Cat Shoes!!

Mes belles amies-

You should know by now then when I get excited, I type with a lot of exclamation points. Sometimes I will look back on a post and see that every sentence ends in an exclamation point! Or even multiples!!!!!

Something that always gets me jazzed is cats. I love them. I have always been obsessed with them. I am ACTually this girl most of the time.

Anyway.... It came to my attention that there are SHOES WITH CATS ON THEM!!!!! and that I need to own them.

Kitty Cat Satin Flat Slipper by Charlotte Olympia, $595

Get them here.

Blair Catface Smoking Loafer by Oscar De La Renta, $865

Get them here.

Why oh why do I like such expensive things? DEVASTATION. However..... these babies are JUST as cute and are much cheaper.

Kitty Cocoa Brown Vegan Flat Shoes, $26.60

Get them here.

TUK Kitty Dot Heel, $54.99

Get them here.

Cool Cat Flats from Forever 21, $22.80

Get them here.

Know It All by BC Shoes, $40.37

Get them here.

Cat Shoes by EmandSprout, $25

Get them here.

Zena Cat Wedges, $24.99

Get them here.

Kitten Shoes by Capitaine Hook, $18

Get them here.

OMG, there are SO many cat shoes out there. HOW will I not spend my paycheck on them all?!?!?!

Fashion Fake: Wednesday Addams Dress

Mes Amies-

I love Halloween, and was thinking of reprising my senior-year-of-high-school costume of Wednesday Addams. However, I need a Wednesday dress. Google searching happened me upon this one, which I think would work for Wednesday, but I would also likely wear to work.

Mary Stretch Flared Dress from French Connection, on sale for $89.99

Get it here.

However, $90 for a Halloween costume is too much for me, and they are conveniently out of ALL sizes, let along only going up to size 10.

Well, FCUK that, because I found this copycat:

Black and white collar shift from Dorothy Perkins, $29

Get it here.

My friends over at Dorothy Perkins also have a 20% off sale. Huzzah.

Honestly, I'm not sure I will end up going as Wednesday, but the dress is cute enough anyway, that I just might buy it to wear. 

NEVER PAY FULL PRICE FOR THESE THREE THINGS

I don't mean to yell, but I think it's very important for me to relay this message to you. There are some things that you should never pay full price for. Probably most things, to be honest. But here are some of the ones I have noticed... more suggestions are always appreciated!

1. Smelly Candles. The Good Kind of Smelly

I love Yankee Candle. Their scents are magical and delicious, to the point where once I licked a Vanilla Cupcake one because I was that convinced it would be tasty. (Spoiler alert- it wasn't. Tasted like wax. Also the sales associate thought I was completely insanse, and my friends will never let me live it down.)

 Anyway, I'm not saying not to shop there. I'm just saying that when you DO shop there, ALWAYS USE A COUPON. If you need another smelly de-light, always Google "yankee candle coupon." There is ALWAYS a coupon. I usually save at least $15 and/or get a free candle. If you need help finding one, let me know. It's that important.


2. Smelly Other Things, or Anything from Bath & Body Works

One time, I was really depressed and having low self esteem and hating my body. Probably one of my high school frenemies got engaged.  I was wine-drunk and crying, and as I calmed down, I sniffled, "At least I smell fabulous."

That, sadly, is a true story. Also true is that Bath & Body Works has a migraine-inducing array of fantastically-scented products that can pull you out of even the darkest depression. But they also have a lot of sales. So never ever pay full price. They frequently have sales where you can "Buy 3, Get 3 Free," which means getting six things that made you smell like apples for the price of 3. Genius.

There are also always coupons available via my life partner, Google. Just check, and you will see that hundreds of thrifty folks across the country are blogging and sharing coupon codes and printable coupons.


3. Crafty Supplies
I crochet. Well, sort of. I've made like 5 things. I like to think I'm crafty, even though most of my undertakings end in failure and regret. (I've tried it all, and failed at most things. Candle-making, jewelry-making, sewing, knitting, paper-making, etc). It's usually about as succesful as this...

The good news about my failed ventures is that
a) I saved money by giving my friends poorly-made things for holidays, and they were all too polite to tell me they looked like a 4th grader made them.
b) I always used coupons, so the supplies were cheap.

Near where I live are A.C. Moore and Michaels. I am on both of their email lists, and am a member of A.C. Moore's loyalty program, wherein I earn rewards dollars.

Michael's posts their weekly ad with coupons here. Of course, I also recommend searching around the internet to find any others.

Same deal for A.C. Moore

I welcome some suggestions of any other retailers that always have coupons and deals. Let me know if you've got any!!!!

Clicking for Cash

I can't tell you how many internet searches I have done on "how to make money on the internet." Probably a thousand. So far, 99% of everything seems to be some kind of a scam.

The one thing I have found that actually works is Inbox Dollars. I will preface this entire post by saying that I have probably made about $50 in the past two or three years. So we are not talking about big money here. The way to make millions on the internet still eludes me.

However, $50 bucks is $50 bucks.

Anyway. Inbox Dollars gives you a pittance of cash for opening emails from their advertisers. Basically, it will be an email that advertises magazine subscriptions or credit monitoring services or something. You open the email, and then scroll to the bottom where it says, "Confirm this Paid Email." And BAM, $0.02 is added to your total.

Plus, if you buy something from the advertisers, you get extra money in your account. For example, if you want to try Wen Haircare, you can earn an extra $15 by doing it through Inbox Dollars.

You can also complete surveys, do internet searches, play games, watch commercials, etc., and get little bits of money for that as well.

Then, once you get $50, they will either send you a check, or deposit the cash into your PayPal account.

I have tried other programs like this, but they were always more convoluted and much harder to actually get a payout. At one point, I was a member of like 15 of these sites, and Inbox Dollars is the only one that consistently works.

Give it a shot. I use my extra money to buy useless things on at Target.

Power Saving through Ebates

Mes amis-

Run, don't walk, and sign up at ebates.com.

If you EVER shop online, which I clearly do, this little tool can help you get bargains.

It's basically a portal site which lists a ton of online retailers. When you go to ebates.com, you see a list of all the places you can shop. When you click through to those sites, you get a certain percentage of cash back from ebates! Plus, they list any available coupon codes, sales, or deals.

They make money by referring people to retailers, and then they share their payoff with you. It's simple, quick, and easy.

I got 8.5% of my total purchase of shoes from Shoebuy.com. Plus, ebates provided me with a coupon code to save 10%. That means I ended up paying $67 for a purchase which should have been like $89 on shoes I was GOING to buy anyway. With just a few extra clicks, I have saved $$$, which I have clearly then just used to shop more :)

I get my cash back from them via a PayPal deposit, and since I always forget when it happens, it's always a fun surprise!

I find that the way I usually use ebates is that I find something I want. Then I check if the retailer is on ebates. If they are NOT, I search ebates to see if there is a retailer with them that has the merchandise I want.

For example, every year, I consider being a Ghostbuster for Halloween:

Plus Size Ghostbuster Costume from HalloweenCostumes.com, $54.99

Get it here.

However, the above retailer, HalloweenCostumes.com, is not a retailer affiliated with ebates. So, I search ebates' list of retailers with "costume" in their name... 

Voila- right on top is CostumeSuperCenter.com. 

Through them, the SAME Ghostbusters costume is $49.99. But when I click through ebates, I automatically get 10% back. So then it's technically $45.

Plus Size Ghostbuster Costume from CostumeSuperCenter.com, $49.99

Get it here.

(Except, don't actually buy it through that link. Sign up for ebates.com first, and then click through to get your savings!!)

 Plus, ebates gave me a coupon code to enter at checkout, which gives me another 10% off. So that's $40.01. Did I just save $10? Yes, I did. Just for clicking.