...or should I say "robble robble?" Personally I can't stop thinking of food, and it has anything and everything to do with Thanksgiving on the horizon. Well I'm going to combine this particular blog post into two things that have nothing to do with each other: T'Gives and Micky D's. Hopefully they remain that way because even this cheap-ass lady isn't having Thanksgiving dinner at McDonald's. But you know what's fun? Giving thanks for living in a country with cheap treats like McDonald's two-for-a-dollar pies and 49¢ cones*.
*Now I recently visited the bright lights of Vegas where McDonald's cones were 50¢ each, so prices are subject to change, most likely in places like NYC, Hawaii, Alaska, and additional sticks in the mud. I also don't know the prices of pies and cones in Europe or Asia, so perhaps expand your thanks to the entire world.
Over the summer, the BF and I would frequent McDonald's for a 49¢ cone. In fact, we'd have to stop at different McDonaldses in order to sample the subtle differences in each delectable cone. (There are no differences, but it doesn't hurt to pretend now does it?) These treats aren't that good for you, it's true, but sometimes it's nice to just pull on over, rummage through the sticky change inside the cup holders, purchase a couple cones, and sit on the hood of your car like it's the '50s. "Simpler times," you say to each other, "simpler times."
Meanwhile, this fall I discovered the glory that is the McDonald's PUMPKIN pie (see, Thanksgiving was around here somewhere). Probably even worse for you, but how can you go wrong when they give you two for a dollar? PERFECT to share with a friend! And if the scent of a McDonald's pie doesn't get you going, I don't know what will.
But I digress. Fast food gets a pretty bad rap, and I'm actually on the healthier side of things. But if you manage to keep the concept of eating fast food to a dull roar, than there's no harm in a cheap treat here and there. Especially when you're out on various boring errands and you spontaneously decide it's time to "Cone it up! Yay for cones!!"
So perhaps when you're out there slaving away to the beat of the Black Friday drum, try to burgle a moment to enjoy a cone or pie...or both?! Remember the McDonald's apple pie a la mode? A pie, two dollops of ice cream, caramel, nuts? Apparently I must have dreamt this thing up because I can't find a lick of anything via google.
Anyway, are there any fast and cheap treats I'm missing out on? Throw me a comment!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Date night: great food, super cheap!
Three words: Restaurant dot com
And even better? This deal
Normally, Restaurant.com sells gift certificates for 60% off, so a $25 certificate will only cost you $10. A pretty good deal. But every once in awhile, Restaurant.com will have a mega sale. Countless times, I've purchased $25 gift certificates for $2. I've also purchased $10 gift certificates for 80¢. EIGHTY CENTS! There are some caveats, however, depending on the restaurant. For example, I had a $25 certificate to the fabulous Irish restaurant Brocach here in Milwaukee. At this particular place, you must spend $35 and none of the total can be alcohol. It's slightly more difficult than it sounds for two people to spend $35 solely on food, especially when it's a delicious, but filling feast of high-caloric mounds of Irish meat and potatoes. Apps and dessert? Do you want me to explode? In any case, I did end up throwing a dessert on the bill that I took home and never ate. Kinda defeating the purpose of saving money. Meanwhile, however, I used my $10 certificate at one of the tastiest, underrated diners in Milwaukee, Cafe at the Plaza, where you only have to spend $15 total. So two hot, mouthwatering, hangover-killing breakfasts with coffee and juice cost me a mere $5, plus the 80¢ certificate, plus tip*.
Restaurants.com is always adding new local restaurants to their roster, but the popular joints' certificates go really fast. For example, Izumi's--this awesome Milwaukee sushi place--NEVER seems to have certificates and it's getting pretty frustrating. Nevertheless, the whole set-up is pretty rad all around, and I highly recommend signing up. You'll receive emails that contain the discount code and remind you of the current deal. Today, for example, is the last day to get $25 certificates for $2 and the code is ENTREE.
So stop feeling guilty about going out for a nice romantic dinner date. The certificates make great holiday gifts too...why not surprise the annoyingly gooey PDA couple in your life!
*Remember to tip off the total bill pre-certificate! Servers might be worse off than you are and need that extra cash. Unless you're at one of those fancy places where you suddenly realize the baseball cap wasn't a wise ensemble choice. Then, perhaps, they're doing ok.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sit your ass down...
...And please enjoy the following entertainment. Despite the fact that it is a balmy 56 degrees here in Milwaukee, WI, winter is fast approaching. Yes it is. No, YES, I'm sorry to say, but it is. And now that we've come to terms with it, what better way to save a few bucks than to lock ourselves inside and get our Netflix on?!
Ah but Katie, I don't really feel like watching Atonement even though it's currently collecting dust on my coffee table. Katie, I'm too lazy and forgot to mail in the last disc of Sunny in Philadelphia Season 2.
Alright people, you need to hook yourself up with PS3 and start streaming your Netflix...I kid...But speaking of streaming, if you really only have like $75 to $100 to spare, why not try Roku? What in God's name is Roku?! Basically, you buy this magical black box for a hundred bucks, and you are whisked away to 50,000+ streaming movies and shows, instantly! PLUS you get access to streaming Netflix and Amazon movies/shows if you have an account with them. So yeah, it's your typical Movies/TV On Demand situation, and you are basically drowning in entertainment.
Wait yeah, I have that On Demand feature already, why am I getting this in ADDITION to cable??
Well here's where Love on a Budget comes into play.
Cancel your cable.
WHA?!?!
Cancel it. With the advent of digital television, you get a fab quality picture without cable. You will no longer be a slave to the television, and you'll save yourself like $50 a month at least.
But I love Top Chef and Mad Men.
And that's what Friends With Cable are for. Bring over a case of PBR and a Papa Murphy's pizza, and you've got yourself a night out!
But I can't NOT have DVR or Tivo.
Bah, everything's online. I even found a website that shows Canadian eps of SVU! Oh Canada indeed!
The reason why I'm a walking advertisement for products like Roku or streaming anything is that they allow you some breathing room in terms of time, mood, and laziness factor when it comes to your TV watching. No more red paper envelopes collecting dust on your coffee table. But even better, they allow you to snuggle up next to your warm buddy and take in a good show for next to nothing, wearing next to nothing if you are so inclined. Recently the BF and I have been hooked on Lost (fully clothed, mind you...and wrapped in blankets to save heating bill cash). I am a Lost junkie and have turned him over to my darkside. Season Six, the final *sniff* season ever, starts next year and I myself very much enjoy watching the show a second time around, from the beginning. I also very much enjoy seeing someone I love, love something I love! My point is, the streaming sitch works on so many freaking levels it's ridiculous. Redonkulous really.
This all sounds lovely, Katie, but I am seriously, really strapped for cash.
Ok ok. Some of us have tumbleweeds rolling around in our wallets, and if this is the case, your local library is the place to be and has nothing to do with streaming anything. I myself haven't owned a library card in decades though, so I cannot speak to the magic of our local library, but I promise to get one soon, and that will most assuredly be a blog post worthy of Love on a Budget.
Ah but Katie, I don't really feel like watching Atonement even though it's currently collecting dust on my coffee table. Katie, I'm too lazy and forgot to mail in the last disc of Sunny in Philadelphia Season 2.
Alright people, you need to hook yourself up with PS3 and start streaming your Netflix...I kid...But speaking of streaming, if you really only have like $75 to $100 to spare, why not try Roku? What in God's name is Roku?! Basically, you buy this magical black box for a hundred bucks, and you are whisked away to 50,000+ streaming movies and shows, instantly! PLUS you get access to streaming Netflix and Amazon movies/shows if you have an account with them. So yeah, it's your typical Movies/TV On Demand situation, and you are basically drowning in entertainment.
Wait yeah, I have that On Demand feature already, why am I getting this in ADDITION to cable??
Well here's where Love on a Budget comes into play.
Cancel your cable.
WHA?!?!
Cancel it. With the advent of digital television, you get a fab quality picture without cable. You will no longer be a slave to the television, and you'll save yourself like $50 a month at least.
But I love Top Chef and Mad Men.
And that's what Friends With Cable are for. Bring over a case of PBR and a Papa Murphy's pizza, and you've got yourself a night out!
But I can't NOT have DVR or Tivo.
Bah, everything's online. I even found a website that shows Canadian eps of SVU! Oh Canada indeed!
The reason why I'm a walking advertisement for products like Roku or streaming anything is that they allow you some breathing room in terms of time, mood, and laziness factor when it comes to your TV watching. No more red paper envelopes collecting dust on your coffee table. But even better, they allow you to snuggle up next to your warm buddy and take in a good show for next to nothing, wearing next to nothing if you are so inclined. Recently the BF and I have been hooked on Lost (fully clothed, mind you...and wrapped in blankets to save heating bill cash). I am a Lost junkie and have turned him over to my darkside. Season Six, the final *sniff* season ever, starts next year and I myself very much enjoy watching the show a second time around, from the beginning. I also very much enjoy seeing someone I love, love something I love! My point is, the streaming sitch works on so many freaking levels it's ridiculous. Redonkulous really.
This all sounds lovely, Katie, but I am seriously, really strapped for cash.
Ok ok. Some of us have tumbleweeds rolling around in our wallets, and if this is the case, your local library is the place to be and has nothing to do with streaming anything. I myself haven't owned a library card in decades though, so I cannot speak to the magic of our local library, but I promise to get one soon, and that will most assuredly be a blog post worthy of Love on a Budget.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The plot thickens.
You know what's free? Writing something on a piece of paper.
This isn't a cop-out. There's a reason I chose to design the above banner in such a fashion. Love letters, like letters, circle-yes-or-no letters, emails, snail-mails, texts, Facebook comments, Post-it notes, matchbooks, frosty windows, it DOESN'T MATTER! We love, love, LOVE getting stuff with stuff written on it. Ok maybe we love getting 2.61" x 6.14" pieces of paper the color of the foamy sea during a late afternoon thunderstorm, adorned with the heads of political figures and many zeros. But when those are few and far between, the back of a Chinese menu with an I, a heart, and a U may just do the trick.
Honestly though, it really goes back to middle school when we'd fold up notebook paper into the shape of tiny triangles and shove them into the slats of lockers. Didn't it, like, totally make your day? Finding those tiny triangles was like finding precious, precious gold. ESPECIALLY if it was from the hot eighth grader...sighhhh if only. Nowadays, we have our inboxes open 24/7 just in case something particularly fun and surprising comes through. The lovely late '90s romantic comedy featuring the adorable, but feisty Meg Ryan, and the hilarious, but cozy Tom Hanks hit home for a reason (you may or may not be dead inside if you don't cry when she sees Brinkley come over the hill). Its 1940 counterpart did the same thing only old school. Bring back the old school. Hand-written correspondence--particularly of the romantic variety--is something we long for day in and day out.
So I majorly digress. My question is: Would you like to make the best person in the world really really happy right now? Write something. Better yet, write something and hide it somewhere they'll find it. Cereal box, running shoe, car visor, page 189 of a novel they're reading, page 189 of the medical text book that put you guys in the poor house. It's like seriously the simplest, most awesome thing ever. Here's a story of my own: the BF went out of town for the week and asked me to water his plants and take care of his cats (guys with cats are rad by the by). I found a quarter-folded piece of paper taped to the watering can. Even just seeing "Katie" scribbled on the front of it made my heart go all wonky. See???
Ok sure, I may be super easy to please or something. But at the end of the day, less is more (ah yes!) We all love to hear we are loved, and when someone takes the extra time to be creative about it, it means that much more. So trust me on this one. Jot down something sweet and stick it in the frig-drawer full of cold cuts already!
This isn't a cop-out. There's a reason I chose to design the above banner in such a fashion. Love letters, like letters, circle-yes-or-no letters, emails, snail-mails, texts, Facebook comments, Post-it notes, matchbooks, frosty windows, it DOESN'T MATTER! We love, love, LOVE getting stuff with stuff written on it. Ok maybe we love getting 2.61" x 6.14" pieces of paper the color of the foamy sea during a late afternoon thunderstorm, adorned with the heads of political figures and many zeros. But when those are few and far between, the back of a Chinese menu with an I, a heart, and a U may just do the trick.
Honestly though, it really goes back to middle school when we'd fold up notebook paper into the shape of tiny triangles and shove them into the slats of lockers. Didn't it, like, totally make your day? Finding those tiny triangles was like finding precious, precious gold. ESPECIALLY if it was from the hot eighth grader...sighhhh if only. Nowadays, we have our inboxes open 24/7 just in case something particularly fun and surprising comes through. The lovely late '90s romantic comedy featuring the adorable, but feisty Meg Ryan, and the hilarious, but cozy Tom Hanks hit home for a reason (you may or may not be dead inside if you don't cry when she sees Brinkley come over the hill). Its 1940 counterpart did the same thing only old school. Bring back the old school. Hand-written correspondence--particularly of the romantic variety--is something we long for day in and day out.
So I majorly digress. My question is: Would you like to make the best person in the world really really happy right now? Write something. Better yet, write something and hide it somewhere they'll find it. Cereal box, running shoe, car visor, page 189 of a novel they're reading, page 189 of the medical text book that put you guys in the poor house. It's like seriously the simplest, most awesome thing ever. Here's a story of my own: the BF went out of town for the week and asked me to water his plants and take care of his cats (guys with cats are rad by the by). I found a quarter-folded piece of paper taped to the watering can. Even just seeing "Katie" scribbled on the front of it made my heart go all wonky. See???
Ok sure, I may be super easy to please or something. But at the end of the day, less is more (ah yes!) We all love to hear we are loved, and when someone takes the extra time to be creative about it, it means that much more. So trust me on this one. Jot down something sweet and stick it in the frig-drawer full of cold cuts already!
Poor and in love?
You just hit the jackpot. But even if you aren't poor, even if you're so rich you are bathing in Benjamins and caviar, saving a few bucks is sexy. You know what isn't sexy? Spending all your money on a diamond encrusted Lamborghini. Alright, that's kinda sexy too. But what REALLY isn't sexy is slamming the door in your babe's face after some ginormous blow out about the stupid thermostat being too low. Cut the attitude, throw on a Snuggie for Two, and bookmark this blog.
Ok some backstory: I love a guy who is partly unemployed. And while I've got buckets of love to give, neither of us have buckets of cash to throw all over tri-state area. But because I love a good challenge, and since my last challenge is officially over, a wise woman with plenty of love wisdom thought writing a "Love on a Budget" blog would be a pretty rad idea. And I agree! (PS can I write the word 'love' one more time? barf!)
There are plenty of online articles in existence, which discuss tips and tricks to loving your man and/or woman for mere pennies a day, but I'm going to try and make this a little more personal. "Packing a picnic" is pretty cliché, but I'll tell you how to decliché-ify a very splendid idea. Basically the whole thing will not only help me awesome-ize my own relationship, but perhaps throw a few bones out there for my fellow poor peeps in love.
Single?
No worries. You're amazing. And I probably won't blog about hand-making your own lingerie. In other words, most of the stuff I'll discuss is just as beneficial to your friends, family, or anyone whom you love--who loves to feel special! That's the thing about love on a budget. You can turn boring errands into a unique outing. You can make a random and very blah 2pm on a Tuesday not so blah. Get creative, learn some new stuff, save some money. It really is win-win.
And as always, all comments, questions, and your OWN tips and tricks are certainly welcome. I'd love to have some guest bloggers from time to time as unique experiences truly make this crazy world go 'round. You DO make your own lingerie? Alright, alright, we should probably discuss.
Ok some backstory: I love a guy who is partly unemployed. And while I've got buckets of love to give, neither of us have buckets of cash to throw all over tri-state area. But because I love a good challenge, and since my last challenge is officially over, a wise woman with plenty of love wisdom thought writing a "Love on a Budget" blog would be a pretty rad idea. And I agree! (PS can I write the word 'love' one more time? barf!)
There are plenty of online articles in existence, which discuss tips and tricks to loving your man and/or woman for mere pennies a day, but I'm going to try and make this a little more personal. "Packing a picnic" is pretty cliché, but I'll tell you how to decliché-ify a very splendid idea. Basically the whole thing will not only help me awesome-ize my own relationship, but perhaps throw a few bones out there for my fellow poor peeps in love.
Single?
No worries. You're amazing. And I probably won't blog about hand-making your own lingerie. In other words, most of the stuff I'll discuss is just as beneficial to your friends, family, or anyone whom you love--who loves to feel special! That's the thing about love on a budget. You can turn boring errands into a unique outing. You can make a random and very blah 2pm on a Tuesday not so blah. Get creative, learn some new stuff, save some money. It really is win-win.
And as always, all comments, questions, and your OWN tips and tricks are certainly welcome. I'd love to have some guest bloggers from time to time as unique experiences truly make this crazy world go 'round. You DO make your own lingerie? Alright, alright, we should probably discuss.
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