Thrown to the four winds: bargains

Showing posts with label bargains. Show all posts

Wednesday, 6 August 2014

Two worlds collided...bargains and London

Warning: Today's post won't appeal to some. Actually, it won't appeal to most. It is going to be about *whispers* ...clothes...

So you can tune out now that I've gotten your page hit ;) Thanks!

I didn't really expect to be able to combine my love of bargain shopping (which so much of this blog used to be) with my time in London. But who was I kidding. I am:
a) addicted to shopping and
b) addicted to a bargain

It was inevitable that it was going to happen eventually. So I just spent some time taking shoddy pictures to show you what I've spent my money on so far, clothing-wise. I've bought a lot in my short 6 weeks here. Don't judge me. And this isn't everything.

Stop.
Judging.
Me.

I'll start with the weekend. As I was Facestalking a new friend, I discovered they were going to be attending a sale...a vintage sale...a....vintage pay-by-the-kilo sale... And I immediately hit "Join"! I then harassed my new friend to meet up for coffee first and that was that. Admittedly, I was not feeling at my upmost when I arrived at the busy hall (read: hungover) so my stamina was perhaps not what it could have been (read: only lasted about 3 hours). Still, I came away with a kilo of clothing, the likes of which you'll see below. The Vintage sale seemed to be largely - dare I say it - crap, but there were a few pieces of gold and the whole event was an experience. Akin to Black Friday in America, I would imagine, with snatching and grabbing and pushing.

So without further ado, my £15 kilo purchases.
I actually managed to get 5 items for the kilo, but I haven't photographed 2 of them here - one is a present and the other is just a bit boring. There were no change rooms in the hall so the best one could do was try to wiggle items on over ones clothing, but it wasn't until one got home that one could work out whether it fit..one..or not.

I squeezed myself into this tiny little number and it turned
out to be rather adorable. Bit short for my usual tastes,
who knows tho. Part of the kilo.

We all know I'm a sucker for an ugly floral. Ugly ugly.
This will be good for work. Tight, marginally distracting,
but a fraction librarian-ish.

My golden purchase of the day: A black velour
bolero. Yes, I love my fucking boleros. We all know it.
I lost my favourite one in a drunken fit within weeks
of arriving in the UK. This one will do nicely for
the time being, and I think it added to my kilo
weight significantly.

Now, just going to segue into some of the other bargains I've purchased since being here. Primark is stealing all my money, as is H&M. I need to have my picture inside the door so they don't let me in.

£5 | H&MThis dress rocks my world.

£3 | Primark
Bubble butt. Bubble bubble bubble butt.

£7 | Primark
Everyone loves and ugly floral! WOO!

£5 | Primark
I love a good sack dress. Good for the fat days, can
be sinched for the skinny days (where you don't
have to sit down and get cut in two by a belt)

So there you have it. There have been a few other purchases but I'm tired and you're tired and we're all tired so I'm going to stop now.

xx

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Save the Children: Monday, 21 October

Last Thursday I had my wisdom forcibly removed.

I also suffer from the inability to sit still and relax. Thus, despite my cheery disposition, the extraction of my impacted third molars has been a painful experience and one I am pleased I shall not have to experience again.

My long suffering mother kindly looked after me and, on the last day staying with her, I decided in a painkiller induced daze of euphoria to visit the local op shop.

The result: rather sensational.

One of my better hauls, if I can say so myself.

Op shop: Save the Children at Glenelg South.

Why you should go here: They don't know the value of what they have. They stock a lot of decent brands (Country Road, Witchery, Portmans, Cue - sadly not many fitted me yesterday). Also, the staff are really lovely and elderly and find ones youthfulness incredible. Stay for a bit of a chat! Complain with the oldies about the air conditioning in Foodland.

The items:

Filo one piece short play suit, $5I look like a bit of a muffin but have always wanted a
play suit, so I thought I could sacrifice $5
to the cause. I'm actually kind of in love with it.

Crossroads cream bolero, $6
I think they again got Crossroads and Country Road
muddled as their Country Road items were sub $5.
However I am a sucker for a bolero so $6 didn't
exactly hurt the hip pocket.

Singlet/dress, unknown brand, $2
This has the pattern of a pair of curtains and I love it.
It may be the $2 I paid for it, though. I pay
more to catch the bus. It's pretty tight and after my
wisdom-teeth-induced-icecream-overload weight-gain
is worked off I should be able to wear it as a dress,
otherwise it makes a nice singlet over my...jeggings.

Witchery long sleeved green bolero, $3
So I love boleros. Sue me.

Unknown brand floor length black skirt, $10
I ummed and ahhed about this item but decided its
comfiness and swooshiness made up for the pricey (...) tag.

Mollini kitten heels, $3
I grabbed these shoes in the way Gollum snatched
away the One Ring. Yeah. I said $3. Barely worn, leather all over.

Total: $29, but this Good Samaritan didn't take the change from $30.

Monday, 24 June 2013

Savers Expedition: Sunday, 23 June

I have failed to mention that I am an op shopper by trade.

It is a way of life.

I am not exclusively op shop, as I do allow myself the occasional brand new item, but I cannot remember the last time I bought something at full price and not on special, and therefore consider myself an exceptional bargain hunter.

Now that I have recovered from that massive oversight of my personality, I will tell you about my weekend adventures!

I have a favourite op shop. The first time I set foot inside, I stood gaping, wide eyed at the rows upon rows of clothes as far as my short-sighted eyes could see. I was overwhelmed and didn't know what to do or where to start and so I pinched myself, believing I had died and found myself in my perfect idea of heaven.

The op shop is Savers at Noarlunga. And yes, I regularly make the trek to fill up on Saver-y goodness with its deliciously categorised clothing (sleeveless, short sleeved, shirts, shorts, skirts, pants, jeans) and lovingly sorted by size. Delightful. With my mum in tow, we descended upon Savers with a fervour only true bargain hunters can muster. As she hadn't been before, I had a few words of advice before we got there:

Eat first. We need to keep our energy up. We are in it for the long haul and this cannot be done on an empty stomach. (My mum made some awesome poached eggs with salmon, hollandaise sauce and spinach on English Muffins to keep us energised.)
Get a trolley. The little ones are easier to manuever.
Grab everything you even remotely like, throw it in your trolley and decide when you try it on. This is because there is seriously so much stock that you will probably not "go back" to an item you liked, so grab it now.

When it comes to op shopping, I have a bit of a method. I am very picky about what brands I buy - why buy a cheap item that you could get in the shop, new, for $5 or $10? Therefore, I stick to brands that are relatively expensive new. Occasionally, something will catch my eye that is cheap but I try to avoid it. This helps me cut out a lot of items, stops the rows and rows of clothes or shoes from being so daunting and I can move at quite a quick pace.

So, how did I go today? I had a couple of self-imposed rules today especially as I was with my mum and didn't want to be there for 4 hours (...which has happened...more than once...). The rules were:

No pants
No skirts
No black/grey/beige

I looked in my wardrobe recently as I was sad and wanted to wear something colourful to make me feel happy and I found very little that was colourful which made me even sadder. I need some colour, I thought.

Here we go: