Posts from — May 2008

So being the overly anxious person that I am, I already have a thousand thoughts on my impending nuptials. Yes, I am paying for the wedding myself and on a tight budget so I will be digging for cost cutters. I will share them but I will try and keep juicefairy.com from becoming bride central.

I thought the best way to start logging my ideas was to go to Barnes and Noble and buy one of those giant wedding planner/scrapbooks. Of course, I wanted the best deal so I took my boyfriend fiance to the wedding section and grabbed every planner on the shelf so I could compare them. I asked him to help me carry them to a nearby table. My poor fiance was standing there with five or six pink and girly books piled up in his arms. Well then a snippy little man nearby saw my boyfriend with the books and staring straight at me said, “Sure do have you hands full there.” At first I laughed and felt bad that my fiance was emasculated by me in this Barnes and Noble, but then my he grumbled in response, “You have no idea”. I stopped feeling sorry for him right about there.

BTW. This is the book I ended up getting. It was only $20 (ten dollars cheaper than the Martha Stewart planner). It doesn’t have as many pictures but it has three times the amount of information which is more useful than pictures. It also is a three ring binder so you can add and remove pages as needed… unlike many of the spiral versions. Out of all of the ones there I give this one the juicefairy mark of approval.

I have never been a huge fan of Anne Taylor because I tend to have trouble fitting into their clothing. They seem to cut everything a little on the boxy side. But then a friend of mine was wearing a pair of these beauties at the beach.

They are $34 for a pair, which is pricey, but come in all these cute bright colors (and P.S right now they are buy one pair get the second 50% off).  I really fell in love at first site. I decided to splurge and stopped by Anne Taylor Loft, only to find it was one of those days when everything in the store is 20% off. This relieved me of the shame of spending $34 on flip-flops and I bought them in white, reduced.

I was about to walk out the door when I saw this adorable sweater sitting on a table …

I love the whole nautical look for summer and it has these cute extra buttons on the sleeve that are a nice extra detail. But it was a whopping $49. So I went in the dressing room, tried on my size, to make sure I liked it, took a picture with my camera phone and put it back on the shelf.

Here is the brilliant part. When I got home I went on StyleNotes and set up an alert to receive all of the upcoming coupons and codes for Anne Taylor. Two weeks later I got a coupon for 25% off and free shipping. Sweet deal huh? I paid only $36 for the sweater and it got delivered right to my door. The catch of course is that right now it is $29! Ugh.  I guess I should have waited a little longer.

Here are some of the other things I took a pic of and are waiting for a sale on …

Polka Dot Wrap Top: $39 (wont pay over $20 for this)

Ruffle Trim Top $39.50

Gosh, it has been at least a week since I posted so I am feeling a little guilty now.  However, I am about to deliver juicy news so I think you will forgive me.  What do Howard Stern, Ellen Degeneres, Scarlett Johansson and Juicefairy all have in common?  They are all engaged to be married.

Last night my boyfriend popped the question and gave me this sweet piece of bling. 

I don’t think I have ever been happier.  I told him tonight we should go take engagement pics over at the same spot in Baldwin Park where he popped the question because it is my favorite place in the whole world now.  Second to that is the bar Latitudes off Church St. where we met.  Yeah, I know!  I won’t be telling my children someday that Mommy met Daddy in a bar.

God I love a good bargain! I know you do too so I have a treat for you. One of my favorite bloggers, Kyle, from Rather-Be-Shopping is going to be doing a bi-monthly guest post about saving money with coupons. He is probably the only guy I know of who is as obsessed with finding a coupon or a bargain as I am. I think he will be able to pass on some really juicy tips. Drum roll please …

I want to thank JuiceFairy for giving me the opportunity to try an ‘online coupons’ feature on her terrific blog. Very exciting opportunity. A little about me, my name is Kyle James, I live in northern California with my wife and 3 young kids. I own and operate a website called Rather-Be-Shopping.com which specializes in online coupons for over 500 stores, organized in 23 shopping categories. I also have a blog where I write about frugal living, tips on saving money, and other musings about life in general.

You are probably thinking, “Why is this dude writing a post on JuiceFairy?” Fair question, as I am not a fashion, decorating, or beauty expert. But I do know about living on a budget and finding great deals. So today I’d like to talk about bare walls and empty rooms. That pretty much summed up our house when we moved in 5 years ago. It was the first house that my wife and I had ever lived in together. We were always in small apartments with very few walls to decorate. Now we had big walls, much bigger rooms, and still very little money to decorate.

Over the past few years we have decorated the house ourselves and found ways to do it without spending a ton of money. Here is how we did it, along with some online resources we used:

• Artwork and Prints. I am a huge fan of All Posters.com and Art.com for bargains on stuff for the wall. We have bought several framed prints from both. They each stock over 500,000 posters and prints and have this really cool ‘Custom Frame’ tool that lets you pick your matte and frame and shows you online what it will look like. I have found their prices to be very reasonable and they always have coupons for 20% off or free shipping on your $9.99 or more order. Also, keep an eye out at Costco or Sam’s Club, our Costco has an annual artwork sale where we have scored a couple great deals as well.

• Do-It-Yourself. I have become a pretty darn good painter and it has saved me hundreds of dollars. As a matter of fact, I know all the employees in our local Home Depot’s paint department by name! They offer free classes on the weekends on doing things like faux painting, picking colors, and basic painting techniques. Take advantage of them, they helped me a bunch.

• Yard Sales. Most of the furniture in our family room came from yard sales. We recently bought a really cool wooden toy chest from a garage sale for $20 and I was able to refinish it myself. It would have probably cost over $200 brand new. Hit yard sales late in the day as people are more likely to give you a great deal since they want to get rid of the stuff and not have to store it.

Here are some online coupons for a few of the stores I mentioned, plus a few other related coupons that might help you save some money decorating your home.

All Posters.com

Save 20% Off your Online Order

Coupon Code: 82P20

Expiration: 6/20/08

See All: All Posters Coupons

Home Depot.com

Save $5 Off your $50+ Online Order

Coupon Code: SPRING21

Expiration: 5/11/08

See All: Home Depot Coupons

JCPenney.com

Save 20% Off your $75+ Online Order of Window Coverings, Bedding, Bath, Decorative, Rugs and Apparel

Coupon Code: WKIT842

Expiration: 5/25/08

See All: JCPenney Coupons

Art.com

Save 15% Off your Online Order

Coupon Code: MAYO

Expiration: 5/09/08

See All: Art.com Coupons

Bare Walls.com

Save 10% Off All Framed Art and Prints

Coupon Code: RTHRBFR

Expiration: 5/31/08

See All: Bare Walls Coupons

Lamps Plus.com

Save $5 Off your $50+ Online Order

Coupon Code: 24AFFDC6

Expiration: 5/31/08

See All: Lamps Plus Coupons

BlindsGalore.com

Save 25% Off your $450+ Online Order + Free Shipping

Coupon Code: LUVMOM

Expiration: 5/12/08

See All: BlindsGalore Coupons

Some of these great ways to be “green”recycling tips were in April issue of Best Life. Most I had never heard of before so I figured they would be great to pass along. Try to pass along one of these helpful tips to someone else today.

• Cellphones apparently have circuit boards containing toxins such as cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic. Instead of dumping these in the trash so these dangerous chemicals end up in a landfill, you can contact the Battery Recycling Corporation.  This  nonprofit organization collects discarded phones nationwide and either recycles them or refurbishes them. For more info go to call2recycle.org

• Shoes that we have worn out can be recycled in Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe Program. The recycled shoes are made into Nike Grind, a major ingredient in synthetic surfaces such as basketball courts, tennis courts, running tracks and playgrounds. Niketown and Nike outlet stores will accept any brand of athletic shoe as long as they are not wet, cleats or contain metal.

• Carpeting that you have recently replaced can be recycled by contacting the Carpet America Recovery Effort. They will let you know where your carpet can be recycled locally. Old carpeting can be used to make new carpet, automotive parts, fiber padding and more. For more info look into carpetrecovery.org

• Computers are basically useless after five years but don’t throw you old one in the garbage yet. Best Life shares that computers that are discarded are shipped to China where worker are poisoned by flame retardants when they tear apart machines for scraps. Some of the lead is even made into costume jewelry that is resold in China. Dell and Sony will take back all of their old products. Toshiba recycles their laptops and Apple will dispose of any brand of computer you discard when you buy one of their products. If you return your old iPod you can get a 10% discount on a new one. Check out computertakeback.com

• Construction materials that are salvageable like old doors, decking, or a broken dishwasher can be donated to Habitat for Humanity’s ReStores. Here people can buy these products at a large discount. ReStores are in 45 states and have raised enough money in cash to build an extra 10 homes a year. Check out habitat.org

• CDs and DVDs discarded that end up in dumps are often incinerated, releasing harmful toxin fumes into the environment. GreenDisk, will pick up old CDs and DVDs at your house and recycle them into car parts and office supplies. Greendisk.com

• Composting is a great way to reduce your contributions to a landfill and make yourself fertilizer at the same time. You can try one of the $170 bins that use earthworms to recycle your natural waste and turn it into garden feed. My own note here is that if you are afraid of thousands of earthworms, as I am, you can always get an old fashioned composting bin, minus the worms. It just doesn’t work as fast. For those with a strong stomach check out plantenatural.com for the earthworm bins.

• Latex paint leftover from projects is actually being recycled in some places. Check epa.gov to see if there is a local facility near you that recycles leftover paint.

• Some fleece apparently has a synthetic that doesn’t actually decompose. Check out the Common Threads Garment Recycling Program started by Patagonia, Teijin, and Polartec. You can drop off old fleece at Patagonia stores and select retailers, or mail it to Patagonia’s distribution center. One fifth of Polartec’s offerings come from recycled fibers and 100% of their fabrics are recyclable.