Know when to fold 'em - On vs. Off-brand

You may not love the song ("The Gambler" - Kenny Rogers) but there's a nugget of good advice in there. He's basically telling a newbie that he needs to discern what's important from what isn't, concentrate on that, and leverage it as much as he can. Well, I can easily say the same for money. Ya gotta know when to spend it and know when it's not worth it. 

Which brings me to today's nugget - when/where do we spend the money and where do we skimp? Some people are slave to brands when they could be saving tons of cash while others are buying store-brand mac & cheese and hating life when coughing up the extra dollar would have been worth it.  

After pondering, polling some coworkers and others, I've compiled a somewhat comprehensive list of On-Brand/Off-Brand items (with justifications). You may agree, you may not, but I'm just trying to help you hit that financial sweet spot. Onward...

ON-BRAND 

1. Food - This is the fuel you're putting into your most prized possession - YOU. I am not by any means stating that you need to go out and buy Velveeta Shells & Cheese, but buying Organic and Local fruit, vegetables and meat products can make a HUGE difference in how you feel - which impacts your decisions, which impacts your money, which impacts your life. This is definitely more expensive, and you may need to take the less-is-more approach - shop more often in smaller increments, wasting nothing. This takes effort, but it's worth it. You can afford to treat your body well. 

2. Hair Products - This is my personal thing. Everybody has one, so you can insert your ONE vanity/vice here if you'd like, as long as it's not scratch-offs, cocaine or other expensive things that leave you with nothing to show for them.  Using good shampoo and conditioner actually shows. Believe me, I have tried to get around this so many ways and it just doesn't work. Hair is essentially dead cells - so if you put low-grade chemicals on them, it's going to reflect that. If you put high-quality proteins and extracts on them, it's going to reflect that.  This is especially important for those of us with color-treated hair. Don't spend money to color your hair only to put shitty chemicals on it every day. [Editor's note - if you don't wash your hair every day and only condition your ends, good product will last you a long time.}  If you have virgin hair (i.e., never been permed/straightened/colored), you MAY be able to get away with a mid-level product but make sure you trim frequently.

3. Shoes - READ THIS THROUGH BEFORE YOU GO BUY THOSE LABOUTINS.  Okay - I learned the hard way that your feet are really, really important. After 12 hours of waiting tables one weekend, I realized how vital a well-constructed, comfortable shoe really is. I don't mean impractical, hurt your feet expensive shoes - I mean a nice pair of fairly expensive, durable, versatile shoes that you can wear for years and re-heel if needed. You may not have a ton of shoes, but the ones you have won't hurt, make your feet stink, or need to be replaced every two months because the fake leather ripped/plastic heel broke. 

4. Sporting Equipment -  This only applies if you are fairly avid. If you're not going to take your bike out/go running/play a sport/etc. more than once a year or you tend to go from fad to fad, skip this one and keep reading. If you're still here - if you're dedicated to a certain sport, having quality equipment is pretty essential. Please don't ever skimp when it comes to safety or quality, especially in protective gear.  Well-made equipment and clothing is going to be the most comfortable, durable and reliable. You don't want to be in yoga class when your cheapo shorts split at the seams or on the slopes with your fingers going numb because you decided to knit your own gloves. You'll end up spending more money on going through a bunch of cheap shit and paying doctor bills than you ever would on that good-quality helmet.

5. Facial products - Your face shows. Investing in some good facial cream is going to pay off in the long run. Not using good facial products is penny wise and pound foolish. I'm not saying you need La Mer, but getting a decent facial lotion is worth the extra expense. Men, this can apply to you as well, especially with shaving products (razors in particular).  

Now for the cheapskate's fun part.....

OFF-BRAND 

1. OTC medicines, band-aids, etc. - Tyle-what?? Hell no. When it comes to ibuprofen, acetaminophen (Tylenol), cough syrups, sinus medications, band-aids, baby oil, contact solution, tampons, or any other OTC thing available at the drugstore, off-brand is where it's at.  Medicines are medicines - compare doses and ingredients and you'll see that there is essentially no difference. You may not be able to have "rapid release", but the off-brand ibuprofen is going to do the exact same job as Advil. Same goes for tampons and contact solutions - it's all the same stuff. Unless you go way organic with your tampons (which I respect), just get the pharmacy brand. These are essentially items with the exact same makeup, just a brand name/packaging separating them, and you paying an extra $1-2. Save that for your organic food or nice shoes. 


2. Cereal - This has come a LONG way. Back in the day, I would have never advocated this, but now every store brand seems to have a duplicate of your favorite cereal, even the healthy ones! Stunning. Anyway, give the store brand a shot. You may be very surprised. Even the bag cereal has stepped up its game. I'd advocate getting the healthier cereals, but that's your decision. 

3. Nail Polish - Ladies and Trannies, Wet & Wild works. All polish chips. You may as well spend $1 on your polish instead of $3 if we all know what's going to happen. This is especially true if you are purchasing clear polish. Anything but W&W in that situation is just dumb. 


4. Hair Color -  This is only for the adventurous and those who are willing to experiment a bit.  There are a few box color brands (cough, Feria, cough) that can get the job done without spending a ton of cash.  That being said, you need to be willing to color your hair all one shade, and not be looking for something really drastic. Follow all of the instructions to the T - this is NOT a time for freelancing. Do not attempt this if you're looking for highlights. Do not attempt this if your hair is in bad shape. Do attempt this if your hair is in fairly good condition and you want a bit of a change. It's never going to come out as light as the box shows, but it can make an impact. DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU'RE GOING RED. Unless you are purposely going for a Magenta look, leave Red to a pro. It's a really tricky color to achieve, let alone have it look semi-natural. 


5. TP/PT -  This one seems to divide people, but more often than not I hear people say they skimp on toilet paper and paper towels. Makes sense as you're only going to be using them once.  Personally, I don't use paper towels and it saves me a lot of money. You'd be surprised how accustomed you can get to wiping up spills with a cloth. As far as TP, as long as it's not one-ply, I will roll with whatever comes down the pike. I know some people can be very particular about this subject, so I shall leave you to your own decisions on this delicate matter. 


6. Soap/Body Wash - This is another case of it all being pretty much the same thing. Unless you have very sensitive/delicate skin, go for the Suave body wash and the fake dove beauty bars. PS - soap is 10x cheaper than body wash and it's really convenient. 


So, no one can have it all, right? Well, there is a place I like to call the BRAND LOOPHOLE, or TJ MAXX (and the like)!  Go there on the right day and you can find on-brand items for off-brand prices. This is especially true for housewares, bedding, towels, and beauty products. Just make sure to look everything over to make sure it hasn't been handled too much, and wash prior to using. This takes a little time and patience, but you can find some serious deals. 


Before I go - things that are a tiny bit off-topic but deserve mention - doing your own eyebrow waxes (be careful), bartering for services, clothing swaps with friends, going to the library and packing your lunch can all help you save some cash.


Well, there you have it. My list of off/on brands to maximize your money. I hope you've found this helpful and if you have any more, please don't hesitate to comment.  Next post will be clothing and covetable, per usual. 


Lots of bank-breaking love, 


Kasey

You're the picture on my wall, you're a vision in the hall

If I were a set director, this would have been in Belle & Sebastian's "Funny Little Frog" video. Try listening to this song and not thinking about this shower curtain or vice-versa. I dare you.

As I've said before, shower curtains mean a lot to me. I'm going to be honest - I judge your style on your choice of shower curtain. It's not logical or fair, but it's what I do. Color me human.

I see it as such an opportunity to showcase your personal style - a huge blank canvas that you can do anything you want with. You don't even have to know how to draw! {Editor's note: that's important for people like me who can only draw two things, one being an eye and the other being a snoopy out of the number 25.}

Let's say you have a stark-white, standard apartment bathroom. I'm with you on that. You may or may not be able to paint it, and you have to be careful there, considering the size of the bathroom as it's really easy to overwhelm a typically small space with color, giving it that pleasant feel of claustrophobia or panic. Let's say you can't paint it but you really want some color in there, or something that makes you smile, your personal stamp on what is otherwise a very fixed environment.

May I present - the Singing in the Rain shower curtain from Target. Graphically, it's right on the mark, very striking while avoiding an overwhelming pattern. And who can resist the pull of the romantic, optimistic theme? I will admit that this may skew a bit female, but I think a man could pull this off, especially with a darker/duller color curtain liner. Grey would be quite cheeky.

Well, it's actually not raining and I do feel like singing a bit, so I'm out of here. You can find this on target.com, but you must go to the Red Hot Shop on the homepage, and scroll about halfway down. I trust you to be able to navigate a website.

Singing in the Rain Shower Curtain, $19.99, target.com

Lots and lots of Gene Kelly-esque love, K

Sealed with a Kiss

This post isn't for the faint of heart or those who are running low on discipline. This post is for those who have straight-up fucked themselves. Financially, of course. What you do on your own time isn't my business. Unless you want to tell me.

Anyway - let's say you've been less than careful with your finances as of late. Since we believe our own lies the most, I'll lay out some signs that indicate you need to get not just a grip, but a choke-hold on your money situation:

1. You run out of money for essentials before your next pay period. By this, I mean you can't fill your gas tank, are getting anything you can for free, and are avoiding things like parking meters, as you need that change for the candy bar you're going to buy for dinner.

2. You're using credit cards to fill in the gaps (usually as a result of #1).
This means you don't have any cash for the essentials, but you're putting them on plastic. You might even be going beyond that and adding in some dinners out or clothes here and there.
HUGE.FUCKING.MISTAKE.
If you're doing this - stop. stop now, and I mean this minute, young lady/man. Cut the card up or get someone else to cut it up for you if you have to. This is not a solution, this is the financial equivalent of putting a band-aid on a hemorrhaging head wound. It might work for this instant, but the long-term damage is severe.

3. You're borrowing money from family/friends/others with no real intentions or plans to pay it back. Come on now! Your irresponsibility is now spilling into other people's lives. It's messy, embarrassing, selfish and shows poor character. If you are truly in trouble, i.e., you need to make bail or have emergency surgery - that is an exception. Most things are not, that's why those instances are called EXCEPTIONS. Anything from #1 or #2 does not fall into this. Handle your business.

4. Any of the above is happening without a loss of a job, serious illness or some other severe life circumstance. Things happen in life that are way beyond our control, and sometimes we need some extra help. If you are in this boat, speak with a financial professional who may be able to assist you. If you are NOT in this boat, keep reading before your credit score plunges any further.

Now that I've laid out the criteria, I'll also tell you that I've never had to make bail, but I've been BROKE in my lifetime, and I've done all 3 of these things listed above. I'm not proud of my financial past, but I took a long, hard look and did something about it. I have three rules - a.) I pay cash for it, or I can't afford it, unless it's a car or a house.
b.) If the choice is to pay the bill now or wait until the next paycheck, I pay it NOW before I can decide otherwise.
c.) If I slip into any of the behaviors listed above, I go to the envelope method.

The envelope method has saved me. A lot of my bad financial decisions actually came from worrying and making impulse purchases. Basically, I felt like I wasn't going to have enough so I spent too much, therefore creating that situation for myself. The envelope method will make sure you have enough. You may not have a lot, but you will have enough. Sometimes these two things are farther apart than we'd like them to be. Suck it up. If you do this long enough, it will change.

This is very simple - you get paid. You pay all of your current bills. If you cannot pay all of the bills without having NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, hold at least $50 - $75 back, take the bill that is due the furthest out, and call your creditor to explain that you will be late. Pay that bill first with your next check,

Let's assume you're starting clean, and get paid every 2 weeks. You can pay the impending bills, and have a little left over. Not a lot, but some. Probably just enough to feel like you're simply working to pay your bills and that it sucks. Here we go....

1. Stop your line of thinking and go get 4-5 envelopes.

2. Pin down the exact amount of money you have left, and err on the side of caution, meaning you underestimate by about $10 or so.

3. Go to the ATM and pull all of this money out. CHANGE IT INTO SMALLER BILLS ($10's and $5's are ideal).

4. Label the envelopes according to your NEEDS - gas, food, medical/personal products, and FUN/OTHER. Personally, I keep an envelope for cigarettes as well. Break it up by what you consider your essentials. Make sure you keep an envelope for FUN. I don't care if you only have $5 to put in it, you need one or this will not work.

5.Start dividing the money in a realistic manner into the envelopes, based on how much you have and what you plan to use on each. Example: I have $200 for the next 2 weeks. This is what my envelopes would look like:
-gas: $40
-food(which means groceries): $80
-medical/personal:$20
-cigarettes: $20
-fun: $60
**side note: going out to eat comes from the fun envelope**

6. Pull the money from the correct envelope for what you will buy THAT DAY and no more. If you know you are going grocery shopping that day and getting gas, pull out $60 (40 for the groceries & 20 for the gas) - you have now spent that week's money, but you have some gas and you have something to eat. If you don't spend it all, put it back in the envelope it came from. If it's the day before you get paid again and you still have some money in that envelope, spend 1/2 of it on FUN, and put 1/2 of it in a savings account.

7. Empty and replenish your wallet every day - from the correct envelope, with the correct budgeted amount. Put any remainders back at the end of the day.

8. If you have a surplus in one area, move it around. If after a few weeks of doing this, I find that $80 is too much groceries for me for 2 weeks, I might put a little more into cigarettes or medical/personal, if I wanted some nice conditioner or something like that. This propels you to really think about your purchases and start making some sacrifices like driving less, buying cheaper products, using coupons, etc. You will learn what you value and where you can comfortably skimp. I will buy the store-brand contact solution and bar soap every day of the week if it means I can go see a movie on Friday and not have to put it on plastic.

9. When you are at the point where you can pay all bills on time and at least one of them ahead of time, try going without the envelopes. By this point, you've learned a lot about your spending habits, budgeting and some self-discipline. You've built a little cushion, so try to see if you can fly on your own. You can always go back to the envelopes if and when you need them.

Well, there you have it, mes amis. A way to dig yourself out of the hole while not feeling completely deprived. I wish I could take credit for all of this, but someone showed this to me long ago, and while I have put my own twists on it, it was passed on to me as I am passing it onto you. It's simple and it works. If you try this, I would love to hear how you do with it.

After all, I love you enough to tell you the truth, right?

Next post will be clothing-related. For now, save those pennies so you can be a responsible consumer.

Lots of thick, tough love, K

Take 2

I promised I'd go back to writing this blog. I asked you to hold me accountable. You did. I pondered, considered recanting, decided against that, and here we are. I am officially back, but different. When I began this blog, I was in a very different head space. If you know me, you know 2008 was both unkind and kind to me, and I learned a lot of lessons. Part of me saw this blog as me right before the hard knock hit, and I really wanted to just leave it behind for good, out of fear, out of regret, out of bitterness. But I can't do that. I love to write, and you know I love you, so what good would it do any of us?

So I have run back to you, wiser and a bit more cautious. I've also decided to add a new twist. As this is about both clothing and affording, I'm going to write on both. One post about a good find, another post about money - budgeting, credit, making it work, etc. Both will be an honest take and as always, straight from my heart. I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for sticking by me, encouraging me, supporting me. It sends sunshine into my heart, and hopefully back to yours.

Next post - The envelope method (aka, what to do when you need to make it work in a tough financial spot).

Lots and lots of reunited love, K

the opposite effect

A long time ago in a land far, far away called Michigan, a certain gentleman looked at me while I was in minimal clothing and uttered the words, "good god, woman." If you've never had that happen, make sure you put yourself in that position, sooner rather than later. It sounds horrible when it's not you, but I can assure you when you provoke a reaction like that, you feel like a natural woman, indeed.

Not only do I want that for you, I'm going to actively facilitate it by showing you this incredible swimsuit that is not only mind-blowingly sexy, but also very affordable. It's a tiny but over my cap, but once again, I am making an exception for an item that's totally worth the extra 5 bucks.

Today's item comes to us from Target's Mossimo collection. I'm not usually a fan of the knits, especially when it comes to swimwear, but the 70's feel of the design suits the knit and the color pattern really well. The waist cutouts are sexy but not over the top--an important part of the overall allure. Also, the top features a good amount of structure and coverage, which is also very important both when choosing swimwear and considering balance. Rule of thumb in clothing and most everything else: if you're going to show a lot of one thing, dial the rest back or you risk laying all of your cards on the table way too soon. One of the first rules of playing a good game of Euchre or Spades is to keep a trump card until the end where you can lay it down and really shake some trees. This is no different, friends. [Editor's note: I know this contradicts the story I began this post with a bit, but in my defense, I was technically clothed and 22 at the time of said occurrence. Hell, I'd do it all over again, who am I kidding?]

Life Lessons aside, this suit does a great job of choosing one thing to highlight and keeping the rest of it fairly modest. There is one thing I would like to stress at this point: this suit is not for everyone. This suit is a gift to my ladies who have what I like to call the "opposite build". This means that, much like me, you have some up top but not a whole bunch, a flat stomach, and ass for days. A suit like this is meant for women like us. There are plenty of suits to show off a nice chest, but it's rare when we get to shine the way we should. Waist, hips and ass is what this suit is all about. Flaunt it, my opposite sisters, for this is your day. Make me proud.

Mossimo® Black: Missoni Monokini - Multicolor, $34.99 at Target stores or Target.com

Buckets of eager, but not overly earnest love, Kase

my birthday is rapidly approaching...

So if you're looking for gift ideas, I'm going to make it easy for you. Go to Kohl's or kohls.com and pick this dress up for me in a Medium.

Now that that's out of the way, I can share with the rest of you this lovely dress that I actually found on Kohl's a bit ago, but have been waiting for the price to drop. Well, the day has come, y'all. I checked today and it now fits under my price cap. I couldn't be more thrilled.

This lovely piece is from the ELLE collection at Kohl's, which is in my opinion, right up there with Isaac Mizrahi for Target. Fashionable, affordable, and even fairly well constructed garments for the price. Get them while you can and especially before everyone else finds out about it. You probably can't make an entire wardrobe from it, but you can find some really great stand-out pieces to work into your existing closet.

This dress is made from a polyester blend, which means it's fairly thin and has a LOT of movement. Perfect for spring/summer days when we don't need anything sticking to us. The waist is high and a little empire without being over the top and making it look like maternity wear. Also, what you cannot see in this photo is that there is a DARLING bow in the back of the dress at the waist. Movement, striking color, universally flattering...what else do you need? You need it to be under 30 bucks, you say? Well, it's done that too. So stop your demands and buy it already.

Elle Bold Floral Dress, $29.99 at Kohl's or kohls.com

Lots of Summer-breeze infused love, kasey

ridiculously cute, indeed.

In keeping with the posts of late and featuring wild print patterns and color palettes, today I stumbled across these gems on one of my favorite sites.

Etsy (etsy.com) is a really, really great place to buy stuff. All items are handmade, so not only are you supporting an artist, you don't have to feel bad that the trendy item you just got has been made with the sweat off some small child's brow. Transactions are really simple, and I have always had success with the items I have purchased. Plus, it's a really great way to work some truly unique pieces into your repertoire.

I found this shop today - Kaylah 7, from Cleveland, OH. You know I heart the Cleve, so of course I looked a little deeper to see what she had cooking. And wow! Love the pattern choices, the craftsmanship is good, and the prices are right.

I've chosen 2 bags to feature. They are both small and would work really well as a coin purse/clutch or a makeup bag, depending how much makeup you have. The mushroom print is completely adorable and the camera print is just a solid color way with a great choice of print. If you bought BOTH of these bags, you would still come in under 20 bucks. So I shall give you the link and set you loose.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5022897

Blue Camera Zipper Pouch, $8.00 Mole and Mushroom Zipper Pouch, $7.25, at site listed above.

Lots of bright, repeating love, kase