Archive for All - Styles

Gym Clothes For Less – a Lot Less

{ September 9, 2008 @ 11:36 am } · { All - Styles, Life - Styles, Slim - Styles }
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If you have eyes for Nike on a Wal-Mart budget, there’s no need to sacrifice your gym style (and comfort) for a little savings in your budget. Browsing through Wal-Mart for a few essentials, I discovered that they carry Danskin, Hanes, and Athletic Works-brand workout attire. These shirts range from $3 dollars to about $10 and fit perfectly, even after washing and drying these shirts. Shoppers have the option of a variety of colors and patterns. 

My top picks?  

 

WalMart.com

Source: WalMart.com $5

 

 

WalMart.com

Source: WalMart.com $6

 

 

WalMart.com $9

Source: WalMart.com $9

 

 

Shopping is fun, once again!

This Week’s Hits to Get Fit

{ September 8, 2008 @ 9:16 am } · { All - Styles, Slim - Styles }
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Sundays are the day to not only recoup from the weekend, but recharge for the week ahead. While I pack my Monday gym bag, I’m making sure my iPod is equipped with the songs to keep me motivated after a long day at the office. Here are this week’s hits to get fit:

Sit-ups: Pitbull ft Trina and Young Boss “Go Girl”

Cardio: Fergie “Get Your Hands Up”

What songs are keeping you going?

Why Pay More Than $10 for White Wine?

{ September 8, 2008 @ 9:08 am } · { All - Styles, Wallet - Styles }
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Let’s be honest. While our tastes are expanding from the cheapest beers to microbrews to now wine (no longer in a box), there are still many ways to enjoy great alcohol without spending a fortune. If you’re a wine lover, I’m sure you’ve come to learn the tastes you like, and well, the tastes you need to add an extra ice cube to, but something to also keep in mind is the cost. My mom always said the best wines aren’t necessarily the most expensive, and so, it’s my turn to prove that theory correct. A couple of white wines you don’t need to spend over $10 on:

Barefoot Pinot Grigio –  $7

Monarchia Pinot Gris – $9

Alianca Vinho Verde – $7

These brands not available at our go-to package or wine store? Take a stroll around as most have tables with specials and sales. Another tip is to talk to the sales reps as they’ll have a few to recommend. One last tip – get techy! With more business establishments catching onto the whole website idea, see if they have a mailing list for upcoming sales and wine tastings, etc.

I guarantee this list will get longer…stay tuned for part II.

3 Places Where Loyalty Pays Off in Your 20’s

{ September 8, 2008 @ 8:51 am } · { All - Styles, Life - Styles, Wallet - Styles }
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In your twenties, judging by our less-than-desirable-budgets, many might overlook themselves as likely candidates to become “regulars” at select establishments (other than local bars) to reap in some added benefits at times when we don’t feel as luxurious as we’d like. Long story short? Being loyal pays off. Here’s what I found:

1. The Local Nail Salon. Sure it may be seen as an unnecessary luxury as we pamper ourselves on a weekly basis, but by contributing our $10 (plus tip) weekly manicure on a regular basis, the salon owner and their dedicated manicurists appreciate it and can offer some convenience and added pampering in their appreciation.

My local salon is within walking distance from my office so we’re pretty much all on a first-name basis, the moment I walk into the door. I typically go during my lunch break on either Thursdays or Fridays, in preparation of the weekend and to help pass the after hours til ‘clockin out. It’s come to the point where they anticipate my arrival. My loyalty has become so predictable that they also pretty much know when I’m due for an eyebrow wax. So…besides being on a first-name basis, how does this help? While it doesn’t pay off financially, it helps save me time. They hate to see their regulars sitting and waiting, so they’ll make sure you get squeezed in and are kept accommodated. What’s more, if you’re a fan of the nail-drying back massages, they will also make sure you have yours. 

2. The Local Deli. There’s a corner deli also located near my office and they, too, appreciate their regulars. While they still have not caught on to my first name, they do remember the way I like my turkey, American cheese, lettuce, and tomato — half meat. Now that they’ve memorized my order, they’re sure not to charge me the extra 50 cents as they would if they didn’t know I wanted half meat. 

3. Your Morning Coffee. In the summers, I’m guilty of stopping by Dunkin Donuts for iced coffees and in the winters I trade my time between Dunkin caramel lite lattes and Starbuck’s chai tea lattes, but for the most part, my loyalty is understood at Dunkies. My obsession got to the point that I’d walk into the door and the sales associate would have my medium iced coffee with skim milk sitting on the counter, simply waiting for me to pay. Again, this may not save great dollars, it does save me time — which, at 24, is sometimes more valuable! 

Where are you taking advantage of our loyal habits?

Girly Bargains

{ May 2, 2008 @ 1:30 pm } · { All - Styles, Life - Styles, Wallet - Styles }
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I have been using Secret Deodorant for as long as I can remember. Starting out with Powder Fresh, I graduated to Spring Breeze and became a devoted user, even following the scent to its Platinum Protection classification. Well my friends, I can no longer find the scent and after months (seriously) of experimenting with others and even defaulting back to Powder Fresh and Unscented, I’ve found a close second. With its summer fresh scent, I thought I’d spread the word about “Dove Go Fresh” in the Cucumber & Green Tea scent. Averaging at the same cost of my Secret deodorant, you can stay dry without breaking the budget or stressing about white streaks!

 

This Week’s Hits to Get Fit

{ May 2, 2008 @ 1:00 pm } · { All - Styles, Slim - Styles }
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With any good workout routine, it’s inevitable that with the same playlist on your iPod, it may get a little stale. So each week I’ll be suggesting hits both old and new to keep you motivated and hopefully smiling through the sweat…Listen closely to the beats and add a little bounce to your routine…

Cardio:

Crazy in Love – Eminem

Sit-ups:

Goodies – Ciara ft. Petey Pablo 

Arms:

Don’t Want to Lose Your Love – The Outfield

Legs/Butt:

Baby Got Back – SIr Mix a Lot (Okay, so I didn’t do legs today. But stay tuned for next week…)

It Can Be Easy Going Green

{ May 1, 2008 @ 12:37 pm } · { All - Styles, Life - Styles }
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It should be an easy concept. Although we grew up as Kermit the Frog fans, singing along to “It’s not easy being green,” things have changed. Not only is it easy, it’s time. It’s as easy as reconsidering your day-to-day activities.

The grocery store. You have your deli meat, your weekly dose of vegetables, and maybe a bottle of wine or soda. But when you get to the checkout, the answer to paper or plastic should be a given. Neither.

There is an estimated 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags consumed worldwide. These non-biodegradable plastic bags end up as litter, wind blown into the ocean, and kill turtles and whales that mistake the bags for food.

The latest in trendy stores like Whole Foods and other organic hot-spots, is to BYOB (a.k.a bring your own bag). Specific websites have even been organized with plenty of Earth-friendly fashions to choose from if khaki just isn’t your color. It only gets better from there—many stores today offer a bonus—cash. A reimbursement for bringing your own bag—and helping to save the planet. 

The gas station…or not. How many times have you stopped to pump gas and while you’re on your way towards ‘full,’ you throw out extraneous water bottles. These are the same water bottles that have been rolling around in your backseat floor for a week now. While I personally believe that there should be a law mandating that for every garbage can, there’s a recycling bin right next to it, it hasn’t come into play yet.  So keep one of those canvas bags in your trunk to organize your recyclables until your next run-in with a recycling bin—most likely at your home.

Greening nine-to-five. Similar to my mandate proposal, there should be the blue pail option near every garbage or paper distributor as well in the office. Copying machine? Recycling bin. Printer? Recycling bin. Or better yet, stop printing. Unless you actually have to bring something somewhere that doesn’t have an accessible computer, there’s no need to waste the paper. Either keep it on your screen or e-mail to whomever you need to show.  It can be easy going green.

Seeing the light. According to CBS, if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs. What’s more, you save about $30 or more in electricity costs over each environmentally-friendly bulb’s lifetime.  And hey, you also need to recycle them once they’ve shone their last light at cool places like IKEA.  

Teaming up with Fido. Yes, Fido can help save the planet too! And best of all, it’s good for him! Earth-friendly pet-care products are also pet friendly. Check out alcohol and pesticide-free grooming products and when you’re done attempting to bathe your pooch, treat him to toys made with organically grown cotton or natural dyes. These products also help reduce pet allergies and are biodegradable. 

Although you’re allowed to keep your pal Kermit high up on his pedestal, it’s time to face 2008. Everyone’s talking about it, so it’s time to show them how easy it actually can be.

Please consider the environment before printing this column.

Your Mom Does It – You Can, Too

{ April 18, 2008 @ 12:51 pm } · { All - Styles, Wallet - Styles }
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Cutting coupons isn’t the most exciting Saturday night, even after you’ve admitted to yourself that just nothing is going on. So make it easy on yourself. You’re probably sitting on your couch, watching your latest Netflix DVD with your laptop across your thighs anyway, so why not try something new and beneficial to your wallet (and credit card). Whether you prefer to shop online or in a local store, take a moment to browse some potential savings. Here are three of the many sites to point your cursor for savings:

 -  Look Ma, No Scissors! www.valpak.com - This isn’t your Mom’s coupons brought monthly by the mailman. Here you can get discounts sorted by zip code, and then by category. Need an oil change? Vitamins? Don’t leave the house before browsing. You can even have coupons mailed to your—yes, inbox. Sorry, Mr. Mailman. 

- Clip & Print! www.Coupons.com has the right idea and makes coupon-browsing just as easy as it probably was to create the site’s name. Again, specialized by zip code, this easy-to-navigate site allows you to “clip” then print coupons that appeal to you. The site has a great variety from personal pizzas, to cereals, to diapers, to batteries. Do you realize how much a pack of AA batteries costs? Each coupon may seem mediocre in savings, but pair that with your frequent shopper card at your check-out line of choice and you’ll notice a difference in your receipt. Even their advertisers offer coupons in their banner ads!

- ‘Queen’ of the Coupons. http://shoppingqueen.com. You know something’s good when it has the word ‘queen’ in its name. This site offers coupons and discounts for one and all, including shop-a-holics. From toys to books and clothing (at legit stores like Macy’s, Express, etc.), don’t head to the mall or the website of your favorite retailer before stopping by the ‘Queen. She won’t let you forget as you can also sign up for an e-mail blast filled with savings.

And that’s only the beginning of sites looking out for your bank account’s best interest. Don’t forget those pesky keychain tags that stores give you. They’re more than a decoration. Even with less than frequent trips to CVS, with each visit I’m constantly receiving a long strip of coupons calling my name for products I’d actually buy, or better yet, “extra care bucks” – aka, free money for whatever I want to buy. They think like we think, the more you buy, the more you should save!

Keep an eye out on expiration dates, although, with today’s economy, some stores still view expireds as valid, so it never hurts to ask. Did you know that Linens & Things accepts Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupons and vice versa? Expired ones? You bet!

It’s unfortunate that many people think clipping savings is for the frugal. I’d rather spend a few minutes online than extra hours trying to make extra dollars.  The Internet really makes it easy. Ladies (& gentlemen) shopping is fun again!

Follow-up on Gym Etiquette!

{ April 14, 2008 @ 1:17 am } · { All - Styles, Slim - Styles }
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This just in…while doing a little Sunday morning Web research on spinning (see my previous post), I have ‘breaking news’ when it comes to gym etiquette. Turns out, not all people take my route of being silent and annoyed. In an ABCNews Report, Gym Rage: Spinning Out of Control, Russell Goldman points out that gym rage exists and can happen just about anywhere, to anyone. So maybe I’m not so out of line when it comes to needing a set of universal rules!

At one NYC health club, a man actually spent two-weeks in the hospital suffering from spinal cord damage after another man became so ‘enraged’ by his “whooping.” I’ll let the lawyer explain it himself:

spinning

(photo from ABCNews.com) “[Carter] didn’t like the volume at which my client was cheering and getting amped up,” Sugarman’s lawyer Samuel Davis told ABCNEWS.com. “After making some rude expletive-laced comments that my client desist from cheering … he got off his bike and into a linebacker’s position. Then he charged across the room, lifting my client off his bike and smashing his head and neck against a Sheetrock wall.”

Damn. Now I don’t feel so bad about my rant on gym etiquette. So moving forward, what’s a girl to do when she’s faced with a grunter or someone of the sort? The article offers some advice from Jim Bell, president of the Fitness Professionals Association. 

“If someone in the gym is annoying you, the proper thing is to do is go through the chain of command. It is better not to confront [a] member that’s annoying you, instead tell a trainer or go to management.”

Yes, because people, as noted by the article, can really get aggressive! My question to you is, so, what are the limits? Spinning, as I noted in an earlier post, puts you in this state of euphoria. You find yourself clapping along to the music and just about everyone yells out at some point – even the instructor approves and asks for this at times. 

What’s next, divided classes? Grunters Spinning at 5:45, Silent Spinners at 6:45, In-Betweeners 7:45?

Something to leave out of your ‘budget’ – toilet paper

{ April 11, 2008 @ 2:29 am } · { All - Styles, Life - Styles, Wallet - Styles }
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There’s something to be said about a good roll of toilet paper. While I understand many of us are going green and trying to cut back on the paper use, toilet paper quality should NOT be sacrificed. And when you make your detailed grocery list that complies with your budget to the penny, no matter what your budget is, do not spare any expense for the good, soft stuff.

As a woman, I’m sure you can relate to finding yourself in the most compromising situations when it comes to using the restroom and staying lady-like. Ever been camping? To a less-than-classy bar?

Let’s begin with a 1-ply-supplied restroom when you’re paying $20,000 per year to use it. Yes, I’m talking about the restrooms at Quinnipiac University. All semester long, I’ve become aquainted with the mad-dash to the women’s room. After 45 minutes in traffic on the Merrit and a medium hot caramel latte, it catches up with you—only to be disappointed with a rip. Another rip. And a rip again.

Doing a little dance, I rip and rip again trying to get enough toilet paper out of the dispenser to cover the seat. Perhaps, the easiest solution would be to invest in toilet seat covers, although, once we were seated, we women would still need to battle the toilet paper dispenser for other reasons.

And then there’s the restroom at the office. Between 20 or so women, you’d think we’d all have the common decency to not leave the roll empty with a torn slice of toilet paper waiting only for the disappoinment of clearly not being enough.

Or better yet, one of the most aggravating of situations a woman in need of relieving herself can find, yes, herself in is when the preceding woman so gratiously left a new roll of toilet paper, but on top of the existing bare-naked carbboard roll. What’s so hard about changing the roll? You already unwrapped it…are you afraid of not being able to get the expandable dispenser back in it’s slot?

But by far, the best of toilet paper situations I’ve been in will surprise you, especially when I reveal the simple detail that yes, ladies, it was at a bar! Complain no more about bars not considering women’s needs when it comes to the powder room. The Gingerman in South Norwalk, CT got it right. Sure they have just about every beer under the sun on tap. So what happens after those beers catch up with you? Not only is it supplied with quality toilet paper…they went ahead and thought of the true needs of a woman. They conveniently have two dispensers. One up high for when you’re covering the seat to protect your bottom (just in case the squat fails). And the other, waist-high for when your seated (or squatted) and wish to clean up.

Now that’s thinking!

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