Bargain Jewess

Archive for the ‘Women’ Category

Social Media has learned a really great trick that marketers have used for years- targeted advertising. In the past few months every time I log onto Facebook there are always ads targeted to me; they range from discount shopping, Israel and Jewish related ads and this new site called Lifebooker, which offers beauty services at fairly decent discounts. I tried one of their salons once for a Brazilian. They did an OK job but they left all these little hairs and my aesthetician left the room to converse in Chinese with her friend/co-worker mid-wax. Plus people kept looking in not the experience you’d want. Needless to say I complained because even with the discount it wasn’t super cheap. Amazingly the place did not charge me and apologized so I got a free, albeit crappy Brazilian.

I’ve checked the site recently and they do have some great prices for various services. I’ve seen single process color for as low as $30 and highlights for $75. Half hour massages at Sothy’s Institute, will run you $30, a pretty great bargain. I suggest checking them out the next time you want to book a beauty treatment. http://www.lifebooker.com

If you really want things done on the cheap consider local beauty schools such as the Aveda institutes here in NYC. You can find them by Googling them. They’re super cheap although you will be working with a student and not a trained stylist. You can also call all the chichi salons and make an appointment for their training nights. The following is a training night list of New York’s best salons.

Antonio Prieto Salon
Cutting classes are Thursdays at 8:45 am, $20. Color appointments are Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11pm-7pm. $20 for single-process, $50 for highlights. Clients must sign up and pay in advance and in person; cash only.
• 25 West 19th St., 212-255-3741

Arte Salon
Training sessions held on Tuesdays at 10am. Cut and color, free. No appointment necessary.
• 284 Lafayette St., 212-941-5932

Aveda Institute
Appointments with supervised students are Tuesdays through Saturdays. Colorings, 9am or 1pm; $30 to $75. Cuts, 9am to 3:30pm; $15. They also hold advanced classes for which models are recruited, free of charge.
• 233 Spring St., 212-807-1492

Bumble & Bumble
Model calls are Mondays from 5 to 6pm. To find out more about the program potential models should call 646-282-1008. They can also sign up for a model call invitation on the web site.
• 146 E. 56th St., 212-521-6500

Dop Dop
Wednesdays at 6:30pm; cut and color classes alternate by week. $35 for color, $20 for cut; cash only. By appointment only.
• 170 Mercer St., 212-965-9540

Frederic Fekkai
Tuesdays at 6pm. $40 for cut or color; cash only. Stylings are determined by the class director, so call ahead for a schedule.
• 15 E. 57th St., 212-753-9500

John Barrett
Wednesdays at 7:30am, except during August. $35 for cut or color. Models are selected for an appropriate class based on the information they provide about their hair and on a first-come, first-served basis. In the fall, they will be offering training classes for children’s hair. Call for an application.
• 754 Fifth Ave., 9th Floor, 212-872-2700

John Sahag
Tuesdays at 6:30pm, except during the month of August. $40 for cut, $60 for color; cash only. Call on Mondays to book an appointment.
• 425 Madison Ave., at 49th St., 212-750-7772

Kim Lepine
Tuesdays at 5:30pm. $25 for cut or color; cash only. Book in advance.
• 667 Madison Ave., near 61st St., 212-832-6529

Louis Licari
Wednesdays at 5:30pm. $45-$75 for color, $30 for cut; cash only. By appointment only. They also offer appointments with assistants free of charge when available.
• 693 Fifth Ave., at 53rd St., 212-758-2090

Mark Garrison
Wednesday nights, color at 5pm, cuts at 6pm. $40 for color, $30 for cut; cash only. By appointment only.
• 820 Madison Ave., between 68th and 69th Sts., 212-570-5820

Oribe at Elizabeth Arden
Mondays at 11am; cut and color weeks alternate. $45 for highlights, $30 for cut or single-process color; cash only. By appointment only.
• 691 Fifth Ave., between 53rd and 54th Sts., 212-319-3910

Paul LaBrecque
Mondays at 6pm. $20 for cut or color. By appointment only; East Side location only.
• 171 E. 65th St., 212-595-0099

Peter Coppola
Tuesdays at 6:30pm. $40 for cut or color. Call in advance to leave name, number, and service desired.
• 746 Madison Ave., between 64th and 65th Sts., 212-988-9404

Prive Salon
Model cuts and color are done by assistants as available Tuesdays through Saturdays. $25 for cuts, $20 for single-process color, $40 for highlights; cash only. Call to request service, and a stylist will call back with availability.
• 310 W. Broadway, 212-274-8888

Salon Ishi
Cutting classes are Wednesdays at 6pm, color on Fridays at 5pm. Services are free. By appointment only.
• 70 E. 55th St., 212-888-4744

Space
Tuesdays at 9:30am for color, Wednesdays at 9:30am for cut. $25 for color, $15 for cuts. By appointment only.
• 155 Sixth Ave., at Spring St., 212-647-8588

Vidal Sassoon
Wednesdays at 6:30pm. $14-$18 for cut, $25-$50 for color; cash only. Stop by on Wednesdays at 6:15pm for a consultation for the following week.
• 90 Fifth Ave., at 14th St., 212-929-9668

For those of you living outside New York, I suggest calling up the hottest salons in your town and asking about training nights. Most good salons will have them and haircuts and color will be a lot less than normal. Just make sure that the stylist working on you is properly supervised as I have heard of disaster stories. Hopefully you’ll get lucky and discover the next Brad Johns or Orlando Pita.

There are a few more tips and tricks to think about on wedding day. Here are some ideas.

Photographers:  Some people are happy using a standard wedding photographer some want a photo journalist. whatever your preference work out a package. Both my photographer and Videographer came together as a package. which of course saved me money by having everything from one place. I had an orthodox Jewish wedding which had separate and mixed dancing. Because of separate dancing most orthodox Jewish weddings have two teams of photographers. One to photograph the men dancing and one to photograph the women dancing.  We had one team at my wedding and still had a tremendous amount of pictures so feel free to get one team instead of two. In terms of packages some photogs will offer a certain amount of pictures or albums etc for a set fee. Try to negotiate. Never been hesitant to ask, the worst you hear is no and with today’s economy there is probably someone who will say yes.

Tuxedos: For some men only Ralph Lauren will do for others they’ll bring home a shiny polyester disaster that will have you running for the hills. There are affordable tuxedos for every man. For the designer guy check the discount outlets. Century 21, Syms, Off Fifth, Neiman Marcus last call, etc. You can find all the top names for discount prices. Chances are these will be also be pricey but definitely a lot less than paying retail.

Some guys don’t care or they do but cannot see themselves paying that kind of Money. Cheaper Alternatives include renting a tux from a place like Http://ZellersTuxedos.com or http://menswearhouse.com. Men’s Wearhouse also sells tuxedos and Syms sells non-brand name tuxedos for discount prices. Also check out your local suit outlet you can usually find a deal there.

Hair and Makeup:  Some people have used the same salon forever. If that’s you your stylist knows your budget and will hopefully work with you. For those trying a new place price various places. Ask if there are packages and price shop. Sometimes they’re cheaper sometimes they’re not. If you are just wearing a veil or no headpiece at all don’t tell them your a bride salon’s always charge more for the bride. If all else fails do what I did. Charge it to your credit card and pray you’ll have it to pay after the wedding. Probably not a smart financial decision but hey,  I’m a bargain guru  not a finance expert.

I think that just about cover’s the important points. The most important point is that you are about to begin the most incredible journey of your life, and whether you have a fabulous blowout or a small intimate affair the thing that matters most is that it fits both of you and what you want because at the end of the party the only two people left are you and him/her and those are the only two people who need to be pleased.

Every girl has a dream of what her wedding will be like. Some  want small and intimate while, others want a big over the top blowout. Some may want a designer gown complete with cathedral veil while others prefer a simple sheath, with loose flowing hair and flowers intertwined. whatever your dream there is a way to make it happen.

1. Time Counts: Unfortunately the time of year you get married dictates many things, most importantly the price of your venue. Anytime between may and September will be pricey with prices declining from there. The least expensive time of year is December through March. I got married in February in a beautiful country club for a fraction of the price. The pitfall is that you will deal with snow as we did but our wedding was still rockin’. If venue is not important than you won’t have an issue because certain places are affordable year round. More ways to cut costs is to eliminate the wedding cake, have a smaller smorgasbord or cut it completely and opt for chicken only as opposed to a choice. I wanted an elaborate wedding so I gave up my June wedding for February but had a beautiful place, a huge smorgasbord, free flowing liquor and three entree choices. You really need to decide what is important to you.

Some venues to check out:

• http://www.cresthollow.com
• http://www.themarinadelray.com
• http://theedenpalace.com
• http://www.grandprospecthall.com
• http://www.foxhollow.com

One of the most reasonable venues in New York is the New York city parks. In my neighborhood at fort Tryon park I have seen some beautiful weddings. This is obviously easier if you are not kosher but I’m sure there are vsome parks where kosher food is offered.  Another option is the Rotunda at Cuny Kingsborough located on the beach. Http://www.kingsborough.edu/center/rotunda.html This is truly a magnificent setting as the college is on the beach and possibly affordable as well.

2. Flowers: Flowers can truly be an exorbitant expense. If you get married certain times of the year such as spring you may have more options but florists will jack the price way up. One way to be cost effective is to choose one type of flower for the centerpiece. A really striking flower clustered in a bunch together can be exquisite especially if it’s showy. Add flashy greenery like ivy and different grasses along with tall branches to really make a statement. if you like tall centerpieces see if your florist will rent you the vases. Most should. Just make sure the Maitre d’ is aware that people can take the flowers only. If you would like to use the centerpieces for the ceremony make sure they are in floral foam so they can be moved into smaller containers. Another way to save is to wildflowers in baskets, have votives with small mini arrangements clustered together. If you’re really on a budget scatter rose petals on tables with votives or tapers, and  buy two small arrangemnts for the bride and grooms table.

Chuppahs are expensive no matter how you slice it. Sometimes you get lucky and the place does it for a lower fee than a florist. Their are also gemachs that do this check out the bridal secrets website for more info. http://Bridalsecrets.com

3. Gowns, Veils and Tiaras: These can cost multi thousands or sometimes hundreds it all depends on what you want. It also depends on material beading etc. I payed on the lower end for my gown and it still cost 2,000 dollars. Natural silks, and lace are the most expensive. Polyester satins are relatively inexepensive and can really look beautiful. If you cand find a good reasonable dressmaker it can sometimes save you a lot as opposed to buying from a bridal salon.

Filene’s Basement has a huge bridal sale every year. This year’s takes place February 27th in their manhattan location get there early to get the best selection.

Kleinfeld’s the fabulous designer bridal outlet holds their sale on February 5th. Look for designer names like Reem acra, Monique Lhuillier, Priscilla of boston, kenneth Pool and Many more. Gowns start at $499.

In your local bridal salon be honest about what your spending know what you want and tell them that. Don’t look at things out of your price range only to have your heart broken. Also ask if it’s an older style say from last season, if the sample is for sale. A friend of mine got a $2,000 dress for $800 doing that.

What is a bride without a veil? When I got married I was super shocked at how much they wanted for a simple piece of tulle. My friend loaned me hers but my mother-in-law’s cleaning lady threw it out. Do not ask. I ended up finding a beautiful cathedral length veil to match my train with three layers:blusher, fingertip, and cathedral. It cost me $20. So I seriously advise checking eBay. Also look into rental places or gemachs they usually have a nice selection for far less. if you’re really crafty consider making one yourself. You can find instructions by googling it.

Tiaras, Hair clips and Ornaments- one of the best places to find these is in the garment center btween 36th stree and 5th ave and 40th street and 8th avenue. Look online as well because you can find many affordable things on the web. If you are looking for something really unique check out gemachs and rental places. I got the most magnificent tiara from a gemach in Boro Park for get this nothing. It was really and truly out of this world. Be creative. My new favorite look is one side swept back with a jeweled feathered clip. Tres Chic.

4. Liquor: I discussed this earlier but i feel it needs it’s own paragraph. A good way to have liquor but cut costs is to wither only serve it at the smorg or have wine bottles on every table. This will significantly cut your liqour costs.

Weddings done on a budget can be really beautiful. It’s just how you go about doing it. For more tips feel free to contact me.

Stay tuned for Part Two.

May we only have happy Occasions.

Bargain Jewess

So the title of this post may seem a little strange, but I’m addressing two different topics so bear with me. Last night I logged onto Facebook and saw someone I knew had posted a blog that they thought was dead on. I checked the blog out and found out about these new terms that are being used to classify certain types of people ie: Jews that other Jews take issue with. The terms are “hot chani” and “slimy shmuli“. At first I thought this might be funny but the more I read of both the posts and the comments I just felt incredibly sad. I understand that bloggers feel the need to make social commentary, I do it myself, but I do not criticize people on the basis of how they dress or what community they belong to. Having straddled both the yeshivish and modern orthodox world I have gained insight into both. The “hot “hot chanis“  bloggers speak of, are mostly good people. I know many both from my parent’s shul and from the various schools I went too. I don’t think there is a sin in looking good. If they wear tight clothes that they consider tznius who are you to tell them that it’s not and judge them for it? Are you their Rabbi or their husband or their parent? I think the snarky terminology being used is just jealousy and overall Sinas Chinam and honestly I think it’s pathetic. My motto has always been live and let live. You cannot judge a person by how they look because very often you are wrong. I would say most of the people commenting on this topic have never even met a “hot chani” or “slimy shmuli” only seen them in passing and made snap judgments. Even if you have and they are bad people what’s the point of decrying it on the internet? Do you realize what others’ think when they see that we can’t even get a long with our kind? We know what it feels like to be persecuted by many different peoples so why do we insist on persecuting our brother’s and sisters. We want those outside of us to respect us but how can they when we don’t respect ourselves? I think the lesson we all need to learn without being preachy is to love each other. We are different and yet unique and special in our ways. We all pick and choose when it comes to religion. When did one person’s relationship to halacha and God become everyone’s business? I think we each need to worry about how we define the Torah for ourselves and stop worrying about how other people define halacha for themselves.

On a more fun note Chanukah is soon to be here. Latkes and Sufganiot await. Everyone is feeling the pinch this year in their pocketbook and many people may choose to skip gifts altogether. If you choose to give gifts there are many that are affordable and that the recipient will love. The most important part is to know your recipient.

Some Cheap Ideas:

Board Games: I personally find that you can have a great time getting together with friends and playing some board games.  Some fun ones Scattergories, Taboo, Jenga, Settlers of Catan, and Blokus. Check out http://Target.com or http://walmart.com for these games and many more. For Settlers check out http://barnesandnoble.com

Picture frames with personalized pictures: A picture frame can be relatively inexpensive.Putting in a fun picture of you and that person, or photo’s of them that are really great is a thoughtful and cost effective gift. For really pretty picture frames check out http://zgallerie.com

Books: Books are always a great gift idea which you can tailor to every person. For cooks there’s always a new cookbook, for history buffs a biography will always suffice. There are so many book types I don’t have time to list them all. Check out http://borders.com or http://Amazon.com. Also if you really are on a tight budget you can join a sight like http://bookmooch.com which allows you to swap books for free. All you pay is the shipping  for those books requested from your collection by others.

If you have a skill like sewing or knitting you can always make homemade gifts that people will love. A hat, a scarf, a personalized apron, all can be big hits. Baking is also a great gift. You can make cookies or mini cakes and most people will truly appreciate your time and effort.

The key to budget gift giving is essentially thoughtfulness. Before you go out and buy cheap garbage, think about what the person you are gifting will really want and work from there. The look on their face when they receive it will be worth the time and effort.

I would love to hear your budget gift ideas. Please comment or email BargainJewess@gmail.com.

You can also follow me on twitter, Bargainjewess, and keep up with all my latest posts.

In a world where the flick of a button can bring you 1,000′s of TV stations at a moment, or a microwave can cook you dinner in 5 minutes or less, my generation has come to associate that everything in life should be instant gratification. If things do not happen automatically then they are not worth the time and effort it takes to spend on them. Women of my generation especially are told we can achieve anything. Our mothers worked hard so that would be the case. What most of us have not learned is that we have the opportunity to achieve great things but we must first put in the hard work, the grunt work and pay our dues before we receive the great paying, exciting jobs we desire. We also as women expect instant gratification in our relationships. That men will fall madly in love with us and understand us as no one else has ever before. This is clearly not a reality no matter how much a man loves you, he cannot read your mind.

I am a person who personifies the instant gratification problem. I expect that if I do things the way I am supposed to I will produce instantaneous results. What I have never mastered is that some things take longer and are harder to establish. One must have a patience, a virtue I am trying to learn to acquire. I am a quitter when things don’t come easily to me. I have major issues with not doing well at something it bothers me in a way that should instead motivate me to work harder. I saw this firsthand when I started studying for the LSAT. In the beginning as I got crappy score after crappy score; I just wanted to quit. I thought maybe I was mistaken, maybe I just wasn’t lawyer material. Then my dad told me to remember I was a rock star and could do anything and I started to believe it. I’m at the point where I think I’ve improved somewhat, I’m not quite where I want to be but I also understand that working hard will help.

I’ve learned this in my relationships too. I used to think my husband should understand exactly what I needed without my telling him. After being married for a year and a half, this is a very unrealistic expectation.  Your partner wants to please you, but they cannot read your mind. You must also understand what type of person your partner is. Some people respond well to hint dropping or leaving open magazine pictures or websites they will see.  Others need to be told in explicit terms. What we as women need to get over is this idea that men need to understand us perfectly and that it’s unacceptable to be involved in romantic overtures. If you teach a man what it is you want, eventually he will get what that is and the instant gratification you desire will be yours.

On one final note sometimes we find something that we love to do and it falls by the wayside and we think it will never be anything that will produce lucrative results and so we give up. I have always been a writer, I was writing stories and making “books” in the third grade. I was told by my eigth grade teacher that my stories had tremendous promise and that one day I would be a published writer. The thing is writing is not something you can do, finish and immediately be happy with. So many factors play in to it. Life experiences, inspiration, a story that grabs peoples attention and many careful edits to achieve something people might not want to read. When I started this blog I started it just because I needed a forum for my opinions and advice. I wanted people to know that they could look great on a budget. I also began to realize that I wanted to share my opinions on the world and what went on in it, especially as it pertains to women. Now that the blog is growing and people are reading it I have begun to realize that consistency pays off. I am finally at a point where I have actual gratification that kind that lasts not instant, which wears off once the novelty has passed.

Since I am about 6 years old I have been on a quest for hair of more glamorous shade than my natural medium brown. At 6, I remember my mother saying my hair was a mousy brown, a comment that always stuck with me. When I was around 13 or 14 I began to use Sun-In turning my hair a weird shade of reddish-auburn; I did this for a few years. The summer before I turned 17 I dyed my hair for the first time. I wanted a reddish tint I ended up with eggplant-purple hair. I was working upstate as a counselor and my friends and I were bored. We decided that to assuage our boredom, we would die our hair. One trip to the local CVS/ Walgreens/Eckerd later we had hair dye in our hands. I had only Sun-Ined my hair previously. My friend had bleached hers and wanted to go back to her natural brown. Neither of us ended up with what we expected. She ended up with hair the color of a fire truck and I ended up with hair the color of an eggplant (even more fun was when I came back to school and my roots were noticed and I had to dye it back) and so began my life long fascination with hair dye and changing my look.

I am one of those people who does not believe in rocking a single look but rather many. Some days I want to be glamor, some days I want to be goth and some days I want to just be plain old jeans and a t-shirt. It’s one of the reasons I love fashion. Every year it evolves; what was old is reinvented and made new, dying your hair can do the same for your look, how you feel and even how you look at the world or rather how the world looks at you. When I would change my hair color somehow I could be totally different. Being a redhead made me feel sexy and different. Being raven haired made me feel like a goth/punk/ bad girl but it wasn’t exactly wonderful for my pasty sallow complexion. I looked more Morticia Adams than Elvira, my goth inspiration.  Being blond has had various incarnations for me. Right now I am between blond as I call it. Half my hair is blond the other half needs to be bleached and I’m too cheap to pay so I’ve been doing it on my own and screwing it up, which is a fun learning process in and of itself. More on that later.

My first foray into blond ambition was right after high school. I wanted to be blond but was afraid to bleach it. The colorist suggested effesol a color remover and a few highlights on my limited budget. I ended up cat orange. When the time came to do my roots I was too cheap to go to the salon and tried an at home bleaching kit. I ended up spotted like a leopard and having to get color correction back to my old shade at a salon. The interesting thing was as a blond I got totally different sorts of attention. No matter how many men say they love brunettes there is still a certain blond allure. A je ne sais qous that the fair tressed posses, that leaves brunettes in it’s elusive wake.

Don’t get me wrong some of the most stunning women in the world are brunettes. It’s not that I dislike brown hair I just have never felt glamorous having it. Recently when I was feeling down this summer I decided to lighten up. The compliments were astounding people loved it. The problem was again maintenance. I’m now realizing that learning to dye your hair is a process that I’m just getting started with.

Funny enough even though my husband frequently drools over blond celebrities he  tells me quite often he wishes my hair were still long brown and curly instead of short straight and blond. For now I’m gonna keep playing with the blond but I may just find that next week I’ll want to be redhead.

Change your Look. Change your Life.

Bargain Jewess.

Ps. please email me at my new email address with comments and suggestions Bargainjewess@gmail.com, you can also follow me on twitter Bargainjewess.

It’s an interesting thing. John Mccain announces his running mate, Sarah  Palin and gains in edge in the polls. It got me thinking, what is it about Sarah Palin that has conservative Republican women-who normally would not want to see a woman with small children in the White House- cheering her on? Even further not only are women cheering her on but they are emulating her. Trying to look like her and copy her fresh, wearable, style.

I think there are two things that appeal to the women backing Sarah Palin that makes them go so far as to support a candidate whose views differ from theirs.

• Sarah Palin is the every mom. She has 5 kids, she has normal struggles. A pregnant teenage daughter, a child with down syndrome…while these might be the extreme of normal we all know people with similar albeit different situations and can therefore relate. She also seems to be supermom but doesn’t come off as intimidating. She doesn’t discuss her struggles to balance work and kids, she just does it. That’s part of her appeal. That we see her as this very normal woman who has very normal responsibilities. She seems like a woman who can commiserate, a friend even, and because she is a working class woman she appeals to women of the working class everywhere. Women can see themselves in her. In a woman like Hilary Clinton with her Ivy league education and her desire to act like one of the boys, downplaying her femininity worked as a strike against her. Many women did not identify with her. This leads to my next point.
• Sarah Palin is likable because she is a woman. I don’t mean that in the literal sense we all know she’s a woman. But she is a feminine woman. A woman who has style and isn’t afraid to wear red peep-toe pumps with a 3+ inch heel. If you notice something Palin is always in a skirt always coiffed and groomed. Not too stylish and pretty for other women to put off, but stylish and pretty enough that women identify with her and her struggle as a woman to be a woman while working in the same world as the boys. Other women have downplayed their femininity, in attempts to blend and to show male voters that they are just as qualified as the boys. Sarah Palin is doing the opposite she is using her credentials as a woman and a mother to say that she is just as qualified if not more so than any man. That women do not have to compromise their femininity in order to get the big jobs and titles. That is a powerful message to women everywhere.
• Many women love the movie Legally Blonde. Elle Woods a beauty queen sorority type, puts her mind to becoming an attorney and get’s into Harvard, graduating at the top of her class. She smacks down sexual advances offered as a way to climb her way up the corporate ladder, outdoes the boy who dumped her and looks glamorous throughout. Looking at Sarah Palin many can say that she is a real life Elle Woods. A former beauty queen who exemplifies the edict that women can be stylish and attractive and still do anything. Whenever the media makes a comment she deems sexist she decries it, and although we don’t know of any boys who dumped her, it seems that the boys are just trying to keep up with her.

Sarah Palin has in many ways created a new playing field. One that uses feminine wiles and actual femininity to gain approval and solidarity. It seems that it just might be working. For me none of this is a quantifier or qualifier of voting for Mccain-Palin but I can certainly say that I admire the woman; she’s smarter than many of her critics seem to think.

For More Info check out the following Links:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122116644864624975.html?mod=googlenews_ws

For perspective: http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB122143727571134335.html

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/98651/’sarah_palin_feminism’_more_like_sarah_palin_sexism/

PS: I love how the term Rovian has become part of our collective colloquial speech to indicate anyone who lies…as if no one lied before Karl Rove.

Here’s to great political Debate.

Bargain Jewess.