Friday, November 8, 2013

Handling stress during a financial crisis

Ran across this fabulous piece by Diane Bergman this morning about how to manage stress during a financial crisis. I thought it had some actual helpful practical ideas beyond the typical Stay Positive! line you usually find in articles like this (although it did include that). I've found when you're swimming in the midst of a true financial crisis and the stress is just drowning you and taking over your life, some of these tips can actually work to pull you back out. They won't necessarily fix the problem, but doing some of them can help change your perspective, give you hope, and help you better navigate the crisis. So check out the article and I hope it can bring a little light to those in otherwise seemingly world-ending situations.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Free Thanksgiving dinner at Don Giovanni's

Wow. Talk about giving back to the community. I just found out that one of the nicer Italian restaurants, Don Giovanni, in downtown Mountain View annually offers a FREE Thanksgiving dinner. To anyone willing to stand in line. Last year they served upwards of 1500 dinners. No questions asked, no money required. You can be rich, poor, lonely, needy, well-off, come with a ton of friends and family, homeless or drive up in your Tesla, it's open to anyone and everyone. How amazingly cool is that?

We have annual plans with out-of-town family that weekend, or I would be all over this. Fancy pants restaurant Thanksgiving dinner, on them? You really can't beat that. They'll be serving up turkey with all the fixings. On the other 364 days of the year, Don Giovanni's offers great traditional Italian food.

Now everyone should go here on not-Thanksgiving and support such a fabulous local business!

Friday, November 1, 2013

Le Boulanger November promotion

A while back I posted on the perks of having a Le Boulanger card. In the months since, things got kind of weird with them and they stopped giving out a loaf of bread each month. There were a couple of months of no man's land, and then bam! the freebies are back, just scaled down a bit.

For the month of November, Le Bou is giving out two free mini pumpkin muffins to any customer that presents their loyalty card. It's no loaf of bread, but it'd still make a nice snack with a cup of coffee. So grab your loyalty card and head on over to the bakery and treat yourself.

If you don't already have a Le Boulanger loyalty card, find your nearest location here.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Free dinner for the kids!

I am alive! Two babies is exponentially more work than one. I did not expect to take this long a break, but am back and will hopefully be posting semi-regularly again.

Tonight is the last night kids can eat for free at Sweet Tomatoes. They've been running a promotion for Halloween week, and the last night is tonight. One free kids meal for each adult meal purchased. Kids under 2 are free, over 12 are the regular adult price. No coupon needed. Find your closest Sweet Tomatoes here.

So go eat a healthy dinner before you all stuff your faces full of candy.

Happy Halloween!

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Plant exchange today at the Mountain View Library


Run by the Mountain View Library today from noon to 4 p.m. to participate in a neighborhood plant exchange. If you haven’t done one of these before, it’s an awesome opportunity to offload some extra plants, cuttings, seedlings from your garden, as well as pick up some new stuff to bring home. All for free.

I love plant exchanges, and haven’t been to one in years. I tend to get stuck in gardening ruts and always plant the same things, mainly those that are functional like herbs and vegetables. Being on a budget, it’s sometimes hard to justify the expense of purchasing plants that aren’t going to nourish my family. Silly, I know, as beautiful flowers or a garden can nourish the soul which is just as important, but sometimes I just get too focused on the mouths I have to feed. So I’m excited to see what my neighbors are growing in their gardens and to maybe score some new additions all for free!

The Mountain View Library is located at 585 Franklin St. It sounds like they’re also going to be starting up a seed library (also awesome!) and will be accepting seed donations too. 

Sunday, March 10, 2013

If there’s going to be a revolution, it’s going to start in the Silicon Valley


Check out this lovely gem of an article from yahoo news today. It opens with the jolly story of a disabled homeless woman receiving an eviction notice. Yep, you heard that right. She’s already homeless, can’t get a job because she’s disabled, and the local government is evicting her from her TENT. The article goes on to highlight that while although the Silicon Valley is on the rebound economically, the poor just keep getting poorer and poorer and the rich keep getting richer. It also reiterates the cost-of-living issues we have here that I discussed the other day.

I found this quote particularly interesting:
            “Before the Great Recession, about 10% of people seeking food had at least some college education. Today, one in four who line up at food pantries for bags of free food have been to college.”

This whole thing just incenses me on so many levels, from the fact that everything the article points out is totally true, to some of the asinine and utterly ignorant comments posted below the article by readers. Particularly one reader who goes off about how education is the key to getting out of poverty, when the article clearly stated that ONE IN FOUR people lining up at the food pantries has some college education! And don’t even get me started on the cost of a college education these days and how devastating student loan debt is to so. many. people. Oh yeah, and the fact that it can’t be discharged in bankruptcy, so even if you lose everything financially, you still better find a way to pay back that 20, 40, 60, or even 100K+ in student loans. Another commenter that I wanted to throw something at didn’t see why the woman didn’t just move out of the area. Seriously? Because she gets $826 a month, and lives in a tent, which leads me to believe that she probably doesn’t have a car, so what is she supposed to do? Strap everything she owns onto her back, which by the way, she can’t do because she’s disabled, and walk to some other area which will miraculously be cheaper to live? Or should she take those imaginary savings they think she has and hire someone to help her move? Where she’ll (again miraculously) have enough money to come up with a security deposit for a room to rent. Or the commenter that said this woman must feel entitled. Oh right, I’m sure she feels so entitled that she thinks she deserves to be evicted from her tent. I’m sure it’s quite luxurious living out in the cold. Let’s let go a little of that pride, lady. Argh. I’m seriously going to have an aneurism over these peoples’ lack of compassion, sympathy, and just sheer ignorance of what the reality of being truly poor is like.

So naturally as I’m sitting here in a progressively more agitated ball of anger, I realize I have to start looking at myself. If I’m so pissed off about this, what am I going to do about it? And sadly, I just don’t know. For those of us closer to the lower end of the income scale, honestly what do we have to offer to folks in similar or worse economic situations than ourselves besides compassion? Compassion’s great, but it doesn’t put a roof over someone’s head, and it doesn’t put food in their mouths. So when you don’t have any money to give, and you’re scraping by to put food on your own table, just how can we help out our fellow man?

Maybe the answer is education. I’m not talking about college education so we can all make loads of money and afford nice homes and cars, but education of the “haves” that not all “have nots” are lazy, uneducated, or entitled. That a huge majority of them are educated, hard working people, that perhaps fell on hard times, were injured, or were devastated by medical bills or job loss. That regardless of the reason behind why someone is poorer than someone else, does not in any way mean they are less worthy of respect as a human being. That things can change in an instant, and you never know when the coin will flip and you will wish that someone would show you an ounce of compassion and offer you a place to sleep, or a morsel to eat. Maybe we all need to stop equating income with a person’s value and go back to looking at people’s character. 

I know a change like that isn’t going to feed anyone, but at least if the minds and hearts of those in a position to help can be changed, maybe it will start to make a difference.  

Friday, March 8, 2013

Free Krispy Kreme doughnuts!


Who doesn’t love free stuff, and who doesn’t love Krispy Kreme? In order to appease us all for losing an hour this weekend due to the Daylight Savings time change, select Krispy Kreme locations will be giving away one free original doughnut per customer on Sunday, March 10th.

Sadly, there aren’t too many Bay Area locations offering the deal. If you’re in the South Bay, head over to the Mountain View (2146 Leghorn Street) or San Jose (121 Curtner Ave) locations for your free doughnut. For a full listing of other California or US locations, check out the list on their website. I’m not sure if they all do, but the Mountain View location has the added bonus of having their conveyor belt in full view of the shop so you can watch the doughnuts being made and glazed while you wait in line. It’s kind of mesmerizing watching hundreds of doughnuts gliding blissfully by. I dare you to walk out with just one.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to set your clocks an hour ahead on Saturday. But don’t worry, you can get your free doughnut anytime during regular business hours on Sunday. 

Friday, February 15, 2013

So this is why I'm broke!


This article gives you an idea of the cost of living here in the Bay Area. Essentially, close to 16 percent of residents in the South Bay and Peninsula areas make about $191K per year. Let’s just say, I do not make that. I do not make even close to that. I have never made close to that, lol.

The article makes it sound like everyone who lives here is rich, but the thing is, the other 84% of us are barely scraping by. According to apartments.com, you’d be hard pressed to find a 2 bedroom apartment around here for under $2K a month. If you go by recommended budgeting advice and allot 25% of your income to rent or mortgage, that means you’d need to make about $96K a year just to afford an average 2 bedroom apartment. The BLS claims that the mean national wage in 2011 was $45. That’s HALF of what it costs to live here, meaning roughly 84% of South Bay residents are most likely paying half their income to housing costs. Get laid off and have to collect unemployment? Assuming you were making 96K, then you’d qualify for the maximum amount of unemployment benefits and that would leave you with $1800 in monthly income. And suddenly, job loss means you are homeless. A budget is rendered useless. Good times. The situation is exponentially worse when you’re paying on a mortgage which can average about $750K here for a modest house. I feel for those of you in that boat.

This whole income disparity/cost of living in the Bay Area is a big reason I wanted to start this blog. While 16% of the population is doing okay and can actually afford their housing, the other 84% can’t. And yet, we’re somehow surviving here. We are still living and eating and raising families. But it isn’t easy, and I want to share any and everything I come across that might help someone else keep their head above water here.

So if any of you have figured out how to make six plus figures while sitting at your dining room table, I’m all ears. Just kidding. Sort of. 

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Free Valentine's Day


I’m forever searching for a more frugal way to spend Valentine’s Day, as I find it hard to stomach the idea of shelling out $100+ for a special romantic meal that would probably just leave me with heart palpitations over the excessive waste of money being spent. Okay, maybe not a waste because I do love delicious food as much as the next person, but on my current budget, the thought of spending $100 bucks for one meal is just ridiculous.

That being said, I ran across a couple of freebies this morning that can complement your plans for this Valentine’s Day.

Redbox

Today only, Redbox is offering a code for one free night’s rental. The code is SWEET and can be redeemed online or at any kiosk. Find your closest location here, or text FIND to 727272.

Denny’s

Denny’s is offering free coffee today from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. No purchase is required and I’ve seen conflicting evidence if you need a coupon or not. Just to be on the safe side, here’s a link for a printable coupon to bring with.

Also, don’t forget you can still get $1 16 oz. Jamba Juice smoothies, today and tomorrow. My store was dead when we went in on Monday. Unlike what I’d expected, there was zero line and we were able to pick any smoothie and walk right out. They’ll also upgrade you to one of their larger size smoothies at a special price of just $2 per drink, and, they even applied the dollar price to a smoothie for my two year old!

Monday, February 11, 2013

$1 Jamba Juice smoothies!

Monday through Friday this week, Jamba Juice is offering all 16 oz. smoothies for just $1! Between the hours of 9 a.m. and 11 a.m,, Feb 11th through 15th, you can get one 16 oz. smoothie per person, per visit for one buck. The offer is only valid in certain states and isn’t valid in Safeway Jamba locations. For a list of all states and participating locations see their website

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Free admission to the San Jose Museum of Art


The San Jose Museum of Art is holding a special Community Day on Sat., Feb. 9th to celebrate Chinese New Year. Each Community Day, the museum offers free admission to the public. Saturday’s free hours are from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

According to the Chinese calendar, we are entering the year of the snake. As part of their Community Day, the SJMU will have special New Years’ events including some hands-on art making projects, live music, and a lion dance at 1:00 p. m. All ages are welcome, and admission includes all the museum’s regular exhibits.

If you’re planning on attending, don’t forget to budget for parking near the museum. Alternatively, you could always take lightrail to the Diridon station across from the Shark Tank and walk from there. It’s a short jaunt just shy of a mile. 

Monday, February 4, 2013

Free pancakes!


Tomorrow, Feb. 5th, is National Pancake Day. To celebrate the holiday, as well as to raise awareness for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and other local charities, IHOP will be giving away a free short stack of buttermilk pancakes to interested customers. In exchange, they request you leave a donation. Since they began celebrating National Pancake Day this way in 2006, IHOP has raised over $10 million dollars.

Okay, so the pancakes aren’t technically free, because as a rule, I don’t recommend going to a fundraising event and not donating anything. However, I do consider supporting this a frugal move, as you get a double bang for your buck…you get a meal out, and you can feel good about it since whatever you pay for said meal is all going towards charity.

The free pancakes will be offered between the hours of 7 a.m and 10 p.m. Click here to find the IHOP nearest you. 

Friday, February 1, 2013

Lucky Breaks


Every month, Lucky Magazine (I got my subscription for free…more on that another time) holds a decent number of giveaways for everything from lipgloss to cars, clothes to all expenses paid vacations. They list all the giveaways for the month in the back of each issue, as well as on their website. It’s kind of a pain to go through for each giveaway and enter your contact information and double check all the boxes say “do not send me any information” and no I don’t want to subscribe over and over again, but they offer some pretty great stuff each month.

I used to think this was just a spammy scam to get people’s contact information on mailing lists. But the volume of spam in my inbox never seemed to increase from entering any of these. And then about a year ago, I won this! To say I was shocked that I won something is a bit of an understatement. I was even more excited once I received it and found out Sephora was selling it for $50 a tube. And then I was even more excited once I started using it and found out the stuff actually works! Technically it’s to be used to repair sun damage on hands and décolletage (ooh la la), but I use it on my face. I spend a lot of time outdoors, and let’s face it, if you live in California, it’s pretty near impossible to avoid sun exposure. I was starting to get a lot of dark spots on my face. This stuff has almost completely faded them. It’s awesome. It’s totally worth the two minutes I spent filling out my contact information on the Lucky website.

Now winning something like this, while it validated the legitimacy of the contests for me, would not have inspired a post. That being said, yesterday afternoon I received an email that I won again!! This time it’s a Bliss berry-flavored gift set, worth about $30. I’ll let you know how it is once it arrives.

So I’d say that free subscription and “wasted” time I spent online have really paid off with $80+ worth of free product. I’m still kind of surprised I’ve won, not just once, but twice. Now I’m really hoping I win one of those occasional vacation, car, or iPad giveaways they have. I could really use one of those. 

Saturday, January 19, 2013

AHH! OMG! Win Season Tickets to the Sharks!


Shh, don’t tell everyone (because I want better odds of winning), but the Sharks are doing some special fan giveaways this week as a thank you for not boycotting them for abandoning us all fall. Today’s prize? SEASON TICKETS! Yeah, it’s a short season, and yeah, it’s only 24 games, but hello, SEASON TICKETS.

You actually have a few more days to enter, and can also still enter for the previous days’ prizes. These include dropping the puck on the home opener, having lunch with some of the players, and even going on a road trip with the team. Heck, even if you don’t like hockey (and if you don’t you’re weird) you should still enter because if you win, you could always sell your prize for the cash. Or you know, give it to me. 

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Affordable culture: not just for tourists


I about freaked out when I discovered the SF CityPASS yesterday. It gets you into the California Academy of Sciences, SF MOMA, the Exploratorium or the De Young, the Aquarium of the Bay, a Blue & Gold Fleet Cruise around Alcatraz AND a 7 day pass for MUNI and the cable cars for the low price of $69. You can even upgrade your Bay cruise to take the boat to Alcatraz for just 5 bucks more. 

Okay, 69 bucks is kind of a lot of money, but when you calculate how much all that stuff costs on its own, this is close to half price. One adult admission to the Academy of Sciences alone is $30 for the day. I have been dying to go there ever since they remodeled a few years ago. Between the architecture that my husband keeps raving about, the exhibits, and the floor-to-ceiling aquarium, what’s not to like? Oh yeah, the $30 entry. Enter CityPASS! I'm assuming this was designed for tourists since it includes the 7 day MUNI pass, but San Francisco has such great museums that it is always worth a trip. 

So yeah, as soon as I have an extra $69, or let’s be honest, $138 because how much fun would this be to do alone, I am so all over this pass.

The fine print
Each pass is good for ONE admission to each attraction. When I first ran across the CityPASS I thought it was an annual pass. Of course not. This is the Bay Area, after all. For those of you who live in other areas, they also have these, for different rates and attractions, obviously, in a number of other major cities like Seattle, Chicago, New York and Toronto. Also, the Exploratorium is currently closed until April 17th as they’re in the process of moving over to Pier 15. Until then, that CityPASS coupon is good for entrance to the De Young. 

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Gym memberships for less


Did you know the YMCA offers financial assistance for memberships? I recently received a flyer in the mail with this information and thought I’d go check it out. I had always assumed the Y cost a small fortune to join, especially since the one by us has a pool and offers childcare.

Turns out, not only do they have some great programs, many of which are included, but their membership fees are pretty comparable to other area gyms. Years ago, (we’re talking more than 10 years here) I had a membership to Club One, subsidized through my employer at the time. Their enrollment fee back then was something crazy like $300, and my monthly membership was $65 if I remember correctly. After doing research into other gyms in the Peninsula area, I’ve been hard-pressed to find too many gyms that charge less than $60 or so a month. Well, for an individual membership, the YMCA charges a pretty reasonable $90 enrollment fee and $70 a month. Wow. If you account for inflation, the Y membership is much, much cheaper. For a two-parent family membership, kids included, enrollment is $150 and the monthly fee is $108. The family membership includes ALL dependents living at your address under 24 years of age. So if you have one kid or six, you can all use the facilities. They also have discounted rates for seniors, teens, and college-age adults.

So onto what membership includes. You get full use of the facilities, which house a lap pool, family pool, full workout room with weights and cardio machines. You have access to something crazy like 200 classes a month, FREE childcare, up to two hours per day while you work out (which includes enclosed outdoor play time for the kids). They also have all sorts of additional and some included programs like kids dance classes, swimming classes and youth camps.

This place is also crazy family-oriented like no other gym I’ve found in my area. As long as kids pass a safety test, they’re allowed to work out in the weight/cardio room at age 8. They also offer a number of parent-child exercise classes, and special family pool time.

If the membership fees are out of your budget, and let’s be honest, if you’re reading this, you probably don’t have an extra $70-100 a month to spend on working out, just ask for a financial aid application at the front desk. You can apply for assistance with gym costs or for things like the youth camp programs. I’m not sure what the income cutoff is, and I would assume it probably varies by where you live. To check out your local YMCA facility, see their website

Monday, January 7, 2013

Free bread!


Like bread? (PSA: If you don’t, you’re weird) Like FREE bread? Grab a loyalty card at any Le Boulanger location, register it online, and enjoy a free loaf of bread, every month. That’s it. You don’t have to accrue points or buy lots of expensive deliciousness, and they still give you a free loaf every single month. Did I mention it’s free?

Honestly, I don’t know why everyone doesn’t know about this program. Hot, fresh, gourmet bread is awesome. Once you have a registered card, it will automatically load your free items. Each month, they offer a different bread-of-the-month and that is the one you’ll receive free.  Just bring in your card, they’ll swipe it, and bam, you walk out with your bread. In addition to that, I received a free cookie just for registering my card, and a free cinnamon roll on my birthday. If you actually spend money here and use your loyalty card, you’ll also earn points to earn more free stuff like coffees and lunch items. Pretty awesome, no?

I’ve only used this at a couple of South Bay locations, and normally have no problems with it. However, every now and again, things seem to not load onto the card. I’d recommend checking your card online before venturing out to the bakery just to verify your free items are on the card. 

Friday, January 4, 2013

Why Sephora is awesome


I’m a big fan of Sephora. Not because they carry just about every beauty brand you could ask for, but because they offer tons of free stuff. Seriously. If you sign up for their Beauty Insider program, you earn points for every dollar you spend, which can then be cashed in for products. You’ll also get a free birthday gift every year, as well as frequent free samples when you shop. If and when you earn 100 and 500 points within one year, you also receive special gift products.

When you sign up for the Beauty Insiders program, make sure to input your email. Normally, I avoid companies’ email lists like the plague, but sometimes Sephora will send out some real gems. For instance, I once received an email coupon, valid for 24 hours, for a full size Ojon shampoo and conditioner. When I went to snatch this up at the Stanford Mall Sephora, I found out that each bottle was selling for $25! So yeah, for a simple input of my email address, I received $50 worth of completely free product. Incidentally, I love what that shampoo and conditioner do to my hair and wish I could afford $25 shampoo. Hah.

Why else is Sephora great? Beauty Insider or not, if you have a product you’re interested in test-driving, but don’t want to shell out the dough to purchase the full-size product, try asking one of the sales associates for a sample of the product. I’ve done this a number of times, both at the Valley Fair and Stanford locations, for everything from Frederick Fekkai hair products to perfume to skincare items.  It’s a great way to try out that $50 skin cream to make sure it works for you, before dropping big bucks and finding out the hard way it doesn’t.

In conclusion, while I wouldn’t exactly recommend paying regular price for products at Sephora to someone on a strict budget, the perks of shopping there and signing up for their Beauty Insider program can save you a lot of money and give you access to beauty products you might not otherwise be able to afford. 

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Welcome!

The economy sucks. Millions of folks are out of work and struggling to make ends meet. The media is constantly spewing out scare tactics that we’re all about to careen off the edge of the fiscal cliff. But there are still millions of people living in the Bay Area where the median home price is $588,000. People are still living and thriving here despite the astronomical rents and real estate and cost of living. So if your family doesn’t have a six-figure income, how do you survive in an area this expensive? Surely not everyone is shacking up with their 14 closest friends in order to make rent, right?

My goal in starting this blog is to share the things I’ve found that can help Bay Area families on a budget. This won’t be another couponing site, but rather a resource for Bay Area specific frugal finds and ways to save money on everyday living expenses. I’ll also offer up general frugal living tips that I run across or use myself. Hopefully one of the resources I’ve run across can help someone else survive and even thrive for another day living in one of the most expensive places in the country!