Frugal Friday, for the Craigslist Scouter!

I've, of course, preached on the amazing finds one can get for themselves on craigslist, but sometimes scouting for those items can be a challenge. Let's say for instance that you're looking for a bedside table, but you're looking for a vintage one, maybe from the 40's or 50's because you love the look of the smaller size and the original pulls on the drawers. You may think that you can just type in "vintage night stand" or something to that effect and find, well, what you searched for. Think again! Sometimes your search criteria will yield exactly what you've searched for, sometimes you'll find something like this: an actual search find. This my friends, is not vintage.

There was recently a post on Apartment Therapy that made me laugh, and finally feel validated in this irritation I've found with craigslister's definitions, that was about just this!

"Do You Suffer from Craigslist Elitist Syndrome?

I, Sarah Rae Trover am a Craigslist elitist. I can't help it. After buying everything from pets to houses and selling more home goods than I could pretend to recall, it just seems to come with the territory. It's not something I'm proud of, but I feel the green monster trying to hulk out inside of me when someone labels or tags something incorrectly just because they want it to sell and they read a home decor blog once (and obviously didn't learn anything). Now you might be thinking, wow, she's such a jerk, but more so, I'd like to consider myself honest. I can't lie, if I read the phrase "rot (or rod) iron" one more time I might scream or do more than grumble under my breath. Although spelling errors mean you have to comb

through the entire furniture section instead of searching for what you want, more annoying are home design buzz words. Now, I can no longer set my Google Reader to follow key phrases (hopefully allowing me to get the jump on those who work in an office during the day). It would seem that anything made before 1990 is considered "vintage" or "retro" and don't get me started on the word "modern." All you'll find there are horribly over-stuffed furniture that would swallow even the largest human whole.

Now one might ask why I would highlight this horrible trait, after all it's not exactly something one strives to be. To be quite honest, I still haven't decided if I'm seeking company in my annoyance or looking for a 12 step program of some sort. I'm tired of keeping a list of designers next to me because no longer can I hope to stumble upon a find where someone doesn't really know what they have, instead I'm left looking for pieces from those sellers who know exactly how much their Eames Lounger is worth.

Is it just me? Does it seem to be getting more difficult to find what you want on Craigslist without spending more and more time sifting through items that are listed incorrectly? As Walter Cronkite would say, "That's the way the cookie crumbles," and although that holds true in this situation, I still haven't learned how to deal. Have you?"

I, obviously suffer from Craigslist Elitist Syndrome as well, as least I have a diagnosis now!

Frugal Friday!

Umm... have you guys heard of TheFind.com?! It's amazing! It's so great, you can type in anything you may be looking for online....let's say you want to find the best deal on a pair of Christian Louboutin pumps (yes, please!) then it pops up with every store, their price, etc. that is selling them. It makes searching for the best online deals so much easier. They have some coupons on the site as well. Love it. Definitely one that I'm adding to my bookmarks!

Frugal Friday!

Do you want to make someone's face look like this when they open their Christmas gift this year? Strapped for cash for the latest gadgets? Well, A & B are here to save the day! Okay, I'll stop writing like a used car salesman now. The truth is that we are getting closer and closer to the gift giving season and this is a very important time to exhibit frugality! For saving on gadgets I really love refurbished items. I have been finding myself drooling over a dyson vacuum on Overstock.com and reveling at how cheap Kitchenaid mixers are on the Kitchenaid website (in the outlet, refurbished section) and in previous years A & I have gotten both an ipod and a laptop off of the refurbished section on mac.com. I also got A a refurbished electric razor off of Amazon.com a few x-mases ago. They really are an amazing resource and you get things you really want, that would normally be too expensive, for so much less!

Frugal Friday!

Some lovely ladies I "crafted" with a few weeks ago mentioned using their "groupon"(I'll be honest, I thought we were moving into some risque girl talk!). Quickly, I learned that it is another website much like Living Social with local savings, it's great. I've signed up and already got an x-mas gift for A I know he'll be excited about! They have salon, spa, hotel, food, entertainment, fitness classes, other classes, you name it! All at amazing discounts, Groupon also has an iphone app for those of you with iphones (come on Verizon, have one out before x-mas!). It's also all over the U.S. (they're even getting it in Salem, OR soon!?). One thing that I really like about Groupon is that on their sidebar they've got all of the other local deals that are just out of your city, and if you live somewhere like the Bay Area that's amazing because there are so many other towns close by that are also having "Groupons" that day. Check them out, they're great, and it's really amazing to do things you would already do, for at least half off; or things you didn't think you could do because it was too expensive. My dahlings, the internet can make ALL your dreams come true! Err....yes....

Frugal Friday!

It's obvious that Le Creuset is a classic, elegant staple to anyones kitchen, but I'll admit that I thought that was only in the kitchens of "fancy people" and those lowly folks that cannot spend hundreds of dollars on a few pieces and aren't professional chefs would just have to do without...but wait, there is another option!

First let me say that I have been edging towards the switch to cast iron for awhile because of the impuritues and otherwise scary things in non-stick pots and pans. This summer when A & I were home in Oregon I picked up an adorable burnt orange cast iron frying pan to begin the collection. While I was in France my host cooked

everything in cast iron pans and it just added to the luxurious timeless feel of France, but that's another story. A few weeks ago a friend of mine from Oregon wrote on her blog that, bizarely

enough, she too was making the switch, AND she found out an

amazing thing...there are Le Creuset outlets!! You can find their locations here: http://www.lcstores.com/locations.asp and my BFF told me that they also sell them at TJ Maxx! Well, A & I are going up to Oregon for oh, about 30 hours, for one of our best friends weddings (Go J & A!) this weekend and on the way to the wedding I will be stopping at the Le Creuset outlet to see what I can see. So excited! Now, you too can be a "fancy person"! I think that I'll get a few key pieces and add vintage ones as I find them. I really want this color (it would match my kitchenaid perfectly) but I'm worried about staining and browning over time...I also like the idea of doing a mix of colors like a little rainbow collection, who says they have to match?!