Cute Cheap Stuff!

If you live in Seattle, listen up. If you like to dine out, check out Stranger Mart (brought to you, obviously, by The Stranger). You can get awesome deals on gift certificates to good restaurants (try the sliders at late night happy hour at Broadway Grill – amazing!). There’s a bunch of places, including Bimbo’s (did you know they have happy hour all day on Mondays – also amazing!), Skylark Cafe, Triple Door, and Via Tribunali. Enjoy!

(Thanks, Seattle Moms Deal Finder)

For today only (Oct. 30), you can get 50% off your purchase at Payless Shoes by using this coupon.

(Photo credit: Flickr member jonathan_moreau licensed for use under Creative Commons)

I recently came across this article about 28 ways to save cash by getting your home ready for winter. Most of the tips don’t apply to me since I’m an apartment dweller, but it did get me thinking about personal preferences when it comes to being warm.

The thermostat in my apartment right now is set to 62. I have a feeling that’s a little colder than average, but I’m not sure.

Let’s do a little informal survey. What’s your thermostat set to? And for those of you living with a significant other, do you disagree over the ideal temperature?Every time I fiddle with my thermostat, I think of my parents who are constantly adjusting the heat/AC, and despite 30 years of marriage, are still incompatible temperature-wise.

If you’re a fan of Jack Johnson, G. Love, Matt Costa, and more dudes like them, check out the fall 2009 sampler from Brushfire Records. It’s available on Amazon for free.

Also available for free from Amazon: “In These Arms” by The Swell Season (the duo from “Once”).

Cold and flu season has begun! This week I’ve been struggling with a cold – or what I hope is just a cold and not something more serious – and it was a reminder about something I failed to mention in my post about home remedies.

While I’m not much of a natural remedies kind of person, I do want to recommend a neti pot. If you’re not familiar with neti pots, basically it’s a little pitcher that allows you to pour saline solution (warm water & salt) into one nostril, and it flows into your nasal passages and then exits through your other nostril.

It’s really attractive.

I know that it sounds gross, and while I can testify that it’s not that enjoyable, I think it really does help clear nasal passages. A few months ago, I had a cold and was totally stuffed up, and using the neti pot did help – even if it was only temporary relief. Those minutes of clear breathing were worth it.

Some people claim that regular use of neti pots can prevent sinus infections, allergy issues, and other health problems. The research on that is a little spotty. But I can say that, at the very least, the neti pot will provide some relief when you’re congested.

If the thought of shooting water up your nose sounds unappealing, then that makes you normal. I don’t particular enjoy doing it, though I do kind of appreciate the novelty of watching water go in and come out. I was a little apprehensive about it, but after watching some videos on youtube (yes, I did!), it looked pretty simple. While I still manage to make a huge mess every time I use it, I really do think it helps relieve congestion.

The neti pot is a good value. It will last a long time as it can be used over and over, and usually runs between $10 and $15. I bought mine at Bed, Bath & Beyond ($5 off coupon!), but they’re pretty popular these days and are probably available at regular drug stores too. If not, you can buy one online.

Cheers!

From Seattle Moms Deal Finder –

Today, October 27th, is Piperlime.com’s 3rd birthday! Any order placed today will be shipped with a free $25 gift certificate to be used with your next purchase. And one in every 100 orders will be shipped as a $100 gift certificate!

(Piperlime has free shipping and free returns.)

Want a free Kashi TLC granola bar? Click here and then click on the banner.

(Thanks, Money Saving Mom)

This is a really good one: Download “Pulling On A Line” by Great Lake Swimmers for free from Amazon.

You can download a 2009 sample mp3 album from Hardly Art (a record label here in Seattle). It’s free at Amazon, and it features The Dutchess & The Duke, Arthur & Yu, The Moondoggies, and more.

I’m not really into keeping track of everything I buy (though I should be). But one thing that I have found to be handy is a free program at Mint.com.

Mint allows you to link all of your bank accounts, credit cards, loans, 401(k), and pretty much any other financial outlets all into 1 handy page. It’s not going to replace your online banking, but it allows for a quick way to get an overall estimate of how much you’re spending and where. It can be quite telling!

It’s safe (or as safe as an online account can be), and it’s free and easy to use. It’ll take a little time to enter all of the information for your accounts, but after that it’s a breeze.

One of the things that I really like about Mint is the transactions page. It puts every financial transaction (aside from things you paid for with cash) on 1 page and automatically classifies each transaction into a category. It’s necessary, however, to go through and look at how it classifies because sometimes it will put things in the wrong category.

It can also do strange things to the names of companies. My favorite one is from an awesome bar/restaurant here in Ballard (Seattle) called Hattie’s Hat. This is how it showed my transaction:

Ahhh. It still makes me laugh. While I certainly appreciate the Shat, I think my favorite part is the Wa. As in “Hattie shat whaaaaa?” Needless to say, Hattie’s Hat will forever be known as Hattie Shat.

Anyway, if you haven’t already checked out Mint, I suggest doing so. It might not change how you spend, but it’s at least a reminder about how much.

Sephora is having a Friends & Family sale where you can get 20% off by using code ff2009. The code works on sale items as well.

Speaking of Sephora, I went in there recently because I was curious about Bare Escentuals, and the saleswoman gave me a demo. While she was doing it, she was raving (a million words a minute) about how great it looked on me. When she was finished, she had me look in the mirror and said very enthusiastically “Can’t you see the difference?”

And I smiled and nodded and said yes. But, really, I couldn’t see a difference. As nice as she was, I just wanted her to stop talking, so I agreed with whatever she said.

I didn’t dislike it; I’m just not sure I want to pay that much for make-up, but I keep thinking about all those reviews on Sephora about how great it is, and I wonder if I committed to it, would I love it too?

Anyone have strong feelings about this product?

(Thanks, Seattle Moms Deal Finder)

One of the reasons that I promote being careful with money (call it frugality, if you will) is that I believe money is a gift. It’s something that we are given and it’s something that we are to give to others. My spiritual beliefs certainly have an influence on this, but you don’t need to believe in a higher power to see that there are people in need and that people who aren’t in need can do something about that. I’d like to think that’s just being a decent human being!

One of my goals with this blog was that in addition to highlighting deals, I also wanted to get more into the heart of why we save and ways in which we can be good stewards of money. My thought was that I would highlight organizations that are making a difference that perhaps you or someone you know may be interested in supporting.

Let’s get started! Today I’d like to talk about One Day’s Wages. ODW actually just launched today, and I know about it (disclosure) because it’s founded by my pastor.

According to ODW:

One Day’s Wages is an international grassroots movement dedicated to ending extreme global poverty. ODW promotes awareness, invites giving, and supports sustainable relief through partnerships, especially with smaller organizations in developing regions.

So, what does that mean and where’s the one day thing coming from?

Our vision is to inspire people around the world to simply donate one day’s wages and to renew that pledge weekly, monthly, or yearly on their birthdays to the cause of ending extreme global poverty.

Why should you care?

• 25,000 children under the age of 5 die each day due to poverty-related causes.
• Nearly 900 million people do not have access to clean water. Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.
• Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.
• Nearly 11,500 people die every day from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

On the ODW web site, you can calculate your one day of wages (0.4% of your annual salary). You don’t have to give that amount – you can give what you’d like. The funds collected by ODW are distributed to organizations that are working to fight extreme poverty, and ODW seeks to partner long-term with those organizations. For more information, check out the FAQs.

ODW believes that we can eradicate extreme global poverty. If you’re interested in being a part of that, check out the web site.

The new Flight of the Conchords album, “I Told You I Was Freaky,” is only $4.99 at Amazon (mp3)!

I haven’t watched the latest season yet, so I’m not too familiar with the album, but I have heard the first track, “Hurt Feelings” because it was on a free sampler. And that song also contains one of my favorite FotC lines ever:

I feel like a prize asshole, no one even mentions my casserole.

I am very excited about this album!

From now until November 1, you can get 20% off at the Container Store with this coupon. To use the offer online, just enter promo code savenow.

If you’re looking for a new coat, check out the deals at metrostyle’s women’s coat clearance sale. (I’m not really familiar with metrostyle, but they’re taking up to 72% off – plus discount codes - so it’s worth checking out.)

Also, you can get 25% off apparel orders from Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic (ends Tuesday). Click here for details.

For a limited time, Pinecone Research is allowing new members. With Pinecone, for each survey you complete, you get $3 (sent either Paypal or check). Like a lot of online surveys, if you’re super busy this might not be the thing for you, but if you have a few minutes to spare, you can earn a few bucks here and there. Also, sometimes they’ll send you new products to try out before they are even in stores. One time I got a big box of garbage bags that lasted me over a year, so that saved me some cash!

Here’s the sign-up form.

If you’d like to share a deal you come across or if you just want to drop a line, feel free to e-mail cutecheapstuff AT gmail.com. Thanks!

If you haven’t bookmarked or subscribed to an RSS feed for this site, you can now just go to cutecheapstuff.com (instead of cutecheapstuff.wordpress.com) – it automatically forwards to the wordpress blog. It’s handy, and hopefully it’ll be easier to remember the URL without having to add the wordpress part at the end.

Also, about RSS feeds – up until recently I wasn’t using one. I’m kind of a visual person, and I liked being able to go to individual blogs and see the design the way the blogger meant it to look, but when you read lots of blogs, it’s time consuming to individually visit each site. So I started using Google Reader, and it’s awesome.

If you don’t use an RSS reader, you should really consider it! If you have gmail, just click on the Reader link at the top of your Gmail page, and click on the Add a Subscription button and then add cutecheapstuff.com and your other favorite blogs, and voila! You can now catch up on all the new posts all at once.

(Sorry for the tutorial if you’re already RSS savvy. Thank you for being awesome.)

If you’re interested in a free sample of Seventh Generation Free & Clear laundry detergent and/or a $1 off coupon for any SG product, click here.

Today’s daily deal at Amazon is The Avett Brothers’ “The Second Gleam” for only 99 cents! The Avett Brothers are really good, and 99 cents for 8 songs is awesome. You can download “Murder in the City” for the same price as buying the entire album!

(Photo credit: Flickr member DonnaGrayson licensed for use under Creative Commons)

Wisebread published an article today called “7 Cheap and Natural Ways to Fight the Cold and Flu.”

Call me a skeptic, but whenever I hear people talk about natural remedies, I tend to lose interest very quickly. I’ll admit I am kind of curious whether these things work, but I tend to assume they don’t. I appreciate medicine, and when I’m sick and feeling awful, I will reach for the Sudafed - not the apple cider vinegar.

My understanding is that any kind of medication or home remedy is not going to really cure your ailment; all it can do is help alleviate the effects. That’s why I’d rather take a medication that’s going to, for example, help with sinus pain, rather than eat garlic, which as far as I know, won’t make my face hurt any less.

Also, I’m confused about something in the article:

Basically, ginger raises your body temperature, forcing your body to perspire and sweat out the cold…nice…sweating without working out!

Can you actually sweat out a cold?

What do you think about these home remedies? Do you use them?

If you happen to be a 7-Eleven customer (or you’re just frugal and willing to drive anywhere for a deal), go here to print out a coupon for a free hot beverage from 7-Eleven. It’s good for a 12 oz. coffee, cappuccino, hot chocolate or tea, and it doesn’t expire until Oct. 31.

Also, I know it’s not 7-Eleven and doesn’t have anything to do with money, but just because I’m now in convenience store mindset, I’d like to share a classic quote from “Say Anything”:

“I got a question: If you guys know so much about women, how come you’re here at like the Gas ‘n Sip on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere?”

This is for Seattle only:

Sonic Boom in Capitol Hill (on 15th Ave.) is moving to a new location (still in Capitol Hill), and they’re having a huge sale. All their non-sale merchandise is 20% off, and it runs until Oct. 25. For more info, check out the LineOut post.

(Thanks to Anika for the tip!)

Click here to download “Ugly On the Inside” by Owen. It’s free from Amazon for a limited time.

REI is having a fall sale and taking 30% off select clothing and gear. If you’ve been itching for a new jacket or feel like pitching a tent (heh), this is your time to shop. Shipping starts at $5.99 and free site-to-store shipping is also available. Sale ends Oct. 18.

(Photo credit: Flickr member steev-o licensed for use under Creative Commons)

I recently made a polenta casserole that was supposed to use fontina cheese. But when I went to the grocery store, I found one little hunk of it (which wouldn’t have yielded the 2 cups that I needed), and it was over $12. I understand that some kinds of cheese just cost more, but I had a hard time justifying buying food that costs that much and isn’t made from unicorn tears.

I wound up buying a different cheese that was much less expensive, which worked out because, cheese aside, the casserole wasn’t that good.

I’m not opposed to buying somewhat expensive food; I just want to be sure it’s going into something I know will turn out well.

What foods are you willing to pay more for? What do you splurge on?

I really really really like this one:

For a limited time, you can download “Blue Skies” by Noah and the Whale for free from Amazon.

Today’s daily deal from Amazon is “Golden Voices (Remastered)” by Ella Fitzgerald. It’s 32 songs for only $1.99.

According to the review, these songs are from very early on in her career. If you’re looking for her greatest hits, this isn’t the album you want. But if you want to expand your Ella collection – or take advantage of a great price to become acquainted with her music – this is for you.

Since this post from June about free mp3 samplers from Urban Outfitters, two more samplers have been added (#6 & #7). Go here to check it out.

I’ve never used Restaurant.com for gift certificates because I like to pretend that I don’t actually blow money by eating out at restaurants somewhat frequently (even though, like many people, I do).

But this seems like a pretty good deal: 80% off gift certificates. Click here for more info. Has anyone done this before?