Suzanne O’Connor’s Bargains LA

The Thoughtful Valentine

Just as you’ve recovered from the holiday shopping marathon, it’s time for another swing at shopping with Valentines Day looming ahead. Thankfully, you don’t have to squeeze your budget again to give a thoughtful Valentine present

The New Year is Here

The New Year is here! 2012 can be anything from “ a lot better than 2011” or “an average year” or it can be “horrible”. I’m betting it’s gonna be better for most of us than the past couple of years. But I’m not waiting to see what happens. I will do my best to make the year the best I can.

So,  I made some News Years resolutions that I started acting on the minute I made them.

Cheap Gift Wrapping Ideas

One of the attributes of being a frugal minded Bargain Shopper is creativity… a talent for reinvention and looking at things from a different angle. Sometimes we need a little prodding to get our creative juices flowing.

So think about these alternatives to using wrapping paper:

Do it Yourself Painting

Nearly a year ago we hired a really good painter to paint our front door blue. It was a beautiful distressed Mexican door and we were afraid to do it ourselves. Thought we’d screw it up. This door takes the full blow of rain & sun and had weathered badly.  It either needed to be sanded, re-stained and refinished or painted. The first choice would take 3-4 days and leave us with a mess and an unsecured home. The second choice would take one day. After 3 months of discussion, we opted for the second choice

Dumpster Diving or Free Curb Discards?

A few years back I wrote about the gems I found doing a bit of trash picking. Yeah really, I have dumpster dived, trash picked and other wise scavenged …

A Frugal Mind Set

The kid is back at school so days of sleeping in to 8am are over. Our 20 year old alarm clock is going off now at 6:45.

The good news is our daughter didn’t need much in terms of back to school supplies and is content to wait till the LF Warehouse Sale to get clothes.

We approached this whole back to school thing this year with frugality. I honestly was fed up with re-buying school supplies, shoes and clothes every year

Estate Sale Shenanigans

This last weekend, hubby & I went to this professionally organized estate sale by TLC Estate Sales. This was our first time going to one of their sales. Last year, after we bought our house, we needed some items and went to estate sales to find them. But now we don’t need hardly anything, so we mostly go for fun. Unless we know there is something there we know we want, we don’t get there right as the sale opens, but a few hours later.

Oliver’s Blunder

Funny how one little event can spin your world out of control for a couple of days.

Our 1-year old cat, Oliver is now let outside for a couple of hours a day. At first he was supervised while he was learning the layout of the yard between the house and the office. Now we check on him ever half hour or he checks in with us in the office (we leave the door open for him). The transition seemed to be going smoothly and Oliver seemed to be careful… that is until he started chasing squirrels and birds.

Time to Throw Stuff Out!

Over the years, to be frugal, I have saved décor and stuff I regularly use during the holidays again and again. Paper and ribbon are saved and re-used. Décor is packed away and brought out again and again. Gift bags are saved and used throughout the year for gift giving as well as lunches and other things that have to be toted around.
This year, I realized I may have saved some stuff too long!

Cleaning Tips on the Go

With the recession lingering on many of us are cleaning our own homes to keep expenses down.

I don’t have a housekeeper or maid. Never have. I have often thought of getting one cause I hate cleaning. The work, physical effort and time it takes to keep a home clean can be excessive, especially if you’re busy