Friday morning, I headed out to my favorite little shopping block in downtown Brooklyn – within a 3-minute stretch of walking, there’s a CVS, a Rite Aid, and a Trader Joe’s. The only minor hitch I had was with a cashier at Rite Aid who didn’t want to let me use 2 coupons on one [...]
Filed under: Frugality | 3 Comments »
… what would you do with the cash sitting in your brokerage account?
I maxed out my Roth IRA (TDAmeritrade account) back in April, and have just let the money sit idle. Anytime I mention this to someone in the investment biz, they say “Good!” Current stock market fluctuations make absolutely no sense to me, and I [...]
Filed under: Investments | 6 Comments »
Okay, so I buy-for-free from the big retailers rather than steal from the rich — but the fruits of my crazy coupon labors find their way to the poor much as Robin Hood’s booty did, so I’ll draw the self-aggrandizing parallel anyway
Quite a few of my readers have expressed an interest in helping [...]
Filed under: Charity, Frugality | 15 Comments »
I hate clothes. No, I’m not a nudist – I just hate shopping for them, and lead the kind of life where I can wear clothes that are barely more restrictive than pyjamas. But I mostly mean that I don’t enjoy clothes shopping. All that on and off, the unforgiving lights in the fitting rooms, [...]
Filed under: Family, Frugality | 4 Comments »
I figured you all might want to know how all of this is turning out, especially those of you who think of Craigslist or 1-to-1 giving as “scary”. A little nutso, absolutely!, but so far nothing even remotely scary.
Yesterday I distributed 5 care packages and have plans to assemble another 2-4. All care packages included toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo/conditioner, shower gel, [...]
Filed under: Charity | 13 Comments »
Monday afternoon, I posted an ad on Craigslist NYC’s “Free” page, offering care packages of unused, unopened, full-size toiletries and personal items that food stamps don’t cover. I asked for a little info about them and their situation so I could put together a very suitable package.
Believe it or not, I’m very skeptical, and quite a few [...]
Filed under: Charity | 14 Comments »
One of my mother’s co-workers went to a special bra shop on the Upper Westside and came back raving about how it didn’t even feel like she was wearing one because it was so comfortable. So over the family weekend in Manhattan, my mom dragged me and my sister along with her. We weren’t really [...]
Filed under: Budget, Family | 5 Comments »
Don’t get me wrong – I love my immediate family, we’re all very different but live so spread out that it’s a real treat to catch up. However, I’m not a drink-yer-ass-off-til-3am type, and they are. Well, not my mom (usually – she makes an exception to that behavior about twice a year), but she was [...]
Filed under: Family, Home | 4 Comments »
I decided to handle my $9K whole life premium as an annual payment, due next week, and borrowed the $2K shortfall from my mother rather than use my emergency fund (sorry, I’m not sharing the reasoning behind this). My mother, the Blond-Blue Dimpled DEVIL had a good giggle about role reversal – this is the first [...]
Filed under: Family, Investments, Silliness | 8 Comments »
I had a lot of fun doing my coupon thing at Rite Aid and CVS in Brooklyn over the weekend (Revlon mousse foundation! Bic Soleil cartridges! Stayfree! Post Trail Mix Crunch! Colgate! Clear Eyes! Venus razors!), but today was the first time I managed to pull off some great deals at Walgreens.
A new store opened [...]
Filed under: Frugality | 5 Comments »
