Shoe Leather: Behind the seams of Shoestring Magazine

Shoestring Home: New green products from our friends at Method

I was stoked to open my inbox today and find an email from our friends at Method Home, announcing that they've finally launched dishwasher detergent!

Called "Smarty Dish," these new phosphate-free, non-toxic pellets plop right into your machine, and come in Pink Grapefruit or "Go Naked" fragrance-free varieties. Chalk another one up for our favorite inexpensive brand of eco cleaning products. While apparently not yet in stores, we did find them on HSN.com (of all places!)

Shoestring Travel: Be our friend on TripAdvisor

 After years of using TripAdvisor.com (and, more frequently, their newly-acquired sister site, SmarterTravel.com) as a resource for researching hotel, flight, and destination information for our cheap-chic vacations, Meghan and I have finally taken the plunge and created a member profile for Shoestring, so that we can share our favorite budget travel recommendations with the entire TripAdvisor community.

If you're a TripAdvisor member, check out ShoestringMag's new TripAdvisor profile and add us as a friend!

Stay tuned in late September for the Shoestring Magazine feature story on the best e-newsletters and websites for finding last-minute airfare and hotel deals and the best resources for researching travel on a shoestring.

What are your favorite sites and sources for budget travel? Talk to us, Goose.

Behind the Seams: Next for Target Go International, Thakoon.

According to reports from Vogue UK, Glamour.com, and FabSugar, this fall, Thakoon Panichgul will become the 13th designer to create an eponymous line for Target, dashing the hopes of all whose fingers were crossed for Alexander McQueen, as rumored. (Although I love McQueen, I have to applaud Thakoon for joining the growing line of editors-turned-designer.)

For more information on Thakoon, check out New York magazine's designer bio for Thakoon, or the critics' take and runway coverage from Thakoon's Fall 2008 Ready to Wear collection at Style.com (the online home of Conde Nast's Vanity Fair and Vogue magazines).

Shoestring Shopping: CB2 opens in San Francisco

Bay Area Bargainistas, shop 'til you drop:

Crate & Barrel recently opened the first Left Coast store for CB2, its wildly successful little sister catalog with the more budget-friendly sticker prices and the decidedly more modern aesthetic. (Presumably, CB2 was launched in 2001 as Crate & Barrel's answer to IKEA's American expansion...more on this later.)

The brick-and-mortar shop opened on July 31st in Union Square, that mecca of shopping destinations in downtown San Francisco. (Sadly, I was recently staying in Union Square for the BlogHer conference, but missed the CB2 opening by 5 days...sniffle.)

For more background on the brand and the San Francisco store opening, check out SFBayStyle.com or the coverage on CasaSugar.com.

Shoestring Travel: Premium all-inclusive vacations

Back in May, Meghan and I jet-setted down to Miami to celebrate one last bachelorette weekend with our friend (and fellow Bargainista) before her wedding. We were stoked for the sun, sand, and sexy nightlife scene, but were convinced that, no matter how fun, we were doomed to spend a fortune.

In a fabulous twist of fate, however, we ended up getting a firsthand look at the value- and hospitality-packed service that is the Ritz-Carlton Club Level. Unlike cheesy "all inclusive" vacation packages and resorts (ahem, "flip flops"), our experience at the Ritz defined The Good Life for Less in a nutshell.