Pam's Pennypinching With STYLE

Our Frugal Funeral Trip to Michigan

Thu, 30 May 2013 20:40:33 GMT

It was a nice trip - but a sad occasion. My mother-in-law died suddenly and we found we were bound to Upper Michigan for a week for the funeral. My husband got the time off as bereavement - so that helped...) We flew no-frills SW Airlines, which allows you to carry more bags without cost than other airlines. And there is no food on the plane, but we made sure to eat well before we departed, and had plenty of water with us from the airport. (They make you abandon your water bottles at security, so have a disposable...)This is probably old hat to anyone who travels a lot - but I somehow hadn't flown in years, so it was fairly new to me. Also remembered to wear slip-off shoes with pants stockings (and jeans) to help go through the check point. I was also glad I had a book to read - because there was no in-flight movie or music! Also, I marked the bags with gold-colored ribbons, so we could identify them when they came out on the turntable.

(Hubby had run out to our local Goodwill to buy our luggage - 4 bags for about $20! and they were perfectly nice....)

Once there, we rented a car with a discount from SouthWest - They tried to sell us insurance that was more than the daily rental costs - but we have coverage on our auto insurance, so we passed that by! Wheelie luggage of the sort we had made it easier to go through the airport without renting a chart - and we had packed fairly light - leaving room for anything we took back. So, all in all, we didn't incur any airline fees beyond normal. Southwest had no designated seating, and we had gotten our tickets late (and there is no accounting for bereavement nowadays) - so we were the LAST on the plane - but on the way back we remembered to confirm EARLY and then got in the middle of the plane. (And on the way back, we took one of the bags as a carryon - because it had breakable things in it...)

Once there, we stayed at our mother-in-law's old place along with hubby's brother Peter, and we were glad that we could be with him at this hard time. There was some planning for the funeral - but my mother-in-law had planned most of it out beforehand - so all was left was to get the lilacs she loved from local bushes (and somewhat force them to bloom by putting them in warm water...) and putting up her art work on easels in the vestibule of the church - One of her daughters put together a big photo collage of her life and family - and there was also a book of family photos to look at. Both very nice ideas, Afterwards the people in the church had a nice hot lunch for us, too.

I found a place to wear my bargain thriftshop black Chico's jacket top, over a long-sleeved black tee, and with soft pants. - Everything traveled very well, and nothing needed ironing! I had run across a natural pearl necklace at a steal price at the local Goodwill the day before (I always check out the thrift stores, etc.) and I wore it to the funeral - not telling anyone when I was complimented on it that I had just acquired it that way! I don't think they knew at Goodwill that it was real - but it was handknotted and had the right sheen and texture and weight. It was worth at least several times what I paid for it. Who would think about finding pearls in Upper Michigan? And my hair held up nicely - expensive haircuts do have their value, as they grow out so nicely.

The service was very nice and simple - and her musical daughter and her husband and friends played 2 gospel hymns - which made the service more personal and memorable. The night before all the children (with children and step-children, they numbered seven, plus THEIR children and spouses - ) we had a BBQ with discount steaks and homemade salad and local pies and lots of beer - and listened to the bluegrass group rehearse over the evening. We all talked, and my husband caught up with everyone, as he hadn't been home in too long.

The rest of the time hubby and his brother caught up with old friends - I went antiquing and found a STEAL in a 19th/early 20th C. German bisque doll dressed as a Dutch girl- which I got for $25 - and which is probably - according to my internet research worth at least $125-165! I never thought I would be able to afford another bisque doll for my small doll collection!

We also drove around and saw places they used to go for picnics - and there was more antiquing and I found some nice blue-green glass insulators - lovely color and ANOTHER short strand of pearls I think may be cultured - for $1. We also found a handmade Packer wooden plaque which we bought and gave to Peter - as he has a collection of Packer memorabilia and wouldn't have anything like THAT. We drove around my late mother-in-law's old car - which had gas - and which was larger and more comfortable than the smaller rental -

We also headed out to a resort that hubby's mother and father had liked to stay in. There were deals on a game of golf - so hubby and Peter played a "memorial golf classic" in this course which is beautiful and on an island, so it is surrounded by a river. They have a Friday night fish fry at the lodge (Al Capone is rumored to have stayed there) - a tradition in those parts - and quite inexpensive.

One day after the funeral we drove up to Door County (you have to swing down and around to get up to the peninsula - saw an historic light house and went up and visited again with one of the sisters. It is beautiful country. Pure Michigan, as the ad campaigns say and all that green spring nature was beautiful and a balm, giving one a sense of continuity. There are visitor centers in both Wisconsin and Michigan (they are across the river from each other here) - and there are bountiful brochures and guides, and even a booklet that had B&W postcard pix of the lighthouses (there are HUNDREDS in this area!) Hubby had breakfast with several old friends, and generally re-connected to his roots. It IS a different life up there! Coming back to the pace of even Milwaukee - where we flew out - is a big change! And the people did look different in LAX!

P.S. If you are up in that neck of the woods, I recommend the pasties - meat pies said to originate with the Cornish miners who worked in that area, who brought them to work with them. It's a real local specialty!

Picking and Collecting

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:17:33 GMT

Boy, do I enjoy the cable show AMERICAN PICKERS. It's my kind of collecting - going into masses of seeming junk and coming out with real finds at a good price. I don't know a lot about the industrial Americana that they seem to specialize in, but it amazes me that out of a rusty pile they can pick out the ONE old rusty Harley-Davidson frame that a collector would want to mount their vintage engine on! They KNOW this stuff, and the people whose collections they are scouting KNOW their stuff, too. Out of a whole backyard of metal parts, the original owner can tell JUST what year the part is dated and all sorts of things about where it came from (provenance). THEN the pickers find just the BUYER for that pair of 1920's gas pumps - who will then restore them and add them to HIS collection.

It proves to me that it is still possible to find little treasures in obscure corners. I tend to specialize in thrift shops. The "old lady" kinds are better - many with items from senior estates or a result of downsizing to go into a retirement home...But I have found goodies that have slipped through the cracks even at Goodwill and Salvation Army stores, where most of the "good" stuff is skimmed off the top. My 19th C. hand-colored framed lithograph of a boat in full sail is one example. And my little mounted bronze head of an India girl is another. One for $15, the other for TWO. And they are both worth a lot more than that.

I started off liking modernist chrome and minimalist lines, but the things that I could afford were more classic, so I have developed into an eccentric traditionalist. And my eye has developed over the years, I am proud of that.

For some eye-training of your own, if you are interested in such things (and to discover what that Murano glass ashtray that was brought back from a 60's trip to Europe is going for now retail) - take a look at www.OneKingsLane.com on the net. I am hooked on the vintage part of the site. It's amazing what the little treasures (and the mid-century furniture) of our parents and grandparents are all going for. (Although these prices are not the cheap end that I can afford!) These are the prices after someone like me has scored on a deal and then made a profit by selling it off to a dealer of some sort. (See the process on AMERICAN PICKERS from the first sale from a crammed barn to their retail prices. They give you a pretty good course in negotiating prices, too....)

I didn't intend any of this. I just grew up loving my grandmother's and my godmother's old stuff. And the taste grew and grew. Touches like that do add to a nice, tasteful home atmosphere, at prices often lower than the reproductions! Not to mention that they will retain their value - which most cheaper reproductions don't. So it makes sense to cultivate your taste and get your eye used to finding that ONE thing in a pile of cast-offs that is of any interest. And it's thrifty, too! Something that I am proud of...

Do you like "old stuff"?

Picking and Collecting

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:17:32 GMT

Do you like "old stuff"?

Bling and a Book

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 23:05:21 GMT

I have said that I hate spending LOTS of money - but I DO like BARGAINS. And I hope I have found another one - a 4 carat blue topaz cubic zirconia ring in a stainless steel setting. Not silver, but the ring is the same color and hypoallergenic, so the metal suits me fine. Now I looked it up and 4 carats is a pretty large stone - about the size of a small prune more or less, anyway, larger than a pea - so that is a pretty flashy cocktail ring. Got it at Beyond Retail for just over $20 with shipping. Not bad, I think. I mean, it's not GLASS.

My mother had a large blue topaz I think my sister got - but since cubic zirconia is practically a gem, I am fine with this! And the silver color and the blue of the stone just fit my wardrobe. Hmm, I have been invited out to a birthday party at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, all dressed up - and I think it would be just the time to debut the ring! Then if I am wearing a dress that I have gotten out of the closet - and I think I have one that I have only worn once - then it will still feel quite special. And that's a bargain, don't you think?

The point is to live LARGE and ENJOY things. I can do that even at my increasing old age and hope to continue to do so. I have a lot of nice costumey jewelry, all gotten at good prices, so I could always get my investment back on them by taking them to market if I had to...

Reading a book by an author of my mother's generation, Margery Wilson, which I got out of the library after having stumbled upon another of her vintage advice books in Bart's in Ojai - for $.50! Apparently she was a silent movie ingenue with D.W. Griffith in the silent days and then transformed herself into a 40's self-help guru and wrote at least 8 books on various aspects of charm, style, and living well as a woman. The one I stumbled upon in Bart's bargain shelf is YOU'RE AS YOUNG AS YOU ACT - which has a lot of pointers that still hold up. (She's big on posture and other aspects of physicality that she became acquainted with as an actress - very valid to this day.)

The book from the library is HOW TO LIVE BEYOND YOUR MEANS (I just loved the title and had to read it) and while it has to do with a sort of thrift, it emphasizes a positive, expansive and glorious kind of living. She quotes from Emerson (?) - "There is hope in extravagance, there is none in routine." and then goes on to Aristippus - "Of extravagance were a fault, it would not have a place in the festivals of the gods." Now, this was written in 1945, just at the end of World War II, so this has even more meaning, being in contrast to the scrimping on the homefront that had gone on. "So fixed is my determination to get more than I pay for that my conniving to accomplish my goal is devious and fascinating, " she says. There is nothing wrong with that, she tells us. Live life to the hilt!

I cannot agree with her more. I have always had limited means, but I must say that I am very vain of the fact that I have maximized their value through alternate routes to getting what I wanted. The ring is a case in point. For all that I will wear it, cubic zirconia is just fine, thank you very much. The diamond versions of it (and there are a few around the big stone) are just as good as real diamonds, the price of which is help up by the diamond cartel - and you have to be a scientist to tell the difference. Is anyone going to look that closely at my ring? And again, much better quality than the cocktail ring I got at H&M, which is handsome, but I think the gem is PLASTIC - it's black, so it looks like onyx or something - but if you scratch it, it would show....(I glammed up the setting with some metallic nail polish to "age" the metal - most inexpensive things are too darned shiny.)

And it lifts my spirits - a little extravagance to make me feel less like Cinderella in Hollywood! Diehard cheap skates may not worry about keeping up appearances - but even aging actresses, DO.

Boy Do I hate Spending $

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:56:51 GMT

I wrote out a check for a nice clean little used car yesterday - and boy, was it painful. I know that paying cash for a car is the best way to go, and that we have the money, and that this is a car re-done by our local mechanic, with whom we have a good relationship - & had to be grabbed before it disappeared, and everything checked out - price, condition and so on. (We looked it up online.) And we really trust this guy...but boy, I hate spending money! I think I can go up to about $100 - in a pinch a bit more - without panic - but a couple of thousand? It's very hard.

I remember that in the book THE CHEAPSKATE NEXT DOOR the author talked about an aversion to spending money - plain and simple - We thrifty types just don't like to do it! I think that's why I can spend $40 in a thrift shop without too much guilt - but to spend the equivalent in NEW clothes would make me a nervous wreck. Hey, I am the type who buys $2 bathing suits in thrift shops - I have to admit - altho I know a lot of you would disapprove. But it's clean and washed and so what's the big deal? Who wants to spend $40-50 or more on a bathing suit? I just wear it in the hot tub & it stretches out in no time. Luckily I like plain styles & as long as it fits....

The irony of all this is that I DO like to shop. Apparently most cheapskates just don't. I confine myself to window shopping in malls when I mall walk - & gawk at the prices - Then I know what I want when I come upon good deal in thrift shops in upscale neighborhoods. Yes, I am glad that SOMEONE paid full price presumably for that Michael Kors top - but I am happy to land it for $4. And in the end no one knows except my readers here and my good friends....

So I work out my shopping thing in browsing around thrift shops and dollar stores and other bargain outlets like Big Lots - and it's so much fun when I SCORE and land a big thing. You can tell from my other posts! But buying a car gives me the shivers! Wish me luck everybody...

More Thrift?

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 01:28:22 GMT

I spend a lot of time home on my computer - and I do my shopping on the weekends when I can get out to my bargain outlets. This last weekend I lucked out at a thrift shop I normally don't go to - or don't usually find anything - and snagged 3 nightgowns (one with a fancy lacy top) and two tops (one Michael Kors) and a blue cotton sweater (very versatile) and a black wrap jersey dress (which was cut peculiarly but looks great on) and a pair of patent clogs - all for $4 or so each! (Plus a pair of nylon knit black pants for $1 on the bargain rack) - I calculated that I got about $200 worth of clothes for about $35!

Then I went to another thrift shop and found a pair of sunglass clips in very good condition for $.50 for my husband who is always losing his. They cost $15 new now - if you can find them! and I also got a bright green visor hat for $1 -

Then we went to the library store and I bought four paperback mysteries for $.50 each and hubby found Harry Potter books for the kids at school. We spent $8 in total for a value of four at $6 each $24 - plus the 3 Potter books which were marked at $25 each! So we got approximately $100 worth of books for our $8 - and when I am finished with mine, I will recycle them for book credit at a local used bookstore....

I picked up my 2nd set of 2 pairs of glasses that had been on sale at Sears for 2 for $99 - Basic frames, but they fit just right and for the 4 pair I ended up getting on sale I paid $180 instead of at a minimum $70 each (with my own frames) or $280 - so I saved about $100.

We were then in the neighborhood of a Big Lots where i had gotten skin care at a bargain a week ago - and I found retinol eye cream ($7) - night cream ($7) tone corrector (a bit pricey $12) and dry shampoo at $1 each can - and then a spray of the old fragrance White Shoulders for $8 - I calculated that I had gotten at least $83 worth of product for $27. (The wouldn't buy TWO of those items in the drug store.) I looked on the internet and even at a discount perfume site the White Shoulders was ten dollars more, and then there would be shipping.

You can get a good deal on old established brands of fragrance. I love Grey Flannel for my husband, and you can practically get that at the drugstore cheaply - and while I was checking prices at the discount fragrance site and seeing if they had any more Intimate by Jean Phillippe (I had gotten a bunch at the 99 Cent Store!) - I ordered that old standby 4711 - one of the original unisex colognes - with an extra 15% off - so I am getting a big bottle for about $27 with shipping. That is a great everyday fragrance, and mixes well with other fragrances as well! And you won't be wearing anything that anyone else is wearing - not to mention not spending the extra for the celebrity who is touting the fragrance - see the price differences even on a discount perfume site online!

This isn't farming thrift - as you don't need fragrance to feed the chickens - but I do do it out of conviction because I am trying to live my life as an impecunious actress - that is, without much $ - Still without a car, so I took a taxi to my callback (2nd audition) and then hitched the bus home because I was close to a direct line back home - that's the advantage of living in Hollywood close to where they do the casting. I don't really like using public transport all the time, but it is good to know that I can, in a pinch - and I carry change around in a little change purse to use for the bus - or to put in the parking meter if I have a Zipcar.

Now we have a bit of money, so we are looking for a used car. Our mechanic has ones which he has fixed up for sale, so that's where we are starting. It's good because it sort of guarantees the quality of the car - But I have been coping with taxis and the Zipcar car sharing (There is a Zipcar site within walking distance of my apartment.) The trouble is that when I GET a job I would have to rent a car - or at least book a Zipcar for a day - all a terrible hassle when just getting to a location is a job unto itself!

Getting close - and will be filming the end of the skin care infomercial for which I just received another month's worth of skin care - Wish me luck!

More Thrift?

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 01:28:22 GMT

Getting close - and will be filming the end of the skin care infomercial for which I just received another month's worth of skin care - Wish me luck!

More than a Cheapskate

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:07:31 GMT

Thinking about thrift again- & I got a pile of books out of the library. (There is another vintage one that I ordered from the main branch, which I wait for with anticipation...) The most interesting one is THE CHEAPSKATE NEXT DOOR by Jeff Yeager. I agree with many of his tenets that is it is better to be frugal than go with the next styles - but it is all a little rustic for me - along the lines of keeping your own hens, slaughtering your own meat and such. I live in Hollywood, for heaven's sake. Yes, I am now using Zipcar car sharing to go to auditions, as I wait for a second car - but as an actress and performer, no matter how down home I get, I need to keep up to date on some levels. I have to keep up certain appearances that some of his cheapskates can avoid. Sure,. my life is pretty basic, and I do spend a lot of time in front of my computer in jeans and tee shirts or sweat shirts - but I have a chance to go to an industry cocktail mixer at the famed Skybar - & I have to have something to wear THERE, too.

Luckily, I am prepared - with my orange corduroy ruffled neck jacket (orginally from Chico's but I snagged it at a thrift shop) which makes a splash every time I wear it - Great jackets and jeans or pants can be worn almost everywhere, so I collect them.....Looking forward to it. It's hard to live so close to all the glitz and not indulge in it every once in a while! So we have the accessories, the shoes, the jewelry and so on....all acquired a way below market prices.

Last weekend I found a great jacket - another one in ORANGE - at Goodwill - $5!! It was marked at a VERY large size (22) but I don't know how anyone that size would wear it, as it fits me at a 14!! (Thriftshop clothes are very often sized wrong, so watch out for that.) Another mis-sized item was a pair of NEW Mozo open-toed sandals, built for the ages out of solid leather - a size SMALLER than I usually wear - but they FIT anyway - and even at $9 they were a steal - They still had the tag on them and retail for $70-100 new. (I looked it up.) But they needed some breaking in - The toe area was stiff and a bit tight - so I have been applying alcohol to wet it and stretch it out and wearing them around the house. I used to use shoe stretch, but then I found out that cheap cologne (90% alcohol) or plain rubbing alcohol will do. These sandals will be perfect go-tos for the Spring and Summer. I know, I am not supposed to age myself with sensible shoes - but one does have to mind one's feet, and I CAN'T wear more than kitten heels these days.

I agree with the Cheapskate that change is not always progress, but life around you is morphing anyway - I suppose I am a bit of a Luddite - and I found signing in to the audition today on a touchscreen device a bit of a pain - But I have to know how to do it & how to put a credit card into the parking meter. Ugh. And it's all in a day's work. Woody Allen was right, sometimes in life what matters is just showing up and in the process dealing with the Zipcar and its card - and the parking meter which won't take change - and the touchscreen sign in - and then some loose cords and a computer crisis at home. (Luckily I got back online, as I couldn't remember how to sign in on the secondary laptop!) Is that progress? But I have to have a cell phone and do submissions online and sign in the way they want me to, whether I like it or not! So, I just stay a step behind everybody where the technology is cheaper for being ever so slightly dated! It's a compromise the real cheapskates would have a hard time with - so I am just thrifty, I guess!

More than a Cheapskate

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 00:07:31 GMT

Luckily, I am prepared - with my orange corduroy ruffled neck jacket (originally from Chico's but I snagged it at a thrift shop) which makes a splash every time I wear it - Great jackets and jeans or pants can be worn almost everywhere, so I collect them.....Looking forward to it. It's hard to live so close to all the glitz and not indulge in it every once in a while! So we have the accessories, the shoes, the jewelry and so on....all acquired at way below market prices.

Last weekend I found a great light jacket - another one in ORANGE - at Goodwill - $5!! It was marked at a VERY large size (22) but I don't know how anyone that size would wear it, as it fits me at a 14!! (Thriftshop clothes are very often sized wrong, so watch out for that.) Another mis-sized item was a pair of NEW Mozo open-toed sandals, built for the ages out of solid leather - a size SMALLER than I usually wear - but they FIT anyway - and even at $9 they were a steal - They still had the tag on them and retail for $70-100 new. (I looked it up.) But they needed some breaking in - The toe area was stiff and a bit tight - so I have been applying alcohol to wet it and stretch it out and wearing them around the house. I used to use shoe stretch, but then I found out that cheap cologne (90% alcohol) or plain rubbing alcohol will do. These sandals will be perfect go-tos for the Spring and Summer. I know, I am not supposed to age myself with sensible shoes - but one does have to mind one's feet, and I CAN'T wear more than kitten heels these days.

Thrift Burnout?

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 23:50:55 GMT

Ok, I am not a financial saint. I try to deal reasonably with my resources and makes things out of nothing - but mid-winter has set in & I am going to admit to all of you that I have spent too much time surfing on the One Kings Lane collectibles/antiques/vintage site looking at all the old and luxury goodies. There is a suppressed longing for elegance that I have been feeling lately - & I am taking it out by looking at a lot of pix of stuff on the net.....

Although I had found a bargain high-class Valentine's Day card for hubby and since I wasn't going out to get flowers, cut him some au naturel poinsettias from a bush outside (they are RED). I am going to take advantage of my outdoor flowers more. We usually have lots roses, mostly white - and I feel bad about picking them - but them more one does the more the bushes flower....

What I really have to do is - ugh - some spring cleaning - even though it's still mid-winter and get rid of the clutter that has accumulated. I didn't mind getting a slight case of the flu - it's this malaise AFTERWARDS that's a bummer!

So that's the news from the front. Keep the faith!

More thrifty thoughts

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 00:06:12 GMT

Just read PEACE AND PLENTY by Sarah Ban Breathnach - the author of SIMPLE ABUNDANCE and the others in that series. It's about "Finding your Path to Financial Security" - which she wandered into after a period of millionaire living and a disastrous divorce.

I don't know that I have ever been as financially secure as Breathnach (or as she calls herself SBB for short, as I recall....) Although I have had windfalls - bits of inheritance and so on. One I used to heal myself - which I don't regret ever....funded a hiatus of a year on a lovely beach when I was really at my wits end - & paid some bills. I always tell myself that it was MUCH cheaper than going to an expensive mental health clinic!

At that time, I splurged a bit, just to find out what it felt like, and surprisingly, I found myself spending more $ on things I would otherwise acquire frugally! And with no more enjoyment. Actually, the thrifty hunt is much more FUN.

Apparently SBB didn't concur, and tried living very high on a Downtown Abbey hog.....We all have fantasies, but they are, in the end, so hard to live with. I admire splash, but I realize that I prefer a comfy home that is not too demanding on the inhabitants! I do like the things I have, but they were all bargains & if they disappeared somehow, I would just go & collect another set & have a good time doing it!

It's made me think of thrift and good living - SBB's book - which is curiously personal - She says somewhere that the origin of "thrift" is thriving - with which I heartily concur - and I look around and see that I/we thrive. There is a great satisfaction in that. I have failings that you can drive trucks through - my allergies which make me a rotten housewife, for one - but I have managed to put together a comfortable home - a haven. And when I draw back, I am proud of that. On a middle class income, my husband and I have put together a nice middle class life.

Now, in L.A., , or should I say Hollywood, that may seem paltry - but although we remain bohemian, we have our comforts - cable TV (On an ancient TV set) - Netflicks on a used game console, a FAX machine I got through a community exchange, a very old caller I.D. box that was given out with the service years ago and still works. - Cell phones that come with the contract & aren't too fancy - Health insurance with the Kaiser HMO down the street & insurance (Life, etc.) We have Soc. Security and a pension coming due to Hubby's years of teaching. Who knew we would be so secure? I've inherited $ from my parents' house - which goes toward retirement & a bit for a used car - I remember someone scoffing at my generic eBook reader, which was another bargain - but I retorted that no one would steal it! And I got it cheap because I wanted to see what the whole eBook thing was about. Turns out I still do better to buy bargain books, which I can then turn in to my used bookstore for credit for MORE books.

Of course, there are many more examples. I sit at our recycled MAC from Hubby's brother, which because it has nothing ON it, is quite fast....The rest of the files sit on our old hard drive - and, you know, I don't NEED them very much.....I suppose it was a kind of clutter....I am currently wearing old jeans I put elastic on the waist, so they wouldn't fall down - & a tshirt I got for $1 at the 99 Cent Store! But I am dressed like the proverbial L.A. Child, - so it doesn't matter - not for my current life or neighborhood. And it's not like I don't have my fancy duds to put on when it DOES. ( and that runs to evening wear....)

So what is this? A meditation on having enough. On thriving - from a bit of frugality and control. Habits of control that make me say , I can't afford that (although every once in a while I find a bargain & I DO, which makes it all the more fun....)

It's a philosophy of life that I do want to share - hence my blog. Sometimes I wonder if I have anything terribly new to say on the subject. But we all have our own slants on reality. And I suppose my life as a thrifty actress in Hollywood is an unusual one. I have thrived (& recently got $150 off my back union dues because the 2 unions came together & there was an amnesty of some sort...) But I do this sort of thing on a daily basis - put the cans out for the locals to recycle - and say a prayer of gratitude that somehow I have managed to find and maintain my budget haven here in Hollywood. My father always feared that I would end up living in a cardboard box - his version of the bag lady nightmare, I suppose - but instead I have a happy marriage and a snug home, and art besides when I will....And I feel a great sense of accomplishment. There!

Latest Frugality

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 22:41:16 GMT

Finding LOTS of cheap hardback books - now some on sale at Big Lots for 50 cents each! We bought 16 & plan to recycle them at our favorite used bookstore later....Reading Best-selling authors, which I never do & it's interesting.

ALSO at Big Lots - found powder, eye cream, night cream, eye rollers - all very CHEAP. I forget that they have cosmetics/skin care at Big Lots. $3.50 for Dead Sea Minerals eye cream and $1.95 for an eye roller (rollers usually run @ $15....) I got $100 worth of product for $20!! Still using the product I received from the infomercial - a month to go & that's GRATIS + an honorarium.

Getting some $ from sale of the house back E. & using it to buy back some of hubby's pension time so that we will have a secure retirement income & we get Soc. Sec. $, too!

Had the flu, so I have had a lot of time to lie around reading into my pile of books!

Sears had a sale on glasses, 2 for $100 - & I was so satisfied with my first 2 pair, that I ordered a SECOND set. Beats the $69 price I get providing MY OWN FRAMES at another place. The frame selection is limited, of course - but I like plain frames, anyway.....Hubby had been told that the sale was until April, but when we got there, they said it had just expired, but Hubby talked them into the deal anyway!

Yet for all the savings, we don't seem to live that high on the hog. What do other folks do? We only have one income + my Soc. Sec. - but still. I don't know if I could raise a family on a teacher's salary - & I wonder how it will be adjusting to retirement income - at least I have lots of practice!

Long Time No See

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 23:07:34 GMT

Took a break from the blog, but not from my habitual penny pinching. Writing on a older MAC that was recycled from a brother-in-law which at the moment is faster than our old PC - we will see....

So much content on the old hard drive!

As an actress, I got a new agent - an accomplishment - I continue taking my "Sr. Citizen" commercial acting classes around the corner from my house - cheap & great!

Got thru Xmas by buying lots of BOOKS. Yes, everyone got books this year - 2 nice hardback in recycled gift bags from thrift stores & dollar store tissue paper! A bit bulky - but I had combined my - OK, I admit it - my DOLLAR Store hardbacks - just from one obscure dollar store, somehow - & bargains from the 50% off table at Barnes & Noble & the wonderful outdoor book store in Ojai, CA - Bart's - I also confess that I READ a lot of them 1st - very carefully! - so I knew that the books were good.

We recycled our Xmas decorations & hubby found THREE great nutcrackers at a yard sale to add to the collection & it all was quite festive. & we gpt the cards out, too -

Then we took a family trip up N. - first to Bakersfield & then on to Sacramento - & a few days there over New Year's. We even did a wine country trip to a small region near Placerville & stopped in 2 different Indian casinos. (Hubby''s brother likes sports bars & they watched the Packer game - I prefer to spend my $ shopping!) Also looked in the thrift shops of suburban Bakersfield & scored some bargains - $15 for a beaded chiffon jacket - back beads on wine chiffon - wore it for New Yr's Eve - even tho we celebrated quietly.....and some things at 50% off at a St. Vincent de Paul's -

Seems quiet since we have returned - & COLD. I have been getting a lot of wear out of my "beautiful coat" - the sparkly beige nylon car coat I have been wearing for years....Even in So. Cal, you need some winter clothes - & Sacramento was really chilly....

Warming up for MLK's birthday weekend - hope for lovely weather. How have you all been doing?

Life Goes On

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 23:26:16 GMT

Hmm, what sort of a frugalista way can I share? I fixed a necklace by threading the end with a needle and thread and then threading the chain through the holes. (Thought I would have to take it to a jeweler....) & voila! fixed. You can do simple repairs by yourself. It's a silver necklace I was given years ago & never wore much - now polished up, it seems just right.

For my birthday, Mm friends took me to a hidden jewel of a restaurant in E. L.A. hung with the art of the Mexican artist Tamayo.Just getting there was an adventure!

The night before hubby & I went to the Hollywood Bowl to hear Mozart. We sat in the cheap seats, which I love, as you can stretch out! And the sound is just as good. At $23 for 2 (via phone) - the parking at $17 almost cost as much! Still a DEAL. The Hollywood Bowl is a great place - just beautiful. But if you go, remember that it can get chilly!

Tales of My Instruments

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 22:53:57 GMT

I am somewhat of a musician - and the story goes that musicians spend more on their instruments than their cars - because they have to have good ones to play with!

I get around that by sharp shopping for good used instruments. Just acquired the best lap harp I have ever had and am playing harp again. We found it in a shop that deals mostly in guitars and drums, altho I have gotten two weird autoharp-like instruments there that are collectables.

Last visit a few months ago, I came across a BEAUTIFUL Dusty Strings lap harp, in almost new condition, with a nice padded carrying case and strings for $350. Now, that sound like a lot of money, but I have seen similar lap harps new for nearly $700, so I knew it was a great deal. We put money down on it, and only now have we had the money to pay it off and pick it up. I immediately went home and checked the new list price on the internet and sure enough, it was about $700 - so I got it for half the price! What a lovely instrument and just the right size to pick up and play.

I also am back playing clarinet, which I had played in high school. I had been pretty good then, and still have my classic clarinet from then - that's worth a bit of money nowadays, I could never afford it! today I also was given a RED band instrument, and found a nice wooden clarinet, old & probably French, at a thrift shop for $80.

Now clarinets are high-tech 19th Century instruments, with lots of springs and so on - and the red clarinet, despite being done over, blew a spring & I can't play the upper part - but I WAS able to put the UPPER part of the red one with the LOWER part of the old French one (which needs overhauling & that costs $) - Together it has made a playable instrument for now, as I practice daily to get my "lip" back. !5 minutes is about as much as I can do! Oh, and I practice from my 1891 Langey clarinet tutor, which I found in a secondhand book store for $12 (less than the new edition - it's still in print!)

So, you see my musical frugality! That and buying Celtic music from McCabe's music store from the bargain section (I also bought a new harp book.)

Is that too obscure for you? Just remember that there are often great deals in used instruments, some of which are better than new ones of today. I bought some recorders on eBay at one point, and got some from a noted but obscure maker.

Do your research! I bought the French clarinet impulsively and then while researching it, found all about the history of small French clarinet shops which made "label" clarinets (Mine has the label of a very old L.A. music store) - they were made just before the war and into the 50's - I have to get the money together & shop around for a deal to get its 19th C. mechanism overhauled! I also am going to get the broke part of the red clarinet fixed. Perhaps a place that does a lot of band instruments can help me.

So, once again, knowledge is power! It's just like recognizing good labels on clothes at the thrift shops (all my designer clothes are thrift shop purchases)....So keep your eyes peeled!

P.S. a friend of mine found an almost new spinet piano in a thrift shop and alerted a friend who was looking for one and that was a super deal, too

Giveaway! from Carmex

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 20:50:36 GMT

As a Carmex blogger, I have received lots of nice samples from them to try & to review.

This time, I was sent a beautiful yellow beach tote, along with samples of the current & new lip balms. I like the Lime Twist - but I LOVE the new pomegranite! (& there is a sunscreen of 15....)

What's more, I have a giveaway for YOU All!

Send me your name, email address & address by the end of August & I will send them off to Carmex & YOU will get the same package that I did!

So show your solidarity & send in those names!

Frugality & a Money Diet

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 20:30:42 GMT

Teachers do'nt make oodles of money - but they DO have long summer vacations a la Europe & so we have been spending what a friend calls our "endless summer vacation" on the boat - a few days on & then back for doctor's appointments and so on & then back -

Hubby has been maintaining the boat - the frugal way - he managed, after a year, to fix up our roller reefing (an automatic way the from sail gets wrappd up in the front) - just by asking a lot of questions - & finally finding the right answer - saving us lots of money -

He also managed to fix a broken pin in our outboard engine - now I know that taking that simple repair to a mechanic would have cost us $100 or more - & hubby did it for less than $20!! I was so proud of him!

He also had had the rigging checked by a rigger whom we just ended up tipping for a beer - & hubby repainted the deck of the boat, too.

He even took some extra stainless steel boat parts into a resale store & got $100 for them!

At the same time, I went on a money diet - spending tiny bits of money at my thrift shops - when on SALE - & irresistible - but for the most part avoiding temptation. All my summer clothes had been bought & hubby had found a cache of tshirts in storage - so I am OK there - there are always other thins to BUY - copays on new glasses, etc.& maybe more work on the car -

But we will skate through until hubby gets paid as of 8/15 - an accomplishment after not having been paid for a whole MONTH.

Although I did pick up some yarn - as I have to start making Xmas presents...a few bucks....

So that's how we are being frugal this month. We could do it all the time if we had to - but it's not necessary - life is to be enjoyed, after all, no?

Summer Projects

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:40:40 GMT

Thought I would share with you some of what hubby & I have been doing over the summer -

The aeriel snapped when hubby took the car through a new car wash with less than soft fiber parts - And when he asked the mechanic about it, he said it would cost $60 to replace! So hubby went to a bargain store knew of where he could get one for $10 & then put it on himself with dollar store epoxy - And spliced the wires himself - Voila! All fixed for $50 less!
Hubby has also been on the hunt for good USED tires - there are a LOT in our neighborhood off wrecks, etc. - & now we have 2 good ones ( $50) to add to the others we got ($60). Now - those would be $400 new & good enough for our 16-year-old Mercury!
I found a 50's/60's jewelry box - the leatherette kind with a lock - for 50 CENTS at a junky thrift shop. The inside is a lovely red satin & red velvet - but the top was battered & down to the cardboard. So I went looking for the perfect thing to decoupage on top. I found a 50's black & white vintage fashion image from BAZAAR & applied it with my homemade MOD PODGE (just white glue thinned with water!) It has dried & now looks fantastic - as if the image had always been there! So a new jewelry box for $.50!!

By the way, the Carmex people are giving me more of their product for a giveaway - I will keep you posted & please send in your names & addresses so I can forward that to Carmex.

Anybody out there? I miss your comments! Please tell me what you think - even if you think I stink?

Netflix

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 21:43:22 GMT

Finally have made it over some tripwire of the digital revolution - hubby figured out how we could be online Netflix for $6/mo - using a used $89 Nintendo game player! He figured it out talking to a young salesman at an electronics store - & then went & found a used player at a game store! Now - for less than $10 a MONTH we have the flicks it was costing us $5 EACH on cable!

We had recently been lamenting the poor programming on cable & then even finding it hard to find anything to watch on our movie channels or even Pay for View! (Alas, TCM has been showing 50's beach blanket movies & WESTERNS - & WAR movies - none of which I like very much!)

I had heard about the Netflix through the mail, but not online - we have wi fi at home already - so it was al very easy to set up - just added the game controller to our electronic array. Even I think I can put it on & off. And NOW if we have already seen the movie (I am terrible at remembering titles) - we DON'T have to PAY for it! Just switch to another flick - as we did last night. We saw a horror flick (I have gotten addicted to those) & The Importance of Being Earnest in a 50's Biritish version in which everyone was playing it in very high style! I especially watched the old dragons of character women. Lady Bracknell is a wonderful part!

At $6/a month, I do wonder how they are going to make MONEY at showing these movies. But we may very well become even worse couch potatoes than we are - thank heaven for the boat - on which I just read recycled mysteries! (Found a bunch FREE at the library exchange shelf in Ojai - I didn't feel bad about it, because a week or so ago, I had unloaded more than a dozen of the books Bart's wouldn't take for credit - & you know, they were all GONE.) Now the ones in good shape will try to become recyclable via Bart's.

Also finding great deals in HARDBACK books at, off all places, the DOLLARTREE. I usually go in for vitamins & toothpaste & floss swords, etc. - but in the back they have an interesting jumble of hardcover books for ONE DOLLAR. I will try to recycle the best of these to Bart's, too!

Tourist Thrift

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 22:57:20 GMT

Just back from a week at the boat - unhappily because hubby strained his back & I tripped & bruised something around my right rib cage - ugh. We are both in braces of one sort or other & taking ibuprofen. Figured we would rest up here until we are up to climbing about the boat again!

Through my theatrical training I have pretty much learned to fall properly - on my haunch - & then I just scrape knees - I have been taking calcium supplements & weight-bearing exercise since I was in college & my bones, at last bone density scan, are like rocks. Thank heaven! I have had too many female relatives who have broken hips (& recovered!), had a dowager's hump & other spine problems. So I keep my spine supple by doing my "cat" stretch exercises every morning! And continuing the calcium....

What does this have to do with thrift? The shopping that we do when we are away from home...Who would have thought that there would be such good thrift shops in the tourist town of Solvang? But there are 2 very nice ones right across the street from each other across from a big hotel away from the main drag - where we park & I get to peek in. Have found marvelous things in the past - like a spiffy bronze vinyl raincoat for ONE DOLLAR!

This time, I found a BRAND NEW pair of pale pink denim shorts -with the tag for $59 right on them! (for $4)- & a sun visor (41) , another pair of cropped denim pants ($4) - a pair of stretch jeans to cut off for cropped jeans ($4), several nice crafty $2 headbands (with tags that said $17-18 each! on them) and a nice broad-brimmed straw hat & a felt hat for cooler weather....and a mattress cover ($5) for the mattress at the boat (worth $30?)- I am only really buying nowadays what I really am wearing - leisure clothing....Like another pair of bright pink cropped pants for $4 - In another shop I bought fisherman's sandals for $4 - & a pink plaid visor. (Boy am I glad that bright colors are in fashion, or I would never have bought those pink cropped pants....but I do tend to be conservative....)

One wonders what I do with all these pieces - but a lot of them are on the BOAT now, as we came home packed very lightly due to our strains! I always have to pack for both hot & cool for up at the boat - as inland it gets warm and on the coast it's downright chilly - so one has to packing twice as much! And then it gets warm at home on the flats of Hollywood. Confusing, no?. Think of that & items lost in the WASH & one has to have variety to stay well-dressed even as to color coordination!

Oh, in Sta. Paula Goodwill, I also found a pair of vintage leather Kenneth Cole designer sandals for $4 - & a straw purse - $4?? - and a pair of grey slacks for later in the year...& a pair of white pants for now $4 -

OK - I was splurging - but I found a LOT of nice stuff & dressing fairly well around my hubby does cheer me UP. He gets grumpy - but the nice thrift shop lady made a point of showing him the $59 label - which was more than 2X what I had paid for everything! I do almost all of my shopping in thrift stores & bargain places nowadays & I think hubby forgets what things REALLY cost....

(Then there was a 2 for 1 sale at Rite Aid on vitamins & the total was $90!! Save one place - spend another....) But I do like to invest in our health....Not to mention all the ibuprophen we are taking!

I also recycled 4 bags of books - mostly pulp fiction - at Bart's Bookstore in Ojai - & received a $27 credit. (They pay on the face value - not on the $1 or so I paid for each of them!) then I had $ to buy some music books for Mark's birthday -which was Sat. - & a box of their weird $.50 books from outside. They have such an interesting mixture of books - I always find them stimulating....So it cost me practically nothing!

Do you know that you can even get hard backs for $1 at the Dollar Tree? I also recommend their Indian pickles & relish - wonderful!

I got a very bitchy fashion no-no book at the Dollar Tree - some guy on TLC - with whom I don't always agree - it's the sleep moderne look - nothing loosely fitting. But I think I will talk about that in another entry......See ya.

Beauty via Thrift

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 19:39:56 GMT

One secret I haven't shared with you all is that quite often you can find great deals in upscale BATH PRODUCTS in thrift shops! I scored FIVE medium bottles of assorted shower gels at a SALE at a local thrift shop for (after the sale discount) @$.60 each! That's a lot of quality for $2!! You can also find deals on nice scented soaps - even sometimes shampoo and conditioner. So go look for those sorts of products in the thrift store - They are usually grouped together in one place...(Sometimes there might be makeup there, as well....and often these products have never been USED....You might find the odds and ends of a Mary Kay distributor's stash, for ex.)

ALSO, at the same sale, I scored for FIVE $5 dollars a sequin-encrusted jacket in a diamond pattern in black, gold and iridescent pearl!! It's 80's vintage - but fits great without shoulder pads (I checked). This is the sort of item I can never resist & which I squirrel away until I find the occasion to wear it - thereby saving oodles on formal clothes, which I do have more cause to wear than the general population, perhaps, because I am an actress when I wear my other hat....Besides, it was just so Joan Rivers!! I love her style of great jackets and interesting jewelry over a plain pair of pants and a top. Watch Fashion Police!

Memorial Day II

Wed, 30 May 2012 22:58:59 GMT

Are you musical? Are your kids musical?

One thing being musical myself is that I always look for music books and sheet music in thrift shops. You frequently see what must be a collection that has been donated. In the 50-70's many good song books were published with good bindings, and containing familiar folk songs and other popular songs - meant to be sung at the piano (or to a guitar) - most are chorded, an added plus. These chords were probably added for the guitar, but they are also great for me, a ukulele player (if they are not too hard!)

This weekend for $1.49 each I pickup up a 255 page Nostalgic Years in Song book, and a Reader's Digest Treasury of Song (288 pages with a wire binding).

Both were in good shape, but I did have to tape the broken binding of the Nostalgic Songs. Even new, these cost $8 or more - and today would be twice or three times as much. So you have to agree that $1.49 apiece is a good deal.

Lots of music to pluck my ukulele to!

From Over Memorial Day Wkend I

Wed, 30 May 2012 22:49:30 GMT

Memorial Day wkend I

Thrifty shopping can make hubby grouchy - but when it is to 1 pr of leather sandals (new condition marked $40) - 1 pr of clogs - 2 pairs of black pants (1 linen) - 3 t-shirts (One a designer one) - a stylish vest - a hippie Nepalese hoodie ( I had admired in Topanga but couldn't afford)- 6 paperback mysteries - 1 LARGE scented candle - large cotton scarf - a belt (new) and two large music books $47 is a GOOD DEAL!!

I am wearing one pair of the cheap cropped madras pants I ordered online from haband.com - 2 for $14 - I got a blue plain pr. & a cranberry - for the summer. Haband has good deals if you look through their stuff carefully - Basic items, like these capris, windbreakers, etc. (I also ordered nice slippers once.)

To make hubby happy I do triage at the register & weed out the pieces that are dubious. (He bought himself a Packers tshirt at the discount store across the street - almost as much as my whole haul.)

Target @ Goodwill?

Wed, 23 May 2012 22:20:47 GMT

There is a certain Goodwill I like to go to on the way up to the boat - & one of the nice things is that it carries NEW Target merchandise - heavily discounted!! The deals are especially good in clothing.

On the last visit I found a gingham pair of long shorts, a grey light jacket, and a a nice belt for @ $4 each I also found NEW Dr. Scholl's original wooden sandals for $3.99 (They list for $40+)

I calculated that I had gotten $130 worth of clothing (list price) for @ $20! & these are new items. They are not luxury goods, & not worth $30-40 list in my opinion - but for $4 - yes....

Nor $.25 each - as some of my frugalistas relate - but pretty good anyway!

I also received a nice sample of Tricalm (for itching, etc.) through the mail, which arrived just in time, because I had an allergy outbreak! Did work. Also used cold black tea on the itching when I was desperate! Also used the cheap Benedryl I had bought on sale at Rite Aid a while ago - & the generic zyrtec I have been picking up at Dollar Tree. (I stocked up on vitamins & home remedies there.)

At the church thrift shop I picked up a very high class silk sweater for $3 - and some yarn. I have been knitting away on my frankenstein project - but somehow the smaller needles are eating up yarn, and even though I sent hubby to the 99Cent Store for more, it was getting too costly - so I am slipping in some color into the cream yarn - with the yarn I found at the thrift shop.

I also finally finished off & sewed together the peculiar fuzzy wool shrug/bed jacket I had cobbled together - Odd, but not bad - again, recycled yarn.....

My husband had no idea how CHEAP I am - my friends turn us on to FREE concerts (another one Friday) - I get discounted tix sometimes - & my wardrobe, which is quite nice - I nickel & dime! Now I have so many nice things that I am able to upgrade what I wear at home from old crummy clothes to decent casual wear....

I also found a crazy large straw hat without a brim at another Goodwill for $3 - & a leatherette purse (I am trying to downsize from the gold satchel I have been wearing & give it a rest as my day bag.) - I thought it was real leather - but at $7, it's a fashionable style & not bad.....

Look around at your local thrift shops for new merchandise - my hubby also gets nice men's wear at another Goodwill in the Valley.....There seems to be a pattern there - so if you find that there is new merchandise in the thrift shop - there will probably be more next time, too.

If I don't write before then - Have a great Memorial Day weekend everybody!

Pioneer Woman & First Aid

Sun, 06 May 2012 20:29:33 GMT

Now, I am not advocating these measures - just want to TELL you all what happened to me last week & how I dealt with it ....

I have been having allergic reactions on my right hand/arm. Went to the allergist & she prescribed some cream and added another antihistamine to my regimen - Ok - swelling, itching went down. (The Caladryl my hubby bought me helped a lot, too...)

THEN I woke up on Friday with two purple blisters-type lesions on my middle finger & it was all swollen. To make matters worse, i had a ring on that finger, which was cutting off circulation, & was now too tight to get OFF.

Called the nurse hotline of my HMO & they told me to go to Urgent Care, which I did. Arrived MUCH too early (my fault) - & had to wait from 12:30 to 2PM (They have a lunch break?) Then I waited some more & finally saw a doctor who confirmed what I thought & said the ring had to come off - but they didn't have the right tool - then I was directed across the street & down a block to another building - & they didn't have the tool, either. They wanted me to go to the OR - but knowing how OR's run & that I was not on the point of dying, I would have to wait another 3-4 hours - so I just drove home AND

After some trying, I banged the ring open with a hammer! (I have had silver rings which have broken in the back by themselves when I DIDN'T want then to - so....) I then opened up the ring with a screw driver - AND THEN I lanced the blood blisters or whatever they were with a pair of nail scissors I had heated on the gas stove to sterilize! Then I washed it all in hot water & applied an antiseptic ointment & a large bandaid -

The doctor at Urgent Care actually CALLED me to see what had happened - which I explained to her & told her that I would watch it & if it got any worse, I would go back to the doctor.

Well, it is a few days now, & it is all healing up nicely! The Urgent Care doctor did make an observation that helped, asking me if I gardened - which I do, a little - perhaps I was reacting to something in the garden (or the pesticides the gardeners apply)....So now I am looking for gardening gloves!

See - sometimes being PIONEER WOMAN & applying a bit of first aid WORKS! We all have to know some first aid in case of emergencies, too - no?