As a professional bargain finder extraordinare, it’s important to have friends in high places.  Mine go high into the fashion business, and occasionally I am blessed with discount codes that are not available to the general public.  Today it is my pleasure to share them with you.  Some may have expired by the time you see this, but most will be valid.  This one’s for you, readers!  Happy Holiday shopping!

The holiday shopping season is official!!

Click here for the hotlist!  Login name is reader, and password is bargain.

And here’s more on bargain shopping.

Enjoy!

Thinking like that, one of the most valuable gifts we received for our wedding was a $100 gift card for the local movies.  For that $100, my hubby and I were treated to four evenings out, including popcorn.  And we always thought of the the nice relatives who gave them to us, every time we went out.

This year, frugal is in, but does it extend to gifts?  In our humble opinion, give the value, not the gift.  That is, don’t worry so much about how much or how little you’re spending, but think instead of how much the recipient will value it.  Know Your Giftee!  In our humble opinions, the best gifts for Holiday ’09 should replace the little luxuries that people have given up cause they’re cutting back.  Give a massage gift certificate, or one for a manicure or pedicure.  For couples and families, think movies, travel or dining out.  Hotel room certificates can be bought with any cash-back or hotel points you’ve been hoarding, and many restaurants are giving generous rebates.

You can buy discounted cards at PlasticJungle.com, GiftCardsAgain.com, or GiftCardRescue.com.

Special restaurant deals include Red Robin, Chevy’s, Buca di Beppo , Bonefish Grille, Outback Steakhouse, P.F. Chang’s, Yard House, Cheesecake Factory and Applebee’s.   Also, Sports Authority is giving 10 % off of the purchase of the giftee and the gifter gets a coupon for $10 off of a $50 purchase from Dec 26, 2009 to Jan 31, 2010  and  Barnes & Noble is offering a free $10 gift card for every $100 gift card purchase through Dec. 6. The $10 GC may be used as of Dec 26, and is effectively a 10% discount on gift cards. $20 for $200, etc.

Thanks to Julia the Bargain Babe and her readers for some of these.

Most important, always ask for a discount.  Why not?

Happy Shopping.

PS: I put in an application for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida.  Will keep you posted.

Meanwhile, for some more good shopping advice, click here.

Personally, used food is where I draw the line.  But for furniture and other treasures, it can really be a good way to go.  Last week, before leaving on our trip, my sister went through the (dry, all paper) garbage in her mail room to retrieve about 50 Dunkin Donuts free-coupon books that we’ve been using along the way.  I have furnished a few houses almost exclusively with found objects.  My friend Ralph found a stereo component in perfect working order, and sold it on eBay for several hundred dollars. And that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.  We’ve barely scratched the surface of stuff you can buy second-hand to save you unbelievable amounts of money.

Most things can be used and re-used before they reach the end of their natural lives.  Some continue in their original uses, maybe in a different place.  Some things are transformed into other items or to objects of art. (I call this Art Wrecko.)

How do you find the best things without getting your hands dirty?  Beyond rubber gloves, start by “shopping” in the finest areas — find out which nights are garbage nights in the high-rent districts in your area, and bone up on your Antique Roadshow skills.  One friend of mine found two old chairs, took them home to strip and refinish and discovered that they were actually valuable antiques!

Beyond Craigslist, Ebay and local yard and estate sales, there are lots of places to shop, some without even having to leave home.  For a starting list of free and bartering sites, click here.

Finally, a Road Trip update:  We’ve been on Fire Island for 6 days so far, and have spent an additional $7 to buy ice cream for our housemates. That’s all, folks!

Here’s his idea:

Nation-wide “Curb Day” – October 24, 2009

Unclutter your Life

What’s rusting in your garage?  On Curb Day, people are encouraged to unclutter their homes by bringing to their curbs durable goods that are safe, legal, and valuable to others. Acceptable items include sporting goods, electronics, tools, books, toys, shoes, clothing, plants, building materials, furniture, and more.

People all over the country will be out and about that weekend, picking up these items for free.

Curb Day will be a fun and efficient way to remove clutter and provide free valuable items to others. It will also reduce the number of items that wind up in landfills.

Curb Day will occur twice per year, in October and May. It will supplement resources like Freecycle, Craig’s List, eBay, and second-hand stores.

Please help by:

• Publishing an article about Curb Day (done!)
• Sending this email to all your colleagues
• Marking your calendar for October 24th to bring out your unneeded possessions
• Asking elected officials to grant a temporary variance to rules that prohibit this activity
• Sending us your ideas, stories, and photos of items you’ve picked up in the past

Learn more about Curb Day and sign in for updates at http://www.curbday.com/.

Well, Mike, we love your idea and will do our part to spread the word.  Please keep us posted on your progress.

For more thoughts on second-hand treasures, click here.

Consignment shops are usually nicer than thrift shops and are the best place to start when you have a special occasion and want to wow the crowd. Most good consignment shops offer top-quality, barely used expensive stuff, like LV bags and CK and DK dresses, at a fraction of their original prices. Most of these items have been very gently used, and some have never been used at all, and are actually being sold because of that — maybe they never fit or looked quite right on the original owner, sometimes they’re just out of date (often by only one season, so who cares?).  Sometimes these shops are private, and sometimes they’re affiliated with charities.  Whichever way you go, you’re sure to get a great buy if the store happens to have something that’s right for you. (Plus, if they are charity-connected, you may be able to write off the purchase as a donation.)

A few tips:

1) Shop in good neighborhoods.  You’re more likely to find better items.  These stores usually will not accept anything that’s too out-of-date, and generally insist that items be clean and ready to wear.

2) Find out the favorite charities of your socialite neighbors, and shop at the stores that benefit those organizations. (Of course, careful if you attend their functions that you’re not wearing the chairperson’s dress from last year!)

3) Know your size and, wear proper undergarments, and as always, don’t buy anything if it doesn’t fit or needs too much work. 

4) Be prepared for high but fair prices.  These are not thrift stores.

5) Don’t get carried away by things that don’t fit your lifestyle or budget.  You may fall in love with that Versace gown, but will you really ever have a place to wear it? 

6) If you’re shopping for furniture, bring your measurements and your tape measure.  Consignment shops usually sell all items final sale, and if you snooze, you lose.  Be prepared to pay up, or at least leave a deposit, on the spot.  

Following, compliments of Readers’ Digest, are thirteen things your Consignment Shop proprietors won’t tell you. 

1. They love an economic downturn. Some shops are seeing sales up 35 percent from last year.  This makes them less open to bargaining, so be prepared — know your values.

2. Their margins are shrinking like everybody else’s: Consigners want higher prices, and shoppers want lower ones.  So again, be ready.

3. If you’re donating or selling, your items need to be in nearly new condition. Don’t bring a cookie sheet with crumb-and grease sludge in the corners.  Even you don’t want your old crumbs. (Unless it’s Big Crumbs — click for info).

4. Check out the store before you bring in your items. Make sure it’s a good fit for your stuff.

5. “Nice” and “Salable” are not always one and the same. Know the difference and don’t be pushy!

6. People shop consignment stores because they want a bargain.  While your antique whatever may be worth $250 at an antiques auction, if the dealer tells you they can get $75, take their word for it or sell it yourself.

7. If you sell it yourself, you’ll probably get a better price from eBay than craigslist. But online selling is labor-intensive (photographing and describing items, handling sellers’ questions, dealing with the post office) so measure the time/money ratio.

8. Do not bring designer knockoffs. Neither of you want  to go to jail for selling fake merchandise.

9. Charitable shops run by volunteers can pay consigners a higher percentage: sometimes as much as 75 percent instead of 40 to 50.

10. Clean out your closet before the season begins; that way, your fur coat or wispy sundress gets the best chance to sell.

11. There are some things you should never buy at these shops — children’s car seats, for instance. For all you know, that car seat’s already survived a crash or fallen off the roof of the minivan two or three dozen times.

12. Bigger sizes sell faster. If it’s a size 14 and classic, it’ll sell. If it’s a size 6 and classic, it’s harder.  If you’re a size 6 and you’re shopping, you’re in luck.

13. Avoid weekends if possible.  It’s like amateur hour for bargain shoppers.   I like Monday to Wednesday, when the weekend donations have been sorted.

Beautiful, huh? Way more beautiful than most of what I own, like the 2 Gucci knockoffs which I recently bought in Chinatown for $45 each which already are wearing out.  But here’s the real beauty:  A price tag of $228, and a receipt for a grand total of $94, including shipping.  Out go the knock-offs, in comes the good stuff.  And all without leaving my couch — oops, I mean my office.

And now, thanks to the miracle of the internet, you no longer have to live in or visit the fashion capitals of the world to take advantage of that garment center staple, the Sample Sale.  Now, the sample sales come to you.

I first became aware of this new internet niche a few months back, when I received an email invitation to join, I think it was RueLaLa.  It said you needed a special invite and code to join (how special!) and gave it to me, so of course, I signed up.  (Part of my job here is to seek out the best for my wonderful readers.)  Soon came more –

ideeli, HauteLook and my current favorite, (the one I got the bag through),  Editors’ Closet.  As a former fashion journalist, and current Ugly Betty and Sex and the City fan, I know the value of the stuff sent for editorial review, and not always returned. (I got a lot of “stuff” when I worked in NY publishing!)  So I signed up for their email sale alerts, and the one about Francesco and his bags enticed me to look, and hopefully buy.

To become a member of some of these sites, you need some kind of a referral.  I have embedded these invite codes in the links on this page, so all you need to do is click through.  Many of them also have bonuses when you join.  Here are a few of the sites I visit, and some recent sale info on each of them, so you have an idea of what to expect.

RueLaLa:    Lingerie from Hanky Panky, bags from Prada, fashion from BCBG and Carmen Marc Valvo, watches and appliances too

HauteLook:   Swimwear from Lisa Curran and Bjorn Borg, Men’s wear from Johnson Motors, jewelry by Viv & Ingrid

Editors’ Closet:  DKNY watches, Nicole Miller Sunglasses and bags, hype bags, designer lingerie

ideeli:  CK watches and Jewelry, Cynthia Rowley bags, Natori lingerie, Rory Becker apparel

Billion Dollar Babes: Melissa Odabash, Trina Turk, Spendid

Gomattagirls.com Danielle Stevens jewelry, Linea Pelle bags, Eco Skin Bamboo  apparel

RedTagCrazy  Casual clothing from Zooey, linQ and Rich&

The Savvy : Shoes from Via Spiga and Delman 

Shop It To Me :  Lots of items from lots of brands and lots of stores

Groupe  Apparel and accessories from Vera Wang, Oliver Peoples and Marc Jacobs

The Top Secret:  Swimwear from Gottex, accessories from Echo, bags from La Bagagerie

I will post more of these links as I come across them, and please send them to me if you have the “invites”.  For more about sample sale shopping, please click here.

Now I guess it’s time to get off of the couch and go out and show off my new bag!

Most people who live outside of a major fashion city like NY or LA have limited knowledge of sample sales, where manufacturers sell off their overages and close-outs at a fraction of their retail prices.  For many, I think, the media has best publicized the phenomenon in those images of Wedding Gown Sales, where brides-to-be storm the racks, knocking each other over and sometimes coming to blows in pursuit of the perfect gown at a deeply discounted price.

Is that what a sample sale is really like? In a word, or two, very often.  Not all sales include the fisticuffs and name-calling, but at some, I think the manufacturer sets it up like that merely for the entertainment value.  However, in reality, those plain brown paper or blue plastic shopping bags carried throughout New York’s Garment District often signal the very best values out there.

Unfortunately, my recent trip to New York was not on a good Sample Sale day.  I did find one great sale on Agnes B, (check out these prices — the discounts are somewhat typical) but nothing was cut for my size 12 American body.  But for those who are planning a trip to New York,  here are some tips. 

First, give yourself a full day with comfortable shoes, lots of cash (some places, but not all, take credit cards and checks), and nice underwear, as you may find yourself undressing in an open dressing room, or even on the sales floor!

Next, check the internet.  Search sample sales at www.DailyCandy.com, search sample sales and the city you’re in on Google, and sign up at www.soifferhaskin.com for emails as sales come up.  By following these steps you will have a starting point. Take one of the west side subway lines to 34th Street.

Once you arrive in the garment center, things should take off on their own. Walk up Broadway from 34th to 40th Street, then across to 7th Avenue, and then down 7th.  If there are any sales going on that day, you will find circulars taped to lampposts, and guys giving them out on the street.  Ask anyone you see with the above-mentioned shopping bags if there are any sample sales going on, and walk along the side streets too — it’s common for people to enter the smaller office buildings and ask the lobby personnel for leads.  

Although many of the sales, especially the higher-end ones, may have the merchandise actually sorted by size or style, you need to be prepared: many have things hanging on racks in no particular order.  After all, it’s the thrill of the chase.

Be bold, be determined and be nice, even when you have to stand up for yourself.  (“I’m sorry, that dress is mine — PLEASE get your dirty paws off it.”)  You should come out with some really incredible buys.  (One of my all-time faves was a purple silk Tahari suit, absolutely beautiful, which was never put into the line; therefore a one-of-a-kind Tahari Original, for under $100!). 

Of course, if it’s a quiet day, you can head over to 32nd Street, which has the best selection of dollar stores I think in the country.  Or if all else fails, there’s always Macy’s.

Now, the market is finally realizing that not everyone has access to these sales, and in the past few months I have discovered a number of sites that do online sample sales for shoppers everywhere.  My next post will highlight a few of these where you can sign up and shop wherever you are, and take advantage of the highly discounted prices. 

For more tips on Shopping NY like a New Yorker, please check out my posts on Chinatown and Street Vendors.

But I digress, although shopping for tickets is a fun bargain adventure in NY.   BTW, if anyone knows of a discount ticket 

service that’s offered elsewhere, please let me know!  

Up early on Day 2, first stop, financial district.  After a moment of silence at Ground Zero, I cheered myself by heading across the street to Century 21.  Now with 6 stores, all in the NY/NJ area, this is one of New York’s shopping landmarks. Though officially a specialty store since it doesn’t sell furniture, Century has arguably the best selection in the city of designer apparel and accessories, shoes, lingerie and home decor at a great discount. Picked up a pair of designer sunglasses (something I would not buy on the streets, as they are often knock-offs with headache-causing cheap lenses) for a song. 

Heading north and veering east, my next destination is the East Village.  Stopped along the way to pick up a piece of fresh fruit from a street cart, 

 beautiful and cheaper than any supermarket.  One of the things I miss about NY is the street food.  Better than anywhere except maybe Paris. Would have eaten more 

but I was on the way to meet my friend Joey for lunch at a trendy little vegetarian restaurant with a great lunch special, for roughly half of what one would spend in the same place for dinner. Delicious lunch for less than $10.  Wandered through Chinatown (Click here for a full report) and Little Italy, up to the West Village where I visited a small flea market where a building used to be (nothing exciting there) and into the East Village to meet Joey.

En route to the restaurant, I crossed St. Mark’s Place, which I think is one of New York’s prettiest streets, where I was assured to find a plethora of street vendors hawking everything from clothing to jewelry to hash pipes.  In the market for a gift for my sister, I found a beautiful embroidered shawl in her favorite color, purple.  Asking price was $12, already a bargain as in a store if would cost much more.  The man at the stand (Mr. Standman?) offered me 2 for $20 but wasn’t budging any lower.  I did, however, get him to do $10 for one. Told him I’d come back. (This is usually a good bargaining technique.)

After lunch, back to St. Marks.   Mr. Standman did remember me but still wasn’t budging.  I bought the scarf for $10, a win-win transaction.  Paid cash, tax included.  Mission accomplished.  

I dropped Joey off at the subway station, and again headed north up Sixth Avenue.  Outside a famous corner Hot Dog restaurant, I spoke with a street vendor and house painter called Fitz.

We had a fun conversation, I bought a vintage Miami ashtray from him for a dollar, and I continued up 6th Avenue, with the purchase I couldn’t help but buy, to the Ladies Mile.  The Ladies Mile is a stretch of 6th Avenue known for its beautiful architecture and its shops.  In the early 1900s, the quarter-mile strip housed such elegant New York stores as B. Altman, Arnold Constable, Lord & Taylor, Tiffany, and Brooks Brothers.  The Ladies Mile got its name because in the old days of New York, it was where the rich uptown men dropped their wives while they visited their mistresses, whom they kept in the adjacent (and now very hip) residential area known as Chelsea.

Now, the beautiful buildings house a variety of big box stores, including Barnes & Noble, TJ Maxx, Bed Bath & Beyond and Filene’s Basement.  I walked into one, only to find lots of people with full shopping carts, and dozens waiting in line to pay.  No recession here, it seems.  But I have a promise to myself that I will NEVER stand in line and wait to give people my money.  I walked back out to the street.

Continuing up 6th Avenue, vendors lined both sides of the street, selling bags, belts, cell phone accessories, artwork, 

scarves, flowers, food and more.  I picked up two belts for myself ($8 for both), flowers for my host ($5) , a case and charger for my cell phone ($10 for both) and headed uptown to the home of a friend for a haircut and color for less than most people pay for a blow-dry.  (I can’t even say what I paid for that, but let it suffice to say that he hasn’t raised my price since maybe 1980.)

Out to meet another friend for dinner (less $25 from Restaurant.com
) and a movie (discount tickets from the Entertainment Book), and the Bargain Finder Extraordinaire (me!) winds up another day of living the good life for less. 

Next week we will talk about a shopping technique somewhat specific to New York but now spreading to the internet — Sample Sales. 

Happy Weekend.

Long known as the best place to buy cheap fresh produce and Chinese herbs (Doctors feel your hands, ask a few questions and prescribe your cure), Asian decorative and fashion items and of course the best Chinese food in the city, Chinatown has in the past several years become the mecca in NY of knock-off designer items.  Louis V, Gucci, Prada and Tiffany logos adorn items from silver jewelry and sunglasses to the mother of all knockoffs, designer handbags.

Up until a few years ago, before the police crackdowns, it was easy to find exactly what you were looking for — and if it were plain in pattern, the store would affix whichever label you preferred.  Suburban women with huge shopping bags would arrive with cash to buy stick for bag parties for those who wouldn’t or couldn’t or didn’t know how to find them on their own.  Now however, the business has changed.  As you walk along the street, hardly any ” designer” items are seen — in the storefronts, that is.  As I walked down Canal Street, I was approached several times by Chinese men and women whispering “Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, come with me”.  I followed one of them into a doorway, up a dark and narrow staircase to the designer rooms, filled with bags of many colors, styles and labels.  I looked, asked prices, and began to leave when they suddenly lowered all prices in an effort to make a sale.  Outside, other people operated movable stores in vans, and it was easy to spot the lookouts, who, upon spying a police officer or other suspicious-looking person, gave the signal for the doorways to close and the vans to speed away. 

This is nothing so flagrant as what I saw a few years ago in Rome, Italy, where knockoff vendors were set up to sell right outside the stores they were copying designs from!  But Chinatown remains the standard, I think.

So here’s the scoop (in my humble opinion):  The fake bags look good at first, but not for long. After just a little use, the linings separate, the hardware falls off and the trims start to crack.  Anyone who knows good stuff knows the difference, so really, you’re not impressing anyone.  Better to buy a nice $80 bag at a good discount store like Loehmann’s or TJ Maxx than two fake designer bags at $40 each which will look like garbage before you get to show them off.  

Back to Chinatown, however…you’ll find a great selection of earrings, other jewelry, Asian fashion, home decor, scarves and more, without designer logos, at prices way below what you’d expect.  I get so many compliments on the cheap earrings I have bought on Canal Street.  I just say I got them in New York.  

For more about bargain shopping, click here.

And then there’s my friend Ralph.  If I’m the Discount Princess, and Cindy is Queen of the Rebates, he’s the Freebie King!  Before I got married, Ralph and I used to travel the country together on real estate buying trips, and we’d play a game — let’s see how much we can get for free.  Just for asking, we got tons of upgrades: a convertible for the price of an economy car, a suite for a cheap single room rate in some really nice hotels, and multiple meals in restaurants plain and fancy.  

Ralph just got not one but two new Sprint phones for no charge.  Hopefully he’ll talk soon and let us in on his secrets. 

Looks like we know who our next president will be.  Hopefully the change will bring abundance back to our county.  It’s going to be an interesting 4 years.

So at least until the economy improves, keep checking back for more great better-living-for-less ideas.