Loading ...What do YOU want for Mother’s Day? Share what’s on your wish list – it may give another reader an idea!
Get a free personalized card from Hallmark when you register for their site and use a coupon code available on a cool blog called MyMoneyBlog. Delivery is not guaranteed for Mother’s Day this Sunday, May 10, but you may still want to follow through and get the free personalized card.
Welcome back! I had a fantastic weekend and hope you did, too. I’ve got a deadline this morning and a speaking gig this afternoon so blog posts will be light today. Here are links to a few recent personal finance stories of note.
Debit cards are becoming more popular, but have two major drawbacks compared to credit cards, says Tightwad Tod.
Well-educated professionals are taking “survival jobs” earning $8 an hour, reports NPR.
Fake coupons from major manufacterers like Reynolds and Kraft are popping up on the Web, according to the LA Times.
Wise Bread suggestions 10 things to land a job online that covers the basics, like use a plain black type font, not a 16-point turquoise one.
Ordering flowers for Mothers Day this Sunday? CashMoneyLife has a bouquet of ideas to keep floral costs down.
A site called HalfPriceShows sells tickets to Vegas shows at half off. When I checked the site had tickets to 11 shows and 5 tours, including Mesmerized, ICE – the show from Russia, Stripper 101, Popovich Comedy Pet Theater, and Soprano’s Last Supper. Tours included a Walking Vegas Strip Tour, the Haunted Vegas Tour, and a Grand Canyon South Rim Bus Tour.
The site charges a $3 fee per ticket. Tickets can be purchased up to 10 days in advance and are non-refundable. You buy the tickets online and get a confirmation code to take to the box office. Some tickets include dinner. Read the FAQs here.
The site has plans to expand to other cities.
Coupon Cravings says you can get a free re-usable water bottle from the Disney store when you bring in three plastic water bottles today only.
AlterNet says screw the planet, we should be worried about our own existence!
Cooking up a story suggests baby steps to make a green kitchen
10 recycling trucks in Philly are wrapped in Earth Day ads, says AdFreak
Environmental Graffiti has pictures of 10 artistic renditions of our planet, includes ones made entirely of chocolate, a potato, and seed packets. Very cool!
Environmental Economics created a funny video about how farting, I mean methane gas from cows, is not killing the planet.
My friend Patrick O’Connor drew this cartoon. Check out more of his work on his homage, OConnorCartoons, or the social action network TakePart.com.
My sister has an interesting way of flushing the toilet. She lives on the sixth floor of an apartment in NYC and it takes a while for the water to get hot when she takes a shower. So while the water is warming up she shoves a bucket under the faucet.
When she needs to flush the toilet, instead of pressing the lever, she dumps the water from the bucket all at once into the toilet boil. The additional water kick starts the toilet’s siphon, which sucks down the dirty water waste.
She saves water by re-using the cold shower water and by only flushing the toilet when necessary. If it’s yellow…
I stayed with her recently and I was surprised how easy it was to adapt to her flushing system. I rather liked the idea of conserving water, though I did worry that we would forget to flush before guests came over. As soon as I got home I returned to my old ways.
Now, in honor of Earth Day tomorrow, I am trying to adopt my sister’s green habit. I installed a clear bucket under the shower faucet and feel greener already. Hubby says he is on board – as long as he still has the option of flushing the toilet the old fashioned way.
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Earth Day is Wednesday, April 22, 2009.
Get a free roll of Reynolds new recycled aluminum foil (worth up to $4) when you visit their Web site on Earth Day. Go here to set up a reminder email.
My Green Electronics is a cool site that lets you calculate how much electricity each appliance and gadget sucks by the minute, day, month and year. Knowing the cost of each item may help you cut back.
MSNBC has a great roundup of green resources, like a site that helps you find a local recycling program for a lot more than bottles, get info on hybrid and alternative-fuel cars, and more.
Get $1 and $2 off coupons for Seventh Generation products when you register on their site.
Yahoo! has a “green” page with many money-saving tips, like using baking soda as a home cleaner and buying an LCD TV instead of a plasma TV, which uses twice as much energy. If you have covered all the basics, read their ten tips to go even greener.
The site 123 Greetings has 10 free earth day cards you can send electronically to friends.
Get a free medium drink at Peet’s Coffee when you buy one of three green products, from $5 to $22. Peet’s regularly gives ten cents off if you bring your own cup and twenty-five cents off when you reuse a bag. They also give away coffee grounds for your garden or compost bin. Just ask.
You may find many local deals by Googling “earth day deals + 93167″ or whatever your zip code may be.
Find Earth Day events near you.
A reader named Rachelle wrote me with this plea for help:
My birthday is coming up and we’re looking for ways to cut back. My girlfriend said for her birthday, her husband used a coupon and bought her a pair of scissors she wanted from Michael’s for $15 and she was THRILLED. That was her only gift. I would NOT be thrilled. I would be depressed beyond belief. I don’t need lavish gifts but I DO want to feel special. A nice dinner is not going to cut it. Any suggestions for our MEN out there on how to make us feel loved and special (birthday or not) without spending a ton of $$$? This is not the year for fancy jewelry (I would be mad) but if my husband just bought me a pair of scissors, I think I would cry.
So what’s in between a pair of scissors and a schmancy bauble? Hmmm…I dialed The Gift Therapist, aka Jennifer Melnick Carota, for answers.
- Silver jewelry. “You can get really great bracelet or ring at TJ Maxx and it doesn’t necessarily have to be diamonds and gold,” Jennifer said. She has picked up many nice pieces for under $20 by checking the clearance section first.
- Loveopoly. This is a romantic, personalized game of Monopoly with four pricing options. You can buy a deluxe set for $75 or a game board personalized with your memories for $20. Two other options are $40 and $60.
- A note a day or week. Fill a jar with notes about the person, your memories together, and what you love about them. This costs almost nothing if you do it yourself or Kindnotes.com has custom options starting at about $26. “This makes a very cute and sentimental gift,” Jennifer said.
- Picture frame collage. Buy a frame with 4-20 slots and create a timeline of your relationship or a special event by filling each slot with a favorite song, quote, trinket or picture. Look for frames under $10 at Wal-Mart or TJ Maxx, Jennifer said.
- Indie movie of the month. Build in a monthly date night with a subscription to Filmmovement.com, which mails you DVDs of great films that don’t hit the big screen. You can pick what genre you prefer to receive. A three-month subscription is $27, six-months is $51 and a year is $100.
- Burn a romantic CD. Put all the songs that are important to you and your gal. Or design it to compliment a dinner you are cooking for her.
Still looking? Jennifer suggests thinking about what experience you want your recipient to have and build a gift around that.
Easter morning Hubby and I went out to breakfast and I ate 3.5 crisp slices of bacon, above, plus one sausage (for which I traded a half slice of bacon). I had a turkey burger for lunch and pork tacos for dinner so I covered a lot of ground.
If I learned anything about giving up meat for Lent, it is that I really like to eat meat, I am very lucky to be able to eat it everyday, and that I can save a lot of money going vegetarian.
We ate breakfast at Alphie’s, a low-key diner in Goleta, which is about 10 minutes north of Santa Barbara. Alphie’s offered friendly service, good food, and a pleasant setting. Plus, TASTY homemade biscuits.
Every other Sunday Alphie’s has live jazz starting at 10:30 a.m. We did not stay long enough to hear music as we had Easter eggs to dye with my nephews, who had as much fun dying their fingers as their eggs. Many of them ended up a greenish-brown color. The eggs, I mean!
Visit Alphie’s at 5725 Hollister Ave in Goleta. 805-683-1202.
The upscale stationery store Carmody & Co in Pasadena is having a 10% off sale, including wedding invitations, presents for college graduates, and general stationery. Visit them at 121 E Union St. in Pasadena. 626-795-2924.
If you have money to spend on a mother’s day gift and need present ideas, I like Surprise.com. The site lets you search for gifts by personality type, including many that are relevant for Moms:
Crossword Puzzler
Career Woman
Organic Only
Soccer Mom
Loves Their Pet
Environmentally Friendly
Foreign Culture Buff
Browse all their categories here, or go straight to Mother’s Day Gifts.
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One of my sisters who is a real bargain hunter suggested I check out OrientalTrading.com. “It’s a great site to save money on party decorations. It’s also the place that most party stores get their stuff from, so you can get it before the retail markups,” she told me.
I compared prices on goodies for Easter, which is April 12.
A plush Easter bunny is $3 on Oriental Trading and a similar toy is $13 to $15 at Rite Aid. A 2 lb bag of Easter chocolate was $10 at Oriental Trading and an equivalent amount is $8 at Rite Aid. A package of 144 plastic eggs are $9 at Oriental Trading; an equivalent amount would cost $26 at the Giant Party Store.
Prices for Easter goods at Party City appeared competitive but the company does not actually sell items online and provides few details, making a true comparison impossible without a trip to the store.
Oriental Trading claims to be “the nation’s leading direct marketer of value-priced novelties, toys, and party supplies.” They accept returns for a refun or exchange on all purchases and will beat a competitors price by 10% if you find a lower price elsewhere. From my quick comparison, many of their prices are competitive. But if you know of a better source of low-priced crafts, please leave a comment so other readers can benefit.
Thanks, Shasta!
I went shopping with a friend who spotted this super soft polyester hat at Old Navy. It was so cheap I had to buy it!
Loading ...Answer in tomorrow’s blog.
