The Cheap Diva

Pay the Right Way when Shopping on Amazon.com

I buy a lot of stuff on amazon.com.  I like them.  I just don't trust them enough to quickly click my way through the checkout process without stopping to pay attention to important payment details.

 Amazon heavily promotes their free shipping but they fail to mention the fact that you have to make a point of clicking on the free shipping option.  When I purchased some books on amazon.com I realized that the default shipping for the amazon.com checkout page is the $5.00 shipping service, not the free service option.  My total was over $25.00 and I was entitled to free shipping but the checkout page did NOT automatically change to free shipping option, I had to do it myself. 

Project Runway Fashion Design and Illustration Studio Set $28.00.

Another payment issue to be aware of when shopping on amazon.com is that if you have an amazon.com credit card any purchase you make will automatically be charged to that card unless you select a different payment method before completing the transaction.  Having different items go on different credit cards can be important if you use one credit card strictly for business, or another credit card has a better cash back reward program than amazon.

Hats off to the Holiday Season

One fashion rule when shopping for a winter hat is to never wear something that a 5 year old would be delighted to wear.  This means no knit hats with pompoms, furry ear flaps or "cute" snowmen designs.   Instead, top your outfit off with something chic and simple like this Nine West Felt Newsboy Hat on sale for $22.99. 

.

.

The beaded bow on this Croft & Barrow Microbrim Hat on sale for $21.00 adds a touch of whimsy to a simple and sophisticated hat.  If you wouldn't be caught dead in red, don't worry it also comes in black.

Wearing a leopard print Betmar Parisian-Inspired Beret for $38.00 seems like a pretty appropriate fashion choice for the holiday season.  Because it really is a jungle out there when you are bargain hunting during the holiday shopping season. 

Lower Holiday Spending with Credit Card Rewards Programs

I was looking at one of my credit card statements and I noticed that if I didn't use up my rewards points pretty soon towards a purchase they would all expire and I wouldn't have any left.  I hate cashing in rewards points from a credit card company because it's such a complicated time consuming hassle.  I won't bore you with the details, lets just say I spent a lot of time staring at and swearing at the computer to get the gift certificate from a major retailer that I selected.  On the bright side I intend to spend the gift certificate on Christmas gifts, so in the end I am cutting my holiday expenses a little.

Looking at the list of all the retailers that participate in credit card rewards programs it occured to me that using rewards points, cash back credit or whatever your credit card company calls them towards certain retailers can really make your holiday dollars go farther.  For example, applying $20.00 worth of rewards points may translate into a $25.00 credit towards a major retailer like Barnes and Noble or Bed Bath and Beyond.  Buying a holiday gift with rewards points allows you to give like Santa while spending like a Scrooge.

Get a Sneak Peak at the Victorias Secret Fashion Show

Typically the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion show is a show where curvy models strut down the runway in angel wings and not much else.  Pictures from sfgate.comof the November 19th fashion show reveal that this year is no different.  While sfgate.com capture over 40 looks from the Victoria's Secret fashion show, to appreciate what a true spectacle this annual fashion show is, tune in to CBS on December 1 to see the televised version. 

I watch the Victoria's Secret fashion show every year because the organizers of this event sure do know how to put on a show.  The heart pumping music, models with attitude set design choreography and overall staging make it easy to overlook the fact that the clothes, what little there are of them, are pretty much unwearable. 

Buy Beauty Products in Bulk and Save at Bath & Body Works

The bevy of different sales going on at Bath & Body Works  are perfect for stocking up or buying beauty gifts in bulk.  

One sale that stands out is their buy 3 get 2 free deal on their signature collection items.  If three is one too many, they also have a buy two get one free deal on the same signature items.   The beauty of this sale is that you can mix and match different items and different scents, so when you in a sweet mood you can indulge in their Warm Vanilla Sugar collection, or Sweet Pea or Irristable Apple.  When your mood is more naughty than nice, try the Sensual Amber or Vanilla Noir.

Shop December 17 and Get Free Shipping

Sometimes it pays to procrastinate.  For those last minute shoppers not planning on getting up at 2 AM and joining the stampede of shoppers hitting the stores on Black Friday, you can still get great deals by shopping on December 17th.   On December 17th over 300 online stores are offering free shipping with delivery guaranteed by Christmas.  The list of stores includes popular names such as J C Penny, Macys, Borders, shoes.com and a enough specialized web sites like Pets Mart to satisfy your shopping needs.  All of these stores participating in the free shipping get it before Christmas promotion can be found at freeshippingday.com. 

Sweet Treats for the Holiday Season

The holiday season is a time of joy, and for those of us with a sweet tooth their is nothing more joyous than biting into sweet confections that delight the taste buds and make us forget our diets.  Here are a few sweet treats to share with others or simply indulge yourself.

What's more decadent and indulgent that real diamonds?  Large diamonds made out of chocolate!  At promisemechocolate.com they sell gem shaped chocolates dusted with a lustrous edible coating.  Sets start at $8.95 for a box of 4 chocolates.

Unless Martha Stewart was your camp scout leader, the s'mores you enjoyed around the campfire as a kid were probably nothing like this set of 8 Gingerbread S'Mores for $24.95.  These hand made sweets consist of fresh marshmallow centers sandwiched between chocolate covered graham crackers with dots of icing down the front.

Like the Ghost of Christmas Past, peppermint treats make a strong showing during the holiday season.  Peppermint isn't my favorite treat, but dipping them in chocolate dramatically increases their appeal.  A set of approximately 60 Peppermint North Poles for $16.50 make wonderful party snacks as well as a tasteful gift. 

Evening Bag Essentials

The holiday season is a time of year when social occassions call for you to trade in your all purpose tote bag for a more elegant evening bag.  As long as your trading up, why not make a few changes to what's going inside the bag as well?

The Sonia Kashuk Twist of Fate set for $19.99 includes 6  brushes and an evening bag.  While most of those brushes will probably end up on your bathroom counter instead of inside your evening bag, it's still nice to have the option of having a stylish brush or two on hand for emergency primping.

Depending on your tolerance for discomfort, some killer high heels may become unbearably uncomfortable long before the party is over.   Don't be a party pooper.  Keep a  pair of footzyrolls in your evening bag.  Footzyrolls are extremely flexible ballet flats that can be rolled up and stuffed into a (medium sized not micro mini) evening bag.  To make your heels last longer, wear footzy rolls to and from the event.  For example, if you are going to the theatre, there is no point in walking miles from the parking lot to the main theatre in heels.  Wear your footzy rolls on the hard concrete and slip into your stylish heels once you hit the carpeted floors of the theatre.

The Cargo City of Light Holiday Collection for $30.00 includes everything you need to let your glamourous side really shine.  The set includes Paris Eye Shadow Palette, Boogie Nights Eye pencil, Face and Body Sparkle and Tijuana Lip Gloss Quad.  Squeezing the entire set into a small evening bag might be harder than squeezing into a girdle after hitting the buffet.  If I had to pick one essential item from the set to slip into an evening bag it would be the Tijuana Lip Gloss Quad.  Having multiple shades of lipstick means you never have to worry about whether or not you packed the right shade.

Cool Snowflake Designs Enhance Holiday Decor

Snowflake designs fall somehwhere between jolly red nosed Santa's that look like they may have been drinking too much egg nog and super formal holiday decorations that scream "look but don't touch!"  The snowflake designs from Crate & Barrel aren't as cutesy as Santa Clause or as serious as more opulent decor. 

If you are reluctant to use this stylish Snowflake Embroidered Blue Dish Towel for $4.95 to dry dishes, you could always buy several of them to use as placemats instead.

Tis the season to forget about strict diets.  A tin of  these Snowflake Pretzels for $19.95  are the perfect party snack for holiday gatherings.  The coating is described as a "creamy white confection" on the Crate & Barrel web site which I suspect is another way saying they are coated in pure sugar.  Yum!

When the snowflakes start to fall outside, warm up your home decor with a Snowflake Hurricane/Candleholder for $8.95 to $24.95.  The holders are not sold with candles which is kind of nice.  When you buy your own pillar candles you can choose unscented candles or a scented candle with a holiday theme, like peppermint.

ULTA beauty stores expand their gift selection during the holiday season and then sweeten the deal by offering sales on those gift items.  As an added incentive to shop at ULTA.com or their retail stores, you can download one of their $3.50 coupons and apply it towards sale items.

When you simply don't know what to give someone, a holiday scented candle is a pretty safe bet.  ULTA is having a buy on get one half off deal on Yankee Candles originally priced from $10.99 to $24.99. 

Naturally being a beauty store, ULTA has a nice selection of gift sets to pamper everyone on your gift list.  This Ahava Gift set for $19.50 includes a Mineral Botanic Shower Gel Mineral Hand Cream, Mineral Body Lotion, and Mineral Foot Cream.  What makes this a gift to remember is that it comes in a reusable photo box that the recipient can enjoy long after the beauty products are gone.

To pump up their perfume sales, ULTA is giving away a set of 2 hurricane candle holders for free with every fragrance purchase over $30.00 through December 4th, while supplies last.  Stick an affordable pillar candle inside your free hurricane candle holder and you have one cheap Christmas gift ready to go.

Lofty Sweater Styles at Down to Earth Prices

The ideal sweater is both cozy and look chic, not neccessarily in that order.  Ann Taylor Loft is currently having a buy one get one half off sale on their collection of contemporary style sweaters so you be cozy, look chic and save cash all at the same time.

The bold cables running down the front and sleeves of this Cotton Cable Cardigan for $59.50 give a contemporary twist to the classic sweater. 

One disadvantage of wearing a bulky sweater is that it can make the wearer look bulky as well.  The streamlined silhouette of this Motorcycle Sweater Jacket for $79.50 flatters your figure while still keeping you warm.

The Cable Sweater Jacket with Hood for $79.50 is the difinition of casual chic.  The sweatshirt like silhouette brings the casual vibe to the style mix while the attractive cable design provides the chic.

Just for the record, the sweaters pictured do come in other colors.  Visit anntaylorloft.com to find sweaters in a rainbow of colors

Stay on Target while Decorating for the Holiday Season

Holiday decorating is tricky.  Sure you want to get into the spirit of the season, but you have to get past a lot of tacky tinsel and unconvincing plastic evergreen trim to find decor worth displaying in your home.  Fortunately for you, I have been shopping at Target where I found decorations that are both stylish and in the spirit of the season.

This mirrored Mosaic Tree comes in three sizes ranging in price from $9.99 to $14.99.  The small mirrored pieces embedded in a white cone is about as streamlined and glamourous as a tree can get.

This white and gold Santa in Sleigh for $80.99 isn't what I would call cheap, but it sure is a lot more tasteful than the cheap plastic santas that pop up like weeds this time of year.

Normally the sight of an empty food platter is a bit depressing, but this Christmas Holly Divided Platter for $14.99 with the words "Celebrate", "Rejoice" and "Be Merry" printed on the bottom gives guests a reason to smile even when the dip is running out. 

Closet Confidential Book Review

After reading one too many fashion books that offer the same fashion advice as the previous 10 fashion books I just read, I was delighted to read Closet Confidential: Style Secrets I Learned the Hard Way by Winona Dimeo-Ediger.  Instead of dictating rules like you simply must stock your closet with crisp white shirts in spite of the fact that they are a stain magnet and they wrinkle the instant you put them on, Dimeo-Ediger offers advice for real women dressing for real life situations.  

The book includes plenty of practical advice on things like budget friendly alternatives to spending $300.00 on designer jeans and how to layer different tops to create different looks.  Closet Confidential also includes such sage wisdom as explaining what the hell a grandpa sweater is and translates the word for shoes in 9 different languages. 

 The irreverent tone throughout Closet Confidential makes it a highly entertaining read.  The author gets the fact that fashion should be fun and her sense of fun combined with her passion for fashion make reading this book feel more like chatting with a fun loving friend about fashion than reading a serious style manual.  Instead of giving you some strict formula for the "correct" way to dress, the book focuses on how to be comfortable and feel like you. 

Scentsational Gifts from Sephora

While Sephora has it's share of overpriced goods (like their crystal covered tweezers for $100.00!)  they also have an impressive selection of beautiful scented gifts at bargain prices for the holiday season.  Here are a few of my favorites selected to brighten your holiday without going broke.

If your mood is more naughty than nice around the holidays, express your less than angelic side with Sinner Rollerball for $16.00.

Even a Motel 6 can smell like some exotic resort with a little help from Pacific Lotus Garden Travel Set for $14.00.  This sensual set includes a scented soy candle, body butter, solid perfume and matches. 

Now you can enjoy the smell of delectible cupcakes without all the calories thanks to Dylan's Candy Bar Chocolate Cupcake collection from $16.00-$22.00 a piece.  Choose a delicious smelling shower gel, body lotion, sugar scrub or butter cream.

Looking for Opportunity? Check Your Spam Box!

Most of the time spam filters are a blessing, blocking out junk email with the usual to good to be true promises of instant wealth, weight loss or whatever else scammers think will get your attention.  Other times email spam filters can be a curse, like when you are job hunting and they block out an important email from a prospective employer.  I received an email from a prospective employer that had two files attached to it.  One of the files was a PDF file with an employment application, and the other file was an Excel file that dealt with scheduling preferences.  I suspect it was the attachments that caused my email to categorized the email message as spam.  This isn't the first time a legitimate business communication has ended up in my spam box.  It doesn't happen often, but I always make a point of checking my spam box because I'd hate to miss out on a real opportunity because my spam filter doesn't recognize a legitimate business opportunity as easily as I do. 

It's a Jungle Out There, Affordable Fashions From New York and Company

The ever quotable ever stylish fashion designer Bill Blass once said "Style is primarily a matter of instinct".  Well my instinct has always been to skip the cutesy polka dot prints or blocky plaid patterns and hunt down the most fabulous animal prints I could find.  My most successful shopping safaris are at New York and Company where they appreciate the fact that wild and wonderful animal prints never really go out of style.

The gathering at the empire waist of thisLeopard Print Knit Dress for $59.95 creates a curvier silhouette that makes it clear under all those leopard spots you are all woman.  The polyester fiber content of the dress makes it clear that you are a woman who doesn't want to waste money on dry cleaning bills.

Creating definition at the waist while wearing shapeless cardigans or dresses is a cinch with this Wide Croc Stretch Belt for $13.96.  Stretchy belts with a wide band of elastic can look tacky if most of the belt is elastic.  It looks like you are wearing a cheap elastic band at your waist, which you are, but being cheap doesn't mean you want to look cheap.  What I like about these belts is that the elastic part of the belt takes up less than half of the belt so the overall impression is that you are wearing a regular (nonelastic) belt.

I'm not a big fan of expensive designer wallets.  Spending a lot of money on a wallet just means you will have less money to go in your wallet.  To show off your sense of style as well as your financial common sense, take a look at these City Style Logo Hardware Wallets for $16.95 a piece.  Unlike a handbag which should be fairly versatile and coordinate with different outfits, a wallet stays out of sight most of the time so you can indulge in your love of bright colors, animal prints or whatever else suits your fancy. 

A Sales Job by any other Name is Still a Sales Job

One of my big pet peeves when I am looking for a job is when an employer tries to lure prospective employees in by implying the job is not a sales job, when in reality it is a sales job.  I once responded to an ad for a set up and display position.  In my mind the phrase "set up and display" implies going to retail stores and setup up a display for merchandise.  I called the company and the person on the other end of the line immediately offered to set up an appointment for an interview without asking anything about my skills or experience.  That's a bad sign.  I asked him about the responsibilities for the position and he said the job entailed going out on appointments.  I then asked what tasks I would be doing on those appointments, setting up a display?  Giving a presentation?  I practically had to interrogate the guy to get the information I wanted, but my persistence paid off.  It turns out the job entails going into peoples' homes and giving a presentation about a product.  That sounds like a sales job, not a "set up and display" job.  I don't want job in sales and apparently a lot of other people don't either.  If everyone was so interested in sales then businesses would come right out and say it was a sales position instead of calling it something completely different.  The business was not located anywhere near my home.  By being skeptical and asking the right questions before going on an interview I saved myself a half hour drive (one way) for a job I didn't want.

Another example of this kind of bait and switch practice happened when I applied for a freelance writing position.  I got an email from a recruiting company, not the company doing the actual hiring, that included a link to a web site.  In order to apply for the job I was required to take a survey that asked such questions as whether or not I think I am a friendly outgoing person.  A writer stares at a computer and types.  Since when is being friendly and outgoing a requirement of good writing?  The situation sounded like a sales job in disguise so I skipped the survey and returned my attention to finding a real non sales job.  

Personalized Holiday Gifts are a Snap with Snapfish

Between the radio stations playing holiday tunes ranging from classics to stuff I never heard before (and never want to hear again) and retail stores sporting holiday decorations and merchandise, it's hard to ignore the fact that the holiday season is officially here.  The challenge with buying gifts is that you want them to be personal enough to show you care yet cheap enough to show you don't care to go into debt because of holiday shopping.  For gifts that are both personal and affordable, take a look at the picture perfect selection of gifts at snapfish.com.  Snapfish.com allows you to take your own photos and create personalized gifts. 

This Custom Sterling Silver Photo Bracelet for $39.99 is perfect for moms who like to keep cute pics of their pride and joy at hand.

Add a highly personal touch to your high tech gear with Photo Skins.  Photo Skins allow you to transfer your favorite images to a removable scratch resistant cover.  Photo skins are available for laptop, camera, PDA, phone and MP3 player devices.

Pictures in a nice frame are, well, nice, but from a practical point of view those frames don't do much besides collect dust.  For a picture perfect gift that is both sentimental and sensible, consider one of the many notebook designs from snapfish.com.  You can choose a graphic design like this Pink Butterfly design for $9.99 with the picture in the middle, or you can skip the outside graphics and have your picture cover the entire front of the notebook.

Party Perfect Shoes from Payless

When you are out working the party scene the last thing you want to think about is how long it's going to take to pay off the cute party shoes you are wearing.  That's why I hit Payless Shoes for my party accessories.  Payless products are cheap in quality and price, which makes them perfect for shoes that are only worn now and then.

These Christian Sirian for Payless Micola Zipper Flat for $29.99 prove that it is possible to get high glam from a low heel.  The shimmery lame fabric and gold metallic accents offer a chic alternative to all the baubles and bows that often adorn evening flats.

While I love a nice comfortable flat, it's hard to ignore the sex appeal of a nice high heel like these Lela Rose for Payless Delander Chop Out Pump for $34.99.  The designer has cleverly hidden a half inch platform in the front of the shoe to make you feel like you are wearing 3 inch heels instead of wearing 3 1/2 inch heels.

The Laurent Ornamented Wedge for $22.99 are what I call office party shoes.  For parties that call for you to look dressed up but not too dressed up, a patent shoe with a heel under 3 inches does the job.  A sexy shoe is inappropriate for an office or family holiday party and super glamourous shoes should be reserved for people you want to spend time with, not people you put up with in order to get a paycheck.