Category Archives: Saving

Aria V Wine Shop (or Another Living Social Win!)

Posted on December 6, 2012 | 1 comment

I’ve had some good Living Social deals and some pretty awful ones. And over the summer, I had seen a deal for 12 wine tastings plus 2 appetizers at Aria V Wine Shop in Culver City. Seemed like a decent deal to me since it only cost me $25.

The deal was going to expire next week, so yesterday my friend Kate and I decided to finally test it out. It was located in a kind of weird area of Culver City (almost under the 405 and right next to a shut down hospital). But we managed to find some free street parking around the block and headed inside.

It’s actually located inside the Polentoni restaurant (so if you are going look for that sign), but inside a little private room. When Kate and I got there, we were the only ones in that room, but it quickly filled up.

We explained to our waiter that we were here for the Living Social deal and he explained that we could choose 2 appetizers that were priced at $12.50 or under and then 6 wines each to taste that were priced at $42 a bottle or under. Anything over that and we would just have to pay the difference.

We checked out the menus.

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I asked our waiter if I could get the Prosecco as 2 of my tastings and then pick 4 more and he was ok with that.

We got our food.

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(I ate lightly earlier in the day to save up for these calories).

And when our “tastings” arrived, we were shocked by how generous the pour was.

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I’m a pretty lightweight when it comes to alcohol, and there is no way I could do 6 tastings like that!

In the end, I had 2 glasses of Prosecco and one glass of a rose that the waiter had selected for me. And Kate had 3 glasses of Italian reds that the waiter had selected for her (one was called a Super Tuscan, but I don’t know the rest).

As we were brought the bill, the waiter also brought us glasses of their special holiday mulled wine.

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It looked and smelled delicious, but personally I didn’t like it very much.

And when our bill arrived, it proved that we got our moneys worth on this deal.

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We left a very nice tip.

I’ll totally go back to Aria V, even if I don’t have a deal for it. It was yummy, the atmosphere was fun, and it’s pretty close to my house.

And I’ve been in a bit of a funk the last few days (the work schedule and lack of sleep is getting to me a bit). But nothing can bust you out of a funk better than hanging out with your best friend and having moments where you are laughing so hard that you are crying.

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff, Saving

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Can I Cut The Cord? (or Trying To Change How I Research TV)

Posted on November 16, 2012 | 1 comment

As I’ve written previously, I have to watch everything on tv in order to be prepared for any auditions I might get. I love having my DVR for this. There is no way that I could watch my shows on the time that they actually air with the work schedule that I keep.

For my birthday this year, my brother got me an Apple TV. I love it. I mainly use it for Netflix streaming, but I did start using it for Hulu Plus recently. I started using Hulu Plus because my DVR can record 2 shows at a time, but on Tuesdays, there are 3 shows that air at the same time that I enjoy watching. So I record 2 and watch 1 later on Hulu Plus. I tried using Hulu on my computer, but I’d really rather watch on my tv where I can relax on my couch.

Between Netflix and Hulu Plus, I spend about $16 a month. And then I still pay for cable. Part of my cable bill is my internet, so I’m not going to give that up completely. But I’ve been toying with the idea of cutting back on what I pay for with the cable company and starting to switch over to watching more on streaming.

I really want to do this, but I’m a little unsure on how it would work. I would have to keep some of tv on cable because there are some shows that I can’t get online. And I don’t know how to watch premium channels (like HBO and Showtime) online without having a paid subscription or waiting for the DVDs to be released.

I’d really appreciate any advice any of you might have for getting rid of cable. Not watching tv isn’t an option, but I’d love to not be spending as much as I do right now. Anything that I could save could go to paying down my credit card debit and helping me meet my goal of paying it off completely soon.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Saving

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Making Ends Meet (or Needing a Side Job to My Side Job)

Posted on November 9, 2012 | Comments Off on Making Ends Meet (or Needing a Side Job to My Side Job)

Most of the money I make at my day job are commissions. This was great when it was the high season and I was making in a day what it would take a week at my old day job to make. But now it’s the low season and I’m making much much less.

If I wasn’t worried about paying off credit card debt, this wouldn’t be a big deal. I would have saved up the “extra” money that I earned over the summer to cover me for the lean times now.

But I put all money above and beyond my living expenses to my credit card (I’m pretty sure you’ll all agree that that is the smart way to do it). So I’m back to trying to make my budget as tight as I can. This month, I’m only going to be able to pay a little bit over the minimum on my credit card. It’s still going to make a dent in my debt, but I wish I could make a bigger dent.

This day job will most likely be ending in January (although that is up in the air too). I’m not going to look for another full-time day job for a few reasons. I like this job and plan on returning next season in May. Also, I’ve found it so tough to find a day job that works with my acting. I’ll go back to my old day job of substitute teaching, but because I work for a small district, I know it won’t pay for all my bills.

So while it’s the slow time right now at my day job, I’m looking for something to do on the side. I already babysit for a friend’s kids, but most of the time I do it for free as a favor because my friend will do my hair sometimes for free because I can’t afford to pay her. I might look into adding some more babysitting clients, but since that isn’t guaranteed income, I need to look for more.

I’m not really sure what I’m going to do. I’ve been given a writing job on another blog (when I can tell you which one I will), but that job doesn’t pay. Maybe I could use it as a reference for a paid writing job, but to be honest, I never thought of myself as a writer. Maybe I should.

If anyone out there has ideas of what I could do as a side job, I’d really appreciate it. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I know somehow it will turn out ok.

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Posted in Saving, Tough Stuff, Work

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Back to the Grind (or It’s Time to Be a Little Selfish)

Posted on September 26, 2012 | 2 comments

I’ve had a lot of fun stuff lately. My dad left to go back yesterday and now I’m back to the normal grind of stuff until I go to my friend’s wedding in October.

I’m getting over a cold/sinus infection/allergy thing right now, so my energy is a little low. But I’m trying to stay upbeat and beat this bug in my system ASAP!

After so much excitement, it can be hard to get back to the groove of things. I just had 2 days off of work, but now it’s back to 6 days a week. I’ve had company, but now I need to focus on myself a bit.

I’ve mentioned before about fall tv season starting. This is not only a time for research on new shows, it also means that tv is in high production right now and I want to help my agents get me as many auditions as possible. I need to be selfish for a bit and make me the best me I can be.

I’ve got Marci Liroff’s class starting this week which will help me out with the auditions I get. But I’m also looking at getting new headshots as those are the main tool that help me get those auditions.

I’m running into a problem though. I have headshots that look like me right now:

These are great, and when I walk into the audition room, I know that the casting director is going to recognize me as the girl in the picture. And that’s really important.

But after not really eating food for a while, I’ve lost 10 pounds. I don’t feel like I look any different, but that’s got me thinking. How much weight do I need to lose before I do new headshots?

Headshots aren’t cheap. I usually end up spending around $400 for the shots and a makeup artist (which I have found to be a necessity for headshots, not a luxury). If I’m hoping to lose 100 pounds, do I do new pictures every 25 pounds or when I just feel like I don’t look the same any more? I don’t have tons of money right now to spend on them, so I’m thinking of talking to some photographers that I’ve worked with in the past and that I want to work with now and see if someone will maybe let me do a bunch of small sessions where I only get 1 or 2 looks each time.  But I’m not sure anyone will be willing to work on a deal like that.

And I can’t just use pictures that are from when I was thinner, because I don’t look like that person at all. My hair is different (cut and color) and I’m not that young anymore. Here’s one of my headshots from thinner days:

 

I’m looking forward to figuring out what the solution is going to be for getting updated headshots as I lose weight. I also can’t wait to see what my new pictures will look like in the future.

But I also can’t focus too much on what might happen. It’s another of the “what if” situations. So I’m just putting my head down, working hard, and conquering any problem that comes up when it comes up.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Saving, Weight Loss

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Trying to Budget for Disneyland (or Does Someone Want to Give Me an Annual Pass?)

Posted on September 20, 2012 | 2 comments

I love Disneyland. Totally love it.

As a kid, I think I went to Disneyland once a year when my family drove down from the Bay Area to San Diego to visit family. I don’t remember loving Disneyland as much as a kid as I do now.

Since I’ve moved to LA 11 years ago, I’ve had several years of having an annual pass. When my work schedule was different, I would sometimes go 2 to 3 times per month. A bunch of times I would just go and ride a few rides, grab a Dole Whip, and head back to LA.

So much of the iPhoto on my laptop is filled with Disneyland adventure pictures like these:

(you can totally see me at all my different weights in those pictures)

My last annual pass expired last year in April. And I really want to make it to Disneyland now. I haven’t been on many of the new rides, and I just miss it there.

But as almost everyone knows, Disneyland is not cheap. A 1 day park hopper ticket is over $100. And if you are going to go at least twice in a year, the annual pass is the way to go. But the cheap annual passes have so many blackout dates that it’s tough to make sure you go on valid days. And when I get an annual pass, I almost always pay for the parking add-on. The best annual pass is $650 (but that includes parking). So if I can make it to Disneyland 7 times in a year, that pass will totally be worth it. And I’m not taking into account all the food and merchandise discounts you get with the passes.

But $650 is $650 and right now, I don’t have that. Well, I do, but I’d rather put it towards my credit card debit than Disneyland (I never thought I’d ever say that). I’m looking at the 2nd and 3rd cheapest annual passes, but those are both over $300.

I’m not going to get a pass until I know that I’ll be going to the park, and I think I’ll be going sometime next month. So I’m trying to see if I can budget for one of the cheaper passes. It is always an option to upgrade a pass or add-on parking later, so maybe I’ll have an amazing sale at work that will cover the cost of an upgrade or add-on.

This budgeting stuff is hard! 😉

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Dealing with Living Social (or I Thought I Bought a Good Deal)

Posted on September 10, 2012 | 3 comments

As someone who is trying to bring down their credit card debit, I love good deals! But I still enjoy fun things in my life. I try to do spa stuff during Spa Week (which is coming up in mid-October). I look out for sales on clothes and shoes. And I love Living Social deals!

Or at least I did love those deals.

About 3 weeks ago, I bought a deal for 6 laser hair removal treatments for $99. It was at a place in Beverly Hills and the reviews on Yelp were all 4 and 5 stars. I was excited because this would be a great way to see if I could handle the pain of laser hair removal and would want to do it on other parts of my body.

I finally got through to someone on the phone this past Saturday. He was extremely rude on the phone to me. No greeting when he answered the phone. And as soon as I said I had a Living Social deal, all he said was “we can’t see you until October”. I said that was fine as long as I could use all 6 of my treatments (the deal had a promotional value expiration date of December 17th). The guy said that they would only let me use treatments until December 17th, therefore I would only be able to get 1 or 2 of my 6 treatments done.

I think that this is crap. I pretty much said that to the guy on the phone, who claimed to be the manager. If you are too busy to see me for over a month, you should let me complete all my treatments as long as I start them before the expiration date.

So on Sunday, I called Living Social. I explained the situation and said I wanted a refund. They weren’t able to offer me a refund, but they did credit the amount I paid to my account. And then the guy on the phone told me that they were having a lot of complaints about this vendor not honoring the deal they offered.

I’m glad I got my money credited to my account. Even if the laser hair removal place apologized to me, I wouldn’t want them to have my money. I’m a little sad because I was excited to try laser hair removal. I guess I’ll have to wait until another good deal comes along.

Oh, and all those 4 and 5 star reviews on Yelp? I think they are fake. Now when you look, it’s a lot of 1 and 2 star reviews (including my 1 star review on how they treated me).

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Cutting Out My Favorite Drink (or Goodbye Diet Coke, Diet 7-Up, Fancy Water)

Posted on August 23, 2012 | 1 comment

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved diet sodas. There was never regular soda in my house growing up, so I truly enjoyed the flavor of diet soda.

At some point in college, my body stopped liking caffeine. Pretty much, my body will have symptoms of caffeine withdrawal pretty soon after drinking it. So I stopped drinking Diet Coke and started drinking caffeine-free Diet Coke.

I also have a love for Diet 7-Up and those no calorie flavored carbonated waters you can get at the grocery store (I’m partial to Albertson’s peach flavor).

In 2006 and 2007, I was on a no food diet. Literally, no food. I would only consume 600-800 calories in shakes each day. It was done at a hospital and I was being monitored each week, so it was safe. But during this time, I craved any flavor other than the chocolate shakes that I survived on. I would drink between 2-4 of the peach flavored no calorie carbonated waters a day. And each of those drinks was 1 liter. That’s a lot of soda. I also drank a lot of caffeine free sodas (I was on a weird orange soda kick for a while).

I’ve cut out most sodas in my life. I’ll occasionally get a caffeine-free Diet Coke at or a Diet 7-Up when I’m at the store. But I never was able to stop drinking my flavored carbonated waters (which I lovingly referred to as yummy water).

But now, Albertson’s doesn’t carry yummy water anymore. Or if they do, it’s in one of the weird flavors like blueberry acai berry. So I’m taking this opportunity to make a serious attempt to limit my fluid intake to water (and the occasional alcoholic drink).

This isn’t just a health thing. Sodas are expensive. Those yummy waters are $1 each. It adds up. I’d rather spend my money on paying off my debt or enjoying outings with friends.

I’m not going to try to cut out sodas and yummy waters completely. I feel like that is setting myself up for failure. Instead, I’m going to say only 2 sodas or yummy waters a week. And once that seems easy, I’ll cut it down to 1 a week.

So I had a caffeine-free Diet Coke today to say goodbye. I’ll see you again soon.

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Posted in Food, Saving, Weight Loss

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