Zannee’s Blog at BargainsLA.com

I like a nice glass of wine at the end of the day to relax and unwind. Though I am not against “two-buck chuck” and have enjoyed many glasses of it, I like trying other faire as long as its tasty and well priced. I try to keep my wine purchase at under $12 a bottle. I have had much more expensive wines that didn’t match up to the moderately priced ones.

I have quite a few wine places near me to peruse for tasty wines. Trader Joes gives written reviews and descriptions with many of it’s wines, most are extremely well priced. But I have occasionally picked up a bottle that didn’t make it past the first glass.

But, I have done extremely well of, at all places… Ralphs. Yeah, as a whole it’s an overpriced, over the top market. But it does have its charms. When I want a bottle of wine, it’s convenient with a decent selection and these little tags that tell you what kind of wine it is and if it’s an award winner. So I look for the well-priced, award winning wines (awarded a gold medal) that have the highest price reduction and have done pretty well.

I do not have a Bev Mo near me, so my best options are Trader Joes or Ralphs. Oddly enough, I have done better at Ralphs.

Okay I didn’t plan on going shopping today. I mostly wanted to see the LF staff and management (They are so neat!) and the Thursday Friends and Family sale was a great way to say hi. After arriving I had a good hour long visit with Steve, Marsha, Dee, Lauren and of course the ever brilliant Laurie Furst.

My girlfriend Lorilei also showed up and had suffered thru the worst traffic (405 Fwy closed) ever to shop the sale  I spent a good 40 minutes helping her edit down her bags full of stuff to a workable wardrobe assortment.

Now I had been there over an hour and hadn’t shopped. But once I got started…. Look out! I always start in the boutique room with the highest end duds. I scavenged thru picking out a coat ($38, retail $300) and trying on a ton of crop leather jackets ($50, retail $380). I moved onto the pants ($12), raincoats, jackets ($24), tees ($8), cardigans ($10) and sweaters ($18), long skirts ($8) and the cutest little dresses you’ve ever seen ($12).

I kept myself in check and didn’t go overboard. At the end of three try on & editing sessions I ended up with a rather cool coat, 3 tees, 3 scarves for presents, 2 bra tops and a dress for $110. A very fair haul.

The LF Warehouse Sale is so much fun. I only wish they had more mirrors in the dressing room. I am going back Saturday to take the kid and let her run amuck…. I gave her a $100 shopping spree at the LF Warehouse sale for a birthday present. Hopefully I won’t give in and will stay on budget. But really, where else can you get a $1000 worth of wardrobe for $100.

This sale is way to good to miss!

LF Warehouse  Sale
10/24(10am-6pm)-10/25(7am-3pm).
5333 McConnell Ave., Los Angeles 90066.
Cash/CC only

405-Jefferson –go west to McConnell, R- at the end of a cul-de-sac.

I went seriously shopping this last weekend. My goal is to upgrade my wardrobe. So I didn’t allow myself to purchase any tee shirt, any jeans or hoodies. I hoped for some classically hip tops, skirts and pants to help me get out of my jeans and tee obsession. I had a budget of $100, not much, but enough to get started.

Taking cash in hand I went first to the Shopaholic Sample Sale. I love this sale. It’s not so big that you are overwhelmed, but big enough to keep you busy for an hour. I go once every other sale to peruse their new designer collections. This time I found an incredible Twinkle blouse for $60 instead of $135. So stylish and versatile … I could wear it out for an evening or to a business meeting.  I also picked up a Jenny Han silk skirt for $20 instead of $88 to go with the blouse…it was a really pretty girlie skirt.

From there I went to recheck a local women’s resale store also in Pasadena. I almost missed it. “Style on Green” as it is called now, used to “Ragtime on Green”. I had been in several times years before but had never been overwhelmed with the store. This time was different as I found two incredible buys. One was a pair of Alvin Valley high wasted trousers for $21 and the other was a suede, studded jacket from Guess Marciano for $15.75. I felt like I was robbing them blind. The original retail on the Alvin Valley pants was easily $240 or more and the jacket would have ran $189. The Alvin Valley pants are simple the best made, coolest pants I have bought in well over 2 years. BTW… both had original tags on them so they had never been worn! I totally scored!

I went over budget by $20. But heck, with deals like these, I couldn’t help myself. 
Next week I am taking my daughter to the LF warehouse Sale and letting her go hog wild.  It was birthday present I promised her and it is cheaper than Forever Twenty One and she’s getting the coolest clothes on the planet… for less. Maybe now as her mom, I will score some level of cool.