Owner: The Fashion & Beauty Bargain Queens URL:http://fashion.thebargainqueen.com Join Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 01:32:52 -0500 Rating:1 Site Description: The very best fashion & beauty deals online, to help you look great on your pay cheque. Site statistics:Click here
I'm in Melbourne 2006-10-20 07:21:35 I’m in Melbourne
for a few days and ‘Real Life’ isn’t leaving much time to blog. I’ll be back in Sydney on Wednesday and will post an update then. See you soon!
New section: Looking after yourself 2006-10-16 01:50:11 As I’ve mentioned before, I’m starting to turn all the interesting posts I’ve written on this blog into a book manuscript, in the hope that one day a publisher will pay a small bucket of money for it. So far, I’m grouping posts into ‘chapters’ on particular topics. I’ve just added another section:
Section Three: Looking after yourself
Being your fabulous best on not-so-much cash.
Chapter Five — Health and fitness
Chapter Six — Clothing and style
Chapter Seven — Grooming and beauty
If you’d like to see all my progress so far, take a look at The Guide.
Good hair matters, but needn't cost a heap 2006-10-14 03:43:12 I’ve been writing a lot about personal style lately, and no series on style is complete without talking about hair. If you want to look great, you need to pay at least minimal attention to your hair because it’s such a noticeable part of your overall grooming. Straggly, poorly-kempt hair tells the world that self-care activities are a low priority to you. In this time-poor age, we have to size each other up so quickly that appearances really do count.
As with all elements of personal style, good hair tells the world that you know and like yourself. A great hairstyle works with your hair’s natural texture, thickness, colour and type (straight/wavy/curly). It also has to suit your facial features, skin tone, body type, lifestyle and personality. In other words, it takes self-knowledge and self-acceptance to get there. It also takes a good hairdresser, to guide you towards a great style and then create it for you.
Personally, I splurge on hairdressing. I would rather go Read more:matters
When to adjust your budget? 2006-10-10 12:19:47 [Another budget
ing tip from Mr Bargain Queen…]
In response to a previous budgeting post, Terry asked:
Mr BQ, How often do you tweak your budget?
In my experience, a well-estimated budget should only need tweaking when:
Your income changes (Cut back to 3 days a week work? Think about the areas in which you can reduce your spending.)
Your needs change (ie. Want to join a gym? You need to find that monthly fee somewhere…)
Price increases mean the original targets you allocated are regularly coming under strain. (eg. Gas price increases)
Hopefully, this means you should only need to adjust
your spending allocations a couple of times a year.
Hint: For things like heating bills, which fluctuate wildly during a year, estimate the annual total you need, and keep track of it that way. So if you've set $400 a quarter and in the summer it's only $200 but in winter it's $600, you're immune from "bill shock".
[Got a budgeting question of your own? Leave a comment for Mr Ba
Personal style: a rock chick at 50 2006-10-06 06:41:35 A reader, Maggie, asked a great personal style question:
As an almost 50 I feel that I'm about to take another style jump! My personal dilemma is my own self image as a bit of a "rock chick
", a style which I have carried off without a hitch until recently. My fear of looking, as my dear eldest would say, like "mutton" has led to a classier version of this style, but I am still resistant to the "classic" dressing a lot of women my age resort to. Are we supposedto let our individaulity go at my age and start blending in? Its hard to get clothes which fulfil my middle aged classy rock chick fantasy, so I tend to mix it up a lot, department store classic mixed with more edgy t shits and accessories. Markets and shops lke Dangerfield have great cheap little badges and earrrings.
I love questions like this because they’re about true personal style that transcends fashion. Maggie knows what works for her and wants to stick with it rather than jumping on the ‘50-somet Read more:Personal
eBay free listings: is this real? 2006-10-05 04:58:33 I got an interesting email this morning from eBay. It said:
Would you like five free* listings
?
We've noticed that it's been a while since you sold something on eBay. We missed you and we are not afraid to say it.
Now that over three million Aussies are trading on eBay - there are more potential buyers waiting for you than ever.
To show you how much we missed you selling on eBay, we are giving you five free* listings during the first week of October. [their emphasis]
This is an exclusive offer only available to members who receive this email.
It then had some links for more information and the usual privacy policy.
The email headers look genuine to my non-expert eyes, so as far as I can tell, this really did come from eBay.
You’ll notice that it’s already over halfway through the first week of October, but I’m not in a position to criticise anyone else for occasional lapses in punctuality!
The thing that did concern me was in the ‘find out more’ page
We're featured in this week's Festival of Frugality! 2006-10-03 05:50:42 Mr Bargain Queen’s budgeting tip post, A dollar spent is a dollar spent, is featured in this week’s Festival
of Frugality
over at Tired but happy. Congratulations Mr Bargain Queen!
My other favourite post in this week’s Festival is How Not to Be Frugal: Too Many Magazine Subscriptions from J.D. at Get Rich Slowly.
Magazines are one of my weaknesses and I’ve been thinking of signing up for one of those cheapie subscriptions myself. Even after paying to shipping to Australia, a yearly subscription to my favourite U.S. magazines would cost the same as four or five copies on the newsstand. It sounds like a great deal… but I currently buy two to three copies a year, so it would actually cost me more to do it! And really, I don’t need to look at more pretty pictures of things I can’t afford. So no magazine subscriptions for me!
Rental renovating 2006-10-03 05:05:00 An article I wrote for Digs Magazine was published today. It’s called Rental
Renovating: The Return and has a bunch of tips for making rented places look nicer. If you’re interested, go take a look!
Insure financial health, because you can't ensure good health 2006-09-30 07:50:18 Today I’m going to talk about one of the biggest financial mistakes I’ve ever made, in the hope that someone else who reads this will think twice before they do the same thing.
My mistake was to think that because I was young, healthy and very fit, I didn’t need private health insurance.
(A bit of background for non-Australian readers, since this is a really obviously dumb decision if you’re somewhere like the U.S. where the whole health system is user-pays. Over here, until recently, our health system system wasn’t like that. We had a great public health system, so if you were seriously ill you got good-quality medical care, even if you were too poor to pay for it. The current government has basically dismantled that, but most people believe the system is still the same as it once was. It’s not until they (or someone they’re close to) get sick that they discover how much our system is now like the U.S. So I wasn’t entirely stupid to thin Read more:Insure
, ensure
Beijing Baby's personal style journey 2006-09-27 00:42:39 An aside to my ongoing series on finding your personal style… (last update is over here)
Beijing
Baby has written about the evolution of her style so far, with lots of pictures. See part one, part two and part three. I found it interesting to see what she wore for teenage life, and how it’s changed as she moves into the adult world. She’s also very candid about sharing what she thinks about each of those outfits now!
It’s curious that everyone who shares the development of their personal style online is younger than me though. Is it unseemly for a late-twenty-something like me to be fascinated by personal style? Am I old enough that other things are supposed to have become more important? Or am I simply looking in the wrong corner of the web? We still have to get dressed each morning, keep a wardrobe full of suitable clothing for our daily lives and work out what to buy when we’re out shopping, so I’d be really surprised if I’m the only ‘
No use keeping too many "useful' things 2006-10-29 10:57:28 Reading a post Tam wrote about wardrobe cleanouts a few weeks ago (which has since disappeared) got me thinking some about the things
I’m hoarding in my wardrobe and around my house.
I freely admit that I hoard things I really don’t need. I grew up poor, so I didn’t throw things out if there was any possibility I’d need them in the future — because I knew I wouldn’t have money for another one. I also keep things I don’t need for sentimental reasons, as though I can hold onto life’s finer moments by keeping the detritus of those moments handy. Then there’s the things I keep because they’d be perfect for the life I wish I had… but are pretty much useless for the life I do have.
In my wardrobe, keeping those ‘useful’ things causes a lot of problems. Half my wardrobe consists of corporate attire for the great job I had before I got sick; the other half is full of evening wear for the life of fabulous parties I wi
I'm back! 2006-10-28 01:19:44 I’ve been back from Melbourne for a couple of days. I’ve caught up on email, responded to all the comments people left while I was away, sorted out a few things at home… I guess I should get back to blogging!
So many comments! 2006-11-05 01:52:24 I’ve been offline for a few days with the ‘flu, and came back to heaps of comments. I guess my post on hoarding too many useful things struck a chord!
Good thing considering I’ve just started writing another post about clutter…
I’ve responded to all the comments I received in the last few days now — go take a look if you’re waiting for a reply.
Clearing away the digital clutter 2006-11-06 04:43:01 For the last couple of days, I’ve been working on a different sort of de-clutter
ing exercise: clearing out my computer. It will save me far more time than money, but since they say time is money, I thought I’d write about it.
I decided it was time to do something like this because all my digital clutter was making life difficult. For example:
I had so much software, digital photos, mp3s, ancient work files and random downloaded stuff on my laptop that it was running really slowly.
I didn’t know what was worth backing up any more and what should just be deleted.
When I needed to find examples of my old work, I had to hunt through a my laptop, a badly-organised external hard drive and roughly 50 CDs of backups to find it. I often gave up before I found what I needed.
I had thousands of digital photos on my computer and no idea what many of them are — or whether they’re even worth keeping. (I’d like to delete all ugly photos of myself ever taken!)
iTun Read more:Clearing
The best consignment shop in Sydney 2006-11-08 02:07:25
I have a new favourite consignment store, so I thought I’d share it with my Sydney
readers.
The Frock Exchange is part of the Belinda empire of fabulous boutiques and is a great place to pick up some beautiful clothes for a lot less than retail — or sell any designer pieces you no longer need.
Mr Bargain Queen’s stepmother took me along when she went to check out “the place all her clients are raving about” a few months ago, and I was very pleasantly surprised. Unlike most of the other Belinda stores, where I LOVE the stock but my budget doesn’t, I can actually afford the lovely things in The Frock Exchange!
The beautiful clothes they stock still aren’t super-cheap, but for the quality you get, they’re well worth the money. It’s the kind of place I look for my wardrobe staples, because it’s well worth paying for quality for things I wear every day. That includes the gorgeous winter coat I bought there at the start of the seas
Meet the Queen! 2006-11-09 01:02:29 Mr Bargain Queen
and I will be going to the inaugural Sydney Weblogger Meet-up on November 23rd and we’d like to personally invite any other Sydney bloggers reading this to come too.
We’re taking it upon ourselves to try to balance out the geek factor by encouraging all the lovely ladies and hot blokes blogging about fashion, shopping or anything remotely related to attend.
If Mr Bargain Queen and I aren’t enough of a draw, Australia’s #1 fashion blogger Coolchiq and our newest great shopping blogger Slave to Shopping will also be there. The fine people from Camarilla and Sassybella have also said they’ll try to make it, schedules permitting.
As for other potential attendees, the people behind Limes & Lycopene (a nutrition blog), Mr Science Show, OnVoiceOver (news for Australian creatives) and Hoyden About Town have all RSVPed ‘maybe’, so there should be a diverse and interesting bunch there… including my dear friend Cathy from Blood
Sale, clearance or quit stock: which is best? 2006-11-09 22:52:26 So you’d like to go bargain shopping for some fabulous cheap clothes — sales are great for that, right? Well… maybe.
In retail, there are three main types of ’sale’ and knowing the difference makes it much easier to find the best bargains.
A sale is now a very regular event in a lot of stores. Department stores hold sales because they create a big buzz (and really boost the sales figures) for a relatively small discount. Typically, when the sale signs go up, most stock is marked down by only 10-20%, if it’s discounted at all.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother with sales, just that you should know what to look for. The things I buy at sales include:
very specific items (i.e. not just any black top, this black top) that are likely to sell out before they make it to further rounds of markdowns
premium designer jeans and accessories that are rarely discounted more than 20%
items that are notoriously difficult to find, like unusual sizes
I'm in the paper! 2006-11-10 00:39:01 Our local paper
, the Inner-West Weekly, has a story about The Bargain Queen in this week’s issue called Sara just loves a bargain (definitely an accurate headline!).
If you’re in Sydney’s inner west you can see it in the print edition, or click the link above to read it online.
Save money on imported magazines 2006-11-13 00:13:39 Two quick tips for people like me who regard a steady supply of imported
fashion magazines to be one of life’s “essentials”:
Borders is by far the cheapest place I’ve found to buy them in Sydney. For example, a current issue of US Vogue costs $12.50 there, instead of the $26.95 some newsagents charge! (Surprisingly, the airport newsagents are pretty good too.)
Remember to check your local library. The City of Sydney Library has US Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, French Vogue, Italian Vogue, Esquire, The Face and the New Yorker on offer — and they offer a handy reading room near Town Hall Station where you can sit and read the latest copies.
Happy reading!
Cheap eats in Sydney: my new $5 steak place 2006-11-13 23:39:20
I’m booked every Wednesday night until whenever because I’ve just found something I’ve sought for months: a new $5 steak place!
I love pub grub, but since the food at The Lansdowne went, well, downhill (I know, bad pun) I’ve been searching for a new place to go for the occasional good cheap steak.
I just found a new $5 steak place, and I’m actually tempted to keep it to myself so it doesn’t get any more crowded — but I’d be a pretty bad Bargain Queen if I never shared the best tips.
So here it is:
Equilibrium in World Square have a $5 all-you-can-eat BBQ every Wednesday night.
It’s a fantastic deal: the food’s great for the money; the drinks are only moderately over-priced; the decor’s nice and the crowd isn’t all suits. The BBQ dude cooks all the meat to order, which means there’s always a queue but it’s worth the wait. He’s also very understanding of people on gluten-free diets like me.
As well Read more:Cheap
, Sydney
Christmas gift idea: gorgeous bargain bags 2006-11-15 02:56:02 I’ve been deliberately ignoring the impending Christmas
season for as long as possible because I hate the way it takes over retail in September and doesn’t leave ’til January… but I had to pass this on for all the males out there who don’t want to think about gifts for the woman in their life until at least December 23rd. (You know who you are!)
If you’re looking for a wonderful, extravagant Christmas gift for your wife or girlfriend, here’s an idea: a designer handbag. If you can afford one, they’re an appropriate ‘thank you’ for the woman who makes you happy, loves you to bits, bears your children and only nags occasionally!
At full price, they’ll still break most budgets — but I’ve found some lovely bags at 70% off, which is a little more realistic (as well as a cheaper option at the end). Remember, this isn’t an everyday purchase. Any of these bags will last for years and look beautiful the whole ti Read more:gorgeous
We're in this week's Festival of Frugality 2006-11-15 23:25:07 We’re in this week’s Festival
of Frugality
, over at Experiments in Finance. For some great money-saving tips, go and take a look.
My personal favourites this week are:
A guide to book swapping services online. I never knew these existed but they’re a brilliant idea — I’ll have to give it a go!
5 ways to save money on haircuts. For the boys of course. The Bargain Queen never skimps on haircuts!
Don’t make this shopping mistake at the grocery store - it’ll cost you. Bigger quantities aren’t always cheaper.
New York City on a budget. Fantastic tips for the traveller!
Adult allowances. A great idea for making room in your budget for the fun things in life. Mr Bargain Queen and I do this too — we each have a ‘play money’ allowance every week that we can spend on anything we want. We don’t account for where it goes and don’t have to justify what we spend it on to one another (no matter how frivolous). It’s
Five people you need to talk to about money 2006-11-20 02:43:26 I recently shocked Mr Bargain Queen by talking very frankly about my financial position with a new doctor. To me this was completely necessary because I have a chronic illness and being coquettish about money in the past has left me with medical bills I really couldn’t afford. To Mr Bargain Queen, it was surprising behaviour because he doesn’t talk to many people
about money — and neither do I.
Money is possibly the most taboo topic of conversation in our society. To many people, talking about sex or politics at the dinner table is far more acceptable than discussing your finances. It's a topic that many close friends never discuss, and some families don't either!
People fear a variety of negative consequences if they talk about money. They might be ripped off or have money stolen from them; they might suddenly find themselves with more (or fewer) friends if the state of their finances was public; they may be perceived as boastful if they're well off and say so;
Where to find great Australian fashion blogs 2006-11-21 00:51:48 Fashion blogging is just taking off in Australia, and shopping blogs aren’t far behind — but you wouldn’t know it from this (otherwise fantastic) story on fashion blogging that News.com.au ran yesterday. All the blogs they mentioned are great, but none of them are Australian
… where’s the local angle?
I’m not going to rant at the journalists though, because Australian fashion and shopping blogs are notoriously difficult to find. Google, Technorati and Google Blog Search are still ignoring most of us, which means only fashion obsessives (like me) know where to look.
To make them a little easier to find, I compiled a list of the top ten Australian fashion and shopping blogs using AustralianBlogs.com.au, The Australian Index and Technorati.
Without further ado, here’s the list:
Top 10 Australian Fashion and Shopping Blogs
Coolchiq (fashion)
Style is everything, comfort is nothing.
Technorati rank: 41,891 (186 links from 76 blogs)
The Bargain Quee
Enjoy fashion trends responsibly: four rules 2006-11-22 07:41:03 Do you feel as conflicted about following fashion trends as I do? On the one hand, new trends mean pretty new things, and I love pretty new things. On the other hand, changing trends make perfectly functional items completely undesirable, which is bad for both the wallet and the planet.
It is possible to enjoy the latest trends, save money and look after the environment, but it takes a little effort. After years of working to find the balance, I’ve whittled it down to four rules (and some tips for sticking to them):
Rule One: Don’t follow all the trends.
Different things suit different people — and buying things that don’t work for you is destined to be a waste of money and resources.
No matter how pretty it is, if this season’s must-have looks ugly on you or doesn’t suit your lifestyle, you need to put it back on the rack and walk away. For me, that means no shiny pants because I have saddle bags, and no day-time stilettos because I walk everywhere
Top 10 Australian fashion blogs: UPDATED 2006-11-22 23:40:32 An update to the ‘Top 10 Australian
fashion and shopping blogs’ list I posted a couple of days ago, because I accidentally left someone out! Oops!
Here’s the updated list:
Coolchiq (fashion)
Style is everything, comfort is nothing.
Technorati rank: 41,891 (186 links from 76 blogs)
The Bargain Queen (shopping)
The "babe on a budget' blog. (Me! Yay!)
Technorati rank: 59,192 (112 links from 54 blogs) (new URL); 49,673 (189 links from 64 blogs) (old URL)
Karina XOXO (fashion)
Style, beauty, retail therapy & more… All brought to you by a self-confessed cosmetic & fashion addict.
Technorati rank: 68,617 (100 links from 47 blogs)
Style Space (fashion)
Clothes, shoes, models and designers from hobo chic to high-end.
Technorati rank: 79,048 (110 links from 41 blogs)
The Style Police (celebrity fashion)
Pop culture for dummies.
Technorati rank: 128,934 (34 links from 26 blogs)
Camarilla (fashion)
The hottest in Australian independent fashion.
Technorati ran
Five rules of shopping 2006-11-24 23:33:38 It’s been an unintentionally numeric week here (Top 10 Australian fashion blogs, 5 people you need to talk to about money, 4 rules for enjoying trends responsibly) so I’m going to finish on the same note — with someone else’s great numeric-themed post.
Over at the Buffalo State Fashion blog, Julie has posted 5 rules of shopping. Her rules:
Look beyond what you always buy.
Always try it on.
It’s gotta be comfortable and flattering.
Ask yourself: can you afford it? do you really need it?
If you still love it, buy it.
More on her blog.
Crazy Christmas shopping 2006-11-27 02:08:44 Christmas is the perfect time to go totally insane, and it’s now less than a month away.
Want to make this Christmas the craziest ever? Here’s how to do it:
Start shopping on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve is the perfect time to start your crazy Christmas shopping. The shops are so crowded you can hardly move, but the shelves have been emptied of most of the best gifts. If you are lucky enough to find a great present for someone, you’ll only have to wait half an hour or so to pay for it.
You get bonus points if you start shopping after work on Christmas Eve. The store-to-store sprint while shoving slow-moving shoppers from your path is an advanced form of Christmas craziness.
Go somewhere new
Doing your Christmas shopping in stores you’ve never visited before is great. The crowds of impatient regulars will jostle you in the direction of the sock section sooner or later… oh hang on, those are saucepans. Where are the socks again? Do they sell socks here?
Don& Read more:Christmas
, Crazy
Easy Christmas shopping 2006-11-28 23:50:09 Christmas is less than a month away, which means buying presents is about to become an urgent, important activity. It doesn’t have to be difficult though.
If you’d like to avoid some of the hassles crazy Christmas shopping brings, here’s some tips for making Christmas shopping easy this year.
Make a list and check it twice
List everyone you will buy for and how much you want to spend on them. Make sure the total is within your budget. Trim the list if you need to. (Who’s been naughty? Who’s been nice?)
Stick to the list!
Don’t buy gifts for people who weren’t important enough to make it onto your list, and try not to overspend on the ‘perfect’ gift no matter how much you love the recipient.
Buy multi-pack cards.
A single card can cost almost as much as box of 10!
Recycle wrapping paper.
If it’s nice paper and in good condition, then you can enjoy it all over again. And it’s environmentally friendly.
If you didn’t Read more:Christmas
Christmas gift ideas: bargains in Australia 2006-11-30 00:43:22 Shopping for Christmas
gifts can be expensive and time-consuming — unless you know where to go to get all the things you want at the best prices.
To make it a little bit easier for Australia
n readers, I’ve put together a list of all the best places in Australia to buy nice gifts at discounted prices. I’ve also highlighted the things that you can buy online if you’d like to avoid the crowds altogether.
Alcohol
If you’d like to give a nice bottle of Scotch as a gift, or you just want to save money on drinks for Christmas Day, 1st Choice Liquor Superstores is the place to go. They have stores in ACT, NSW, Qld, SA and Vic. You can read more about 1st Choice Liquor Superstores here.
Books
Borders have a great ‘cheap books’ section that often has great-looking gift books at bargain prices. For example, I recently saw a sushi-making set (book and utensils) for under $20. Borders have stores in ACT, NSW, Qld, SA Vic and WA.
Online! If you’re lik Read more:ideas
Recommend Site To A Friend
