The Frugal Bostonian

In July 2008, I participated in a hair care product study.  The company was researching a product they hoped would increase hair volume.  I found the posting on craigslist (http://boston.craigslist.org/) in the “beauty” section.  I went to the “salon” (it seemed like a combination “office” and beauty salon) to have my hair “evaluated.”  Someone looked at my hair and decided that I fit the bill.  They gave me a bottle of spray on hair gel that I used for a week, I wrote comments about my experience (I did not have alot to say, this was like any other hair product).  I returned 7 days later to turn in the remaining product and my commentary.  They were in their final testing phases, and the gel was exactly what I would expect of something I bought in a regular store.

This was very easy, and I was paid $100.   The place was located in Cambridge, near Central and Kendall, and could be accessed by bus or subway (with a walk).  After the study was done, the folks said I could come back to be paid to have my hair styled with the product.  Unfortunately, the appointments were during the day at times that did not work for me.  Apparently some people would go several times a week and treat it as a part-time job.  Nice work if you can find it!

I was recently perusing craigslist and found a posting from the same company again looking for salon participants.  They are paying $30 per session, which takes about an hour.  When it was explained to me in July, they said it was the equivalent of a blow-dry, no hair cutting is involved.  I am hoping to be able to schedule an appointment to make the $30, and you can do it too (take the survey to make sure you have the “right” type of hair).  Start out 2009 with this great income opportunity.

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Salon Participants Needed - $30 to Get Your Hair Done! (Cambridge / Kendall Square)

Reply to: jessicav@livingproof-inc.com ^[?]
Date: 2008-12-29, 8:52AM EST

We are actively seeking Salon Participants to have their hair professionally styled with our new products. Each visit lasts roughly 1 hour, and the pay is $30 per visit!

Located on Rogers Street in Cambridge, our offices are accessible by public transportation, or parking is readily available for all guests.

Time slots:

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday: 1st appointment at 9:00am, last at 4:00pm
Tuesday: 1st appointment at 9:00am, last at 3:00pm
Friday: 1st appointment at 9:00am, last at 2:00pm

Ready to get started?! Simply take our survey at the link below to determine your hair-type, and we will be in touch to schedule your first appointment!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=FujJEndzNlwkNPz4B81w1w_3d_3d

For any questions regarding the survey, or for more information about No Frizz(TM), please feel free to e-mail JessicaV@livingproof-inc.com, or call 617-621-1800.

Location: Cambridge / Kendall Square

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I heeded someone’s new year’s advice to look at the cost of my “telecommunication services” (cable tv, phone, internet).  I currently have an RCN bundle, which provides local phone, “high speed” cable internet (it’s the slowest they sell) and basic cable tv.  I pay about $105 a month for these services.  I need the internet, I like having the landline phone, and the cable tv is a luxury.

I had received a postcard from verizon offering internet for $9.99 a month for six months, then $19.99 a month after that.  This looked like a really good deal, so I called verizon to inquire.  To get this rate, you must have phone service through them (and i wanted to keep the land phone, I was willing to give up the cable tv).  The sales rep initially quoted a rate of $69.99 a month for phone and internet.  When I balked, we whittled it down to $39 a month for six months, $49 a month thereafter.  I took the sales rep’s number and said I might call back.

I called RCN to see what it would cost for internet and phone only.  After an interminable wait on the phone, an agreeable sales rep spontaneously offered to reduce the cable by $20 a month, bringing my cost to about $85 a month.  Or, I could have just phone and internet for $47.  Because I did not want to deal with the aggravation of switching to verizon, and because the verizon monthly cost was 3-4 times the “teaser” advertisement, I decided to keep the RCN bundle for the $85 a month.

RCN customers also need a new digital cable box, which they will send to me, and charge me “only” $2.95 a month (as opposed to $4.95). 

Even with the new digital converter box, I will be paying a total of $200 less in 2009 for all three services.  But, the real fact is that I will be paying about $1,000 for these services over the course of the year.  I use the internet to do mystery shopping and otherwise make money, so it arguably pays for itself.  But I plan to spent time in 2009 exploring ways to keep my home phone number and get internet service in my home at a lower price.  I am on someone else’s cell phone family plan, but cell phone service might factor into the equation.

If you have a telecommunications bundle that you plan to keep, give them a call and see if they’ll knock the bill down.  (I started the conversation by saying that I needed to trim expenses and intended to lower my level of service).

I have an internet savings account through ING orange, I first signed up in 2002 because they gave me $25 just for opening the account.  Once set up, its very easy to use.  You make transfers from a “bricks and mortar” bank, and get money back in hand the same way (it takes 3-5 days to be back in the regular bank).  If you persuade a friend to join, they will give you free money ($10) and your friend free money ($25).  They used to give the freebie bonus for any amount of deposit, but now its $250 minimum.  I like the account, especially the fact that interest is way higher than what’s available at a regular bank, and there’s no minimum. 

Today I was enticed to open an “Electric Orange Checking Account.”  I got a postcard offering me $25 if I opened the account and used the debit card to make three purchases in the next 45 days.  The promo code on my card was “EL574“, and it did not look like a unique number, so you can use it too.  I logged into my ing savings account, clicked on the link to open the new account and transferred $100 from my orange savings account.  I should get the debit card and pin in 3-5 days. 

Since I am required to make three purchases to get the $25, I plan to use the card three times to make small, necessary transactions, such as a food item in the supermarket.  I then plan to take the card out of my wallet and hide it somplace until there’s another promotion.  The money in the account will earn 1% interest (not alot, but more than the .1% offered at bricks and mortar). 

If you don’t already have an ing orange savings account and plan to open one with a least $250, ask your friends for a referral code so you’ll get the bonus money.  If none of your friends has an account, look for a blogger offering referral codes (the blogger will get a bonus, but so will you), then start referring your friends (this would be a great fundraiser for a church or school group - everyone signs up and donates the bonus to the cause).  Since this is a pseudo-anonymous blog, i am not sending out codes to everyone, but if you know me, feel free to ask in the comments or via email.

ING is a great way to break into online banking - you’ll get free money just for signing up, and you can always take your money out and close the account if you don’t like it.  Go to www.ingdirect.com/electric to learn more.

I am using “in store pickup” to get a few items at BestBuy and not deal with the crowds.  And I am getting frequent flyer points too!  I wrote about doing this at Sears (see prior post, which I still don’t know how to link to). 

I logged onto Continental Airlines, put in my frequent flyer number, clicked through to shopping partners, and got to the BestBuy site.  I bought an items I had seen in the store yesterday, and it will be ready for me to pick up when I arrive (the store is very close, I am not making an extra trip).  You can use any form of payment, it is not necessary to have a card affiliated with BestBuy or the airline.

I am getting the item, plus 2 frequent flyer miles for every dollar spent, and keeping my frequent flyer account active (airlines have started cancelling miles due to non-activity).  This beats just getting the item, which is all I would have gotten if I just bought the item in the store when I was there.

And, I found a $5 bill blowing in the wind a few days ago, so I am hoping for prosperity.

Some people like to give gift cards as gifts.  I like to use them as “added value currency.”  Here’s how it works:

Many restaurants have holiday promotions with an incentive for buying a gift card.  For example, for every $25 gift card you buy at Pizzeria Uno, you get an additional gift card for $5.  Although you can’t use the extra $5 card until after December 25th, you can use the $25 card immediately. 

I regularly “dine” at Unos with friends (we usually get drinks and appetizers and quarrel about the bill).  Last week, we had plans to go on Saturday afternoon.  Someone ran over ahead of time and bought $50 of gift cards, thereby receiving $10 of extra giftcard “incentives.”  The $50 gift cards were used toward the bill (the purchaser was reimbursed).  The extra $10 will defray the cost of the next trip to Unos.  We got $10 for absolutely nothing, as we were already planning to eat there. 

If you are already planning to eat at the restaurant, buy yourself a giftcard, use it on the bill, and use the “incentive” for a future trip.   Many restaurants do this (skipjacks and maggianos are two I happen to know about).

My friend showed up at an event in a good-looking cape.  Turns out it was a Christmas tree skirt bought at an after-Christmas sale for a few dollars.   Your head goes where the tree trunk would be, and the open part of the skirt goes in front.  This tree-skirt-cape was a deep red and green, and had ties to keep it closed. 

We went over to Marshalls to look at the Holiday home decor department at this year’s tree skirts.  There were a few that looked like they could be worn. 

I guess the motto is: if it looks like a cape, and fits like a cape, it’s a cape (even if it’s being marketed as a tree skirt).  (And I suppose there are quite a few capes out there that would make great tree skirts!)

The image above is not my friend’s tree-skirt-cape, but one I found on google.

My endeavor to learn how to blog is ongoing, now I am learning about spam.  I’ve gotten a few great comments, but hundreds of spam messages inviting me to purchase levitra, cialis, and other stuff. 

I’ve changed the settings to block some of the key words from these gems, but I now understand why many blogs require a name and email address.  I hope I don’t need to go that route, but deleting all this spam is time consuming.

December is the season of craft fairs.  The Old South Church at the corner of Boylston and Dartmouth Streets in Boston’s Back Bay is having its Holiday Arts and Crafts Fair on Saturday, December 6th from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm. 

I went last year.  There were some gorgeous handknit items for only $15 each (sadly, none fit me), and an amazing cookie selection.  They sell cookies in those take-out chinese food boxes.  I think it was something like $5 for a large box, and you got to pick the cookies yourself from heaps of homemade goodies! 

This is worth checking out, at least for the cookies.  Grab a box to have with coffee!

I’ll post other fairs when i find them, there are usually alot during the month of December.