Well, I am coming out of my slump - I got this awful bug which got me down - but some self-doctoring and I am on the mend. FYI - I took goldenseal as a quasi-antibiotic and then Chinese Gan Mao Ling (good for beginnings of colds that haven't gone into the chest) and my Boiron duck-stuff for the flu -Osocillo - And bought some Hylands homeopathic drops for my slight ear ache.

(Also had a bladder thing which I got rid of by drinking lots of water and taking cranberry tablets!)

All with my regular array of vitamins!  These things are mostly viral nowadays, so all one can do it boost the immune system and deal with the symptoms and hope to shorten the length of the bug.

I am urging my husband who works with germy children to use his antiseptic handwipes OFTEN - so he brings home as few of those germs as possible! (I caught it from HIM, altho it's going around.)

Even in my recovery I have been going after freebies and getting tiny bits of internet $ - from mturk and dollarsurveys.net and my articles on associatedcontent.com - I used my Amazon gift card to get some night cream, which I need. (Got lovely FREE samples of full-sized day cream SPF15 from the net! I am set with that for a while.)

And we sold the old car we had given to us to a friend who is down on his luck and really needs transportation....Our old cars are holding on nicely....And my husband finally is keeping track of his mileage at work (the rate has been raised) - and got $100 back last month - much to his surprise.

We haven't been up to the boat for a MONTH and are getting boatitis! I also realize how much thrift shopping I do up there! Looking around I have a VAST wardrobe - which I will have to dig into this season....(Altho I am trying to get free undies at hanes.com and its wedgie-free Wednesdays....) Finally mended an old hoodie of mine I wear around the house - A stitch in time would have saved a few - but it's ok  - before my husband complained about it been ratty -it was just gone at the seams, so it was easy to sew up. Why don't men get that?

Acquiring the habit of regular library attendance - visiting a branch near my wkly therapist visit - It has lots of what I call current "pulp fiction". Still have to recycle the piles of paperbacks, etc., I have around here!  My weakness is book clubs - I know I shouldn't sign up for them - but I succumb - trying to get out of the mystery club by fulfilling my book obligation.....What does one do with hard back mysteries, anyway?  Presents?

It's been hot and my quasi swamp coolers are under my fans - along with cups of frozen water....it does help a bit....

Ah, wouldn't it be nice to win a spa vacation?  I enter all those contests! and after all, one cannot win if one doesn't enter, no?

And I read the online style magazines - ah! What fantasy lives those women must have.  I have the clothes - but not always the LIFE. We haven't been social butterflies lately - not since my most sociable friend has been away...

But I have been close to home on the net and watching old flicks at night.  Lots of horror on since it's October and Halloween is coming...Saw a good British one called SPIRIT TRAP and a really 80's one called THE HOWLING.  (Even the color was 80's.) It starred an actress I have seen in the flesh fairly recently- and what an ingenue she was in the day!  No wonder I didn't work in the 80's! Not a female character actress in sight.....

Oh well - even had to turn down some acting stuff - that's how lousy I felt! (And and almost no voice for a while.) Onward and upward!

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Well, we are on a money diet - as I call it - and I really haven't spent any money this week.  (Ok, I got some pay-for-view movies and one $1 day pass for winster.com -  and I guess that counts, too, but it will come in after the next, bigger paycheck which includes my hubby's overtime.)  But otherwise...

Of course, I have been home sick - now I have laryngitis and my voice is gone...so I am pounding out on the computer - even playing games! Keeps me from going nuts!

Got the $8 from one gaming site - to my PayPal Mastercard....and have to figure out how to spend my $5 Amazon gift card....a book?

Also applied for the latest readitforward books at readitforward@randomhouse.com  and there is also a program at Harpercollins - Read First, I think it is - that offers more free new books. Even signed on to be on the panel for eHarlequin!

Got a free hair STYLING from Privee - for having had my mammogram - (I thought it was a cut - darn) - that's at the privee website -

And all the other lotion freebies - wow, does that ease the skin care budget. Besides mommysavesbig.com and freestufftimes.com - also try out www.twistedbranches.com!

And of course, inbox dollars and www.dollarsurveys.net ( not COM)

Wouldn't be nice if I WON something?  I have gotten some fancy blush - but I mean, really a BIG trip or something?  That's what I really would like.....aaaaah...

Altho a spa visit would be very nice, too!

Watching the debates tonite - and you??

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Just got a check from thriftyfun.com because I had won a tip contest for my submission on the Free Museum Day last weekend!  Ironically, my hubby & I were under the weather & stayed home...

One of the frugal blogs I had subscribed to has gone out of business and the author said that there just weren't that many things to talk about and she felt she was repeating herself after 4 years.  Well - you know, I ALWAYS have new freebie/frugal stuff to talk about.  It's a continuous treasure hunt for me. 

Wearing a new black t-shirt I got from my freebie foraging....and in the last week I have game winnings from World Winner which I switched to my PayPal account (altho it hasn't shown up yet) - and a $5 Amazon gift certificate I won from Winster.com - I have been filling out surveys for dollarsurveys.net and should be getting some PayPal income there, too.  And I wrote an associated content article, also going to PayPal.  Did some mturk work - describing handbags, of all things, on Sunday - and that's another couple of bucks.  And waiting on my $10 Shell gas card from MyPoints. It's almost $90 extra dollars altogether. And that certainly can be put to good use.

I find that when I feel pressed financially, I always am making little lists of all my freebies, bennies, bits of cash, etc.  Perhaps I find reciting my savings reassuring.  It is nice to be wearing my free tshirt! And using my free lotion samples - and reading my free magazines.  I have enough stocked up for a while now. So I can stay away from stores!

Usually I have started Xmas shopping by now - but I think I am going to retire from most of it this year, and it was a decision I made before this crash.  My nieces and nephews are grown up - and do you know that I have NEVER received any thank you notes from them, ever?  I used to struggle to get NINE people Xmas presents - because I used to meet my parents up at my brother's for the holidays. NINE.  Which I managed somehow  (and then there were birthdays, too) - But the struggle was never recognized - I suppose it wasn't meant to be - but I quit! I mean, only the computerized emails from companies remember my birthday anymore!  (not my hubby or dearest friends - just the rest...)

Just have to think of my hubby.  Don't want his Xmas stocking to be totally empty.  We are on a money diet til the next paycheck, which I actually think will be good for us.  I am used to it - but my hubby is not - and necessity is the mother of thrift, no?

Have a project to enter my better books online to sell at www.cash4books.net to see if I can get any $ for them.  The used books stores around here are full to bursting, if they are still here at all. Going to write more articles, too.  Really should get back to the book.  Folks are going to need my years of experience living on little or nothing more than ever!

Also continuing with the freebies, the contests, the paid surveys, even the free games! Got an email about a live focus group I should be right for - $100 - that would be nice. All this is almost a job.  As I used to say in the old days, one of my jobs was living on my income! That's why I am still in my rent-controlled apartment and have used cars!  If things keep on going this way we are all going to have to pay for everything with CASH. 

I have done that for years -  but again most folks aren't used to it.  I am the one who bought the used frig and had the vintage 50's stove renovated.  We are the ones with the thriftshop dishwasher (new portable ones are $400+).  Paid with cash, all of it - and at considerable savings, too.

My hubby was talking about getting another, newer car - but the ones we have are running OK and we frankly can't afford it! The truck is the iffiest - and we don't use that as much...but it's great for hauling and luckily there is a lot of street parking around here.

It's going to be a LOT of "we can't afford it" in the near future. I hate playing Wicked Witch of the North - but the credit card stops here.

How are you putting on the brakes?  We don't have a mortgage - just rent  (I crunched numbers and decided we couldn't afford that either, even in the glory days, not in L.A.) - how are you guys coping?

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Just a quick correction - the site I go to for paid surveys is dollarsurveys.net (NOT .COM) -  I am under the weather but still racking up points, etc.

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My husband has been down with a respiratory thing for a couple of weeks, which I seem to have avoided - only to get something ELSE. I have applied homecare relatively successfully - using goldenseal as an antibiotic of sorts. You can only use if for a few days, but it's good to have to boost your immune system. I also took all my wellness vitamins, and some other herbal remedy and now I am practically cured, altho I still will probably go to the MD on Saturday. 

The last few times I have played nurse, I did such a good job that when my husband went to the doc, the MD just reiterated a treatment that I had already started! But it's better to be safe than sorry.  My mother was trained as a nurse, so she doctored us up al lot as children - so I am used to that.  But I still think it's good to know as much first aid and selfcare as possible. (Check out Web MD's Symptom Checker to get a handle on what you probably have.)

Flu season is going to start soon, and since that's viral and they can't kill viruses yet, we have to cope the best we can, and prop up our immune systems.  I have used homeopathic remedies and Chinese nostrums plus my wellness vitamins - and you know, it does help!  I do research these remedies as best I can on the internet - where there is SO much information!

I have written an article about that sort of coping on www.associatedcontent.com/pamelamunro - if you are interested. Also another article on my latest freebie hunting.  And I am getting ready an article for thriftyfun about Beauty on a Budget.  We need to keep up our appearances! 

Also racking up points on inboxdollars and at dollarsurveys.net - altho they do make you work for your bits of $. But if I am here doing nothing else...why not? My pin money is increasingly coming in handy. Just little bits for fun or emergencies? And I watched Kay Francis flicks all last night!

My husband sometimes scoffs at my attempts - but he also says that if he "brings in the bacon", I "bring in the bacon bits" - and the bacon bits can sometimes save the day!! How are your bacon bits doing??

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Watched The Other Boleyn Girl  flick last night on pay-per-view - It was an extravagence, but I adore costume dramas & there really wasn't anything to watch otherwise - I lOOKED. I want to see The Duchess, another chick flick costume drama.  We had a FREE screening, which we missed, because we both had a bug.  Now I think I will just have to wait until it hits cable one way or the other.  I just can't see spending $20 to see a movie if within a year I can see in on cable! 

I also don't know why anyone BUYS these things on CD.  I have a few - but only gifts and ones I have for professional purposes because I am IN IT. My brother and his family buy/get scads.  But when do they watch them?? Beats me.

Some youngsters seem to memorize movies.  That's why a lot of new flicks seem so derivitive - they are! I recognize bits and pieces from old movies I seem to recognize and find myself saying, Oh, that's where they got THAT.

I like diversity in my entertainment.  New things to look at all the time. Old flicks on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) are great because of the clothes and the melodrama and the escapism! It's been Kay Francis month on TCM which is lovely, because I haven't seen THOSE.  So I have declared those nights movie nights and just stayed glued to the set.

Relatively cheap entertainment.  But it does keep one at home.  Everything else seems to cost $ - even just the gas....

So I do my computer stuff, part biz and part pleasure and part freebie hunting and part keeping up with the frugal folks. I do get creative when feeling broke.  No clothes shopping for a while - not even thrift stores! I will just dive into my admittedly extensive wardrobe and find something THERE.

They say that education and entertainment thrive in a depression - they did in the last GREAT one.  So perhaps my husband and I, being in those 2 fields will be OK.  So far, so good - but we have to clean up some stuff...Little by Little.  And I am better at frugality than my husband, altho I have been training him on bargains.  He just can't seem to get it in his head that if you don't have the $, you can't GET IT, the poor dear... I am more used to that.

I lived from hand to mouth for so many years before I got married - so I am very used to that lifestyle.  I suppose that's a good thing, because making the adjustments in these difficult financial times is not so hard or alien to me.  I have almost always scrounged!  (without openly admitting it, of course.)

Now it seems I can boast of recycling and being green and of deciding to live the frugal life style.  How things have changed.  I do hope that via the blog and the book I am writing that I can help those who are not as experienced in this as I am find out how to live nicely on next to nothing.  What do you say? How is this hitting you all out there?

P.S . Got more of my free magazines in the mail yesterday.

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Well, the penny jar did go to Coinstar the other day - All that copper had to get back into circulation!  I only use Coinstar for pennies, tho, because they do charge a percentage to convert change! I know some banks have free ones, but none around here, alas.

I also cashed in my dollar coins, which I had saved.  It's amazing how much change can come in handy!  It's still money, you know! And it's somehow easier to put it away in the piggy bank for a rainy day.  And the weather has been a bit rough....

I also have written another article for www.associatedcontent.com on my freebie hunting.  Check it out.  That payment has gone to my Paypal Master Card for easy access.

Also piling up my points at MyPoints.com - only another 600 or so for another $10 card - probably another $10 Shell card for gas. (We have a Shell station around the corner.)

It's funny how reassuring I find this.  Even if I find myself housebound by circumstances, I can still make some pin money, and it all adds up  - and the IRS is none the wiser, either!  I end up counting my blessings, my pin money and my freebies - it's so consoling!

But the small amounts do help one to get to payday sometimes, don't they?

Comments anyone?

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Oh, it looks as if I have been neglecting you all!  I have had a few auditions, etc. and the rest of the time I have gotten into freebie hunting.  I found RoboForm, which fills in the forms automatically, so I am getting/entering EVERYTHING - as well as exploring freebie sites.  I WILL win something eventually!

(Note - for non-computer contests, long ago I read that you should enter all the local contests, as they have better odds.  Now I always fill out the blanks at stores, and I have won small things that way...)

In the meantime, because I have been so diligent, I am now getting samples daily in the mail!  That's fun.  I have gotten skin care samples - a book on Scottish single malts for my brother - a mini Mr. Clean eraser, a sample of Cascade for the diswasher - and I can't remember the rest!  Also signing up for free magazines - and I got an Allure subscription for $5....

Lots of padded envelopes I can re-use, too.  Do you know that they cost $1 or more each? But they can be used over and over.

The best places to go for freebie seem to be:

• Mommysavesbig.com
• freestufftimes.com
• freakyfreddies
• twistedbranches.com

I also have been filling out surveys for dollarsurveys.com - which goes into my PayPal account - which in turn goes into my PayPal debit card, so I can use it more easily.

Waiting for my points to click in at MyPoints, so I can get my $10 Shell gas card....playing games with some funding that I don't know where it came from added points, too. I also click through their offers daily.  It adds up.  (From MyPoints I have already gotten a $25 Kohl's card, which I gave to my husband for his birthday - and a $10 Shell card.)

Amazon's mechanical turk has been lousy lately, so nothing there, but I am transferring what I have to my checking account - so I won't just spend it on books! (Although I did just get a music book with it - for $5 or so w/ shipping! - List price $14.95!)

Also downloaded FREE instruction books for the Anglo Concertina from concertina.com.  Trying to teach  myself the concertina with the extra buttons someone gave me.  I have to refurbish it first, tho - took it apart and tried to mend it - but I really have to replace the little rubber sleeves under the buttons.  I did that on my other concertina with aquarium tubing and it worked just fine.  THOSE instruments I can fix/maintain - but my poor digital horn sits in the closet because I don't know anything about capacitators!

I had a free movie screening of the Duchess - but my husband and I were feeling poorly, so we skipped it.  Darn.  I want to see that movie! Great costumes!  I love costume flicks.

Anyone see the Coco Chanel biopic on Lifetime?  A real chick flick!  I love those.  And again, great CLOTHES. I almost liked the old Chanel things more than the newer ones....

So that's it - I have been making pin money and getting freebies.

Looking at my penny jar and considering taking it to the local CoinStar, too. And I got a book from Amazon about an ancestor of the Churchills in the Stuart period - there are a series by the same author - but I am going to try to get the rest from the LIBRARY

See ya. And thanks for the comments - Please keep them coming!

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Because I have been working on a book about my frugal lifestyle, I have been trying to determine what my frugal style actually IS. It certainly doesn't mean having my own chickens and a fish pond, as a recent My Frugal Life contributor said!

But then I have lived in the city for more than 25 years, so my point of reference is quite different. (Although at one point an Armenian landlord of mine grew melons in a space in the back of the apartment...)

We are trying to keep our middle class lifestyle - middle class and holding, as I say - on an average income in an expensive city.  And as far as that goes, we don't do too badly. There is always room for improvement, and we have only been married for a few years, so we are still working on our dual finances...

Even though I live in jeans, t-shirts, etc. - I do have to have a wardrobe - I just had a commercial audition in which I had to drag out my Mrs. Santa Claus outfit for an audition for a holiday spot - in the heat of early September!  Imagine trying to give a wintery feel when it actually is quite warm! If I wore wool, as some of the others there did, I would keel over - so I have my green velveteen swing coat and my tinsely Mrs. Claus hat!

We provided music for the First monthly Los Feliz Art Walk in the courtyard of Hollywood Lutheran, and a good time was had by all! A few tips, we handed out some cards, and ate the food in the buffet. The courtyard is nice and grassy now - so it was so nice to hang out in the warm Southern California evening.  So few places to actually DO that....(That's one thing about my little apartment - it lacks that...)

Then we went up to the boat.  It always feels as if one had spent a week there, even if it's just overnight! That oceanic sensation - it does make it a bit hard to come, bam, back down to earth in the city -  even if there is a tree outside my window.

So, back to work! Any of you out there?  I still am trying to get input for my frugal book & would appreciate any/all comments!

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The theme today seems to be communications - I had to fiddle with my old fax to try to get an incoming fax & finally resorted to my free efax acct. (go to efax.com). The fax then shows up in my email. They will give you a free number that people can fax to - but it's not local.  You have to pay for a local one. I use it so rarely, it doesn't matter. (And we use the old fax to fax OUT - as scanning to fax out is a pain!)

Ah! the electronic cottage!

Also now have another # at k7.com for filling out pesky forms, etc. A free small (20 msg) answering service! They just want you to use it and keep it current! (a Seattle # for me).

And ran across slydial - where you dial 267-SLYDIAL + the U.S. number to bypass the person & go right to their voicemail! A way to return calls without having to wait until the middle of the night!

AND Vistaprint.com is having another one of its big sales. I ordered a musical tshirt for my husband just for shipping.  And they also have postcard, business cards - even with your photos!  A great deal.

Also, sometime ago I mentioned that you can get free postcards at hippomail.com - I haven't perfected that - it's one of my projects...

Well, I did get a musical gig for the holiday because of old connections (I vow to get better with my recordkeeping!) Now to practice....

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In Barnes & Noble enjoying the A/C and looking at the bargain books and ran up against THE ORGINAL GIRL's HANDY BOOK - a reprint of an original 1887 book written by 2 of the founders of the Girl Scouts!  It has beautiful etched black and white illustrations - (almost worth it just for THOSE) as well as lots of charming suggestions for things girls can make. 

It shows you how to preserve flowers and ferms and used them for decoration - has suggestions for old-fashioned ways to celebrate holidays through out the year, and lots of crafts which remind one of Martha Stewart (do you wonder where her folks get all their ideas?)

It even shows you 2 ways to make a hammock and how to contrive a lawn tennis net! And several ways to make fans....

I indulged myself in this hardcover, because I have always found that those old-timey how-to books were extremely inspirational and reminded me of other, older ways to do things. It strikes me how organic it all feels - portiere curtains made out of nuts you have gathered - dried seaweed decorations! And there are suggestions how to make a combination bookshelf/window seat unit out of wooden boxes!  (People used to like to sit and look out the window, not a bad idea...)

I first ran across that sort of book when I was a teenager at a friend's house - a guide for the late19th C. housewife - & I was so taken by it, that they let me have it.  And I still do, years later! All sorts of instructions for turning fabric and making clothes last longer and all kinds of housewifely thrift! It started a lifelong interest in old guides to doing things. So many interesting DIY and simple craft ideas.  So much self-sufficiency!

It makes you realize how much pre-made STUFF we have.  And the pleasure we get from doing or contriving something ourselves.  I always feel that way - even with a successful trip to the thrift shop or 99 Cent Store - or when I have repaired/resewn something or managed to take out a spot! It's a source of pride that my summer boat shoes look so good with their coat of off-white craft paint shoe polish! Or that I can touch up the bit of grey at my temples with a dab of strong coffee! (and no chemical irritation, either!)

I have a note for my frugal book - "Think Old." Meaning that often going back to earlier and simpler ways of doing things can be cost-saving and liberating, in a way.  I really am enjoying my $1 tape of Mozart's piano concerto in my old car's tape player.  Would a CD be better?

But then, I was a Girl Scout for years, so where better to be inspired than by our founders!

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My husband and I are celebrating my birthday together - and last night we took advantage of our Lawry's VIP coupons to go to the Tam O'Shanter - a lovely old restaurant with lots of Scottish memorabilia and great prime rib.  We had a free appetizer and $50 off the meal(s) (2 $25 coupons) - and a complimentary little birthday cake - so after the discount our meal only cost $40!!  Even with some wine for me. And we got points against further meals!

Today I think I will cash in my Sizzler birthday coupon at the Sizzler around the corner & maybe have seafood? I also have a coupon for a free meal at the Whale's Tail up at Ch. Is. Harbor!  It's worth it to sign up for all those restaurant plans! And it makes it nice to celebrate using those coupons/discounts. Being festive without too much guilt!

(Think Black Angus has one, too - but haven't gotten anything from THEM yet.)

Also got my PayPal Mastercard debit card in the mail, all the better to spend the little PayPal $ I rack up from associatedcontent articles and so on...

P.S. Nope we are staying in - dont't feel like Sizzler -

Fascinated by THE UNTHINKABLE a book by Amanda Ripley about "who survives when disaster strikes" - anecdotes backed up by scientific research findings.  It came today as part of Random House's readitforward program as a freebie!  They send out free books which they want you to read & pass on - join at www.readitforward.com  !! My hubby will love this book when I am finished with it - he loves survival stories....

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Found out that the PSA I did for the Center for Health Care Rights in L.A. is being shown locally on KCAL9 on 9/8 between 12-2PM. (And Jolly Roger still occasionally pops up on SciFi in the middle of the night!)

No much to do with my frugality, except that my artistic proclivities got me into pinching pennies!

Got to go to my favorite thrift shops this long weekend.  Got a lovely Carole Little silk top for $2 and a nice $2 linen embroidered shirt and a pile of mystery paperbacks!  Downtown Ventura yielded a rusty red suede shouldbag for the fall ($7) and a few shawls - one a brand new Indian one! And some little hand creams and eyeglass cases in the last one!

I really never go into conventional clothing stores much anymore - very rarely! I AM boho in tendencies and have to have things on hand for auditions.  Going on one tomorrow and digging out a shirt to wear for it that's really not much my style - but great for the character.

Think my minor swamp cooler water container under my fans are contributing on the hot days! And here there is Indian Summer in spades  and more heat to come.

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Spend my extra time between work surfing the net and checking on the deals I get via emails.  Did you know that you can get a debit card from Paypal?? I have a little $ there - & now I can use it places besides eBay -

I also have some $ at amazon from mturk.com deals - bought some books!

Got my card for $10 free Shell gas from mypoints.com - and a coupon from my local station for a free car wash & $3 off 10 gal or more!

Doing freebies like mad - get something almost daily.  Indulged in $3 handcream from WeiEast - they have great samples.  And using the big bottle of Gloves in A Bottle I got to try.  I like it except I wish they would get a better dispenser - since you really have to use so little at a time!  I do feel the difference in my hands - but I still have to use creamier hand lotion -that plus the WeiEast is great!  Seems to withstand washing, too - Would be great if my hands were in water all the time! (I try to avoid THAT.)

Got lots of samples a while a go from my favorite local healthfood store (I do buy supplements there!) Now I have 2 ziplock BAGS of samples, which I rummage thru - eye cream, cleanser and all sorts of stuff.  Even a little bottle of witch hazel.  I do like the Kiss My Face stuff - may actually BUY some of that eventually! The shampoo samples are nice for wkends on the boat, too! And I put the sunscreen samples in my purse to apply on the go. (Remember to close the packets by folding over and securing with paperclips/hairchips/bobbypins - as there is more than one application in most packets!

Trying to get inspiration for my budget book - as I see myself somewhere between a Budget Fashionista and the truly austere frugal. (Would they spend $ on headbands, I ask you?) And then there are the 30-yr-old kids who plan somehow to become millionaires with the help of compound interest.  Not me, either.

I just like to squeeze as much value as I can out of what I have - which I don't do too bad a job at!  And I would like to clue in others that being broke doesn't = misery.  Any thoughts out there?  I would love some feedback.

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Not much going on - but FYI - I think the SUGAR-FREE iced coffee at McD's is good - the other one is MUCH too sweet - I also like the ice cream cones & the yogurt!

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Spent a lovely 4-day wkend at Channel Is. Harbor on the boat. They don't call it the gateway to the "American Riviera" for nothing!

Played our music for Harbor Days on Sat. & I got a lovely travel bag - now it's playing the concertina for lunch and a bag and a lovely day outside!

Got some more nice headbands at the Dollar Tree (they are back in style, you know - ) and stocked up on tissue packages....

On the way home, I asked my husband how he thought we were doing vis a vis my pennypinching - what were my successes?  To my surprise he replied "in recreation"- meaning our boat weekends and so on. True.  Our excursion up the coast cost us at leat $500 - and 1/2 of that was lodging because we just weren't up for camping - Staying on the boat is a happy medium for us - Quasi camping! And a heater at night if we need it....

I think I would add wardrobe/makeup and beauty supplies/books!

Have always spent more on those things than someone truly austere would do - but I AM an actress and performer in HOLLYWOOD - so I need prof. wardrobe and generally not to look too ratty! And sortta keep up with the trends....And within my budget limitations I don't think I do too badly - and I always seem to have something nice to wear for almost any occasion - because who knows what will turn up!

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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