I love to travel. I enjoy exploring new places, as well as visiting old favorites to just relax. We take at least three vacations a year by car to Eagle Crest Resort, which is about a two-hour drive from our home. We pack up our Acrua MDX, hit the road, grab some groceries in the town near the resort and move into the condo for a week of relaxation. We’ve been doing this since 1991, and it truly feels like a second home to our family.
I LOVE my MDX! Great car for travel!!
However, as much as we enjoy Eagle Crest, we occasionally like to get out of our comfort zone and explore sites and visit friends out of state. This usually means traveling by airplane rather than car. I don’t mind riding in or driving the MDX (it’s a very comfortable car!), but driving takes a lot of time and we’d rather spend our vacation hours at our destination rather than traveling to get there.
Plane tickets and all the fees can get pretty spendy, but we’ve been flying on the cheap for years. In fact, we haven’t paid full fare since 2000! How do we do it? We accumulate frequent flyer miles and use great *finesse to stretch their value.
We are members of the Alaska Airline mileage plan, but most airline programs are similar. The vast majority of our earned miles have nothing to do with flying. We accumulate miles by using an Alaska Airlines Visa and an Alaska Airline debit card. We use the cards for anything and everything possible, and the miles add up quickly. When we built our house, we put all of our construction purchases on our Visa card, and paid off the balance with the construction loan draw. Those were big purchases that really helped build the account.
When we use our miles for a flight, we rarely use miles for the entire purchase. If you do, you won’t accumulate the miles flown on that flight. However, if you use miles and cash, you can accumulate the miles flown. For a one way discounted ticket, you can use 10,000 miles and receive a 50 percent discount up to $100 on a less expensive itinerary, or use 20,000 miles and receive a 50 percent discount up to $200 for a more expensive destination.
Each year we receive a discounted companion fare, which allows us to purchase a ticket for $99 with the purchase of a full fare ticket. This is always a better option than using miles and cash. We recently flew to Alaska using this option.
When we fly, we usually stay in a hotel and rent a car. We earn miles just by using our mileage plan’s hotel and car rental partners (and there’s usually a discount). We pay our bill using our Alaska Airlines Visa to earn even more miles!
Do you want to fly more often and spend less? Try what works for us!
Do you have any tips for flying on the cheap?
My travel finesse level:
Novice Advanced beginner Competent Proficient Expert
What’s your travel finesse level?
*finesse (skill, flair, grace elegance, poise, assurance)
I’m not trying to kid anyone, including myself. I look in the mirror and realize I’ve aged. Hey, I’m a grandmother – twice! However, it’s nice to have people act truly surprised to learn my age. I’ve even been asked what I do to look younger than my age, and that’s perhaps the best compliment.
I have used several different products over the years beginning in my mid-twenties. I once heard you should always choose products that are available in your grocery store, and have followed that advice for the most part. Occasionally I’d try specialty “serums”, but although they felt really good going on, I didn’t notice that they did a better job than my regular Oil of Olay moisturizer.
Image courtesy of Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I began to use more moisturizer around my eyes. At one point I ran out of moisturizer and panicked! The only moisturizer in the house was my Jergen’s hand lotion. I didn’t want to use that all over my face, but I did dab it around my eyes. I found it worked better than my regular face moisturizer, so I continued to use it around my eyes. I also learned that applying the moisturizer with my ring finger was best as it has the lightest touch. Who knew?
I was quite happy with my routine until my cosmetologist friend mentioned petroleum jelly as a moisturizer. I did some online research and found some great information at JudyForeman.com. Foreman, a nationally syndicated fitness, health, and medicine columnist interviewed several dermatologist regarding moisturizers. According to the article, no moisturizer penetrates the skin, but some do a better job of retaining moisture. “Substances like petroleum jelly and oils are quite effective. They are heavy, greasy and work precisely because they sit on top of the skin and preclude evaporation of water.”
I decided to give it a try around my eyes. To make it easier to work with, I spritzed some water on my eyes and then applied a thin layer. I like the results, but because it is heavy and greasy, I only use it at night and only around my eyes. It works AND it’s very inexpensive! Now, that’s fighting wrinkles with *finesse!
My wrinkle fighting *finesse level: Novice Advanced beginner Competent Proficient Expert
What’s your wrinkle fighting finesse level?
*finesse (skill, flair, grace elegance, poise, assurance)
I’ve wanted to purchase new bedding for our master bedroom for several years, but wasn’t quite sure what I wanted. Needing inspiration, I began purchasing accessories I loved and finally hit upon a direction about a year ago (see my pinterest board).
I envisioned a light blue comforter with pintucks. I thought I’d just plug “blue comforter pintucks” into Google and voila, a page would pop up showing exactly what I wanted. Not exactly…
Some items came close, but no winners, until I saw a special advertised on BradsDeals.com. The bedding set at Kohl’s was almost exactly what I’d imagined, and it was on sale. Additionally, I could save 20 percent on top of that with the code offered.
I wanted to save even more, so I went to giftcardgranny.com to see if I could score a discounted Kohl’s gift card. Giftcardgranny shows all discounted gift cards (physical and electronic) available through various gift card resellers. I like using them because there’s a level of credibility if a reseller is listed on their site (I always check the web to see if there’s anything negative with a reseller before I purchase from them for the first time). I can also compare the discounts between multiple resellers.
I found an electronic Kohl’s gift card discounted by 10 percent. Its value was $143.21, which was about $25 shy of purchase price. I choose to get as close to the amount I need without going over so I use the entire amount of the card. I paid $128.88 for the card. It took 24 hours for the electronic gift card to land in my e-mail box, so I had to wait to place my order, but this was certainly faster than waiting for a physical card to be mailed.
Here’s the breakdown of my savings. The 16-piece comforter set, which includes comforter, bedskirt, 2 shams, 2 Euro shams, 2 fitted sheets, 2 flat sheets, 4 pillowcases, oblong decorative pillow & square decorative pillow, was listed at $399.99. It was on sale for $209.99 for a savings of $190. I had a code from Bradsdeals for 20 percent off, for a savings of $42, lowering the price to $167.99. I used the electronic gift card valued at $143.21, purchased at a 10 percent discount of $128.88. The balance between $167.99 and the gift card was $24.78, which went on my VISA card. The sale saved me $190, the 20 percent saved me $42 and the discounted gift card saved me $14.33 for a total savings of $246.33 or slightly more than 60 percent. Yep, that’s *finesse!
I can’t wait for the bedding to arrive and continue remaking our master bedroom into the soothing retreat I’ve always imagined.
Have you saved 60 percent or more? How did you do it?
My shopping *finesse level: Novice Advanced beginner Competent Proficient Expert
What’s your shopping finesse level?
*finesse (skill, flair, grace elegance, poise, assurance)
I really enjoy shopping for my granddaughters. Kids’ clothes and toys are just so darn cute! However, since my funds are finite, I need to be wise and stretch my dollars as far as possible. I’ve written about my love of thrift store shopping, but kids are hard on their clothes and toys, so finding items in great shape can be difficult.
I was reading through a post on moneysavingmom.com and learned of a children’s clothing consignment site called ThredUp. I was encouraged to check it out because first time buyers were offered $10 off their purchase. They don’t offer clothing smaller than 12 month size, so that left out my youngest granddaughter (she’s so petite – she probably won’t be in 12 month size until she’s 18 months old!). However, they offered a great selection of clothes in my older granddaughter’s size, which was great because nice clothes in her size are very difficult to find in thrift stores.
They had SO many really cute items at great savings, so before I knew it, my total was $300! Needless to say, I had to do some serious cart editing, but I settled on two very cute name brand dresses that were new with tags still attached. My total with shipping was just a little more than $7. Now that’s shopping with finesse!
I had the dresses shipped directly to my granddaughter since she lives out of state. My daughter called when the box arrived and she was so pleased. She was already making plans for pictures of my granddaughter in one of the dresses. I’m definitely going to shop ThredUp again!
If you’ve found ways to purchase nice clothes for kids inexpensively, I’d love your feedback!
My inexpensive shopping *finesse level: Novice Advanced beginner Competent Proficient Expert
What’s your inexpensive shopping finesse level?
*finesse (skill, flair, grace elegance, poise, assurance)
From a practical point of view, Corelle ware is great – nearly unbreakable. It will outlast the popularity of its pattern by decades! The majority of the Woodland pattern set we purchased 34 years ago served through every meal and holiday dinner, endured two children and a million trips through the dishwasher. It was still in great shape, but over time, I came to hate the sight of the brown leaves that circled every plate, bowl and cup.
It was time (way past time according to my kids) to replace the dishes. I looked at purchasing china and fell in love with the White Palace pattern by Noritake. However, I was blown away by the price and couldn’t justify the expense. China’s not really practical for every day, anyway, right?
Instead I chose to replace the old Corelle with new Corelle (guess I’m not very adventurous). Knowing this stuff will probably survive any natural disaster, I opted for the Enhancements pattern, which is basic white with a little swirl detail. I figured basic white wouldn’t become dated over time.
I found a loving home for the old Corelle and happily began using the new Corelle. I was just fine using the new dishes day in and day out, but when special occasions rolled around, I still secretly wished for the Noritake White Palace china to grace my table.
I found contentment in my growing collection of Christmas china I found at thrift stores. I was hoping to find Noritake White Palace china, but in all my exploration, I didn’t find a single piece. Even on eBay the price for the china was more than I was willing to spend. It’s important to note that the husband would have no problem with me purchasing china, even at retail prices. I was the one who was unwilling to pay that amount for something we’d only use a few times a year. So, I sort of gave up on the idea except for the occasional eBay search.
A week after Christmas I was doing a little eBay shopping and decided to do another search for Noritake White Palace china. What the heck, right? To my surprise, a 53-piece set including nine five-piece place settings was available for about one third the price of retail! Some pieces were described as gently used, however some pieces were new with price tags attached. Oh, happy day!
I watched the item for a few days. No one bid. I waited until the auction had about 12 hours left then placed my bid at the starting price. I wanted the china, but I already decided that I wouldn’t increase my bid if someone bid higher. I held my breath (figuratively) and when the auction was over, the china was mine!
It arrived within a week and it is beautiful! I’m glad I exercised a little patience and waited for a price that allows me to enjoy using it even more. And that my friends, is *finesse!
*finesse (skill, flair, grace elegance, poise, assurance)
I posted previously that we had cancelled our cable, so it’s kind of fun to click through the various cable channels while on vacation. While the husband was watching a football game that had become rather one-sided, I went into the bedroom to see what else was on television. I came across a show on TLC called Extreme Cheapskates.
I consider myself to be frugal so I watched – for a while. The subject of this episode was riding around on his bicycle stopping to pick up dropped coins. His grand total at the end of the day was a little more than $7 in change. He exchanged his “score” at the grocery store for two goat heads, which he fixed for dinner that evening.
As kids, we occasionally walked down to the parking lot of our very small town’s tavern on Saturday mornings and picked up the money that must have fallen out of the patron’s pockets as they fished for their car keys. My friend’s brother once found $20! As an adult, I believe my time has value so I was NOT on board with the idea of scrounging around all day for such a minimal amount of money. Furthermore, if I had found $7 I would be exchanging it for something better than two goat heads!
I was hoping this show would provide some innovative ideas for saving money; after all, it was on The Learning Channel. Unfortunately, it was just like every other reality show. It appears the more bizarre the person, the greater their chance of getting screen time.
Cable may provide more channels than the free channels provided through our HD converter box, but it doesn’t provide more interesting options. I am more convinced than ever that cutting cable was the right move.