Posts filed under 'Shopping'
In addition to the free events, I wanted to mention two other things going on in Portland on April 19. Both are frugal and help the greater good.
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Eat Mobile: Food Cart Festival
April 19
On Air, 1300 N. River Street off the Albina Max Stop
5:30 pm–9:30 pm
All Ages
For $5.00, you can sample cuisine from 11 local food carts: Altengartz Bratwurst, Asian Station Cafe, Biggs Bros Wings, Hacienda CDC (homemade tamales), India Chaat House, Junior Ambassador, Julia’s Mobile Cafe (Russian food), Moxie RX, NW Hotdogs, Tabor (Czech food), Tita’s Pista (Filipino food). Plus, BridgePort beers for $1, FREE Vitamin Water, and music by Jack Straw. 100% of the proceeds benefit Mercy Corps NW and Hacienda CDC. Sponsored by Willamette Week.
via Portland Food Carts
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Buffalo Exchange Dollar Day Sale benefiting Galapagos Conservancy
Buffalo Exchange, source of hip used clothing, is having a $1 sale on April 19. Proceeds from the sale will go to Galapagos Conservancy to fund its efforts to repopulate Pinta Island with Espanola tortoises. Buffalo Exchange has two locations in Portland: one at 1036 W. Burnside, and the other at 1420 SE 37th Avenue. For more information, visit the Buffalo Exchange website.
via Portland Mercury Mod Blog
April 18th, 2008
A couple of weeks ago, I was at Joe’s purchasing a pair of running shoes. The sales associate looked at my size 6 women’s shoes and said, “Size 6…you could take advantage of deals on kids’ sizes!”
Yes, he’s right. A women’s size 6 is a kids’ size 4, and sometimes great deals can be had in the kids’ section. In fact, I own 2 pairs of Columbia shoes that are a kids’ size 4.5. I bought them because they fit well, and the prices were incredibly low, much lower than the adult styles.
Here’s an example of how much prices can differ. At Zappos.com, I queried the kids’ and women’s versions of the Keen Newport sandal. The one on the left is the women’s version; the one of the right is the kids’ version. The women’s version costs $100.95, while the kids’ version costs $60.95.
Now, bear in mind, we are not comparing apples to apples; they are different shoes. But if you find that a kids’ shoe fits great, looks good and does what you want it to do, it could be an awesome deal over an adult style.
The same goes for clothing. If you’re a size small or x-small—men, this applies to you too—it may be worth taking a look at the kids’ section. Personally, I have purchased sweats, t-shirts, pajama pants, and other loungewear in kids’ XL and XXL. Sometimes these types of items fit me better in kids’ sizes than adult.
As with any purchase, be sure you’ll actually wear the items or you won’t be saving any money. And personally, I would stick to age-neutral attire, lest Stacy and Clinton from the Fashion Police come knocking. (Although getting $5,000 for a new wardrobe would not be the worst thing in the world!)
Shopping for clothes based on fit, style and function—and not restricting yourself to a particular department or size—can save you money. No one has to know….
(Kudos to whoever can identify the origin of the quote in the title.)
August 14th, 2007
Portlander Jon Jacob recently introduced me to his website thriftmapper.com. The site is designed to help people find and map garage sales in and around Portland.
Jon, a self-proclaimed garage sale maniac, created thriftmapper to address his own frustrations about finding sales: “I used to read through 100 or more garage sale listings to find the ones that were not too far away and sounded at all interesting. It was time-consuming and frankly frustrating….I just wanted to know where the big groups of sales were. I found myself wanting an organizing tool.”
On thriftmapper, garage sale seekers can search for sales by area (SE Portland, Vancouver, Tigard, etc.), type of sale (estate sale, multi-family, neighborhood sale, etc.) and date. Thriftmapper then lists all of the sales that meet the criteria and maps their location using Google Maps. Anyone can advertise their sale for free.
Additional features are available for registered users. Registration is free and Jon assures that personal information will never be shared. While anyone can post an ad, only registered users can go back in and edit their ad. Registered users can sign up to receive listings of sales via email and can customize their email updates by location and frequency of delivery. With the “Favorites” feature, users can select sales that interest them. The site stores the listings and displays them on one map.
Thriftmapper also has a blog and forum, where bargain hunters can connect with each other, as well as comment on the site.
I’ve signed up and have taken a look around. Anyone hosting a sale should definitely add thriftmapper to their ad campaign. It’s free and does not require sign-up. While the more advanced search features are rough around the edges, I think thriftmapper is most useful for finding a critical mass of sales quickly. There’s definitely potential for a great resource here, and I’ll be keeping my eye on it.
Thriftmapper can be found here: http://www.thriftmapper.com/
July 10th, 2007
This is somewhat unrelated to saving money, but it is about simplifying your life, getting a tax break and, most importantly, helping others. I hope you’ll bear with me.
There’s a group that I’m involved with called Women in Portland Publishing (WiPP). We’re sponsoring a book drive in Portland benefiting 3 organizations:
WiPP is collecting new and used books for these organizations. Scroll down a little further to find out more about the needs of each group.
The drive runs from June 27 to August 3, 2007.
You can drop off books at these local businesses. If you are interested in donating new books, please consider buying from these stores.
The benefits of participating are:
- Your donation is tax deductible.
- This is an opportunity to clean out your bookshelves of books that are collecting dust and cluttering your life.
- This is, most importantly, a way to help fellow Oregonians. The more literate, educated, entertained people we have in Oregon, the better.
More information on the organizations and their needs:
Regence Boys & Girls Club of North Portland just opened its doors on June 18, 2007. Their library is currently empty, so there is a real need here. They are looking for both new and used books for youths ages 6–18.
Books to Oregon Prisoners and Portland Books to Prisoners strive to bring books into prison libraries and directly into the hands of inmates. They have a need for books covering topics such as history, science, indigenous studies, women’s/feminism studies, African-American studies, Latina/o studies, and books in Spanish. Science fiction and fantasy are also welcome, as are dictionaries and thesauruses. They cannot accept books that contain depictions of weapons, martial arts, or nudity. They have a need for both new and used books: used books will be added to prison libraries, and new books will be mailed directly to inmates.
Please feel free to tell others about the drive. Here’s a press release that gives a little more info: 2007_bookdrivepr.pdf
July 6th, 2007
I had a great time at the Eastmoreland Garage Sale on Saturday. The weather was perfect, clear but not hot. As always, I loved walking the neighborhood and looking at the gorgeous houses and gardens. I was particularly intrigued by these purple flowers.
But of course, I was there for business, first and foremost. Purchase-wise, it was a light day. I didn’t find a whole lot that I needed or wanted. Most of the things I got were on the frivolous side, but for the price, I couldn’t resist. I bought:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (hardcover) in excellent condition: $1
6 gift bags, new (the seller owned a stationery business): $2.75
Witch’s hat (hello Halloween!): 50 cents
Bag of popcorn from 2 boys: 50 cents
Donut: 50 cents
Bottled water: $1
Silver elephant bank (I have a thing for elephants): $1
Last but not least, my best purchase of the day:
Stock advice from a little girl…I mean, young Wall Street female up-and-comer: 50 cents.
Hallelujah, I need all the help I can get! I gladly handed over my money, and she gave me a paper-clipped stack of index cards. As they say, great wisdom often comes in the most unassuming of packages.
Her hot picks in no particular order:
“apple conputer is a really useful difice including teknolg and fun!”
“Worner music is a wonderful seence it sponsers so mony famis singers such as Avril Lavigne it is garinted to do well”
“Disney is a wonderful stock becaus it is good for all ages”
I couldn’t have asked for better advice. Unfortunately, she did not let me keep the cards. Very shrewd.
Full of bargains, imagination and charm, the Eastmoreland Garage Sale is one of my favorite summer events. I’ll definitely be back next year.
June 24th, 2007
In case you didn’t get a chance to go to the Eastmoreland Neighborhood Garage Sale today, but are thinking of going tomorrow, here’s the map of participating homes and descriptions of what they are selling.
Please note that S/O means “Saturday only.” Those opportunities have come and gone. But a little over 40 homes will still have their doors open tomorrow. Happy shopping!
Click on image to enlarge.
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June 24th, 2007
I am a garage sale fiend.
As such, one of the highlights of summer in Portland is the Eastmoreland Neighborhood Garage Sale.
Each year on the weekend after Father’s Day, more than 100 households push their “junk” outdoors to the delight of “salers” young and old.
That means that this year’s sale is this weekend, Saturday, June 23, and Sunday, June 24.
On Saturday, my plan is to start early, about 8 am. First stop will be the Eastmoreland Grocery to get the free map that displays all participating homes and a description of what they are selling. Then I’ll likely walk around for 3, 4, 5, maybe 6 hours. The thrill of the hunt makes the hours fly by, and the beauty of the neighborhood makes one not want to leave too quickly.
So if you’re in the area, come out and join the fun. Bring small bills, water, sunscreen, and most importantly…pray for sun!
Eastmoreland is located in SE Portland. Click here for a map.
June 21st, 2007
