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!

Hey, this is even more than 20%!

You can thank (if you’re a consumer; blame if you’re a retailer) Bed Bath & Beyond and Linens ‘n Things (RIP) for the fabulous trend of stores selling everything they own for a 20% or more discount off the suggested retail prices.  They’ve started something that has cut stores’ profit margins and added value to almost every consumer shopping trip forever!

(Kudos too, while we’re at it, to Macys, which many years ago started the pre-Christmas sale, and the constant one-day sales, effectively training their customers to never, ever pay full retail.)

I was personally thrilled to find that BB&B had started carrying drugstore items, too.  (See my post Drugstore Junkie for more on this.) Hey, 20% off generally beats the best discounts at the pharmacy chains, and saves a trip. And now, going into the Holiday Shopping season, lots of other stores have jumped on the bandwagon.  Just this week, not even Halloween yet, my local paper carried 20 % or greater discounts from Old Navy, Michaels crafts,  and a local decorator.  If this year is anything like last, you should soon be seeing more and better discounts, right off the top of any purchase, from such varied retailers as Toys R Us, Sports Authority, Party City, Best Buy, Macys, Walmart (They stole my quote: Save Money. Live Better), Ulta Beauty, GNC, Vitamin World, Firestone Tires, Sears and others.   Many of these will accept multiple, expired and competitors’ coupons, too.

While getting my fingers all inky on the Sunday paper is my favorite way of finding coupons, you can now go online to do the same.  These are some of the better sites for coupons and coupon codes:

www.Big Crumbs.com This one also gives you cash back at many retailers!

www.Savings.com

www.retailmenot.com

www.couponwinner.com

www.couponcraze.com

www.fatwallet.com

www.couponcabin.com

www.thegrocerygame.com

Wanna be a savvy couponer?  Check out The Couponizer, for a new way to organize your coupons and maximize your savings.

Getting into the holiday spirit, we’ll be looking at the best and cheapest ways to party, shop, decorate and save on all.  Starting with, of course, Halloween — click here for lots of great ideas for cheap or free costumes.

we’re back

We’re Over It!

While we get the old stuff back up to speed, and figure out how to add back all our images, here’s a link for some free Ice Cream!  Look quick cause it’s only for tomorrow!

See you in a few days with more great info on living the good life, for less!

Meanwhile, click here for some more freebie information to feed the bargain-hunter’s soul.

It occurred to me that there should be a list of tips, or questions to ask yourself, to nip that urge to buy impulsively right in the bud.  So I asked a bunch of my frugalista friends how they cope with the desire to shop when they really should not.  Here are some of their answers.  Write them down on on an index card and, whenever you’re faced with the urge to splurge, take it out and ask yourself the following:

Why would I want to buy this thing when I am actively trying to save money?

What benefit would I get from buying this particular thing at this particular time?

Is this something that I need, that will go with other things in my home or closet, and that I will actually use?

Is this something that I cannot ever obtain anywhere else?

Is it a good buy?

Why do I want to deplete my cash (or run up my credit card bill) anyway? (This is the insightful, psychological question.)

By the time you get through these few thoughts, two things will happen:

1) You will have determined if you really want and need the item, and

2) You will have passed the crucial impulse-buying moment and you’ll be thinking more clearly.

At this point, you can choose — either you walk away, or you make your purchase, love it, and be clear of all guilt.

Either way, you will walk away happy with your choice.

Tomorrow, we head to upstate New York, the capital of fun, kitschy yard sale finds.  I’ll be armed with cash, and searching for bargains that rival my best one ever, a vintage Louis Vuitton overnight bag I bought up there for $2.50!

Spending update — Having shelled out maybe another $50 for food and drink on Fire Island, (definitely easier if you’re not a drinker), and including a generous (if we do say so ourselves!) gift to our hostess, and gas and tolls to get to the city, we’re now up to about $800 for both of us, after more than two weeks.  It’s good to have friends in high places.

For more how-to tips for drinking on a budget, click here.

Be back in few days from yard sale Heaven!

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!

Today is the day after Thanksgiving, known in the retail world as Black Friday, the busiest day of the retail year.  It got the name because this is traditionally the day that the stores go from being in-the-red to in-the-black, but now it’s taken on a new meaning, for bargain-mavens anyway…the day the amateurs go shopping. People were actually lining up at midnight for pre-dawn bargains at stores all over the country. (At least down here in South Florida they don’t have to bundle up for the wait.) The stores are advertising like crazy, the Miami Herald delivered a paper to my door on both Thursday and Friday although I only have a Sunday subscription, people are queued up to get INTO stores!  Is it really worth it?  

I wanted to take the day off, but I would be remiss if I ignored this day.  So, a few thoughts on Black Friday, Bargains and blogs:

1) I would have to be paid a substantial sum to get me into the stores on this day — maybe if they paid me to take the merchandise……maybe. 

2) It’s a great day to do your non-shopping chores – I went to the salon next to my building for a root touch-up (using a 25% off coupon for new customers) –it was calm and quiet as all the Friday regulars were standing on line at the mall.  

3) If you stick with me, and follow my suggestions, you’ll be so far ahead of the game by next Thanksgiving that you’ll be lounging in a spa for some ridiculously cheap massage, having done the bulk of your holiday shopping on line already, while the retail shoppers are clamoring for those “sale” items that they could have gotten any time for as good a price if only they knew the tricks!

Every day, every TV station and every magazine in every city has some kind of Best Holiday Buys story.  I’m not going to chase these deals for you. But I will give you links to every bargain site I come across (will be posted on my pages on the right).  I do find great opportunities every day and am happy to share!

Sadly, the news just reported that a Wal-Mart employee in a New York suburb was killed by a stampede of eager early-morning shoppers.  I say it’s getting a little out of hand. What do you think?

Wishing you a fun, safe holiday season.