Framing is f***ing expensive

That's right - you know what I'm talking about. You're too old to be thumbtacking posters to your wall (no seriously - you are) but you don't make enough money to bleed hundreds of dollars on that nice print that deserves a good mat and frame. Isn't there some middle ground here on the framing thing?!

In fact, there is. And believe me - I dropped $300 on stunning wall piece that has a place of honor in my home, but i choked when the lady in the downtown frame shop told me the bill. Framing is a skill and it takes one person applying their labor to get it done, so that means the prices seem disproportionate to the product and they continue to go up, not down. And in a world where we're used to new technology products plummeting in price within a year or two, framing a simple piece carries a sticker shock that's particularly jarring.

BUT - there's still a way around it. And for god's sake - you DO need to frame that stuff on your wall or pull out that nice poster you've always wanted to hang and haven't gotten around to.

If you don't mind doing a little assembly yourself, there are websites where you can buy your custom frame and mat in the size and color you need and they send it to you to put together for FAR less than having the little old guy in the art and frame shop do it for you (sorry, little old guy. you're just too damn expensive).

Frames by Mail appears to be the leader and it has thousands of options and even helpful instructions for putting your frame together when it arrives. It claims to have "The largest collection of Custom and Ready Made picture frames on the Internet."

On the website I assembled a frame for a 16x20 Modigliani print of mine that needs a better home. For a gorgeous black wood frame with gold accents, a 2 inch mat, and backing with plexiglass front, the total with shipping comes to $65.60. The interface is super user-friendly and automatically calculates the cost with each step - it also visualizes your finished frame so you can see what it looks like.

The print I paid $300 for is only slightly larger and the frame is more plain because I was scrimping. That is a HUGE price difference. You now have NO EXCUSE to not dig out that print you picked up in Europe in college or that great poster of your home state.

FBM also has a cool feature where you can upload a picture and have it framed and sent to you. Great for wedding pictures, the family reunion portrait, or that sweet picture of you and your partner.

Disclaimer: if you spend money framing a motivational poster, something sports-related, or anything by Monet, I wash my hands of you.

Beat shipping costs on online deals

Shipping costs are a bitch when you're shopping online, but I just found out about a website that can help you find shipping deals at hundreds of websites.

Freeshipping.org captures the specials online stores are running on shipping. Most of them have to do with spending a certain amount to get free shipping. But it's a good place to check first before you go to a favorite website to get the coupon code or see what spending limits they've set for free shipping.

Of course remember to not spend another $50 just to save $10 on shipping!

via Prime Time Money

Count the right things, not just the numbers

Chris Patten, last Governor of Hong Kong, talks about flat incomes in America and our cultural propensity to spend and run up big deficits. The answer to the question "can Obama induce a savings spree" is a definite NO. We would see an uptick if he made *all* savings tax free until used, not just certain retirement savings, but since that's totally unlikely, we're back to the definite no.

Many Americans are now reducing their debt and building up their cash savings in response to the pain of our contracting economy and the credit crisis. We don't need a President to "induce" this behavior. As usual, big-government types love to bellyache about "flat incomes" over the last 20 years. The problem with this observation, which is correct on the surface, is that it ignores and obscures the fact that our lives have improved dramatically with the technology and innovation that comes with American capitalism and globalization.

While the raw numbers of "income" may look flat, the quality of our lives has skyrocketed. The tech boom ushered in the era of FREE products and services, monetized in an entirely new way (or not at all, such as Twitter as of yet), shattering the per piece price paradigm. Stop and take a look around:

• Staying connected is easier, cheaper, and more fun because of services such as Skype, Facebook, Google Video Chat, and others, not to mention the ease of text messages to accomplish things that used to require a full phone call.
  
• Shake your phone to find the restaurant nearby that perfectly suits your craving.
  
• Download any music, no matter how obscure, and play it wherever you go.
• Effortlessly find a destination with portable GPS systems instead of fussing with paper maps, directions, and landmarks.
• Have a case of wine delivered to your door at rock bottom prices, from a selection bigger than any possible store, instead of spending time to get it, paying for transportation, and hauling it yourself
• Find almost any book and have it within days for a low price
  
• Access a near-comprehensive DVD library for a few dollars a month instead of building one for thousands of dollars yourself - soon to be access online, on-demand, anytime instead of dealing in physical disks.

The list could go on and on - actually - let it go on. Add a comment if you think of another luxury we take for granted.

It's hard to quantify how these new products and services improve our lives, but they most certainly do. Sure they add new expenses - 99 cents per song, your Netflix subscription cost, etc - but they add massive new luxuries that we have never quantified before.

ChaChing is all about living well - not just scrimping to save but spending smarter. As 2008 comes to a close, turn off all the dour "experts" and reflect on how rich we really live, and how the relentless churn of innovation and entreprenuership that is every minute focused on solving our problems and making our lives better (the very definition of capitalism) will continue and is still in effect now, even in a time of uncertainty.

Happy holidays from ChaChing.

shopping online for glasses

My friend Jimmy recommended this guide for shopping for eye glasses online that details how much money you can save by doing so. I don't wear glasses so it's not something I've come across. It makes sense to divorce seeing your optometrist from buying new glasses. You can do this now, of course, because the Internets are miraculous.

You probably want to try on a new style in a store though and then look for the comparative one online. Zane's Blog links to GlassesUSA.com for a comprehensive store.

I have always wanted some fashion glasses because I think glasses are hot, but my friend Ray recently chastised by comparing it to a nonhandicapped person riding in a wheelchair. ouch.

1800contacts has become pretty ubiquitous because of their television advertising, but I hadn't been aware of a glasses alternative. Thanks Jimmy!

Anyone else have glasses tips?

Ouch: data on female shopping trends

Mint has an excellent list inspired by data about how women v. men shop and what you can do to rein some of that wild spending in.

[Haha on use of "eve-olution" re: marketing]

You'll also enjoy the hilarious pictures.

my quick comments on each Mint bullet:

1. I agree on bypassing outlandishly priced beauty products. I've talked about it before here.

2. Organic food is a luxury item. It's not worth it unless the quality is decidedly better - on most things I find that it's not. My sister, a nutritionist, says milk and coffee are the two things you really want to buy organic because of the transfer of chemicals (is that right Ruth?). Buying local is a great idea if it's available, both for quality and price.

3. I disagree on this point. Stick to energy bars that have lots of PROTEIN - they're worth the $1-$2 a piece as a meal replacement or a healthy snack between lunch and dinner. You can never go wrong with extra protein.

4. I'll only repeat the adage: the lottery is a tax on dumb people. also known as a tax on the poor.

5. Pets are totally worth their cost in exchange for the pleasure they provide but for god's sake, don't buy them organic cookies from a doggie bakery or put wrapped Christmas presents under the tree for them.

6. On clothes - simply never pay full price. This will be a persistent theme on ChaChing.

Throw it open with open source

A reader recently suggested Zoho for an open source version of office products such as spreadsheets and word processors. They also have a ton of other products. Microsoft Office still dominates but at $400 it's expensive, particularly for home users!

Open source products can be a good alternative - the options become more numerous and better functioning all the time. Three years ago I used OpenOffice (i think the most popular alternative) but it didn't have the depth of function yet that i needed, particularly for spreadsheets. I also found it annoying on the clunky compatibility with Microsoft when you need to send documents around. It's probably better now. Three years in internet time is a century!

I am enjoying using Google Docs for quick views and edits, but again, deeper functions aren't there.

I confess I paid the big price tag for Microsoft Office on my recent laptop purchase. Is anyone using open source alternatives? How are they working for you?

Everyone should sign up for Obopay

Here's another great service that saves money and cuts down on your trips to the ATM!

Obopay lets you send money by phone - you can text money to someone and it only costs 25 cents per transaction, no matter the size. And it's free to retrieve money! This is going to revolutionize money transfers. As an emerging small business owner, I'm starting to appreciate how much transactions cost, from cash, to checks, and especially credit cards. But I'm going to use Obopay for my business!

Read the easy tutorial on their website to find out how it works. You just link your phone to your bank account and money goes to and from there. One of their great ideas - when a group of friends is out to dinner and you're that guy that doesn't have cash, you can Obopay your portion to the person tallying the check so no one will have to spot you!

Obviously the more people using it, the easier it is. Spread the word!

Update: A TechCrunch post on Obopay.