Friday Favorites: Local Discounts

 Bargains, DC Life, Useful Stuff  4 Responses »
Jan 222010
 

There has been some controversy lately regarding mommy bloggers who fail to disclose behind-the-scenes marketing payments.  I am against this practice — if only because no one sends ME free stuff.  However, I do believe uncompensated, unbiased user reviews make the Web a better place.  I couldn’t live without Web reviews of all sorts.  And this year I’ve vowed to give back by sharing more of my own.**

In other words, meet our new feature: Friday Favorites!  Friday Favorites will cover my go-to products, websites, foods, shops … whatever I’m appreciating in any given week.

This week: my favorites Web sources for local deals and specials.

(piggy bank here)

The first three sites offer coupons for significant discounts off local restaurants and services (beauty salons, fitness classes, car detailing, etc.).  The sites emphasize group action; a certain number of people must sign up before each deal is “activated.”

Groupon – The best known of the local-deal sites, Groupon offers daily deals for dozens of cities in the US and Canada.  I find their deals the most tempting, but rarely make it to the (surprisingly funny!) website in time to purchase before midnight.

Living Social – Atlanta, Austin, Boston, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC.

What’s the Deal – DC only. Deals aren’t as frequent; on the other hand, they’re posted longer so it’s easier to sign on before they disappear.

While group coupons are the latest craze, some old-school sites are also worth a visit:

Goldstar Events – Boston, Chicago, DC, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle.  Offers half-price tickets for music and theater performances, sporting events, seminars, and more.  Great for trying something where you wouldn’t necessarily pay full price.  (Our own Goldstar experiences include Wizards tickets, Native American Dance at the Smithsonian, and a thoroughly enjoyable cannibalism musical.)

For DC theatergoers, there’s also a half-price ticket site with week-of-performance deals.

Restaurant.com – $25 restaurant gift certificates for $10.  Toward the end of the month, they often discount their certificates still further, to an amazing $2-4.  The certificates are good for a year, but we recommend making plans within a few weeks; otherwise, it’s surprisingly easy to forget and let them expire.  All major US cities.

** So … er … it’s a bit ironic that this is my first big strike for uncompensated reviews.  When I visited each site for background information, I discovered that a few give some small credit to refer people who join the site and make a purchase.  I used referral links where applicable, because why not?  But referral fees are not the reason for my enthusiasm — I genuinely didn’t know about them until after I wrote this post!!

 Posted by Tara at 4:55 am

On Perfectionism

 Useful Stuff  No Responses »
Sep 272009
 

Despite severe sleep deprivation, Mr T and I set our alarms Friday morning to attempt Springsteen tickets.  And we got them!  Which, … what?  What happened to 2-minute sell-outs?  Those anti-scalping measures must be having an effect.

Anyway, seemed a good occasion to share a quote that spoke to me as a former recovering perfectionist.  According to a recent Slate article on the making of Born to Run, Springsteen had a lot of trouble finishing the title song.  Over 6 months, he made many, many changes. Eventually, producer Jon Landau told him this: 

According to writer Dave Marsh, Landau called Springsteen and said, “Look, you’re not supposed to like it. You think Chuck Berry sits around listening to ‘Maybelline’? And when he does hear it, don’t you think he wishes a few things could be [changed]? Now c’mon, it’s time to put the record out.”

Man, I’ve had that feeling of revisiting the not-quite-perfect project.  Guess knowing there’s good company out there puts the whole thing in perspective!  (Which is why I’m hitting “publish” in 3 … 2 …. 1….)

 Posted by Tara at 4:20 am

CPSIA Update

 Baby Gear, Law, Useful Stuff  6 Responses »
Jan 122009
 

For the many who expressed interest in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, here are a few updates since my last post:

Secondhand Goods:  Last week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued new guidelines that should provide some comfort to secondhand sellers.  Specifically, the CPSC reassured secondhand sellers that they will not need to obtain lead testing certifications in order to sell used children’s items.

However — and this is a big “however” — the CPSIA makes it illegal to sell children’s products that exceed the levels of lead and phthalates specified in the law.  The regulators don’t believe they have any authority to craft exemptions to that bottom-line prohibition.  So, although retailers won’t have to test everything for lead, they can’t legally sell anything over the lead limits, even if they do so unknowingly. They remain subject to “civil and/or criminal penalties” for any over-the-limit sale.  

In short, retailers have a green light to sell used children’s goods without testing, but they will always face some potential liability for doing so.  Not the most reassuring position for sellers, though they can take some comfort in the fact that understaffed and underfunded regulators are more likely to focus on regular manufacturers than on a reseller who accidentally sells the occasional over-the-limit product. 

Small Businesses That Make Children’s Items:  Still threatened greatly by the new requirements.  The CPSC has approved a proposal to exempt certain naturally lead-free materials from the testing requirements — though some of the materials aren’t exactly common in children’s products (gemstones, precious metals, and pearls?), the list does include wood and natural-fiber fabrics like cotton, silk, and wool.  The wrinkle is that these products must be undyed and untreated.  So, unless children’s clothing makers can whip up demand for an all-beige wardrobe, the current exemptions only go so far.  Once again, small sellers who rely on outlets like craft bazaars, Etsy and eBay may find their only comfort in the fact that government regulators probably consider their business operations too small for bother. 

Everyone Else:  There’s still a lot of uncertainty and general angst circulating the Internet.  For example, libraries and schools recently realized for the first time that their children’s books are covered by the CPSIA.  By my read, book lending (as well as charity donations) should be fine because the CPSIA only makes it illegal to “sell, offer for sale, distribute in the stream of commerce, or import” products that exceed the lead limits.  But, perhaps understandably, no one will feel comfortable till they hear from the regulators themselves.

 

 Posted by Tara at 2:08 pm

Tissue Poufs for the Lazy

 Useful Stuff, Wedding  No Responses »
Jun 242008
 

As the Tulip Nuptial Recap Extravaganza winds down, I’m still discovering the occasional forgotten detail.  And the current case in point is actually one of my favorite decorations from our wedding reception:

As a cheapskate budget bride, I’ve always loved the decorative-bang-for-few-bucks factor of the famous Martha Stewart tissue poufs.  In fact, I bought some red tissue and planned to do up poufs for our own decor.  But between illness and general laziness, few things get done in my world.  And in the end … well, let’s just say our red-tissue-paper needs will be met for many Christmases to come!

D14TU

Luckily I also picked up a dozen of these beauties, which hung from the ceiling in our cocktail area.  Assembly took approximately two seconds — just unfold the rice-paper accordion around the circle and secure it with a bit of tape or the included paper clip.  I adored them for some crazy reason, whether because of the bright turquoise color or my love for vintage accordion-paper party decorations (Santa’s belly, anyone?).  Available at Luna Bazaar, they come in 5 colors and are $1.50 for the 14” model and $1.95 for an 18-incher (less if you buy a dozen or more).

What other simple paper decorations can be used to jazz up a celebration site?  Anyone going with paper flags or streamers?  Or the genuine Martha floral poms?

 Posted by Tara at 5:09 am

J. Peterman Lives!

 Useful Stuff  1 Response »
Aug 022007
 

Deep dark secret — I’ve never been a Seinfeld fan.  There was a time when I joined Ed for dinner every day after work, and I actually made him turn off the early-evening Seinfeld reruns that he used to watch as we prepared dinner.  They just bugged me too much.

Despite this, I’ve always been fascinated by the way the show uses real-life company J. Peterman in its plot-lines. 

Peterman_2 When I first moved to New York City in 1999, I commuted via Grand Central Station every day and exited next to a big J. Peterman store.  If you’re not familiar with the stores, their theme was sort of 1920’s world traveler — think wealthy British colonial or scion of the Rockefellers on a Continental fling.  I didn’t go in very often, and bought even less, but I always thought there was something sort of magical about the place.

Unfortunately, their prices were not so magical.  Whether partially for this reason or not, J. Peterman went bankrupt in 1999.  In fact, it turns out they had already filed when I was passing the store that summer.  I went away for a year, and when I returned in 2001, a Kenneth Cole store stood proudly in J. Peterman’s old Grand Central spot.

I thought that was the end of things.  But, as we all know, I’m a hopeless Ebay addict.  And a few months ago, I stumbled across (by which I mean, uh, purchased) this J. Peterman skirt on Ebay.  The listing actually included the skirt’s catalog page — the first time I had actually seen part of the J. Peterman catalog.  (Sorry, make that the J. Peterman “Owner’s Manual” — their phrase….)  The writing is exactly like they described on Seinfeld!:

Tues_65_004

I loved the catalogs so much that I wound up buying a bunch of back issues for $1.00 on Ebay.  (Yes, you can buy everything on Ebay!)  And, as hoped, they make great inspiration for sewing / designing / crafting.  It helps that many of the clothes come with a line drawing of the item, so you can picture its clean, basic lines:

Tues_65_007

But my big surprise is that J. Peterman is back!  Turns out the catalogs weren’t old, they were dated 2006 and 2007.  The company didn’t die in bankruptcy at all, it just closed the one store I knew and cut back its business operations for a bit.  So if you’re interested in signing up for the famous catalog, you can still do so easily on the website.

 Posted by Tara at 4:01 pm

The Eternal Problem of Earring Display

 Decor, Useful Stuff  1 Response »
May 182007
 

This week I finally took care of the vast mess of earrings that has been sitting in a tin on my dresser for, oh, forever…. 

For the past few years, I’ve organized necklaces and bracelets on a chrome tree meant for displaying hand-towels in the bathroom.  It works quite well, and I like the look.   So a while back, when I saw a similar holder with narrow arms on sale for a couple of dollars at TJ Maxx, I thought, “Why not earrings?”

Earring_holder_3

The hanging earrings slip easily over the bars of the holder.  For post earrings, I simply doubled lengths of satin ribbon over the top bar.  Was feeling lazy that day, so I just pinned it in place with sewing pins.  Eventually I plan to sew the ribbon in place, glue it with fabric glue, or, at the very least, replace the ugly sewing pins with the nicer pearl-tipped variety!

The empty space at the bottom would work well for a small jewelry box or a collection of containers for rings or other pieces.  (For now, I use the space as a shrine to my beloved orange cat One-Eyed Jack, who passed away a couple of weeks ago.)  Speaking of rings, here’s what I use for mine:

Ring_corner_2

They sell the glass hands on ebay as displays for people who sell jewelry.   I hope to sell my jewelry someday, but in the meantime I just enjoy the hand as a piece of sculptural art in its own right.

As a postscript, by coincidence I discovered yesterday this post on Elegant Musings with an adorable holder using an empty frame and wire.  It doesn’t work for post earrings, but looks like a great idea for the hanging variety. 

 Posted by Tara at 5:55 pm
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