10 Best Bets for $75 or Less – Belts, Bond, & The Black Keys for Free

Seventy Five dollars. That’s a lot of money. It’ll get you a couple pairs of Levi’s, a nice dinner out, or a couple months at your local gym. Seventy Five dollars. It is a lot of money, especially if you spend it right. Ten picks follow, all for $75 or under, and some of them are much, much less.

 

1. Jomers “Sagamore” Made in the USA web belt – $20.00

From the much discussed about (because they look a lot like Bonobos) “Jomers” brand. Made in the United States. Woven cotton with Italian leather trim. Really nice feeling belt all around. Three colors. Ships free with the code JomersBelt.

 

2. American Eagle Longwings – $59.99

Beater shoes that have the chance to look really good up against some old jeans, the Target Merona Kensington, a simple OCBD and a cool watch. One dud review though. Also available in a dark brown. Ships free. Hat tip to Jake D. for sending in the style tip on these.

 

3. 20 James Bond Movies (to rent) through August – Free w/ Amazon Prime

These little surprises are just one more benefit to having Amazon Prime. Through the rest of the month, you can instantly stream any of twenty James Bond Movies for free. Nope, none of them are Daniel Craig, but if you’re a Bond fan, you’ve got to see (or reacquaint yourself with) classics like From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and even the installment that launched a thousand dorm room fist fights, Goldeneye. So now a question for the comments: What’s your favorite pre-Craig Bond movie?

 

4. J. Crew Factory Merino V-Neck in Slim – $54.50 ($64.50)

Consistently one of the best, most affordable v-neck sweaters on the market. And now they’re starting the season with a variety of standard colors (five to be exact) in their slim fit. At 5’10” / 165-170, a regular fit certainly works, but a slim is even better. Currently 30% off. More expensive this year if memory serves. Probably worth holding out for a bigger sale, or at the very least 30% off plus a free shipping promo. Also available in standard fit with a few more shades to pick from. (UPDATE: These were going for $45 on Sunday night, but have jumped to $54.50 as of Monday morning. But check your inboxes. The price jump probably has to do with a J. Crew Factory “mystery” code/discount/price offer getting sent out early this AM. 10%, 20%, or 30% off and the codes are user specific. If you land a 30% off, that drops these to under $40.)

 

5. The Black Keys: Thickfreakness in Austin – Free

From Youtube. This is very much NOT the Austin City Limits performance. As great as that was, this is a much earlier, grittier performance, with solid audio quality, but a production value that mirrors the band’s sound at that time. Which makes for a mutli layered sonic baklava of awesome. 48+ minutes and it makes for a great soundtrack to plug into at work. Anyone else think Dan Auerbach looks like Ryan Gosling, only instead of spending his youth on the Disney Channel, he was living out of a boxcar? Boxcar Gosling? YEAH YEAH YEAH HEY GIRL.

 

6. Ox Horn Money Clip – $35.00

Made from the horns of “Free roaming Ankole cattle of Nigeria”. Good gracious that looks incredible, and not a bad price either. Bad news is they’re sold out, but there’s a “notify me when back in stock” button.

 

7. Full Sail “25 Pale Doppelbock” – $5 – $7 

Praise the Beer Gods. This is a terrific late summer/early fall transitional beer. Yes, Bocks are usually a spring beer, but this Dopplebock (read: heavier) is like drinking down the first afternoon of the fall when someone bakes a sweet bread with football on in the background. A beastly 9% ABV wrapped around a dangerously easy to drink palate monster. The beer version of those sweet cookie/biscuit things they give you on airlines. And that’s a COMPLIMENT. Seriously a highlight of any flight. Keep the peanuts, hand over the cookies. (Edit: They’re called Biscoff. Thanks Google Machine.) Been around since last September. Not sure if they’re continuing to make this through the rest of 2013/14? Nicely affordable if you can find it around $5 for a 22 oz bottle.

 

8. Claiborne Brown Suede Wingtips – $42.99 ($60)

You guys have seen these before, but with fall coming up (they’ll work now too) these are worth a repeat. Plus, seems like they took a hiatus over the summer, and have since just come back. ALSO… check in store for the Camlin wingtip boots. Those seem to have reappered as well. Not on the web, but on physical brick + mortar store shelves.

 

9. Lands’ End Birdseye Cotton Drifter Sweater – $29.25 w/ TEAM & 1180

Hang out for a sale. There are always sales. Plus, consider sizing down since this isn’t from L.E.C., but instead big-brother Lands’ End. They do claim a better fit due to this sweater being “fully-fashioned”. Continues the dot trend into the fall, and it’s sorta Fair-Isle-y, without actually being Fair Isle. Wear it with jeans and some of those Wolverine 1k-milers (and a sidenote: it looks like Sierra Trading Post is back to allowing codes on Wolverine 1k seconds? Try ALAUG3 for 30% off orders over $200, and know that they will sometimes send 35% or 40% off codes out there). Code TEAM and pin 1180 is good for 25% off regular priced items and 10% off sale. Free shipping kicks in at $50 and the code expires today.

 

10. Worn & Wound NYC NATO Strap in Brick Full Grain – $59.00 

Spendy for a watch strap, but the PVD coating on the hardware up against that rich reddish-brown is something else. Made in New York City. Sadly, the watch isn’t included. Want a budget option? Head over to Crown & Buckle’s 5-buckle collection. They’re odd sizes for widths, so order the next size up and know you may have to do some trimming. If you’re not dead set on those rounded off buckles, they’ve got even sizes in their standard leather NATO collection.

For other best bets under $75 from previous months, click here.