Thrifty Accessories

If  houses were cupcakes, decor accessories would be the fun little pretties on  top!!

 

 

Although not a necessity in life,  they sure help make a space feel like home.

I’m constantly on the look-out for special little {super duper value priced} accessories.

A large chain store here in Canada (similar to Walmart) is closing down.  Over the past few months, it’s huge “STORE CLOSING ~ EVERYTHING MUST GO!” signs have drawn hoards of shoppers.  It became our little after church Sunday tradition to run in and see what was happenin’.  {I know, we have exciting traditions, don’t we?}

We were there on its last Sunday open.  Everything in the store was 70-80% off.  You would have thought the Queen was in town for all the frantic shoppers running around!  It was actually quite humorous…

Over the years I’ve developed some “shopping rules” for myself when I’m in situations like this.  Since we’ll be talking about accessories this week, I thought I’d share some of my thrifty shopping tips.

1.  Know what you need and what you’ll actually use.  This is very important!  If you don’t think about this crucial fact, you’ll end up with stockpiles of cheap, un-used stuff!  I keep a small notebook in my purse with crucial information (like measurements of windows I need curtains for and paint swatches of my room colors) so I know the exact dimensions/ colors of things I’m looking for.

2.  Know and compare prices.   Just because something claims to be “on sale” doesn’t mean it’s actually a good price.

3.  Investigate.  I discovered a whole shelf full of these:

A plain white boring box.  I put on my inner Nancy Drew and opened one up.  Look what I found!:

Silver ball tea light holders!  At 79 cents (for two!), I figured they were quite the bargain.  {This is the Christmas decor inspiration I was talking about yesterday.  Bring on the “Silver Bling”!}

4.  Don’t be afraid to ask.  I discovered this poor little dented pillar candle sitting all alone in a shelf.

No markings or prices were on it at all.  I have a project in mind for it, so I thought I’d purchase it – despite the dent – if the price was right.  The cashier offered it for 89 cents.  Done!

5.  Redeem those points you’ve been collecting.  {After all, the store is closing!  Use em’ while you can!}  One nice cashier explained that I could use them towards my purchases.  So, over the course of our Sunday shopping trips, I started redeeming points.

Here’s my collection of thrifty accessories.  {A watch for myself also hopped into the cart.}…

The retail price for all of this comes to $119.  It would have cost me about $38.22.  But I redeemed those points!~

Costing me nearly nothing!!

{Woo Hoo!!  I feel like Christmas just arrived!}

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