Weekend Buys

$140 Clothing: Because I believe in buying quality over quantity and because I’ve been very, very good about clothing purchases over the last few months, I splurged at Nordstrom’s this weekend:

• Deep blue dress by Lush, $44
• Black t-shirt dress by Lush, $40
• White 3/4-length jacket, $30

$0 Entertainment: Didn’t spend a dime and still had one of the best weekends in a long time.

• Attended a free film festival Saturday night, put on by the very talented students in DePaul University’s theatre school, in Lincoln Park. Very late evening, but fun.
• Watched free streaming shows at www.surfthechannel.com. Have you seen this site? It takes some time to buffer, which is annoying, and there are Chinese subtitles. But it’s totally free.

$24 Gift: Wedding gift & Starbucks for my co-workers

• Target Brita water pitcher (cost split with my brother): $17
• Starbucks for my Saturday staff (we have a bug infestation; I felt bad for them and stopped by): $6.20

$28 Food: My brother paid me back for his portion of the wedding gift by covering meals out, but I’m counting the $17 as from my food budget, so I’m recording it here:

• Chicken pita at the Patio ($5)
• Ice cream at Andy’s frozen custard ($2)
• Saturday lunch at Maggiano’s ($11)
• I paid for lunch Sunday, $12, at the Patio again

Summary: I spent more than usual for a weekend, but I really enjoyed myself, and it’s all within my budget.

OK, Boss, Just Pay What You Feel

What would Friday’s paycheck look like if your boss got to pay you what he thought you earned this week? What if she were able to add/deduct at will, with no constraints upon a predetermined value for your time? Does it make you a little nervous, or are you excited about the possibilities?

That’s the strategy Radiohead made famous with their pay-what-you-want CD offerings. And while it hasn’t extended to workplaces yet, it is growing.

Now, restaurants in places like Seattle, Salt Lake City and Australia are doing the same thing: come on in, eat on us and leave what you feel is fair. It’ll all work out.

According to this recent article from Budget Travel, pay-what-you-like restaurants are changing the expectations of typical eat-out experiences. Rather than telling you what to pay, you tell them.

Imagine! That distgusting cup of coffee you got at the corner bakery? $.10. But that burger from In-N-Out that you raved about? Well, does $6 sound fair?

What I like about this is the innovative, new feel. I like shaking things up and trying different methods. But what I don’t like is the relativity of it all. I do very much want to get paid what I think I’m worth, not what you do. And if I owned a restaurant, I’d want to be paid what I felt the food was worth, not what you’d name the price at.

What do you think?

The New Look!

Well, here she is, up and running.

I have to say, deciding to buy a domain and host it has been a great decision so far. I bought the domain late last night, and it’s already working great! If I’d known it would be this easy, I’d have done it long ago!

How did I afford it?

If you’ve been reading this site long, you know I try to stick close to my budget. What I’ve never blogged about before, though, is my extra stash in my Paypal/other bank account. It’s only a few hundred bucks, but it comes in handy when I want something on eBay or etsy.

Thanks to some eBay sales, a sponsor at the blog and other things, I was able to pay for my hosting/domain without tapping my regular budget.

If you’re a regular reader, please update my link in your sidebar! (Please, pretty please?)

Here’s the RSS feed, too: http://feeds.feedburner.com/thiswriterswallet/feed.

Keeping My Last $2

I spent last Saturday catching up with some friends from the past, over bakery, then pizza. Afterwards, when I was grabbing the Brown Line from the Loop back to Lincoln Park, the ticket-vending machine wouldn’t take my dollar bills–the last two I had in my wallet. Frustrated, I went to see the little man in the booth to my left.

“I need to put money on my card,” I gestured with my money and my CTA pass.

He stared at me blankly.

“The machine’s not working. Can I pay you instead?”

His hands flew up, pushing me away. “Fine. Just go through,” he told me. “I don’t have time to deal with this.”

I know he was angry because a group of teenagers had just gone through before me, all because of the broken machine. I know he was frustrated that it was cold outside and he was working amongst people like me.

But what can I say? I walked through the gate blissfully, glad to keep my last $2 in my pocket.

free pass = happy me.

It’s Such a Cliche…

Have you ever thought about how many overused phrases there are regarding money? Sometimes, try as I might to avoid them, I find myself thinking in these cliches:

I didn’t buy myself the ubiquitous man-I’ve-had-a-bad-day present yesterday because I realized money can’t buy me love, which is what I was actually looking for to make me feel better. I mean really, there are some things money can’t buy. And we all know the best things in life are free.

Tonight I walked through a few stores, but I walked out empty-handed, reminding myself that a penny saved is a penny earned. Since money doesn’t grow on trees, there’s no harm in waiting to purchase things I don’t need.

Somebody stop me!

Or just join me: what other money cliches do you know?

Home Decorating = ER Fund Spending

Sometimes I really feel like an idiot.

I got this idea in my head that I really wanted some of those floating wall shelves on this vacant wall in my bedroom. I looked around at prices, comparing Target, Amazon, Linen N’ Things, Wal-Mart, Meijer and all the other discount home-type places. Target was the winner.

Tuesday night, I bought three 36-inch shelves, each for $25.

Tonight, I tried hanging them, and I’ll spare you the details except to say this: now I have two rather large holes in the wall, drywall I had to vacuum, a broken shelf and busted screws. Two other people were involved, and they’re not happy either.

It’s just a big, disappointing, frustrating pain in the neck. Now I have to pay to fix the wall, on top of trying to talk Target into letting me return their shoddy stuff.

Good thing I have an emergency fund.

I bought a Blackberry!

I really shouldn’t let myself play on eBay. The other night, I was looking through phones (mine is really on its last leg) and couldn’t believe how cheap Blackberries were. So I bid on one.

And I won it. $30, plus shipping and handling, for a grand total of $48.

I’m told it will be a fantastic personal organizer.

Free Magazines?

Update on the Redbook situation (which, apparently, I’m not alone in):

I got a renewal notice in the mail that included a phone number, so I thought I’d get to the bottom of this whole thing. Apparently, a third party purchased my subscription, as a thank you for my purchase of… something. Whatever the case, the helpful Redbook person told me I will not under any circumstances be paid unless I e-mail in the renewal to make a subscription.

How I Shop & Eat for Free

Do you know what I love? Getting things I would be willing to pay for completely free. It’s awesome.

The other night, I sat down and looked at the reward points I’ve accumulated, partially through my Visa debit/credit card and partially through MyPoints (reading e-mails*).

The result? $25 at Target and $10 at Starbucks.

*Do you know MyPoints? Essentially, you click on e-mail ads, and they give you points. After you’ve earned a certain number of points, you’re able to redeem them for gift cards! If you’d like a referral, e-mail me!

On Shopping: What I Wear & How I Wear It

Inspired by the clothing fast going on at Well-Heeled, I’ve been thinking more about what I wear. For the past three weeks, I’ve planned my outfits out ahead of time, writing out a week’s worth of choices on a 3 X 5 card that I place in my closet. I still bought two new sweaters at H & M this week and a fun dress at Target last weekend, but I have been learning a few things.

1. There are a lot of things in my closet that I never want to wear. Why is this? I can’t decide if I should give them more time, in case I find something I want to pair items with at some point, or if I should just get rid of everything I don’t love.

2. There are a lot of things in my closet that I forget about. Generally speaking, I get into a routine of a couple items I *really* like, and I wear and rewear them silly. My v-neck black sweater has worn elbows, but I still wear it weekly. This is at the expense of other things I let waste away.

Planning my outfits helps me add versatility to my outfits.

3. Quality matters. There are things I bought years and years ago that I still wear because I like them and the quality is so good. This is definitely worth it.