June 5th, 2009

20111112, Marilee

Pants Measuring, IRS, and Frugality

The woman who is going to make me summer pants that fit has just left with a pair of the current ones to generally work from. I showed her the fabric I planned to buy (crinkle cotton in red, lavender, blue, white, and black) so she knew the width and then we measured. When I buy commercial pants, in order to get something that has the loosest crotch seams (that will still pop open), I end up with very wide legs, like harem pants. So now, for 2/3 (labor & material) the price of those pants, I'll get pants made just for me. Definitely a good deal. And I showed her that my winter pants are the same pattern, just knit cotton, so when we get closer to that, I can start looking for those colors online.

After she left, I called the IRS again and was on forever. There is no way for me to get the ACH trace number; the person who helped me can't even contact the place that handles money. So the IRS is sure I've paid and the credit union is sure the check hasn't been deposited. Looks like I have an extra $99.00.

The WashPost Business section recently added a column pretty much aimed at women in the Business section. It's called Small Change and two of the female reporters bring in bits from their same-named blog. I almost always end up raising my eyebrows at what they consider frugal. For example, they've started drinking wine at home instead of going out for cocktails every night. Yesterday, they had home recipes for salon/spa items from a woman who said "People spend an average of $25 a week on a manicure and pedicure." Uhhuh. There's no info on the statistics -- that it's one person's average a week or the general population's average a week -- but I doubt I know anybody who spends that much. And then when I skimmed the section fronts this morning, one of the Small Change reporters has an article about how people are now trying to keep up with the saving neighbors instead of the spending neighbors. But the examples are things like how people are calling one woman to get her home-made pizza recipe because it's as much as $20 less than the delivered variety. Duh. And it praises the Coupon Mom who now has a publicist. Am I wrong here? Are there really that many people who spend/spent that kind of money regularly?