This Foodie Friday we’ve got a super important question for y’all: do you like your food slow?
Slow Food USA stands for real food, grown by real people. They’re a great organization that sponsors all kinds of events to raise the bar for organic and sustainably produced food, and to educate consumers on the choices they make every time they pick up their forks (like the upcoming Richardson Farms tour here in Austin). Slow Food is all about real food — not the kind that comes in a box. But they’re also about supporting the farms and farmers that grow your fruits, veggies and even your meats.
In short, their motto is “supporting good, clean and fair food.”
For the month of September, they’ve dropped their usual membership fees of $60 down to a “pay what you can” system, in order to add more voices to their advocacy group. If you can afford to donate $30 or more, you’ll receive a farmers’ market tote made of sustainably-sourced cotton. But even if you can only afford a $1 donation, you can still join!
I just donated a buck myself, to support their good work. Because while living on a Shoestring doesn’t have to suck, it also doesn’t have to mean eating sub-par food.
If you’ve got a buck to spare, I strongly suggest taking advantage of this temporary fee waiver (which ends today!) and joining the Slow Food network. As an added incentive, the first 60 people to donate will receive a free Mark Bittman iPod or iPad app. You can choose from How to Cook Everything (reviewed on our site here) or How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.
I’ve got a Kindle (a much-loved birthday present from my husband, who knows how I tear through books), which never ceases to attract attention on the bus—both for its technological wow-factor and for the sheer fact that I’m the weird girl who is reading on the bus. (Seriously, we are a rare breed.) Being a broke-ass frugal type, I tend not to frivolously toss down a ten-spot for digital books, so I regularly troll the free section of Amazon’s Kindle store, in search of titles that are actually worth downloading.
Trust me: I’ve been through quite a few that, despite their totally free price-tag, weren’t even worth my time. (And lord, do I have time for reading, as my average commute takes an hour each way. Thanks, CapMetro!)
In short, I’ve made a list of the top 5 books I’ve managed to acquire for free (or cheap) through Amazon which are actually worth reading. Check it out!
Cybill Disobedience by Cybill Shepherd and Aimee Lee Ball – With a subtitle like “How I survived beauty pageants, Elvis, sex, Bruce Willis, lies, marriage, motherhood, Hollywood, and the irrepressible urge to say what I think,” this book is pretty damn cheeky. Granted, it’s a celebrity memoir, and thus a bit flakily organized, but I give it 3 stars for guts. Ms. Shepherd dishes the dirt on her many and various lovers, the misogynistic boys club of Hollywood, and her quest for equal rights for all. I’d like to see more of this last bit in the future, cus there’s nothing like a loudmouthed blonde crusading for justice. HOT.
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson – Yes, this is a Young Adult book, and shut up. It was actually really enjoyable, despite the main character’s persistent need to run away from the action of the book, and it made me long for a crazy artist aunt of my own who might send me on a whirlwind journey across Europe with nothing but a backpack and 13 envelopes directing me to my next destination. 4 stars; read it in an afternoon with a cup of coffee and dream of Paris. (NOTE: I was able to download a free version of this book as part of a promotion by the publisher, but the Kindle version currently available costs $7.99.)
50 Ways to Hex Your Lover by Linda Wisdom – If you dig the supernatural and you’re been craving a mystery involving witches, vampires and possessed bunny slippers, then here is your next read. I’m only 14% into this book so far, but I’m already recommending it. What can I say? I’m a sucker for puns, and the vamps who inspire ‘em. (NOTE: This one was also free for a limited time, but currently costs $4.61.)
Outcast by Thomas Myer – Full disclosure: Tom is a writer friend of mine, so I am slightly biased. But even so, for $2.99 this little NaNoWriMo exercise-turned-novel is worth the price, and highly enjoyable. I was kind of peeved about his ending, but I still enjoyed the rest of the journey, so I only demoted him one star for this offense. And since his usual writing territory is the vast and largely soporific world of tech guides, I’d call this a welcome departure from the rest of his catalog. (Put that on your next book’s jacket, Tom, I dare you!)
Make the Devil Fumble His Wine by Robert Bruce – A book of poetry that doesn’t suck? On your Kindle? WTF, right? I originally downloaded this for free from Robert’s website, and now that it’s available on Amazon, it’s only $2.99 (the magic price) and highly recommended. I particularly enjoyed “Four Foolproof Ways to Create Staggering Wealth in This World.” Check this one out, even if you hate poetry. I promise you will dig it, the way hipsters dig Bukowski.
There has been an explosion of deal sites across America, and like many cities, Austin’s in love with their daily deals. Here at Shoestring Austin, we’ve signed up for plenty of these sites (Living Social, Groupon and Localiter, to name a few), each offering one new deal per day, with deep discounts at local businesses.
Even though we all love deals, there can be drawbacks to using these sites. The most common complaint is that while the discounts are certainly large enough to pique a buyer’s interest, the quality of participating businesses can vary widely. If you can’t find much information about the products or services offered, why would you care about getting a deal on these items? This is especially true with new businesses, who may not even have a web presence, much less any accurate online reviews by real consumers.
The second biggest complaint about deal sites is that they usually require buying a coupon or voucher. This is fine if you can remember to use your coupons or vouchers, but let’s face it: some of us are forgetful, or just plain busy, and this can end up becoming a waste of money instead of the promised huge savings.
Another issue doesn’t directly affect consumers, but comes back to bite us with the ol’ trickle-down effect. For businesses that offer deals through these websites, this is actually a very expensive marketing maneuver. Not only are they offering at least 50% off the price to consumers, but they also have to pay up to 50% of the price of their coupon to the sites offering the deal. In effect, for each deal that these businesses offer, they have to give up at least 75% off the value of their products or services. And guess who ends up paying for this in the long run? You guessed it: we, the consumers.
Enter Dealuv
With the goal of improving on the deal-a-day coupon system, Austin-based newcomer Dealuv has come up with something completely different. Deals on their site are all FREE. That’s right: you don’t have to buy vouchers anymore! Instead, vouchers are totally free to print and redeem, in exchange for sharing the deal on your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts. As a result, whenever you share your favorite deals with friends, a viral effect is triggered, encouraging a self-sustaining community of deals between local businesses and consumers.
With a variety of hand-picked businesses, instead of one-off deals from nationwide chains, Dealuv also seeks to ensure that only quality products and services are available to their customers. Participating businesses are all locally-based, and include everything from restaurants (El Chile Cafe y Cantina, Masala Wok, Red’s Porch) to spas (5R Bodywork & Massage, FaceToFace Spa at Avery Ranch) to auto mechanics (Auto Techs, Northwest Imports) to upscale clothing retailers (Astor and Black).
Another bonus? Sharing your Dealuv scores actually gets you even more deals! Members earn reward points for participating in various activities on the site, including sharing deals, inviting friends to join the site, writing (private) feedback for businesses, and more. Reward points can be redeemed in the form of gift cards from affiliated businesses, or donated as cash to the charity of your choice. How cool is that?
Tired of losing your coupons and forgetting to cash in your deals? Want to get more out of your online deals? Why not give Dealuv a try? With free vouchers and sweet rewards for participating, there’s literally nothing to lose!
First, an embarrassing admission: I have been receiving copies of InStyle Magazine at my house for the past few months. The weird thing is that I never ordered these magazines, and they are addressed to (presumably) a previous tenant. Basically, they started appearing out of the blue, and despite the fact that last month’s copy had one of those “Your subscription is ending this month!” paper covers on it, the mags keep on coming.
I have never paid for this subscription, and since they’re not in my name, I’m not sure why they are coming to my house, or how to make them stop.
But guess what? This month’s magazine actually had a really cool deal in it, which I am about to share with you!
Lot18 is an exclusive, invite-only website that sells wine at heavily discounted prices. InStyle included a link for readers to sign up and get the insider prices that their editors allegedly receive. As a wine lover on a budget, naturally, I signed up. And now, through the magic of social media, you can use MY code to gain access!
If you want in on daily deals on wine, as well as upscale food items and household accessories (usually stuff like wine glasses and barware, and sometimes utensils and such), use this link to sign up: https://www.lot18.com/i/L307509
Full disclosure: I get $25 in credit to use on the Lot18 site when you sign up. But! You can then turn around and share YOUR code with your friends and get the $25 credits, too. Sweet, right?
So share and share alike, and hopefully we will all score some sweet wine deals from this site. Cheers!
Looking for some free fun this weekend? Austin’s Yellow Bike Project is celebrating their 14th birthday this Saturday, May 14, with a FREE party — and the chance to win a bike for only $10!
Along with the usual party fun like live music, contra-dancing, Austin Bike Zoo critters and—of course!—food and drinks, the group is raffling off a custom yellow cargo bike. Tickets are $10 a piece, and can be purchased in advance via Paypal or at the event with cash. Here’s a picture of this sweet-ass ride:
Wondering who the heck these Yellow Bike people are? They’re a community group dedicated to helping people learn more about how bicycles work, as well as bike mechanics and volunteers who can help you fix your bike or build your own. Low-cost bikes are available at their community bike shop, either by volunteering time in the shop training and helping others, building it yourself, or purchasing outright at less-than-retail prices. Used and recycled bikes are their forte, which makes them awesome.
Whether you’re interested in learning more about their programs, or just feel like partying, c’mon out to 1216 Webberville Road between 4 PM and midnight on Saturday for food, fun and lots of yellow bikes!
Note: Raffle winner will be announced at midnight, but you need not be present to win.
(Hat-tip to Austin on Two Wheels for their post, featuring a cool video with Yellow Bike Project volunteer Tim Starry)
Okay, so it’s more like $1 Friday, but the point of this post is CHEAP BOOKS, and for a literary nerd like me, this is a steal of a deal.
Books Beyond Borders, a local bookstore with the charitable aim of building schools from used book sales (and whom I’d tragically never heard of prior to this week), is going out of business and looking to sell off their literary stock ASAP. Hit them up this weekend, starting Friday the 25th, to snap up over 100,000 books for only $1 each. Holy cannolis!
In addition to their vast riches of the book variety, they’re also selling LPs (also at $1 each) plus laptops, compys and various warehouse equipment they need to get rid of. They’re also looking for scads of volunteers, so you may be able to finagle some free stuff if you donate your time to the cause.
To volunteer, email tab@booksbeyondborders.com. To buy books, head out early (the sale starts at 9 AM today [Friday]) to Books Beyond Borders at 618 C Tillery Street. Happy hunting!
Following up on my previous post regarding inexpensive cell phone plans, I recently discovered a (not very well-publicized) government program called SafeLink Wireless that offers FREE cell phones (and discounted service rates) to those living on very low incomes. It’s run through TracFone, here in Texas, which is just one more reason to dig their services.
Since this is aimed at low-income families, you can’t just scam the system by telling them you’re poor and therefore deserve a free iPhone. Sorry, but this is for deserving folks only! To qualify, you must already be on one of the following programs:
Federal Public Housing Assistance / Section 8
Health Benefit Coverage under Children’s Health Insurance Plan (CHIP)
Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP)
Medicaid
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps)
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
-OR-
Your total household income must be at or below 150% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines (there’s a table online here, to see if you qualify).
To apply for the program, or to learn more about how it works in Texas or in other states throughout the U.S. (this is a national program, so check to see if your state is listed!), go to the SafeLink Wireless website.
P.S. Props to Shannon Buck of Living the Low-Income Life for her article alerting me to this shoestring budget option!
P.P.S. For those who are about to raise a ruckus about government-funded cell phones or “Obama phones,” here’s an important quote from the SafeLink website:
“Low-income households have been eligible for discounted telephone service for more than a decade. But the program is funded by telecom companies, not by taxes, and the president has nothing to do with it.”
iPhone schmiPhone! Sure, it’d be nice to have this little gizmo in our bags for easy access to, well, EVERYTHING at the tap of a touch-screen, but who can afford the evil crazy data plan? Not this little Shoestringer, that’s for sure.
So Celebrity Intern and I, glamorous as we may appear, each have a different Pay As You Go cell phone plan, because while we love technology, thriftiness wins out over pointless expenditures. (Seriously, Apple. You couldn’t include free wifi like the nice folks at the Kindle did?)
If you’ve been trying to find ways to save money on expenses, we highly recommend trying a Pay As You Go phone option. Sure, they’re not as cool as the latest and greatest, but they get the job done. We use our phones for crazy, old-fashioned junk like PHONE CALLS, not downloading ringtones and games and hitting up the Internet every time we can’t figure out where we are on a good old-fashioned paper map. We also text peeps on occasion, though you get dinged if you don’t have a texting plan (depending on your provider).
Here’s how our two Pay As You Go companies stack up.
TRACFONE
Motorola W376g
The most popular PAYG phone in the U.S. is the Tracfone, for its easy-to-determine rates, no-nonsense approach, and no-frills phones. I bought a Motorola W376g flip phone with Bluetooth, a VGS camera and double minutes for life for $29.99 at Target, and it works great for my purposes.
Minutes start at $19.99 for 60 (with 90 days for possible usage) or $9.99 for 30 minutes if you don’t mind having to use them up in 30 days. Adding minutes is easy, as you can purchase them online, from your phone, or through a card purchased at lots of vendors (including Target and various convenience and grocery stores across the U.S.).
Texting is a bit annoying because it shaves off 1/3 of a minute every time you text someone OR receive a message, giving you odd amounts of time left, but overall I can’t complain. This phone does exactly what I need it to do, with no extra bells and whistles, and every time I flip it open I can see how many minutes I’ve got left and the date my phone will “expire” if I don’t add more minutes. Easy as pie, though not a great option if you tear through minutes like a wild boar on a rampage.
CRICKET
For those who chomp through minutes like crazy, Cricket is undoubtedly your best best for a PAYG device. Although Celebrity Intern hates their phone with a passion (it doesn’t flip, nor slide, nor do anything to protect the keypad from deploying the Internet—at extra cost to you—ALL. THE. TIME.), the plan itself is solid. Here’s how it breaks down:
Pay only on the days you use your phone
Choose from the über no-frills $1/day plan (with unlimited calling time throughout your area, unlimited INCOMING text messages, and 10-cents/message for outgoing texts) or bump it up a notch to $2/day to get unlimited talk + U.S. long distance + texting (including pix and international texts!). You can even go for the $3/day plan to get unlimited talk, texting and mobile web access nationwide, if you MUST have your precious Internets on the go.
Dial it up to the better plan when you’re flush with cash or need to call your mom in LA for a marathon chat-sesh, or scale it back to the cheapest plan when you’re broke-ass and counting pennies
Add any amount you like via your phone or PAYG cards purchased in convenience stores, dedicated Cricket stores, and Target or WalMart
Slightly more confusing set-up than the Tracfone, though ultimately cheaper if you like to talk a lot. Great if you can plan ahead which days you’ll NEED the phone, so you can literally only pay for certain days of the week. Granted, life is usually not like this, but if you wanted to use the phone, say, for business purposes, you could use it only 5 days a week, amounting to $20/month in phone bills vs. the usual $40+ bill you’ll get from even the cheapest of network plans.
Personally, I dig not having to watch the minutes drip down on the Cricket phone, although I absolutely HATE that it doesn’t display how much time/money is left on the phone the way the Tracfone does. Knowing you’re only spending $1 or $2, really and truly, per day you’re using the phone is comforting as well, since you can plan to do your long-distance chats and rapid-fire texting on the weekends, bumping up to the $2 plan for best effects, and then lower it back down to the $1 plan during the week if you’re making mainly local calls with fewer texts. Perfect for the penny-wise consumer!
Now, if only Cricket would offer a couple more flip phone options (they currently offer one—the CAPTR II at $39.99), they’d really be playing with fire.
RECAP
In short: if you’re a talk and text-hungry consumer, Cricket PAYgo is chirping your name. If you’re conservative with your minutes and like to have an “emergency” phone for talking and texting on the run, Tracfone is just your speed. If you want a nicer-looking phone with more up-to-date options, Tracfone is your friend, and if you don’t mind having your ass dial for you, then hit up Cricket. Both are easy to use and refill, both are cheaper than standard monthly plans, and neither requires contracts, credit checks, insane bills or hassles. Save your diñero; go Pay As You Go!
Ladies (and a number of gentlemen, for that matter) LOVE chocolate. It’s a simple fact. Chocolate stimulates the “love” or “pleasure” centers of your brain, which is why some theorize that the womenfolk are so into it, but whatever the case, the fact of the matter is this:
Valentine’s Day celebrations just ain’t complete without a little chocolatey goodness.
Granted, the good stuff can get pricey, and although your goal is to impress your lady friend, you want to maintain some semblance of normality. I mean, a chocolate-covered boyfriend is pretty hot, but like The Simpsons‘ Apu, who wants a nut in their eye or nougat in their ears? (Not to mention the overly-high expectations you’ll then have set for every major holiday; who needs the pressure?!)
Chocolate Volcano Cups (image via H-E-B)
If whipping up a batch of Chocolate Volcano Cups from the recipe in February’s My H-E-B Life Magazine doesn’t sound like your idea of a good time, here are our lazy-man’s suggestions on what to give the chocoholic in your life this V-Day.
GODIVA
Any man, woman or child not already familiar with Godiva chocolates is clearly living in a sub-par world of chocolate. Named after the infamous lady who allegedly rode through the streets of town stark-bloody-nekkid, their chocolates are smooth, silky, and completely decadent.
Unfortunately, their prices are pretty reflective of that. BUT! You can satisfy your lover’s sweet-tooth with a small sampler, letting her subtly know that while you love her enough to send the very best, you also have issues with overpaying for treats. It’s a nice mixture of indulgence and attention to budgetary issues.
For the cheapest bite of luxury, check out the Godiva Chocolatier Gold Party Favor (4 pieces) for $7.50 at Amazon.com. Also recommended:
Signature Chocolate Truffle Assortment (4 pieces) at $9
Cherry Cordials at $10
Gems Sweetheart Message Truffles at $18
LINDT
Definitely the least expensive (but one of the most satisfying!) of all our delicious chocolatey options, Lindt actually sells single servings of their tasty chocolate truffles for 37-cents a piece at Amazon. Seriously, I’m not sure how much lower you can go. But if you really want to go hog-wild (get it?), give her an entire bag of these babies and watch her eyes burn with passion for your sweet, sensitive bum. (P.S. A 5-ounce bag of mixed truffles is only $4.99).
GHIRARDELLI
For the displaced Californians amongst us, Ghirardelli chocolates are king. With single-serving packets of their cocoa available for $1 and individual milk-chocolate squares with caramel for $1.29 at Amazon, they’re an affordable gift for all of Austin’s west-coast transplants. Surprise them with a bag of Ghirardelli’s trademark squares for only $3.49.
HOT CHOCOLATE OF THE GODS
Finally, we can’t recommend this product enough, despite its distinctly un-shoestring price. If you’re going for the gusto this V-Day, check out Petrossian’s Hot Chocolate-on-a-Stick. It’s $18 for 6 sticks of Belgian chocolate, which you swirl into hot milk or cream to create the world’s best mug of hot chocolate, EVER. It’s honestly an orgasm in a cup, and VERY highly recommended. (Even Oprah digs these, as they note on their site they were featured as one of her Top Gifts of 2009.)
Got a favorite chocolate brand or treat you like to give (or receive!) on Valentine’s Day? Let us know in the comments section, or tweet us @shoestringATX with deets!
This week, having discovered the wonderful world of free beauty samples (thank you, Sephora!), I thought I’d share a quick round-up of some of the free perfume samples out there. These are just a few of the scents I was able to locate online with a Google search, and it seems like most perfumeries are happy to send potential customers a sample spritzer if you ask nicely.
Free Perfume Samples
Yes, this is the Gucci fragrance that has teamed up with Frank Miller (how bizarre is this, btw?)
In other beauty giveaways, WalMart is currently offering samples of Cover Girl’s latest product, a foundation called NatureLuxe. How much more “natural” a fake cake for your face could be, we don’t know, but if you’re into that whole concept, here’s a chance to check it out.
And over at Philosophy, if you sign up for their mailing list, a sampler of free best-sellers will be added to your first order of $25 or more. For those who like to try new things, this is a nice add-on.
Weird Craigslist Freebies
Would your week really be complete without a little good, old-fashioned Austin weirdness? We think not. Hence, our top oddities via the Austin Craigslist free section:
CLICK to embiggen
Free Sphinx! (unfortunately, this one has been deleted by its author, but we grabbed the screenshot, at right, to prove it was there)
P.S. Cami is graduating from beauty school in a few weeks and needs to prove she can do 12 types of cuts, so please stop flagging her “Free Haircuts” ads, already, and get yourself a damn free haircut! Geez, people, do you want another Beauty School Dropout on your hands?!
Slow Food USA stands for real food, grown by real people. They’re a great organization that sponsors all kinds of events to raise the bar for organic and sustainably produced food, and to educate consumers on the choices they make every time they pick up their forks (like the upcoming Richardson Farms tour here in Austin). Slow Food is all about real food — not the kind that comes in a box. But they’re also about supporting the farms and farmers that grow your fruits, veggies and even your meats.
