May 2009 - Deal Gossip

Making Those Travel Deals Pay

I spotted a great report on CNN about cheap travel, throwing out exciting low prices like $35 a day cruises in the Caribbean. Tantalizing? Definitely. As that article rightly points out, it's damn near impossible to do things in your own hometown for $35 a day, let alone hop on a sea cruise to some of the most beautiful destinations in the world.

$35 a day comes out to $245 for a seven day cruise. That's close to the same amount you'd pay for two days in a tiny hotel room in New York City around Times Square (give or take $80 or so). But what do you get on those travel deals? How do you keep them cheap?

It's obvious that $245 for a sea cruise won't include airfare. It's on you to get to the boat and back. Then there's having fun on board; adult beverages are probably not included, either. You're shelling out for your own tropical umbrella drinks in many cases, although I've seen deals where you get some free "boat bucks" to spend at the bar. That's not bad. If you have boat bucks, you're at least enjoying a round or two the first night on the house.

The trick to taking advantage of these cheap travel deals is to cut your expenses in all other areas. Want to cruise the Caribbean but live in a land-locked state? You can still save a buck or two if you're willing to put up with some hassle in return. Ever notice that the more connecting flights you take on a flight, the cheaper the air fares get? Yes, it may take you all day to go from Chicago to New York (a trip that should only take a couple of hours on a direct flight), but the money you save is fantastic.

Yes--take that flight with three layovers. That's exactly what I am saying. If saving the money is important, bring a big, scary Stephen King book and the hours will fly by. Or better yet, see if you can take Amtrak to get to your cruise ship. Amtrak might be a tad slow, but they are cheap and in many cases you can plug in your laptop and stay distracted for the whole ride. Try doing that on an airplane, where you only have as long as those laptop batteries hold out.

You can also save a bit of cash by not staying overnight in your port of departure, but that's tricky. Don't risk missing your boat because of a delayed flight. You have to weigh the risk of one of your three connecting flights leaving late (and we know one of them WILL) versus your willingness to spend an extra $75 to $120 for a cheap hotel room.

It's better to find a cruise leaving from a town where you have friends. Stay overnight with your pals and save on the hotel expense. If that's not possible, give yourself at least six hours from arrival at your final destination to the boat launch. That's a good safety net for plane delays, but it's not a sure thing...just a bit of insurance. If something goes horribly wrong with one of your flights, we warned you ahead of time.

You can also save some money by packing light and bringing everything in a carry-on backpack. Since most airlines are charging for all checked bags now, it makes sense to avoid the extra fees wherever possible. The airlines are content to nickel and dime us to death--what's next, pay toilets? Oh, wait, one airline already thought of that. See what I mean?

These are all pretty common-sense money savers for experienced travelers, but if you've never taken a cruise before, these are all things to consider. Yes, you can save a buck in VacationLand even with today's economy...but you have to get a bit creative to do it.

--Joe Wallace

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Shoes + Chocolate - Shoe Love Part Two

Last week I confessed to the not-altogether-startling revelation that Lulu is a big fan of shoes. I know; you're still recovering from the shock. So while you're reeling let me hit you with another stinger of a cliché. What does every girl love almost as much as her shoes? (And please remember this is a family blog, so let's keep it clean people).

If you guessed chocolate, then big platform stack-heeled props to you. Yes, choccie is a big favorite in the Thrift household and really, what problem can't be solved with a great deal on a brand new pair of top quality kicks plus a hit of perfect chocolate gooiness?

None I've found.

So now dear reader, sit back and enjoy the blissful balance of a girls two best friends. Shoes + chocolate = happiness.

Last week I told you that Lulu's motto is "best quality at the best price". This goes for chocolate as well as shoes. My favorite ubiquitous brand is Ghirardelli, you can buy the chips everywhere (semi-sweet or dark please), it's not too spendy and it bakes beautifully.

I also love shoes, but as with all things, I won't compromise on quality and I won't pay through the nose. Or in this case, toes.

And since becoming a Mum I've extended this commitment to Little Miss Thrifts' (LMT) tiny growing feet too. Coming soon I'll be sharing with you my top-tootsie-tips for kids shoes. Yes, it's a sole-ful world out there with a mind-bending array of shoe brands and stores and children's shoes are going to need a dedicated post.

Just to remind you, here again are my favorite top three on-line shoe stores:
1.    Zappos.com
2.    Onlineshoes.com
3.    Shoes.com

Zappos take my top prize for insanely good customer service. There is always someone at the end of the phone, virtual or real, and they will do anything - anything I tell you - to get your coveted footwear to you as fast and as efficiently as possible.

I once ordered sandals on a whim at 10.30pm EST. My cheery suburban UPS driver handed them to me personally at 3pm the next day. For free. When the shoes didn't fit I called customer service and 24 hours later the same cheery UPS driver and I swapped our shoe boxes, wrong size for right size, at no extra charge to me. Unbelievable. 

Shoes, like chocolate, are a sensual thing. Mine need to both feel good and look good. Yes, at the same time. I won't suffer for fashion, which is why some of my favorite brands include Ugg, Merrell, Birkenstock, Saucony and Born.

In my next and final post on shoe love you'll get juicy back-stories on each of these and more. But for now let's get back to the senses. So far we've got the looks and the feel of our feet covered in gorgeous shoe-heaven. Sight and touch, but what about taste? For those who've been salivating too long, here comes the chocolate portion of this post.

Let me strongly suggest that as you read this next recipe, you put your feet up - not so much to give them a rest as so that you won't get drool on your new shoes.  Because now Lulu is going to share with you something very special.

Only the most beloved guests to the Thrift household get served Lulu's Bodacious Brownies. Nutty oo-ey goo-ey melty yumminess.

Lulu's Bodacious Brownies

¾ cup dark chocolate chips
1 stick butter
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
½ cup chopped mixed nuts (almonds & walnuts are my favorite but you can use macadamia, hazelnuts & pecans. Nut allergy sufferers can simply omit).
Set oven to 350 F.

1. Chop up your nuts to nice big chunks, scatter on a baking tray and toast in the oven. Keep an eye on them so they don't burn, they go fast! About 6 mins should do the trick. Browning them first really brings out the flavor.

2. Stick the butter and chocolate in a dry bowl and spin in microwave on medium for 1 1/2 - 2 mins. Beat til shiny and smooth.

3. Stir all the other ingredients into this mixture then spread into a lined 8x8 brownie tin. Bake in center oven for 25 mins, less for those annoying fan assisted ovens. Everything should look a bit gooey and springy in the middle.

4. Resist the urge to dive right in with a spoon and use all willpower in Universe to let cool 10 mins before cutting up and - oh who am I kidding - gobbling up most of the tin yourself before sharing with friends and loved ones.

Just watch you don't get any on your new shoes. Chocolate is the devil to get out of cream-colored suede.

Enjoy!

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To Fix or to Toss?

The Thrift family fridge freezer is on the blink. This is not good news. It's warming up in the outside world and I am not sure how much longer my collection of dairy, chocolate and baked goodies are going to survive without some drastic action.

Drastic action is indeed what is going on right now in the Thrift kitchen. Mr. Thrift is on his hands and knees with his head under 250 lbs of appliance, poking about at tubes and scraping away what amounts to a sizable polar ice sheet at the bottom of what used to pass as our freezer.

It all started like this - for weeks now, every morning we'd wake up to a small puddle collecting on the floor under the freezer. Ostrich-like we managed to pass it off as at worst a mysterious annoyance, at best an amusing place for Little Miss Thrifts' (LMT) plastic zoo animals to practice their back stroke. Every day a new puddle, every day a wad of Bounty kitchen roll to mop it up.

But then things took a turn for the worse. Two days ago (and thankfully right after the Thrift in-laws had already snow-birded their way out en-route from FL to NH, staying overnight half way up with us), the fridge packed it in too.

We went from Arctic, to temperate to sub tropical in there within the space of a day. Let's say things don't smell great and my cheese-based items are not looking pretty and worse, my chocolate is melting. Meanwhile over in the freezer things just got weirder. Opening the door turned our kitchen into a low-budget horror movie, one where the director has compensated for a bad script with too much dry ice. Swirls of freezing air hit us in places you don't want to get a chill each time we reached for the ice cream.

Asking around at LMT's pre-school this morning yielded the following advice: get a new fridge. As one parent stated, with only partial tongue-in-cheek: "Welcome to America...where we just throw stuff away". Really? Not in my house.

So as of this morning, here were our choices:

1.    Call out a repair person. This was our first reflex reaction. But wait - those Yellow Pages ads look too good to be true. They probably are. "Free Service Call" and 30% off repair coupons look enticing. But beware the small print. If someone comes to your house, does no work and tells you that you need a new fridge, you'll then be slapped with a hefty call out fee anyway. And the money-off coupon only applies to any work they do once they've diagnosed the problem.

2.    Buy a new fridge. So let me get this straight. Experience the first appliance problem since moving to our house in the 'burbs only four years ago and we need to fork out the annual GDP of a small South American nation for a new fridge freezer? Not on my watch. Why throw out a perfectly repairable machine because it's a few years into its full glory?

3.    Fix the problem ourselves. Ok, so neither of us is a trained electrician, plumber or mechanic. But we're both pretty handy around the house (the one thing I brought over with me from England seven years ago was a fully loaded tool-box) we're on a tight budget and we have a planet-based conscience. So why not do our best to solve the issue without costly intervention or tossing a giant fridge onto the nearest landfill at first sign of trouble?

It won't take a genius to guess which of the above we've plumped for. Getting home to the relative quiet of a child at morning pre-school we set about doing what any sane and thrifty householder does. After making the coffee. And checking email. And facebook. We turned to that great oracle of modern knowledge. The internet. A fellow school Mum mentioned a web site that will give you feedback you can use on every appliance you own if you tap in the make and model and age of your machine.

A rootle around this site provided a potential solution. After running a search on "leaking freezer" we discovered other people had the same problem and were advised to check the drainage hole at the bottom of the appliance to see if it was clogged. It took about 30 seconds to reveal both the problem of our freezer leak and also the melting polar ice cap. Global warming obviously has nothing to do with the glacial retreat at the top of the world. The bloody thing has migrated into the bottom of our freezer. And it's been blocking the hole that should have led water away and into a collection pan above the evaporator coil. Or something technical like that.

Following handy on line instructions, we're now de-frosting the interior of our freezer and removing said ice sheet after which we'll remove the gunk from the drainage pipe.

It's important to note here that nothing can replace the services of a trained professional when the right time arises. Safety comes first (yes, even before saving money) so I'd never attempt to mess with anything that involved electrics, gas, or mains water plumbing. So far our problem didn't. I will not be held responsible for explosions or your lost limbs.

As I write these closing lines, it's evening, LMT is in bed, and I am happy to report that the fridge and freezer are back up and running. Most of the food we were able to salvage by keeping cool in iceboxes. It remains to be seen if we'll wake up to another puddle on the floor tomorrow morning but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. And I'll sleep easier tonight knowing we saved a ton of cash today by pausing before rushing out to replace what might be fixed - with something that might cost the earth.

Stay thrifty

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Free Revolution

You may have noticed our new, "FREE Today" deals section. We've always featured free deals from time to time here on CheapToday, but now, we've decided to create an entire section filled with dollar-free goodness for all.

Some of the freebies we find are big freebies. Meals at Benihana, free sandwiches, free ice cream--but it's not all about food. Here at CheapToday we deal finders also love to do other things...things that don't involve filling our faces full of the free food bounty that we post in our Free Deals section. So we've also got free deals on books, hair products, movie tickets, tooth whiteners (thank goodness for these or we'd be forced to swear off coffee...free coffee) and more.

Not only are these free deals awesome because...well...they don't cost any money, but they are also awesome because they allow you to potentially try something new without any risk. You know how those infomercials always talk about a "Risk-free" offer-but then they take your credit card number and you actually realize there is quite a bit of risk involved when someone has your credit card number and may or may not fulfill their promise of a money back guarantee?

Yeah, well, the free deals on CheapToday actually are risk-free (unless you break a tooth or something while opening the package the free stuff came in. Oh, our lawyers are asking me to give you some mumbo-jumbo here that basically breaks down to, "Uh-uh, we are not responsible for any post-free-deal-receiving incidents.").

Think about it, you certainly don't have to give out a credit card number to take advantage of the free deals we find you, and you don't have to spend time scouring the earth for the deals-we have them here and present them to you on a silver platter in the form of a website with cool graphics.

So there you are, free deals coming at you like underwear at Tom Jones, brand new products to try risk-free, and a credit card number to keep safe, secure and in your wallet. Does life get any better?

Yo

No thank you photographer frankh, I do not want to go to a basement to get free stuff. Well, unless it's really good stuff.

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Preparing Your Backyard for Summer on the Cheap

Memorial Day is 17 days away. Let me say that again so you get the full impact--please read this in that, "Oh yeah" voice from that one song in the "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" movie--Memorial Day is only 17 days away. That means I have 17 days, no energy and about $250 to make my backyard Memorial Day-party ready.

We are in the middle of renovating our home and the outside has not been high on our priority list--what with wanting a functional kitchen and bathrooms, but I want to have a party on Memorial Day so we need to get moving. Luckily, I've found some great resources to help me get backyard improvement stuff cheap. Let me share my super-secret, super-cheap backyard spruce up tips:

-Contact your city's recycling center to find out how to get free mulch. In our city, there is an open lot with a pile of mulch you can shovel into your vehicle and take home. Some of the mulch is a little worse for wear, but you can usually find some good stuff mixed in.

-Check Craigslist for free stuff. On my local Craigslist, we have people giving away pavers, palm trees, fill dirt to level the lawn, fence panels, patio furniture, pecan trees...okay, I have to stop somewhere. But seriously, you would not BELIEVE the stuff people are giving away for free!

-Buy potted plants. If you're like me, you:

a) Can't bury seeds or plants and grow flowers--unless weeds are flowers, which they're not.

b) Don't know how the heck to plan a decent landscaping plan

So don't stress, go to Wal-Mart and get some potted plants. If you spend $100 you can get some hanging plants and some free-standing potted plants. Get some of the smaller, less expensive pots and combine them into one larger pot to make a bigger impact.

Now depending on how crazy you go with plants, you should have about $100-$150 left and your backyard should look fabulous. If you want to be super frugal, you can spend that money on your food and drinks for the Memorial Day party. If you've already got your food budget down and want to spend that extra money on new appliances for your party, you can buy a big blender so you can make a lot of drinks all at once and a new grill all for only $150.

There you have it, brand new yard for $250 or less and a Memorial Day to remember.

Yo

Photographer cyancey has at least visited a nice backyard.

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Shoe Love - Part One

You knew it wouldn't be long before we entered into a conversation on footwear. I'm a girl, what did you expect?

I love shoes. I know it's a cliche but what female doesn't? But I don't want to pay through the toes for 'em. As usual, Lulu likes quality. So while I probably won't buy China-made kicks from Tar-jay, I will always, always scour for the best price on quality.

Words to live by: quality at the BEST PRICE. Never settle and never compromise on either. These days, you just don't have to.

To justify my motto I hereby give you Lulu's "shoe lore".

Do your research: find a brand a style or a look you love. If you have time, go to the store and try 'em on. They're shoes. You have to try 'em on. Right?

But if that last part has kept you from on-line shoe shopping for your Jimmys in the past (cockney rhyming slang for "shoes", as in "Jimmy Choo's". Ok it probably isn't an official cockney rhyme but since I was born within the sound of the Bow Bells in London I'm allowed free reign, so there) fear not my friend: help is at hand. You no longer have to brave the whole in-store try-on nightmare in order to wind up with the perfect pair of shoes.

Luckily for us there are some truly fabulous on-line shoe emporiums out there these days that make it really easy to get exactly what you want FAST.  These virtual stores offer a mind-boggling array of styles in every brand, color, size and flavor from designer through fashion to kids footwear. All on sites so easy to navigate a left-handed gorilla could happily shop from them. That's if gorillas wore shoes - and correct me if I'm wrong - but so far no one's proven they don't.

Here are Lulu's absolute favorite top 3 shoe-buying sites:

1. Zappos.com
2. Onlineshoes.com
3. Shoes.com

You won't hear me say a bad word about the folks at Zappos and this post won't be the last you hear from me about them. I am a tough customer to please because I demand excellent service at the best price. And I don't take "no" for an answer.

So needless to say I have been known to send customer service peeps running ashen faced to their line managers in fear, frustration or both on many an occasion. Not Zappos. Best Customer Service team ever. I admit they were the recipients of the first and so far ONLY letter of praise Lulu has ever sent. And no, Zappos are not paying me to say this to you. I just really like them and want to pass on the love.

As you've learned by now, I am picky and I don't make snap decisions on my purchases. That's where the above 3 sites excel as the procrastinators champions because they'll let you order as many pairs of shoes as you want. You can try them on in the comfort of your own bedroom mirror before deciding which ones to keep and which to ship back for a full refund.

Now, obviously you can't trip the light fandango in your new heels Saturday and expect a refund come Monday. Be reasonable. But get this - if you're a serial decision putter-offer like me, with Zappos you have 365 days to make up your mind. No, that wasn't a typo, I actually said A YEAR. It's 90 days for onlineshoes.com & 60 days for shoes.com.

In Part Two of  "Shoe Love" I'll be sharing with you some of Lulu's best shoe shopping stories to back up my top three. Some will educate, some will inform and some will merely titillate and entertain. Rather like shoe shopping there's going to be plenty to pick from and once you've tried them all on for size you're bound to find a story you like to inspire your next thrifty-but-fabulous footwear purchase.

Til then, stay thrifty...

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Time to Find a Few Good Bathing Suit Sales

This summer promises to be the best one I've had in a long time. This will be my first summer as a self-employed beach lover. Since I now make my own schedule and don't have to conform with corporate-imposed societal norms, I can spend every single morning at the beach! Next summer, the novelty of this new-found freedom will have worn off and I will forget how amazing this is.

Unfortunately, last year's bathing suit is a little worse for wear so it's time for me to find some bathing suits on sale. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind bathing suit shopping. I don't always love how I look in skin-tight spandex that shows my, "I've never had children and am only 33 so there's really no reason why I am this fat" fat, but I also don't know why in the world I would care about what others think of my cankles or camel-humped stomach when I'm humming along to Les Baxter on the beach.

What I don't like about bathing suit sale shopping is all the decisions I have to make. Usually, I invest in one swimsuit per year. Now that I'll be wearing them daily, I need a few so I don't have to do laundry every other day. Now some of you already know where I'm going next...several suits means many different sandals, wraps & cover ups, towels and bags to go with them.

Thankfully, there are a ton of sales going on right now that make my shopping much easier. Victoria's Secret is having a swimsuit sale with up to 40% off. Old Navy always has reasonably priced bathing suits and this year they have a better selection of one piece suits than they did last year . JCPenney is always a great resource and they've got hip minimizing suits as well as others on sale. This year, Zappos is getting in on the act with some of the most adorable sale priced Tommy Bahama bathing suits I have ever seen. I don't remember them having swim suits last year, so this is way exciting.

Now to the question of matching sandals, cover ups, bags and towels. Generally, Old Navy is the perfect place to shop for inexpensive accessories and this year, they do not disappoint. While a $450 Hermes beach towel from Bluefly is tempting, I think I'll settle for the not-on-sale-but-still-cheap $10ish towels at Target. While I'm there, I can pick up sandals and bags too.

All that's left now is some water resistant tanner and a new beach chair, and I'm ready to go!

Yo

Photographer albertoibz knows how to get to me.

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Cheap Recipes and Deals for Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo is tomorrow and I spent my weekend looking for deals that I can take advantage of as I suck down shots of Jose Cuervo and progressively forget that I am celebrating the Mexican victory over the French army back in 1862.

I found a great deal at T.G.I. Friday's for some five cent appetizers with the purchase of a drink at the bar-which filled me with excitement.

But since I'm on an extreme budget this month while I set aside money to make COBRA payments, I thought I should scour the web to find some cheap recipes for Cinco de Mayo since T.G.I. Friday's is only serving cheap appetizers on Cinco de Mayo from 4 to 7 pm and I might want some other food items to consume on Tuesday, what with all the drinking I am planning.

Little People Wealth has a great recipe for Spanish rice that costs around $3 for four serving and is super easy to make.

Personal Money Store has a bunch of recipes to feed your family for under $5 on Cinco de Mayo. They've got a variety of stuff from Lentil Burritos to Beef Enchiladas.

SHEKNOWS has inexpensive Mexican food recipes that also add a dose of healthiness to them. Try her Three Bean Salad or Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole. 

Getting thirsty? Good because Liquor Snob has a recipe for a Sangrita (Liquor Snob actually got the recipe from Scorpion Mezcal) that is sure to please. Oh, and it's made out of fruit and tomato juices so it's totally healthy.

Yo

Photographer Irreveren's cat thinks it's Cinco de Mice-o

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Dealing with Insurance Companies

I am gearing up for a fight with my COBRA benefits administrator. I’ve got boxing gloves at the ready, filled with sand to give me a bit of an edge. Rules? What rules? I’m fighting with the big boys, and I’m just a little person. I can’t be bothered with rules.

See, I just left my job at the brokerage firm in order to write full time. Hubby’s heart attack makes him uninsurable except by group coverage. The writer’s union insurance is $1,400 per month for the two of us, so we’ve decided to pay for COBRA over the next 18 months because it is half the price of the union premium.

Now, I left my cushy corporate job for the life of a starving artist (okay, so maybe what I do isn’t art—but I’m still starving) two weeks ago and I have yet to receive my COBRA packet in the mail. This means that, technically, we are uninsured. I almost vomited after I typed that. Oh dear. Uninsured. Brrrrr.

Okay. Back to the fight, so Hubby finds out from the cardiologist this week that there is another blockage in his ticker that we need to fix now. Not now like, go to the ER immediately now, but now like, let’s schedule a heart catheterization within the next two weeks, now. Which is fantastic, because again, we are technically uninsured. So, I call the COBRA benefits administrator and I tell them that I don’t have my COBRA paperwork yet. They tell me that it could take up to a month to get the paperwork but not to fear, the COBRA premium is retroactive.

Um…okay. So, my claim for the surgery may be denied initially because we have not paid a COBRA premium, but after we have paid the premium, everything will be hunky-dory and the insurance company will accept the claim in retrospect. It’s just that easy.

I can not take for granted that it will be, "just that easy." The debt a family accrues from uninsured medical procedures can be devastating to their budget and savings. Here is what I’m going to do to protect my bottom line from accruing any uncovered medical expenses:

1. I have the name and employee number of the person I spoke with at the benefits administration office. Their lines are recorded so they should be able to pull the call of her telling me the premiums are retroactive. Seem a little paranoid? Well, that’s because I am.

2. When we get the COBRA envelope, we are going to make a copy of the envelope showing the postmark date and we are going to keep the copy along with the envelope in our insurance files. That way, if the COBRA package is received by us outside of the time frame you are allowed to accept COBRA, we can prove that it was out of our control.

3. We are going to overnight the first COBRA premium on the same day we receive the packet and we are going to pay for package tracking so we know it arrives on time and we have signature proof that it was received.

4. We are going to try really hard to prevent all the work listed above by calling the benefits administrator every other day to see if the packet has been sent and we are going to schedule the surgery for as far out as we safely can.

Yo

Do you think jnichol's snake charmer could charm COBRA?

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