The Blonde Diaries

Not too long ago every industry seemed to be getting a bailout except me!  I am sure you felt that way at times too.  The to put the icing on the cake so to speak, I completed my taxes with Mike and got a little bit of a shock.  No we didn’t owe but I was expecting a little more of a refund than what we received.  I am not a fan of taxes but I was able to manage an A in personal income taxes in college so I think I need to revisit things and see if there is something I might be missing.

I know I’ve talked about this before but I want to talk about it again since we are all in the midst of doing our tax returns and getting some sticker shock so to speak.  Last year, Congress passed a “Real Estate Bailout” for the general public. Basically anyone that enters into a binding contract by April 30th of 2010 and meets one of the following criteria can have a tax credit on their 2010 tax return: 1) First time home buyer OR if you haven’t owned a house in the past 3 years -> $8k and 2) lived in a house for 5 out of the last 8 years -> $6.5k. These are tax credits not tax deductions so they go at the bottom of the form and either cancel out the taxes you owe or increase the taxes you receive back rather than just decreasing your taxable base. It is a huge difference and can leave you with more money in your pockets and a nice, new home.

I was coming home from an appointment today and was about to pass the shopping center where the new Nordstrom Rack opened here in Houston. I had such high hopes because I remember reading online a few years ago (Stylethread.com exactly) about the great bargains that can be found there and I just love regular Nordstroms. I thought for sure that this would be my recession answer.

And then I stepped into the store. I was so disappointed. This location had the look and feel of a Marshall’s/Loehman’s which is fine but not what I expected from Nordstrom. Then the prices weren’t any better than when you held out for the Anniversary Sale, half-yearly, and then the regular sales markdowns at Nordstrom. So I couldn’t figure out what exactly was the draw there and why I’d want to go back. It didn’t have a warm and friendly feel to it like I get when I walk into Nordstrom in the Galleria. I’m hoping that they are still getting the store set up and it will have that warm and friendly feeling after another month or so in business. Until then I’ll remain sad thinking about what a disappointment today’s visit was.

There are some pretty good deals out there today.  I’m not sure if these deals will be offered on Black Friday so you might just want to bite the bullet and make your purchase today and if you find a better deal on Friday just return your purchase from today.  So here is a quick roundup of what I have found so far today.  As always, click on the store name and it will open in a new window so you can make sure to check out all the deals without using a back button.

Bestbuy.com -> Band Hero Super Bundle- all game consoles are available and on sale ranging from $125 (PS2) to $145 (Wii, XBox 360, PS3)

Walmart.com -> Nikon CoolPix 8MP digital camera bundle on sale for $80! Click on Today’s Values on the main page.

Ecost.com -> Refurbished Digital Photo Frames are available starting at just $30.  There are a variety of photo frame colors, sizes, and special features such as MP3 music players and photo printers attached to the frames.  Most are 7″ or larger.  Definitely visit the site and click on the digital frame link under the electronics menu heading.

Target.com -> Today’s Daily Deal is an iStereo which doubles as a charging dock for your iPod or iPhone.  The iStereo is $50 today (retails for $130) and that qualifies for free shipping. While you are over on Target.com you might want to check out the Men’s Polos.  I found quite a few for under $10 Sunday night.  Mike wears these all the time and they hold up really well.

Amazon’s Gold Box deal today is an LG Blu-Ray Player for $99. I remember reading that there will be a few better Black Friday deals ($80 I believe) but they will require you to camp out over night and that isn’t too fun. So if you aren’t camping out then grab this deal today!

That is all for now.  Ebay hasn’t updated their daily deals or their mystery deal yet but if they are good I will come back and tell you about them!

Why wait for Black Friday when there are Daily Deals?!  About a month ago, I discovered that there is a growing trend with retailers to offer a product or multiple products at a discount each day.  The products change each day but the deals have remained pretty good.  To top it all off most sites are offering free or really cheap shipping and no sales tax.  I find it is worth checking these sites each morning and afternoon at lunch to see if there is a bargain I can pick up now to help keep my holiday budget in check and to help me make one less trip to the mall or general merchandise store in the next month.

I’m hoping to make reporting on Daily Deals a regular thing – probably not daily but at least a few times a week when I spot something really great.  I plan to update this post again around lunch when more deals have been released. If you are looking for something in particular let me know and I’ll keep my eyes open for you.  All links open to a new window so make sure to check them out!

Geeks.com – new item added daily at 6am PST with $1.99 shipping!

Buy.com - Buy.com has daily, weekly, and weekend deals under the menu heading “deals”. They offer everything from books to electronics to jewelry. Today it is a 4GB Zune MP3 player with a free car accessory pack and free headphones for $79 with no tax and free shipping.

Newegg.com – Three pages of electronics ranging from wireless mice to 40inch HDTVs all with special “deal” prices. Today, there is a Toshiba 40″ HDTV 1080p for $610, an 8GB USB flash drive for $22, a DVD burner ready to be installed in your computer for $27, and an Acer netbook for under $400. Those are just the ones to catch my eyes immediately.

Bestbuy.com – scroll to the bottom right of the page for the Daily Deal. Today it is a LG Blue-ray DVD player (1080p) for $120. Not bad!

Target.com – enter daily deal in the search box. A new deal is offered each day at 12 midnight CST. Yesterday was the BeerTender for $65. Today is an electronic chess board that teaches you the game for $65

Walmart.com – Scroll down to the Save Big Now heading on the left menu and click on Value of the Day. Today is a prepaid phone from Virgin Wireless for $20

ebay.com - Daily Deals are released every morning at 8am PST. On Wednesdays there is a mystery deal released at 11am PST (yesterday it was the 2 disc set of Twilight on DVD for $9.99) and on Mondays every deal is under $10. Today’s sneak peak is showing a laptop. Previous items have included Garmins, dvd players, and toys. No tax and free shipping. Most items come from reputable companies or websites like Buy.com or Disneyshopping.com. Click on the Daily Deal menu option.

Amazon.com – Amazon releases 7 daily deals each day – 6am PST, 10am PST, 12pm PST, 2pm PST, 6pm PST, and 8pm PST so you just have to check back often to see what they are offering. They typically give you the category as a hint before the item is released but that is it. To find the deal click on the gold box or the link that says “Today’s Deals”

I was about to head to bed tonight when a quirky headline caught my attention on Yahoo News: U.S. Residents fight for the right to hang laundry. The article discusses the growing battle between homeowners who want to hang dry their laundry on clotheslines in their backyards and neighborhood associations and local government officials who want to outlaw the practice because it makes the neighborhood look “trashy”. The argument for hang drying laundry includes lowering electricity bills from not running the dryer which, according to the article, accounts for 6% of your electric bill each month (on average $83!).

I live in an apartment complex and we are not allowed to hang dry outside. I’ve never given it a thought as there is just no space to hang dry outside. My husband and I do hang dry inside of our apartment by hanging our clothes on hangers in every doorway we can find (the shower curtain is not anchored to handle hanging clothes). I find that hang drying keeps our clothes looking new, soft, and the appropriate size whereas drying tends to shrink clothing and fades it fairly fast. So other than the environmental and energy saving reasons, I can see the pros from a clothes usage standpoint.

Growing up, my grandmother hung dry her laundry outside in her backyard. She lived out in the country and the sight of her and my grandfather’s clothing, “flapping in the wind” as the article calls it, was not offensive to anyone. I didn’t mind it when I went to visit and actually found it rather fun to hang the clothes on the line with clothes pins. I will say though that I did not like the feel of the clothes after they dried on the line. For some reason they were always stiff and rough but that is not really part of the argument here.

So what do you think? Are you for or against hanging clothes outside to dry? Do you find the practice offensive or “trashy”? Do you think this is another example of home owner associations and the government overstepping their boundaries and infringing on our rights? I would love to hear some opinions on this topic.