The trendy boutique Madison is having a warehouse sale at the Barrington/San Vicente location until 3/29 (see BargainsLA for details). I didn't have very high hopes, since I knew that things tend to be expensive even at 60-90% off...the 90% off items are probably the super-expensive stuff. However, I was in the area on Friday for something else, so I thought I'd stop by to take a look. Street parking was pretty horrendous as expected; I went through multiple side streets on multiple passes and came up empty. I was about to snag a spot on Barrington when an SUV in front of me suddenly started to back up. Since I didn't want to make another go around the block, I turned onto a narrow side street near my "stolen" space, where I luckily found a space, and it was actually really close to where I needed to be.
I went into the store and it was fairly packed for a Friday afternoon (gosh, don't people have to work or something?). There were lots of boots, including some really cute Michael Kors wedged ones, at 60% off. Unfortuantely, they were waaay out of my league. As expected, there were lots of expensive tops and bottoms from See by Chloe, Matthew Williamson, Development, Pegah Anvarian, Ladies of the Canyon, etc. Even the "cheaper" ones (a pile of tanks and tube tops by James Perse, Vince, Free People, etc.) were $18 and up. Some designer jeans were $60 and up, which are priced OK for what they were (much better than retail, but definite not cheap).
The best buys turned out to be the shoes. There were loads of Marc Jacobs (the shoes are so cute in person!), YSL, Dolce and Gabbana, Sigerson Morrison, etc. Sure, they're all a couple hundred bucks (the lowest prices hover around $125, with the exception of cute Sigerson Morrison "Rain or Shine" skimmers that were $50), but that's pretty good considering how hard it is to find designer shoes at a steep discount. For cheapskates like me, there are flipflops from Mella and Yellow Box ($17) as well as checkered Vans slip-ons for $20. Original retail was listed as $80, if I remember correctly. $20 is fairly reasonable, considering I chided my sister a few weeks ago for spending $40 for them at the mall. I thought about buying a pair of Vans with orange and purple checkers, but wisely decided to save my money for something that's more "me."
There were lots of merchandise and most are expensive (though heavily discounted), so if you have the money and this sale seems to be your cup of tea, there should be plenty of goods left for you still. It's just not people like me who demand a really low price.
3.27.2006
3.26.2006
DIY Considerations: Introduction
The craft bug bit me, and it bit me hard.
I should have been more productive during Spring Break, but I'm so sick of school at this point that I decided to take the entire week off to indulge in March Madness (it was very satisfying to watch Duke go down in flames), catch up on household chores, and make a lot of jewelry.
Making jewelry...where'd that come from?
It all started in January, when I saw a necklace I really liked from a boutique sale. I thought it was $10 or under, like everything else in the pile (and $10 is my limit as far as fashion jewelry goes). The sales person told me that the necklace wound up in the clearance pile by mistake, but she would give it to me for, oh, $30--as if $30 was cheap. I really wanted it, but it's ridiculous to pay $30 for such a simple necklace. In fact, I thought it looked so simple that I can make it myself! I examined the necklace closely to see how it looks like and feels like, then the cogs and wheels in my head started churning. A few days later, I bought floral wire and a spool of ribbon from JoAnn's for under $5. Add 3 hours of labor and voila, I got my necklace. The quality was obviously not great, but no one could have noticed from a distance.
That initial success got me thinking about crafts in general. I guess the idea of making things isn't so far fetched since I've always had a knack for coming up with creative solutions to problems big and small (I know I don't sound very modest here, but bargain shopping, writing, and creative problem solving are the only few things I'm capable of doing, so I take pride in that). Now it's just a matter of translating creative thinking to creative works. It took a lot of baby steps. I found a way to recycle old barettes and use them to make clippable hair flowers. Then, I started dreaming bigger and thought about stenciling t-shirts. When I realized I didn't have much time for that, I kinda filed that away for the future. After that, I started having an interest in earrings because my sister recently got her ears pierced. I don't have pierced ears, but I was inspired by someone on StyleDiary who made her own clip-on earrings. That's when I found out about clip-on earring components--while I didn't have time (or so I thought) to make my own earrings, I could just get the findings, buy some cheap earrings, and swap out the ear wires and replace them with the clip-on findings. I got several pairs of earrings for $2-$4 each (cheap!), but it was hard to find exactly what I wanted, and I realized that $2 here, $2 there, and things were starting to add up. All of the sudden, making my own earrings seems like a good idea after all.
It might sound like a good idea to you too, but as with any project, there's always a caveat: don't jump into it without careful thought. Otherwise, it'd be a waste of money to buy lots of supplies and not know what to do with them. In the coming weeks, I'll be writing about various projects and issues to consider when deciding whether or not to make something on your own.
I should have been more productive during Spring Break, but I'm so sick of school at this point that I decided to take the entire week off to indulge in March Madness (it was very satisfying to watch Duke go down in flames), catch up on household chores, and make a lot of jewelry.
Making jewelry...where'd that come from?
It all started in January, when I saw a necklace I really liked from a boutique sale. I thought it was $10 or under, like everything else in the pile (and $10 is my limit as far as fashion jewelry goes). The sales person told me that the necklace wound up in the clearance pile by mistake, but she would give it to me for, oh, $30--as if $30 was cheap. I really wanted it, but it's ridiculous to pay $30 for such a simple necklace. In fact, I thought it looked so simple that I can make it myself! I examined the necklace closely to see how it looks like and feels like, then the cogs and wheels in my head started churning. A few days later, I bought floral wire and a spool of ribbon from JoAnn's for under $5. Add 3 hours of labor and voila, I got my necklace. The quality was obviously not great, but no one could have noticed from a distance.
That initial success got me thinking about crafts in general. I guess the idea of making things isn't so far fetched since I've always had a knack for coming up with creative solutions to problems big and small (I know I don't sound very modest here, but bargain shopping, writing, and creative problem solving are the only few things I'm capable of doing, so I take pride in that). Now it's just a matter of translating creative thinking to creative works. It took a lot of baby steps. I found a way to recycle old barettes and use them to make clippable hair flowers. Then, I started dreaming bigger and thought about stenciling t-shirts. When I realized I didn't have much time for that, I kinda filed that away for the future. After that, I started having an interest in earrings because my sister recently got her ears pierced. I don't have pierced ears, but I was inspired by someone on StyleDiary who made her own clip-on earrings. That's when I found out about clip-on earring components--while I didn't have time (or so I thought) to make my own earrings, I could just get the findings, buy some cheap earrings, and swap out the ear wires and replace them with the clip-on findings. I got several pairs of earrings for $2-$4 each (cheap!), but it was hard to find exactly what I wanted, and I realized that $2 here, $2 there, and things were starting to add up. All of the sudden, making my own earrings seems like a good idea after all.
It might sound like a good idea to you too, but as with any project, there's always a caveat: don't jump into it without careful thought. Otherwise, it'd be a waste of money to buy lots of supplies and not know what to do with them. In the coming weeks, I'll be writing about various projects and issues to consider when deciding whether or not to make something on your own.
3.22.2006
Random 99 Cents Store Find
Just as I bemoaned the loss of quality goods at the 99 Cents Store, I came across this:
It never made any sense to me why people pay so much for stuff with the Burberry plaid on it, since I see knockoffs everywhere (such as this one). Don't get me wrong, I love the plaid...just not the price it takes to be plastered in plaid (moderation is the key). My old pencil case has worn down, and at last I accepted the decision to let it go. I found this Burberry knockoff in the cosmetics bag aisle. It's pretty and surprisingly well-constructed!
My faith in the 99 Cents Store still hasn't been fully restored, but I'm still a regular customer. Where else can you get good quality pasta sauces for up to 66% off of chain supermarket prices?
Moral of the story? Think dual use. There are so many things out there that can be used for an unintended purpose...you just have to be creative.
3.18.2006
Valuation: Figuring Out How Much Something is Worth to You
How do we know if we're getting a good deal? Price tags are but an illusion. My definition of "good deal" is getting high-quality thingamabobs (usually clothing) as cheaply as possible (below market price), but knowing what "quality" is at what "market price" requires some research and decision-making. I'll just use clothing as an example since that's what I know best when it comes to shopping ;-P
The first step for clothing is to find a starting point for pricing. Let's use tops for an example because it's easy. How much is it for a plain, basic t-shirt? I'm not talking about higher end brands like James Perse or Three Dots--I'm talking about something from Forever 21, Gap, Old Navy, etc. Also, I'm not talking about straight-up retail--if we want to figure out the best deal at sales, we want to use the sale price for a t-shirt. I've seen plain t-shirts go for $5-6 retail, then drop to $3 at sales time.
Now that we've pegged the starting point, we can proceed with a "sliding scale" approach. How much would you pay for that t-shirt if there was less of it or more done to it? As a general rule, the price I'm willing to pay is directly proportional to the amount of skin covered: if it's a tank or cami, I'd pay less, and if it's a long-sleeved t-shirt, I'd pay a little more. However, there's a lot more beyond this general rule. This is where things start to get murky--you have to think about what you value about a piece of clothing.
For most women, fit is an important consideration, if not *the* make-or-break consideration. I'm willing to pay more for bottoms than I do for tops because it's really hard to find pants that fit perfectly. As for tops, I usually try to get basics for $5 or less, and $10-15 (sometimes $20) for fancier stuff. Yes, this includes designer clothing as well. I'm not so willing to pay too much for tops because it's easy to find one that fits well, especially when the fabric is stretchy. However, if the top is completely ill-fitting and I plan to wear it only to go to sleep or something, the dial on the sliding scale is going to move in the negative direction.
The type of fabric or embellishments is another factor in the equation. Even if a cami, in its basic state, is worth less than a t-shirt, it'll be worth more when it's a perfect fit and/or made of a luxurious material. The question is how much you value the added bells and whistles. In this heyday of e-commerce, you can easily do a survey of major online stores to see how much, say, a silk cami costs. If you come across a silk cami on sale, even better--you'll have a good idea of how much a silk cami is really worth. If it's not on sale, take the full retail price and adjust down a little.
Other factors, such as the rarity of what you want as well as how badly you want it, also figure into valuation. Naturally, if a particular type of designer shoes is available in rare quantities, it would be unrealistic to expect a 90% off price tag. As I said before, this is a really inexact science and most of us aren't trained as investment bankers (valuation *is* what they do), but a nebulous strategy for determining how much you're willing to pay for something is better than no guidance at all.
The first step for clothing is to find a starting point for pricing. Let's use tops for an example because it's easy. How much is it for a plain, basic t-shirt? I'm not talking about higher end brands like James Perse or Three Dots--I'm talking about something from Forever 21, Gap, Old Navy, etc. Also, I'm not talking about straight-up retail--if we want to figure out the best deal at sales, we want to use the sale price for a t-shirt. I've seen plain t-shirts go for $5-6 retail, then drop to $3 at sales time.
Now that we've pegged the starting point, we can proceed with a "sliding scale" approach. How much would you pay for that t-shirt if there was less of it or more done to it? As a general rule, the price I'm willing to pay is directly proportional to the amount of skin covered: if it's a tank or cami, I'd pay less, and if it's a long-sleeved t-shirt, I'd pay a little more. However, there's a lot more beyond this general rule. This is where things start to get murky--you have to think about what you value about a piece of clothing.
For most women, fit is an important consideration, if not *the* make-or-break consideration. I'm willing to pay more for bottoms than I do for tops because it's really hard to find pants that fit perfectly. As for tops, I usually try to get basics for $5 or less, and $10-15 (sometimes $20) for fancier stuff. Yes, this includes designer clothing as well. I'm not so willing to pay too much for tops because it's easy to find one that fits well, especially when the fabric is stretchy. However, if the top is completely ill-fitting and I plan to wear it only to go to sleep or something, the dial on the sliding scale is going to move in the negative direction.
The type of fabric or embellishments is another factor in the equation. Even if a cami, in its basic state, is worth less than a t-shirt, it'll be worth more when it's a perfect fit and/or made of a luxurious material. The question is how much you value the added bells and whistles. In this heyday of e-commerce, you can easily do a survey of major online stores to see how much, say, a silk cami costs. If you come across a silk cami on sale, even better--you'll have a good idea of how much a silk cami is really worth. If it's not on sale, take the full retail price and adjust down a little.
Other factors, such as the rarity of what you want as well as how badly you want it, also figure into valuation. Naturally, if a particular type of designer shoes is available in rare quantities, it would be unrealistic to expect a 90% off price tag. As I said before, this is a really inexact science and most of us aren't trained as investment bankers (valuation *is* what they do), but a nebulous strategy for determining how much you're willing to pay for something is better than no guidance at all.
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