Cheap Eats: Oatmeal!

The Topic: The Cheapest Breakfast Around

The Dish: Sitting down and tallying up how much I actually spend on eating eating out (hello, sandwiches and Thai food), it seems overwhelming to think of cutting my food budget to an actual budget. I have friends attempting to spend only $21 a day who report struggling; I can't begin to imagine eating on a dollar a day. But there are plenty of versatile staples that cost pennies, and my co-worker Liz recently reminded me of a tried-and-true favorite: oatmeal. Skip the boxed variety with its excess packaging and budget-breaking sticker price. An 18-ounce canister of quick oats goes for $4.09 at my local Safeway. Grab a bag and fill up at the bulk bins—you can take home a pound for only 99 cents, which is about 11 servings. At less than 10 cents per serving, that's hard to argue with, especially considering oats have magical staying power to get me through midmorning snack time.

If you're a plain oats type of person, that's one cheap meal. Even if you like to jazz things up, throwing in what you have handy or investing in a few add-ins from neighboring bulk bins won't raise your cost too much. Personally, I'm a peanut butter and raisins fan. Liz's signature bowl takes things to the savory side, which I had never through of before (surprising, considering my love of savory breakfast dishes). A touch of salt, pepper, and 1/4-cup nutritional yeast is all you need for a filling breakfast.

A final tip for the best oats ever? Skip the microwave. I'm not here to lecture you on its potential dangers or domination of counter space. In my opinion, I just dig oats made on the stovetop more. Start with this simple base for the best breakfast ever.

The Best Stovetop Oats

This water-to-oats ratio makes for a more porridge-like base, so feel free to adjust the liquid to your liking.

Serves 1

What You Need:

1 cup water

1/2 cup rolled oats

Salt, to taste

What You Do:

In a small pot, bring water to a boil. Add oats and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add a pinch of salt, sugar, or any other add-ins, and enjoy!

The Final Word: Oats are also great for bulking up morning smoothies to keep you full longer if that's more your morning routine. Any way you have them, they're a cheap, healthy way to start the day.

DIY Veg-Friendly Clothing

The Topic: Repair and Wear

The Dish: In addition to seeking deals on veg-friendly clothing, I'm an avid second-hand shopper, from thrift stores to trendier resale shops. They're gold mines for finding stylish, animal-friendly pieces (fashion is cyclical, after all). The major downfall? You get what you pay for, and that can mean missing buttons, broken zippers, and funky seams. In the case of affordable retailers such as Forever 21, the life of clothes can be unfairly cut short when you indulge in a new dress, wear it to work, and the strap button pops off mid-commute (ahem). Instead of giving up on it—or any of the potential finds at Thrift Town (one of my favorite San Francisco shops), I'm getting a lesson in DIY clothing repair from VN Associate Editor Liz Miller.

Surprisingly, this whole sewing-on-a-button thing isn't rocket science like I thought it was. Learning a few mending tricks can be huge in keeping your wardrobe from looking ragged, and helpful when you find the perfect cotton vintage dress that needs just a little help. For the novice like me who isn't ready to invest in a sewing machine and learn advanced seamstress skills (some day), a well-stocked sewing kit at Walgreens will only set me back $5. That's about the price of my favorite vegan Frappuccino combo!

As for learning the ropes, I plan on taking a few lessons from Liz and hitting up this beautiful new thing called the internet. I'm currently loving What the Craft—there are lots of free tutorials, not to mention a place for requests if you're really stuck. There are countless sites, so get searching!

The Final Word: Once you're confident in your sewing know-how, the possibilities are endless for expanding your wardrobe with minimal investment. Shirts become skirts, conservative dresses turn into perfect Vegan Drinks attire, and the things you can do with old t-shirts are endless. Are there any crafty vegans out there? Share your favorite tips and projects with me! I'd love the inspiration.

Guest Post: Resale Shop Rundown

The Topic: Resale Shop Wardrobe Redux

The Dish: After you've purged your closet of the gems you'll never wear (if you haven't worn it in six months and it isn't seasonal, give it up!) via clothes swapping, there's always the option of selling your stylish duds to local resale shops. When it comes to trading in cast-offs for must-haves, no one knows more than Editorial Assistant Liz Miller. Clothes are to her as biscuits are to me, so you know she knows what's up. In a very special guest post, Liz shares the secrets to the resale retail industry.

5 Secrets for Selling Your Clothes

By Liz Miller

1. Case the Joint. Okay, so not in the 1930s-bank-heist way, but casing out a resale shop should always be the first step to crafting a discerning seller's eye. Every secondhand store has its niche, from name brand buyers to vintage purveyors. So, after performing an intensive wardrobe inventory, separate items by style and figure out which clothes will garner the most value from varying shops.

2. Buyer's Market. Vintage-friendly shops are less likely to care about retail labels, meaning that they want your cute Forever 21 party dresses as well as your grandma's old school Dooney & Burke purses, but have no use for your collection of J. Crew khakis. Save those for the brand focused boutiques, which look for current styles and routinely check the season/year listed (example: SUM08 indicates summer 2008) on the inside tag to determine value. Carefully cut these tags out of older, still stylish apparel.

3. Time of the Season. Most stores only buy by season, so it's crucial to call ahead to find out what items a store is currently buying. If you're set on making a dime on out-of-season items, save them until the appropriate season comes around.

4. Stealthy Shopper. If you've had bad luck selling clothes in the past, consider rethinking your strategy and scouting bargains to buy and sell. Use your shrewd sensibilities to shop for buried treasures at thrift stores, where nothing is off limits based on size or personal style—if it looks trendy, it's worth the investment. Remember to also keep an eye out for hidden high-end gems.

5. On the Mend. If some of your cast-off clothes need small repairs, take the time to fix them before hauling them away to sell. Sewing new buttons onto a cardigan or quickly stitching up a small hole are easy ways to upgrade old pieces of clothing. For super-faded items, buy a cheap box of RIT dye at Walgreens and give those dull duds a washing machine makeover.

The Final Word: It's all about understanding the resale shop at which you're trying to sell. If you make an effort to play the game, you'll be rewarded Mario-style with more than a few gold coins—or, more realistically, dolla' dolla' bills.

Designer Looks for Less

The Topic: Poor Couture—Cruelty-free and a Fraction of the Cost

The Dish: While the fashion world is already focusing on fall, I'm finally ready to embrace spring and update my wardrobe. After revisiting a few designers' spring collections, I came to the conclusion that spending upwards of a grand—one thousand dollars—on a casual outfit was, to put it gently, freaking insane. The problem? One look at the Marc by Marc Jacobs spring collection. Hey clothes, why are you so pretty and expensive? Hey Mr. Jacobs, why do you use leather and other animal-unfriendly goods?

To remedy the situation, VN Editorial Assistant Liz Miller led the way through one of her favorite pastimes: Bastardize the Designer Duds. The mission: Snag a photo of your favorite designer outfit, set a budget, and hit the (affordable) stores.

Obviously, we weren't looking for exact replicas of high-priced items, but runway fashion has a convenient way of trickling down the retail line, sneaking into the majority of items for sale at our store of choice—Forever 21. With the exception of the belt and purse, we managed to find everything at San Francisco's three-story location. Here's the financial breakdown:

Item: Designer / Deal

Plaid Top: $168 / $19.90

Blazer: $228 / $24.90

Shorts: $158 / $17.80

Belt: $110 / $20.00

Shoes: $463 / $14.80

Bracelets: $84 / $5.80

Headband: N/A / $4.80

Total Cost: $1,211 / $108

Total Savings: $1,103

That is a lot of biscuits, ladies and gentlemen.

The goal was to find pieces that 1) replicated the outfit's overall tone rather than serve as a carbon copy, and 2) more importantly to me, were wearable and versatile. Take the jacket, for example—I found a style that was more similar to the original, but I never would have worn it again. I remember hearing a shopping tip years ago, claiming that in order to get your money's worth out of an item, you should wear it once for every dollar spent. The likelihood that I'll wear this blazer 25 times versus its counterpart's requisite 228 times is pretty good.

The purse was a previous investment, designed by the certified-vegan Urban Expressions. It was a bit of a bullet for me at $49.95, but it's the perfect size and style for everyday use, especially for carrying around multiple layers for unpredictable spring weather (or, you know, every day in San Francisco). And while affordable, accidentally vegan clothing can be great, it's always nice to support all-vegan, eco-friendly companies, too.

The Final Word: Of course, $108 is still a lot to drop at one time, and I don't often buy complete outfits. It's a smart idea to use what you have, building a look around one or two pieces already hiding in your closet. At the very least, checking out designer collections can help fire up some cheapskate creativity to put some spring in your style.