The quizzical editor May 14, 2010

Shameless promotion ALERT!

The Careful Editor loves words and books, yes, but also games and quizzes. Years ago, she worked on a huge database of crossword clues and it was one of the jobs she has loved most ever. Recently she’s compiled some crossword puzzle with pencil and paper, just for fun. A few months ago she happily discovered that Sporcle, the awesome and addicting quiz website, has a section for games contributed by the users, and the best ones can be published if voted by many and/or chosen by the regular editors. Fun! So she started contributing the quizzes you find listed below. If you want to play, please do, and you can also rate the quiz, comment on it and nominate it.

MOVIE games (my main passion along with novels)

• Song-based movie titles
• Movies by song lyrics
• Gillian Anderson non-X Files roles (’cause I’m a big fan)
• Facts you should know about Borat (and a Sacha Baron Cohen one!)

a BOOK game, ‘course

• Book authors quick quiz

games about ITALY and Italian

• Italian cuisine
• Italian false friends
• Italian regions quick game

MISCELLANEOUS ones

• Useless starlets
• Outrageous urban legends
• Most common yoga poses (yoga is another love of mine, unfortunately the quiz turned out a bit obscure…)
• Ikea furniture (& more) (as obscure as the Ikea one)

Save or Splurge? TCE edition May 7, 2010

Personal finance/frugal sites abound with comprehensive lists of the Save vs Splurge variety. I do have some personal guidelines myself and would like to share them – actually, my splurge is not an actual splurge, more like “choose well, buy good brands but find cheap ways to get them”. eBay in this matter is a good friend of mine! No need to ever break the bank.

Do you agree with my “rules”?

cotton tops: save

jeans: splurge – cheap jeans often are a sloppy fit, hems get “wrinkled” soon, the cotton is thin

wool sweaters: splurge – I’m extra-picky about winter sweaters, since I can’t stand itchy wool but also synthetics, also in blends; so I just own a limited number of sweaters and cardigans in cashmere and merinos which are lovely and last years

bra: splurge – small or big, your breasts deserve to be held and shaped by the best bras! A good one really makes the difference even under a simple T-shirt (wink wink)… and lasts long

panties: save

socks: save – hell, some of my best socks were bought at the supermarket

stockings: splurge

shoes: splurge – it’s a given, no? I’ve had my share of hurt, bleeding feet, something that can ruin anybody’s day. Not just flats and heels, but also cheap sneakers can hold bad surprises

makeup brushes: splurge – try applying powders using the softest and thickest brushes and see

hair brushes: save – I don’t think those overpriced, luxury brushes really make the difference. Or do they?

body lotions etc: splurge – no need to explain my cosmetic choices again

scrub: save – or do it yourself with salt and body lotion/oils!

umbrellas: who knows? I’ve had fancy umbrellas which broke soon, fancy umbrellas lasting forever, cheap umbrellas of poor quality, cheap umbrellas which just were indestructible…

eyeglasses: splurge – I’m not fond of designer stuff, but designer frames are just another world, and since eyeglasses have to stay on my face during all my waking hours, they better be the best

My beauty routine May 5, 2010

Switching to natural cosmetics has deeply changed my consumption of beauty products. These are my current staples – organic products are in green. Most of them are made in Italy and can be bought on line – Lavera and Weleda on the other hand are German brands and can be found virtually everywhere.

FACE

• Bjobj make-up remover and tonic all in 1 (very practical, and I use less cotton pads)
• Bjobj cream for greasy skin (I don’t apply it every single night but the result is still good)
• Bjobj eye contour cream

HAIR

• Tea Natura shampoo for greasy hair (I put some in a plastic cup and then dilute it – no need to use a lot)
• Bjobj conditioner OR
• Splend’or conditioner (very cheap – not labeled as “organic” but actually presents a good INCI. As I said in my previous post, always read labels!)

I haven’t used a hair-dryer in years – I just keep my hair wrapped up in a towel for an hour after shampooing and then let it dry in the hair. Also in winter, though of course I don’t go outside like this…)

BODY

• Aleppo soap (a fantastic soap made of laurel and olive oils, makes skin soft, also does wonders for the problematic ones)
• Cien intimate wash (again, a cheap product with a good INCI, available at German Lidl stores)
• Weleda anti-cellulite oil
• Bjobj sea water cream (for a more tonic skin)
• Mineral deodorant, also known as alum crystal rock (which lasts ages) OR
• a roll-on regular deodorant

LEG HAIR REMOVAL

• waxing at the beauty parlour, THEN
• regular retouches with Silk Epil at home (when hairs are still short and it doesn’t hurt much!)

tip: non-organic (silicone-based) lotions are said to stimulate hair growth. I don’t have proof for this, but I noticed that since I started using organic products, my hairs grow much more slowly…

MAKE UP

• foundation: mineral – I especially like the intensive f. by Everyday Mineral, which can be bought on line from the States
• blush: mineral or by the Body Shop
• eyepencils: Kiko, Rimmel, Urban Decay and others. Unfortunately I still haven’t found an organic eyepencil soft and pigmented enough
• mascara: Lavera – very smooth and doesn’t clump

Confessions May 4, 2010

In 2009 I’ve been really good. I spent 400 euros for new clothing, shoes and accessories – totally. Never been so virtuous before, considering that I really like to shop for clothes. In 2010 I’ve been… less good, since I’ve spent more or less 400 euros, again – but it’s only May the 5th! Actually 1/5 of this sum was spent on my new padded jacket alone, which was a great buy and a much needed one also – I found it on sale in an outlet. The rest were mostly tops and a pair of flats ’cause, well, I just needed something nice.

No shopping for now, just swapping – trying to hold on as long as possible. Ah, temptations…

The editor and the gadget fan: a love story April 23, 2010

You know how [hetero] couples are in the matter of shopping: he likes electronics and covets the new gadgets, she loves to buy things for the home. But what if the same person likes both electronics and home items and it’s him?

In that case, welcome to my life! I live with a wonderful man, who among many qualities, loves to cook, irons his own shirts, knows how to shop for groceries. Sometimes I make fun of him for his “feminine” qualities, but seriously, he’s great, so who am I to complain? I’m with someone who likes to go to Ikea. And yet… I see his love for new shiny gadgets as slightly dangerous. He’s drawn to fancy kitchenware as well as to a complicated scale which calculates BMI; he’d love to get a bigger LCD tv but also a new laundry basket, because, he told me, he realized he doesn’t like that much the one we bought 6 months ago for our new house. Didn’t you like it in the shop?, I asked. The answer was: it was cheap. Now that we have a landline we need a new phone: he’d like to have one upstairs and one downstairs, while to me one downstairs is enough (the house is not very big after all) – in this case he wants a very cool one. I’d settle for a good one.

This can be a bit maddening sometimes, as I’m really trying to save money, since the area where it’s easier to save is the unnecessary purchases – including the things which work fine and don’t need to be substituted yet. If I can’t count on that, I start getting nervous. I hate to be wary, to feel like I’m the one with a “short arm” (translation of an Italian expression, I don’t think I have to explain its meaning), who can’t enjoy shopping for new things every once in a while. It’s not even true – I’m not that kind of person (after all I’m one girly girl who likes to get new clothes and shoes), I just would like the wants not to outweigh the needs.

And honey, if I start saying no to everything I’m afraid I’ll say no to the good ideas (for example you’re a better cook and know better than me what’s useful in the kitchen), and I don’t want that either. So I just say, let’s discuss our purchases without getting immediately too enthusiastic and try to correct each other’s most… devious tendencies.

Creamy and tasty risotto April 22, 2010

While I was pondering what topics I could write about, a whole week and some more passed. I really am a woman of action.

Well, I thought at least I could share about my dinner from last night. I made risotto, which is a specialty here, in Lombardy – we live amidst fields and fields of rice. I was going to have “risotto con asparagi”, but I only have a small bunch of frozen asparagi left. So I decided they’d have just a supporting part, and instead I chose onion and Philadelphia cream cheese as the protagonists. It may sound weird, but those two things combined are amazing. Philadelphia corrects the sourness of onion, which in turn makes the dish tasty. The result is delicate and creamy. I even could have done without asparagi – or put something else instead of it (sausage or pancetta might be a nice touch.)

So, this is the recipe for 2 people: make some vegetable broth (readymade is fine) – chop one and a half onion and brown it in some olive oil (in a wok) – add rice (80/100 grams for person) and some hot broth – add asparagi or anything you like – stir regularly while adding broth, which gets absorbed by rice – after, say, 15 minutes also add 3 spoons of Philadelphia and stir – try the rice and when it’s almost cooked, just stop adding broth. Risotto is ready in roughly half an hour. Tasty, cheap (well, without asparagi at least) and healthy (and easy too). Enjoy!

Someday fashion April 13, 2010

Mild temperatures, sun shining, a gentle breeze. It’s the best time of the year, before the heat is too much and mosquitoes come in heaps. I feel reborn, after all the snow and the grey winter, and I’m celebrating it by running in the park. Erm, ok, I will go running in the park – but for now I celebrate by decluttering my closet. Not that there’s much left to declutter: during the years it has become a habit for me to do it regularly (and I even enjoy it), and besides 6 months ago I had to move. It feels great to have less stuff, less unnecessary stuff – and yet there is always something which is left parked in the closet. I just put in the Red Cross bin 3 worn out T-shirts and a bag I’ve had for years – cheap, cute, but too weird-looking and unpractical. This was one of those infamous someday items. We all own some. They are good quality, right? It’s a pity not to use them and sure someday we’ll do. But the day never comes, strangely enough.

My mother believes in keeping stuff. She’s one of those people who always comments “it’s still good”, but doesn’t wonder: for whom? for what? for when? The pied-de-poul wool suit she found in my old bedroom closet looked good to her and I vaguely promised I’d take it home with me soon, only because I didn’t want to argue. But:

- it is 10 years old – I might have liked it back then, now I don’t anymore

- I never wear suits

- I don’t like pied-de-poule

- the jacket has shoulder pads!

It may be good quality, but if I’m uncomfortable in it, if it’s not “me”, there’s no point in keeping it. On the contrary, it’s a good thing to learn by past wardrobe mistakes.

(Why do we keep such things, really? We have barely worn them so there should be no emotional attachment. Or maybe any thing we buy is felt as a link to the past, weak as it can be. If you’re like me, it makes sense!)

Regift… paper April 12, 2010

When it comes to creativity, I’m a slacker. I’m always afraid of not being too good at making things with my hands… I know it’s silly, since I can’t judge the results of what I haven’t even tried. (I envy  people who are able to modify clothes, I should find someone to teach me.)

But at least I can reuse some things as they are. Wrapping paper, for example. I just received some birthday presents with a lovely wrapping which I will surely reuse. The lilac one in the picture is a metallic envelope; the flowery one is made of a very thin paper, with a second layer underneath in burgundy – very classy! It comes from a luxury perfume shop (thanks to myboyfriend for giving me a wonderful niche fragrance). The pink one: genius. It’s tissue, it used to wrap an Easter egg and my very creative almost-sister in law used it to wrap her present. Tissue as wrapping paper is very practical, since it can be ironed before reusing.

I love swapping April 5, 2010

Swapping is the new shopping, they say. Oh yeah!

I found in a drawer a diary I had never used, they gave me a T-shirt for it. A body lotion was replaced by mineral foundation. In place of a book I got a DVD. These and many other swaps happened through two sites, http://www.bigwardrobe.com/ and http://www.makeupalley.com/swap and cost me nothing – except those few euros needed to post my things.

The first is the best one: BigWardrobe (UK-based) was created for swapping exclusively and trades work as on eBay. You can contact a user to offer a swap, then make a formal offer for the item and after trade is completed (which means both parts have received their ends) you leave feedback. It’s free, though you can have your address verified (thus becoming a more trustworthy swapper) by the site admins, after paying a small sum through PayPal. Each user has a virtual notice board and can build a network by adding friends as on Facebook. Clothes and accessories are the most swapped items, but almost any kind of item can be found on the site. Oh, and one can choose to swap or sell or be open to both options.

MakeUpAlley (US-based) is great for finding cosmetic brands from other countries or trying new stuff without the guilt of spending money on it. Just don’t be fastidious about used m.u.: lipsticks can be cleaned, eyepencils sharpened and brushes washed. The downsize of the site is that it is about reviews and forum debates rather than swapping: users list their items, contact other users, make a private agreement, leave a token (feedback) and that’s all. Site admins don’t meddle in swaps, home addresses can’t be verified and anybody could leave tokens to anybody, even if no swap had ever occurred between the two parts. As a result, swaplifters (people who get items, especially from new users, and send nothing in return) abound. That said, I was swaplifted just once and my experience in general is very good. If I buy a product which I then find out is not right for me, I put it up for swap right away instead of hiding it in my drawer until it expires.

Thanks to swapping, I was able to find a new home for some nice things which I wasn’t using anymore, which made decluttering a more pleasant experience. I discovered my favourite mineral m.u. brand, Everyday Minerals, through a swap. I could try the fabulous eyepencils by Urban Decay. I got organic skincare products, Abercrombie and Fitch tops, great books, nice shoes… And the best swappers also include some extras in their packets, be them cosmetic samples or teabags. I once swapped for a green eyepencil and I received *three* eyepencils in different shades of green! And yes, I love green eyepencils.

A used pink bathrob. A rare mint snowglobe… March 31, 2010

A Smurf TV tray. I bought on eBay.

Everything relevant about eBay has already been sung by Al Yankovic. But his wonderful song is about buying (crap), not selling. I’ve been a seller (and a bargainer too) since 2003. I love selling the stuff I don’t use anymore since I dislike clutter and like to have some money on my PayPal account, but it’s not that easy. Here are some thoughts on my experience.

Selling fees – Of course, this is one of the cons of eBay. eBay takes a fee for every ad (with some exceptions for items sold at second try), then a percentage of the final price – and PayPal gets a percentage too. It’s a bummer, but PP is still the easiest payment method. Be aware: PP’s laws usually protects the buyer, not the seller. Having a controversy with PP as a seller can be a lost cause (not my experience, luckily, but you’ll find many horrific stories on line).

Saleability – Some items are easy to sell, others not so much (though of course sheer luck always counts). I usually put up for sale clothes and shoes and only some are sold, sometimes after several tries. Despite the low starting prices, despite the good quality (and photographs) of the items and despite their brands. (I blame it a little on Italians actually: maybe they are more cautious than foreign ebayers? They ask for

more photographs or info and then don’t bid – even if the starting price is as low as € 0,99! When I offer international shipping, I sell things more easily.) Things go smoother when I try to sell DVDs or videogames, of course (CDs are out of fashion unfortunately). Rare pieces can be a safe bet and get many bids. They don’t have to be vintage in order to be rare – once I sold a DVD of a movie which was only a few years old but, as I found out, had been distributed in few copies. (Which shows how useful is to do some research on eBay as well as other sites before putting things on sale.) Electronics can be easy to sell too, but market value goes down soon. Books are unpredictable: sometimes virtually unknown titles and authors are sold immediately, and big names aren’t. If you’re lucky you’ll find a connoisseur!

Absent-minded buyers – Buyers can make things hard too. I had one who gave me an incomplete address, the package was returned after a while and the buyer wanted her money back. Now I always check the address on Google, if it’s complete, a GoogleMaps indication always comes up. Some pay by postal order and write my name or address wrong. Another buyer paid me the item but not the shipping. And the item was priced € 1 – how could he not think it was enough totally? After some time he wrote to me asking if I could find a similar item for him… on eBay. Was his search button broken?

Addiction – Yep! Selling can be an addiction too. It’s like betting and betting – “this time I will sell it”. Be generous: sometimes your unsold stuff belongs to the Red Cross bin – or maybe some friend might use it.

In conclusion, I think selling on eBay can be rewarding after all but it takes some perseverance. Selling at low prices can be frustrating, but if one sells some items regularly there is a margin of gain. And if you want to sell stuff easily, buy quality stuff first and maintain it in good condition – which smart consumers should always do anyway.