Girl's Night Out

I'm all about donating to charity and supporting worthy causes, but to date I've never really been to a charity event.  I always thought that charity events were for old ladies in stuffy clothes, not for women in their mid twenties.  That was until I went to my very first charity event last Thursday night called Girl's Night Out in Princeton, NJ.  I'm not so sure all charity events are like the event I attended, but I had a really great time!

So what made this event budget friendly?  The fact that it only cost $10 for a ticket to the VIP lounge and food tent.  Along with entrance into the lounge and food tent, the $10 also bought you the rights to free adult beverages, and a goodie bag filled with goods which definitely cost over $10.  Oh yeah, did I mention that the parking was free with your $10 ticket.  Anyone who has parked in downtown Princeton recently knows the true value of free parking...priceless!

After taking full advantage of our free parking pass, my mom, my sister and I headed over to Palmer Square to register and see what free food they had to offer in the square.  We quickly signed in, grabbed our wrist bands, raffle tickets, and list of discounts and headed over to the main food tent.  When I think free food I usually don't think of Shrimp with farro salad, gourmet chicken salad, or field greens with a mustard vinaigrette, do you?  Well that is the type of food we were greeted with when we entered the tent.  It was all delicious and tasted fresh, even though the event started at 4:30 and we didn't make it there til after 6.  The shrimp were still warm and delicious, the bread for the chicken salad  was not at all soggy, and the field greens were still crisp.  Overall a pretty good appetizer!

While we were eating we perused the massive, not your average 8.5" by 11", list of shops offering discounts and little goodies to the "Girls" participating in the event.  The discount for the gourmet olive oil store Carter and Cavero immediately caught our eye.  If you purchased 3 bottles of Olive Oil you got one free!  This was incredibly convenient since my mom needed a bridal shower gift and really who wouldn't like receive gourmet olive oil as a gift?  After walking around and sampling the oils and vinegars the store had to offer like kids who had just been told they could sample candy for free, (can you imagine our excitement) we chose a set with 3 olive oils.  Best part of that set...the fact we got a free bottle of our very own thanks to the Girl's Night Out event.

We made our way through a number of the other stores,  taking advantage of the discounts and free goodies that they had to offer until we found the VIP lounge.  This was by far my favorite part of the whole night!  There were a host of free appetizers from Mediterra like meatballs, felafel and an assortment of bruchetta, all of which were amazing like all food from Mediterra usually is.  There was also free wine samplings from the Corkscrew Wine Shop which paired perfectly with the appetizers.  When you were finished satisfying your "gourmet food tooth" you had the chance to have your hair styled for free by a local salon and you got a coupon for 20% off your next service.  My mom took full advantage of this service and I don't think I have ever seen her hair straighter!

At the end of the evening we rolled our way out of the VIP lounge, but not before getting our goodie bags filled with things any girl would love.  Blue Mercury eye cream, stationary, little bottles of olive oil or balsamic vinegar, and chocolate.  Who wouldn't love all those gifts!? 

So for $10 I got free parking, a ton of food, and awesome parting gifts, and a portion of my ticket went to a local charity, Dress for Success: Mercer County.  Overall I would say I had a pretty successful night.  Can't wait for my next charity event on a budget!!

Mother's Day Gifts on A Budget

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mamas out there!!

A few days ago with Mother’s Day fast approaching I was trying to figure out what I could possibly do with the little girl I babysit for as a project for Mother’s Day.  She’s a little too old to do the whole make a hand print in play dough deal, and a homemade card just wasn’t going to cut it.  I also didn’t want to simply buy a kit at the store and make some generic gift.  So I decided to head to Michael's and let the creative spirit move me.  

            I no sooner walked through the front door of Michael’s when wham, the most wonderful idea for a Mother’s Day present hit me… hand decorated picture frames!  Actually, it quite literally hit me.  I was taking a few of them off the display and one fell and hit me in the face.  These picture frames would be the perfect way to let the little girl be creative and make a gift her  mom, aunt, and grandmother, would love.

 

Now I’m sure you’re thinking that there’s no way picture frames could be budget friendly.  Well let me tell you, these frames only cost $1 each!  They came in three different shapes, but I ultimately chose the ones with a heart shape in the middle because they were for Mother’s Day after all.  Conveniently located next to the frames there were some pretty flower foam shapes which were on sale as well that I thought would cost me around a dollar.  But I figured since we were making 3 frames, $0.33 cents a frame wasn’t a bad deal so I grabbed some.  Well guess how much I paid for the stickers… $0.01!! That’s right, stickers that were once closer to $4, cost me one penny!!  You can’t even get penny candy anymore, so me finding a whole pack of stickers for a penny is like winning the budget lottery.  I also needed a piece of scrapbook paper to serve as the backing for the frame and luckily for me scrapbook paper was on sale that day.  It only cost me $0.20, not too shabby.  We already had the paint to paint the frames, so this project only cost me $3.41, which is perfect for a girl on a budget!!

The next day we spent the afternoon painting and decorating the frames with her mom, her aunt, and her grandmother’s favorite colors and the stickers.  When the paint had dried I had her write their names in permanent marker at the bottom of the frame.  It would be next to impossible for kid to have the brush skills to paint their names onto a frame, heck I even have a hard time painting names sometimes.  She was able to use her imagination and customize the frames however she wanted, something that you can’t do when you buy a premade kit.  I was so happy with the way the frames turned out and what took us an afternoon will give the special women in the little girl’s life a lifetime of memories!

These frames aren’t just for Mother’s Day.  You can make them for any occasion, especially when the frames only cost $1!!!

Here’s how to make them:

1.       Sand the frame to ensure that the edges of the frame are smooth

2.      Prime the frames with white paint and let dry

3.      Paint the frames with whichever color you choose and let dry

4.      Either paint or write with permanent marker the name of the recipient, the occasion, or whatever you choose

5.      Decorate with stickers, foam stickers, or paint a design yourself

6.      Cut out scrapbook or card stock paper to fill the back of the frame

7.      Print out your favorite picture to fill the frame

8.      ENJOY!

More restaurant week secrets

            So if you couldn’t tell from my previous blog post I am a major fan of restaurant weeks, no matter where they are located.  In fact, if I’m visiting a city, I will always do a little research before I get there to see if there will be a restaurant week in the area so I can plan my trip accordingly.  Restaurant week is an amazing way to eat at restaurants you couldn’t typically afford, or save for special occasions an experience new types of cuisine you have never tried before.  I’ve tried everything from steak carpaccio, to duck, to prawns, to trout all because of restaurant weeks I’ve been to.  I’m going to let you all in on a little trade secret of mine that has helped me eat at some of the best restaurants on the east coast…do your homework!  No this doesn’t mean sitting for hours at your desk toiling over algebra, it means sign up for alerts on Open Table and from cities you would be interested in visiting, and eating in for restaurant week announcements.  These usually come out anywhere from a few months, to a few weeks before the actual week of restaurant week and will give you a good idea of where you can get the most bang for your buck.  Pick out a few on the list that interest you and see who has the highest overall menu price.  Since you are trying to get the most for your money, it makes the most sense to eat at a restaurant who has typically has the highest prices on their menu doesn’t it?  I always employ this strategy when picking my restaurants for restaurant week and this has enabled me to eat at some very expensive well known restaurants in the Philly area like Le Bec Fin, 10 Arts, Nineteen, and R2L to name a few.  Google the menus for these places and you will see what I mean for getting the most bang for your buck.

 

As I mentioned in my previous blog post I ate at 2 restaurants for Jersey Shore Restaurant Week, so here is my review of the second restaurant I ate at Shipwreck Point in Brielle, NJ.  I’ve spent my summers at the Jersey Shore from the time I was born, so I’ve eaten out at my fair share of plenty local area restaurants, but I must say Shipwreck Point is hands down one of the best places I’ve ever eaten at.  Where else can you have food that you would find at a New York City restaurant and watch ships sail in and out of the inlet, all while watching the sun set?  The answer to that one, no where!  The added bonus for me…dining at Shipwreck Point for restaurant week.  Shipwreck had an amazing restaurant week menu that featured appetizers like Sea Scallops Crudo and Lobster Bisque; entrees like Salmon Benedict, Surf and Turf, and Duck Breast, and desserts like Chocolate Chambord Cheesecake and White Chocolate Lemon Bread Pudding.  Not one of the words on the menu sounded one bit budget friendly, but because I was there for restaurant week a dinner that would have typically cost somewhere between “ouch and boing” to quote White Christmas, only cost $30!  I ordered the Lobster Bisque, served with a tarragon crème which was to die for, the Salmon Benedict and the Bread Pudding.  My sister ordered the Sea Scallops, the Duck, and the Chambord Cheesecake and my dad ordered copied me on the Lobster Bisque and Bread Pudding, but switched things up with the Surf and Turf.  Being proud members of the “tasty club” we made sure to try a few bites of each others' meals and were treated to a number of magnificent morsels!  We decided to opt out of any wine or other drinks and stuck with water so we didn’t have to pay for drinks so the bill for the 3 of us with tax came to just $96.69!  Typically at that restaurant you could spend that much on drinks and entrees for 2 people alone, so I’d say we did pretty well.  The quality of the food, service and experience were excellent and I’d say unmatched anywhere at the Jersey Shore.  I can’t wait to go back and try their happy hour menu this summer!

 

Until Next Time,

Broke Girl

Ohhhh how I love Lobster

Some people have the budget to eat caviar and drink champagne every night.  Some people are on a ramen noodle every night budget, and there are those of us that fit somewhere in between.  Even though I’m on a budget I still love gourmet food.  My parents made my sister and I members of the “tasty club” growing up, so I love all different types of food and weird ingredients like fois gras, truffle oil, and scallops, none of which is particularly budget friendly especially if you order them out at fancy restaurants.  I mean really how can a person on a budget afford a $37 scallop entrée when that is half their food shopping budget week?  I have two magical words for all you budget conscious people out there Restaurant Week!  These magical words should not only send chills down your spine, but get you as excited as a kid on Christmas morning because they mean that you can get anywhere from a 3 to 5 course meal for $30 to $50 for dinner and even less for lunch at some of the best restaurants in your area.

            I recently visited 2 excellent Jersey Shore hot spots for Jersey Shore restaurant week and had two amazing meals each of which only cost $30 each for 3 courses.  My first delectable dining experience was at Red’s Lobster Pot in Point Pleasant, NJ.  They were offering dishes like Prince Edward Island Mussels in a Lobster, Fennel broth, Lobster fritters and Clam Chowder for appetizers and Lobster and Mushroom Strudel, a 1 ¼ lb Lobster with fries and coleslaw, and Garlic & Herb Crusted Cod for entrees, along with a choice of Carrot Cake or Key Lime Pie for dessert.  Words that should pop out at you here "LOBSTER" and "MUSSELS".  The market prices on these items can put a serious pinch in your paycheck, and if you order them at a fancy restaurant you can spend as much on a lobster as you would a pair of pants and a shirt. Armed with this knowledge of course I picked the items with as much lobster in them as possible…the lobster fritters and the lobster, both of which were excellent.  The lobster fritters were perfectly fried and came with a Cajun remoulade that added just the right amount of spice to the dish and the lobster was quite possibly one of the best I’ve ever had.  It was super sweet, full of flavor, and nicely filled out.  I’ve had a number of lobsters that looked like they went on a diet before ending up on my plate, this was definitely not one of them!  My dinner was finished off with a delicious piece of carrot cake, a perfect way to end a meal.  So to recap I ate Lobster Fritters, a Whole Lobster and Carrot Cake all for just $30!!  The best part about Red’s it’s a BYOB!  That means you don’t have to spend $30 for a bottle of wine that costs a fraction of that at the liquor store so your hard earned dollar can stretch a lot farther!  This is an excellent place to visit in the summer so check out the Dextrous Diner’s Wednesday Wine of the Week (http://dexterousdining.blogspot.com/) for a great $10 wine and enjoy a relaxing evening on the inlet and great food.

Hope I didn’t make you all too hungry!

Until Next Time,

Broke Girl

Blue Plastic Cup

For all you country fans out there if you have heard the Toby Keith song “Red Solo Cup” then you are well aware of the million and one uses for solo cups, but have you ever consider that the reusable plastic cups people are carrying around have many of the same uses?  While it may have been cool to carry around your squeezable water bottle in elementary school, it is far more grown up to carry a thick plastic cups with screw top lid.  These cups come in just about every color you could ever imagine and cost around $5 at your local HomeGoods.  If you are lucky the bargain Gods may shine down on you and you may be given one by your company or at your next charity function, but trust me this just may be the greatest $5 you have ever spent!!  You can take them just about anywhere and thanks to their handy dandy lid if you keep them upright they are virtually spill proof.

            Have you ever considered how much money you spend on bottled drinks or drinks from a fountain?  Well most drinks cost anywhere from $1.25 to $2 and more often than not, bottled water costs even more than that.  So let’s say you buy a bottle of soda every day during your typical 5 day work week you will have spent anywhere from $6.25 to $10 per week on drinks alone.  Times that by the typical 50 weeks a person works per year and you are spending $312.50 to $500 a year on drinks alone!  All of those bottles you purchased over the course of the year also have to be recycled, not a cheap task people. 

 My broke girl tip of the week…buy a reusable plastic cup!  You can fill it with just about anything from soda, to water, to iced coffee, to iced tea, to smoothies, it can handle it all.  You will end up saving yourself a ton of money in the long run if you buy a 2 Liter bottle of soda for anywhere from $1 to $2 and then refill your cup, or you buy a giant container of iced tea mix for around $3.99 which makes enough iced tea to last you through the summer.  The most budget friendly option though is to load your cup with some ice and fill it with water from your tap or water pitcher, clearly the most budget friendly option since water is FREEEE.

            I personally love to go for the water option when I fill up my blue plastic cup but since spring has sprung and summer is right around the corner I decided to share my favorite smoothie recipe with you all…

¾ to 1 cup of your favorite yogurt (.69 cents for individual sized or $3 for 32 oz frozen     bag)

            ½ cup strawberries ($2.99 or less in season or $7.00 for 40 oz frozen bag)

¼ to ½ cup blueberries (these can be expensive but you can get a 40 oz frzn bag for 10.99)

            1 whole banana

            Splash of your favorite juice (I recommend OJ)

            1 cup of ice

            This can make anywhere from 1 to 2 smoothies depending on how big your cup is and how thirsty you are.  Frozen fruit is always a good idea because it lasts in your freezer for a really long time and it won’t go bad, so you won’t waste your hard earned dollars.  Blend up this sweet treat any time of day and ENJOY :)

 PS...Yes I know my straw does not match the cup but I have this unique ability to break the straw off of every plastic cup I come across, what can I say I'm a little accident prone.

Until Next Time,

Broke Girl

Broke Girls LOVE Starbucks

            I know what you’re thinking…what do you mean broke girls love Starbucks?  How can a coffee that costs as much as a value meal at McDonalds be budget friendly? Well my friends you can afford Starbucks on a budget trust me!  How can you do this?  First, check out my Twitter page @Brkgrlonabudget for when I post about Starbucks and other coffee deals I find on various deal websites.  Or do what I do on a daily basis, painstakingly comb over the deal websites like LivingSocial, Groupon, GoogleOffers, etc looking for deals for you favorite coffee shop like Starbucks.  Personally I’d vote for the first option since it saves you valuable time and money, but hey that’s just my opinion.  

            Wednesday I was doing my daily run through of deal websites when lo and behold to what should my wondering eyes should appear…a deal for $5 for $10 at Starbucks on GoogleOffers.  I blinked a few times and clicked on the fine print because I thought there was no way that this deal was legit.  Why on earth would a company that is as successful as Starbucks ever put a deal up on GoogleOffers right?  Shockingly the deal was legit and I am now the proud owner of a $10 instant gift card to Starbucks.  So I now have ability to enjoy my personal Starbucks fav, a Caramel Frappuccino for a fraction of the cost!

            There are 2 different budget friendly ways to make this deal stretch as far as possible.  The first way is to order the Tall size drinks when ordering something like a Caramel Frappuccino.  I did a little research on the calorie count of the blended drinks and the hours you would need to spend in the gym to work of a Venti sized drink just aren’t worth the moment on the lips it took to enjoy it.  A Venti Caramel Frappuccino has 510 calories and 17g of fat and can cost anywhere from $4.50- $5.50 on average depending on where you purchase it.  So you will only get 2 drinks max with your gift card and an expanding waistline.  If you bought the Tall size Caramel Frappuccino it would only cost you 300 calories and 11g of fat and it is much more wallet or in this case gift card friendly with drinks running on average of $3.30 to $3.75.  This means that you could possibly get 3 drinks with your gift card and save yourself hours at the gym!

            My second budget friendly way to use your gift card is to use it to buy a one pound bag and to take home with you and brew it yourself.  The bags run from $11.95 to $13.95 so you would be paying a little bit extra, but the savings when you brew it yourself are incredible.  If you are worried about the freshness of your coffee then buy whole bean coffee and purchase a coffee grinder.  I found coffee grinders on Amazon for $11-$20, you don’t need anything super fancy, it just grinds beans after all.  There are tons of different coffee creamers out there that often go on sale and there are often coupons in the paper or on coupon websites to make them even more affordable.  Brewing coffee at home also allows you to customize your coffee just the way you like it too so you can be your own Barista.  The best part about buying a one pound bag of coffee…after you use it you can bring the bag back for a free cup of coffee!!

Time for my caffeine fix!

Until Next Time,

Broke Girl

Broke Girls LOVE a Bagain

It happens to the best of us.  You’re walking through the mall minding your own business, when WHAM the most perfect, can’t live without, pair of shoes or outfit appears in a store window and makes your heart stop.  You stare longingly through the store window like a little kid whose mom just told them they can’t get a toy from the toy store, because you know you just don’t have the funds to finance your dream purchase.   But it won’t hurt to just go take a little peak at how much your “can’t live without” purchase is going to cost you right because maybe, just maybe, the shopping gods will smile down at you and those peep toe heels and killer top won’t cost an arm and a leg.  You pick up the shoes or flip over the price tag eyes closed and what awaits you makes you slightly sick to your stomach…those shoes cost what???  $150, you have to be kidding me!   That’s your entire food budget for the next 2 weeks, there’s no way can swing that unless you want to survive on Ramen for the unforeseeable future.  So you put down your dream purchases, head down and feeling slightly defeated thinking there is no way you will ever be able to afford them.  Well SURPRISE you really CAN make your dream purchase…here’s how.

I've found that patience is a virtue when it comes to buying clothes because trust me if you wait for a little bit and you have signed up for the email club of your favorite store a coupon will come around just in time for a big sale and poof, your $150 pair of shoes you have to have can cost you a fraction of that if you play your cards right.  Stores are constantly changing their inventory to bring in clothes for the next season even if it’s nowhere near close to that time of year.  What this means to you?  Clothes for the current season will go on sale or enter the magical world of clearance just when you need them.  While that top would be perfect for going out this Friday night, if you wait as little as 2 Fridays from now the very same top may be on sale for anywhere from 20-50% off.  As Mr. Rogers says “It’s very, very, very, hard to wait” but in this case waiting will be worth your while.

How do you find out if your can’t live without top is going on sale…sign up for the email clubs of your favorite stores.  These email clubs will inform you of upcoming sales and even give you discount codes and coupons to use while the sale is going on.  It takes 2 seconds to give the cashier your email address and your phone number for coupons online and in the mail and the rewards can be worth their weight in gold.  Once you receive these precious money saving emails make a game plan.  Decide on exactly what you want to buy, how much it is going to cost with all the discounts, how much you want to spend total and most importantly stick to your game plan!  While running these numbers may seem as painful as Freshman Algebra it will all be worth it when you realize that what almost cost you $150 can cost you $60 or less if you play your cards right.

Want some proof that this strategy works, take my most recent trip to Old Navy.  I have recently decided to revamp my wardrobe from 5 year baggy old t-shirts that I fit 3 sizes ago, to  more figure friendly shirts that show off the fact that I actually have a body instead of being a blob.  Hey a single girl’s gotta rock what she’s got right?  Thanks to the fact I joined Old Navy’s email club I knew that they were having a sale over the weekend where certain items were $5, $10 or $15 and graphic tees were $4!  To top that all off they emailed out a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase.  I drew up my game plan so I knew exactly what I wanted and headed over to the mall with my sister.  I ended up 7 different kinds of shirts, from graphic tees, to work out shirts but my total would not have been enough to hit the $50 mark I needed for my $10 off so I combined resources with my sister.  We had mountain of clothes between the 2 of us…19 items in total and guess how much we spent…only $104.94 including the full price yoga pants my sister just had to have.  We saved $96.14 because everything was on sale and we had the $10 off coupon which took a few cents off each item.  Guess what the total per items was…only $5.52 per item (the MBA student in me just had to do the math) and we ended up with pretty much a large chunk of our spring and summer wardrobe taken care of in one trip!  The icing on the cake was the fact I received a coupon booklet of savings for the month and a survey which will get me 10% off my next purchase.  Nothing makes me happier than the chance to save more money. 

See my will power and crazy coupon watching can pay off and these strategies can pay off for you too J

Happy shopping!

Until Next Time,

Broke Girl