How I'm saving $6 a week

Since coming home from my world wind vacation in Las Vegas, I have not been writing Weekly Spending Recaps. When I started them, it was because I was trying to save up my $80 of weekly Fun Money to put in my Vegas Baby envelope and I was scaling back on my miscellaneous daily purchases so that I could have more cash to spend as a tourist.

But the real purpose of my $80 weekly adult allowance is to have fun! It is something that I was inspired to do after reading Smart Cookies [read my full review here] as budgets can often feel restrictive, but the cash in a Fun Money envelope is there for a girl to have a good time and to spend on whatever her heart desires… as long as it doesn’t exceed the weekly allocated amount. By recapping how I was spending it, it felt too restrictive when my $80 is meant to be how I treat myself: a glass of wine after work with friends, a funky ring from H&M, a must-have nailpolish colour, or saved up over a few weeks for dress purchase.

While I have not been writing about my expenditures, I do keep my receipts and I noticed an interesting pattern was happening this spring-summer season: each week, I was spending at least $6 to buy a new pair of pantyhose. As a soft-ivory skin toned girl, I’ve always been conscientious of my milk bottle white legs and wearing pantyhose in the summer was an easy disguise for an instant sheer tan. That being said, I have yet to meet a brand of pantyhose that is durable against rips – whether they occur from a snagged nail when trying to put them on, a good-bye jump from my puppy as I’m heading out the door, or caught on a loose screw under my desk. Snags, pulls, rips and full-on tears are inevitable with pantyhose and I was making weekly emergency purchases to replenish them.

In some office environments, pantyhose are mandatory attire for ladies and I do agree that they give you a professional pulled-together look. Amongst my colleagues however, I am the only girl wearing them and I’m often teased that it’s an Anglophone-thing that makes it a dead give-away that I’m a Torontonian who has yet to assimilate to Montreal’s funky vibe. I also work in the fashion & beauty industry where office dress codes are not restrictive, but everyone manages to look like they’ve stepped off a runway daily. I believe in dressing for the job you want and not the job you have, so after I suffered my 8^th pantyhose snag in less than 6 weeks, I took a tour of our office and couldn’t find one female senior executive wearing pantyhose. They all had gorgeous sun-kissed gams with perfectly polished toes and lust-worthy sandals. Clearly, not wearing pantyhose didn’t take away from their professionalism.

My new must-have secret for saving money
and enjoying having sun-kissed legs.

The next morning, I busted out a bottle of Jergens Natural Glow Express Body Moisturizer from a goody-bag that I had received the previous evening at FLARE’s FALL 2012 FASHION NIGHT (I know, it’s too soon to be thinking about coats!). With running outside several times a week, my legs had moved up the colour scale from soft ivory to a natural beige so I had a pretty good starting point for my fake tan and the Natural Glow went on easily and smoothly. It didn’t stain my hands and it doesn’t produce a nasty build-up from re-applying daily. It easily scrubs off in the shower and the best part is that it doesn’t stain my towels when I dry off. I’m using my Express Glow daily now instead of a moisturizer and my legs are soft and finally sun-kissed. I am trying to even out the tan line from my running shorts, but overall, I'm pleased. My legs are still a far cry away from rivaling Gisele Bundchen’s, but at least I’m keeping my $6 this week.

Ladies, what do you think? Should pantyhose always be worn in the office regardless of the industry you work in and the temperature outside?

*Rosie*

Happy e-reading!

I've decided to put my enjoyment of shopping to work! I've applied to a few mystery shopping sites and I'm hoping to get picked. The extra income would be a plus ... even if it's just gift certificates to try out new products or services. Below is one of the entry reviews that I used - I figure I might as well share since I am applauding Chapters Indigo. In fact, I think I'm going to email into their corporate contact us page. Happy e-reading!

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I would like to applaud Chapters Indigo for their excellent customer service last Thursday evening (February 17^th) in their downtown Montreal location. I purchased online a KOBO e-reader for my boyfriend as a birthday present last November. He absolutely loves it and it's his new best friend for all his business travels. Unfortunately, Wednesday night he went to turn it on the screen ink was running across the page making his e-book unreadable.

I called KOBO to explain the damage (we swear it wasn't dropped!) and they told me to go in-store to exchange it at any Chapters store location. I went after work and the first sales associate was willing to exchange it for me as she said “Chapters Indigo 100% supports their KOBO sales”. However, when she went to complete the transaction, she realized that my purchase was made over 2-weeks ago and as a result, it was their corporate policy that all customers have to deal directly with KOBO for an exchange.

When I explained that I had been directed in-store, she called the manager (Mel W) who re-iterated the same policy. I expressed my frustration at having taken the time to call KOBO, come into the store, wait in line, be given a new model , fill in the exchange forms and then told I couldn’t have it. The manager called KOBO herself in my presence and was making arrangements to ship the e-reader back to them. However, this would take 15 business days for them to repair the damage and I’d be out of pocket the cost of shipping! I asked the store manager to ask KOBO if they were directing consumers to store for an exchange and sure enough, they were! She explained to the agent that this was against corporate policy in a head-office agreement between Chapters Indigo and KOBO. Once she hung up the phone, she took the initiative to exchange my KOBO e-reader for a new one even though it was “against” policy as she had witnessed first-hand that I was directed into store and as a result, she made an exception to their rule.

So often employees hide behind “corporate policies” that leave customers frustrated. But this store manager made an executive decision that left me leaving the store completely satisfied. I spend about $600 a year at Chapters Indigo and I’m a fan-favourite of their easy online shopping and in-store locations. I’m glad to see that they do “100%” stand behind their KOBOs and it was not just a marketing campaign to drive sales – they actually deliver on top-notch customer service too.