College Times

Issue date: 10/18/07 Section: Main Stories

Media Credit: Lui Kit Wong MCT

Decking out your apartment – for a party or just hanging out – doesn’t need to break the bank.

We gave six writers one crisp Andrew Jackson each with the instructions to get the most bang for their 20 bucks in home furnishings, food, music, games, fashion and art. They came up with enough swag and supplies to outfit a small rave.

 

Here’s what they found.

 

Food

Throwing a thrifty cocktail party isn’t hard. But half your money will go to booze. Here’s our thrifty cocktail party recipe, which slides in at $19.84.

Taaka Platinum. Given many states’ control over liquor sales, booze bargains can be hard to find. We chose from among the four cheapest brands of vodka and decided on one that cost a few more pennies than the others. Taaka Platinum is made in America from corn. Price: $10.60.

Mixers. Want a cosmo? Screwdriver? Greyhound? All you need (after you’ve secured the item above) are 12- to 15-ounce bottles of cranberry, orange and grapefruit juices. Price: 50 cents.

Chips and salsa. Organic blue corn tortilla chips – with very few broken pieces – $2.50. Twelve ounces of organic black bean-and-corn salsa. Price: $2.50 chips and $1 salsa.

Cheese and crackers. Found a pound of Colby jack at Save-A-Lot. Breton crackers, just a month past expiration, were at a local dollar store. Price: $1 cheese, 75 cents crackers.

Olives. A 3.25-ounce jar of pimiento-stuffed olives. Price: 75 cents

Ice. The item you need to put the clink in your drink. Price: 99 cents for a 7-pound bag.

Brown & Haley’s “boo-boos.” Need something sweet at a sweet price? Make no mistake: Slightly damaged Roca and other candy are a steal at these prices. Price: $1 per pound. We got Honey-Roasted Peanut Roca reduced to 50 cents.

 

Fashion

There’s no better time to thrift than now for the fashion-conscious. Why? Look through any hip clothing store – Urban Outfitters comes to mind – or people-watch for a bit and you’ll find that today’s fashion is but a recycling of the previous three decades. With that in mind, here’s a rundown of what we found.

Skirt. Fun, adorable polyester polka-dot print is thoroughly modern and machine-washable. Price: $3.99.

Tank top. J. Crew brand cotton tank with shelf bra. Price: $1.99.

Necklace. Large blue wooden beads. It is a bit too long for our taste, so we plan to shorten it. Insider’s tip: In addition to hand-me-downs, Goodwill gets a fair number of new items from stores like Target, where this necklace originated. When the items don’t sell, they send them to Goodwill. Price: $3.

Shoes. Cute high-quality leather flats, perfect for skirts or jeans. Price: $3.99.

Insider’s tip: On the same shopping trip, we picked up a vintage gray corduroy jacket with brown leather buttons that fit perfectly for a mere $7. We almost didn’t try on the jacket because the number on the tag wasn’t the size we normally wear. But, since it was made 30 or 40 years ago, sizes have changed completely. The lesson: When shopping for clothes, browse for quality fabrics and eyeball the size. The jacket arms will need to be let out, which any tailor will do for less than $20, meaning the jacket is still a steal.

 

Gaming

Keep yourself, or your guests, entertained and amused with vintage gaming. They’re fun, they’re retro and, best of all, they’re cheap.

“NFL Football Pro” for PC. In 1998, when this game was published (Dan Marino is the cover athlete), companies other than Electronic Arts made sports games.Price: $2.99.

LogiTech racing wheel. Best. Find. Ever. Especially if you’re into those NASCAR games. This USB steering wheel is great because, unless you’ve memorized the shapes of the input jacks of all your game systems, you’re going to get frustrated in the store’s massive game controller graveyard. A big-ticket item, this baby was around $100 brand new. Price: $11.99.

“MDK2” for Sega Dreamcast. This sci-fi adventure classic from Bioware is worth a second look, even though it’s several years – and the console is generations – old. Strange thing was, we found it in the case for the Dreamcast Web Browser disc, and it came with the instruction manual for Grand Theft Auto 2. Price: $2.99.

Nalley’s chili-bowl foam Seahawks cap. Chili is always good, and everybody needs a nice foam hat. Right? Are ya with me? Hello? Is this thing on? Price: 99 cents.

“Survivor” the game. “Reality for the living room,” or so goes the tagline. Basically it’s Trivial Pursuit and Cranium with more backstabbing. Price: $1.09.

 

Home Furnishings

Spending $20 on home furnishings is both easy and hard. It’s easy because there are fabulous vintage collections out there, and it’s hard because home furnishings can be pricey. But fear not: Look what we found for a cool $18.15.

String of lights circa 1950. They don’t scream Christmas, but they do add a glow that can really give any space some mood lighting. Price: $1.09.

Homemade nightstand lamp. This lamp is perfect for a bedroom table. Although our shopping partner deemed it ugly, its cream color, base shape and bright flower decoration caught our eye. Dying the shade to match any of the painted flowers could really make this piece stand out. Price: $2.71.

Metal fondue pot with accessories. Take a trip back into the ’70s with this complete fondue set. Skip a $100 dinner drop at the Melting Pot and do it yourself. Price: $2.28.

Bag of kitchen accessories. Similar to a grab bag, this had it all: A set of five owl trivets, a can opener, corkscrew, and various other tools for at-home drink making. Although it may clutter up our drawers, We’ll never want for a corkscrew. Price: $2.28.

Red baker’s rack. Perfect for holding cookbooks, canisters, pots and pans or whatever else will help free up counter space. Price: $9.79.

Insider’s tip: Our baker’s rack was slightly damaged, which helped take a few bucks off the original price.

 

Music

Complain all you want about CD prices, but 20 bucks still buys a lot of tunes. You can cherry pick from iTunes, buy a pair of CDs at the local record store or dig through the bargain bins in search of Whitesnake. Or you can do what we did: Go looking for collectible bargains at your neighborhood antique store or Goodwill. The values we quote are taken from “Goldmine Record Album Price Guide (Fourth Edition)” (KP Books, $24.99). And they’re for near-mint copies, of which we found only a couple.

• Lionel Richie’s Lionel Richie album: We’re thinking of framing this to (1) commemorate Richie’s stylish teal sweater, ‘stache and afro-shag ‘do and (2) to remind us of who is to blame for Nicole Richie headlines; cost 99 cents, value not listed.

• Al Jolson’s In Songs He Made Famous: This 78 rpm four-record set is a reminder of why they’re called “albums.” It’s bound and opens up like a book; cost $1.99, NM value $30.

• Neil Diamond, Shilo: This would have been one of our most valuable finds if the previous owner hadn’t connected the dots on the album cover; cost 99 cents, NM value $40.

• Diana Ross & the Supremes, Greatest Hits: Couldn’t pass on the Motown; cost $1.99, NM value $10.

• Olivia Newton-John, Physical: Remember back when the wet hair/headband look was considered hot? Cost 99 cents, NM value $8.

• Emmylou Harris, Pieces of the Sky: One of her earliest and best albums; cost 99 cents, NM value $8.

• Bill Cosby, “Why Is There Air?”: Then you put the Jell-O pudding pop in the blozm-blizm. Hey! Where’s our “Guernica” sweater?; cost 99 cents, NM value $20.

• Fleetwood Mac, Rumours: We actually scored a record that people still like to play. And it’s actually near-mint; 99 cents, NM value $40.

• Grace Jones, Breakdown, 12-inch: we didn’t recall this remake of the Tom Petty classic. But with images of Jones playing the villain in “Octopussy,” we could not resist; cost 99 cents, not listed.

• George Carlin, Class Clown: Carlin actually had dark hair once upon a time; cost 99 cents, NM value $10.

• As a tribute to Stewart from “Beavis & Butt-head,” we had to buy a Winger cassette; cost 59 cents and probably not worth that. We could have picked up a turntable/dual-CD rack system for 12 bones, but that would have put us over budget.

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