Bagging a Bargain

Don't you just love a bargain?

I picked up these striped lamp shades in the clearance section at K-Mart for $1 each a few months ago and have finally got around to using them. They are actually from the kids section but I thought they would be equally nice in our guest room.

I went "shopping" in our garage for a couple of old Freedom lamps that we got many years ago and after ditching the old shades which had turned an unsightly pale yellow, I put my new $1 shades on.

The old lamps now have a new life ahead of them and were cheap as chips! I have a thing for stripes at the moment...and navy blue. :)

Organising Project: Gift Box

Another quick little organising project that I have finally got around to completing. I am not sure why it has taken me so long, it took me all of 5 minutes to put together so there was no excuse really. :)

I have wanted to put together a little gift box for a while now, as a way of storing gifts, wrapping paper, gift bags and cards for times when I need to get a present together quickly. There are times when it seems my littlies are attending birthday parties every weekend and it gets time consuming and tiring to keep making special trips out to buy gifts.

Time pressures also mean you may not always get the best deal and end up paying more than you wanted to, or settling for something that isn't quite right. I have done both of these things on more than one occasion!

The idea behind this little project is that you pick up gifts that might appeal and store them away for when you need them in the future. For example, Harry and his friends love Transformers so when I saw a 50% sale on Transformers, I picked up a few to pop in the box and having them there has saved me several shopping trips on a Saturday morning.

This plastic crate was sitting unused in our garage but you can find similar ones at stores such as Payless Plastics, Briscoes and The Warehouse. They are inexpensive and easy to stack or store in a cupboard or closet.

Just gather together all your present supplies, from cards and paper, to cellotape and scissors and you will have your own portable gift station. It will save you time and money. :)

Thinking Outside the Square When it Comes to Decorating

Today I thought I would share one of my favourite tips for decorating our home. I love picking up new ideas from all over the place, including magazines, Pinterest , blogs and other people's homes. :) Some of these ideas are affordable but many are not, so I have taken to thinking outside the square and adapting them to suit my budget...or lack thereof!

For a long time I have been searching for an inexpensive white ceramic jug to hold all our kitchen utensils. I didn't think this would be too hard a task but several months later and I still hadn't found one which was the right size and price. Then I remembered that I had this old biscuit jar (from the good old Red Shed a few years ago) sitting in the corner of our cupboard, unused and unloved. I hauled it out of semi-retirement, ditched the wooden lid and it now has a new life again on our kitchen bench!

It was the right size for the job and I just flipped the jar around so the 'Biscuits' sign couldn't be seen. It certainly isn't rocket science but I just hadn't thought of using it in that way before. By thinking outside the square when it comes to decorating, you can find new and creative ways to repurpose items in your home and gain a lot of satisfaction in doing so.

Have a look around your home and see what you can do to give an old item a new life in another part of your home. Would the cushions in your lounge room look great in your bedroom too? Would an old battered chair look great at your dining table as a feature chair? Would the throw on your bed look fantastic in your lounge room? Experiment with what you have and enjoy it. :)

My Money Saving Tip for the Day

This is such an easy little money saving tip but one which I have never got around to doing...until now!

With dairy prices in NZ going through the roof I was looking at a more economical way of managing our cheese use. I am not a huge cheese fan but my children and husband are. At one stage we were going through a 1kg block each week. Lots of toasted cheese sandwiches going on, I suspect!

The only cheese I really use is in the meals I cook for dinner and this is almost always in a grated form. To buy cheese already grated is extremely expensive so when I saw these cheese blocks on sale for $4.00 each, I decided to make my own. They were due to expire in 5 days time but they were perfect for something like this which will be frozen anyway.

I used one zip lock bag for each 750gram block and labelled them with the date. I also made sure to lay them flat so that they would be easier to access in the freezer. I ended up with three large bags of grated cheese for $12.00 and not only did it save a lot of money, but it saves me so much time when preparing dinner.

If I am making dishes such as lasagne or mac and cheese, I throw the cheese in straight from the freezer, otherwise I take it out and defrost it if I want it fresh. This only takes a few minutes. I am so converted to this method that I will be doing this all the time in future as I love anything that saves time and money! Give it a go. :)

Online Bargains

Isn't this a gorgeous assortment of cushions? Today I thought I would share one of my best tips for snaring bargains on Trademe! You need to keep your eyes peeled and you need to know what you are looking for, but even with Trademe as saturated as it is, there are still great deals to be had. :) These cushions for example...cost me nothing. Yep, that's right nothing...well, almost! I spotted them late one night (they were three separate bulk auctions from the same seller) and added them to my watchlist as although they weren't photgraphed very well, I could tell they were all good brands and in great condition. The next day the seller sent through fixed price offers at a BARGAIN price and I LOVE cushions so snapped them up!

When Rosie and I picked them up (from a very very nice house) the seller even gave me a few extras for free. I took them home, decided which ones I wanted to keep, and sold off the rest individually or in pairs. They were all from pretty high end stores so they sold quickly. Not only did I get all the money back that I paid for them, but I actually got three times the amount I paid, as well as keeping half the cushions for myself!

Some of the cushions I kept were used in a spare room update.

So my tip is to look at bulk auctions and try to identify the value of items indivually, rather than as a whole. Often items in bulk lots could sell for a lot more indivually but many sellers just want to get rid of everything in one hit, this can work to your advantage. Keep what you want and then resell what you don't. My aim is to make back most of the money that I paid for the whole lot in the first place and hopefully more. You can then put this towards something else you are saving for! Happy bargain hunting.