The downside of cheap skatitude

Hey guys!  I hope your Halloween's been spookilicious!  As the witching hour approaches, I thought share a little story about the first TV I ever bought.  I know, it doesn't sound spooky, but it kind of is, just wait!

I think we all know I'm a cheapskate, through and through.  I rarely pay retail for anything, unless it simply can't be had any other way.  So that's where the story of my new TV starts.  I had a hand-me-down TV that my parents had given me when I bought my house.  This was the 90s, and the TV was heavy, and old, and the picture was a little fuzzy.  Some channels were more than a little fuzzy, and it was getting progressively worse.  If it had been a fabulous mid-century console TV, I'd have searched around for someone to repair it, but it was an early 80s utilitarian set with no design aesthetics, so it was time for a new TV.

Now, back in the day here in St Louis, there was a place called (I swear I'm telling the truth here, although I've scoured Google for photographic evidence and come up short) Grandpa Pigeon's.  Now, it may have been called Grandpa Pigeon, but it was definitely the kind of place you'd put a random S at the end of, regardless.  Grandpa Pigeon's was a discount store, at it was cheap.  My best guess looking back is that it was the old-time equivalent of Big Lots, where they bought huge batches of closeout stuff.  What I do know is, they sold refurbished TVs.  I know this, because I bought one.  A whopping 24-inch television!  Well, it was bigger than the one I had before!  Actually, it's bigger than the little 19-inch I have now, since someone kicked my front door in and stole the nice big flat screen I used to have.  I refuse to replace it because... you know, I'm cheap!

So anyway, it was late October when I bought my fancy "new" refurbished TV at Grandpa Pigeon's, and I have a certain favorite movie that I like to watch.  Abbot & Costello meet Frankenstein:

Now, if you aren't familiar, get thee to Netflix on the double!  Abbott & Costello are comedy icons of the highest order, but this film goes way beyond that.  The classic movie monsters are all in attendance - the original actors!  Well, it's Glenn Strange instead of Boris Karloff, but that really is Bela Lugosi playing Count Dracula, and Lon Chaney Jr. as the wolf man.  Even hometown hero (the Lou loves him!) Vincent Price made an "appearance" as the Invisible Man!  It's funny, it's spooky, it's all around awesome, and I recommend it to pretty much anybody over the age of 10.

Unfortunately, on the Halloween night in question, nefarious characters were plotting against my enjoyment of my favorite goofballs.  Before digging in to the main event, my friend and I sat down with our popcorn to watch a Simpsons episode (who didn't love the Treehouse of Terror episodes?!?).  And that, my friends, is when he did it.  Bart Simpson really is the demon child that Homer suspects you guys!  He came home and plopped on his couch, facing my friend Robert and me, and he raised his remote control.  He clicked, and nothing happened.  He clicked again... still nothing.  So he rummaged around in the couch cushions, and came up with this:

Bart's plutonium

Aha!  The remote's batteries were dead, but surely the spare plutonium that fell out of Homer's pocket would work!

And it did.

Cartoon character Bart Simpson stuck a glowing stick of cartoon plutonium into his cartoon remote control, aimed it at us, and Turned Off My TV!

I promise you, I'm telling the truth!  Robert, if you're reading this, comment - back me up.  Bart Simpson turned off my new TV, and that was the end of it.  I had to go right back to Grandpa Pigeons and return it.

Spooky, huh?

Aha, and the witching hour, has arrived!

A cheapskate's lodging: more or less

So last night I mentioned the cutest, jankiest hotel you may ever meet were our accommodations on the outskirts of the Chicago area.  Priceline's 'name your own price' deal can be the BFF of the cheapskate traveler, sometimes landing you fantastic deals on great hotels in great locations, but the sometimes, and the great locations, are not likely to be in downtown Chicago on Labor Day Weekend, so we did a bit of hunting to find a place cheap enough to enable our fun, and since there were plans to buy some rather large items at Ikea, we looked in that area for a place, and found Hotel Bolero, in Palatine.  Not far from Ikea, and very near Arlington Park racetrack (Which I totally want to check out sometime!).  Now I admit, Hotel Bolero, and the $57/night price tag, might sound a bit iffy (and maybe also the horse track adjacent location), but every good adventure starts with a risk!

So without further ado, check out my room for the weekend.  I call it the Violet Beauregarde room, for reasons that will soon become clear:

The entrance, from between the bed and desk.

The room itself - with a wall of giant blueberries!

Sitting area, and yes, that's an actual balcony.  It even overlooked a little courtyard!

Another angle on the blueberry bedroom.

Looking in from out on my balcony.

So that's the awesome part.  I wish I'd taken pictures in the lobby and whatnot - there was much cuteness on display there as well.

The less awesome part was the increasingly evident fact that whoever did the fun, boutique renovation of this clearly former chain hotel had long since gone, and been replaced by, as far as I could tell, a staff of one very pregnant woman.  When we checked in and I asked if we could be moved to rooms closer together, we were told that they were short staffed that day, so some of the rooms hadn't been cleaned.  No big deal, our request was accommodated by giving me a handicapped accessible room just down the hall from my friends' room.  And when we left on Sunday morning for round two of adventuring, we had noticed plenty of signs that the place was not as well-kept as the wallpaper might lead you to believe, but we were still feeling great about the deal we got for such a cute place that we had essentially to ourselves.  Todd and Ryan had enjoyed the indoor pool the night before and I know my bed was plenty comfy, in my nest of many pillows.

However... when we got back that evening we noticed the rooms had not been cleaned.  Not a terribly big deal, but the towels had also not been re-stocked.  Still not a big deal for me, but for the family of 3 I was travelling with, who had used their towels for swimming the night before and showering that morning, the pile of damp, used towels that remained on their bathroom floor seemed less than ideal.  When they asked about it, they were told that no housekeeping is done on Sundays, and there were no spare towels to be had, but they were welcome to use the coin-op laundry room to wash them themselves!

So... me being me, it's very, very far from the worse place I've stayed (that one was located above a restaurant/bar in an alley in Rome and involved a swayback bed, a loud fan in the window and a really long line for the one bathroom down the hall and subsequent shower in the proprietor's brother-in-law's apartment upstairs).  But, if you hate to see prenatal child labor like the poor pregnant woman who apparently runs the place single-handed, or like having clean towels and whatnot, you might want to make some inquiries before booking at the Hotel Bolero.  Personally though, the cute, cute room and the nest of many pillows was well worth it to me.

And thus ends a cheapskate's review of a cheap hotel.  Stay tuned next time for Sunday's adventures (including more thrifting!) and some musings on the joys and horrors of Ikea.

Vacation is over way too soon

Hi all!  It's been a little while, hasn't it?  But I had a nice, relaxing vacation with the family - got to spend some quality time with my parents and my sister and her family on the beach, which was lovely!  I did sneak off with my niece for an hour or so one afternoon to check out a big fat Salvation Army shop, just to keep the shakes at bay - I couldn't go cold turkey for a whole week!  But be proud of me, I exercised extreme self control.  Even though the Whole Place was half off that day.  Even though they had This suff!:

 I left it all behind.  Even the Swiss Alpine dishes.  I wanted it.  I touched it.  But in the end I left it on the shelf.  I allowed myself one cheery yellow item of the Dansk variety:

Image borrowed from kitchentoolline.com because I forgot to take a picture of mine!

I have been amassing some cheery yellow kitcheny items, thinking eventually I'll have the money/time/ability to doll up my own kitchen, but I'm not convinced such a thing will ever happen, so the fate of the cute yellow pan is not entirely decided as yet.

You wouldn't think there'd be much else in the way of cheapskate joy in a week in a condo on the beach, but you'd be surprised.  Three things I think are excellent deals:

FREE (my favorite price!):

Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary is, according to their website, the largest wild bird hospital and sanctuary in the country.  Located on Gulf Boulevard in Indian Shores, they couldn't have a better location to release the birds once they've been rescued, repaired and rehabilitated from whatever misfortune might have come their way.  Even those birds who have been permanently injured and wouldn't survive a return to the wild have a nice place to live out their old age in the salt air alongside the waves where they may have once fished.  It's nice enough that, if my visit there was any indication, their healthy, wild, non-hospitalized compatriots frequently stop by to hang out, and you can too!  Admission is free, although donations are accepted.  There is also a coupon in the little beach coupon book you can pick up anywhere in the area that promises a free gift from their gift shop.  Free + a bonus = even better than my favorite price! 
From their website:

Man baby pelicans are funny looking!

Under $10 (and nifty!):

Candy Kitchen in Madiera Beach is, on a small scale, almost as cool as if Ted Drewes and the City Museum joined forces.  They have your sweet-tooth totally covered, from homemade fudge, chocolates and pralines, to nostalgic and novelty candies, to some awesome home-made ice cream (I tried a malt-fudge swirl that was fabulous!).  But beyond the yum,what made this thrift-lover's heart go pitter-pat was the decor.  Toys, vintage signs (they've been in the same place since 1950, so these may be original!), an entire wall of PEZ dipensers and colored sodas on bottlecap-studded shelves, a row of green alien-heads in the corner and grafitti as an integral part of the decor on any un-covered surface (like, say, the ceiling) makes the place fun and eclectic without spending a bunch of money on decor, but they go so far beyond that: They've totally covered great bits of the small shop, including pretty much every surface of the bathroom, with candy ads, wrappers and packaging.  It's bright, thrifty, green and a bit trippy.  So to the proprieters of Mad Beach's Candy Kitchen, I salute you.  Well played, my friends!  And for the rest of you, a few shots of my visit:

Under $15:

Early Bird Specials.  That's right, I said it.  When in Florida, take a lesson from the retirees who, if old sitcoms are to be believed, do nothing but wear Hawaiian shirts and go to dinner at a ridiculous hour.  We tried it at Salt Rock Grill, back in Indian Shores.  They have bottles on their wine list that cost more than my computer, but for a $12.50 prix fixe we got a meal that included a (non-alcoholic - none of the très cher wine) beverage, bread, salad, entrée and dessert.  All of it really good, and all of it with a view of the channel.   I didn't take any pictures of/at the restaurant, but these were taken along that same channel, half a block north, where I hung out while my family caught fish most afternoons (and yes, I'm slightly obsessed with birds):

In the picture of the snowy egret, you can see in the far background beyond the sailboat a building with a rounded area sticking out toward the water - that's the Salt Rock Grill.  And you know what?  If you go to Early Bird dinner, you're done in plenty of time to catch the sunset over the gulf.  And you know how I love a bonus!

Sunset over the gulf last Thursday night.  Why do vacations have to end?

Oh!  And now that she's back, and I'm back, I'll link up, a little late this week, with Apron Thrift Girl - so glad you're back!

Didja hear about the 'Lou?

St. Louis is my home.  My hometown, and the place that keeps pulling me back no matter how far I roam.  There are a few things you might know about St Louis, even if you've never been here before: 

The Cardinals - 11 World Series wins!

The 1904 Worlds Fair, setting
For Meet Me in St Louis

Anheuser-Busch brewery

The Arch - Gateway to the West/
symbol of the Louisiana Purchase

If you're a foodie, or know a St. Louisan at all (we all brag these little fun-facts eventually), you may also know that we claim credit for the following:

-Hot dog buns, ice cream cones, iced tea, hamburger eaten as a sandwich, and cotton candy are all traceable to the 1904 World's Fair.

-Toasted Ravioli  (invented in St Louis's Italian-American neighborhood known as The Hill).

-Peanut Butter (or so I've heard).

-Whistle and 7-up sodas.

-Crab Rangoon.

-Pork steaks.

-Gooey butter cake.

And you can all thank St Louis favorite son Ted Drewes for the invention of the Concrete.  Some of you poor souls out there have only ever experienced the DQ Blizzard or the McDonalds McFlurry, but long before those behemoths started their poor copies, the original (made with real frozen custard, not soft serve) was invented right here.

If you're more of a newshound, you may know St Louis for less tasty reasons.  Like the fact that St. Louis is frequently listed as one of the most dangerous cities in the country, and holds the dubious honor of being named the third most dangerous city in the world for 2011.  I could explain how the data used to give us such a frightening distinction is misleading and in several ways inaccurate, but it's true that there is  a significant amount of violent crime, and, as in any urban area, you should exercise caution.

But what you still don't know based on all the blathering I've done so far, is what on earth any of this has to do with thrifting, vintage, or anything else you might have come to this blog to read about.  So allow me to (finally) inform you!  Aside from being a haven for lovers of artery-cloggingly delicious foods and a center of criminal activity, St. Louis recently earned the top spot in business and finance magazine Kiplinger's online review of the 10 Best Cities for Cheapskates!

According to the article, Kipplinger figured in obvious things like average income and cost-of-living, as well as (click the link and see for yourself - I swear I'm not making this up) the number of Dollar General stores within a 30 mile radius.  I would of course have preferred they count thrift stores per capita instead - then the list would double as a guide to road-trip destinations for yours cheaply!  From the article:

Like most people, cheapskates enjoy getting out.  They just don't want to pay a lot for the privilege.  All the picks on our list boast large numbers of public libraries and museums per capita, ensuring affordable access to culture.

So the number of public libraries and museums per capita was the other major metric for determining the cheapskate honorees.  What the article specifically tells you about St Louis' ranking in this category is pretty darn cool:

St. Louis isn't a huge city, but if we're counting per capita, it boasts more museums and libraries than any city on our list (and it beats New York and Washington, D.C., by a factor of 25).

Now that's something even I didn't know.  I assumed D.C., home of the Smithsonian in all its permutations, would have pretty much everyone beat in terms of museums per capita.  What I knew they couldn't beat us at was affordability.

Did you know that you have to pay money to get into most museums and zoos and musical theater venues?  I didn't.  Until I went off to college and was asked to pay a ridiculous sum of money to visit a puny little zoo, I had no idea how lucky I was to have grown up in this cheapskates' paradise.  Here in St. Louis, the world class zoo (listed as 3rd best zoo in the country for kids by Parents Magazine) boasts fantastic exhibits of all the usual suspects in gorgeous and historical setting.  In fact, if you go, you can visit the Flight Cage my great grandfather helped build for the 1904 World's Fair, and then visit Penguin and Puffin Coast, and soon the new Sharks and Stingrays exhibit.  There's a reptile house, there's Big Cat Country, there's The River's Edge, and there's my favorite thing in the entire zoo:  the prairie dogs.  Or as I like to call them, the 'Praise Jesus Prairie Dogs'.  Stop by some time, hang out and watch them for awhile, and see if you can tell why I call them that.  You can spend the whole day at the St Louis Zoo and never spend a dime.  That's right, folks, the Zoo?  It's free.  Granted, there are plenty of things you could pay for - parking in one of the designated lots, riding the awesome zooline railroad or the carousel, snacks at one of the concession stands or the restaurant, souvenirs at the shop or admission to the frankly awesome Children's Zoo, but none of that is required.  Even parking.  There is ample free parking within easy walking distance of the zoo entrance, throughout Forest Park, and hey, you're right there in Forest Park, who needs a concession stand when you can pack a picnic?  And if you don't mind getting up a little early, you can even skip the $4.00 a pop for the Children's Zoo if you get there before 10:00 AM.  Here, for your viewing pleasure are a few of the cutie pies of the St Louis Zoo from http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/saint-louis-zoo/:

And now, having waxed on for Way Too Long, I realize I've only even told you about the Zoo.  There are literally dozens more great things to do in St. Louis for super, duper cheap (if not free), so I'm thinking this may become a semi-regular feature.  What do you think:  Cheapskate's Paradise?  More to come!