Vielen Dank

You guys.  How do you hear above the sound of your own awesomeness?

Thank you for your incredibly useful comments regarding yesterday’s post.  I’m implementing some of your ideas AS I TYPE.  First and foremost, no more Tip Of The Day format – we’re jumping straight into the frugally goodness from word one.  Second (and this one’s for Stephanie), no more bolding certain words.  I used to do that a. to highlight the person/place/thing, and b. I was under the misguided conception it would increase my hit count with Google somehow.  But no more!  If a word is a different color and is underlined, that means it’s a link.  No other formatting necessary.

(Except I’ll continue to italicize my parenthetical statements.  I just like the way it looks.)

As for podcasting – 5 minutes for the win!  Once I do a bit more researching into how it all works, I’ll probably end up producing 5 minute podcasts on a daily (or a few times a week) basis.  Short, to the point, easy to use, and FUN.  Because here at the Empire, we are all about putting the fun back in frugality, the nifty back in thrifty, the chic back in cheap… you get the point.

The YouTube clips will also be short – 5 minutes tops, most around 3.  I plan to pester the guys at Fox tomorrow for camera recommendations, per Radio Renee’s tip.  And I’ll also have guest stars on the video as well as the audio.  So get ready for your close-ups, folks!  You never know when you’ll be on air.

(Speaking of being on air, I’m on Fox 9’s Morning Buzz tomorrow at 9:30 AM.  Tune in if you can.  Thank you!)

One commitment I’ll always keep is this – sharing my frugal finds with you.  To that end, take a look at what I found at JCPenney last weekend:

Black acrylic shawl-collar shrug with faux-leather toggle closure by Arizona Jeans Co.  Cute, yes?  And I can style it in approximately one billion ways.  However, its original price of $44 dollars was insulting for such a cheap-to-make item.  But good things come to those that wait, and this sweater is now just $9.99.  They have it in black, gray, cream and BRIGHT red.  Remember to go up a size, though.  It is a Junior’s brand.

Pants/Leggings, or peggings (name and reason to buy them shamelessly stolen from WhatIWore2Day) in dark, solid gray with silver button closure by Oxford and Regent.  I love these pants as they are thick and long – two things hard to find in traditional leggings.  Once again, though, Penney’s slapped them with a $44 price tag.  Too rich for my blood, especially to spend on a non-staple-of-my-wardrobe item.  But!  Penney’s is closing out much of their fall trendy items for 70% off, so I snatched these up for the low price of $11.99.

Best of all, I had a gift card from Lou’s Mom (thank you Mom!), so my total expenditure was a mere $8.99.

If you need a few more pieces for you winter wardrobe – and let’s face it, winter in MN will be here for at least another 4 months – head on over to Penney’s and check out all their 70% off racks.  Pack a snack, though, there’s a ton to sort through.

One last item of business:  I loved how many of you guys chimed in yesterday in the Comments.  Please continue to say what you need to say – we’re all friends here at the Empire, and I greatly value your opinions.  So keep them coming (no pressure or anything…).