Cross-promotion: Give Me Paisley and Parasols!

As both a writer and lover of free stuff, I will from time to time offer free cross-promotion to blogs that I feel reflect the spirit of what I like to call "creative frugality." This time around, I'm giving a shout out to "Give Me Paisley and Parasols!", a fashion blog written by my friend Christine Stoddard, who I met while on a trip to Washington, D.C. for the 2007 Al Neuharth Free Spirit Awards. Christine is currently a student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

A longtime creative writer and fashionista, Christine effectively blends these two passions in her blog. She regularly pursues projects that explore various areas of fashion, from how to emulate a particular style on a budget to reflections on French fashion, which she completed during a study abroad trip to La Rochelle, France.

One of my favorite parts of Christine's fashion philosophy is her $10-or-less rule, meaning that no one item in a particular outfit should set you back more than $10. This is easily done, she says; it just takes a little work and creativity. She's a huge fan of thrift stores and flea markets, and has even reported acquiring some items for free! :)

Christine's latest project is entitled "Roaming the Halls in Style," which deals with back-to-school fashion past and present. Check it out!

Working out the kinks...

Hey! As I've been thinking in preparation for getting my latest blog project off the ground, I thought making a schedule and setting deadlines might help keep updates frequent, timely and relevant.

The plan is to update this blog weekly, so I don't exhaust my resources too quickly, and so that I can keep myself on some sort of schedule. Right now, I have Thursday as the update day, but that could very well change as time goes on and this blog becomes more established. Also, the day of the week isn't set in stone; my schedule may force the update to be early or late. Regardless, the plan is one update a week, unless circumstances require additional entries.

Thanks for your support!

Free Music!

I'm a fairly non-discriminatory music lover. I will listen to almost anything at least once (exceptions: anything spawned from and excessively marketed by Disney) and I'm always on the lookout for new tunes to add to my collection. My iTunes library is nearing the 10,000-song mark.

However, being a poor college student, I lack the dispensable income to go out and buy new CDs whenever the mood strikes. Even the iTunes store can become expensive really fast. So, what's a music lover like me to do? Here are some ways to expand your music collection without having to sell body parts.

Green Label: It's no secret that I'm a huge Mountain Dew lover - my Lenten sacrifice was exactly that. But little did I know that when I went onto Mountain Dew's official website in search of free stuff/contests to win (more on that in a later post) that I would come up with more than I had bargained for. Apparently Mountain Dew sponsors an indie rock label called Green Label Sound, and its artists are offering their songs (and several remixes for each) as free mp3 downloads. Now, free music can be hit and miss; in some cases, the reason for the song being free is apparent the second you hit play (case in point: Chris Cornell's new album, which isn't even free.) But upon being redirected to the site, I was instantly greeted with a peppy opening piano hook for a song called "Daylight" by Brooklyn-N.Y. indie pop duo Matt and Kim (which you may have heard in this commercial.) Immediately, I downloaded all of the site's available music and eagerly await the possibility of new artists!

iTunes Free Music Tuesdays: This suggestion, and the following one, do require an iTunes account, but still require no purchase. Every Tuesday the iTunes store offers two-three free music selections, as well as a music video and sometimes an audiobook, TV episode or something else. Remember to read the reviews - as mentioned before, some free music just isn't worth the space on your hard drive - but in the end it's all about individual musical preference; some of the songs that have gotten particularly negative reviews by others have been the same songs that I replay over and over. And it's free, so you can always download it to give it a listen, then delete it if you don't want to keep it.

Free on iTunes: This suggestion requires both an iTunes account and a Facebook account, but the payoff is worth it. Free on iTunes is a Facebook application which, in addition to giving updates on the iTunes store, will from time to time offer codes that the user can redeem to download sampler playlists. In the past two months I've received about 40 songs (two playlists) of newly released indie rock songs, as well as a sampling of songs from artists performing at the 2009 Warped Tour.

Your local library: This suggestion requires a library card, but is great for people who need special theme music for an occasion that they normally wouldn't buy, as well as anyone who doesn't have an internet connection. Most libraries have a collection of CDs, and can also request specific items from other libraries. They have everything from older pop and rock albums to world music and relaxing nature sounds.

Introduction

The idea for this blog came to me yesterday, as my mom, sister and I were walking in the Tualatin River Wildlife Refuge.

I was telling my family about one of the latest free things I had found - free music downloads on Mountain Dew's website (more on that later.) My mom suggested I start a blog about all the free stuff I've found.

After thinking about it, I realized what a great idea this was. I can seek out new free stuff, share it with everyone and have an archive of my "collection."

My plan for this blog is to feature in each post at least one or two (maybe more) discoveries I've found. All are free, and include links to free samples, ways to help the world with just a click, free fun and more.

Hope you enjoy!