Suzanne O’Connor’s Bargains LA

Cruising Commerce

Web Dude and I were cruising around Commerce Thursday, checking in on some outlets we love and visiting new ones. Saw a couple of places I wanted to research in depth and another couple of places that were just so so.

We did however pop into long time BargainsLA fave California Closeouts.

If at First You Don’t Succeed….

Did ya see me this weekend? I was everywhere. This weekend was spent trying to track down some new bargain sources.

Friday, I drove around Santa Monica and into West LA only to find the Bridal place I wanted to research, was closed!

After Christmas Shopping

The day after Christmas is usually the biggest shopping day of the year.  That yearning to spend gift cards and bag a bargain persists in most of us. But the streets around the malls are still a traffic nightmare and the parking lots are filled with ill-mannered parking imbeciles. I try to avoid shopping the day after Christmas, but not this year.

A Tale of Two Pies

This year we didn’t want the chaos of baking pies while cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Plus we wanted to support a friend who opened up a new Bakery in Sunland (The Back Door Bakery).

Hubby ordered a pecan pie from them at $20 for us to pick up Thursday morning.

Of course, I didn’t want to spend $20 on another pie, so I walk into my local Marie Calenders and ordered one Apple pie.

Ideeli… A Bad Business

Couple of years ago I was really hyped about these online Flash/ Sample Sales. With dozens opening up, competition steep and the supply chain being tight, quite a few have slipped away.

I have continued shop several of them knowing that often the stated retail is a bit higher than I should be and that the discounts were not always as low as ‘walk in” sample sales.

Rewards for Hard Work

Our daughter had had a really stressful, exhausting week with her High School Choir rehearsals & performances along with a slew of other responsibilities. With her full workload she still managed to get A’s in all her classes. It was time to give her a reward for all her hard work. So last Friday I took her out of school, letting her sleep in late and then took her shopping.

Warehouse Sale Shopping Tips

Okay chitlins, the biggest Sample / Warehouse Sale Season of the year has officially started. From mid-October to mid-December more Sample and Warehouse Sales happen that at any other time of year.

To do well and score big at these, you need a plan of action. So with the season officially on, let’s go over some basics….

Trader Joes Fun

Call me old fashioned (not!) but I love my Fearless Flyer from Trader Joes.

Back in the day I would ravenously read it after picking it up in-store. I was the one in the wine aisle leaning over the empty cart reading it cover to cover looking for new buys, deals, recipes or tidbits of information.

Thrift Store Fun

I love to go to thrift and junk stores. Digging and exploring are in my genes! I have a few regular pop in stores I like to haunt. Some I’ve scored some real steals at. But not all thrift stores are created equally.

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