#eating good food? enjoying ourselves? indulgence? fashion? self expression?

[2-kamikou-1]

we as a society need to relearn humility because there is so much we get ashamed about that is literally not that big a deal but so much that we do that we should be ashamed about that we are not

[arda-ancalima]

Fairy tale for Obi-Wan and Siri. Childhood for Tahl and Qui-Gon.

Thanks for the fic prompts!! These were fun to play with. :D

Well, as usual I worked on and let these sit for waaaaay too long and am now throwing the imperfect projects out to the world and running away, promising myself I’ll fix them if I want them on Ao3 later. The first one also got way too long and the second is self-indulgent fluff - I hope you enjoy! XD (and maybe one day I’ll even not be apologetic when I post content lol)

Fairy tale for Obi-Wan and Siri

“Somehow, whenever I’m ona mission with you, we always get separated from our masters,” Siri grumbled,glaring at Obi-Wan as if it was his fault they were stranded in this forest.Qui-Gon and Adi had been called back to the city, and left their Padawans tocontinue looking for their suspect in the outlying village and forest, but theyhad gotten lost.

“This is only the secondtime.” Obi-Wan held back a sigh and pulled his hood farther down against theincessant rain, for what good it did. The fabric, heavy from absorbing so muchwater, clung to his skin.

“Also, you’re an idiot.”

Obi-Wan felt his patienceslipping. “And how was I supposed to know that the native creatures atepebbles?”

“I thought you were thesenior Padawan.”

Obi-Wan was about to shootback a retort when his gaze caught the edge of a roof through the trees. “Isthat—”

“A house,” Siri said withobvious relief. She was also soaked and her hair hung limp in clumps around herface. Pushing it behind her ears, she hurried with Obi-Wan to the cottage andtook shelter under the eaves.

As they were catchingtheir breath and enjoying the respite from the rain, they felt a slight tremorin the Force. They were alert at once, and Obi-Wan kept his hand near hislightsaber.

Near them, the old-fashionedwooden door of the cottage opened and a human woman poked her head out. Herhair was jet black and her wrinkled face and hands indicated her age. She worea maroon dress and some goggles that were tinted and foggy. “Children! Come in,come in, get out of the rain!”

Obi-Wan and Siri exchangeda glance, but as the woman appeared harmless on the surface and they could usethe shelter, they followed her inside.

The woman directed them inthe kitchen and went toward another room. “Put your cloaks by the stove! I’llget you some blankets.”

Peeling off their hoods,Obi-Wan and Siri laid their garments by an old contraption they could only tellwas an oven because the woman had pointed to it and it had a large door.

Soon they were sittingaround a little table with the woman, wrapped in blankets with hot spicy tea.

“So, what brings youchildren all the way out here?” she said.

Obi-Wan noticed Siribristle at being called a child, so he jumped in. “We are Jedi, ma’am, looking forsomeone and got lost, and waiting for our masters to return with transport. I’mObi-Wan Kenobi, and this is Siri Tachi, miss…?”

“Call me Agatha, dear,”she said, her grin making Obi-Wan uneasy. “Jedi, you say? I’ve only heard ofJedi from the old tales. But you’re such wee ones.She squinted up and down at Obi-Wan through her foggy goggles as if sizing himup. He tried not to squirm. “Are you thin? Or properly plump? Give me your arm,my dear boy.”

Obi-Wan’s expressionturned horrified and he started to stretch out his arm, but Siri quickly kickedhim under the table and slipped him her lightsaber. Catching on, Obi-Wan pulledthe lightsaber back into his sleeve and guided the cloth-covered hilt to thewoman’s outstretched hand.

Agatha felt the slenderhandgrip of Siri’s lightsaber, much thinner than Obi-Wan’s own lightsaber, andtutted. “So thin. This will not do at all.”

Unable to withstand therevulsion that filled his stomach, Obi-Wan pulled the lightsaber back, willingthe woman not to react.

“So, Miss Agatha,” Siribroke in, her tone all business, but with uneasiness in her eyes. “Someone inthis sector used to be a nanny for the missing princess. Do you happen to knowwho?”

“Why of course, dear,”Agatha said. “It’s me.”

Obi-Wan and Siri bothstarted. “You?” Obi-Wan said.

“Am I not what you wereexpecting?”

“No, just, I didn’t thinkwe’d find you out here,” Obi-Wan stammered, not liking the stare she was stillgiving him. “We’ve been asked by the king to find an object once belonging tothe princess he thought you might have. A bracelet?”

They had been told it hadtracking information inside, and could help confirm or deny that the princesswas lost years ago while the king tried to determine his heir before sicknesstook him.

“Ah yes,” Agatha said, finallylooking away as she leaned back in her chair. “I do have it.”

“Can you lend it to us sowe can take it to the king?” Siri asked.

“Hm. Perhaps,” she said,disinterested. “It’s in a safe, if I could only remember the combination. Ithink I have it written down somewhere.”

“Will you please find itfor us?” Siri said, her smile clearly fake to anyone who could see properly.

Agatha considered. “I willdo my best, children. But there is so much to do around my home!”

Obi-Wan did his best topull himself together. “Why don’t we do some work around the house while you findthe code?”

Agatha gave anotherunnerving grin. “Splendid!” She pushed herself up with apparent great effort.“Girl, the kitchen needs to be swept and the oven made hotter for cooking. Boy,I need some crates unstacked in the attic. Run along now!” She swept out,leaving the two Padawans alone.

“Okay, we’re switchingjobs, right?” Siri said. “You know me and kitchen work.”

“We don’t want to upsetAgatha,” Obi-Wan reminded her. “She may be our only way to complete thismission.”

“Fine! I’ll do this stupidsweeping and turning up the oven! What sort of native food could she need theoven hotter for,” Siri grumbled as she grabbed the broom leaning against thewall and haphazardly swept back and forth.

Keeping his comments tohimself, Obi-Wan found a narrow staircase leading to the attic. When he openedthe little door, he saw the stacked crates she mentioned. He stepped in and thedoor shut with a soft click. Obi-Wan told himself to not be paranoid, and setto work.

It didn’t take long at allto unstack the crates so they were all accessible, and when he finished,Obi-Wan tried the door. He had been right to worry, as it was indeed lockedfrom the other side.

He had his lightsaber withhim, but he didn’t want to destroy someone’s property just on a suspicion; itcould have been unintentional.

But the sense he got fromSiri below told him otherwise. Obi-Wan quieted his mind and used the Force toheighten his senses, focusing on the voices coming from downstairs.

First the frustrated voiceof Agatha: “I can’t cook if it’s not hot enough, just climb in and test it.”

Then the strangely demurevoice of Siri: “I don’t know how. Can you show me?”

“Idiot girl!” Agatha said,pretenses obviously gone. “I’ll show you how—”

And then sounds of a slam,electronic beeps, and running footsteps before the attic door swung open.

“She was trying to captureus, as you may have guessed,” Siri said, beckoning for Obi-Wan to come downstairs.He followed her back to the kitchen, where there were muffled screams comingfrom the oven.

“Siri…did you…was shetrying to eat us?”

“Did I what?” Siri asked,then scowled as understanding dawned. “No, of course not. It’s not actually anoven.” She pointed out an unfamiliar panel. “It’s a carbon freezing chamber.Our friend is a little higher-tech than we thought. Agatha is safe, and alsolocked up. Giving us time to search for the bracelet and find out what she wasup to.”

Before long, they hadfound not only the bracelet they had been asked to locate, but other items thatthey guessed may have belonged to the royal child. Their suspicions wereconfirmed when they found a logbook detailing attempts at carbon freezing,noting that humans must be of a certain weight or, like a child it had beenattempted on, they would not survive the process. Obi-Wan and Siri looked ateach other.

“Even if we didn’t havethe bracelet to prove it, we have enough evidence that the princess waskidnapped by her nanny,” Obi-Wan said.

“I hate to think what thiswoman might have done to her,” Siri said just before her comlink signaled.“Hello Master, we found the bracelet and the culprit. We’ll need the royalguard to come take custody of the prisoner.

“The prisoner?” Adi’s dry voice came over the comlink.

“We have this missionbasically wrapped up, Master,” Obi-Wan said.

Siri grinned at him.“Yeah, turned out we could handle this one ourselves.”

“Wouldn’t mind transportthough, if perhaps Master Qui-Gon has finally worked it out?” Obi-Wan added,feeling the horror start to drift away.

“I can hear you, Padawan,” Qui-Gon broke in. “We’ll contact the palace and come find you. Siri, keep your comlinkactivated so we can track it.”

Obi-Wan tried to catch Siri’seye as she put her comlink back on her belt. “Thank you. You did some quickthinking.”

He meant it and knew sheunderstood, even as she brushed it off. “Just glad this mission is going tohave another happy ending.”

Childhood for Tahl and Qui-Gon

“Are you going to ask fora transfer?”

Qui-Gon started. “A what?”

Tahl tossed her studymaterials on his sleep couch and plopped on the floor where they usually spreadout their books after class. She waited for him to sit too, which he didreluctantly.

“You might be able to foolMaster Yoda, and most other people, but I know you best,” Tahl said. “You’reafraid of Dooku, and don’t think you’ll be a good match.”

“That’s not true, I’m notafraid,” Qui-Gon protested, feeling warm with embarrassment. Of course hecouldn’t hide what he’d been thinking all day from his best friend. “MasterDooku is one of the greatest swordsmen in the Order, and it’s an honor to knowI will be his Padawan when I turn thirteen.”

“But you don’t thinkyou’ll be a good fit,” Tahl pressed, her voice becoming gentle.

Qui-Gon paused, thinking.“I don’t know him very well. We seem to think differently about things, andhe’s sort of aloof. But I have much to learn, don’t I? I’ll probably be abetter Jedi if I learn from someone unlike me.”

Tahl considered this.“That makes sense. But you’re too nice for him, and ever since he chose you,you’ve been even quieter than usual. And I don’t think you’ve gotten intotrouble once, which really worriesme.”

Shrugging, Qui-Gon laugheda little despite himself. “I just want to be a good Padawan, and a good JediKnight someday.

“I know. And you will be,”Tahl said with her radiant smile. “But think about it, okay? There’s no shamein admitting you wouldn’t be a good fit.”

Qui-Gon sighed. “I’llmeditate on it.”

“That’s the tone that says‘I’m going to continue being stubborn about this thing, I’m just trying to getTahl to shut up.’”

Leave it to her to cheerhim up even after a day of worry. She was right though—he wasn’t going toconsider asking for a different master.

“So how is your class projectgoing?” Qui-Gon asked.

Tahl made a face. “It’sthe worst and I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I’m sure Master Difusalwould help you if you asked.”

“I can figure it out on myown.”

“Now who’s beingstubborn,” Qui-Gon said quietly, and looked up at Tahl with a half-smile.

Tahl sighed dramatically.“I hate it when you use my words against me. But I hate asking for help evenmore.”

“That’s not a sign ofweakness either,” Qui-Gon insisted. “Let me help you at least.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“But aren’t friendssupposed to help each other?”

Tahl was silent, and for afew moments they just sat together on the floor by Qui-Gon’s sleep couch.

“I’ll think about it,” shesaid finally.

“And you’re not justsaying that?” Qui-Gon asked softly.

Tahl locked eyes with him,and he could see her sincerity and depth of her care for their friendshipbeneath all the bickering. “…Okay. I’ll think about it for real.”

Qui-Gon smiled.

“If only because I knowyou won’t stop pestering me,” Tahl added.

“…You do know me well.”

[our-dailyimpact]

10 SURE WAYS TO SAVE MONEY BY VICKI ROBIN AND JOE DOMINGUEZ

1. Don’t Go Shopping

If you don’t go shopping, you won’t spend money. Of course, if you need something from the store, go and buy it. But don’t just go shopping. About 53 percent of groceries and 47 percent of hardware-store purchases are “spur of the moment.”4 Indeed, shopping—at malls and online—is one of our favorite national pastimes.

More than the simple act of acquiring needed goods and services, shopping attempts to fill (but fails, since we have to shop so often) myriad needs: for socializing and time structuring, for a reward after a job well done, for an antidepressant, for esteem-boosting, self-assertion, status and nurturing. An alien anthropologist might conclude that the mall is our place of worship, and shopping the central ritual of communion with our deity. Lewis Lapham observes, “We express our longing for the ineffable in the wolfishness of our appetite... The feasts of consumption thus become rituals of communion.”5 Consumption seems to be our favorite high, our nationally sanctioned addiction, the all-American form of substance abuse. So don’t go shopping. And while you’re at it, stay away from advertising that whets your appetite for stuff you don’t want. And for pity’s sake don’t tune in to the Home Shopping Network, and the like. You may be saving more than money. You may be saving your sanity, not to speak of your soul.

2. Live Within Your Means

This notion is so outmoded that some readers might not even know what it signifies. To live within your means is to buy only what you can prudently afford, to avoid debt unless you have an assurance that you will be able to pay it promptly and always to have something put away for a rainy day. It was quite a fashionable way to live a couple of short generations ago, before we started living beyond our means. There are two sides to the coin of living beyond your means. The shiny side is that you can have everything you want right now. The tarnished side is that you will pay for it with your life. Buying on credit, from cars to houses to vacations, often results in paying three times the purchase price. Is going to Hawaii for two weeks this year worth working perhaps four additional months next year to pay it off? This doesn’t mean you have to cut up all your credit cards—you just have to avoid using them as much as possible. We recognize that credit cards can be a way to put food on the table for those who unexpectedly hit hard times. But in general, it’s important to distinguish between necessity and indulgence so you have as little debt as possible to pay off. Living within your means suggests that you wait until you have the money before you buy something. This gives you the benefit of avoiding interest charges.  It also gives you a waiting period during which you may well discover that you don’t want some of those things after all. He who hesitates saves money. The bright side of living within your means is that you will use and enjoy what you have and harvest a full measure of fulfillment from it, whether it’s your old car, your old coat, or your old house. It also means that you can weather the economic bad times when they come—which they will.

3. Take Care of What You Have

There is one thing we all have that we want to last a long time: our bodies. Simple attention to the proven preventive practices will save you lots of money. Flossing and brushing your teeth, for example, could save thousands in dental bills. And eating what you know agrees with your body (judging by your energy, not by your taste buds) may save you thousands in expensive procedures—not to mention your life. Extend this principle to all your possessions. Regular oil changes are known to extend the life of your car. Cleaning your tools extends their life. (How many hairdryers and vacuum cleaners have choked to death on hairballs?) Dusting your refrigerator coils saves energy and could save your refrigerator. One big difference between living beings and machines is that machines are not self-healing. If you ignore a headache it will probably go away. If you ignore a funny noise in your engine you could throw a rod, burn out a water pump, or otherwise incur major (and costly) damage. Many of us have lived with excess for so many years that it no longer occurs to us to maintain what we have. “There’s always more where that came from,” we tell ourselves. But more costs money. And more may not, in the long run, be available.

4. Wear It Out

What’s the last item you wore out? If it weren’t for the fashion industry (and boredom) we could all enjoy the same basic wardrobe for many years. Survey your possessions. Are you simply upgrading or duplicating last year’s electronic equipment, furniture, kitchenware, carpeting, and linens, or are you truly wearing them out? Think about how much money you would save if you simply decided to use things even 20 percent longer. If you usually replace your towels every two years, try replacing them every two and a half years. If you trade-in your car every three years, try extending that to four. If you buy a new coat every other winter, see whether every third winter would do just as well. And when you’re about to buy something, ask yourself, “Do I already have one of these that is in perfectly usable condition?” Another way to save money is to ask, before trashing something, whether there might be another way to use part or all of it. Old letters and e-mails become scrap paper. Old dishcloths become cleaning rags. Old magazines become art materials. Old grocery bags become . . . grocery bags again, or garbage bags. A word of caution to the already frugal. Using something until you wear it out does not mean using it until it wears you out. If you must continually fiddle with a lamp to make it work and you’ve already tried repairing it, it may not be worth your life energy to coax it along for another year. If your car is taking you for a ride, costing more hours in tinkering (or more money in repairs) than it’s giving you in service, buy a newer one. If your knee joints are suffering from running shoes that have lost their bounce, it would be cheaper to buy a new pair (on sale) than to have knee surgery.

5. Do It Yourself

Can you change the oil in your car? Fix a plumbing leak? Do your taxes? Make your gifts? Change the tire on your bicycle? Bake a cake from scratch? Build a bookshelf? Refinish furniture? Plant a garden? Hem a pair of pants? Cut your family’s hair? Form your nonprofit corporation? It used to be that we learned basic life skills from our parents in the process of growing up. Then the Industrial Revolution put our parents in factories and, after the passing of child labor and mandatory public education laws, put us in schools. Next our grandparents were put in rest homes, removing the people who traditionally taught life skills to the children while the parents worked. Eventually home economics and shop classes had to be incorporated in the curriculum as supplements to the ever-decreasing skill-nourishment we got at home. By the 1970s it was no longer fashionable for mothers to stay at home with their children. By the 1980s many couples assumed it wasn’t even possible, economically, for either parent to stay home with their children. Is it any wonder that the only way we know how to take care of ourselves in the twenty-first century is to be consumers of goods and services provided by others? To reverse that trend, just ask yourself, when you’re about to hire an expert: “Can I do this myself? What would it take to learn how? Would it be a useful skill to know?” In the context of a fast-paced, high-tech life a “do-it-yourself” orientation might seem quaint, but most humans, throughout history and on the planet today, are far more able than most of us to make and provide for themselves what they need for daily living—and many experts think that we’ll be thrown back on our resources increase in the coming decades. Years ago, when Suzie T. was young and lived in Fiji with her doctor husband for several months, she was embarrassed by how the native Fijians seemed to revere them. She tried to diminish their respect to an appropriate level, but they would have none of it. Then she discovered that since they made—and could repair—every single thing they depended on to live, they assumed that Suzie and Bill made their transistor radio, watch, and typewriter. They were unable to understand that no, these were made by others and Suzie had no idea how. Basic living and survival skills can be learned through Web sites, adult education classes, extension agents, and, last but not least, books. Every breakdown can be used as an opportunity for learning and empowerment. What you can’t do, or choose not to do, you can hire others to do and tag along for the ride. Every bit of your energy invested in solving these breakdowns not only teaches you something you need to know for the next time but helps prevent mistakes and reduces the bill. One FIer tells the story of how her heating system failed one winter. Three companies sent out repair people to assess the problem and make a bid. Each one told her with absolute certainty what the problem was. Unfortunately, each told her a different story. So she cracked the books, meditated on the Rube Goldberg maze of pipes, came to an educated guess, and chose the company that came closest to her analysis, thus saving herself hundreds of dollars of unnecessary and possibly destructive work. By staying with the repairman and observing his work she also was able to avert a few more expensive mistakes and to save (expensive) time by doing some of the simpler tasks. A typical working couple might have paid ten times what she did to have the job done and then felt fortunate to have two paychecks “since the cost of living in the modern world is so high.”

6. Anticipate Your Needs

Forethought in purchasing can bring tremendous savings. With enough lead time you will inevitably see the items you need to go on sale by the time you need them—at 20 to 50 percent under the usual price. Keep current on Web discounts and catalogs and sale flyers of national and local catalog merchandisers. Read the sale ads in the Sunday paper. If you have access to the Internet, type “discount merchandise” or “price comparison” into your Web browser and find the current meta sites that allow you to comparison shop. Online auctions allow you to see the prices discounters and warehouses might be offering. Watch for seasonal bargains such as January and August “white sales,” holiday sales (such as Memorial Day and Labor Day), year-end clearance sales, and back-to-school sales—but be sure these are real sales. By simply observing the poor condition of your car’s left rear tire while it still has some life left, you can anticipate a need. By simply being aware of this need you will naturally notice the phenomenal tire sale that will appear in the sports section of your Sunday newspaper three weeks from now—and you’ll know it’s a phenomenal sale because you have been watching prices. In the shorter term, shopping at the corner convenience store can be expensive. Anticipating your needs—that you’ll be wanting evening snacks, that you’ll run out of milk mid-week or that you’ll need paper for your printer—can eliminate running out to the corner store to pick up these items. Instead you can purchase them during your supermarket shopping or on a run to the office supply store. This can result in significant savings. Anticipating your needs also eliminates one of the biggest threats to your frugality—impulse buying. If you haven’t anticipated needing something when you leave your house at 3:05, chances are you don’t need it at 3:10 when you’re standing at the gazingus-pin counter at the corner store. We’re not saying you should buy only things that are on your premeditated shopping list (although that isn’t such a bad idea for compulsive shoppers); we are saying that you must be scrupulously honest when you’re out and about. Saying, “I anticipate needing this,” as you’re drooling over a left-handed veeblefitzer or cashmere sweater is not the same as having already anticipated needing one and recognizing that this particular one is a bargain. Remember the corollary to Parkinson’s Law (“The work expands to fit the time allowed for its completion”): “Needs expand to encompass whatever you want to buy on impulse.”

7. Research Value, Quality, Durability, Multiple Use and Price

Research your purchases. The print and online editions of Consumer Reports and other Web sites and publications give excellent evaluations and comparisons of almost everything you might buy—and they can be fun just to read. Decide what features are most important to you. Don’t just be a bargain junkie and automatically buy the cheapest item available. Durability might be critical for something you plan to use daily for twenty years. One obvious way of saving money is to spend less on each item you buy, but it’s equally true that spending $40 on a tool that lasts ten years instead of buying a $30 one that will need to be replaced in five years will save you $20 in the long run. Multiple-use is also a factor. Buying one item for $10 that will serve the purpose of four different $5 items will net you a savings of $10. One heavy-duty kitchen pot can (and perhaps should) replace half a dozen specialty appliances like a rice cooker, a crockpot, a Dutch oven, a deep-fat fryer, a paella pan, and a spaghetti cooker. So, if you expect to be using an item, buying for durability and multiple purposes can be a good savings technique. But if you’ll be using the item only occasionally you may not want to spend the extra dollars on a high-quality product. Knowing what your needs are and knowing the whole range of what is available will allow you to choose the right item. Besides reading consumer magazines and Web sites, you can evaluate quality by developing a sharp eye and carefully examining what you are buying. Are the seams in a piece of clothing ample? Are the edges finished? Is the fabric durable? Is it washable or will you be paying dry-cleaning bills to keep it clean? Are the screws holding the appliance together sturdy enough for the job? Is the material strong or flimsy? Is the furniture nailed, stapled or screwed? Here is where you will become an expert materialist—knowing materials so well that you can read the probable longevity of an item the way a forester can read the age and history of a fallen tree. This is the opposite of crass materialism. This might not be as uplifting as standing in a redwood grove, but it is respecting the wonder of creation in its way. Everything you purchase has its origin in the earth. Everything. Knowing the wear patterns of aluminum versus stainless steel is honoring the earth every bit as much as lobbying for stronger environmental protection laws. Changing yourself and changing the system go hand in hand. By the same token, engaging only in personal strategies is inadequate. We all need to become active citizens and to encourage our local, state, and federal governments to provide high-quality public transportation, public schools, public hospitals, universal sickness-care insurance and other basics so that we can all be frugal together —and decrease gobs of personal spending.

8. Buy It for Less

If you’ve spent any time in the marketplace, you know you can pay a lot of different prices for the same item. Things don’t cost what they cost. They cost what you pay. Where you get the item and how much you pay often relates more to questions of values and convenience rather than differences in quality. All things being equal, however, the goal is usually to get it as cheaply as possible. The following section contains a few tips on how to do that. Comparison-shop by phone: Where do you shop and how did you choose it? Is it where you’ve always shopped? At the mall closest to your home? Where your friends shop? Where advertising or status-seeking has told you is the only place to shop? We research products via the Internet, compare prices there too, but try to buy locally—and for big items always do. For those items we comparison shop via the telephone. Once we know what we want, we phone around for the best price. The more educated you are about the product and the more specific you can be about the exact make or model you want, the more successful your bargain-hunting will be. You will be amazed at the range of prices quoted for the same item. If you prefer doing business with a particular store or supplier, phone-shop for the best price and then ask your favorite vendor if he or she can match it. Seven years before writing the first edition of this book, after much research, we decided we wanted a Toyota Tercel with a four-wheel drive. We then called every dealership within 100 miles—and shaved 33 percent off the highest bid by purchasing a demonstrator (a deluxe model with everything but air-conditioning) that had 3,600 miles on it. Seven years and 100,000 miles later, nothing had gone wrong. Seven years before this edition, the author pulled the same trick with a Honda Insight, at that time the most fuel-efficient hybrid car on the road. The new car was $24,000. One dealer offered a right-off-the-showroom-floor-but-2001 model for $16,800. A few calls later a new right-off the-showroom-floor 2002 model was offered by another dealer for $16,000. A similar 33 percent savings. Some things never change. Like phone comparison shopping. Bargain: You can ask for discounts for paying cash. You can ask for discounts for less-than-perfect items. You can ask for the sale price even if the sale begins tomorrow or ended yesterday. You can ask for further discounts on items already marked down. You can ask for discounts if you buy several items at the same time. You can ask for discounts anywhere, anytime. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Haggling is a time-honored tradition. The list price of any consumer item is usually inflated. As soon as you hear the words, “The list price is . . . you should say, “Yes, but what is your price?” According to Jim Dacyczyn you should be able to shave 24 percent off the sticker price for a car, but this strategy applies to more than houses, cars, and other major purchases. You have nothing to lose by asking for a discount at any store—from your local hardware store to a clothing emporium. A case in point was our recent outing to buy new running shoes. A $95 (list price) pair was sitting on the manager’s special rack with no price. They fit perfectly. We asked a salesman what they would cost. “$39.99,” he replied. “Would you take $30?” we asked. Surveying what he had left, he said, “Twenty-eight dollars.” We could have pointed out that haggling etiquette suggests that his counteroffer be higher, not lower, than ours. But we were astute enough just to shut our mouths, open our wallet and take advantage of a great bargain. By the way, this strategy works best at independently-owned stores where the owner has more authority to make instant decisions. So if the chain store has it for less, at least give the independent, local store owner a chance to meet the price. Buy it used: Reexamine your attitudes about buying used items. Most of us live in “used” houses—someone else probably built your home and inaugurated the shower, toilet, fridge, and more. Many of us drive used cars; if you define your needs and research prices via online sales outlets (like Cars.com, craigslist and AutoTrader.com in the United States)—or use a purchasing agent—you can certainly save a bundle. But what about everything else? If you are a thrift store or garage-sale addict, look at whether you are saving money or whether you are buying items you don’t need just because they’re “such a bargain.” But if you wouldn’t be caught dead in a Salvation Army thrift store, look around your town: thrift stores have become fashionable emporiums. Clothing, kitchenware, furniture, drapes—all can be found in thrift stores, and you may be surprised at the high quality of many of them. Donating brand-new items to thrift stores is one way that shopaholics justify excess purchases. If you just can’t bring yourself to shop at thrift stores, consider consignment shops. The prices are higher, but the quality is consistently high as well. In our experience, thrift stores are best for clothing, but garage sales are cheaper (and more reliable) for appliances, furniture, and household items. If you’re an early bird (arriving before the sellers have even had their morning coffee) you can often find exceptional buys—unless you get shoo-ed away because you are too early. On the other hand, the later in the day you go to a garage sale, the more eager the people will be to get rid of the stuff for a song.“Swap meets” and “flea markets” are two names for the same event—weekend open-air bazaars where you’ll find merchants of every stripe displaying their wares: shrewd hucksters, collectors of every kind and families hoping to unload their excess before moving across the country. Just as when you shop at discounters, you have to know your prices. Some clever nomads are working the flea-market circuit who will sell you tools, clothing, housewares, and other items for more than you’d pay at the shopping mall. In recent years, eBay and other online auctions have become a craze and helped move buying used from tacky to smart.

9. Meet Your Needs Differently

The principle of substitution says that there are hundreds if not thousands of ways to meet a need. Traditional economics would have you believe that more, better, or different stuff can satisfy almost any need and is just a credit card swipe away. But who says frugal pleasures are less pleasurable because they are less pricey? For example, what’s the best way to lift your spirits? An antidepressant? Running? Cognitive therapy? A change of scenery? Going to a funny movie? Helping someone in a worse pickle? Retail therapy? Which works best for you? Do you have just one strategy or many different ones? When you feel depleted, where do you turn? Rest? Exercise? Caffeine? Therapy (retail or talk)? TV? In other words, there’s a difference between needs and the strategies we use to “satisfy” those needs. The Chilean economist Manfred Max-Neef has studied needs and the strategies that satisfy them. He found that across time and culture the following needs are universal: subsistence, protection (safety), affection, understanding (making sense of life), participation (being part of some social process), recreation (in the sense of leisure, time to reflect or idleness), creation (making things), identity (who you are) and freedom (choosing for oneself). If these needs are not met, to some degree, in your life, likely you’ll feel dissatisfied and search for something to satisfy that longing. The consumer culture would say, “Shop!” Your habit patterns would say, “When I feel this way, I always. . . .” But let’s take one of these needs and see how to meet it by widening your repertoire of how needs can be met and then choosing the strategy (or strategies) that fits best. One of the universal needs Max-Neef identified is “freedom.” Freedom is the need for autonomy (making your own choices according to your own best lights) and independence (doing what you will, apart from the demands or expectations of others). In America, freedom has become deeply tied to mobility—getting in something with wheels (or wings) and going away. It’s also connected with not having to share with anyone, so you can have access to everything you want whenever you want. It is also linked to any product that will let you ignore the consequences of your actions—from antiaging cream to credit cards. Of course we are freedom-loving people—all people are! But here’s a substitution exercise I’ve run about freedom... If when I think “freedom” I think “travel,” what am I looking for? What values or desires lie behind that core need? Often it’s novelty and stimulation and getting out of daily and sometimes deadening routines. It’s needing some aimlessness and idleness in contrast to my norm of purposefulness. It’s learning—new languages, cultures, facts. Meeting new people. A slower pace with less stress. Swimming in a different set of assumptions, getting jolted out of narrow-mindedness. Tasting new foods. Indulging in a novel during a long flight. It’s being out of town and unavailable for all the meetings and decisions that tend to whittle down my store of daily joy. But do I need to travel to faraway places to experience these things? Remember, substitution as a frugality strategy isn’t about downgrading pleasure. It’s about ensuring that I get precisely what I am seeking at half the cost—or no cost at all. I’m not limiting myself (waaa!), I’m focusing on myself (yum!). Freedom from my daily routines might involve letting go of rigid standards (let the house be less clean), some burdensome responsibilities (don’t always say yes to those requesting my help), and some entrenched habits (why not go out to eat with friends more often)? With rising gas prices, people are traveling locally—seeing the sights within a day’s drive—and discovering exotic people and places nearby. Staying closer to home also reveals some hidden treasures in your backyard, or over the backyard fence—like your beautiful flower garden or your neighbor’s interesting stories. Stay put long enough and the details and delights of where you have become more evident. See, substitution isn’t deprivation, it’s about getting creative. Substitution also reminds us that consumption is rooted in changing a feeling state, which is a signal that a need isn’t being filled. We feel hungry so we eat to have a feeling of satisfaction. We feel lonely so we join a club or make a date to feel connected. We feel bored so we go to a movie or read a magazine or go on a trip to feel enlivened. As Max-Neef points out, most of our needs are not material! Substitution says, “When you feel a desire to shop, take time to trace it back to the need and ask if creativity rather than consumption might best fill it.” Donella Meadows cuts to the heart of it in Beyond the Limits: People don’t need enormous cars, they need respect. They don’t need closets full of clothes, they need to feel attractive and they need excitement and variety and beauty. People don’t need electronic equipment; they need something worthwhile to do with their lives. People need identity, community, challenge, acknowledgment, love, and joy. To try to fill these needs with material things is to set up an unquenchable appetite for false solutions to real and never-satisfied problems. The resulting psychological emptiness is one of the major forces behind the desire for material growth. Substitution isn’t a limitation. It’s liberation. It’s letting go of assumptions and habits, looking at the richness of reality and picking from the smorgasbord of pleasures available right in front of your nose.

10. Follow the Nine Steps of This Program

The steps of this program have been successfully followed by hundreds of thousands of people. These people have found that doing all the steps leads to a transformed experience of money and the material world. It’s the transformation, not the tips, that saves them money. Mild shopping addictions evaporate. Self-denial and self-indulgence both yield to self-awareness, which ends up being a much bigger pleasure. You can use this program as a series of tips or advice, or you can let it work its magic by doing the steps. They are a whole-system approach to money and stuff that changes your habits by changing your way of seeing. All the steps matter. They synergize to spur you on.

[raiseveganus]

Meeting Lorenza Pintar: Founder of BUTTERelixir, Vegan Skin Care Brand

Skincare is an essential part of self-care- there are those like myself who have a very specially crafted skincare routine with a large number of products and there are those that indulge in a very minimalistic routine with a small range of essentials. No matter your skin care needs, there are a few things that you should never skip out on- face wash moisturizer, and face oil. To all my fellow oily-skinned women out there, YES, even we need to use face oil to have healthy skin!

Are you on the search for all-natural vegan skin care brand that has products that will make you look and feel good? Look no further. BUTTERelixir has a small yet beautifully formulated catalog of products including face and body oil, ultra-hydrating lip balm, and their fan-favorite BUTTERelixir face oil that contains only 4 humble ingredients (apricot oil, organic virgin oil, argan oil, and wild rose essential oil).

Credit: BUTTERelixir

Our Raise Vegan team had the chance to meet with Lorenza Pintar, the founder and ultimate lady boss behind BUTTERelixir. BUTTERelixir is a revolutionary skincare brand hailing from NYC. Using exclusively vegan and naturally derived ingredients in their products, their mission of “providing unisex skin care products that are a sophisticated gift for all the senses” rings true.

Interview with Lorenza Pintar, the founder of the vegan skin care brand- BUTTERelixir begins below.

BUTTERelixir face oil/ BUTTERelixir

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Interview with Lorenza Pintar, founder of BUTTERelixir- the Vegan Skin Care Brand

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

We here at the magazine enjoyed spending some time in the Press section on your website.  There is a really delicious buzz about BUTTERelixir!  What is your team’s perception of the response around the globe to your product? 

Lorenza: Thank you for taking the time to go through our website. Everyone has different needs and preferences. We hope that BUTTERelixir is simply perceived for what it is: an uncomplicated line of natural clean skincare that feels good to experience because of the high quality of the ingredients and its commitment to integrity and sustainable business practices. In all our operations we aim to do what is right, what is best and what is fair while delivering value. We are very grateful to everyone supporting our practice. 

BUTTERelixir was born in NYC in 2015. Do you think there was energy specific to NYC and a synergy there that led to the birth of BUTTERelixir?  

Lorenza: There was no real plan. My personal experience and interest in Ayurveda combined with Yoga practice naturally led to creating something I could use for myself and share with friends.

Credit: Pedro Lastra/ Unsplash Meeting Lorenza Pintar: Founder of BUTTERelixir, Vegan Skin Care Brand

I grew up living and appreciating simplicity. Scents that are comforting to me (lavender and rose, for example, are aromas that instantly bring me back to my grandmother’s memory) but also universally recognized as positive became an immediate tool to connect through sensory experience and share to a larger circle. All products were born in my own kitchen! It interests me how the senses are a universal language that brings people together. I could never stand behind anything that doesn’t make sense to me. Like the food I grew up eating, BUTTERelixir is grounded in quality and simplicity. It has to be authentic or I am not interested.

Can your team share more about the concept of Radical Luxury as expressed by BUTTERelixir?

Lorenza: Radical Luxury is simply intended as working with nature with respect and gratitude and operating responsibly at all times. In other words Yoga, the luxury of integration that comes with freedom.

What is your team’s perception of the growth of interest and demand for vegan and cruelty-free beauty and body products?

Lorenza: We feel good about it!  It spreads peace and responsibility and we like that.

Does your team perceive a rising interest for luxury, vegan body care in NYC specifically?

Lorenza: New Yorkers are demanding but also very hard workers. We keep the bar at its highest for ourselves first. We are very lucky to have some of the best and most integral Yoga teachers in the world (I am pretty sure mine is: Eddie Stern). A strong community that reverberates a message of peace and health for all is the ultimate dynamic creation of Beauty. We are willing to do the work for it.

Do you have any plans for other products on the horizon?

Lorenza: We just launched SADHU, a collaboration with a very special yoga and meditation teacher: Jocelyne Stern. SADHU is a unique and powerful relief oil and tonic, to me is mainly a work of art to be experienced. 

Our products will tell everything there is to be said according to one’s personal level of receptiveness about feeling good, beautiful and clean.

Credit: SADHU/ BUTTERelixir

Thank you to Lorenza Pintar of BUTTERelixir for taking the time to chat with us and spread the word on your revolutionary skincare products. If you are interested in checking out or purchasing any BUTTRelexir product (including the widely raved about face oil), you can visit BUTTERelixir to learn more.

Will you be checking out any of BUTTERelixir’s products? What is your go-to vegan skincare essential? Let me know in the comments below.

Get Raise Vegan Magazine for $29.40 for Six Months! GET MY ISSUES

The post Meeting Lorenza Pintar: Founder of BUTTERelixir, Vegan Skin Care Brand appeared first on Raise Vegan.

source https://raisevegan.com/meeting-lorenza-pintar-founder-of-butterelixir-vegan-skin-care-brand/

[male-emporium]

Editors’ Picks: Our 10 Favorite HSS Posts of 2016

from He Spoke Style - Men's Style, Fashion, Grooming, Tips and Advice

Our favorite posts aren’t the most popular – does that mean we have bad taste?!

While we enjoy writing each and every post on the site, there are always some posts that are simply more enjoyable to write for one reason or another.

A subject that scratches a creative itch or allows us to dig deeper into a bigger editorial idea. A scope of work that challenges us to go above and beyond in both our written and visual storytelling. Or a newfound passion that reignites the flame of curiosity.

These are the things that keep us energized because we don’t write because we have to, but because we want to.

We don’t write because we have to, but because we want to

If there was ever any doubt about that statement, I would respectfully ask you to take note of the fact that none of the posts included on our “favorites” list appear on our list of most popular posts of 2016. Do we wish some of our favorites would be your favorites too? Sure. But that’s not what it’s all about.

To that end, we’re thankful to have an audience that indulges our more creative and long form side from time to time. You are known by the company you keep. And we’ve got some amazing readers.

So here are our 10 favorite He Spoke Style posts of 2016 – in no particular order – and the stories behind the stories.

1. Speaking Style With Edward Sexton

A huge highlight. It’s not every day that you get to sit down with – and get measured by – a living legend. And Edward Sexton is about as legendary as they come in British tailoring. In addition to hearing all of Edward’s amazing stories and meeting the house’s exceptionally astute Creative Director, Dominic Sebag-Montefiore, this was a big moment for us in terms of content creation.

As a bunch of perfectionists dedicated to producing the highest quality product all the time, we can sometimes paint ourselves into a corner and induce paralysis when it comes to the actual execution of a high-level project.

The fact that we shot this on two cameras in the span of about three hours and produced an immersive, image-rich post along with an insightful video interview that generated a ton of positive feedback, gave us an immense amount of confidence in our ability to be light on our feet, mobile and create exceptional content even when time and resources are less than ideal.

Read the full article here.

2. Some Thoughts On Embracing Luxury

We’ve made very clear our position on transparency when it comes to our brand partnerships. As I know you’ve heard me say before, we are fortunate to be in a position where we can be selective with the brands we choose to partner with. We’ve worked with brands in the very distant past who have been incredibly prescriptive. And we’ve learned from those experiences that those arrangements never turn out positively for anyone – especially for you, our readers.

We want to work with brands who respect our editorial voice and vision, who know that we know our readers and brands that we are honestly very passionate about. In other words, brands who get it.

IWC is one of those brands. As part of a three-part content series centered around the release of a limited edition Portugieser (see below), we were turned loose and allowed the freedom to dig into a bigger cultural idea. I can tell you from experience that being given that sort of latitude by a brand is exceptional and is one of the reasons why we truly love working with IWC.

Read the full article here.

3. A Menswear Meet Up With Fabio Attanasio

Via the medium of Instagram, I’ve been able to discover and connect with like-minded and passionate people all over the world. And also via Instagram, one day in NYC I saw that one of those people, Fabio Attanasio, was in town as well. Though we were members of a mutual admiration society and had engaged online a bit, I’d not met Fabio in person. Until this day.

Our meeting was short – much too short, honestly – as Fabio had to catch a plane back to Italy later in the day after a successful trunk show in the city. But it was great to finally make a real life connection. Most important, however, was learning that Fabio IRL was the same Fabio I “knew” from Instagram. That’s not always the case these days and it was refreshing to know that there are some truly genuine folks out there.

Read the full article here.

4. HSS At Three: The Lost Art of Blogging

This was a big one for me. Did everyone like it? I don’t think so. I ruffled more than a few feathers – which I honestly intended to do in a free advice/teachable moment kind of way – and got called out for swearing. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. Why? Because it started a conversation.

In the past I’ve seen some of my favorite websites have some serious head-eating-the-tail moments so being self-reflective – even if it happened to be in a public forum – and honest about the space we work in was important. It allowed me to be up front with all of you and to reinforce to you and ourselves by laying it all out there, why it is that we believe we do it “right”.

Read the full article here.

5. The IWC Portugierser Tourbillon Edition “D.H. Craig USA”

I enjoyed writing and creative directing this post immensely. It was something completely new for us. Styling and shooting watches is not easy. It’s tedious. It requires excellent light. And it’s time consuming – no way around it. You shoot with a macro lens on a tripod and hold your breath while you’re making video files to turn into cinemagraphs. But it’s all worth it when you know you’re delivering a finished product of a quality that few others will actually take the time to produce.

Here’s an extremely interesting tidbit. If you’ve read the post – or just happen to be a watch nerd and/or IWC fanboy – you know that there were only 27 of these $57,000 pieces made. However, what we discovered after the fact was that the particular watch that we had been given to shoot and play around with was actually one-of-a-kind.

When we submitted our post to IWC for review, someone in the company noticed a small, but important, detail on the dial. Recently, IWC updated the font used for “Schaffhausen” from one with a serif to a sans serif font. Our watch, which was actually a prototype, had the serifed font. The watches available to the public used the new font. Don’t believe me? Check out the actual dial on the watches that were sold!

Read the full article here.

6. Remembering Bill Cunningham

When Bill Cunningham passed away on June 25, 2016, Instagram was awash with people posting photos of themselves that had been taken by Mr. Cunningham adorned by captions expressing how “honored” they felt to have been photographed by him.

Within this sea of ambulance chasing narcissism, our own Robin West penned a heartfelt, respectful and very sincere personal remembrance of a man – the progenitor of modern street style photography – who inspired her (and countless others) to express herself through the medium of fashion and to pursue a career in the industry.

This is the kind of relevant and affecting content so in line with our “don’t look at me, listen to me” ethos that we wish was possible to post three times a day.

Read the full article here.

7. A Rare Experience: The Macallan Rare Cask

One of the pillars of advice from our guide to drinking whiskey like a gentleman is “friends first”. So when the opportunity arose to partner with The Macallan to highlight their Rare Cask offering, inviting my buddy (and HSS whiskey editor) Chris Sarangoulis to experience it one afternoon was a no-brainer.

As someone who has pretty much tasted it all, Chris can be something of a skeptic when it comes to trying something new. And since up until that point, scotch hadn’t piqued his interest the same way that bourbon and rye had, he was doubly dubious of this NAS offering. While the food and the company were fantastic that afternoon, my favorite part of the experience was Chris saying, “Wow, that’s really awesome scotch!” And now he’s really into scotch…

Read the full article here.

8. A Guide To Buying Your First Rolex

This was a personal post. But one that turned out to be very useful to more people than I thought. Luxury watches are not cheap. In fact, they’re extremely expensive. And buying one is not an activity to be taken lightly. It’s a big deal. As I note in the post itself, it took me the better part of a year to research and decide which exact Rolex I was going purchase as my first. I thought by sharing my personal journey – both the good and the bad – that others in the same situation could benefit from that experience.

We have a set of three questions written on our white board in the studio designed to guide everything we do and every decision we make. We revisit them constantly. The first of those questions is, “What is truly unique about He Spoke Style?” And one of the answers to that question is the personal connection we’ve created with our readers.

We are not just another mostly voiceless editorial publication that is beholden to advertisers and the perpetual fashion calendar cycle, publishing boilerplate editorial because we have to. Over time we’ve nurtured a relationship with our readers to where you want to know what I – what we – think about this, that or the other thing.

I’m extremely proud that this particular article took nearly an entire year of actual, real-life research to write. I think it shows. And it is what, in my opinion, makes it stand out amongst the many similarly styled pieces – many from larger, “big league” publications – that exist out there on the interwebs. I wrote this because I had something I was passionate about and wanted to share with others who may share that passion, not because we needed this piece of content in our portfolio.

Read the full article here.

9. Italian Prep: Going From Polo To Pellegrino

Amidst a slew of posts focused on higher-level editorial ideas and personal and team achievements, a single outfit post might appear to be something of an interloper. But for a very simple reason, I like this one. A lot. For many guys, especially those just beginning their personal style journey, Italian style can seem a little advanced and very flamboyant. In keeping with our idea of approachability, the aim of this post was to demonstrate that this is not always the case. With a few simple tweaks, we showed you how to transform a classic preppy look into something a little more European – no excessive flair necessary.

Read the full article here.

10. What’s It Like To Drive a Ferrari?

This was a favorite (and absolutely amazing) for obvious reasons. Driving a Ferrari up the PCH on a pristine late-spring day is the type of once-in-a-lifetime experience that will never be forgotten. It was also a whirlwind. In less than 48 hours, I was on the east coast, in Big Sur and then back on the east coast after an overnight flight.

Aside from the apparent, there were two other personal highlights I’d like to note from this trip. First, connecting with a select few on the trip who I deeply respect and admire for their work. Second, having the opportunity to work with the photographer Michael Shaffer.

I rarely – hardly ever, actually – work with anyone other than Rob. In fact, it gives me great anxiety to step in front of someone else’s lens, especially for a high-profile project. Are they going to get it? Do they know how we regularly shoot? It’s scary when you’re required to create something without the person you create with 99.9% of the time.

But on this trip I had Mike. Lucky me. You’ve likely seen his photos gracing the pages of magazines like Motor Trend and for big advertising campaigns by luxury auto manufacturers all over the world. So it should be pretty easy to understand why I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to work with him.

Read the full article here.

What were some of your favorite HSS articles of 2016? Chime in below!

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Stylishly Yours,

Brian Sacawa He Spoke Style

Photography by Rob McIver Photo

The post Editors’ Picks: Our 10 Favorite HSS Posts of 2016 first appeared on the men's style blog He Spoke Style - Men's Style, Fashion, Grooming, Tips and Advice

First found here: Editors’ Picks: Our 10 Favorite HSS Posts of 2016