A red coated attendant came out of nowhere and in her nasty, snarly voice asked us, “Who said you could go in there?!”  I was shocked at her rudeness and said, “Uh, we have tickets for it…” turning to my bag to fish them out and my friend said, “We were just in the box.”  I really thought she was going to ask to see the tickets but the red coated evil attendant nodded and moved on.  I told my friend that we should take it as a complement.  It’s just that we were so “youthful” looking that she couldn’t believe we would actually have tickets to the box!   

The actual Presidential Box attendant encouraged us to take anything that we wanted and of course, we did!

I have some more pictures of how it looks inside the box but I think I better keep them to myself.  This is going under my list of “Things I Never Thought I Would Get To Do!”

Boo-rito Goodies

Chipotle’s Halloween Boo-rito Promotion!

My friend and I had a great time participating in the Halloween Boo-rito promotion at Chipotle where you get to have a free burrito (or another Chipotle product) if you dress up like a burrito.  All chipotle products are wrapped in foil so people just wear foil to get a free burrito. 

From what I read on the web, people interpreted the “dress like a burrito” part very liberally.  But, I made sure to have foil head to toe.  First, I folded a length of foil and wrapped it around my head like a small hat.  Then, I made a wrap around top and skirt held together by tape.  I then had some foil around my arms and my legs.  I looked like an aluminum foil power ranger. 

My friend was the one who was driving and he wasn’t willing to go all out so he only had some on his arms and his head.  We walk into our first Chipotle and there was a huge line as expected, but most of the people did not have much foil on.  There were people with barely a bit on their arms, one with a small piece around their wrist, there were lots of aluminum foil ties, head bows etc… But, no one with as much foil as me.  I got a lot of looks.  But, as we progressed through different Chipotle’s we were able to see people with very creative costumes. 

We went to six Chipotle’s!  Yes, six!  The picture shows all the goodies that I got.  I got burrito’s, taco’s and a bol.  I ate the taco’s and one burrito yesterday.  I had a burrito for brunch and another one for dinner.  That means I have two left over for tomorrow.  And so far I am not sick of Chipotle! 

Did you miss out on Boo-rito this year? You can unleash your creative aluminum foil skills next year because Chipotle does it every year and its a nationwide event.

Women Personal Finance Bloggers Rock!

I have repeatedly turned to WiseBread’s List of Personal Finance Blogs by Women to find new personal finance blogs to read.  But, occassionally I find that some of the links are inactive or broken. 

This is understandable since the list was posted on August 5, 2008. While I wait for WiseBread to come out with an up to date list of personal finance bogs by women I am providing the list of blogs with links that work and that are active. The blog is considered active if there was a post for the month of October.  I am leaving out non-personal blogs such as blogs hosted by newspapers and other businesses.  Ggoing through all the blogs took quite a lot of time but I had fun reading about personal finance from various perspectives.  Please let me know if there is a blog out there on WiseBread’s list that’s not here but may have moved to its own domain name or changed its name and such other things.  Are there any other blogs that should be on this list?   

Also, I am trying to get a list of new personal finance blogs started by women in 2009.  It can be very hard starting and keeping any blog going and I want to be sure to find and support other new personal finance blogs by women.  So, share away!

• Almost Frugal

• The Baglady
• Barbara Stanny
• Beach Girl’s Budget Blog
• Being Frugal
• Being Money Smart
• Blogging Away Debt
• BlogHer
• Brunette on a Budget
• Brown Eyed Girl and Money
• BostonGals

• Chief Family Officer
• Counting My Pennis

• Debt Marathon
• Digerati Life
• Distilled Rose
• Debt Hater
• Don’t Mess with Taxes
• Dog Ate my Finances

• Erica
• Experiglot
• Fabulous Financials
• Fabulously Broke
• Feminist Finance
• Finance Gets Personal
• Frugal Babe
• Frugal Chick
• Frugal Family Kitchen
• Frugal for Life
• Frugal Freedom
• Frugal Upstate
• Frugal Zeitgeist

• A Gai Shan Life
• Ginger Won’t Snap
• Girls Just Want to Have Funds
• Grad Money Matters
• Graduated Learning
• Gotta Little Space to Fill

• How I Save Money
• Iowa Hippie Chick
• Juice Fairy
• Kingdom First Mom
• Krystal at Work

• Living Off Dividens 
• Living Almost Large

• Map Girl
• Millionaire Mommy Next Door
• Mommy Advice
• Money Illusions
• Money Common Sense
• Money Crush  (formerly Blunt Money)
• Money to Live
• Money Monkey
• Money Saving Mom
• Mrs. Nespy’s World
• Mrs. Micah
• My Crazy Debt
• My Dollar Plan
• My Open Wallet

• No More Spending
• Northern Cheapskate
• Notes from the Frugal Trenches

• One Frugal Girl
• Plonkee
• Remodeling This Life

• Saving for Home
• Savings Not Shoes
• Savvy Saver
• Sense to Save
• Small Budget Big Style
• Sound Money Matters
• Stacking Pennies

• Talking Tax
• Thrifty Little Blog
• Tax Girl
• Tax Quips
• 20 Year Challenge

• Udandi
• Ultimate Money Blog
• Well Heeled Blog
• Wealth This Good

Edit: Her Every Cent Counts has posted a comprehensive top 100 list of personal finance blogs by women. 

 

I have heard of this before and I thought, “This is swell, but who wants to go through the trouble of dressing up as a burrito!”  Apparently, not much more than tinfoil is expected for this Boo-rito Day.  Which is very good news.  My friend recently mentioned this to me and we immediately made plans to go together.  We plan to wrap ourselves in tinfoil and hit Chipotle.  And you know, we’re going to go to more than one!

Okay, so here’s what you need to do…  

• Dress up as something vaguely resembling a Chipotle burrito, burrito bol, taco or salad etc…
• Visit your closest Chipotle between 6pm-10pm (or whatever is the closing time in your area). 
• Enjoy your free burrito, taco, bol or salad!

Sandwich Platter

 

My Free Sandwiches

If there is an upside to being a student then its your access to free things in general and especially free meals.  Colleges are full of programs for students and food is a sure way to lure them in.  Generally, I have one and sometimes two free meals a week but due to so many programs going on at my school this week I’ve been having a free bonanza. 

The downside of the free meals is that a lot of these programs take up your time.  Your time is the most valuable thing you have in law school.  In the beginning of the semester, I may go to a program because of the free food but in October I am much more careful with my time and in November I cut out events almost completely.  There were several things this week I needed to go to that came with free food or other items.  Here are a list of free things that I got this week.  I’ve estimated the cost of the item if I were to go out and get it on my own based on the quality and quantity. 

Free Coffee & Mug from Green Mountain Coffee introducing their product to students.  Time: 5 minutes  Estimate: $5

1st Free Meal - Tuesday – Sandwiches, Salad & soda  I had to attend an event about the application process for a program that I will be participating in.  Time: 30 minutes Estimate: $ 8

2nd Free Meal - Tuesday - Two Slices of Pizza Attended a program about financial regulatory work.  Something else I am applying for next semester.  Time: 30 minutes  Estimate: $6

3rd Free Meal – Thursday - Two Slices of Pizza, 4 cookies & soda  Went to hear an ACLU lawyer speak.  I was really starving and and didn’t want to pay for food.  Time: 45 minutes Estimate: $8

4th Free Meal – Friday - (Lunch) Sandwiches, Salad & bread pudding   Attended a symposium I was required to attend for class.  Time: 4 total hours for symposim Estimate: $10

Free Insulated Coffee Mug - From the same symposium.  Estimate: $10Free cookies, dessert cakes, bag of popcorn & Soda (Reception) Again from the symposim.  Estimate: $ 8

5th Free Meal – Friday – (Dinner) Sandwitch & soda Attended an alumni panel for career advice and for networking. Time: 2 hours  Estimate: $8

Free Platter of Leftover Sandwiches – I scored a platter of left over sandwiches after the alumni panel.  Estimate: $20 

 6th Free Meal – Friday – (Reception) Turkey, gravey & cranberry sauce, crab cakes, meat balls, cheese cubes & punch Attended an alumni reception to network. Time: 1 hour Estimate: $20 

Free Ticket to Gala – My law school is having a gala.  I got a free ticket because a law firm bought a table for members of the law review.    Expense:  34.78 Time: 5 hours Actual Cost p: $250 

Total Time Expended on Behalf of Free Perks:  13 hours, 50 minutes

I have a lot of food saved.  After each event, I left the event and put some of the food in a fridge that I had acces to.  In addition to turkey slices I have lots and lots of sandwiches, two soda’s and a bag of popcorn  saved up for next week.  It is not uncommon for students to leave events with food since we are pressed for time we may need to leave without eating the food and since we are totally broke taking left overs is totally acceptable. 

I am incurring an expense of $37.48 for the gala because I didn’t have any evening dresses that would work for the event.  I first tried to see if I could borrow the dress from my Chicago friend but all her dresses were at home so I went to Macy’s this morning and found a plum evening dress in the sale’s rack that was marked 64.99, but when it was rung up it was in the 30’s!  I got an additional 10% off because there was a small hole at the hem that no one would see unless they picked up the dress and looked at it directly. 

I am pretty sure I am not going to have another week filled with so much goodies since this week so many events were taking place all at once.  And also, I like free things but my time is much too valuable.  At this point in the semester its time to focus on exams.  So, so long free events!