A Quick Beginners' Guide to Pinterest

It's getting to be about that time when you might see something online and think "I should put that on my Christmas list". Or, if you're thinking ahead, you might be thinking about your Christmas shopping already.

One of the best things to happen to Christmas shopping for the 2011 season is Pinterest. As I described in this previous post, Pinterest is an application that is basically an electronic version of cutting pictures out of a magazine and pinning them to a bulletin board. With Pinterest, you can virtually "pin" images of what you want for Christmas onto a pin board, include price info and size too. The best part? Pinterest maintains the source of the original pin and you can view its original source by clicking on the image.

Never used Pinterest? You have to "request an invite" on the site, but that takes very little time. Alternatively, you can ask a friend to invite you, which speeds up the process a bit.

Pinterest can be a little confusing at first. "Re-pinning" pins from the boards you follow is pretty self-explanatory. You just roll over the image and select "re-pin". Pinning your own images can be confusing. In order to do it, follow the directions at the top of this page. They're a little less complicated than when I first started using the website.

Once you install the "Pin It" bookmark on your browser, you can click on it anytime you see an image on a page that you like. In your window a grid of all the images on the page will show up. Simply roll your mouse over the one you want to pin and click "pin". Then you can add a description/comment and list how much the item costs (if it's something to buy).

One CRITICAL thing to do is try to pin your image from a unique URL. For example, if you see something you like on a blog and you're on that blog's main page, click on the title of the blog post itself and pin the image from there. That way, your image will always go to a page with the original image and content. If you pin from the main page and then click on the image, then you will go to the main page even if the image has been cycled off and is on older pages.

The same thing goes for online shopping. If you see an image on a page that you're browsing, click on the individual item and pin the image from that item's unique URL.

One limit of Pinterest I've noticed is that some particular online retailers don't use image files on their item detail pages. In this case, sometimes it helps to pin it from the list of items but include the URL of the item itself.

I hope this makes sense. If anything in this post doesn't make sense, leave a comment and I'll clarify.

Happy pinning!

Sale Alert: Anthropologie Decorating Sale

As I've mentioned in a past post or two, I am definitely one to swoon over anthropologie's home decor selection. Today I got an email about new items added to the their home decoration sale. While most of their beautiful textiles are out of my price range, there are some very affordable hardware options. Here's a few things pretty thing I would pick up if I had any good reason to buy them and wasn't depressed by the credit card bill I paid yesterday:

This industrial/rustic table is really versitle. It would look great in a feminine room with a few rustic elements, or a masculine studio apartment.

Althea Side Table - $99.95, was $198.00

I wish I had somewhere to put a couple of these cool vintage-looking pendant lamps. The reviews say that the wire isn't long enough, but for that price you could easily switch out the wire yourself or rework it so that it's hardwired into the ceiling. From a renter's perspective, I actually like that it's not meant to be hardwired!

Sequoia Cone Pendant - $29.95, was $58.00

You all know my obsession with hardware. This sale is full of gorgeous knobs and hooks that used to be over $10.00 and are now reduced to about $3.00, which means we penny-pinchers can actually buy more than one of them.

I love the vintage look and gold accents of this flower knob. It also comes in lavendar and ivory.

Sussex Rose Knob - $2.95, was $10.00

This knob is part of the series that I bought for my desk. Which I still have to tell you all about. There was a bit of a change in game plan. And actually, I'm wondering if I should buy these instead, now that they're on sale...

Paterre Knob - $7.95, was $14.00

Another pretty knob. This is the kind of hardware that you would want to use to dress up your inexpensive Target or Ikea finds and make them look more high end.

Morning Glory Knob - $2.95, was $12.00

 Hooks are always a great thing to have in your house. I don't know where I'd put this one, but I like the modern look of it. Maybe hang your dog's leash or an umbrella from it by the front door? Now I'm thinking about how I want a dog...oh dear.

Bashful Brass Hook - $2.95, was $12.00

Simple and pretty hooks are surprisingly expensive, so this one is a steal. You could mount a bunch of them to a 2x4 like I did with my coat rack and hang it pretty much anywhere in your house.

Tarnished Hook - $2.95, was $12.00

There are sooooo many more goodies on their sale site that would be adorable in my home...and yours!Happy shopping!

The Completely Clueless Car Buyer's Guide to Buying a New Set of Wheels

I’ve been wondering for a while when I would actually feel like a grown up. I thought it might happen when I got my first real job, but it didn’t. Then I thought it might happen when I moved out of my parents’ house. Nope, not that either. Then last Sunday, I finally found it. It turns out I just needed to buy a car. I guess there’s just something about committing to spend thousands of dollars that feels grown up-ish.

I have to admit, I had no idea where to begin when it came to buying a car. I did a little poking around the internet, but ultimately called my dad and straight up asked him, “What’s the first concrete step in this process?” So I’m giving you my firsthand account and step by step process in painful detail so that those of you that are about to embark on the car buying journey will know just what you need to do.

Step 1: Decide on a Budget

My day job is related to affordable housing, so when it came to finding a place to live, I knew exactly what I could afford (less than 30% of my income). When it came to buying a car I looked all over the place, but couldn’t really find a definitive answer on how much of one’s income should go to a car payment. So I ran my numbers and decided what I would be comfortable with. Here’s how I did the math:

I took my monthly take home pay, subtracted my housing costs (estimating the variable things like water and electric), subtracted other variable costs like food and gas (which I knew would change), and then subtracted fixed costs like my gym membership. At that point I was left with basically two line items: savings and fun. So I determined what amount I wanted my savings to be, how much I would reasonably need for fun (I know my patterns), and then determined what amount I had for a car payment. I determined that I could do between $250 - $300/month on a car payment, but preferred to keep it at $250.

Simple Budget Equation:

Take home pay – rent – utilities – gas – food – gym – savings = car payment + fun*

*fun = reasonable amount and not pipe dream

Note that I was not too focused on the monthly car payment, but I had to use it basically to work backward and determine what a reasonable total amount would be for my budget. At that point, I still didn’t really know how much total I could spend without having an interest rate in mind. That’s when I went to my bank and found out that they were offering as low as 3.99% APR on used cars. I plugged my monthly target, the down payment I was thinking about, and the interest rate, and a projected 4 year loan into a few of the many auto loan calculators online (like this one on edmunds.com) and determined I could very reasonably afford a car under $16,000, but I could go up to $17,000 if it was really worth it.

Step 2: Research cars

Once I had a budget, I could more realistically look at potential car options. Many websites offered the same advice my dad had: make sure you give yourself options! You don’t want to get your heart set on a specific model because you’re going to have a much harder time getting a good deal that way. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was originally interested in the Rav4 and CRV, but found out through my research that they were a bit out of my set price range. I did research on hatchbacks on Edmunds.com, US News, and a few other websites that came up in a Google search. That’s how I decided that I liked the Fit, but also wanted to look at the Matrix, Mazda 3, and other comparable cars that were on the used lot.

Step 3: Get pre-approved for a loan

I was able to fill out a form online, get pre-approved for a loan, and pick up paper work all in under 4 hours. Frankly it was a little scary how easily the whole process went. I felt like they were handing loans out like candy. But I also know that my credit is spotless and a loan and interest rate are all just formula decisions.

When I applied for the loan online, I actually asked for about $3,000 more than I planned to use. The bank came back and actually approved me for $3,000 more than I asked for, and approved me at 4.29% for up to 5 years (I had asked for four). I didn’t get the advertised 3.99% (I’m assuming) because I don’t have any debt history outside of credit card payments. This is the one time that NOT having student loans comes back to bite me. I could select the original loan amount over the 4 years that I had requested, but I opted for the higher pre-approval amount and longer term, knowing that there was no penalty for not using the full amount or paying the car off in less than 5 years.  

Note that you don’t need to be pre-approved to get a car loan, but it is nice when you can walk into a car dealership with your own financing ready to go if you need to use it.

Step 4: Get out there and look

I felt the same way about the car buying process as I did about finding a place to rent: I had to get out and see a few things I knew I didn’t want in order to really know what I did want. To that end, last Thursday my dad and I went down to Woodbridge to see a few cars before everyone closed. First we went to Carmax. I wasn’t impressed. The problem with a “no haggle” sticker price is that the prices, at least in our area, were kind of unreasonable. I suppose by agreeing not to haggle you also forfeit the ability to haggle a good deal for yourself. Also, they really didn’t have much in stock. I heard the Carmax out by Dulles is bigger, so maybe it’s a different story there. But used car inventory is down, so who knows?

After we looked at Carmax we went over to Hendrick Honda. Looking back, I should have approached the first dealer differently. Instead of telling them that I wanted to look around at their used cars, I told them right away that I wanted to see the Fit. Rookie mistake. Once you tell a car dealer that you’re interested in a new car, you’re really going to have a tough time getting them back onto the used car lot. Honestly, you really just have to walk over there yourself and leave them following you. This process requires a certain tolerance for being assertive almost to the point of rude, but once you’ve done it a few times you feel a lot more comfortable having taken control of the process.

I test drove a Honda Fit on Thursday night, and that’s when I realized that I wasn’t totally prepared for the negotiating process. It was also almost 9 pm, and I had hardly seen any other cars. I knew I wasn’t ready to buy. So we took the salesman’s card and went home. No love lost. It was valuable going out and looking at cars. It really prepped me to zero in on what I was most interested in and begin to think about what I should aim to pay on each various model.

Step 5: Determine what the dealer paid for each car and how much you should offer

When calculating what you should offer on a new car, you first want to figure out about how much the dealer probably paid for the car. Edmunds.com lists MSRP, invoice, and “true market value”. MSRP is what the factory is suggesting the dealer should charge for the car. Invoice is theoretically what the dealer paid for the car (although often the car cost less). True market value is about what you can expect to actually pay for the car and falls somewhere between invoice and MSRP.

The prices on the Honda fit were:

Invoice: $15,340

MSRP: $15,900

True Market Value: $15,701

You may have noticed that I mentioned that a car doesn’t actually cost the dealer the “invoice” price on the car. The dealer may have had rebates from the factory that knocked $100-$300 or more off of the cost of the car. They also have this thing called “holdback”, which is basically a rebate that the dealer will get something like quarterly, so that it looks like they paid more for the car, but they’re actually getting money back on it eventually. I read online that for Honda, holdback is about 2% (about $300 on the Fit). So while the dealer invoice price is $15,340, a dealership may end up paying less than $15,000 on a Fit Base.

Once you determine about what a dealer paid, you have to start adding expensive crap back into the equation. Once of the most expensive things is the freight fee, something I’m a little ashamed to say I knew nothing about when I started this process. Freight on Hondas appears to be $770 across the board. I still think it’s a little silly that the price a dealer pays to get a car to the dealership is considered an extra fee, but oh well.

Then you have to add in profit. I know, I know, those scummy car dealers don’t need profit! They’re scamming you already! OK, let’s be reasonable. This is still a money-making venture so you really do have to factor profit into the equation. I read that 3-5% is reasonable, so I added about $500 to the price.

Once you have the purchase price that includes profit and freight, you have to think about tax, tags, and fees. Tax is about 3% on cars in Virginia, tags run about $100, and many dealers charge $350-$400 in document fees. Once you add all this in, you have your “out the door” price.

In my mind, the “out the door” price is the only one that really matters to me. It’s the amount that I have to come up with between loans and a down payment—how it breaks down between the purchase price and fees is really the dealer’s problem, not mine.

If you’re following my math, you probably realized that we’re up to about $17,000, which was way too high for me to really consider. I determined along with my dad that I really wanted to be out the door at $16,500, and we used that number in our negotiating process.

The math on a used car is slightly different (and less complicated). Basically you go to Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds.com and use their tools to determine how much the car in front of you is worth. Both have apps for iphone and Droid, so definitely download those and charge up your phone for use on the car lot. Once you know what the car is worth you can determine whether the price on the car is completely unreasonable or right on target. Based on that information, you can make an offer targeting to pay about, or slightly under what that car is worth. Keep in mind that you won’t (or rather shouldn’t) pay freight, but taxes, tags and doc fees will still apply.

Step 6: Get quotes

I read on a discussion board that one buyer gathered quotes from a bunch of dealers via email, and then used the quotes they each gave her to negotiate the best deal. I figured it wouldn’t hurt, so I went to a bunch of different Honda dealers and requested a quick quote on their 2011 Honda Fit Base. Warning: when you request quotes online from dealers, you are letting the lions loose. They will hunt you down, email you auto emails, personal emails, and call you twice in one day and leave you two messages. They want your business. What they will not all do is give you a quote. With the exception of Hendrick Honda in Woodbridge, any dealer that gave me a quote pretty much quoted MSRP, some with freight included and some without. From what I could tell, they wanted me to talk to them really badly, but they didn’t want to give me a number. This is hilarious to me because I could’ve sold THEM the Fit at this point, I liked it enough. All I really cared about was the price they would give me and whether they had any Fit Bases in stock.

I had one dealer email me and say “many dealers will probably quote you a price that doesn’t include fees, so it will look artificially low.” Um, excuse me, but no shiznit, Sherlock. I asked you for a quick quote online, you think I didn’t read all about the pricing on these things? Sure, some of them quoted me under $16,000, but I could tell when the price of freight was included and when it wasn’t. Also, this was a dealer that avoided giving me a quote via email.

Sorry, I’ll stop venting. The only thing that getting the online quote really did for me was help me determine 1) who actually had the Fit Base in stock and 2) just how high some of these dealers wanted to start. It did not really get me anywhere in terms of haggling a price down, but it did help me determine where everyone was starting. It also gave me a contact to email at each dealer when I finally did get an offer from another dealer. It was good practice and prepared me for the aggression that comes at you when you walk through the doors onto the lot of a dealership.

Step 7: Get out there and mean business

There are various tips online that say the best time to shop is on a weekday, or at the end of a month when the dealer is trying to meet a quota or earn a bonus and therefore has a greater incentive to sell you a car. Well, I went on a weekend at the beginning of the month and still got a good deal. Granted, it was Labor Day weekend and car dealers are clearing their lots for 2012 inventory. But more than anything, getting a good deal is all about knowing how much the car is really worth on the market, and being willing to walk away. So it’s alright to get out there and shop at the internet-determined non-optimal time. As long as you know your stuff, you should be fine.

Last Saturday afternoon my Dad came over and we headed out car shopping. I decided to hit up Honda of Tyson’s Corner because they were supposed to be getting 5 Fit Bases in that day, and it was close to other dealerships. Before I stopped there, I went over to Koons Tyson’s Toyota so that I could look at their inventory of used cars. I actually found a 2008 Toyota Certified Used Matrix there with about 39,000 miles on it for about $15,000. I liked it, but I wanted to get a firm price on the Fit as a basis of comparison, so we went across the street to the Honda dealer.

Having learned from my experience Thursday night, when I arrived at the Honda dealer I started on the used car lot to see if they had any options. When I determined that they didn’t, I mentioned to the salesmen that I had been looking at the Honda Fit. They had literally just received a shipment of them, so I actually went into a garage and saw the car before it was prepped for the lot. I knew then that I definitely wanted the Fit and I was ready to make it happen if I could, so we started the deal negotiating process.

Step 8: Negotiate a deal

Because I haven’t mention it enough already, getting a good deal is all about knowing what price you should reasonably expect from a dealer. Don’t expect to be able to negotiate a good deal without doing your homework first.

The salesmen at Tyson’s Honda could tell we liked the Fit in the garage, but this was the part in the process that felt most awkward to me: throwing out a number. So I stood there looking at it for an awkward minute or two. Thankfully my dad stepped in and threw out my number, which I suspect made the offer sound more credible. He told him that I wanted to be out the door at $16,400. The salesman looked a little shocked and told us the usual “we don’t make much of a profit on these units” but went inside to talk to the general manager to see what he could do. The manager offered me $16,887 on the car, about $400 more than my high goal. I told him sorry, no can do, I had to draw my bottom line somewhere. He told me it was a great value and I told him I respected that, but ultimately I have to keep my finances in mind and look at significantly less expensive used options. So I walked away, just as I had been prepared to do all day. I took the writing in offer and the salesman’s business card and went on my merry way. On to the next, on on the next one.

Step 9: Make a freaking decision

Next, I went over to another Honda dealer near my house. I did the same thing: looked at their used cars, saw a few Matrixes (Matrices?) that were more expensive than the new Fit. I could probably have knocked at least $1,000 off of them according to Kelly Blue Book, but they still would’ve been a little pricey.

Then I went over to the new lot where, I’m sorry to say, a nice but painfully awkward young car salesman attempted to sell me on a car I already knew everything about. In fact, he didn’t even believe me when I told him the car has 10 cup holders. He told me he thought I was confusing it with a different vehicle. Here’s a tip for you, car salesman trying to bond with me over our mutual attendance of UVa: Someone who graduated from that fine University probably doesn’t enjoy being told she’s wrong about something that she appears to have studied more than you did. I know I sound mean, but dealing with these guys all day was like fighting off piranhas. Only there was way more awkward silence involved.

All that aside, Bill Page couldn’t offer even close to what I was willing to pay and what Tyson’s had offered me. When I told them I wanted to be out the door at $16,500, they brought me back an offer that was still well over $17,000. Having my other offer in hand, I considered this laughable. Also, I didn’t really want a black or bright blue car, and that was all they had, so I didn’t feel bad walking out on that either.

At this point, I didn’t quite know what to do. $16,887 seemed high, but it was so far my only option on the Fit. And according to the math I’d done earlier, it wasn’t completely unreasonable. My dad and I decided to come back to my place to run the numbers on my options. My only other real option was the 2008 Toyota Matrix I had seen at Koons Tyson’s Toyota. This is where the kind of cooler (yep, I’m a dork) decision making came into play.

We looked at Kelly Blue Book and determined we probably couldn’t knock much off the price of the Matrix. So we estimated that I would be lucky to get out the door with $15,500 on that car. There also weren’t any financing deals on it, so I would be using my preapproved 4.29% loan to finance it.

Although the Fit was over $1,000 more expensive, it was being offered with a .9% financing deal. Once I calculated how much I would save in interest over both 4 years with the lower financing rate, the difference between the Fit and the Matrix was only about $400. Keep in mind the Fit was brand new and the Matrix had nearly 40,000 miles on it.

After I calculated the difference with the interest rate, I went on Edmunds.com again and used their “True Cost to Own” tool, which factors in and compares the money you’ll lose in depreciation, and how much you’ll pay for insurance, gas, repairs, etc. over the course of 5 years on different vehicles. The price to own the 2008 Matrix was definitely more than the 2011 Fit, but a lot of that was depreciation on the Matrix over the first 2 years. I didn’t have to worry about as much because the car was already almost 4 years old. What I did notice was that the Matrix was estimated to cost about $2,000 more in gas over the 5 year period than the Honda Fit. With math like that, it was clear that while the Matrix would save me $1,000 up front, the Fit was a better value. The Fit also got higher ratings from many different sources, and has more cargo space.

With my value information in hand, I decided to call my guy Guillermo Murillo at Hendrick Honda and see if they could improve on the deal that Tyson’s had given me. “G” said he thought he could, but they weren’t going to get any more Fit Bases in stock until this week. He really did seem like a nice guy and I would’ve liked to work with him. I was willing to wait on the car for about a week, but the .9% financing, an American Honda deal and not a dealer deal, was ending on Monday night. So even though they could potentially bring my price closer to the $16,500 I wanted, I could end up spending more than $200 in interest if I ended up with a higher rate. Even Guillermo said I should take the deal from Tyson’s, which I definitely appreciated.

So I called up my salesman at Honda of Tyson’s Corner to tell him I was still interested in the deal and asked him if he still had any in stock. He did, so we arranged to meet as soon as they opened Sunday morning so that I could buy the car.

As a last ditch effort, I emailed a bunch of other dealers to see if they could give a better price. Had I not been so exhausted from car shopping I would’ve probably called them, but I couldn’t bear the thought of fighting off another salesman. Instead, I sent them all emails that said, “Thanks for following up with me on the 2011 Honda Fit Base. I actually have an offer in writing from Honda of Tyson’s Corner for $16,887 out the door. If you can do better, I’d love to do business with you.” Short, sweet, and to the point.

I heard back from a few of them that said they couldn’t match the price. Rosenthal Honda of Landmark told me that they had sold out of all their Fit Bases with the average price a little over $18,000. One dealer even sent me the following email on Monday, which made me feel great about my purchase:

I did hear back from someone at Pohanka Honda of Fredericksburg on Tuesday, and he said he could knock a couple hundred dollars of the quote I had too. But, the financing deal was over, so it didn’t make much of a difference anyway. It was interesting to note, however, that the two best quotes I got were from dealers somewhat significantly south of DC and right off I-95. I plan to keep this in mind when I have to buy another car.

Step 10: Arrange insurance

You have to give proof of insurance to the dealer so that they can register the car on your behalf and let you drive it off the lot. I needed to get new insurance for this car that was now in my name, so I got online quotes for that too. Esurance and Nationwide both quoted me over $100 a month, but Geico, using my discount as a Navy Federal Credit Union member, quoted me less than $900 for the year. This was definitely the lowest quote I got, and I was able to set it up over the phone with an agent so that when I got to the dealer I could call with my new car’s VIN number and get the car insurance on the spot.

Step 11: Purchase your glorious new set of wheels

My dad didn’t think I needed his help when I went to buy the car, so I was prepared Sunday morning to go alone. Then I realized that because they knew I was coming the night before, they would have the car prepped for me and perhaps ready to drive off the lot. I obviously couldn’t do that if I drove a car there, so the boy was nice enough to come with me. I was really happy he went because it was nice to have someone else “on my side” during the buying process. He was actually the perfect person to accompany me because he was just as foreign to the process as I was, and he just sat there and let me do my thing (which he is always quite good at). I think that had my dad been there, I would’ve been tempted to take a back seat to the process, and I imagine that the men in the dealership would’ve talked to him more than me. Oh yes, Kyle also provided plenty of entertainment and company for me while I was there, which was great because buying a car is not a quick process.

I carefully signed all my paperwork and managed to get out of there without signing up for an extended warranty (which I had discussed with my dad beforehand). Shout out to my car salesman Shabir Baba, who was really nice and helpful and followed up with me today to make sure everything is going fine with the car.

Step 12: Revel in your grownupness and badasschick self

The car buying process is stressful and there are plenty of places to screw it up. I didn’t quite realize it until I went out to dinner Saturday night and, still in car buying mode, was ready to fight off the waiter and see if he’d throw in dessert for free. But this process was amazingly empowering too. In less than a week I got preapproved for a loan bigger than I’ve ever had in my life, determined what car I wanted,  negotiated a great deal, and bought a brand new car pretty much all by myself. I couldn’t be happier with my decision and I’m so pumped about my new car. You better believe I celebrated with a few dranks and dancing Sunday night. Cheers!

Get Your Groupon to Merrifield Garden Center

One of Today's Groupon deals is to Merrifield Garden Center ($25 to spend $50). Not only is Merrifield a beautiful place to pick up fall-friendly mums and pumpkins, they have a gorgeous Christmas shop. In fact, my sibs and I used to go see Santa at Merrifield and I'm slightly ashamed to admit that just as we were on the cusp of disbelief this guy had us leaning towards the side of believing. In our defense, he's really convincing.



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Merrifield Christmas Shop via

Yes, I am buying a Groupon to Merrifield today, September 8, so that I can use it on Christmas stuff (in a few months obviously). I like to plan ahead. For only the second time in my 24 years long life, my fam won't be traveling to upstate New York for Thanksgiving (tear). This means I also won't be able to hang a Henderberg's wreath on my front door like I did last year. But, as I mentioned in this blog post of yore, I love real pine wreaths and I fully intend to hang one on our door again this year. Given that a nice wreath will probably run me at least $25 and probably more, I'm going to stow this Groupon away for a wreath and hopefully a few more beautiful Christmassy things (get excited roommates!).

As for pumpkins and mums, I'll be using my groupon to Craven's Nursury for those!

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Meet Fiona!

Friends, I’d like to introduce you to my new best bud, Fiona Fit.

My new BFF

That’s right. I bought a new car this weekend! A couple weeks ago my old ’97 Camry finally bit the dust after our 7 years together, leaving me with no transportation for a week until my sister went back to college and I could drive her car around. My little brother will be driving that car to school starting today, so I was under a bit of a deadline to buy a new car.

While my Camry and I had a pretty good relationship, it routinely failed me in one regard: I had a really tough time feeding my furniture buying habit with the proportions of the cargo area. Example: I bought two patio chairs at Target earlier this summer, took them out to my car, realized there was no way they would fit, and had to call my roommate to come pick them up in her Ford Escape. So when I started contemplating a new car, I really wanted something that was more flexible when it came to carrying around bulky items. I had my eye on mini SUVs like the Toyota Rav4 or Honda CRV, but once I realized how much used ones were selling for and what my budget was, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. That led me to start looking at hatchbacks.

Originally I was planning to buy a used car, thinking that there was no way I could afford a new car that suited my needs. I was reading reviews of the Toyota Matrix and the Mazda 3 when I saw another car come up over and over again: the Honda Fit.

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What really sold me on the Fit were two things: great fuel efficiency and this brilliant thing that Honda calls “the magic seat”. I’m not sure why it took car makers so long to come up with something like this for a small car, but it’s brilliant. The magic seat allows the back seats to fold down really low so that the backseat and trunk form a completely flat surface. When the magic seat is folded down, the Fit has cargo space that rivals some small SUVs and definitely beats the Matrix and the Mazda 3. And the Fit can get over 40 miles to the gallon on a highway!

To see how the magic seat works, check out this every so slightly ridiculous video demonstration of it:

I learned so much by going through the car buying process. My dad helped me out big time by teaching me how to determine what I should offer on a car, and by going car shopping with me. The boy was also a big help by going with me to actually purchase the car (I shopped Saturday and purchased Sunday). I was totally in control of the process, but it was nice to have him there to add another person to the buying side of the table and keep me company during the lengthy purchase process.

I absolutely love love love my new car. It’s perfect for me—it will get me to and from work while saving me money on gas, and I’ll be able to pick up furniture on Craigslist without borrowing my parents’ minivan. Yesssss! The more I drive the car, the more I feel like I’ve made a smart decision, and that’s really comforting when I think about the thousands of dollars I spent and will continue to spend on this purchase. And so far my car has not been affected by the recall, but even if it is, that can be taken care of pretty quickly. I'm not stressin' it.

Oh yeah – I almost forgot to mention that to make this new car thing even sweeter, I got an amazing deal on Fiona. Seriously, I was collecting quotes from other dealers and communicating with them throughout the buying process, and only one other dealer came close to the price I got on the car. I even had one dealer say that if Honda of Tysons Corner was willing to sell me a Fit for the price I paid, I should “run, don’t walk” to snag the deal because the Fit is in such high demand.

Sarah and Fiona = Friends forever

I mentioned that I learned a ton by going through the car buying process, and I’m going to dedicate an entire blog post to the process. I know there are plenty of you out there who have already grown up and bought a car, but I’m determined to help out those of you who were like me two weeks ago: almost completely clueless.

So what happened to my dear old Camry? She’s still in my possession, but I plan on attempting to sell her on Craigslist in hopes that she might be a bit more valuable to a person who can fix her and drive her than she would be to a dealer. When I finish that process, I’ll be sure to tell you about that too.



I know Camry, I'll miss you too.





Going on a Cardboard Safari

I've admired Cardboard Safari's collection of cardboard animal trophies for a long time, but the big ones always seemed a bit out of my price range. Today I realized they were on sale at Joss & Main, so my plan is to pick one up and decorate it so that it looks like it belongs in a house full of four girls and not a boy's bedroom. Not quite sure what route I'll take when it comes to covering it, but here are some options I've contemplated:

pinned here via snowandgraham.com

pinned here via flickr.com









Now it's just a matter of deciding which animal to buy. I kind of like the moose more, but maybe it's just because he's so small and cute on that wall. The deer is a bit more feminine, but potentially harder to cover because of all its antlers. What do you think?




via

via

I might call an audible and go with the rhino.

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Side note: I actually purchased a mini cardboard safari animal trophy from West Elm last winter as a cheap little housewarming gift for the boy. West Elm had listed the wrong dimensions on their website, so I complained that this little guy was a lot littler than I had expected. They were discontinuing the sale of them through West Elm, so they credited my account and told me to keep Mr. Mini Buck. Awesome!

Side side note: My boo told his buddies that I made Mini Buck out of a pizza box. And it seems they believed him momentarily. Ha! I wish.

Why Every Smart Man will Join Pinterest



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Pinterest is one of the coolest sites I’ve seen in a long time. I love it because it’s brilliantly simple: a tool that lets you store every cool thing you see on the internet, sort it, and share it with your friends. I used to email myself links of things I loved, and now I can just pin them. I hardly even use the etsy “favorite” function anymore because I can pin the picture on any one of my boards.

Which brings me to my main point today: it’s in a man’s best interest to join Pinterest.

Before you guys all scoff at me and think, “why would a man want to be on THAT posting pictures of pretty living rooms and outfits?” Why? Because your girlfriend/wife/mother/sister/daughter is on there posting pictures of pretty things she loves. Things that you could buy for her.

Now I’m not saying that Pinterest is an invitation for you to surprise her weekly with gifts. I’m just saying that when you want to be thoughtful for a special occasion and get her something you know she likes, all you have to do is check out a few of her boards and find something she’s already listed. For example, I pin a ton of stuff from etsy. If my boo were to look at my “So Stylish” or “Art Ideas” board, he would find a multitude of reasonably priced items that I would love to buy for myself.

Follow this board.



Follow this board.

Not only can a man use Pinterest to give the lady in his life exactly what she wants for that special occasion, he can also sound like he actually cares about how she’s decorating her house. If my man took a look at my “Dining Rooms” board, he would be able to have a conversation like this:

Sarah: I’m so tired of sanding this dining room table.

Kyle: Really? Are you refinishing it?

Sarah: Yep, a dark stain.

Kyle: Oh right, because you love the look of dark wood tables and light painted chairs.

Sarah: Wow you have really been listening to me!

Brilliant!

If the man is really smart and fully embraces Pinterest, he can get it to work in his favor too. He could start pinning things like this Darth Vader alarm clock:

Darth Vader alarm clock

Or this nice messenger bag:

j.crew Abingdon messenger bag 

And then his lady knows exactly what he wants and won't buy him something silly like a hawaiin button down or socks.

A man can also pin pictures of things he finds awesome, including: zombies, amazing basketball dunks, demotivational posters, etc. I would caution that pinning of the wrong variety could backfire. For this reason I suggest that men stay away from creating boards like “Hot Girls” or “Annoying things my girlfriend likes”. Also a bad idea: following ex girlfriends or women that show too much interest in you.

So men, seriously take Pinterest into consideration. When your lady unwraps her next present and says, “Oh thank you! How did you know?” you will definitely thank me.

Desk Jewelry

As I mentioned before, I love love love hardware. It’s like jewelry for your furniture, and just like jewelry can make or break an outfit, hardware can really pull together different elements of a room.

Recently I’ve been looking around for some knobs to put on a dresser that I painted earlier this summer (and intend to write a post about soon). I saw this beauty on Pinterest about a month ago and loved the texture and subtle gold tone, which I have in different elements in my room already.



buy here. pinned here.

But when I realized it was $14 at anthropologie, I pinned the image, longed for it momentarily, and moved on to find something cheaper.

I checked out a my other favorite hardware sources including World Market, Home Goods, and etsy, but I couldn't find anything that suited my taste. And still the square Parterre Knob stayed in the back of mind. Finally last week I decided to at least see how it would look, so I ran over the anthropologie, darted through their door at 8:50 pm like a total a-hole (they close at 9) and made a beeline for their hardware section.

I’ve learned from experience that the way you picture something in your head rarely works as perfectly as you envision it to look, so I picked up plenty of options. Like, 12 aqua or neutral knobs. I also picked up two little dishes that were super cute and only $4/piece. The girls who worked there must have thought I was really in love with aqua I also happened to be wearing a tone on tone aqua outfit that included a blue/aqua necklace.

Yep. Our house is a mess.



Some of my purchases. A few of them weren't available online.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

I came home and displayed the finds to my roommates, who sweetly swooned over my purchases. Then I took them upstairs to my room to see how they all looked.

I decided I liked the neutral ones and narrowed it down to the Mother of Pearl knob and my original heartthrob Paterre knob. I honestly still love the white patina on the gold knob, and I really like the studded texture. Something just wasn’t quite right though. While I preferred the texture of the Paterre knob, the Mother of Pearl knob was a better shape. As you can kind of tell, this desk has quite a few curvy lines, in the curved corners of the table top, the detailing below the drawers, and the pattern I stenciled on top of it, and a square knob didn’t suit it all that well.

Still, the Mother of Pearl one wasn’t doing it for me. That’s when I remembered that there was a round version of my original heartthrob online. I’m not sure I love the Rosette Parterre Knob as much as the square, but it has the same texture I am definitely in love with, and I think it will look really good on my desk.  I still haven’t been bold enough to pull the trigger on buying four knobs that would cost twice as much as I paid for the desk, but I think it’s gonna happen soon. And when it does, rest assured that there will be pictures!

buy here. pinned here.

Get Yo Groupon HG Style

I just got this glorious and oh-so-dangerous email alerting me that Groupon now has a special Home & Garden subscription. Yes please.

In case you didn't get the email, click here to subscribe to Groupon HG. Not signed up for Groupon? Been living under a rock for the past year? Sign up for a Groupon subscription here.

Making Your Home Cushier, One Throw Pillow at a Time

Throw pillows are one of my favorite ways to give a room a softer and more finished look.  They’re also an easy way to change the décor on a neutral background. In general, I don’t like to use two of the same patterned pillow anywhere except my bed, and only when they’re pillow or euro shams. I don’t like to use the same pillows because I think that using a bunch of different but coordinating pillows makes the room more personal by giving the look that the various items were collected over time. While I admire some that are far out of my price range, I’ve complied a few of my favorite affordable sources for my fellow budget-conscious friends:

Pier 1 – Pier 1’s throw pillows are reasonably priced and often on sale. They have great colorful embellished pillows, and a good assortment of basic solid pillows in different textures. Lately I’ve been eyeing this fuzzy faux fur pillow and this little brown and white rick rack pillow:

Pier 1 Fuzzy Pillow - Sand
$18.36

Pier 1 Velvet Ric Rac Pillow
$24.95  

World Market – World Market’s pillows are almost all $24.99 and under. You could pick up a bunch of solid color velvet pillows to play with texture a bit, and pair them with a great textured medallion pillow.

World Market Medallion Stitch Toss Pillow, Red
$16.99

World Market Velvet Toss Pillow
$9.99 

Etsy – Etsy is a great place for affordable pillows. It’s slightly more expensive than Pier 1 and World Market for the most part because sellers tend to sell more pillow covers at about the same price of a Pier 1 pillow. Still, you have the comfort of knowing that you item is handmade and you’re supporting an artist, not a big box retail corporation.

Right now I’m loving the HomeCentric, which has a huge selection of gorgeous textured pillow covers.

HomeCentric Blue Moon Throw Pillow Cover
$21.45

HomeCentric Gold Mosaic Throw Pillow Cover
$25.30 

HomeCentric Silver Coral Throw Pillow Cover
$22.45

HomeCentric Green Peacock Feather Throw Pillow Cover
$25.40

I’m also loving NestaHome, which has really cool pillows with prints from architectural photos on them, among other cool designs.

NestaHome Urban Throw Pillow Cover Style No7
$28.00

NestHome Urban Throw Pillow Cover Style No3
$28.00

NestaHome Urban Throw Pillow Style No17
$25.00

NestaHome Happy Harvest Red with White text Cushion
$23.00

Tonic Living – Tonic Living has really fun fabrics, and you can buy pillows directly from their website. Most of the pillows are about $24.95, but you can also order a custom pillow out of your choice of fabric for $27.95.

Tonic Living "Adorn, Olive" Throw Pillow
$24.95

Tonic Living "Emilio, Lemon Drop" Throw Pillow
$24.95

Tonic Living "Sweet William, Teal" Throw Pillow
$24.95

Home Goods – Home goods has pillows at great prices. Sometimes the selection is a little sparse, but inventory turns over weekly, so it’s worth shopping there often to find what you’re looking for.

Target – Target has good basic pillows as well. Right now I have my eye on this fun reindeer pillow to add to our Christmas décor:

Target Decorative Reindeer Pillow
$19.99