MSN Article "The High Life at Low Cost"

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Some examples from my own life:

Drive The Hottest Car In The Hood: I have a '98 4-door M3. It *is* the hottest rod in my apartment complex filled with Toyota Corolla's and Camry's. I thirsted for similar handling characteristics of my "old" 2004 BMW but needed a 4-door due to practicality. Plus, it's one good gas sipper. So far, it's been a great, cheap, daily driver / daily thriller rolled up in one!

Gamble Like A High Roller: I really only know how to play BJ so I'm safe, according to the guideline. The only other 2 games I'm interested in are craps (touche!) and some form of poker.

Start The Ultimate Wine Cellar: I'm a bevmo.com frequent flier, when time and energy permits I'll choose Trader Joe's-- I'm unsure nowadays but there was a time couple years ago where superb wine could be had for <$10 easily, plus there's wine.woot.com. Oh, and my friend discovered a local hidden joint that dispenses severely discounted, severely exotic wine.

Collect Rare Art: I don't buy art for the sake of fame behind it. I acquire whatever suits my taste, and find it pointless spending more than $200 on anything hoistable by stretching my arms out. Also, I'd never consider art as "investments", as Cary of Christie's would. There's some works out there I want to bag, but for $300-$500 a pop, I'd rather dump it on, say, restoring parts of my 98 BMW or putting into a money market account.

Wow Her With Cheap Flowers: If the discounter's label is on the wrapping, *take the wrapping off and leave it that way or replace with a blank one.*

Eat At Five-Star Restaurants: chowhound.com and yelp.com are fine-- but brace yourself because consensus opinion doesn't always agree with that thing called your tongue-- even if you think you've established correlation between consensus vs. your tongue. Surprises are always fun.

Throw The Party Of The Year: I've thrown, 1 party? Ever? But I like the MSN ideas.

Convert Your Home Into A Castle: I like MSN's idea. I've had a couple of thoughts-- inspirations taken from elsewhere. One lighting idea might be pretty darn neat and even simply worth trying since it costs less than $30.

Build Your Own Home Theater: How about simply "hold off on big screen TV" purchases? If the urge to splurge is too much, buying bleeding edge on cheap means buying, say, a true 1080p flat panel, 42", for $1499 with free shipping and a 30-day 100% refund guarantee including shipping charges-- *plus* it was a highly rated off-brand unit on avsforums.com. All costs, other than simply the item's price, needs consideration. That's what I did last year.

Sometimes you can luck out with a Maxent or Vizio but often times their specs don't have longevity, thus the discount.

Also, I'd rather splurge on video before audio.

Love the mail-order movie-rental and trade ideas.

Aside: Considering my years of musical background, I was hard-pressed to justify hearing $25K worth of quality sound coming from a buddy's reference audio system in his small apartment in Westwood. I *think* I did end up hearing the quality-- but I was straining as if in constipation.

Vacation Like A Celebrity: Good advice-- but recommending vacationing in Venezuela with their rising anti-American sentiment, political socialization, and potential currency disruption might raise many eyebrows. Well, I suppose this is fine for most people-- but I'd check http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html. Venezuela isn't listed there, however. Caveat emptor.