It’s no secret I Love a Bargain, in fact it’s no secret the whole world loves a bargain too!
No one wants to spend more than they have to on something they love, unless of course you’ve got more money than sense!
In the last 18 months I’ve been furiously searching for bargain finds to fill our home. A home needs a personality and this is where I believe accessories come into play. Accessories for me are the details a house needs in order for it to become a home, you can read about how I accessorized my Daughter’s nursery here.
Now I’m a firmer believer of sticking to your guns and this goes for all aspects of my life, even shopping! If I’ve set myself a budget, I’ll stick to it and you should too. You’ll end up having more spare pennies to spend on other lovely things.
Making my money go further by sticking to these four simple rules has made shopping for my home a pleasure rather than a pain, I also use it when I’m clothes shopping now too. (something I used to hate before!)
Rule 1.
To find the bargain of all bargains you must first create it with your mind. Now let me explain, ever heard of ‘the law of attraction’? Who am I kidding of course you have! Well this law of love works on absolutely everything, even shopping. You need to simply focus your mind on exactly what it is you want. Purposely make room for your new find in your home even before it’s in your hands. Design it, describe it, imagine it with every ounce of your being and I promise, sooner or later it will appear!
I’ll give you an example, around February time when ‘Hygge’ was at it’s height I decided our living room needed two scandi style lanterns to create more of an ambience. Before I started searching here there and everywhere I began to imagine the exact style I wanted, white and silver. Well the next day I began my search and couldn’t quite believe my eyes when the first place I went to had the exact lanterns I imagined! Unbelievably they where reduced, but not just by a little bit but by the biggest reduction I’ve ever seen in my entire life! £50 each to 50p each,yup you read that right 50p!!!! Now I’m aware that the skeptics out there will call this a coincidence, but I refuse to believe in coincidence.
Everything in our lives happens for a reason, it either happens to confirm your life’s path, allow you to experience a new life lesson or because you created it (knowingly or unknowingly) with your mind and the power of Law of Attraction.
Rule 2.
Don’t be afraid to ask. ‘You don’t ask, you don’t get’, nothing new here but in our ever so polite Britishness I feel we don’t ask enough! Now let me tell you, you don’t need to shop like your at a market and haggle over every sale, it’s much more simple that that. Ever wondered how a store can have a hughe sale and still be making a profit? It’s because they’re working on crazy high profit margins, this led me to realise that stock has to be so over priced in the first place! This light bulb moment has literally given me the confidence to be cheeky and subtly haggle in high street stores. Again I’m not suggesting you take your twenty pound throw up to the till and say ‘I’ll give you a tenner for it’ . But if you can see that it’s the last throw left and isn’t in completely immaculate condition (but workable) don’t be afraid to ask if they would give you a discount. After all, business is business just like money is money.
My classic and best example is our living room mirror. We decided to see how the other half live and have a browse in Furniture Village. Whilst there we found the perfect piece. The mirror was the exact style we were looking for, it was love at first sight and I knew we’d either have to put it on a credit card (those who know us know that this goes against all our morals! Who gets into debt over materialistic possessions!? It took all my strength for us not to fall into this category!) or it was time to work my magic!
I noticed that the mirror had a little bit of loose backing, we also didn’t want to wait for it to be ordered and so after a bit of quick thinking and Scott legging it (he gets so embarrassed when I turn into ‘no shame Charlotte’, he’s hilarious I know right ) I decided to test the waters to see if they’d let us take the display one.
I kindly pointed out that I was taking it off their hands as it had a little tear anyway, nothing that a little discount wouldn’t fix .
Clearly wanting to end his day on target, the enthused sales assistant had a quick chat with his clearly target orientated Manager and hey presto the mirror of our interior dreams was ours! What’s more he didn’t just knock off 10% like I was expecting but a whopping 65% meaning that we paid just £45 for a £130 mirror!
The proof is in the pudding- you ask, you get!
Rule 3.
Dont give up. The amount of times I’ve been so close to giving in and buying exactly what I was looking for but at a ridiculous price, but I didn’t and never intend to. Stay focus on your search and don’t get sidetracked. I always begin my Google search with ‘cheap’, this then normally gives me a good indication of the shops to hit. This worked a treat for me on my recent search for grey basket to finish off our book case. Homebase was the first shop the search bought up and that’s exactly where I got my beautiful baskets from. Such a bargain at just £3.87 each!! Don’t miss out guys you can shop them here.
Rule 4.
And last but not least, allow your mind to see the potential in everything. A little bit like viewing houses, use your imagination. Don’t miss out on a bargain buy because something isn’t how you want it from the get go.
Start shopping for your home decor on sites like Gumtree and eBay. This allows you to create bespoke pieces that add a little bit more character to your home.
Our nest of tables are one of my favourite Gumtree finds. I got lost three times on the way to pick them up, but for £10 I couldn’t care less! A lick of paint and their better than new.
So there you have it four shopping rules to make all your bargain dreams come true!
I’d love to know you’re favourite shopping tip too?
Love
Charlotte
