SHOPPING AROUND | Fashion-savvy Canadians have long known about flash sales sites like Gilt, Ideeli and Fab, but the hassle of getting their wares home (many do not ship to Canada) has crimped many a deal-hunter’s style. Lucky for us, flash shopping has finally arrived in Canada. Read more
DARE TO REPAIR | Borrowing stuff from the guys— boyfriend shirts, boyfriend jeans and boyfriend blazers—is a fashion trend that’s been popular for some time now. It’s a girlish affection for all things androgynous and oversized that also extends to accessories. Made for a woman, the boyfriend watch is a masculine looking timepiece that has a big, bold face and the kind of chunky ruggedness that makes a woman’s wrist look particularly delicate. But our question is this: why would you ever send a boy do man’s job? Wouldn’t an actual man’s watch be the more authentic choice? Read more
GRATEFUL | This may sound cornball, but being a finalist in two categories at the upcoming 2011 Canadian Online Publishing Awards—best online-only magazine and best web design (consumer division)—already feels like a win to me. Positive national recognition at whatever level is a super confidence booster, not to mention a bonus for business. Read more
MONEY WELL SPENT | Although Vancouver is a rainy place, I almost never carry an umbrella— and if I do, it’s usually a cheapie. I go cheap because every umbrella I’ve owned has been either wrecked and ruined in a storm or lost in 60 seconds. Considering my history, I surprised myself recently by switching from $10 disposables to a $60 Blunt umbrella. If the Blunt lives up to its promise, it’ll be one of the last brollies I buy. Read more
MONEY WELL SPENT | With so many kitchen gizmos out there, you’d have thought that someone, somewhere would have long ago designed an attractive receptacle for ripening market-hard fruit on a windowsill. You can find clear plastic fruit ripening bowls, of course, dome-lidded containers that sweeten up a pile of fruits simultaneously (doubly quick when you add a banana to the mix), but I find these products cumbersome counter hogs. What I want is something that will tuck up out of the way on my windowsill and ripen just a few fruits—pears, tomatoes, avocados, the occasional cantaloupe or pineapple—in natural sunlight; something that looks attractive empty. Read more
If you’re like me, you probably have a bunch of dead AA and AAA batteries rattling around in a drawer—possibly scattered among several drawers. You can’t throw them in the trash or even in the blue box. And even though since July 1 all household batteries (alkaline and rechargeable) can be recycled at almost 1,500 collection locations across B.C., you still have to take them there. Read more
WASTE NOT | Living Rich by Spending Smart author Gregory Karp says telecom- munications, along with food and insurance, are three of the biggest recurring expenses in every adult’s life, so to achieve “financial fitness” you should avoid waste in these areas first.
In an effort to staunch the telecommunications hemorrhaging that goes on in our house, I signed up for Google Voice (CLICK HERE for our story), a software program that allows those with a Gmail account to make free long-distance calls (through 2011, anyway) all over North America via computer. I’ve used “GV” to make free calls to the U.S. but found the sound quality so hit and miss (I’m told it’s Beta software) that it prompted me to try another free software for calls in Canada. This one has provided me with consistently clear reception—plus some bells and whistles. Read more
CHEAP + GOOD | It’s great when you can find a simple and inexpensive item that actually does what it claims it can do. I’m talking about the Neti pot, that little contraption that looks like a mini Aladdin’s lamp, only instead of rubbing it, you use it to engage in a strange water dance with your nostrils.
The practice of nasal irrigation, which is what the Neti pot is used for, is old as Shiva and pursued by yoga practitioners in India to clear their nasal passages for enhanced breath control, controlled breathing being central to yoga. Read more
DARE TO REPAIR | My grandmother passed on to me not only a love of beautiful things but some of the beautiful things she loved—like a set of delicate Czech glass goblets. I carefully packed them in a box and brought them home on the plane from Winnipeg as carry-on. At least that was the plan. As I watched the box go through the airport security x-ray, I realized to my horror that I’d carried on the wrong box and the goblets were taking their chances as regular luggage. Read more
DO IT YOURSELF | Many general stain removal charts do not even include underarm perspiration as a category. Google “how to remove perspiration/ deodorant stains from clothing” and you’ll find a confusing number of disparate solutions. If there’s a rule of thumb for dealing with this universal problem, who could rightfully claim to know what it is: Martha Stewart; Linda Cobb, the self-proclaimed Queen of Clean; Heloise? Learned as these ladies are, they are home-keeping generalists, not laundry stain specialists. For the definitive answer, Frugalbits asked a leading light in the stain removal industry. Read more
