It’s hard to find unique gifts for affordable prices. I often find myself shopping in the great boutiques of Sacramento and other cities, and not being able to afford any of the amazing items, big or small. Always wondering there the shopkeepers find these unique items, I was so happy when I stumbled upon Etsy over the past holiday season. Not sure if this is the source for these trinkets; if not, it should be.
Etsy’s mission is to “enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers.” Fantastic. Now I can find unique, affordable gifts for loved ones, or myself, while supporting entrepreneurs worldwide. The site also takes it one step further. The shops on the site are organized not only by item type, but also by location. If you prefer to shop local, just use the search tool to find these virtual shops in your city or region.
If you are a maker of unique, affordable items, you can set up your own shop. Just be sure to follow the simple guidelines, set up your page and start selling!
I’m going to stick to shopping. Hoping to make purchases soon from Pegasus Maiden and Fly Like Hermes. How about you? Do you shop on Etsy? Do you have a shop on Etsy? If not, I bet you will soon.
If you hadn’t noticed by now, I love Twitter. I love that I can have a constant stream of deals coming right to my desktop. I love that I can share these deals with my followers. Mostly, I love when I can take advantage of these deals. And it’s not just deals, I have won a lot of free stuff on Twitter too. Today’s Frugal Friday is also a lengthy Follow Friday. If you are on Twitter and like what you see on my blog, then you should be following these people!
MissBargainista
Sacramento365
girlsonthegrid
travelzoo
DSWShoeLovers
BayAreaCheap
FabandFrugal
Etsy
ValueDining
CouponTweet
lizconant
brittanymohr
P.S. Sidenote: Follow any business that you frequent. Businesses are using Twitter to announce sales and sometimes have exclusive offers for their Twitter followers.
I really like to read. Actually, I love to read. Unfortunately, I didn’t finish a single book in 2009. I almost finished Revolutionary Road on my two-week vacation back in the fall, but came home with about 75 pages left. That was in October. I finally finished the book last week. It was amazing, heart-breaking and inspiring. The reason it took so long to finish the book: not enough time.
This year will be different. I found a way to achieve another one of my Oh-10 resolutions with the Slow Readers Book Club. I’ve always wanted to be a member of a book club. I feel more committed to things when other people are involved and when there is a timeline. Unfortunately, a book club typically means not only do I have to find time to read the book, I also have to find the time to meet with the club. That’s just not possible for me. So you can imagine how excited I was when I happened upon the Slow Readers Book Club. The club doesn’t meet in person; the book is discussed in an online forum for the club members. This means I can post comments about the book when it’s convenient for me, whether that’s in the middle of the night or in the middle of the day. So now, I’ve got a good book to read, a deadline for when I need to complete the book and a group of people to discuss the book with, all on my schedule.
Our first read: Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls. I need to complete it by March 4. I bought it last Thursday and I am already half way done.
What are you doing on Saturday, February 6? If you live in Sacramento, I think you should go to a museum. It’s the 12th Annual Sacramento Museum Day and you can get into any participating museum for free! How could you pass that up? Click here to see a list of the participating museums.
For those of you who don’t live in Sacramento, here is a website where you can look up some similar events in major cities throughout the U.S.
It’s Friday. Be frugal.
I have shopped at thrift stores since I was a pre-teen. When you are buying a wardrobe on a small allowance it’s basically your only option. Otherwise you had to wait until back-to-school shopping time. And let’s be honest, new clothes once a year is not enough for a young lover of fashion!
Up until about 3 years ago Crossroads Trading Company was my favorite secondhand store. It’s not a true thrift store, but they always have great stuff. I also enjoyed going to Goodwill and any other little thrift shop I could find. While I have been to many thrift stores in recent years my taste seems to have gotten more expensive. I have also grown nervous and grossed out about already worn clothing. And the stores all have this distinct thrift store smell that bothered my way-too-sensitive nose. Thus, my purchases were limited to things like household decor, belts and jewelry.
A new year, a smaller budget and my love of fashion took me to Thrift Town this weekend. I was inspired by one of the blogs I regularly read, Juniper James, to give thrift shopping another try. I took my mom, because she is one of my favorite shopping companions and she likes a good deal. Thrift Town is a chain of thrift stores and I was surprised to find it so clean and organized. And also, there was no weird smell. After about 45 minutes of digging, I took an armful of clothing into the dressing room and came out with the 6 items pictured above. My total at the register: $18.97.
As you know by now, I love Disneyland. And if you didn’t know, read this post from last summer. And if you know that I love Disneyland, you probably also know how important volunteering in the community is to me. (If not, read this and this.) It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Disney’s 2010 promotion makes me very, very happy.
The Give a Day, Get a Disney Day promotion is another perfect combination of two of my favorite things, Disneyland and volunteering. The goal of this promotion is to get people to volunteer at a community organization. Upon completion of a volunteer project, each participant gets a one-day pass to Disneyland or Walt Disney World.
Back in 2009, I thought that nothing could be better than combining my birthday celebration and a trip to Disneyland. I don’t know why I underestimated the folks at Disney. I should have known that something better was coming. Why is this better? This time it’s not all about me, or you for that matter. It’s about doing something for someone else. Not only that, you can share this experience with other people, which always makes things better.
What are you waiting for? Go search the volunteer opportunities near you now. Invite your friends and family to volunteer with you. And then share a day together at the happiest place on Earth.
If you don’t use reusable bags at the grocery store, what year are you living in? It’s time to make the switch. I have been using my reusable bags at various retailers for about six months now and it feels good. It feels good to not throw away 10 plastic bags from the grocery store; it feels good to only carry 3 bags of groceries up my stairs, instead of 10; it feels good to not be so wasteful. Using these bags helps me to accomplish one of my New Year’s Resolutions: recycle at home.
In case you haven’t heard, retailers are making the move towards going bagless, so now would be a good time to get in the habit of using these bags. I keep mine in the trunk of my car so that I have one whenever I am out shopping. Many retailers will give you a discount for bringing in your won bags. I know that both Safeway and Target will give you a discount for bringing in your own bag.
I have collected my assortment of reusable bags from various community events like runs, fundraisers, etc. You can buy them at most retailers now, but if you are looking for something a little more hip, check these out!
It’s Friday. Be frugal.
There are so many places to get advice on the Internet, it’s ridiculous. I can hardly keep up with the wealth of information available that is out there. For the purposes of this blog post, I will focus on getting information (advice and tips) on your profession from online sources. Like many of you, I don’t have the time to keep up with the most current practices, technology, etc. in my field, but I also don’t like to be the last one at the party. In an effort to stand out in the pack and stay ahead of the rest, I rely on bloggers who write about PR and social media to give me my edge. I read their blogs, I follow them on Twitter and I attempt to apply the things I learn when I can.
My favorites are Seth Godin, Mashable, PR-Squared, and PR 2.0. These bloggers keep me informed of new social media tools, books I should read, other blogs I should follow, best practices for my field, and how I can be a better employee for my agency and its clients. This information is priceless and almost always applicable to something I am working on.
Most people ask me how I find the time to keep up on these blogs, as well as ones that I read that I enjoy for personal reasons. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t do a very good job of keeping up all the time and I don’t know how I find the time. I use a couple of tools to help me keep up, when it’s convenient for me. On my desktop, I use Google Reader. This aggregator pulls RSS from any site that I wish to read articles or posts from, simply by adding a URL. When I’m on the go, which is often, I use an iPhone app created for people in social media, PR and advertising. It’s called M.Insight and it’s one of my most favorite apps.
Go ahead. Do a Google search on your profession. I know you’ll find something that interests you and that will make you a more valuable employee for your company. It’s free and extremely valuable. Open your mind and be impressionable.
This is for Danny. My husband. The love of my life. My best friend. Thanks for 12 years. Every second of it, the good and bad, has been worth it. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in the next twelve. Love, your wife.
This is a new feature of What’s My Deal? Every week I’ll be offering quick tips or easy ways you can save over the weekend, because that’s when I spend most of my money and I’m assuming that I’m not the only one with that problem. If you have any tips, send them my way!
Today, we are heading to San Francisco to see Wicked. We got the tickets for Christmas and are so excited to spend a night in the city. To book a room I used BetterBidding.com and Priceline. If you missed how to use these sites check out my previous post, Fear of the Unknown. I’ve given you this tip before, if you weren’t paying attention, maybe you will this time.
In addition to getting a 4 star hotel for $70, we are going to be participating in Dine About Town. This is the exact same event that’s going on in Sacramento right now, Dine Downtown, that I did a post on last week. Participating San Francisco restaurants are offering prix-fixe lunch and dinner menus for $17.95 and $34.95, respectively.
No matter where you live, your city or one near you, is probably hosting a similar event this month or sometime during the year. This is a great way to try restaurants you have always wanted to go to, and in our case, a great way to get an affordable, delicious meal on a weekend getaway.
It’s Friday. Be Frugal.
