Yeah. I still haven’t done it yet. I can’t mentally get past the fact that I’ll have to be in hot room with a bunch of lithe young yoga moms while sweating.
The certificate expires in June. I’m contemplating how attached I am to the $30.
Right now I’m not feeling so attached.
I know.
I’m pathetic.
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Hippity Hoppity Movie Hopping
I popped my movie hopping cherry this weekend. Who knew? I am a glorified movie-geek and I have never ever done the movie hop. The pay for one movie, watch it and when it’s done, skirt into another movie. A two-fer.
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that my teenage son suggested we movie hop. I’m not embarrassed that I did the movie hop with my kid, only that I didn’t think of it first. Damn kids are too smart for their own good.
Times are tough, the economy is sluggish. I’m all for stretching my entertainment dollar as far as I can.
I suppose I should feel guilt; movie hopping doesn’t reek of leading by parental example but honestly, I don’t feel that bad when movies are $7.50 a piece (and that’s a matinee). I’m pretty sure the fine people at Paramount or Fox Studios of whoever it was that didn’t benefit from our extra $15 in ticket sales will find another way to fleece the movie going public.
Despite my novice standing in movie-hopping, I am an expert in the sneaking in of concessions. When a small diet coke is roughly the same price as a 12-pack at the Pick-N-Save…all’s fair in love and smuggling. It’s all about survival.
I highly recommend stopping at Walgreens for the boxed movie candy. Nine times out of ten they are on sale for $1 a box which is far more reasonable then AMCs take- it-in- the -shorts price of $4.25 for a box of Junior Mints.
Popcorn is a bit trickier, but it can be done. A ziploc freezer bag will hold plenty of popcorn and can typically be shoved in the arm of a jacket. Carry the jacket in over your arm. In the summer months a big purse works well. Empty out everything you don’t need, carry your wallet and stuff in the much needed provisions.
The movie-hop was great fun. We probably had success because it was a Friday afternoon, there weren’t a lot of ushers around and it’s a multi-plex. The multi-plex lends itself to movie hopping potential.
For the record we saw “Crazy, Stupid, Love” which was worth the price of admission and then hopped to “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”.
Kinda glad I didn’t pay for that last one.
Putrid.
I’m a little embarrassed to admit that my teenage son suggested we movie hop. I’m not embarrassed that I did the movie hop with my kid, only that I didn’t think of it first. Damn kids are too smart for their own good.
Times are tough, the economy is sluggish. I’m all for stretching my entertainment dollar as far as I can.
I suppose I should feel guilt; movie hopping doesn’t reek of leading by parental example but honestly, I don’t feel that bad when movies are $7.50 a piece (and that’s a matinee). I’m pretty sure the fine people at Paramount or Fox Studios of whoever it was that didn’t benefit from our extra $15 in ticket sales will find another way to fleece the movie going public.
Despite my novice standing in movie-hopping, I am an expert in the sneaking in of concessions. When a small diet coke is roughly the same price as a 12-pack at the Pick-N-Save…all’s fair in love and smuggling. It’s all about survival.
I highly recommend stopping at Walgreens for the boxed movie candy. Nine times out of ten they are on sale for $1 a box which is far more reasonable then AMCs take- it-in- the -shorts price of $4.25 for a box of Junior Mints.
Popcorn is a bit trickier, but it can be done. A ziploc freezer bag will hold plenty of popcorn and can typically be shoved in the arm of a jacket. Carry the jacket in over your arm. In the summer months a big purse works well. Empty out everything you don’t need, carry your wallet and stuff in the much needed provisions.
The movie-hop was great fun. We probably had success because it was a Friday afternoon, there weren’t a lot of ushers around and it’s a multi-plex. The multi-plex lends itself to movie hopping potential.
For the record we saw “Crazy, Stupid, Love” which was worth the price of admission and then hopped to “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”.
Kinda glad I didn’t pay for that last one.
Putrid.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The price is, uh, right?
At the risk of tooting my own horn, I must say, I am really good at the tye dye thing. The creation part of the tye dye process is something I have perfected. I don’t do a lot of fancy stuff. No peace signs or wonky stripes. I do a lovely classic spiral. I have excellent color saturation and intensity. My colors are clean and vibrant – not muddied. I know what I am doing.
I am not so good at the administrative part. Every year I vow to get “really organized” with my receipts so I am not spending the better part of three weekends every January organizing the receipts I should have been organizing during the year, in order to do my tax return.
Every year I fail. Yes, another failed resolution on my behalf, right next to lose more weight and save more money. I suck at those too.
My little tye dye opportunity is not exactly a money maker. It’s more like a break-even hobby. I probably clear enough for a few pedicures or a couple of nice dinners out. Last year I lost money. Craptastic. So I finally dug into the “why” I lost money. You know, a mere 6 months later. I’m nothing if not timely.
Well, first off the price of cotton has increased like 80%. I’m not sure who to thank for that.
A New York Times article indicated it was a supply and demand imbalance. I probably should have paid better attention in economics class. Regardless – the cost of all my blanks (the white stuff before it’s dyed) costs more now. And the cost of dye has gone up. I don’t think there is a supply and demand imbalance with dye. I think they cost just went up because it could. But for some reason cotton is way more expensive then synthetic fibers. Natural fiber is in and it’s going to cost more to get it.
So basically I wasn’t charging enough. I had to raise my prices, which I really didn’t want to do but geez-oh-petes I have to break even on the stuff at least. And like most artists, I barely factor in my time. It takes T-I-M-E to make this stuff, peeps. Tye dye doesn’t grow on trees.
My first show is in July with my “new and improved” pricing and I’ll be really curious to see how much of a ripple it makes with the buying public.
There are, of course, small populations of people who want hand-made items at Wal-Mart prices. I generally ignore them anyway. These are the same people who wonder why their RIT tye dye experiment turned all their laundry a dingy shade of grey. But for the folks that buy local and handmade, will a $2 price differential be enough to drive them away and into the arms of Target or will they still see the value in buying handmade?
Time will tell. I’ll report back after July 16th.
I am not so good at the administrative part. Every year I vow to get “really organized” with my receipts so I am not spending the better part of three weekends every January organizing the receipts I should have been organizing during the year, in order to do my tax return.
Every year I fail. Yes, another failed resolution on my behalf, right next to lose more weight and save more money. I suck at those too.
My little tye dye opportunity is not exactly a money maker. It’s more like a break-even hobby. I probably clear enough for a few pedicures or a couple of nice dinners out. Last year I lost money. Craptastic. So I finally dug into the “why” I lost money. You know, a mere 6 months later. I’m nothing if not timely.
Well, first off the price of cotton has increased like 80%. I’m not sure who to thank for that.
A New York Times article indicated it was a supply and demand imbalance. I probably should have paid better attention in economics class. Regardless – the cost of all my blanks (the white stuff before it’s dyed) costs more now. And the cost of dye has gone up. I don’t think there is a supply and demand imbalance with dye. I think they cost just went up because it could. But for some reason cotton is way more expensive then synthetic fibers. Natural fiber is in and it’s going to cost more to get it.
So basically I wasn’t charging enough. I had to raise my prices, which I really didn’t want to do but geez-oh-petes I have to break even on the stuff at least. And like most artists, I barely factor in my time. It takes T-I-M-E to make this stuff, peeps. Tye dye doesn’t grow on trees.
My first show is in July with my “new and improved” pricing and I’ll be really curious to see how much of a ripple it makes with the buying public.
There are, of course, small populations of people who want hand-made items at Wal-Mart prices. I generally ignore them anyway. These are the same people who wonder why their RIT tye dye experiment turned all their laundry a dingy shade of grey. But for the folks that buy local and handmade, will a $2 price differential be enough to drive them away and into the arms of Target or will they still see the value in buying handmade?
Time will tell. I’ll report back after July 16th.
Friday, October 29, 2010
It comes in threes
My mother has this saying that bad things come in threes. Three bad things will typically happen in quick succession. Then the bad luck is over. Bad of course, is a relative term. Bad doesn’t always mean death or illness. But it pretty much always involves unexpected expenses.
I am into my 2nd set of threes in the last ten days. Any more bad stuff and I’ll be swinging from a rope…or bankrupt.
I am into my 2nd set of threes in the last ten days. Any more bad stuff and I’ll be swinging from a rope…or bankrupt.
- Ocotober 13th: Fistulotomy. Two blog entries on this subject alone. A fistulotomy by itself should count as three things. I’m still waiting for the bill but I’m guessing $2,800 for my portion of the deductible.
- October 17th: My dryer decided to start making a very bad noise. The kind of noise that would generate a call to the repairman. Lucky for me my spouse works for a major appliance company. The good news he had a direct access to the service manager. The bad news is the noise correlates to the type of repair “not worth fixing” because the repair is only slightly less than a new dryer.
- October 18th: The garage door wouldn’t go all the way down. Upon further inspection by said husband, the gears were stripped. Happily the fix was only $47 on a part purchased from Amazon.com, 8 hours of spousal labor and 6 days of parking our cars in the driveway. And I found out at my routine dental appointment I need a crown and not the princess sparkly kind either. One of my teeth currently has a silver filling. The silver filling is cracked threatening to break the tooth. I’m putting this repair off until January, giving up popcorn and chewing very carefully on the right side of my mouth. My portion of the crown will be $600. Oh boy. October 18th wasn’t a banner day. I probably shouldn’t have left the house.
- October 20th: Rolled my ankle walking to my car. I’m nothing if not graceful. This one didn’t cost me anything other than a handful of ibuprofen and a swollen foot for 3 days. Nice.
- October 23th: Hit my head on the door of the dryer. Hit it hard. Hard enough to cause tears, a goose egg and a bruise that still hurts 3 days later. Again, this one only cost me my pride and a bag of ice.
- October 24th: The pump on the washing machine fails. This explains the stationary tub full of sopping wet clothes which I wrung out by hand. The good news – the machine has the extended warranty and the repair dude is coming on Thursday. Praise the lord.
- October 29th: My car is scheduled for new tires. Ironically this is the one event that was planned but now feels like a big financial inconvenience. And seriously, is there anything more un-fun then spending $500 on new tires. $500 buys a lot of shoes…or wine…which I need to drink to drown my sorrows and block out the financial hemorrhaging.
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