The Bargain Life

A few weeks ago i went to Ikea and found shelves that i want for my bedroom, but they happened to be out of stock. i went back last week…and they’re still out of stock. This time i asked when they would be getting a new shipment, and they said it would be 11 weeks, i’m not even going to be living in my house by then!

The shelves in question are Stripa shelves. i wanted to put 3 in a row along the wall opposite my bed to display my records and the 8 white picture frames that i got at Target 2 for $1 months ago, which have been sitting in a bag ever since. i may shop around elsewhere, but West Elm wants $34 a shelf instead of $8. i think i’m just going to accept defeat on this one.

my life is incomplete without you!

why is the last thing you need always the hardest to resist? the logical part of me knows it’s not a bargain if you don’t need it, but 12 shirts for $4.21? i was looking for black tees to wear with all my crazy colored/patterned pants, but i found a lot of other really awesome shirts. and i may try to sell The Used shirt on ebay or something because i’m sure i could get back more than the 50 cents i paid and i’m not a huge fan of the band, but i do like them and it’s a cool shirt.

fronts:

plus a solid pink shirt i plan to do something crafty with
& top right has the back-side up - oops!

backs:

In the past 2 months I’ve bought a total of 6 records, the 4 pictured and 2 pre-orders that haven’t come yet.

the collection right now:

Set Your Goals - Mutiny! LP - brown
Four Year Strong - Rise Or Die Trying LP - purple/yellow
Fireworks - Adventure, Nostalgia, and Robbery 7″ - yellow/green
The Wonder Years - Won’t Be Pathetic Forever 7″ - black

pre-orders:
Set Your Goals - Reset 7″ - mint green
The Wonder Years/All Or Nothing - Distances 7″ - white w/ red and blue splatter

I don’t know if this is a worthwhile collection or if I’m just wasting my money. I stopped buying band t-shirts over a year ago because I have so many t-shirts and the $15 band tees weren’t getting worn any more than all my 50-cent thrift store tees, so buying them was clearly a waste. I don’t have shirts for any of the bands I own vinyls of because I’ve only gotten into most of them in the past year, and I wanted to support them by buying something. I’m also really into album art, so it’s cool having it full size. So far, so good. But here’s the catch…i don’t own a record player. So I’ve bought 6 records and I don’t have anything to play them on. Now that seems like a waste.

i tend to do more shopping while i’m home for break than when i’m at school in Atlanta since there isn’t much else to do in suburban New Hampshire. plus H&M had a buy one get one free sale on all clearance items. here’s a round-up of my purchases:

clockwise:

i’ve been doing a lot of sewing for my various furniture projects, but this is the first time i’ve sewn any clothes in a while. i started with a men’s extra large sweater that i got for $2 and altered it to make it fit me. now it’s slim fitted, but nice and long and with sleeves i can tuck my hands into.

before:

after:

I went to the mall today for the first time in ages. I have lots of clothes, and I rarely actually need any (that will change when I start looking for a job, I don’t own anything professional), so I try to prevent myself from wasting money. But I needed to take my computer to the Apple store, so I shopped around the mall while I was there, and I bought a few things from Wet Seal.

featured on Apartment Therapy!

my roommate has had an Ikea Tullsta chair since our freshman year (we were roommates then too). Since it’s last move, we never could find the slipcover or the legs, which we had unscrewed. instead of buying a new slipcover for it, i decided to do something more creative. i also bought an ottoman for $5 at my favorite thrift store and decided to do it to match. so i bought 4 yards of Inger fabric and 2 sets of 6″ Capita legs. i’m still working on the ottoman, but here’s the chair:

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My favorite place to get home decor fabrics is Ikea not just because it $6-$8 a yard instead of $20-$30, but they have really awesome bold prints.  They just added 2 new fabric collections which are a bit disappointing.

Kallt Fabric
Overall this line is too country for my taste, but the second one down looks cool. It’s a possibility for my sofa that i want to reupholster, but i think i’d rather do something black and white and more outlandish.

Gunilla
ugh. On their own the top 3 aren’t that bad, but together it’s like cutesy vomit.

My favorite collection is still the Inger fabrics, of which i already have 2 in my home.

I happened to wake up early this morning, so I went to a bunch of different yard sales. I bought:
- a metal canister - 25 cents
- a pair of marble owls for my roommate (she collects owls) - $1
- a hand-cranked ice cream maker - $1
- a pair of stacking containers - $5
- a box of miscellaneous tupperware [not pictured] - $2

I also went to one yard sale where they were selling a whole bunch of amazing restaurant benches in purple and lime green velvet. they were around $100 each, but I seriously need a purple velvet sofa in my life. I resisted the urge, but they’re selling them tomorrow too…