Free Cupcake Alert!

Attention all cupcake lovers in the NY Metro area!

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Sign up for New York magazine's New York Deals and get a FREE cupcake (up to $3.95) from any of the 39 Crumbs Bake Shop locations in the NY Metro area!  New York Deals is New York magazine's short list collection of what its editors think are the best deals in NYC.  It's free to sign up and you can receive alerts delivered via email or view them by visiting their website.  As with most promotions, by signing up for this offer you are opting in to receive communications from New York Deals and Crumbs Bake Shop.  But, in my professional deal-seeker opinion, there is very little risk for this deliciously sugary reward.  ;)  So sign up today and enjoy your free cupcake by April 29th!


Disclaimer:  I have not been paid or otherwise encouraged to promote this free cupcake alert.  I simply believe in sharing great tips like this!  Enjoy!

Seasonal Steals

Like many of you out there, I just LOVE me a good deal.  That's one {of many!} reasons why I get excited about the changing seasons -- it's a great opportunity to score big savings on seasonal items.  Here are a couple examples:

This pair of leather boots retails for $250 at macys.com, but I got myself a pair in February for only $80.99!  {WOWZERS, that's 68% off!}

Enzo Angiolini Gregie Tall Boots

And, for those outfits that work better with a short boot, I picked these up from Shoebuy for only $23.99 {regularly $89.95, that's 74% off}!

A2 by Aerosoles Playaway in Faux Suede

Unfortunately, although it's mid-March it's still freezing in NY so I've gotten some good use out of my new boots, even though I bought them late in the season!  I've also gotten a lot of use from the new down coat I treated myself to...

Patagonia Down With It Parka in Prussian Blue

I wouldn't consider this a super bargain, but it was on sale for 40% off on Zappos and I just LOVE the color!  Considering I got 7 great years of use from my other down coat {the white one seen here} and the forecast is calling for yet another snow fall this weekend, I'm sure I'll get my money's worth out of this pretty blue coat.  ;)

And finally, here's a pair of sunglasses that retail for $159, which I scored for only $19.99 {87% off} through an online sale website called Smart Bargains.

Oleg Cassini Sunglasses

... although at this point summer sun is a very distant dream.  Yes, I've been quite the shopper this winter.  What can I say -- some people eat their way through winter; I shop through it.  ;)

So tell me, what seasonal steals have you scored???  I love celebrating a good bargain, so please do share!!!

Oh, Christmas Tree!

You know the old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words"?  Well, I'm going to let the photos do the talking in this post.  Now presenting... our Christmas tree!

Here are some of our sentimental ornaments...

Stay tuned for more photos of our holiday decor -- we have lots of little Christmas vignettes scattered throughout the apartment and we love sharing our ideas and photos!  For now, I'm going to sit and gaze at our tree...

Cool Customers

{Disclaimer: This post is very delayed, but better late than never!}

This summer, Shep and I officially became "Cool Customers".  How, you ask?  Let me tell you!...

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Our electricity provider, PSE&G, has a program called the Cool Customer Program.  The gist of it is that customers who enroll get a new fancy shmancy programmable thermostat installed free of charge AND a $50 statement credit.  Once you're enrolled, PSE&G has the ability to cycle your air conditioning compressor in order to minimize the impact of high energy demand on the electric system.  This is especially important to them in summer when temperatures soar and ACs roar, because the cycling ability allows them the opportunity to avoid blackouts.

Shep wanted to join the program for the free thermostat (he's been wanting to buy a new one since we moved in!); I liked the idea of $50 worth of free electricity (to help counteract my darling hubby's hobby of turning on, and leaving on, every light in the apartment).  But, the program seemed a little "big brother"ish to me.  I like being in control of my own home's temperature, thank you very much!  Plus, we didn't really need new thermostats; we already had programmable ones!  Shep's curiosity took charge so he called PSE&G and spoke with a service rep, who explained that it would be a rare occurrence (and pretty dire circumstance) for them to actually exercise their ability to cycle the system.  That put Shep at ease, but I still wasn't buying it.  So, I asked around at work and did a few minutes of online research to perform a quick cost/benefit analysis.  Before signing up, I wanted to ensure the pros of the program outweighed any potential cons.  Lucky for me, a couple of colleagues of mine had joined the program the previous year and confirmed that PSE&G had never to date adjusted their AC cycles.  This made me a lot more comfortable, so we took the plunge.  Well, to our delight we received TWO free programmable thermostats (which were installed very quickly and painlessly by a PSE&G representative) and a $100 statement credit, because we have 2 HVAC units in our condo.  Woohoo!  Double the benefits and no additional risk... that's my kind of offer!  ;)  Oh, and as expected, we didn't experience any compressor cycling at all throughout the summer.

In summary, I'd definitely recommend the program to anyone out there considering it!  As far as we can see, there's nothing to lose by trying it out!

Do any readers out there have any experience with a "Cool Customer" program?  I'm curious to hear about other power companies out there that have similar programs, so do share!

{I was not asked or encouraged by PSE&G to write this post; the views are my own and I'm voluntarily sharing them.}

Yard Sale!

Last weekend, we had a yard sale at my mom's house.  We originally hoped to have the sale at the beginning or end of summer, but you know what they say about the best paid plans and all.  Having been through it though, it's probably better that we didn't have it sooner because even though it was the first week in October and temperatures were cool the sun was strong and we were hot!!!  I think I would have melted into a puddle sitting out there all day in July or August!

Shep and I have been designating things as "yard sale" for what feels like a year now.  Each time we came across something in our apartment or storage unit that we couldn't find a place for or no longer wanted, we'd yell "YARD SALE!" (similar to how a granny would yell "BINGO!" in a game hall).  It kind of turned into a joke, and we'd giggle every time we designated something to be sold.  We did such a great job of "de-cluttering" our living space that we created a huge pile of items in the extra bedroom of our apartment.  Talk about counterproductive.  ;)  Eventually, we de-cluttered the yard sale staging area by driving multiple car loads of crap yard sale goodies to my mom's house, including a cargo van full of furniture and other crap treasures (huge thanks to my brother who helped out with that task like a rock star!).

Curious what we had for sale?  Here's a sample....

It was scary to see how much STUFF Shep and I had accumulated to sell, especially since we've only been married for 3.5 years, and we live in a condo!  A lot of our overage was due to having too many lamps, for example, after merging homes years ago and never down-sizing properly at the time.  Other items (like all the blue boxes above) were a result of recent upgrades in our new apartment to lighting and bath fixtures.

All in all, it was a productive first yard sale, and we made $231.35!  Not bad for a couple of amateurs!  Because knowledge is power, we created a tip list for any brave souls out there in cyberspace who will one day master your own first yard sale!

Lessons learned:

• Advertise, advertise, advertise!!!  We actually took it a little light on the advertising since this was our first sale and we didn't want to be overwhelmed.  We also didn't have a need to sell everything at once though.  The Monday before the sale I put an ad on craisglist that included a description of the items I was selling, the time and date of the sale, the location of the sale (we included directions but not a street address for privacy reasons), and some photos of key items.  I also included a note instructing "cash only" and "no early birds".  Saturday morning, I refreshed my ad so it would appear toward the top of the listings and visible to those searching that day.

• Have change on hand: People will pay for a $5 item with a $50 bill, and will also pay in quarters so it's a necessity to have change and small bills on hand.  Before the yard sale, we stopped at the bank and got approximately thirty $1 bills, several dollars worth of quarters, and about eight to ten $5 bills.  We had some $10 and $20 bills on hand as well, which came in handy to break larger bills without needing to give all our small bills away.  After the sale I had $50 in one dollar bills, which solicited a very intriguing look from the bank teller when I deposited the money.  I just smiled politely and handed the wad of ones over.

• Price items reasonably:  This was probably the hardest part of the day for us.  Some of the items we were selling were either of great sentimental or monetary worth.  However, those shopping at yard sales are looking for bargains, not memories, so price accordingly if you truly want to sell your stuff!  I think we did fairly well in this category, but there is definitely room for improvement next time.  For example, I had about a dozen glass vases I was trying to sell for $5 each, which I think I'll mark down to $3 next time around.  One pair of grumpy old garage sale ladies actually uttered the phrase "YEESH!" while looking at some of our items.  I think at the time they were looking either at purses that I was trying to sell for $5 or a perfectly working and almost new cordless vacuum cleaner for $15, I can't remember.  But, both are pretty good prices if you ask me, so I'm not sure what they were "yeeshing" about!  I think they were professional pickers and generally grumpy, so I tried not to take it personally.  A gentleman proclaimed to Shep that we would "never sell anything at that price!" (that price being $3 for a hardcover book in excellent condition), so Shep invited the man to make an offer.  The man offered $2 and a sale was made.  Flexibility is key!

• Staging is important:  Think of your yard sale as a department store -- group similar items together, arrange items in an attractive way, and ensure all items can be easily seen.  One thing we're going to do next time is rent or borrow a rack, to more easily display the many pieces of clothing we want to sell.  I managed to sell a couple shirts and a few hats this time around, which were folded nicely and placed in bins, but I think a clothing rack is going to make a huge difference next time.

• Be ready for early birds:  We woke up super early and made it to my mom's house in record time; however, the items took a bit longer to pull out, set up and price that we predicted (rookie mistake) and one or two shoppers arrived before the official start time of the yard sale.  Even though I specified "no early birds!" in my craigslist ad, some folks arrived early so be prepared!

• Have a plan for after the sale:  In this case, ours was to shove everything back into my mom's garage at the end of the day, where it will sit until our next yard sale in the spring!  It's hard to predict what will sell, so be sure you're not stuck with a bunch of stuff you have no room for when the day is done.  If you absolutely must get rid of all items by the end of the sale, start marking prices down in the afternoon and have transportation or help (or both!) on standby to help haul the items away to a local charity or drop-off location.  Many charities will accept used clothing, furniture, housewares, but some have strict rules so make sure you research ahead of time!

• Buddy up:  It's good to pair up with at least one other adult.  At times, there were nearly a dozen people simultaneously perusing the items, asking questions, asking to pay, etc.  At other times, there were no guests, so we took turns going inside to cool off or grab a bite to eat.  I wouldn't advise holding a sale on your own -- it's a lot easier, and more fun, to share the responsibilities!

So there you have it, folks... Yard Sale 101 as told by Nicole & Shep.  :)  Any readers out there have any great advice to share?  We'd love to hear it!

Lovely Labels

I looooove address labels.  Shep might say that my love of labels boarders on addiction... I don't know if I'd agree with that characterization, but I definitely admit to having a quite large collection, especially for someone who doesn't even send snail mail all that often!  I can't help it, I have zero restraint when I see a cute design I like... something inside me gets giddy and I have to have them!

I can thank (and blame) my obsession with personalized address labels mostly on Vistaprint.  I'm not quite sure how they stay in business with such a pricing model, but Vistaprint often has "free" sales, which means many of the items on their website are free of charge; the customer must only pay for shipping.  In my opinion, the $2 postage charge for 140 address labels is well worth it considering the plethora of designs one can choose from, and the ease with which they can be customized.  After the very first time I ordered, I was smitten.

Here are some of my faves that I've created over the years:

The very first design I ordered!
Apparently after one gets engaged, one must buy labels.

I ordered these for our wedding save-the-date magnets!
Cue the music to "Memories" from Cats...

We used these the first time we sent joint
Christmas cards out.  Not very holiday-ish;
not sure what I was thinking (except blue).

Look familiar?  I needed them in blue
for our wedding invitations, of course!

If you guessed holiday cards you'd be right!
These are from December 2010,
when we were still in our first apt!  (sniff)

Our first labels with our new apt address on them.

These are the latest addition to my collection!
Aren't they so sweet?!  I'm in LOVE.

Speaking of love, that last label design happens to coordinate PERFECTLY with these postage stamps I have, which makes me doubly excited to send mail out!

2011 USPS Love Forever Stamp

Good thing I hoarded purchased a ton of these when they came out, because I just checked the website and it doesn't appear these are being sold any longer!

Well, there you have it -- my love for personalized address labels (and pretty postage stamps) is out in the open.  They say that admittance is the first step to recovery, but I don't want to recover!!!  My name is Nicole, I'm an address label collector, and I'm proud!!

Any other stamp, sticker or label collectors out there?  We collectors need to "stick" together, so tell me about what collections you have!  ;)



Note: I have not received any payment or other perks from Vistaprint for this post.  I just love their labels so much I had to share!

AmEx gift card alert!

Disclaimer:  I have not tested or verified this offer myself, nor am I receiving any financial or other award for sharing this offer.  I'm merely passing on a tip I just saw at one of my favorite blogs, 20somethingfinance.

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American Express is currently running a promotion whereby if you order and load at least $200 onto a new American Express pre-paid card before this Friday 8/31, you will receive a bonus $25 gift card.  For more details, click here.

I have received AmEx prepaid cards in the past as gifts or as the form of payment for various product rebate offers, and I can tell you they are as easy to use as a regular credit/debit card.  If you don't mind going through the steps of loading up an AmEx prepaid card with $200 from your bank account, then this sounds like a pretty simple way to score a free $25 AmEx gift card.  But remember, as always, to read the fine print when signing up to ensure there are no sneaky fees involved!  It doesn't appear as if there are any tricks behind this offer, but you can never be too careful!

Pottery Barn Fall Open House

As you all know, I am no stranger to sales.  The Pottery Barn Fall Open House is something I had not heard of until now though...

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That is of course until I received an email invitation to it.  I'm intrigued as to what the Open House is and whether it's worth attending.  Is it a sale?  Is it a sneak peak?  Or is it simply a marketing tactic with no actual value to consumers.  ;)  Their website doesn't really describe it so I'd love to hear from any readers out there with intel or experience on the matter!

Have you attended a PB open house?

Don't Put It Down, Put It Away!

I recently came across a tip that I'd like to share...

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Seemingly obvious, right?  Except that when life gets busy a straightforward slogan like this may seem next-to-impossible to adhere to.  The ironic thing is that the busier things are, the less time we have to dedicate to organization and housekeeping, which makes it even more important to put things in their rightful place to start with -- yet those harried moments are exactly the times we're tempted to just toss something down as we're running in/out of the door to/from home/work/school/gym/volunteering/events (you get the point)!  In those minutes, the choice to "take care of that later" seems sooooo appealing, and then we later realize that by putting something down instead of away we've spawned a dreaded pile to form and multiply, which typically ends up taking even more time to resolve in the end! Facepalm.

Well, I for one, am tired of piles.  I am going to challenge myself (& Shep!) to adopt this mantra and see how it goes.  Let us know whether you're a believer in this slogan, whether you're going to take the "put it away" challenge with us, or whether you have any other housekeeping advice to share!  We'll take all the help we can get.  ;)

Fantastically Free!

Like any good bargain shopper, I enjoy a good sale.  But scoring an item on sale is nothing compared to obtaining that item for FREE!  That's right folks, I have some serious bargain shopper bragging to do.  Welcome to the first edition of "Fantastically Free!"...

Remember the new sucker friend and the 3rd-one-was-a-charm bench we purchased?  We bought them during a Kohl's Cash week -- which means that you get Kohl's Cash back equivalent to a percentage of the price paid for your purchases that you have to use during a designated time period.

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Well, we sure put the cold hard green printed Kohl's Cash we received to use...

I'd been eyeing this piece of wall art for months, so naturally this was the first item I thought of to use the Kohl's Cash on.  Lucky for me, Shep liked it too so we got it!

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The tricky thing about this frame is that it didn't come with any hanging hardware, so we need to figure out how exactly to get it up on the wall.  It's a wood composite-like material so we should be able to attach hanging hardware to it; we just need to be careful not to split the wood.  Once we figure out how to hang it, we plan to put it above our fireplace.

The second item is one that Shep picked out.  He said that our apartment is too neutral and needs more color, so we got this:

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It's colorful alright!  Right now we're using it as a decorative dust collector accent piece on our fireplace, but one day we might actually put flowers in it!

And that, my blogland friends, is our first edition of "Fantastically Free"!  Fantastic + free = happy me.  :)

HomeGoods Manhattan

I heart HomeGoods.  As the name implies, they sell "home goods", but at lower-than-typical-retail prices which a bargain hunter like me can't help but appreciate!  The neat thing about HomeGoods is that the inventory changes frequently, and varies from store to store, so you never know what you're going to find!  Like its affiliate stores T.J. Maxx & Marshall's, the inventory at HomeGoods can be hit or miss, so you never know whether you'll strike the big time or come home empty-handed, which is part of the fun of it.  ;)

Last year, a new HomeGoods location opened in Manhattan's Upper West Side (right around the corner from my old apartment in fact!) that I'd been curious to check out so when I read that Apartment Therapy's Maxwell was going to make an appearance in late January, I decided that was a good of a time as any to go.

The store is gorgeous.  It's huge and new and really well-stocked with throw pillows, wall art, mirrors, lamps, cook books, bake ware, pots, pans, bathroom accessories, furniture, rugs... you name it!  Ahhhhh, if only this mecca was in the 'hood when I lived there...

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As luck would have it (I typically have the worst luck ever so this was super exciting for me!), I was one of the first 25 people to respond for the event, which earned me a free autographed copy of Maxwell's book!

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Maxwell's presentation was informative and interesting -- he gave helpful and budget-friendly tidbits specifically applicable tor smaller-sized home (a.k.a. apartments) and even took questions from the audience!    For example, using a larger area rug or accent furniture in smaller spaces is better than keeping everything on the small side (which makes the room feel even smaller than it really is).  The use of mirrors to add depth and open up the space in a room is an oldie but goodie trick as well.  Finally, creating an artificial "divide" such as an island between an otherwise combined kitchen and living area help gives definition to each space, although adding to the "footprint" of a small space might be counter intuitive to some.  I haven't had the chance to read the book yet, but I'll definitely share any other great insights when I do!

Splurge or Save?

As I've been (obsessively) combing the internet for home decoration and organization tips, I've noticed that most every item out there is available at multiple price points.  Take this pillow for example...

World Map Pillow

I stumbled upon this while meandering through cyberspace one day and thought it was neat.  As you all know, Shep and I looooove our vacations, so I thought this throw might make a great addition to a chair or sofa in our new apartment!  But at $110 (for a pillow?! yikes!) I quickly decided to pass.

My bargain-hunting self, filled with curiosity, took the reigns of the keyboard thinking there must be something comparable out there on the world wide web for a lot less than $100.

And I found this...

Vintage Chic World Map Accent Canvas Pillow

A hand-made canvas and linen pillow cover for...$10?!  Now that's what I call a bargain!  This splurge or save quiz seems like a no-brainer to me.  Not only is the Etsy version a lot more affordable, but it's hand-made, which makes it a tad more special.  The low cost makes it easy to replace when we decide to change our decor up a bit, so I definitely think the "save" option in this instance is the clear winner.

Are you a splurger or a saver?  Which pillow would you choose?  Have any favorite bargain-hunting sites you care to share?  :)

The many uses of... Baking Soda!

Baking Soda is a standard household item that serves many purposes.  You can use it to deodorize your refrigerator, freshen carpets, clean stainless steel, loosen grease from pans, remove marks from walls, exfoliate your skin, stop sneakers from smelling, and more!  All that for under $1?  That's what I call a bargain!  Affordable and chemical-free to boot.  Download your own handy guide here!

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