First off, thanks for all the great emails and comments, and for taking some of these ideas and thoughts to heart, it means a lot to me. And if you are just now joining or following, please go back and read from the beginning, I think you will find it informative and useful. And yes, as already posted, my son and I DO go camping quite a bit, and yes, I have been to England (however, not on a walkabout, but instead toiling away as a bartender for 2pounds 20p an hour for 16 hours a day, but that’s a story for another day)…..

I live in Los Angeles. Valet parking is the norm. I however, don’t do it. And that, basically, is my tip for the day. Pretty simple. But it can be more complex actually. If you are heading out to spend $40 on a meal, or $40 for drinks for 2 people, do you really need to be spending another FIFTEEN PERCENT of your evening to park your friggin car???? I know there is an industry of people devoted to that pursuit, so it makes me feel badly, but please god, go find a parking spot instead. 

I had a blind date (no, she wasn’t blind, we just didn’t know each other—-and besides, I am allergic to guard dogs). We were meeting friends for drinks at the Beverly hills Hotel, which is a great swanky thing to do on a Saturday night. Oddly, doesn’t cost a fortune, and there is a piano player, AND you are guaranteed to see Michael Bolton hanging out when he is in town, who is basically the nicest guy ever, but I digress. So….here’s the deal….there is a street NEXT to the Beverly Hills Hotel, actually NEXT to the entrance to the Polo Lounge, where we were going. THAT is where I park whenever I go there, whether to the Lounge or to the fantastic coffee shop downstairs. So that’s where I went to park. I had known this woman a solid 20 minutes and she already hated me for not pulling up to the front of the hotel, paying the $12 to valet park, and then walking BACK to the entrance of the Polo Lounge. Needless to say, she had me pegged as a cheap, ungracious loser (she might not be wrong), without recognizing my quirky charm (nice recovery there), and never got to realize that I would gladly spend anything on a good meal, or on my son, or whatever I needed…I just don’t WASTE money, simple as that.

To some people, I realize valet parking and accoutrements such as that symbolize wealth OR symbolize that they LOOK wealthy. It’s a mindset that is hard to break. “I’m a bigshot—- I can’t afford my mortgage, my health insurance, my kids braces, my car payment, AND I am unemployed, BUT if I valet park, everyone will look up to me with respect.” Ugh, it makes my stomach turn to think of people feeling that way. It’s kind of the basis for what I have been writing all along…BE SMART…there is nothing more attractive than smart.  And I will repeat this again…..if you REALLY want to feel like a swell, take the money that you would have blown, yes even the $5, and put it in an envelope to Haiti relief, Doctors Without Borders, or AMFAR. One man’s opinion.

So the info today: Walk a block, park where you can. Nobody thinks you are a fatcat just because you valet park. (Obviously, there are places where you MUST valet park, it’s just the way it is set up…those places make me lose my last two hairs. And if Grandma can’t walk the extra block, well there’s nothing you can do about that either).

Keep forwarding and commenting. Whenever you send me a suggestion, it means that you are thinking, and that’s a great thing. I can’t tell you how it pains me to see people in trouble. Sarah Jessica talks about it all the time with me, savings are for everybody——it’s just a matter of training your eye to look for them and then giving yourself the pat on the back for finding them.

Off for the weekend, and hope you catch up on all the posts, I’ll talk to you Monday……

WG