Ask Dr Frugal: unwanted cds

What do I do with my unwanted cds?

Now that I am getting slightly famous at work for my frugal tips (mostly because I have been telling people I have lots of frugal tips), students have been asking me questions.

Question #1 is from Alexandra: “Dr Frugal, what should I do with cds I don’t want?”
Answer: Check on Amazon to see if they have any value. If so, sell them there! It’s so easy. You can get little padded envelopes when they are on sale at Walgreen’s for 3/$1. Or make your own.

For those that don’t have enough value for Amazon, list on swapacd.com. Also easy. You can set up a wishlist of cds you want.

My frugal Dad: wastepaper basket

My frugal Dad

In Memoriam: BG 1928-2008

My father died unexpectedly last week, just a few days after a doctor told him that, with his strong heart, he could look forward to 10-15 good years with my mother.

My dear and difficult father taught me to be frugal, though I probably surpass him in the pathological department. There are many ways to be frugal: save money on things you need, don’t buy things you don’t need, make things yourself, make do, and many more. My dad was also a fearless manager of his own money, and it is a tribute to his skills that, after years of owning a small business, followed by 12 years of teaching, and NO pension or inheritance, my mother is OK for money, even after the dreadful downturn of late.

My first tribute will be a small one. Although it was not his strongest frugal suit, my father did have a streak of creative frugality. When my husband and I were helping out my mother by emptying a small trashcan by my father’s desk, we discovered that he had lined the mesh trashcan with….a collage of used tyvec envelopes from priority mail. That’s creative, and frugal, and good for the earth…all at once.

Thanks for the unexpected moment of pleasure in the midst of sadness.

Carlisle suits

My Carlisle suits

St John update. Took jacket to school where it was met with some acclaim. No one will ever take me for a dress for successer because I am a well-known thrift shopper. But my frugal pal George kept saying to all colleagues who came down our hall, “Do you want to see a $1000 jacket?” One of my colleagues (not someone who likes me) said, “Oh, is it a Chanel?” She looked at the label and sniffed, “Oh, a St John.”

Couldn’t resist adding a comment on jacket to the Wall Street Journal discussion on luxury labels. No response to my comment.

Some other responders mentioned the Carlisle collection as a worthy brand. This brand is sold in people’s houses; my research revealed that the wife of Trent Lott is a seller. The sales are by invitation only; the jackets seem to go for $300 and up. I know I’ve seen some at the thrifts. In fact, at a fairly upscale abode a few blocks away, I’ve seen the living area set up as a clothing store, so perhaps the resident is a Carlisle seller. Love the fact that there are pockets of rich people here because the clothes end up at the thrifts.

I was kind of blue over all the work I have to do, so I set out to the thrifts for my morning break, secretly hoping for another St John. First I hit Goodwill, where there was nothing of interest. So I headed (as a treat for myself) to Habitat (zip) and then crossed the street to the Food Bank thrift, where there were TWO Carlisle suits in my size The thrift store force seems to be with me. Of course I had to get them. The pants they came with seem rather outdated (pleats), so I’ll probably wear the jackets with jeans.

I put the suits on the counter and continued to look around. A person with a clothing voucher came in and wanted my suits! Luckily, the cashier said they were mine! It is neat to imagine this needy person in a Carlisle suit. Oh well, lots of other nice stuff for her.

Then I ran into a fellow thrifter, with whom I share size 6 ½ feet. She saw the suits and said they had been there a few days. Most of the people who shop at thrifts in my area don’t need suits like that. I don’t either, but I can wear them to teach.

In the space of a week I’ve acquired (for 13.50) three upscale items. Now I can put to the test the theory that these brands (quietly) scream luxury. That is, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Frugal Fashion: St John Jacket

My St John Jacket
November 2008


There was a fashion essay in a recent Wall Street Journal about the “value” of a St John suit. St John, in case you don’t know, is a super-expensive, conservative knitwear line, sold at Saks, Nordstrom and the like. On the practical side, they are wrinkle free, at least if you get the signature Santana knit. I always thought the clothes looked like what I call “rich lady clothes.” Certainly too old for me (yet I’m 54!).

According to the WSJ writer, the St John suit will elicit great tables in expensive restaurants, immediate help from sales associates. The author even had her picture snapped while wearing her suit.

I was determined to put this to the test. So I checked out ebay (too expensive), Nordstrom (those babies cost over $1000!). Yes, expensive. I read a while back that many women in congress wear St John; one even said that she bought suits on ebay or in consignment stores.

I decided I would devote a year to checking thrifts (sporadically, not obsessively) before I thought about buying one in more expensive venues. That was on Wednesday. On Saturday, I headed out to my therapeutic thrifts. Habitat for Humanity (donated all my plastic bags to them, no purchase). Food Bank Thrift (right across the street; I walked, saving gas). There I bought 5 books for $1, including Harold Bloom’s study of Wallace Stevens. The other 4 will probably go to paperbackswap.com.

Since I hadn’t wasted much time, I decided to drive the mile or so to Goodwill. I had to go to the grocery next door to mail a package (they have a little post office) and I wanted to buy some satsumas. These are a citrus fruit, kind of like tangerines (maybe they ARE tangerines). Anyway, these are locally grown and are only 79 cents a lb at the grocery.

Goodwill. Checked books first. Rien. Then I kind of casually walked through. Corner of eye—spotted a knit jacket. YES! A St John, and of recent vintage…and my size. The only flaw was a stuck zipper. I bought it anyway ($3.80 with tax) and took it home to show dh. He couldn’t unstick the zipper.

Checked out stuff on internet and discovered St John will repair items for minimal charge. So I call Saks (with my rich lady voice—I only slipped a few times) and asked. YES! Bring it in. Their alteration dept will fix for free. If the seamstresses can’t do it, the jacket can be sent to St John for repair.

Who knows when I will leave my pastoral town for the big city? I realize that to bring the jacket into Saks will require my getting dressed a bit.

The great New Orleans Aquarium is near Saks. We used to park there and walk through en route to the Aquarium. Believe me, my scruffy family stood out!

To be continued…

Frugal Fun: Fall Weekend

Weekend : Fall 2008


Usually, we don’t do much on the weekends: dh gardens, I putter around…We have vowed to do more fun stuff now that dd and ds don’t live at home most of the year. Usually, we just stay home….This weekend, we have had an embarrassment of fun activities.

Friday: went to FREE Sunset at the Landing Concert. The New Orleans area has so many fabulous musicians. This series is in a beautiful spot by the Bogue Falaya River. We heard some instrumentalists and singer Topsy Chapman. Bonus: we can walk to this spot from our house.

Saturday: we were invited by Mark and Peggy, a creative, smart duo we know, to an evening of music at their home. Mark and Peggy love music and were regular patrons of the jazz dinner at the Mandalay Café, which went kaput post-Katrina. They had the idea of hosting musicians at their house, with everyone chipping in to pay ! What a great idea! So for about $30 we got to listen to a wonderful performer and to partake of a potluck meal. The musician was very funny. I was determined to remember some of his great moments, but all I can remember is that he rhymed “anguish” and “language” in an anti-Bush tune and sang a funny/poignant song about NOLA (New Orleans LA) to the tune of Lola. Mentions of Katrina will forever be a bonding device for those of us in the “Katrina area.”

Sunday: if dh ever gets back from his bike ride, we will go to a FREE concert at the church down the street. This is a monthly series. Tonight it is classical string trio from Loyola University. Followed by free food! Vow not to eat too much.

Minor victory: did not go to Goodwill today! Went to CVS to get free candy corn (for students) and milk. Also bought some 90% off sunscreen and sports drinks. Spent around $10, $5 of which was a soon-to-expire ECB. Other victory: forwent some “free after rebate” items, which I didn’t need, as well as 90% off soda (10 cents!), which I don’t want to have around.
It is a beautiful day, so dh and I walked to little grocery. We didn’t really need anything, but bought a plantain (our weekly purchase) and a bottle of wine for dh. His favorite is Carbanere (???). Spent around $8.

Total spent this weekend: $30 for entertainment; $18 for food and sunscreen.

Take your quarter to Discomart: my first lesson in frugal cooking

When I was a college student I had one dish in my repertoire:eggplant parmesan, a time-consuming messy affair. Like most of my fellow students, I moved off campus after one year. Housing was unbelievably cheap in those days (I paid about 40/month) and we had a budget of about $5/week for food. We ate terribly! None of us knew how to cook, so we relied on eggs and hamburger. There was one fellow my year, who now is a famous cook and author, particularly noted for barbeque; even then his cooking was acclaimed…sadly, I didn’t know him well and so was never invited to dinner.

I well remember my first lesson in frugal cooking. My roommate Jennifer was invited to Peter’s house for dinner. I was invited to tag along. I didn’t know Peter, but he was a charming man, who had come over from England. One of my previous roommates, Jane, was a music major and had mentioned that Peter was an incredible composer. For dinner, he served a delicious chicken stew. We asked how he made it and he said, “Take your quarter to Discomart”—so we did. Chicken backs and necks were (get this!) 9 cents a lb. We bought 25 cents worth. Added some water. Cooked. AND then, in our student poverty, we carefully picked off all the meat we could from the necks and backs. Then we added carrots and celery and voila: dinner!

What a wonderful lesson.

Needless to say in the age of google I had to check out the current lives of the participants in this story: Roommate Jennifer (now a bigwig in biotech firm?); Peter (now composer at MIT!). I would guess that neither remembers that frugal dinner.

My Pantry: Commodities Trading with Andrew Tobias

My Pantry: Commodities Trading with Andrew Tobias

Whenever I look in my pantry, with its strange assortment of items—20 boxes of curried carrot soup, 14 cans of cranberry sauce, 11 cans of coconut milk, to name just a few—I think of my very first adult lesson in frugality, from the great Andrew Tobias, author of The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need.

Amazingly to me, this was 30 years ago, in the Bloomington IN Public Library, in the company of my first frugal friend, Diane. Though we were both graduate students, our financial situations were very different. Diane was married to a former professor of hers, 20 years her senior, who earned almost $20,000 a year. I was a single student living on my pay for teaching English composition: $3,000 plus a fee waiver.

Diane and I went to the library to see if we could find any information on whether or not she could afford a house, given that her husband had been through a costly divorce. There we found Tobias’s book. And even though I didn’t exactly have money to manage, I was thrilled to discover that there were books on managing money.

Tobias was a lucky find, for in an early chapter he outlines what he facetiously calls commodities trading. He points out that saving money on things you have to buy anyway—like canned tuna—can yield a good return that is tax-free (you don’t pay taxes on money you save). So, if you save 20% on tuna, you have a 20% tax-free return, magnified, I suppose, by the fact that you might eat your tuna in a month. He described stocking up on other commodities and storing them under the bed.

This was financial advice with immediate application. Not only was I able to do this on my tiny income, but I made so little that saving amounts that others would find trivial made a big difference.

And I still do it. Hence the carrot soup ($1 for 32 oz); the cranberries (33 cents a can), the coconut milk (80 cents a can). Years later, I came upon this idea once again in The Tightwad Gazette, where it is called “The Pantry Principle” and in the Grocery Game (the subscription grocery “listmakers”), where it is called “stockpiling.”

And what of Diane? Well, she and her husband did buy a house. It was near the “Opportunity Shop.” And then she taught me how to shop at thrift stores, another valuable skill I learned during graduate student days.