Search results for Donna Freedman
-
Posted
Oct 04 2007, 09:48 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Sam’s Club thinks I deserve luxury. Specifically, the retailer thinks I deserve a pair of Granny Smith apples dipped in caramel, rolled in pecan pieces and drizzled with three kinds of chocolate. This particular luxury would cost me $18.22 -- plus shipping, since it’s available only online.
The two-piece treat was one of several items highlighted in an e-mail whose subject line read, "Luxury You Deserve At Sam’s Club." That got my attention because I’d just read a review of a new book called "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster."
Back in the 19th century, the "luxury" trade was small and aimed squarely at European aristocrats. Now it’s big, big business and marketed to the middle class. For example, the author mentions a secretary who’s saving to buy her second Prada bag.
She’s putting money aside to buy a purse. She’s not saving for a down payment on a home, startup funds for her own business, tuition to further her education or, God forbid, retirement.
Read More...
-
Posted
Oct 05 2007, 09:18 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
I remember when slow cookers first hit the market, back in 1970. To my cash-strapped family such things were luxuries, culinary toys for the rich. We felt the same way about popcorn poppers and the Fry Daddy.
But I don’t know how I would have made it as a struggling single mother eight years later without the slow cooker. It made most of the meals on which the baby and I subsisted: primarily bean soup, with occasional forays into minestrone and spaghetti.
One or two mornings a week, I’d put a pound of great northern beans in the pot with some grated carrot, chopped onion, pepper, and smoked neck bones or ham hock. When I got home, the smell of soup made me feel like someone had been cooking for me all day. It also took my mind off the sack of dirty diapers that I’d be washing on a scrub board later on.
Read More...
-
Posted
Oct 10 2007, 09:23 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Seattle is loaded with blackberry vines. The sight of all that free fruit makes me want to forage each summer. My arms get so thorn-raked it looks like I’ve tried to exorcise a cat, but I fill the freezer, make jam, and eat blackberries almost every day for weeks.
On my way to pick berries one end-of-summer day, I saw a dark-purple blob in the dust. A plum had fallen from a tree in a nearby yard. I broke open the windfall and took a tentative nibble from its golden interior. Sweet as the memory of first love.
Peeking through the fence, I could see the tree was loaded. I asked the homeowners if I could trade them a jar of jam for the fruit I’d need to make some. They told me to help myself: “We’re glad someone wants it.”
Two batches of jam later, I posted a thread on the Smart Spending message board: Who else out there “puts food by” each year? Do you grow it? Buy it from a farm? Scrounge and scavenge like me?
Read More...
-
Posted
Oct 22 2007, 09:31 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
When life hands you flank steak, make hamburgers. At least that was the tip offered recently by Mary Hunt of Debt-Proof Living: Pick up loss-leader cuts of beef and ask the store butcher to grind them.
Hunt found, and ground, London broil for $1.47. When was the last time you saw ground beef for $1.47 a pound?
But I wondered whether she just had a particularly friendly butcher. So I went shopping.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that all four supermarkets I visited were willing to do special meat orders. Chop meat as a special order -- yep, it made me laugh, too.
Read More...
-
Posted
Oct 29 2007, 09:19 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
If the Toys “R” Us Big Toy Book is here, can Christmas be far behind?
Well, yeah. Fifty-eight days behind. But face it: No matter how much we whine about too-early holiday marketing, retailers aren't going to change their ways. We're the ones who have to change, i.e. adjust our reactions to the hype.
"Beebegurl," a Smart Spending message board reader, pays no attention to the retail calendar. In a thread called “Christmas Gifts,” she wrote that she shops for her grandkids long before holiday hysteria sets in. This allows her to look around "without pressure and at my own leisure and make a rational decision."
The most rational decision of all? Once she finds the perfect gift, she waits for it to go on sale. "I never ever pay retail for any toy."
Clearly, Beebegurl rocks.
Read More...
-
Posted
Nov 05 2007, 10:45 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Time to admit to being a dunderhead: I've been way overpaying for auto insurance for the past few years. Worse, I discovered that I didn't have coverage I needed (uninsured driver) and was paying for insurance I probably didn't need (collision). All of this cost me $98 a month, or $1,176 a year. Confession is good for the soul, but it's embarrassing when done in print. I'm doing so in hopes of inspiring readers to check their own policies and make a few calls. As incentive, let me point out that my new plan will save me almost $700 a year. Like I said: way overpaying. How much per month? I've had the nagging feeling that I could do better. But life has been so hectic that "get insurance rate quotes" kept getting pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. When an Allstate ad sheet was delivered with the newspaper, I decided it was time to deal. An Allstate agent here in Seattle told me I could combine renter's and auto insurance for a total of $1,056 a year, or about $88 per month for both
Read More...
-
Posted
Nov 12 2007, 10:38 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
For all you parents and parents-to-be who are worried about money, here's a bit of modern heresy: cloth diapers. I'm not talking about the pricey ones that can cost up to $28.50 apiece , but about plain, unfolded cotton diapers. I used them when my daughter was born 29 years ago. I bought “slight irregulars.” Honest. The only thing wrong with them was that the blue “CURITY” stamp had run or was blurred. They cost $3.99 a dozen. Obviously, the price has gone up. But a quick Internet search unearthed unfolded nappies for as cheap as $11.96 a dozen. You also might check Craigslist , local parent groups and -- best-case scenario -- freecycle.org . I suggest getting at least six dozen to start. As the baby grows, so does its bladder, and you'll have to double the diapers. (I used double diapers at night right from the start.) That’s an initial investment of about $72 plus tax, and you'll also have to buy plastic pants or diaper covers. According to an MSN article , you’ll spend about $2,000
Read More...
-
Posted
Nov 16 2007, 09:52 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Want to save a ton of money and enjoy comfort food to boot? Bake some potatoes in your slow cooker. I did this one recent weekend morning and they were done to a tender turn after two hours on the high setting. The aroma was irresistible, even though I'd had a late breakfast, so I split open one of the smaller spuds, glossed it with butter and sprinkled on some coarse kosher salt. Afterward, I realized this was probably the cheapest snack I've had in ages. At 99 cents for a 10-pound bag, the per-spud price was about 4 cents. The butter cost less than 2 cents (loss-leader price plus coupon). The price of the salt was infinitesimal, since it came from a one-pound box I bought at the dollar store . They can make a cheap supper, too, and involve practically no labor. We know that on some nights, we're more vulnerable to the allure of Thai takeout or the fast-food drive-through – maybe Mondays send us reeling, or Thursdays are crunch days at work. So on those nights, plan a spud supper instead
Read More...
-
Posted
Nov 21 2007, 10:06 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
The biggest newspaper of the year hits the doorstep tomorrow, crammed with Black Friday ads. Some people couldn't care less. A Smart Spending message board reader posting as "whyspend" has done away with Christmas presents -- and, subsequently, with lots of hassles. "No tension. No fake happiness when we open a gift we never asked for and never would have bought ourselves. No wasting time shopping online or in the shops," whyspend writes. "It's bliss." Another reader, "tazzmann," has also had enough. Dropping Christmas presents is a sure-fire way to get a Scrooge sobriquet, but tazzmann says a gift-free holiday has its advantages, such as "money still in your pocket." What you won't have: "Piles of wrapping paper strewn all over your house, bags full of old items and trash to take out, (or) gifts to return or go get batteries for." Different ways to give Other readers suggested dial-it-down gift strategies, such as buying only for kids, drawing one relative's name or donating to charities
Read More...
-
Posted
Nov 23 2007, 12:28 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
There was plenty of elbow room at a local mall this Black Friday morning. A nearby Walgreens was awfully quiet, too, and clerks were standing around chatting at the Office Depot and Staples that I visited. I got a late start, not leaving the house until sometime after 8 a.m., so maybe I missed the throngs. Or maybe there weren't any. Perhaps the predictions of consumer caution are coming true. Perhaps everyone's waiting for Cyber Monday . Elbow room was fine by me, even though I wasn't buying much. I've purchased gifts from clearance tables and rummage sales throughout the year. Some presents are courtesy of MyPoints and MyCokeRewards . A few folks will get jams (made from free fruit) and cookies (made with loss-leader ingredients). And I admit it: I'm re-gifting a couple of things. Keeping it realistic It's great fun to give gifts, but no fun to spend beyond your means . Well, it may be fun at the time, but your stomach will hurt once the bills arrive. Here are some reader strategies for
Read More...
More Posts Next page »
|
