Got a ride out to Pasadena with Mark who was doing some errands (he works there & we went to the Pasadena auto club to register a car a friend had given us. Got a whole bunch of maps - you have to ask for them nowadays!)

He dropped me off at my favorite Salvation Army - which was rather crowded due to 25% off! (I would hate to see it on Fri. when it's all 50% off - you see thrift shops have sales, too!) Looks like they are overstocked.

On a budget, so I only looked at little stuff - bags  - I got a trendy news bag out of Italian newspapers! Oodles in a chic store ($2)- and a nice pair of summer loafers to give my boat shoes a rest.($3) Very nice new aerosole shoes - size must have been wrong! And then I stocked up on paperback books - & got a storage basket - But the shoes were the score! And I got it all for the cost of ONE of the paperbacks - altho it was a bit higher than I had thought...

Downloaded more clip art from antiqueclipart.com - they have lots of FREE Victorian clips. (See the one I used today)

Looking for freebies on the net - I sign in now regularly to mommysavesbig.com and freestufftimes.com - but some of the other sites have deals missed here....

Signed up for insidere status on Marie Claire's Website and ditto for Allure - and I have already won some makeup from Allure (They said $25 - but I haven't seen it yet)- and am participating in a study with free stuff for Marie Claire....

I am entering a lot of contests - I really want a TRIP - but the little stuff will do, too.

We went on a mall walk on the way home from Pasadena at the new Americana section of the Gendale mall - cool most of the time. I do like the retro theme. (There's a free pop concert there tonite.) And the fountain that swayed to the music was fun and refreshing! They have a trolley which kiods should love - free, too -

And I picked up info about the programs at the Sr. Citizens' programs in Griffith Park.  One of the few benefits of maturing is that you can qualify for these activities! The acting class has been a great success, so I plan to up the activity level this fall....It was a bit difficult to track down these classes - but with a little perseverence I have leads on yoga and art - not to mention a swimming time in the municipal pool. And I am re-upped for my acting class in Santa Monica, too.  What a boon for an aging performer!  (Had 2 auditions last week, actually....)

Off to the boat and another music gig on Sat. - a BBQ, too! We are trying to squeeze in long weekends as much as we can...and even with all the AC/fans/swamp stuff going, the apt. still heats up! So off we go!

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My husband and I played music for a picnick at our church last Sunday. (Him on guitar with his songs & me on my concertina trying to emulate European Street music!)

It's fun for us - we had lunch, and then as we were helping to clean up afterwards, we scored a LOT of leftovers!

It's another case of singing/playing for our supper! We get to perform our material and get fed to boot!  We have had several arrangements in which we traded our services for meals - for a while we had a standing exchange with a bistro for Sunday brunch - and we honed our classic songs.

Sure - money is preferable - but on the other hand, for tiny gigs, getting a nice meal or 2 out of it - and then some leftovers, too - can also be nice.  We will be eating what we brought home for a few days. 

A nice perk of performing in Lompoc was their BBQ - (and drinks) - and we will be performing at Channel Islands Harbor at Harbor Days next weekend.  More food & fun and a little money.  Easy little summer gigs.  Live music brings so much to an occasion and really makes the party - do you have some you could share for your supper? (Karaoke works, too!)

It's somehow reassuring to me that I will be able to do this into my twilight years.  Fun and food, too.

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Check out the Frugal Carnival - a whole slew of frugal blogs, hosted this time here http://www.studentscrooge.com/2008/07/29/festival-of-frugality-136-summer-school-edition/#comment-318  Lots of info!

www.studentscrooge.com looks interesting & you can get an RSS feed - By the way - anyone have any success with ours/mine? (I also annouce new posts at www.twitter.com/pamphyila - that's how hi-tech I am - i.e., in comparison to the frugal carnival lot - not very - but enuf, I guess....)

Hey - I realized that our "vacation" was probably a "STAYcation" - because we stayed close to home ? - but as I commented on studentscrooge, almost ALL of my vacations have been like that - so I thought a "Staycation" was staying AT HOME!  Guess I just am accustomed to thinking frugally - anything else is a splurge - and you know, it makes that all the more FUN.

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Some thoughts on how you can save on your vacation.

• Stay somewhere close - we only used 2 tanks of gas! Check our your local points of interest.
• You can get deals on commemorative items by looking for last year's - sometimes they are 50% off!  I got an artistic tshirt from a museum that way. (I DON'T EVER pay $20 for a tshirt!)
• Look for rummaging areas & even sale items in antique stores.  I landed a couple of pairs of earrings for $3/pr. (Would have been much more elsewhere & they are clips, hard to get nowadays.) Also got some antique lace for a few dollars.
• Check out local thrift shops!  We got lots of great stuff - even a little ring for $4.50 which I swear has a real peridot (my birth stone.)
• Look around for motel/hotel discounts.  We asked at a gas station & ended up getting the best lodging for the least money of the trip!
• Combine your business/hobby with pleasure - We went up for a gig for my husband Mark's music  - for which we made some $ and were fed - and we kept on going further than we normally do for our vacation time.
• Save those soap/shampoo samples,etc.  You can use them or donate them to a shelter for the homeless or abused women, and so on.
• Look for local festivals - we found a Farmer's Market in Lompoc.
• Look for deals in tickets to Fairs - The Ventura Country Fair in our neck of the woods has $1 on opening day (& a week later) - a Seniors Day - and other discounts. 
• Good deals on top music at fairs, too.  The Doobie Brothers and the Beach Boys are playing at the Ventura Co. Fair - and at $9 for admission - those tickets are a good deal!
• Remember to pick up those pencils/pens/post-its/memo pads, and other giveaways at local events.
• If your motel has an ice machine, fill your drinks and ice chest up with ice before you leave in the AM. (We used a recycled foam shipping container for our little car ice chest.)
• Bring your own food and picknick when you can.
• If there is a continental breakfast at your motel/hotel - get up early enough to take advantage of it!  And maybe you can get some fruit for the road, too.  (One of the places we stayed had a wine/cheese tasting in the PM, that was nice, too.)
• If there are wineries around, you might want to check out the tasting areas for free/inexpensive fun. (There is an area in both Santa Barbara & Santa Ynez.)
• Check out parks you go by for future reference.  We discovered one lake was nice and quiet during the week - whereas the weekends seemed frantic....
• Pick up info on local attractions whenever you can.  We found a map of the wine areas which we will use again! There were also brochures with little maps of the area(s) included, which were enough for our purposes. (Remember the days of free maps?)
• If you are 50+ check out senior discounts - Might think about joining the AARP, too - as they have motel/hotel discounts.

Just some ideas.  It made up feel as if we were REALLY on vacation this year - and without breaking the bank, either.

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Greetings from Lompc, CA - between Santa Barbara & San Luis Obispo - (the name is from the Spanish mission La Purissima - & there is a park with a well-preserved mission complex there.) Poked around some funky thrift/antique stores upon arrival & snagged a beautiful leather handbag with a Bloomingdale's label amidst all the plastic - for $4 - as well as a nice belt - $1 & some paperbacks 25 cents each - On to the next one where I got some knitting needles(?) at $2/pr & an Indian skirt for $1!!

We then visited the weekend Farmer's Market & found another antique store having a sale & I found some bargain clothes including an Indian sundress for $4 & a pendant for $1 - and some real French L'air du Temps perfume ($2).  I wish I could afford it - because real Fr. perfume is the BEST. (And Mark got a stool for his music gig.)

Then had BBQ in a funky old bar - GIANT turkey legs! and saw some real silver CLIP earrings at an antique vendor - which I told Mark could be a birthday present - for $10!!

Saturday we worked - but I thought I had lost my mascara & ran into Big Lots to get something & found Revlon mascara on sale for $2!!

They also had Revlon color palettes of coordinated colors with a mirror for $.50 - and some vitamins.  Seems they are having a drug store clearance.  More Revlon stuff.  So check it out.  Mascara nowadays is at least $7-8 so when I see a bargain I snag it - ditto lipstick, etc. It does make one impulsive - but I can't bear to spend $7 on a lipstick!

I see from their flyers that they have Fruit of the Loom (I think) bras on sale for $5 - and Timex watches for $5, too - I have enuf of those - but check it out.  I think of Big Lots more for big things these days  - as opposed to the old Pic N Save - but I should keep an eye out on their smaller stuff.   

The gig went well - and I enjoyed the sunshine and the ocean breezes.  Nice folks & a nice day.  (And I wore my $4 sundress with the $1 belt and the $1 pendant with a linen shirt as a jacket - got compliments, too.) We are on up the coast for the rest of the vacation days we can squeeze it.  No pix - as I am on the laptop!

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The news of the financial downturn is getting to me, too - I find myself counting my financial freebies/deals etc. to reassure myself.

Been checking in on www.mommysavesbig.com and www.freestufftimes.com  daily for freebies - seem to be getting samples everyday in the mail.  Just got another moisturizer and some Tide and some liniment.

Also found www.k7.net which provides free phone service - The # is in Seattle & goes to your email inbox.  You get 20 messages. I recommended it to a friend who is wandering about and gave up his cell phone! Now there is no excuse not to be in touch.  Good for the kids?

Cashed in some of my mypoints for a Shell Gift Card - only 2 gals of gas - but it's reassuring....& there is a Shell station right around the corner...

Also, with some research discovered that there are FREE senior citizen activities around me.  One I can walk to!  I am getting ingo from them to take yoga, etc.!! One advantage of being 50+... I advise you to do some research in your own area to see what's available.

My acting workshp at the S.M. Emeritus College is super! even though I have to schlepp across town for it!  And I got word on a cheap tap class in Pasadena for srs., too....

We artistic types are always semi-retired, anyway. The caliber of the folks at my scene class is really great.  One guy won 3 Emmies for writing comedy on the Carol Burnett Show! The irony is that my older actor friends are doing BETTER as they age, because they have Soc. Security income coming in and healthcare to supplement their artistic earnings, as no one stops working, really....

I can see seniors working as extras just for the hot meals and being companionable sitting in the sun!

Also collecting the upper end of the fast food coupons especially for my husband, who can't be trained to bring his own lunch. 

We are going off for free camping courtesy of the Lompoc Valley AA Group, which is celebrating their 50th anniversary.  My husband is playing his 12 Step songs (they are really very good) and we are being fed and pitching a tent.  It's the beginning of a week's vacation on the Central Coast & on our boat.  I will noodle on my concertina during Mark's breaks. (Another bargain - a $200 instrument I got at a local thrift shop which we made minor repairs to!) These little busman holiday gigs are fun. And that's also reassuring to know that we can keep that enhancing part of our lives.  Viva la musica!

Oh - and Mark is making his own CDs of his 12 Step Songs to sell at a modest price at his appearance.  It's taken his time, but even with the cases, the reproduction cost is about $.50 per CD & as I recall the pros ask at least $1 per and you have to have a BIG run.  He is only running off 50 or so - But they do look nice with the inside labels he has made for the jewel cases.  If we sell them, $1 will go to the Lompoc AA Grp. & the rest for our GAS $. 

Have to practice my concertina!  I really have to record all my Celtic material - when I was all set a few years ago didn't have the technology that I have home now.  It's great for the artiste, all this stuff - you have no idea! And packing - ugh.

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Had a busy weekend what with my Emeritus College scene showcase - It went well in the new Edye Theatre of Santa Monica College - even computerized lighting?  And real union techs who went on mandated lunch breaks?  Very professional, really.

Found out that someone else in the showcase won 3 Emmys for writing on the Carol Burnett Show!  Not to mention that my scene partner was in BARFLY and was up for an Emmy nomination - & I have "been in award-winning productions." So it's not amateur night (or afternoon).

The heat wave is over & I think the swamp cooler experiment did help to alleviate the heat.  Will put it in motion again when the temp rises.  Every little bit helps.

After the showcase we went to downtown Santa Monica and walked around.  There was a thrift shop, so I had to stop in.  The pickings were less than elsewhere - but I did snag a Nicole Miller sequined tank top for about $4!  I say, all my designer things are from thrift shops!

Leslie Earnest, the L.A. Times reporter who wrote the article about frugal shopping that I was in - had another article on frugal fashion for back to school in the paper on Sunday - once again in the business section.  She wrote about how vintage is back in style - but the poor teenagers were shopping at the upscale vintage marts like Wasteland  (in fashionable Melrose Ave. territory) - rather than getting in on the ground floor of vintage, as I like to do. 

I found a vintage silk kimono jacket up in Ojai for $12 a few weekends ago & they were oohing and aahing about $35 Members Only jackets? 

And they spend $12 on pseudo-silver jewelry rather than looking for the real thing? Or putting together something from Michaels - curious.  But I don't spend much on my t-shirts, either - they never last long before the stains get to them - When I see good deals, I stock up on a variety of colors.  Same thing with the tank tops at the 99 cent store!  I have a whole bunch of them from last season I am still wearing.

I love the thrift shop in Santa Paula we go to now and then - I got jeans for $1 and the same for a nice gauze shirt I can wear with my Nicole Miller dressy tank! And a pair of cute orange shoes for $2 - and a nice bag for $3....

Not the same cachet as Melrose's funkiness - but not the same prices, either, & in the end who will know the difference?  You have to start somewhere, I suppose.

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The water level in all my pans is going down - so it's evaporating and that must help - I am also covering up the middle of the top of our gas stove where all the pilot lights are - to try to insulate IN the heat that comes from them (they are as low as possible & still hot...)

I should look for some cheese cloth that I can wet and drape over the window fan - even with everything the thermometer was at 85 yesterday! The sun beats down on the uninsulated roof and comes in the windows of our W-E. exposure.  And I wear minimalist clothes. (My husband loves it!)

Trying to put frozen bottles of water or beer cans filled with frozen water in front of fans - but doesn't last long...

Have to admit I slept the the AC on in the bedroom last night - extravagant, but I do like it & it's hard to get up to turn it off! 

One thing about the general energy crisis - it is easier to coordinate schedules to eliminate driving if not necessary.  My husband came home early and worked here yesterday.  Nice to have his company.

And my acting partner is going to come down here from her home in the valley and then go on to a SAG meeting down here.  We rehearsed the other day at a room with AC at the church....It's nice to have access to other facilities. 

My husband kept on telling me that 85 wasn't hot (and it's not as hot as the tropics, surely - and DRY) but as a Northerner by blood, I still find the heat trying - and just doing something about it makes me feel better.  The placebo effect? 

Cooler today - but the pans of water continue - I find that if I keep the apartment cool over time, the temperature doesn't get as high.  If I let it go, the heat just seems to sink in and cook the place - which makes it harder to cool off.  I am sure some more scientific mind could explain all this heat/energy transfer and conservation!

I just got the ideas from watching an old PBS Huell Howser program about how in the days before AC they had these "desert submarine" buildings in the S. Calif. desert - which were big swamp coolers you could sleep in - to survive the summer heat! And that led to noticing how some cultures put wet burlap on the windows for cooling....but we have to watch out for the floor - so hence the bowls!!

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Inspired by a tip at thriftyfun.com last week - I am experimenting with putting water in front of my many household fans to act as mini-swamp coolers!  I have one in front of the fan by my desk - and I have used the shallow decorative chip tray we got as a wedding present for the water and have put one of my articificial bonsai trees in it (plastic and indestructible). I have also tried putting some strips of paper towel on the fan itself and ice cubes in the water, but the ice cubes melt so quickly.... 

My husband thinks any cooling I feel is mostly psychologically - but on the other hand he likes the effect of a little lake in the living room! I also have bowls in front of other fans and in front of the fan on top of the frig (the kitchen gets very warm) I tried a small frozen plastic bottle of water.  It fits better up there and it's one way of recycling those water bottles, as you can't re-use them as I have found out (due to leakage of the plastic components - which is unsafe).

This is all because our one living room air conditioning unit gets overwhelmed in the afternoon when it heats up - we direct the cool air with a fan (my husband's bright idea) but it's still a trickle.  And I am not sure whether this wiring in this old place would support another AC unit.  When we have too many appliances on in the kitchen we blow a circuit breaker!

As I have mentioned before, we also have a lacy "veil" curtain on the front door, so I can open it a bit and make use of the updraft in the hall to further circulate air - while having privacy at the same time. (Beaded curtains serve the same purpose.) Also traps most of the bugs.  But when it gets hot, the air in the hall is hot, too, in the middle of the day - so then I close the door until the evening when it cools down.  Luckily we get the tail end of the ocean breezes here at night and it almost always cools down - so I keep the fans on to cool off the apartment overnight. 

Did a utility survey for the local S. Calif. Edison and apparently we use a lot of electricity - but with no insulation, as this is a building more than 50 years old, we do the best we can! At least I have the tree outside my living room window - which does help cut the sun, besides being so pretty. Will keep you posted on my swamp cooling experiments.  What are you doing to keep your cool?

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Scored a lot of good stuff this weekend.

• My husband cashed in his Kohl's gift card (which I had given him for his birthday & which I had earned from my participation from bzzagent.com).  He went to the 80% off rack and got 2 nice pairs of slacks for work and a nice nautical-style golf shirt.  All together a value of about $100 - and my husband got it for the card + $5 for tax!!
• I went to the obscure 99 Cent store on the way to the boat to look for some more C0Q10 - as they had it for 99 cents (usually $25!!). And I found it and bought 8 ( value @ $200)
• Also found some Bayer plant stenol combination - which keeps down cholesterol - at 99 cents - that's about $15 at least and I got 8 = $120+ And we also found papertowels, lipgloss, a candy bar, juice and 2 pairs of sunglasses -

All for $26!!!

Have to say that I so rarely go to normal stores that the prices at Kohl's were almost a shock.  Sunglasses on sale for $12?? Handbags for $40 which I could get for $10?? Cropped jeans for $50+ and mine were $5 and $7!!!

Also went over to Michael's, the craft store.to get large knitting needles for a project I want to do with the mohair yarn I had scored at a thrift shop. (with some other nice yarn at $.50 a ball!!) Michael's even had some simple knitting patterns on the shelves - free - I can always use more EZ ideas!

I hadn't been in the jewelry department for a while - and wow!  you can get everything there - all sorts of pendants and chains and nice beads.  I bought a Buddha pendant on sale and some real nacre shell accents. It was amazing to compare the components at Michael's with the complete retail jewelry at Kohl's - What a markup!  If I had a teenage girl we would be spending a LOT of time at Michael's!!

A guy at church who is studying to be a pharmacy tech had said that the 99 Cent Store vitamins would be old and weaker.  I have had great success with them.  And the COQ10 and the Bayer combo all had expiration dates at the end of this year.  I did some internet research, and discovered that the expiration dates were even more conservative that I had thought.  Apparently, the US Army stockpiled meds and wanted to know how long they were still good - and they were good for years past the expiration date!  Even at a hospital site - I think it was John Hopkins - they came right out and said that very few old medications were not OK to take!  You just have to store them away from moisture and heat and if the pills have deteriorated, it is a sign of some deterioration. 

I found this reassuring - because I have an batch of old anti-depressants which I have used in emergencies - and when I have run out.  I felt ok - and seems that there isn't a problem with that.  Especially good, because the insurance company keeps such a tight rein on the prescriptions - so I don't have much in reserve, despite the fact that it's recommended in your emergency supplies.

So - Ka Ching! We spent the equivalent of $50 (actually $25 in cash) and in turn received  about $400 worth in goods!  Can you imagine.

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Summers are always hard for me - I have what I know know as hyperhidrosis (meaning I sweat a LOT on my FACE) - so I have had to compensate for that. (See my article on Super Sweating on associatedcontent.com!) 

I  always am dragging along iced tea to drink  - as the heat + my medications always make me so DRY.(And who wants to spend $1.00+ for 2 cents worth of tea in a cup? Altho sometimes I am caught & I rationalize it by saying I can re-use the cup, lid and straw - which I DO.)

And then my allergies have just popped up again!  Can;t figure it out by the pollen count - not so high - (I check them with a pollen count from claritin.com which I get via email) but there have also been fires up N. of us in Santa Barbara - we could see the haze over the city as we drove back in from the beach. So particulate matter is up (I looked that up on the internet, too.)

At any rate, I got sideswiped, blindsided by an unexpected allergy attack.  Sunday morning, despite taking Zyrtec, usually good for my eyes, my eyes felt as if they had sand in them - and I get 1/2 blind. too.  I used my drops - the Opcon-A (otc) and the Similisan and put stye/opthalmic vaseline on my inner eyelids (which get irritated) - (which the mds ever told me about!) and I also popped my homeopathic remedy - (I am using A. Vogel's Pollisan Allergy relief now, as it is cheaper than Allergyaide by B&T) and then I resorted to cold tea compresses on my eyes for about 45 min or so - when all else fails, I can get some relief from the cold tea!  Then I souped myself up with caffeine (I have a caffeinated spray with vitamins) and managed to get through the day, which included mental work -

Took Tavist when I got home - and things did abate - slept a lot.  Still problems on waking (Have an air cleaner & A/C in the bedroom) - Went into the living room & put on the aircleaner there + A/C -took Allertonic drops, + BioAllers drops for grass and tree + nettle drops (they use that a lot in Europe) .  Another dose of Tavist (1x per day & I got a deal on some at the 99 Cent Store - good til the end of the year) - Note:  I don't take the drops in the evening because they are stimulating.  P.S. I have also been using my Nasalcrom spray to alleviate my itching nose!

Big sigh - now, after an iced coffee, I am beginning to feel human - but what an effort!  The other alternative is to give up and take Benedryl, which knocks you out - and just go to BED.  I am also, of course, taking all my vitamins: B and C and E and fish oil and eyebright (has quertcin - good for allergies) and ginko and Cat's Claw and ginseng for the immune system - and calcium/magnesium/zinc and garlic and the CoQ10 I snagged cheap last week!!

I also took some Wellness formula by Source Naturals for their adaptogens!! (I don't want to get adrenal exhaustion from all this stress.) 

See why I spend a lot of $ at the health food store?  And then I go look for bargains elsewhere - or my bill at the health food store would be up in the $100s instead of 1/2 of that! (At the boat I used the multi vitamin sample I got from Naturemade - less to pack!)

You see, I masquerade as a fairly healthy person - but I have been taking precautions of one kind or another for YEARS - so long, I am almost used to it - but as I age - they just seem to pile on!

So this is my summer heat and allergy lament! 

• But even here you can think thrifty, no? 
• (fyi I got the eyebright, the ginseng and the Cat's Claw on SALE -
• and I get garlic at the 99 cent store and ginko, too.
• Got a couple of boxes of Tavist at 99 Cent Store
• Also scored 99 Cent coQ10 last week!
• Otherwise we look for 2 for one vitamin sales at the drug store 
• I get discounts on the Naturemade program - I like their CholestOff. 
• And I got a free 2-wk supply of multivitamins from Naturemade, too
• And I save coupons for eyedrops
• and got a free little sample of the new Bosch & Lomb Alaway drops - find it online. 
• And when I saw little  99 cent store trial bottles of the old Murine, which you can use all the time - I stocked up on a few to carry around in my makeup bags for emergencies! A whole bottle of that is about $4 now!)
• I even used to make my own boric acid solution by mixing a tsp. of pure powdered boric acid to about a pint of hot water & keeping it in the frig.  But then boric acid got expensive - so back to drops I went!)
• Oh, and I keep the swelling at the bottom of my eyes down by putting a dab of witch hazel (Dickinson's is really the best)on them under my daily eyecream (& I lubricate liberally when my eyes are irritated!)
• Use petroleum jelly on my upper eyelid.

My husband says I am a walking pharmacy - but I get so cranky when I am all irritated and uncomfortable, that he really should be grateful for my nostrums - which do create a degree of good humor!

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Tried this free webpage builder at http://www.webepags.com/pamelamunro

And I said I would comment - except that I didn't understand it!

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Should be packing - but wanted to dash off a pre-4th of July blog -

Keeping on with normal cyberpursuits - Went deeper into freestufftimes.com (recommended by another thriftyfunner) and under the "Money" section found 2 places to sign up for being a cyberJUROR to make $ - Signed up & heard back from one - Any little way to make some $ - My husband found a $10 check handing around I got from somewhere & I don't remember what it was FOR. 

If the gov't asked me what the value of this all would be I simply couldn't tell them - but I bet it all adds up! And it's fun.  I do do some free online "gambling" - the latest is Winster - but, you know, I have always say that the greatest gamble is my LIFE - so I don't have so much of an urge to get outside thrills. 

Mark just found a nice pseudo-oriental runner at a dollar store (for $15!) and I customized it by coloring in some parts of the cream design (it's cream/black/maroon) to make it look more like my late-lamented REAL Persian rug, which finally succumbed to some nasty MOTHS. Alas. 

I used a blue permanent marker, which picks up the traditional blue/maroon color scheme of the oriental rug pattern.  Looks much nicer & less like a machine rug, if I do say so myself! You can also touch up old faded patterned rugs - dealers have been doing it for years....but don't touch a rug you may think has some real VALUE.  But if Fido has been munching the edge - or it's a bit worn (like the edge of my dark blue rug in the living room) - you can touch the area up and no one will be much the wiser!

Enjoy your 4th.  We look forward to the BBQ & fireworks!

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After sortta badmouthing Amazon's www.mturk.com where you do "cyberpiece work" - I find that I am drifting over there in spare moments & I made another $10 or so last week.  Quicker than the points programs! And I get to surf the web weirdly.  One strange thing is that it seems that website owners are pay quarters on mturk for you to go and participate in their sites. 

Here's one -  http://www.CheckMyPC.org  which proports to "protect children online" and "provide internetsafety"  - for $29.95 - but I really don't see how< I have to admit - and there is my review for which I will get $2 or so (because I found out that this site/blog rates 3 apparently on the Google ranking system - ?) I have also been writing lists for listafterlist.com - another easy quarter hit.
 

This seems to be the cyber equivalent of me collecting my lotion samples & do you know where I landed some this weekend?  At Walgren's,  of all places, the last store where you would expect them! My second sample bag from wanderings and thru the mail is filling up - why does that give me a curious sense of security?  Perhaps it's knowledge is power or just living a bit on my wits....

(Oh, and P.S. for anyone near a S. Calif. 99 Cent Store - they have COQ-10 for 99 cents. My friend from church who is studying to be a pharmacy tech tells me it may have degraded, altho the expiration date is at the end of this year - but it's 100 mg - so even so I will get something & I CAN'T afford it otherwise at $25/bottle!!  So I bought 10 or so - maybe should get even more.  Think it's perking me up a bit - altho it's hard to TELL.)

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I am a voracious reader (that is, I read a LOT) and am always running out of books.  I have to have a stack on hand so that I know I always have reading material, because I go a bit buggy without it.

Now, I am a great fan of public libraries myself, and have used them since I was a little girl and there was a library around the corner from my elementary school.  But nowadays in L.A., there are no branches directly in my path, and - alas! I discover that whenever I take out books, I seem to incur hefty library fines.

So I prefer to have my own stacks of books.  I have outlets to get them - various 2nd hand book stores and library sales, where I stock up - and some thrift shops which I comb for mysteries and the like (I found a 3 volume set of the essays of the French philosopher Montaigne at my old ladies thrift shop this time, along with the pulp fiction, for my more elevated reading.)

But I am always hunting for new outlets.  I had a pile of mysteries I was trying to recycle, and I saw that there was a book exchange at the Santa Monica Emeritus College office, where I have my scene class.  So this time I brought 2 bags of paperbacks, and didn't feel guilty when I took a stack in exchange.  Some nice British mysteries there - someone has the same taste as me!

I also just ran across a new source of online books at http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu  which seems to be at the University of Pennsylvania library.  It has a collection of curiosities which tickle my fancy - including a collection of women's biography and literature - all the queer old books I look for in 2nd hand book stores.  But here they are online - GRATIS! 

Trouble is, I have a problem reading books from my computer terminal - so I decided to try to download a book to a CD and read it on my husband's laptop. (I like the idea of the handheld devices - but whew! $300??) I copied the book, the Memoires of Mme. Figee-LeBrun (a female French painter, who did portraits of Marie Antoinette) to a text file, and then saved it in Word on my hard drive.

THEN with a little help from my husband (actually he did it), and with the software to burn DATA cds, we burned a CD - which THEN I put on his laptop and started to read propped up on the bed.  I could even enlarge the print to make it easier to read!  Voila! a 250+ page book for the cost of a cd - almost gratis!

We have another old Apple laptop which my husband uses for games for his pupils - and we will try to find some WORD for that so I can use that as a computer reader, too! (And I won't have to worry about my husband's laptop from work.)

Now I am looking forward to reading through the collection at the U. of Penn online.  They even have a group of old etiquette books, and I always find those fascinating! Not so good for the beach, perhaps - but maybe for the beach HOUSE?  And I can't read on the beach anyway! Too much glare.  Give me a porch.  Happy reading!

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We are having record heat here in L.A. - and it's only June, which traditionally has been the time for "June gloom" - meaning cloudy and cool weather!  Not this year.  I have an elaborate system of fans to help along our AC units.  The living room has always been too big for the unit that fits in the window - but my husband has directed a fan in front of it to move the cool air to the area where we are - either the living room proper or the dining room/kitchen.  And then I have another fan rigged up at the computer desk, and I use the air cleaner/fan on the floor (The air is cooler there). 

For the first time in a long time I kept on the living room AC overnight (usually I can turn it off and just use the fans in the windows to cool down the apt., as we get ocean breezes.  But the air was hot almost until bedtime, so I couldn't put the fans on until then - so I splurged and put the AC on overnight (as well as the AC in the bedroom!) Oh, the electricity bills!  But I am glad I did, because the apt. was cooled off overnight.   And it is really hot outside!  If you don't cool it off at night, the heat just sets in and sits there!  That's how it was in NYC summers, the concrete just exuded heat at night!

Don't think there is insulation in our 1950's roof - as L.A. used to be much cooler.  Our poor little 1920's church is a veritable sweat box over the summer! I myself only used to resort to the AC occasionally - but not anymore!  Heat waves make me long a bit for bourgeois decadent AC - The Santa Monica Emeritus College classroom on Tuesday was deliciously cool...But the ancient circuits here have to be catered to! We wonder if we put in another window AC if the circuit breakers would go off, as they do when we have too many appliances on!

Otherwise I love open windows - And the lychee tree outside the living room window does give lovely shade, which helps. (I protest if they try to prune it back too much.)  Almost every window has a fan to catch the evening breezes - but I shut them off when the air outside gets too hot.  And there usually is a nice updraft breeze from the stairs, and I keep the door open, with a lacy curtain over it for privacy - but now it's so hot, I am keeping it closed! 

My husband believes in outgoing fans, and we have them hooked up in the dining room area to take out the warm kitchen air.  And we are experimenting with putting a big pan of water in our warm vintage oven to keep the heat down. (The pilot jets are hot, and they are as low as possible.) I also tried to insulate the top of the stove where the pilot lights are (there are 4!)  - and one way or the other, it seems to be helping. Isn't that nuts? One of the fans actually switched from outgoing to ingoing - which is nice - the others we just have to manipulate. So let me count the fans just for fum:

1. One on top of the frig
2. One in each window of the dining room (2)
3. One in the window of the living room (where we have the AC)
4. One on my computer desk
5. The air-cleaner/fan in the living room
6. The bathroom window fan
7. The fan in the bedroom
8. The air cleaner fan in the bedroom (Where there is another AC unit)

That makes how many? 10?  Whew! All from thrift shops/yard sales except the AC units we bought on sale and the air cleaner my mother gave me.  We buy them off season, because otherwise they are nowhere to be found. But when you need them, you need them!

Off to the boat for real natural AC - but really not doing too badly, all things considered - I just wonder about coming home to a hot apt. on Sunday night.....

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Posts are written but flying off alone into cyberspace never to be seen again!  Arg.  So I postpone re-telling my saga of managing the ventilation in my apartment during L.A.'s current heat wave....

Here is another link I am trying to link to mybloglog.com - to get to other readers.  The code follows - We are working on a feed to get us up to technological speed!

<a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/community/pamspennypinchingwithstyle/" rel="07dfd7feab29137645c9411d659804723e5cfd24">Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification</a>

(See - go to www.mybloglog.com and find me - )

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Just lost a little tutoring job that gave me my pin money for the week - Money that was my own to spend as I wished - sort of my allowance! And I found I have missed that bit of mad money, as they used to call it.

So since I have the time now, I find that I am piling up points at mypoints.com - I had points transferred from the bzz program that were enough to buy a $25 gift card for my husband's birthday.  (I think the gift cards make nice presents and they have a selection.) Next I am eying either the $10 Shell gift card (for an emergency) or the $10 Barnes & Noble gift card (I love their bargain table books.)

I already deducted $10 from my amazon mturk account to buy a book I wanted on line - and I have some left - and then there is the $ that accumulates in my Paypal account from my articles at www.associatedcontent.com   Not a lot - but PIN MONEY.  It's nice to know it's there, & I can treat myself with it! As money gets tighter and tighter, we still need little extravagences.

I still think every little bit COUNTS!

 P.S. Look what I found online - a listing of $making survey sites!

Here are the top 25 Paying Online Survey Sites Survey Sites that Pay CASH for Surveys: 1. Valued Opinion- typically between $2 and $5 2.  Survey Spot - Take surveys and get cash 3. Survey Savvy - Get paid $5 to $30 per survey 4. ECN Research - $5 -$35 per Survey 5  ACOP - Typically $4 to $25 for each survey you complete! 6. Your2Cents Surveys - $1 to $5 each time you qualify and complete a survey 7  NFO/Mysurveys Request a check after earning 1000 points, 100 points=$1 8. Pinecone Research: This site is consistently in the top 10 of the best surveys sites. 9. Greenfield Online - Greenfield has paid out over $4 Million last year Survey Sites that pay in Points (Redeemable for Cash or Prizes): 1. Opinion Surveys - Get Paid cash dollars per survey 2. LightSpeed Research - Take surveys for LightSpeed Points. 3. Global Test Market - Get paid to influence the next generation of consumers 4. OpinionWorld Surveys   - Get paid in points and redeem for cash 5. African American Surveys - influence top brands and earn cash 6.  ePoll - get 100 points instantly just for joining! 7. Opinion Outpost: Reliable site that pays $1 for every 10 points by check or Paypal... Survey Sites that pay with Sweepstakes Entries or Instant Win Games: 1. IPSO Says Surveys - Each Survey gets you a instant win game. 2. NPD Online Surveys - The surveys are fun, and the cash is for real Men register Here 3.  Nielson Ratings Panel - you could win one of 50 $1,000 cash prizes! 4. eSearch Surveys - Pays Cash for completed Surveys. 5. Opinion Surveys - Get an entry in their $50,000 sweepstakes for every survey you take.

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My scavenging post from yesterday has somehow disappeared - but I wanted to share that I scored yesterday in the alley behind where I had an appointment in the Valley.  Good neighborhoods have the best trash - and I sighted a charming Japanese faux bonsai with green glass leaves and white glass blossoms on top of the trash next to a nice basket (very clean).  I took them home, washed them and tweaked the position of the wired leaves and blossoms and now have a lovely faux bonsai which will survive being in front of a window fan.

I also spotted a white Ikea-like tall skinny shelf unit set out for the trash down the street.  It was grimy and might need re-painting, but basically solid - and I could use it in the reorganization of my bedroom storage - so, I hoisted it in the trunk sideways, and secured it with the nylon tie-on my husband leaves there for just such occasions. (It wouldn't fit in the back seat.) And then I went home slowly on surface streets, watching to see if it shifted. (It didn't.)

Did I mention the foam container with a cover  that I had found over the weekend?  They use them to send steaks and so on - and they make wonderful little coolers to put in the trunk or backseat of the car to keep groceries from melting/spoiling in the heat if you have to leave them in the car a bit or on the way home. We put our farmer's market fruit in it, to keep it from getting mushy on the hot drive home. 

The organic fruit from the Sunday Market is great.  It's the only way I can eat fruit such as nectarines or peaches or even cherries without getting an allergic reaction to pesticides normally used.  And we could actually EAT the local tomatoes, too!

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Endeavoring to get linked up & besides, lots of you should find this blog site interesting

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Do you remember when they had campaigns against litter - and people were called "litter bugs," and they actually gave out tickets for it?  Somehow the people behind that must have collapsed from exhaustion, because I don't see ANYONE addressing that as a problem, when it's actually getting worse where I am.

Los Angeles can be a pretty city to walk in, especially in my old Hollywood neighborhood with its trees and grass and flowers, except there is litter everywhere.  Wrappers, cups, newspapers, plastic bags and bits and pieces of all sorts of stuff litter the strips of grass and sidewalk nearest to the street, and the edges of the lawns, just destroying their charm!  I live across from a school, and the children seem to be learning just to drop their litter on the ground.  They don't even aim for the street where it will be swept up during street cleaning.

One problem is that there aren't any public wastepaper baskets!  Vendors and children and fast food joints around the corner and no wastepaper baskets!  A principal at the school once told me when I inquired that they had to get a grant to get a trash basket!  Can you imagine? And when I talked to my local council person's office, they suggested that I get the Neighborhood Association to fund one!  A trash basket??? Don't we deserve THAT?

So as I walked home from the local coffee shop, there I was kicking all sorts of litter into the street because at least that's SOMETHING! I also found a plastic bucket once used for soy sauce in the trash behind the Chinese restaurant in the parking lot.  Perfectly good bucket. 

So I brought it home and washed it out with the garden hose and put it in the driveway/alley to serve as a trash bin.  We have had new tenants move in, and it may or may not be related, but the trash level in the drive has gone up.  Perhaps the can will train them to put their litter in THAT.  I did it once before and I worked - so I am back at it again.  And I can pick up pieces of paper and just put them in the bucket until it gets full enough to take in the back to the main trash bin.

The good thing about the recycled bucket is (1) it's free and (2) because of that, I won't worry about it being stolen or just "walking."

Don't get the idea that I am such an awfully fastidious person!  I think litter offends me because it's just so UGLY.  I don't mind a muddle if it's artistic somehow.  There is also the broken windows theory that suggests that neglect in small areas like that is an indicator of the level of concern of the populace and by addressing issues like graffiti and litter, the better part of the neighborhood can assert itself over the slovenly part.  They say that even has an effect on crime rates subliminally!
 

So gather that litter.  Don't throw things out car windows.  Put fast food wrappers in the trash tidily.  And please teach your children the same.  (My friend from the suburbs said that it looked like the littered streets of Eastern Europe.  Isn't that embarrassing? )  Clean up your act, America!

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Isn't the term "Life Hacks" great?  It's a newbie turn of phrase and implies that you can somehow hack through the conventional to find a solution to make your life work better. 

Thinking about it, I realize that my whole LIFE is a life hack!  That's really my modus vivendi (way of life) - and has been ever since I left college, nigh these many years ago....

It's actually FUN to find ways to optimize one's life and lifestyle - and I look for new tips all the time.  Here are a few that haven't fit in anywhere else:

• I found out that if you sign up for a Starbucks card (min. $5) you get a free drink - then then points or something.  So I think I will and get a fancy drink to make it even!
• Black Angus has a club, too & if you sign up at blackangus.com you will get a free steak for your birthday. Did that, too.
• Joined the Arby's club at arbys.com for deals/coupons
• We are into the savings card given by Lawry's for their local Tam O'Shanter restaurant, and plan to use our discount for my husband's birthday.
• We also get free meals on birthdays and anniversaries at the Whale's Tail in Channel Islands Harbor.  Great pub food upstairs.
• We use the Entertainment Today book for restaurant deals.
• My husband has gotten a gift card at cvs pharmacy, which he used to buy me perfume for Xmas (but he tried to get a new prescription deal recently & no soap) Thinking about trying out the CVS bucks program, as I have read good things about it.
• I picked up a free ELLE magazine on my window shopping trip yesterday.
• I am knitting a scarf on some fun fur I picked up for practically nothing at a thrift shop, knitted on chubby pencils with tape on the points.  Works.  Cute scarf.  Goes with my new $3 jacket.
• Thinking about selling old cell phones back online (or you can donate them at Whole Foods Market for local use in an emergency).
• Signed up for JoAnne's mailing list to hear of sales, get coupons.
• Sign up for everything actually, as I have gotten great stuff/info via "junk mail"
• Made enuf from mturk.com (Amazon's mechanical turk cyberpiece work) to buy my hubby a book for his birthday. The easiest thing to do there for me is to re-write, as I can do that really fast, and the pay is a bit better.
• Got enuf points on Mypoints.com (mainly transferred from bzzagent.com) to get a gift card of my hubby's choice for his birthday. (Working on the sample packages of nuts I got from Back to Nature through the bzzagent promo program.  Yummy. (But I fear pricey, tho).
• Still get little payments from the articles I wrote last year at associatedcontent.com - so I have $ in my Paypal account. Check them out at associatedcontent.com/pamelamunro
• (Actually put that all together & it adds up to almost $75! I have spent some - so I think I have had $100 in Paypal.  Not bad for fiddling around on the net.)
• Thinking about how I can make new handles for the straw bag I got for $.50 at the rummage sale last weekend. 
• Wearing my summer boat shoes with the new ivory acrylic paint surface.
• Thinking of using some makeup for shoe polish on another pair of boat shoe loafers, as I can't find the right color of polish for them.
• Got some shoes a green inserts & have to look around for green makeup that color to polish that part of them with.
• Still working on Energy Vitality samples that I got at the health food store. (Can't take too many - too speedy, so I can space them out when needed.)
• Waiting for vitamin samples from NatureMade.com - gotta put in the codes for my vitamins to get more coupons.
• Wondering where my husband put the other CD spindle, so I can put it in the bathroom for toilet paper.
• Looking at monthly calendars posted at my desk print free from the net. (The pretty green yearly one is from http://z.about.com/familycrafts/1/0/w/i/Imgreen2008.gif - or so it says.)
• Finally getting wear out of the set of Aerosole sandals I got in a Ventura thrift shop 2 years ago. (I got grey/white/tan!)
• Thinking about taking out my Mexican peasant dresses for the summer, and my new thrift shop Hawaiian sorta moomoo dress (it's really not that roomy!) I take them out every summer when it starts to heat up.
• Also looking for my stock of summer shorts.  Have oodles of t-shirts.
• Wearing a new/old thrift shop pair of stretch denim capris I got the other day.  Very comfy & practical.  They don't seem to make them any more (or if they do they cost the moon) - so I comb the thrift shops for them.
• Wearing a necklace of a charm I got from an online promo - what was it FOR?  The advertisers would have a fit that I don't recall - put on that hair cord I got at the 99 Cent Store.
• Wearing 99 Cent Store reading glass (I have them all over the place, and just lost another pair - so I have back ups galore.) 
• Ditto sunglasses.  The Salvation Army had some for $.79 and I bought a couple of pairs.  My hubby wonders WHY but I buy duplicates of sunglass deals and then just wear them and wear them...
• Put my dab of witch hazel under my eyes for puffiness under my 99 Cent store eyecream, and then put petroleum jelly on my upper eyelids, per usual.

Oh, dear, as with my last list, I could go ON.  But I need a break!

But just to show you how creativity goes into so many aspects of my life - to make it better, more stylish and to create more VALUE and FUN.

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Got a chance to comparison shop in the last few days, with interesting results.  Found bargains in a craft store & thought my favorite thrift shop was more expensive than usual and got to check prices on my favorite vintage stuff....

Dropped in at Joanne's sewing and craft store & found out they had more craft than I thought - and also were having a sale.  Looked at the funny fur I had gotten  for $1 & here it was $6-7 per ball!! Also saw that the sale items were pretty much cleaned out - but I picked up the flyer with the coupon for 40% off an item & bought some glue.  And a plain black rubber visor for $1. They also had a sales rack & I got little eyeglass cases for my reading glasses (they are hard to find, believe it or not). At the check out I signed up for their mailing/email list so NEXT time there is a sale, I will KNOW.  But did pretty well anyway. (Lots of little items there that would make good gifts, by the way.)

The next day I went to my favorite Salvation Army store, and suddenly things seemed more expensive than usual! Everything was at least $1 or $1.99 - and some things $5 - that I didn't think were really worth it!  Because I had a lot of time, I combed the joint and did turn up a Coldwater Creek jacket for $3.00 - but it was an effort! And some scarves, and little glass dishes for ice cream.  Have to admit I also found a very nice framed vintage flower print with a bit of water damage that has escaped the antique annex next store, for $3....Good deal and if I put it in the bathroom, I don't have to worry about it! And I was given a senior citizen discount - which I take, forget vanity!  So I did OK on my budget of $20....

Today I had an appointment on stylish La Brea Ave. here in L.A.,and after that I did some window shopping.  I love the clothes and so on at American Rag, altho I never can afford anything.  Very informative to see that the sort of cotton vintage summer dresses with exotic themes I have gotten elsewhere here were $40 or more!  I was wearing a Thai dress I had snagged at a rummage sale for $.50 and I was right in fashion! And I also noticed my African things.  I really do think ethnic never totally goes out of style...And I love the embroidery and the exotic fabrics.

There was another vintage store down the street which had exquisite things.  Really nice - but Whew!  the prices! Even the SALES things I looked at were $98!! (down from $200 or more!!)   I swear, the jacket out of the obi fabric that I bought for $80 in Santa Barbara would go for $300 here!! I also saw some oriental things very much like what I have at home - and I didn't pay anywhere near as much!! But it's always nice to see what the fashionable traffic will bear and what's in style.  It gives me points in the mental frugality game!

Oh, the real reason I had gone to the craft store was to get ivory craft paint for my summer boat shoes.  It's really hard to find ivory shoe polish, and I suspect the white shoe polish nowadays is just acrylic paint, so I decided to invest in some craft paint to redo my ivory boat shoes, which were great but needed re-surfacing.  I painted them & - it did WORK.  Need another coat tho. 

Did I mention that they had ivory boat shoes just like mine at American Rag?  Cost the moon, I would suppose.  Best thing is to get them where they remain generic!  My husband gets his at the boating stores, like Boater's World or West Marine, when they are on sail - or at sporting goods stores like Big 5 on sale....He has gotten his for $15!!

So all in all, it's been fun and informative.  That's the way I squeeze value out of my limited dollars.  Rather than even spend $50 on a Coldwater Creek jacket at their outlet sale online - mine was really CHEAP.  (And that way I can indulge in a slew of colorful summer jackets!) And rather than buy someone else's taste at American Rag or the vintage store,  I buy them direct from the source before they go through several hands, getting more and more expensive as they go!  The woman in the vintage store asked if I were a designer & I said, "No, a collector. I wear them myself."  And then I realized I was wearing my $.50 Thai dress, which looked super and stylish, and I got more self-esteem from my cleverness than I would have by paying through the nose at either posh boutique.  So THERE.

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Back to the city after a weekend in the brilliant sun at Channel Islands'  Hollywood Beach.  What a gorgeous area!  Only an hour from L.A. - I wonder where everyone IS, as it is quite quiet.  Gas prices, not doubt.  (It takes hundreds of dollars to fill up the tank of a stinkpot motorboat just to go out). We have a sailboat!

More finds at the Yacht Club rummage sale - a Thai dress with great embroidery - a nice sailing t-shirt, a blue Green Peace sweatshirt, some cute shoes  - a straw bag and a little travel bag - some paperbacks and some costume jewelry! All for $7!!  Mark also picked up a lovely set of a duvet and matching pillows & pillow shams ($15) - he said it was for the boat, but it really is too nice, so we are going to use it at HOME.

TIP FOR ROCK-BOTTOM BARGAINS AT YARD/RUMMAGE SALES:  The advice is usually to come EARLY for the best stuff.  That may be true for collectibles and minor antiques that antique pickers and collectors are out for - but the REAL bargains are at the END of the sale, when they are almost packing up and just want to get RID of everything!  It's either sell as much as they can to you, or drag it around to a thrift shop, and they would rather get rid of it on site.  I even have been GIVEN an oak cabinet at the end of a yard sale, when the woman just wanted it to GO AWAY.

With the exception of the duvet (which they did originally want $50  for, I got everything at $.50 apiece.  And they threw the paperbacks in.  Good deal!

To me thrift is about increased value.  As prices rise, due partially to inflation, it means that our money just isn't worth as much, and so we have to pay more of it to get the same stuff!  I calculated that NEW what I got for $7 would be at least $200 - can you believe it?  And, frankly, I get as much VALUE out of it all as I would if I had spent top dollar.  That means my dollars go further, and I have some to spend elsewhere, as at the gas pump, where I don't have much choice. 

The main barriers are psychological ones - thinking that you are "less-than" for wearing used clothes - and using used items.  It's foolish, especially in the current economic climate!  If you want to be discrete, just don't tell anyone where it all came from.  I used to just say "Oh, I got it in my wanderings."  Or nowadays you can casually say, "Oh, it's VINTAGE."  But the truth of the matter is that you will be better dressed and generally have more of the things you want to make your life comfortable and enjoyable without going broke or further into debt.

Actually, I pride myself on how clever I am to get things so inexpensively - and actually have fun calculating the difference between retail prices and what I paid.  It's sort of like winning at Vegas. Ka-chink!

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Did a comedy video this AM & it was right around the CORNER, so I could keep my carbon footprint down & WALK.  Wish that were possible more often!

On the way back there was a street sale on the lawn of the school & I got a Roman figurine for my brother, he's into that stuff - and a purse that says YSL for Yves St. Laurent, which could be a knock off but for $2 who cares - nice hardware, tho...and a gauzy skirt - with tag still on - also $2. 

For the shoot, I brought things our from the depths of my wardrobe, 1/2 the reason I have so much stuff!  Including all sorts of scarves & jewelry.  Got a chance to wear my new long brown linen duster coat (also with tag) I got at a thrift shop for $7 (I bought quite a few jackets that day because they were such a bargain & I have a black one, too.)

Looked at the Coldwater Creek email catalog & Whew!  The jackets are all $80-90 !! I have similar ones, but have gotten them for under $10!!  So I feel better that I snapped up all those colored jackets that day - didn't spend $80 for ALL of them! (& the $ goes to the Salvation Army's charitable work, so it's a mitzvah - blessing - too.)

Note - when a thrift shop keeps on getting merchandise like that, there is a pattern of donation -so check in whenever you are in the area - who knows what you will find.  There is a LOT of NEW merchandise like women's clothes & even shoes at that Salvation Army -  We also got a bargain on our computer desk there - a floor model??

Find myself fiddling around with some semi-precious charms (one lapiz and one carnelian?) a friend left for me with some miscellaneous odds and ends  -  Strange to say, I bought some synthetic cord that seems intended for hair weaves (?) at the 99 Cent Store, but which is just the right color & consistency to serve as good cord for necklaces!  I put on the 2 charms and a Chinese coin with a hole in the middle, tied a knot & another knot - and voila! Chic! I am pleased with that. In a boutique how much?  Gee, too much!

I also found my fun fur, which I am going to try to knit with chopsticks as recommended here!  Fun fur is great for L.A., as it isn't really too warm, but has some fuzziness.  And I don't have anything in that color....I really try to get back into knitting - despite my lack of success on my last project (I was actually on the Knitty Gritty show & they GAVE me the yarn, so all was not LOST. The knitters there were practically PROS.  I was impressed.)

We are off to the boat when the laundry comes out - so this is a quick one.  But I just felt I wanted to document a snapshot of my thrifty, but hopefully chic, life!  See ya.

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The trouble I find that I am having in putting down my frugal thought on paper for the frugal book I am writing, is that I am so frugal throughout my life, that it is hard to circle in on what information would be the most useful to someone who has a hard time of it - or who is just starting out, whom I assume would be the audience - Or is that wrong thinking?  Would beginners at frugality want an upgrade of skills?

As I see in my comments here at thriftyfun.com - I have opinions on LOTS of ways to save on things!  Beauty, hair care, wardrobe, entertainment, computer software - I could go on & on. (We just bought 2 used bikes at the beach at a yard sale for $35.) I rarely shop in regular stores anymore - just at discount places and thrift shops and so on - and actually prefer them.

I send off for freebies on a regular basis and do word of mouth marketing for companies like bzzagent.com (Just got some yummy natural nuts/trail mix from Back to Nature which I will duly plug as part of my duties!  You can become a bzzagent, too!)

OK - Let me count my frugal ways, and see what happens. I have gotten:

• Frugal dentistry at the USC dental clinic.
• Medications from drug company programs
• Therapy from the Hollywood/Sunset Free Clinic (plus psych drugs) and also clinic care.
• Free classes - An assertiveness workshop at Cal State LA years ago. My Santa Monica Emeritus acting class now.
• Attended free workshops on PR and marketing when I had the theatre.
• Went to a free workshop at Beyond Baroque.  
•  
• I have:
• Gotten free exercise classes by volunteering to be in exercise infomercials
• Got free product also from infomercial participation
• Filled out surveys on buying habits and got cookware. (Nice Pyrex, still have it.)
• Sent off for countless freebies through freebie sites on the net. (You know that.)
• Gotten practically free (except for handling charge) tix to hear Peter Frampton
• Learned computers on the job (just paid for manuals)
• Gone to to free workshops on grantwriting (not that I ever got any $)
• Done my own taxes (with the help of a guidebook)
• Helped paint my own apartment
• Put down tile on the floor(s)
• Collected art and collectibles (I have a vintage costume jewelry collection)
• Taken office supplies from offices who were going to throw them out (paper, old letterhead - filing racks - whatever)
• Entered into and won contests - a new TV a few years ago - and a shopping spree at a department store - and cups and books and jewelry
• Cut and colored my own hair (coloring really successful)
• Been paid as a hair model and gotten free haircuts
• Saved up extra samples from my promo work to give to family & friends (still have some Swiffer cloths).
• Had yard sales, participated in others' sales
• Traded old books for cash or credit
• Sold off extra costume jewelry (rhinestones)
• Taken things from my grandmother's old apartment - I still have her tools - and have cookware from my mother and godmother.
• Use free computer programs like jumpcut.com to make my own reel
• Used other free software
• Get free samples from walmart.com on a regular basis
• Especially like cosmetic and health samples - pick some up at the health food store
• Use coupons, like the restaurant ones.
• Park for free whenever possible
• Fix, re-use and recycle and what I can't I give away -
• Sell off used stuff - even junk autos, etc.
• Exchange labor with friends
• Make my own greeting cards/postcards
• Find free sheet music and music instruction on the net
• Find free music downloads on the net
• Get useful promotional items like pocket calendars, pens and pencils and notepads
• Used to just watch free TV - now it's movies on cable
• Only get cell phones through the cell plan
• Keep old big computer monitor
• Buy used furniture at Salvation Army, office stores and elsewhere.
• Review music and get free CDs
• Gone to free lectures and audited classes
• Taught myself Spanish using bargain language CDs
• Recorded my music myself
• Made my own music CD
• Taught myself a bit of editing for my reel, etc.
• Done my own marketing, even viral
• Worked on my own legal issues and consumer complaints
• Tried to do my own teeth cleaning
• Had teeth cleaned at hygienist's clinic
• Picked up good stuff, like an old glass display case - from the street
• Found good stuff in the trash - like lawn furniture
• Always took care of old cars adding additives and so on
• Mended/repaired as much as I could myself - from shoes to small appliances to lamps (easy to rewire)

WHEW! There is even more, but I am tired just thinking about it - Now you - dear reader(s) out there - what sparks YOUR  fancy?  Do TELL. And thanks.

(Oh, and P.S. spellchecked this using a free spellcheck for the net!)

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One of the problems that we may have with thrift is that we discount the little savings, even though we know that over time they can add up!  My husband noted that we only saved about $2 from the fast food special - but I reminded him that $2 is $2!! If one saved that much daily, in a week it would be $14 - and $56 a month!

I also remember that he gave me a hard time about saving pennies until one time I put them all in a cash machine to buy us some chicken for dinner!  (I wait until I want something at the supermarket, because the machines around here are all inside markets, and they give coupons to redeem at the register...)

And I find myself going back to Amazon's Mechanical Turk (cyber piece work at www.mturk.com) to make a little pin $.  (Go to the back and you will find the higher valued hits valued.) And similarly with my Paypal account.  I get enough there to buy a book online or something else every once in a while.

It's the same with all the freebies.  Some people pay $1+ for sample sizes for travel, whereas I just get them from freebie sites &all it takes is my labor! So I figure I have earned $1 in some sense!  It depends up on where you are, too.  When I worked close to major department stores, I would always take advantage of the freebies and specials in the paper for which I had to show up in person.  But now that I am working out of my house, it's too much trouble....

I ALWAYS accept free stuff.  If I can't use it, I can pass it on or give it as a gift. And my husband's students love little things as rewards.

If I were terribly mathematical, I would calculate all the dollars - and sometimes I do mentally - just to make myself feel a little less broke!  It is nice to have spending money when everything is going to the bills.  I even count change when the coffers are low - to see how much I have got & it usually adds up to a few dollars, which is a small cushion until payday.  

It's all about added value, I think.  I inherited some lovely ribbon from a friend who was moving & I immediately think of how that will spruce up a coming birthday present!  It's fun to calculate that no one will know that your thrift shop card wasn't $4! Or that you got that bracelet for a steal at a craft faire, whereas in a boutique it would cost over a $100!

I actually like cable TV - especially for the movies - because I end up watching and liking movies I wouldn't think of renting, for example! So it's always stimulating and a surprise.  And I do think about the savings in gas and popcorn and tix....

And, as I have mentioned - sort of - it's also invisible income!  I look back what I made in my single years and wonder how I lived on that - but I know that I was enhancing my income with all sorts of deals and freebies - Free classes - free performances - free workshops - I used to say that my third job after a day job and my acting was living on my income!

So we are tightening our belts again - and I feel reassured that with some ingenuity and keeping an eye open,  I will be able to get my husband and me through this OK.  Gas prices or no.  Because of all those little savings.

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Ar one point, years ago, I was really into coupons & got all excited about saving $10 on my grocery bills!  But over the years, I have turned to other frugal outlets and let the coupon clipping slip.  Today, however, I sat down and took a good look at the coupons from the Sunday newspaper.  And I realized that there were items there that I did buy. So I am getting serious again. Every $1 saved counts...

There was $1 off Olay products & I will need some more of that - coupons for Nature Maid vitamins, which I use (they also have their own discount program at www.naturemaid.com, which I recommend!) and surprisingly a $1 off Hylands Calms Forte - which is a locally made homeopathic remedy great for a good night's sleep!  (& that coupon is good until September, so I will surely get to use it!)

There are also lots of fast food coupons for Arby's (I joined their online posse at www.arbys.com) and for Carl's Jr., - both of which are right in my neighborhood - as well as deals on BaskinRobbins ice cream - also down the street. The plan is to get some takeout and then picnic in the park.  We all have been working hard lately, so that's a welcome respite.  (and my allergies seem to have calmed down, too, so I can enjoy the great outdoors.)

What with the crazy price fluctuations, I realize I will have to go back to being even more vigilant! And better plan my/our shopping trips.  I think I am going to encourage my husband to go to another local supermarket chain, which has lower prices over all.  We just had some steaks from there, and they were marvellous and affordable!

There are also free samples at www.naturemade.com right now - go and check it out.  They always have really good 2 for one deals on their products, too.

It's like freebies, a nice side of capitalism - so why not get your use out of them.  It's the only way I really go to fast food places - on their coupons!

I still am wary of paying brand name prices for products I can get elsewhere - but if I am careful, even I will be able to save a little clipping coupons.

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FYI - the L.A. Times article about frugality, thriftyfun.com, and with comments from yours truly seems to have been syndicated, so it's showing up all over the country!  What a surprise!

Also have been reading what geeky types involved in internet marketing are saying about the interaction (or lack of)  - of the internet.  Dear readers, I would very much like for you all to comment on my blog here - pro or con.  This is especially important to me because I am putting my pennypinching philosophy into a book for posterity - or something.  So, I really would like to know your take on my postings so I can get some of your input!  I surf around & read all sorts of frugal blogs and life hacks to get the feel of what people are talking about out there - I will have to collect them and share them with you all, too. One clue for today - younger folks call the tips "life hacks"! 

So please don't be shy - as an other blogger I wrote to the other day emailed to me - it lets me know that someone is READING it!

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I have always done my own hair - for want of anyone else doing it!  And as the years went on - coloring was introduced when I was a hair model and actually got PAID to have my hair cut & colored.  And then I watched a hairdresser I went to, to tint my hair red for a shoot  more or less temporarily - and I learned how to introduce color with just color shampoo!

I have been mixing my color shampoos together - both red and blonde, to get a strawberry blonde, which is the color I like my highlights (created by hydrogen peroxide on dirty hair) to be.  But the yellow shampoo I has been using has been taken off the market for some reason - and what I was left with didn't have the effect I was looking for.  I even bought some rather expensive Redken blonde shampoo, thinking that the color of the BOTTLE was the color of the shampoo - & it wasn't.  Ugh.

But I had been reading about natural hair color and so on on thriftyfun - and was inspired to try to put some TUMERIC in my blonde shampoo to make it more yellow.  Now, turmeric is one of the incredients of mustard - & it why it STAINS everything, so I thought it would stick.  Then I also had read in several places about using baking soda in addition to your shampoo to help to get rid of the build up of silicon ingredients on your hair - and to be good for your scalp, too.

SO - yesterday I washed my hair with some blonde shampoo and added baking soda - felt good - and rinsed it out.  Then I put a few, maybe 4 -  pinches of turneric into some blonde shampoo I have put in a cup - and then added the red shampoo to get the color I usually use.  The next step is to put it on your hair, put on a shower cap, and let it sit for 20 minutes.  I usually sit in a hot bath....Then rinse it out & use a blonde/red conditioner combination.

I was anxious to see how it turned out - but voila! My hair turned out nice & shiny - my scalp felt great,  and the residue was gone...A success!!! It's even organic....

So the lesson here - as in many aspects of my life, is to dare to EXPERIMENT.  You can hedge your bets (I left the shampoo solution in for 20 rather than 30 minutes) - but go ahead and try it!

Most things are not irreversible.  That's what I like about home treatments, you can go gradually, not drastically...And it's much easier on my tender scalp.  I had actually tried some commercial touchup for my temple areas, which are hard to cover - and, wow, did it BURN!.  It's ok now, but I don't dare use anything like that formula (with ammonia) on my whole HEAD (& it was relatively expensive, too - $10 for a one time coverup of my temples?).  For reasons of economy and health, this is a MUCH better way to go!

And the turmeric?  It cost $2.99 at the health food store - and at the rate I am going, it will last forever....

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The funniest way I heard to literally "pick up" extra $ was to look for dropped coins near the drive ins of fast food outlets,as everyone always drops change! I still do stoop to pick up pennies, myself.  As far as I am concerned, pennies are STILL $ - and I have no compulsion about ever paying with CHANGE.  Having worked in retail, I know lots of shopkeepers LOVE to get extra change, as they are always running OUT! And those pennies are great for paying those tiny extra bits of sales tax that always make the totals uneven.

But the fact that I have been doing this longer than most came to me when a friend was trying to get rid of a junker car.  He and my husband were trying to GIVE it away - without success, and I immediately said, sell it to a junk car dealer. 

They will actually tow it away FREE andeven GIVE you some $ for it! (And the car goes to car parts heaven, a good place for it, so everyone is happy.) They would ha