so what’s this groupon shit anyway?

last year when groupon really busted onto the scene in maine, i must have gotten like 48 emails from friends and family members telling me that i should think/write/talk/pee my pants about it.

so i checked it out… and frankly, it left me a little limp (boner analogy intended).

now conceptually, i think it’s a great idea: 1 deal, limited time, limited avialabilty… the deep discount IS seductive, as is the fact that there needs to be enough people taking the deal in order for it to be valid.  but for some reason, i was expecting to be completely blown away, and i just wasn’t.

for example, today’s portland deal is a discount car wash.  i’m sure a lot of people are really enthusiastic about this with the salt/slush tornado that’s been going on here lately, but me, not so much. i suppose with a site like this, it is a bit optimistic for me to expect that the daily deal to appeal to me even the majority of the time… but to date, there has only been one deal that has even vaguely interested me ($10 at barnes & noble for $5). groupon just doesn’t have what i want.

that said, i should be thanking groupon for being so exceptionally copy-able. groupon clones have been shooting wildly from every orifice of the internet for the last year or so, and some of them actually do give me the discount boner that i so deeply desire (although many of them [sorry loonEdeals] could sill use A LOT of work). but what i’ve realized in the last year as i have slugged through the symphony of variations on groupon, is that for me, it’s not about the format that makes a site desireable to me, it’s what they’re selling.  groupon might be the most elegant of the deal sites, but if it only offers car washes and pricey spa treatments… i’m never going to buy.

i’ve made a small list of online deal sites below (of various ilks) that i’ve been enjoying lately, but there’s so many out there! what am i missing?

librarything hates me, but i refuse to stop trying to hump on those free books.

nowadays, there’s social networking sites for literally everything (stachepassions probably being my personal favorite), so it stands to reason that there would be a number of sites dedicated to bookworm types. and there are- MANY. most notably, you’ve got your shelfari and your goodreads… and bringing up the rear, is portland’s very own librarything (who knew it was right here!). it’s a lot less pretty, and significantly clunkier than the other two to use, but what it lacks in glossy sheen, it makes up in mad crazy functionality. above and beyond a basic digital bookshelf, librarything essentially lets you search/categorize/sort down to the cellular level. basically, if you get a boner for the dewey decimal system (or enjoy engaging in some hardcore self-righteous literary snark), this shit is FOR YOU.

so, why the hell am i telling you about this?  librarything is not merely a rad place to go to bump chests about books with other bibliophiles… but they also have monthly free book giveaways in the form of a pretty awesome program they run called “early reviewers“. basically, authors and publishing houses send fat crates of their new books to librarything, and members can sign up for a chance to get them for free (under the condition that they read and review them for the site). dude, FREE BOOKS. you love free books! i love free books! and it’s not all crappy self-published bullshit-  they get some seriously TOP SHELF SHIT.

the main caveat here being that i haven’t been chosen to get one yet… but it’s free to play the book lottery, and i have high hopes that someday i will win.  perhaps a sexy complimentary blog post will finally tip the scales in my favor (ahem) (hint hint) (p.s. i’m really pulling for “the girl who would speak for the dead“)? but seriously, even if librarything never asks me to the prom, it really is an utterly fantastic website (you should go join my nancy drew discussion group right now),  and somebody is getting all those awesome free books- why not you?

if you could only read one book for the rest of your life- what would it be?

kix ass.

as of late, this bog has diverged away from the hardcore couponing that once was the center of my universe. which is not to say that i’m not still clipping, organizing, and deal hunting to some degree, but i was also starting to get the pre-symptoms of the dreaded coupon burnout. expiring extrabucks… neglected deals… cereal stash dwindling… but whenever i’m too busy or lazy to do my own research, or too filled with malaise to write about any deals i might happen to stumble into,  i can always count on  the coupon moms of the world to be there not being fuck ups and getting shit done. i like moms need to know (regular deals + she likes classic rock and is kind of a wino), of course my beloved coupon goddess (high heeled shoe addict who makes stockpiling sexy), and our very own local powerhouse, the money saving maine-iac.

basically, if there’s a grocery or drug store deal in the 207 area code, she’s got it first and probably better than i do.  case and point, yesterday afternoon i hit the shaw’s to do my grocery shopping for the week. for some reason our mailman stopped delivering the shaw’s fliers on thursdays, so i’m now forced to look online if i want to pre-plan my shopping (which i’m usually too lazy to do, and i most definitely was distracted this week with new puppy goodness), or pick mine up at the grocery store. this week it turned out to be DOLLAR DOUBLER WEEK (basically it will double coupons with $1 value, so there’s lots of opportunities for FREE STUFF!), and as usual, i was monumentally unprepared with coupon inserts from the last 2 weeks unclipped on my  coffee table. damn. but back to the kix. initially, i’d skipped over the cereal aisle completely in my haste to finish my very last minute shopping for the week (shamefully, i didn’t even make a list, and as a result will be eating string cheese and pirate booty for dinner this week). but lucky for me, i gave the flier one last flip through before i headed for the checkout, and there it was- kix @ 3 for $6. a steal anyway, but i fortuitously had a fistful (6 exactly actually) of $.75/1 coupons from coupons.com (not sure if they’re still available) which doubled to be $1.50/1! $.50 kix. awesome! even awesomer– apparently when you buy 3 boxes of select big G cereals, you get a FREE GALLON OF MILK. so not only did i get 6 boxes of cereal for $3, i also got coupons for 2 free gallons of milk. and if that isn’t a good deal, i don’t know what is.

so i run home to go report my important kix related findings to my readers, thinking that i have scored some sort of immaculate secret deal or something… come to find out that money saving maine-iac reported the whole situation on THURSDAY (and was way more thorough and awesome about it). so my point is that if you’re looking for the perfect source of great maine-centric grocery deals, really awesome giveaways (i need to get the hook up- i don’t know how she gets all that awesome stuff to give away), and  the location of every really great coupon in the state… money saving maine-iac is your woman. blog crush? absolutely. i am both totally jealous of her great site, and totally grateful that she has so much amazing info (because lets face it, i am way lazy and inconsistent), and you should be too. (now go shower her with the love that she deserves).

rip off artist.

i have a blog crush. several actually, but the object of today’s affection belongs solely to a sweet disorder. there are many days when i wish i had decided to write a style blog instead of a financial blog… although i’d probably be in a lot more debt if i had taken that route.  but then i read kate’s blog, and i realize that i just don’t have the fashion chops. the girl rocked a goddamn air cast boot for like 2 months, and still looked cooler than everyone else in the room. i think my wardrobe is too basic to be interesting. not ballsy enough. although i’m also not a gorgeous amazon redhead with a tuft of peacock green hair.  but enough of the gratuitous love fest. i’m really loving on a sweet disorder today, because i’m about to blatantly rip off one of her posts (with love!).

i hold kate entirely responsible for my new polyvore addiction. it reminds me of being 14 years old and papering my bedroom walls from floor to ceiling with pictures i dissected from my mom’s old vogues & Ws. plus, it has an interactive shopping element! SHOPPING! kate’s been killing with the polyvore for a while now (i especially love her “cute stuff you might actually be able to afford” series), but this week she turned turned her gaze on drugstore beauty (well, she does work at a drugstore), and i decided it was time to steal the post and RUN.

i’m not really a beauty products person, but something about her post (possibly the glorious mint green nail polish) made me want to think about the beauty products that i do use. i definitely didn’t have a whole page worth, but i had some fun narrowing it down to just 10 products that i absolutely can not live without:

1. l’oreal hydrafresh toner– i have super sensitive skin, and this stuff is so gentle that i can carelessly get it in my eyes with no ill repercussions.

2. bonne bell gel blush– i’ve been using this since high school, and it’s the only blush that i’ve ever felt looks even remotely natural. plus, it’s dirt cheap @ $4.00 a tube. too bad it’s only available online through the bonne bell “heritage collection”. i should stock up now before it goes extinct completely.

3. dove deodorant– nice smell, moisturizing, does its job.

4. blistex lip medex– i’m a complete slut for chapstick, and probably apply some sort of lip balm upwards of 20 times a day. i’m also very partial to carmex and burt’s bees, but lip medex wins the overall prize for being the longest lasting and most moisturizing.

5. philosophy candy cane body wash– frugal me should think that paying $16 for a container of bodywash is a poor value proposition when there are so many similar products on the market that cost so much less. but this one is so minty and tingly and perfect. i mean, who doesn’t want to smell like a candy cane year round?

6. egoiste by chanel– i’ve been wearing this since high school. i often find perfume to be too heavy and flowery, but men’s cologne seems somehow lighter and more sophisticated on a woman (although i’m probably making that part up). this one smells like lemons and campfires and vanilla ice cream, and i’m pretty sure if i was douchey enough to use the phrase “signature scent”, this one would qualify as mine (i’ll be buried in it!).

7. revlon super lustrous shiny sheers in plumdrop– the perfect natural shade of lipstick is rare and beautiful, and i’ve got 4 tubes of this under my sink right now (right next to the enormous bin of reject colors). i’m hoarding, because it’s been discontinued (bummer). but if you know there’s something that you love that has left the shelves, check BIG LOTS. a ton of the major makeup manufacturers sell their discontinued overstock to discount stores for low low prices, and i got mine for $3 each.

8. biolage normalizing shampoo– i spent $.99 on my shampoo for YEARS. and in general, i don’t give a shit about my hair at all (i might own a comb or something…), but this one smells fresh and perfect like grapefruits and summertime. i can’t say that it works any better than my suave, but the scent alone makes it worth the $19 a bottle. also, i hate showering, so it takes me a while to go through.

9. max factor facefinity foundation in #2 light ivory– yet another shamefully discontinued product. this time, the only foundation that ever matched my skintone. another tip for hunting down and stockpiling fallen favorites, bring on the ebay. even if you missed it at big lots, somebody else grabbed it, and will not sell it to you for twice the price. my long-term solution, stockpile now, keep foundation stash fresh in the fridge (butter dish) for later.

10. earth therapeutics tea tree oil foot spray– i’m a flats girl, and with the sheer amount of miles i put on those babies by the end of the summer (those invible socks that aren’t ever invisible, don’t really do i for me), they start to get a little rank (and by a little, i mean a lot). this spray makes my smelly shoes smell like the minty rainforest (sometimes i spray it on my wrists it smells so good), and is super refreshing spritz on my hot and tired summer feet.

now it’s your mission to copy me (well, kate) and gell me your own beauty secrets. (and seriously, go to polyvore- it’s the funnest ever).