St John: The Way to Declutter

Well, Readers. I received my estimated selling price from Rodeo Drive Resale. They estimate that my seven pieces of St John could bring (hold on) $1700.00, of which I would receive half minus dry cleaning costs.

I could get used to this kind of decluttering.

Or am I dreaming?



P.S. Must check carefully for moth damage. Fingers are crossed.

Car-Free College?

Donna Freedman wrote a piece on going car-free in Seattle, saving herself $7000-$10,000 per year. Sadly, much of these United States is not set up for such a choice, given the vast distances to be traversed along with a dearth of public transport.

How about a more modest proposal? How about car-free in college? As Frugal Son prepares (fingers crossed) to graduate, I have been thinking about his cosmic or karmic savings account. Not only did he choose a state school with a big scholarship, but he chose to do without a car. Of course, he is making this choice mostly for ecological reasons.

Last week, we had a rendezvous at a crawfish boil. He came with a friend who had a car. They were enticed by the free crawfish invite. The rendezvous involved an exchange: we brought Frugal Son some clean towels; he gave us about 75% of the contents of his dorm room.

Even though his friend has a pretty efficient car, Frugal Son still paid $24.00 for the gas. Wow! When Frugal Son NEEDS a car (seldom), he pays for the gas plus some lagniappe. He also does a lot of cooking for people. Miss Em has a similar arrangement. She cuts a lot of hair for people. They give her rides. Of course, she pays for gas too.

One student of our acquaintance has a car at LSU. She never drives it. Why? She's afraid of losing her parking space.

Anyway, Frugal Son has at least a $20,000 deposit in his karmic and ecological savings account. Miss Em has half that.

Oh, speaking of modest proposal: if you are a college graduate, I hope you've had a chance to read this masterpiece. It's available in a THRIFT edition: perfect.

Student Debt Encore Encore

I'm supposed to be relaxing; I turned in my grades last night. But this morning I listened to yet another installment of Student Debt Woes and Warnings. This time it was NPR.

I noticed that the students with the most debt attended private colleges. I can't help thinking that these schools, with their increases at double the rate of inflation for many years, are to some degree complicit in the problem. There are fewer articles on how student debt is GOOD DEBT. (Similarly, there are fewer articles on how MORTGAGE DEBT is GOOD DEBT). The idea was that GOOD DEBT was an investment in an appreciating asset, while bad debt was spending on a depreciating asset--like a television.

All I have to say at the moment: consider public education. Your debt will be smaller.

I have other things to say too, but will do so later. Oh yeah. Can't resist. Take the student debt quoted when you apply for your loan and MULTIPLY BY FOUR. And add on for the inevitable inflation factor.

Any words of wisdom on this topic?

My Frugal Daughter: The Compleat Frugalista

For some reason, I write about my Frugal Son a lot, my daughter, Miss Em, not much. I am here to say: she is frugal too. In fact, she is frugal in the same ways that I am: cooking and thrifting.

You can't practice all modes of frugality; you would go insane. It IS good if each family member is frugal in a different way. For instance, Mr FS is good at fixing things, gardening, painting, and so on.

At the moment, Miss Em is in California, visiting her grandfather, who lives near Mr. FS's sister and family. My sister-in-law is an excellent housekeeper and caretaker of her father, but the way she cooks drives me crazy: each meal is new and leftover ingredients often molder.

Miss Em is a cook after my heart. Here is what she's cooking tonight, via online chat.

I'm cooking tonight. Made a menu using up lotsa stuff in the house:
linguine with shrimp and arugula-parsley pesto, quinoa cakes with lemon-dill yogurt sauce and asparagus.

She also mentioned that while she was searching for the Goodwill, she happened upon a small thrift where she got me some corduroy Not Your Daughter's Jeans--for $3.00!!

She also picked up some Joe's jeans for herself.

Now that I think of it, Miss Em surpasses me in many ways. I am too lazy to make that elegant meal. And did I mention she can sew and cut hair? How I miss her when she is not around!

Last question from the chat: also, where is the goodwill around here?

That's my girl.

Are you or do you know a compleat frugalista?

Upscale Decluttering and Other Forms of Procrastination

Naturally, since I am a wee bit behind on grading, I am coming up with various creative ways to procrastinate.

Channeling Diana Phipps's Affordable Splendor, I have figured out a relatively inexpensive way to enlarge my tiny--about 6 by 7--bathroom. And that's the larger of the two.

As my mind continues to race, seeking out ways to avoid facing the piles of papers, I decide to switch from ugly plastic hangers to those snazzy flocked ones.

While I'm doing that, I (re)discover several St John pieces that I picked up here and there.

St John, of course, makes the quintessential clothing of the genre rich lady. Needless to say, I have never ventured out in one of my pieces. Still, when I try them on, I stand up straight and get ready to be sworn in to the Senate.

From that article, I learned about Rodeo Drive Resale, an online consignment place that specializes in St John. Further procrastination involved photographing my six or so pieces. Soon, I will send pictures and await my yea or nay.

Finally, my last gasp at procrastination: writing this post for you.

I doubt that selling my St John would make much of a dent in my bathroom expansion. Still, it might make a dent in SOMETHING.

What are your favorite modes of procrastination?

Numbers

One financial number, one not.

First, the not financial. The end of the semester is totally miserable, especially if you work at a heavy teaching-load school as I do. Sometimes I think I should resort to scantrons, which are instantaneously and automatically graded by machine.

Anyway, too late for that. You may recall that I reported that I had 240 pieces of work to process. I have now crossed the 100 line: only 98 left. Believe it or not, I find arithmetic very soothing. I love to compute grades and do it on paper, just like I did back in grade school. AHHHHH. (For a different view, see Funny About Money's tale of misery with an on-line convenience method of recording and computing grades. NOT ZEN.)

My other number is financial. A long time ago, I wondered if I should buy Talbots stock, as it was trading at $1.60 a share, but the company had just hired a snazzy new CEO named Trudy. I SHOULD HAVE. And SHOULD HAVE sold it when it reached $16.00 a share.

I received a danger signal when various on-line bargain sites reported that Talbots was having an incredible sale, with items as low as $2.00--less than yard sale prices. I took a look at the site and decided not to spring, since sale items are not returnable and I am trying not to succumb JUST because something is a bargain. (Probably not much left now, since this has been all over the internet for a few days.)

The sale was so extreme that I--unsophisticated about finance and naive as far as the workings of big business go--got a distinct GOING OUT OF BUSINESS vibe. The stock is around $5.00 a share, so I would still have made a profit.

So there you have it: my semester's work is going down, down, down, as it tends towards a welcome end.

As for Talbots, i wonder if that venerable business is nearing its own UNwelcome end.

Back to the papers!

Gifts for Graduates: On the Road

In her comments, the Duchesse of gifts suggested many thoughtful presents for the graduate. My favorite--in fact, I would be happy to receive it myself--is an etching. I guess one should distinguish between grads setting up house or going to graduate or professional school and those who are planning life on the road for a while.

Frugal Son will be (fingers crossed) teaching English in France next year. After that, he wants to teach English in Asia. He won't be setting up much of a household any time soon. In fact, he has everything he needs for his journey, with the exception of a plane ticket. So that's what he will be getting.

For a graduate soon to be on the road I recommend a gift I've written about before. In fact, I've already bought these for my children. We bought these before the scary charges for checked baggage; now a bag you need not check is worth even more: Rick Steves bag.