Cents Not Much Make

I've decided pretty much against buying the aforementioned "lust item" $600 handbag. Mainly because it is getting close to the holiday season and I would feel a lot of guilt and anguish knowing that, on top of the gift-spending, I blew a huge chunk of money on a totally non-essential item.

Anyway, my goal this year is to be one of those people who finish their Christmas shopping early...or at least start early enough so I can keep my eye out for some good, early online deals. At least then I'll have time to cmpare prices for things.

I'm actually very surprised at myself, this has never happened before, but I'm actually finding myself drooling over a dumb handbag. It is a nice burgundy/purple color, which is something I've been looking for, it is large enough to be a work bag. It is a Celine bag that retails at $1150 or thereabouts, but I have the opportunity to buy it for about $550 (consignment). I love discounts but damn! this is $550 we're talking about. Money that could be spent on so many other things, such as the following list:

-Plane ticket to wedding that I must attend + travel expenses that will inevitably pop up
-Bridesmaid gown for aforesaid wedding
-Shoes and all that crap bride insists her bridesmaids wear so we all look alike
-Bridal shower stuff for the bridal shower that I have no idea how to coordinate and throw
-And in non-wedding related stuff, the inevitable Christmas holiday gift season is upon us...and I have too many brandname-happy family members to consider =(

Sigh. Sometimes I just want to be able to spend on ME...

Halloween is coming and there are all sorts of "sales" for candy, though we all know (or should know) that the day after Halloween, that's when candy gets marked down 50%.

Funny, while shopping at Target the other day, I saw a bunch of York Peppermint Patties (my favorites!) and select Hershey's kisses on sale, primarily because their packaging looked suspiciously like Valentine's Day (pink and red wrappers). I bought a couple of bags figuring I could always freeze them and melt them later for baking or for decorating, but couldn't resist a taste test. And they all tasted fine =)

Conclusion: As with clothing, try to buy candy that's "off season." Your candy may not be "dressed" for the correct holidays, but it all tastes the same in the end.

Yeah yeah yeah, the week isn't exactly over (if you're weird like me and consider Monday as the "start" day) but it's been a milestone week. It was my first week at the new job as a medical writer! Lots of science/brainwork (data analysis, science talk with clients) and also lots of time where I just....sat around and "read." First weeks are never truly exciting, it's more like, "Oh yippee! You want me to help you edit this table of contents? Awesome!" But compared to my last job (marketing consultant) this job is better pace, less stressful, and much much more secure. (and it's funny how it just sort of fell into my lap. Yay, networking really works!)

Anyway, what does this have to do with savings? Well one humongous benefit to the new job is my commute is approximately 10 minutes. That's right, total mileage is only 5 miles one-way. If I take small roads, it is actually 4.6 miles according to Mapquest. This had made me seriously consider attempting to run to work. Have not ironed out the details...it's not so much the thought I can't shower at work as it is the condition of the roads. There are very clear paths and sidewalks for about half the distance, but the remainder is horribly narrow roads with no shoulders. No lawns, either, just rock or gutters/long weedy (and most likely tick infested) grass. One potential shortcut is marked "Private" so I don't want someone shooting me for trespassing. Grr...must be some way to work things out.

Many people celebrate their first week (and first paycheck) in some way. I am only human, I met with friends for drinks. What I did NOT do was go on a shopping spree, though I was this close to buying more clothes online. What stopped me was the shipping fee; I had narrowed my choices down to about $25 for two sweaters, but the shipping was $5.95. That's 25% of the total price. Insane. If I was really desperate, I could run to that store in the mall and buy things, for ZERO sales tax (thanks, NJ). To avoid further temptation, I deleted the tempting email containing the sale and coupon. Unseen and out of mind. Besides, the money was put towards my little night out celebration =)

Lastly, my poor electric thermos/hot water dispenser died. I feel it was due to the fact I unplugged it everytime I left the house, and shoud've just left it plugged in. So, no more instant hot water, and what horrible timing with the cold weather approaching. I can't get it fixed since my parents brought it for me from Taiwan. So it's either $100 for a so-so one from the local Asian market, or $20-30 for a thermos (the kind coffee shops use) from Bed Bath and Beyond. Probably will go with the thermos since I still wonder how much electricity those dispensers use up to maintain the temperature of the water inside....

Happy New Week to All!

As hard as it is to get going in the mornings, here are some "shortcuts" that help me get out the door more on less on time:

-After my morning run, I always put them back out on the patio, a)cuz they stink b)this reminds me to open some blinds and let in some natural light, which is usually enough to light most of my teeny tiny apartment, and c)on nice days, helps air out the house

-This may sound weird, but as I putter around post-run, I line up the shoes that I'll be wearing near the door. The reason for this is because I own many black and dark brown heels/loafers that look suspiciously alike to my foggy morning brain, and there have been too many instances where I've gone out the door in mismatched shoes. While that was ok to look like a doof in the lab, I can't exactly show up at work anymore with circus-like attire. So, this small act saves me a day of embarssment.

-I also put the keys right next to the door...they tend to get lost when I am in a rush.

-Once a week, before I hop in the shower, I take ye olde Toilet Duck (or your favorite toilet bowl cleaner) and squirt it into the toilet. I figure the length of time it takes me to shower is about long enough for le Duck to work its magic on any stains. Works for me and keeps my toilet decent looking.

-After the shower, I put a pot of water on to boil for my morning tea. The timing just so works out that I'm dressed right when the water is ready.

-I brush my teeth BEFORE I get dressed; oh the agony of toothpaste on nice outfits...

-I actually don't have a very organized closet, but I do tend to hang clothes more or less in the order in which they were worn. So not only do I avoid repeating outfits, but clothes that match are within close proximity of each other.

-I keep makeup at the office and tend to put most of it on when I get to work. Just because many times in the car I'll rub my nose or itch my eye and mess stuff up. I'm not one of those types who apply makeup in the car, that's just plain dangerous.

And, well, that's it. Hope these tips make some sense; and let me know if any of you have simple timesavers to speed up the morning routine.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/12/business/12retail.html?hp&...

This interesting article from the NYTimes covers the phenomenom of budget couture- high end fashion designers making clothing for discount chains. Kmart really started it all with Martha Stewart but Target drove the message home with it's hit Mossimo and Issac Mizrahi (or however you spell it) lines. Walmart has followed suit, but in a rather shocking turn, wedding gown goddess Vera Wang is slated to work her magic on Kohls. Considering the cheapest Vera Wang dress I've seen on Bluefly was still within the $200-$300 range, I can't imagine her Kohl's line of clothing to be anything less than $50, which in my book is not cheap.

I'm on the fence about designers making discount fashion. Not because I'm a snob, but because they still end up inflating the price of what amounts to a piece of cloth with a popular person's name attached to it. Haven't personally checked out the quality of any of the clothing items at Issac what's his name at Target but hopefully he doesn't skimp just because it's "discount."

I recently rediscovered Ebay as a wonderful source of cheap clothing. However, I've also had not just one, but two back-to-back horrible experiences with something that has become closely associated with Ebay- scams.

About two months back, I bid for and won an incredible lot of mixed vintage jewelry. All was well until I received an email, presumably from another ebay member, warning me about his/her recent transaction problems with the seller of the jewelry. Worried, I stupidly clicked on the link and signed into Ebay, then checked my mail, but there was no message from that "ebay user." Even more surprising was in the transaction history of the seller, there was no negative comment from an unsatisfied buyer, nor was there anyone with that "ebay user's" name. I didn't know what to think.

fast forward to just a few weeks ago. Upon signing onto my ebay account, I was shocked to see, listed underneath my Items I'm selling, an unauthorized listing for a Honda snowmobile!! Not only was it selling for an exhorbitant price (luckily, no one had bid for it) but the ad had all the works- colors, extra large picture, bells and whistles- resulting in an enormous listing fee. I panicked and not only filed a complaint with ebay but also hopped on their Live Support thing that, after about an hour of waiting, finally put me through to a customer service agent. By the way, during the wait as I filed my written complaint, I noticed how extensive and descriptive that process was, meaning Ebay must be well-acquainted with this sort of false/unauthorized user complaints. How sad.

To my surprise (but also my relief) the situation was resolved quickly. A few q&a with the customer service rep, verifying my email addrsses and stuff, and then the charge was removed from my account. They also rather heavily advocated I download their Ebay toolbar, which I politely declined. The fast resolution was good, but part of me is still disturbed by the speed. Were several other ebay users hit by this same scammer at once? Or even more maliciously, is this some plot by Ebay to get users to download their toolbar, full of god knows what adware/spyware?

This story does not end here. Now quite wary of ebay, I've since backed off on my buying (I've never sold anything on there). Recently, though, I did risk buying some more shoes, and paid through Paypal. The next thing I know, another email, this one from "Paypal" appears, asking whether I wanted to authorize a $700 payment to Dell.

Not only was I a wiser person, but there were many things about that email that rang as False. For one thing, the salutation was to "member"- no mention of my username or full name, plus the "m" was not capitalized, an attribute (weird lower case letters) seen in many spam mail. Second, though Dell brand name was all over the email, there was no mention to the actual item- laptop, computer, whatever- nor was there a picture. Also, the numbers did not add up; there was about $10 or so of "taxes" and another $10 or so of "shipping" (yup, more suspicious lower cases) but then the grand total was $700. The final catch was, when I checked the "link" I noticed it was not taking me directly to Paypal but to some other, strange URL.

This time, I forwarded this email to spoof@paypal.com, as per instructions at the official Paypal website. Within hours, Paypal wrote back and confirmed this was indeed a fake email, then listed extensive instructions about how I should change my passwords, emails, etc, AND of course, download the ebay toolbar.

So what are the chances that I'd fall victim to two spamming efforts in this short time frame? Are ebay and Paypal becoming inundated with these sorts of spammers? Is it a bad sign that ebay was so used to these sorts of situations? I don't know about you, but I'm really hesitant about using Ebay now more than every before.

After going out to Thai food with coworkers Friday, I noticed that, while everyone bagged up their leftover food, none of them wanted the rice. Those beautiful mounds of untouched rice, still hot and sweating inside the takeout containers....how can anyone resist? I asked them for it and got it. Then coworkers fired questions at me: "What are you going to do with it?" "How are you going to eat all that?"

Two words- fried rice.

Fried rice has long been the "black sheep" of Asian Cuisine- or so people may think! In fact, at any lunch shop in Taiwan at least, there are dozens of varieties of fried rice to choose from. Fried rice is certainly not laughed at by Asians. It is a most versatile dish- nearly anything goes in it. Add shrimp, add egg, add leftover cut up steak, add frozen (or fresh) vegetables. Even add hot dog or bacon for some nice saltiness.

And my personal recommendation is actually to use leftover restaurant rice, since they use short grain "Uncle Ben"-type of rice that is drier than typical Asian longgrain rice.

So next time you order Chinese or some sort of Asian take out, don't be afraid to ask....got rice?

Just because an item is "on sale" does not mean you should automatically buy it. In most cases, it is simply a lower price from it's original outrageously inflated retail price, which means it is now at "regular" price- not much of a deal, is it?

Another scheme by stores is to hang up signs that scream, "Up to 70% off!!!" but when you go inside, you find most things are only discounted a couple of bucks. If you search hard, you'll find that one damaged/irregular open-boxed item that is the sole 70% off item in the "sale." See, the stores weren't lying....but you still get tricked into shopping.

I'm fortunate to not be the only coffee drinker in my small office; someone always makes a pot in the mornings for all of us to share. One way I've found to enjoy my morning cup even more was to add instant hot cocca (with calcium! smart) to sweeten my java. Usually half a pack would do, and voila, "gourmet" coffee that costs pennies.

Brush your teeth before dressing.

It is not worth it to wear a nice suit or your favorite dress and then get a glob of toothpaste on it. Also, you'll avoid the -ahem- "wet nurse" look (ie: leaning against damp counter).

Let gravity work for you to help get the most out of your shampoo and conditioner bottles. Stand those suckers upside down on their heads. That's easy if the caps are flat, but if not, many of those shower organizers not only have space for your soaps or razors, but also unintentionally have nicely spaced bars between which you can balance your bottles and create a makeshift dispensing unit. Once your bottle is finally empty, don't throw them out just yet; unscrew the cap and look inside, there's usually a pool of shampoo or conditioner hiding inside. And if you're really frugal (like I am) then once you've attacked the cap, use your conveniently bendable finger to scrape up the amount that has gotten lodged around the actual bottle neck.

And even after that to suck out all the life out of that poor shampoo bottle, add some water, shake it up (surprise, watch it foam right up again) and use that for your hand wash laundry items.

Yay or nay?

I went with a friend because she wanted to check out the "Designer Runway Event." I've been to this alleged fashion savings mecca before but have honestly never been too impressed, though I will say that it is worth visiting stores in different locations as the merchandise quality seems to be better in some places than others.

But you really do have to search. At TJ Maxx, it wasn't too hard to locate certain brand name items - Anne Klein, Tommy Hilfiger (yuck), Max Studio - as they were displayed right at the entrance. A careful, thorough search of the racks at this particular store actually turned up some great bargains; an Armani suit, Armani gown, Eileen Fisher sweater, some funky BCBG shirts - all of which, unfortunately, were out of my price range.

The "designer event" turned out to be a couple of racks tucked away in some corner containing true odds and ends. Some teenage girls were salivating over the Antik denim (there were about five pairs) but then there would be random pieces, mostly Anne Klein again. It was rather meager and I'm sure that is why the "event" is not too well advertised.

All in all, the store seems to push people towards becoming Brand Whores if you pardon my language. Though the pieces are lower than retail value (who pays retail value anyway these days?) I personally feel the prices are still inflated solely because of the inherent "prestige" that comes with owning that designer item. But what are you really paying for? IN the clearance racks, I noticed a flimsy, wispy, oddly colored Anne Klein tank top was still selling for $25, whereas a well-made tank top with reinforced stitching, stretchy spandex material that would hold up well (and look nicer because it is fitted) by some no-name brand was $7.

In the end, you are paying for a piece of fabric to cover your body; unless that fabric is gilded silk from the world's Most Ancient silkworm located in remote monastary in Tibet, then why pay so much for it? . If the cheaper item fits me, looks good, and is well made, then I'd rather buy that than to go for the mediocre item with the big logo on the chest that I'd be scared to throw in the washer. Just my two cents.

I love shopping but friends always make fun of how I never buy things when shopping in groups. And the main reason I prefer shopping alone is because I like being frugal and analyzing the intrinsic worth of my potential purchases with my weird algorithms (nerd!). I love being told I "look like a million bucks" when I only spent about $20 for the entire outfit.

Whenever I go shopping, one thing I do is use the "TALK" test when contemplating purchases. Not the most creative of names, but I've found this applies to almost all those past purchases where I've regretted spending so much for an awful item. TALK is an acronym where I ask myself if I'm feeling any of the following emotions as I shop:

Tired - Contrary to what some may think, when I am tired I tend to want to grab those items I've been hedging about and just pay and leave. Many times at the end of a long day of shopping, if I haven't made any purchases, I want to just go ahead and buy something, to justify this long, fruitless day at the mall/thrift store/garage sales. But don't give in to lax judgement! If you're tired, put everything down and GO HOME AND SLEEP!

Angry - I have coworkers who call this "retail therapy." Me, I don't tend to buy clothes when I am angry, but I do end up making other wasteful purchases of the food variety. Best cure is to go home and go running instead.

Lonely - This is my biggest downfall emotion. It does sometimes strike me that here I am, in New York City, surrounded by millions of people, yet I still feel alone. So, clothes become my dearest friends; they flatter me, they make me look good, and they always hang around (Ha ha!) with me. It has taken me years to curb this impulsive buying, which included forcing myself to take different routes while walking in the city (to avoid certain stores), to leave my credit cards and cash at home so I would have no money on me, but I have a long ways to go in fighting this.

"Keeping up with the Joneses" - From having once lived in a rather affluent area, I've noticed people who are particularly "brand name" happy. And no offense, but many times the logo is there, but the design and style is- whew! But people have to have it. Especially with handbags, I have heard women just go up to a salesperson and say, "I HAVE to buy a handbag today. I don't care how much it is, what is your most recent style?" Seeing people throw their money away on expensive items has made me even more aware of my own spending. I've learned, just from going through the broke grad student phase, that I shouldn't live above my means- especially when I can't afford it! Spending money for "image" is just wrong in my book.

So there's one of my shopping theories. If it sounds odd to you that I have such a system, well, yes I tend to be a nerd, but in the end, I'm saving money =)

HA HA No this isn't what you're thinking! I'm talking about those articles of clothing that never see the light of day- those pieces that you wonder "why did I buy that?"

So for kicks, lately I've been taking some of my casual clothes purchased during my days in grad school and seeing if I can breathe some new life into them as business/office outfits. Today's experiment: folded and pinned the back up of one of my sort of worn-down white buttondown shirts and wore that as a cardigan over a black top that is more suitable for clubbing but in combination is now toned down. Wore one of my tan slacks and tied one of my ubiquitous scarves around the waist- office outfit!

As an extra quirk, I jazzed up one pendant necklace by attaching a hoop earring that ended up encircling the pendant- very similar to this picture from a designer website. Funny, people thought I was wearing an entirely different necklace (though I wear the pendant pretty often). Got nice comments about my overall outfit from coworkers.

I am wondering what to call it- outfit re-inventions? recycled fashion?

While searching for one particular necklace to match my shirts (yes, I was layering summer clothes so they would be suited for fall) I grabbed one necklace which I never particularly liked since it was too wide and too long for my tastes when suddenly- *ding*! I had the crazy idea to try it out as a belt. It didn't quite make it around my waist but I bridged the gap by linking on another bracelet. Instant belt!

I ended up not wearing my "belt" because it didn't match, but wow, what a discovery. It got me thinking of many ideas for "new" jewelry from combining my pre-existing pieces. For example, linking several bracelets or chains together to get that multichain dangling look; hooking earrings onto chains as pendants or charms; using earrings as pins or shirt buttons; using those chunky, solid round bracelets that I hate in that sort of 80's look where you had excess shirt material tied up with some round thingy at the bottom corner....

Can't wait to play around and see what sorts of interesting combinations I can come up with.

Do ALL Asian people necessarily know how to cut Asian hair? Hell, no. About the only advantages I've found were they are generally cheaper, and you aren't as embarassed to go in with a picture of some Hong Kong popstar and demand they make you look like him/her. If you're lucky, they might be playing KTV, Korean soap operas or wacky Japanese gameshows on the television, so at least you'll be amused instead of bored or forced to talk to your hairdresser.

I think a salon is a salon. You have to search for that one awesome hairdresser, and the only way to find him/her is through trial and error.

So in conclusion- home vs. salon?
Home:
Pros- CHEAPPPPP, 24/7, don't have to chitchat with strangers, no weird chemical salon smell
Cons- Um, you can't see the back of your own head? Hard to cut "style" unless you are well-practiced in haircutting

Salon:
Pros- Name brand stuff that smells good that you probably wouldn't ordinarily buy, it is sooooo nice to have someone else wash and massage your head/scalp
Cons- It's a gamble- kaching- you don't know if you're paying for a good or bad haircut; you are at the mercy of someone else; you have to make appointments

Mention "home haircut" to a group of people and someone is bound to make some crack about getting a Bowl Cut. The Bowl Cut is ubiquitous; my Chinese friends and I figured some witty fool added "rice" in front of the phrase and suddenly it took on the Asian meaning- but, seriously, Bowl Haircuts can cross all cultural and ethnic boundaries. The Beatles had something akin to it. That creepy kid in The Shining (redrum....) looked like he had a bowl cut. Some of my coworkers call it the Peter Pan haircut. It's even on friggin wikipedia.org.

The simple theory is that you slap a bowl onto some poor victim's head, then use the edges as guide for your scissors/trimmers. This is assuming you have blurry vision, have really trembling hands, or are perpetually drunk and/or otherwise incapable of judging whether you took off one inch of hair from one side of the head vs three from the other.

My sister and I thankfully never had to wear bowls on our head. Our mom did cut our hair for us, shaped it into the standard "bob" style. Sometimes it looked fine; other times, one portion of our hair ended up curling in, another curled out. My sister and I have discussed this thoroughly and concluded that the inconsistent results were not due to the fact our mom was a horrible hairstylist, but that a) she cut our hair when it was DRY, not even slightly wet, and b) she used the same shears, it turns out, as those she used to cut fabric, yarn, paper bags (the utility scissors).

The bottom line is, home hair cuts are not "bad." I started cutting my own hair back during my starving student period when I was pursuing my graduate degree and world domination and all those idealistic dreams (heh). I haven't stepped into a salon in four years and thank you, my hair looks fine, nobody has laughed at me-yet- and my coworkers say my hair looks healthy and ask where I get it done (surprise!).

Here's my advice. If all you need is a maintenance trim, then there's no reason why you can't do the 1/4-1/2 inch trim yourself. DO buy haircutting scissors and use them ONLY for haircuts. DO wash your hair first, squeeze out the excess, then cut the damp hair. DO work in front of a mirror (duh). DO frequently comb hair out straight to catch any hair you may have missed. Also in the case of DIY haircuts, less is more. You can always decide to cut off more, but you can't repaste hair back onto your head.

If, however, you have short hair, I'd advise you go to a salon, as mistakes are MUCH more noticeable in short hair. In my words, you don't have much "starting material" to work with, so why risk any messups? If you want professional work done- highlights, coloring, perms, or a fresh, new style- then a visit to the salon is in order. In a future episode, I'll write about ethnic salons: yay or nay?

Translated into Pinyin (that's Anglosized Mandarin): Ni chi fan le mei yo?

In my not-so-fluent Cantonese, too: Nay sik jo fan mei ah?

I don't know why the question of eating is so prevalant in the Asian culture. Growing up and spending summers in Taiwan, it seemed that everyone was always asking the other person if they'd eaten already. And why not? Eating/sharing drinks is both nurturing and a way to bring groups of friends together to socialize.

Thus, it seems this is an appropriate "first entry" opening discussion- how to answer the eating question when you're on a budget. In Taiwan, you can get a ginormous bowl of delicious noodle soup for about 50 yuan (or less!) which is less than $3. That's the price of a cup of coffee in the good ole US of A.

Interestingly, answers that may seem "okay" or acceptable in the US would be considered rude in Asia. For example, consider the following:

(older person) "Have you eaten yet?"
(you) "No thanks, I'm on a diet."
(older person thinks: What a snob, and what a conversation-killer)

Another scenario:
(friend) "have you eaten yet?"
(you) "No thanks, I just ate."
(friend thinks: she ate without me? or she doesn't want to spend time with me? oh how rejected I feel....)

So what is a good, yet financially sound, solution that will please everyone in every country? Consider the following:

"Not yet, it's only 3PM; why don't we go somewhere first to talk/shop/study?"

"Not yet, why don't you come over and I'll cook for both of us?"

"Not yet; there's a new (re: cheap) place I've been meaning to try, let's go there."

"Not yet; why don't we call up the gang and let's all go out to eat." (the strategy here being, more people to split the cost and/or share dishes)

A little diplomacy goes a long way...for your wallet, too.