Thursday, April 21, 2011
Save on local goods and services with group buying sites
Last year, I joined Groupon, one of the many group discount sites everyone seems to be talking about these days. Some of my friends belong, too, so when a good offer comes up, it gets sent around by email and spreads through my circle of friends like wildfire. If you haven't checked out Groupon or other group discount sites, it is well worth giving it a try. At first, when I signed up, the offers that came through, which are only from my area, all seemed to be spa services that I thought I wouldn't use. But then I went to the site to see what else they offered and was surprised at the range of deals they had. Groupon offers lots of other discounts on local stores and services, not just spa discounts. It's free to join and you receive local…
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
A great place to treat yourself after the big race
On Sunday, I ran the Unite Half Marathon at Rutgers University. Before you are impressed, know that because heavy rains flooded part of the course, the thirteen-point-one-mile race became a nine-and-a-half-mile race. I thought I was ready for thirteen-plus, and I ran really good time (for me) for the first five miles, but at mile six, my foot did not want to go on and the rest of me did. I struggled to finish, which I did, barely. I was so stiff after the race, I could hardly walk to the car. Luckily, my running partner and I (see Jen Tornopsky's column this week, she ran too!) had scheduled "recovery massages" for ourselves for the next day. Monday morning we showed up at the @Ease Spa in Hillsdale, NJ. With all the spas nearby why go so …
Thursday, April 14, 2011
A family membership is a bargain
This week, like many other kids, my son is off from (pre)school. I love these weeks for the special trips we can take. We were all set for some outdoor activities, but the rain changed that. And just like in wintertime, it's hard to find things to do with your kids indoors, on the spur of the moment, at a bargain price. A destination that fits the bill all the way around is the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. Beautiful and newly renovated in 2007, Liberty Science Center has exhibits for everyone. And a family membership is one of the best deals you can find. Only $140 per year (and fully tax-deductible), a family membership gets you admission for two adults and up to four children each time you visit. And that doesn't have to be …
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Upgrading to a big-boy bed
It came today. The bed we've been promising my son for a year now. The giant piece of furniture we've gone back and forth about as my son keeps growing out of his toddler bed. They say that you should wait until six years old to get a child a bunk bed, because supposedly by six, they are less likely to practice diving off the top. (Then again, most of the "they say" advice we so faithfully followed when he was an infant, afterward usually seemed to err on the side of alarmist.) We think he's ready. Today, my son and I cleaned and cleared out his room. He rediscovered toys he hadn't played with for a long time, we found long-lost pieces of others, and he was even willing to give away a few. When we first looked at beds, sweet boy that he is…
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Patch keeps readers informed on all things local
Politics is my husband's business, not mine. He is a journalist. I count on him to keep me informed. Sexist, yes. Lazy, maybe. He's a smart guy. I trust my source. I never cared about, or for, politics. Political discussions get people emotional and often angry; and there is so much misinformation out there, so much spin, that it's hard to know if what we hear and what we fight over is even accurate. So we look to align with people we seem to trust, whether it be a spouse, a political party, a news network, or an anchor of a news show. It becomes like rooting for a team. Sometimes, it's just because it's someone else's team. In my twenties, I only thought I had to pay attention to the presidential races. I knew my right to vote was a …
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Help a school, get a bargain, bring in customers
Spring is the season for school fundraisers, which means bargains and parties, all for a good cause. Last year was my son's first year at Playhouse Nursery School in West Orange. The school is partially co-operative, which means that the school depends on parents for help with anything from being the “helping parent” during class, to working on community outreach, to setting up and running parenting workshops, to (everyone's favorite activity…) fundraising. Myself and another first-year mom somehow ended up in charge of the school's big annual fundraiser, also known as The Basket Raffle (I just got a little chill just from the words, as my former co-chair will when she reads this. Not the good kind of chill either, more like the chill of …
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Waiting on line to grab a spot
OK, so I'm a full-fledged suburban mom, now. I've just done my first "camp registration." I spent a freezing Saturday morning in my car, waiting for the Geyer Family YMCA in Montclair to open their the doors at 8 a.m., to ensure that my son would get a spot in their summer camp. Thinking I was so prepared, I brought coffee, a yogurt and my new smartphone to play with. I got there at 7:30 a.m. What a novice! The parking lot and surrounding streets were already full of idling SUVs, filled with moms and dads keeping warm. No one was waiting outside. I saw a few people go to the door, talk to a staff member, and return to their car. They were giving out numbers. I got number one hundred. The staff wouldn't let us wait inside. I think they were…
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Are you finding the best bargains?
I was at ShopRite this week when I overheard a woman and her daughter shopping for cereal. The daughter picked out a box and said, "This one's on sale." I don't usually do this, but I looked over and asked if they had checked the unit price. They said no. So I looked and sure enough, the unit price on an only slightly larger box of the same cereal was much lower than the box of cereal that was "on sale." As you should already know, it's not the price of the item that's important, it's the unit price you should be checking. The only way to fairly compare prices is by the unit price. Comparing unit prices is an apples-to-apples comparison. For example, for paper towels, the unit price will tell you how much one brand is over another, per …
Thursday, March 24, 2011
My first year as a provisional member of the Junior League of Montclair-Newark
Last summer, I met a woman on a freecycle pick up and we really hit it off. She invited me to an open house for prospective members of the Junior League of Montclair-Newark. The Junior League? Me? Although I didn't really know what the Junior League was, I did have some vague notion that it was made up of "ladies who lunch" who were probably also listed in The Social Register who do charity work and serve on non-profit boards. Other than that, I had no idea what to expect. I went to the Open House. It was held at a member's beautifully-appointed house in Montclair. It was an informational evening during which established members welcomed prospective members and told us about their experiences and their initial reasons for joining. Some had…
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Simple financial advice isn't always easy to follow
The other night, I stumbled upon "Suze Orman's Money Class" on PBS, during their fundraiser. At first, I was only half listening, but a few things she said really caught my attention. The simplest yet hardest advice Ms. Orman gave was to live not within your means, but below it. "If you can afford a 2000-square-foot home, buy a 1500-square-foot home. If you want a new car, but your old one is running fine…don't buy a new car." It's so easy to slip into the "I can afford a better one" mentality. It's very much like when I was in my 20s and I thought all those grown-up things were so far away, I may as well spend what I have now. I didn't have very much money, but I went through twenties like tissues anyway. What is putting a mere hundred …
Dorothy Perretti
9:07 am on Friday, April 22, 2011
F YI--There is also a great site called www.doubletakedeals.com that has deals based upon the area you live in and are listed in your local Clipper Magazine (owned by Gannett) mailed to homes and on line too . You click on the county you live in or just want to go to. The deals are always at least 50% and can go as high as 90% off. In Montclair, there is a restaurant named Tutti Vous Italian … more ›