October 10, 2007 | Everyday Wisdom, Questions Answered, What to Wear

Let’s talk about clothes, baby!

Kristin writes:

Hello pretty Mir! I’ve got a bit of a dilemma I hope you might be able to help me with. I lost a pretty significant amount of weight this year. Hooray, right? Yes, mostly, except for one thing - I quite literally have nothing to wear! Winter is approaching and my wardrobe consists of two pairs of jeans, a handful sweaters, a few of pairs of slacks to wear to work and one really rockin’ dress I bought myself as a reward. I need to do some major shopping and haven’t tripped over any buckets of money lately. I can’t wait for the end of season clearances like I usually would because I will very soon have to leave the house naked. I need pretty much everything - casual weekend clothes, business casual clothes to wear to work and a few cute things for date nights and the like. I not a clothing snob, but I don’t want everything I own to come from Old Navy, either. I generally prefer to spend a little more on something that is going to last. Also, I’ve worked hard and want to show off a bit! What does one do when faced with having to replace an entire wardrobe quickly and on a budget? Help!

Have I mentioned you’re so very pretty?

Thank you!

Congratulations on your weight loss, Kristin! That’s an awesome accomplishment, and you definitely deserve a fabulous wardrobe to go with your new bod. (more…)

September 11, 2007 | Everyday Wisdom, Questions Answered

The lovely Katie writes:

Not sure if it’s the season for it or what, but my son has received 5 bar/bat mitzvah invitations over the past couple of weeks. Not being Jewish, I have no idea what’s expected here. I’m a single mom on a tight budget, so any ideas would be great. I know money is acceptable, in multiples of 18, but if you’ve got any great ideas for a tough age to buy for, I’d love to hear them. I hate the thought of giving cash, and would prefer to find an appropriate gift that won’t break the bank. Thanks for anything you come up with! I’ve got 4 boys and 1 girl to buy for. Ugh!

Thanks again! Love the site, check it daily!

This is definitely going to be a reader-participation type thing, and I’ll tell you why: Times change, and areas are different. I’ll give this one a shot but I’m afraid I won’t have any sort of “ultimate answer.” (more…)

September 10, 2007 | Everyday Wisdom, Questions Answered

The lovely Jen sent this in last week:

Dear Mir-
You are so very pretty and I love your Want Not blog. I’ve gotten a number a good deals just from reading your advice — so smart and so pretty all in one package, I don’t know how you do it!

[Ed. note: The sucking up from my readers helps to fuel my energy. Heh.]

My question for you is about Christmas gifts. I know you suggest shopping for the holidays all year long and I’ve really tried to do that — this year even more than in the past. What I really want to know is how you keep it all straight. Do you have a running list of what you’ve bought and who it is for? Is it an elaborate spread sheet? Do you just throw it all in a closet and sort it out closer to the holiday? How do you know what you still need to get? Thanks for any tips you can pass along!

This is an excellent question, because gifts that you buy ahead of time and then forget about are no bargain whatsoever. (more…)

August 27, 2007 | Hot Hot Hot!, Everyday Wisdom

The very lovely Allison emailed to point my attention to this American Express offer (I am linking to the post she sent rather than directly to the offer, because that looks like an affiliate link and if you decide to do the deal, I’d like for the original poster to get a few pennies), wherein signing up for a card gets you a free round-trip plane ticket with your first purchase, or $250 cash.

Now you know that I’ve posted credit card bonus deals before, along with caveats about how you shouldn’t go opening new credit cards all willy nilly. You need to understand about credit scores and how your choices affect them before you decide to partake of a deal like this. But if you either need a credit card or your score is high/stable enough to withstand another open line of credit, this could be a great deal. (Especially with the cost of plane tickets being what it is right now. Ouch.)

It looks like the deal is good through August 31st, 2007. So you’ve got until Friday to decide if you want in. Thanks, Allison!

August 22, 2007 | Everyday Wisdom, For the kids

I realize that not everyone is back to school yet, but my kids have been back for a couple of weeks, now, and the dreaded Fundraising Plague has already descended. Yes, the kids came home with glossy pamphlets of overpriced junk, all in the name of raising money for school.

I want the school to have money. I want the school to have buckets of money! The more the better! But I don’t want to buy this stuff, or try to sell it to others. It offends every sensible (read: frugal) bone in my body.

Instead, I try to keep the teachers in mind when I’m out snagging bargains; I donate supplies throughout the year and hope that’s equivalent, somehow, to hawking stationery.

Does anyone have any other creative ways of dealing with this? I’m open to suggestions, and I know you pretty, pretty people are not spending $8 on a roll of wrapping paper.

July 25, 2007 | Everyday Wisdom, Questions Answered, For the kids

The incomparably beauteous Joshilyn sent me the following and then immediately got onto Instant Messenger and said “Hi! I sent you a question!” just in case I’d perhaps neglected to check my email for the past 2 seconds. Anyway, here’s what she wrote:

Okay, so — last year, my son went through THREE, count em THREE backpacks. Two from Target. One from Lands End. He absolutely DESTROYED them. Given that the Land’s End one lasted him about a month longer than a Target one, I don’t think STURDIER is the way to go…I need cheap backpacks because I think I need to start thinking of them as disposable items.

Also, any hints on making back to school shopping HURT less?

Joss and I discussed this at length, but some of it is worth sharing, I think (not the parts about how, for example, my daughter is still nursing an enormous crush on her son, but the parts about backpack). (more…)

July 17, 2007 | Everyday Wisdom

Sumo was kind enough to point me to this article on what days to spend your money.

I think it’s a good read if you have a shaker of salt handy. Different stores have different rules, and if you do most of your shopping online (which I do, and I suspect most of my readers do), the day of the week is irrelevant.

Also, certain stores do markdowns in very regimented ways. You’re always best off shopping Target on the day they’re marking down the department you plan to shop in; but that day varies, you know?

I’m curious to hear others’ feedback on the article. Helpful or complete bunk?

June 5, 2007 | Everyday Wisdom

It was asked in the comments on this post that I explain exactly how to best pricematch shoes.

What’s that? Give you step-by-step instructions on how to get the very best shoe deals? Okay, you twisted my arm. (more…)

May 2, 2007 | Everyday Wisdom, Product Talk

Sometimes expensive things can be gotten cheaply, much to the bargain-hunter’s delight. And sometimes expensive things come in cheaper versions; also (usually) to the delight of those seeking a deal. The question with things like electronic becomes: What price deal?

I’ve gotten multiple emails lately asking me to steer the inquisitor towards an awesome deal on a digital photo frame. Mother’s Day is coming up, and I can’t think of many moms who wouldn’t be thrilled to receive such a gadget. But—of course—these are expensive items, in general. Sure, you can get less expensive ones, but in general you’ll be sacrificing quality in doing so. Then you run the risk of becoming stuck in the potentially endless loop of “how much do I need” vs. “how much am I willing to pay.”

I’ve linked two frames at Amazon in this post. To the left, there, is the highly-rated 9″ Philips digital picture frame. It garners a review of “excellent” over on cnet and is my top choice if money is no object. But money usually is an object, and even at 20% off, you’re looking at dropping a couple hundred dollars on it.

To the right is an off-brand, lesser-quality 7″ digital picture frame by Ziga. The good news is that it’s only $60, and for a relatively small amount of money, it’s a pretty nice item with good reviews. The display won’t be stunning and it’s not as diverse or user-friendly as the Philips frame, but if saving money is paramount, it’s not a bad choice.

(Disclaimers: These are not the only two digital photo frames in the world. I am not a professional electronics reviewer. Results may vary. I’m still wearing my pajamas. If you take lousy pictures, the frame really doesn’t matter.)

April 16, 2007 | Everyday Wisdom, Questions Answered

This past weekend I did a massive email clean-out, and realized that I’d lost track of several advice questions, some from as far back as January. I am hanging my head in shame. Just as a general suggestion—if you email a question to me and don’t either hear back or see a post about it within a few weeks, feel free to email me again. I’m human and I’m busy and I often get well over a hundred emails a day (not counting all that delicious spam), and things do get misplaced. I’m sorry.

Frances emailed me a really long time ago, and she’s probably married with three kids by now, but I will address her question, anyway, because it will make me feel less like a slacker. I mean, because I care.

Hello Mir ~

In admiration of your helpfulness to Allanna with her house-outfitting question, I come with another broad request. I am planning for my August wedding with a very limited budget and welcome any tips on finding the essentials at reasonable rates. I know that I am on my own with the local aspects (reception location and caterer, etc.), but do you (and your oh-so-helpful readers) have any recommendations on online vendors for things like flowers, programs, decorations, favors, and other little sweet things?

Thank you!

Hey! August! Plenty of time left! (Oh, Frances, I am sorry I didn’t get to this sooner, truly.) Anyway, let’s see what we can find…. (more…)