Archive for the ‘Bargains & Markets’ Category
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How-to: A wedding dress for less than $200
Okay, I know under $200 might be pushing it. Unless you’ve gone all Oxfam chic (which is fine) and also plan on NO alternations/additions/cleaning of the garment, any British woman would be hard pressed to find any sort of luxury dress for so little.
The reason my dress was so cheap? It was handmade and not by someone who shows during Paris Couture Week. It sounds counter-intuitive, but if you have the talent at hand to do it, you can get a perfectly fitted, handmade dress you can use forever at a fraction of the cost. And it’ll be couture in the proper sense of couture:
cou·ture
n.- The business of designing, making, and selling highly fashionable, usually custom-made clothing for women.
How did I do this? By doing a DIY wedding must: use personal favours (a brilliant reason to not ask people for too much in daily life. Favours are best used when truly needed). My wonderful Aunt Kathy is the most skilled, creative dressmaker I’ve come across and she offered to make my dress. Hurrah! For my wedding, we were thinking of a classic cocktail shift with a bit of accoutrement at the waist nipping it in. Nothing too fancy and something that I could definitely use again.
After trying on endless dresses at the shops, we got a feel for what looked best and headed to the big fabric store in the not-so-nice neighbourhood to which serious sewers go for their goods and began the search for cut-out organza by the yard. We stumbled across this fabric and the dress was born — a shorter, updated version of Hepburn’s Funny Face dress with black embroidery, a detachable organza belt and bow and a giant red flower pin (into which genius Aunt Kathy sewed an antique button to cover the ugly plastic center).
The materials cost approximately $190.00 for the white organza, black organza, flower (from the fake flowers section at the habberdashers), liner fabric and tulle. Aunt Kathy had the extras (pin back for the flower, hook clasps for the belt, zipper, thread, extra fabric for collar, boning) sitting around her work studio. If this dress had been commissioned by someone to whom I am not related or BFF, it would have been priced well over $1,000.
Plus it fits my every curve perfectly. There’s no loosing weight or having last minute alternations to let it out (not to mention my self-confidence remaining in tact as the fit makes me feel so good, and that is priceless). I also opted for non-traditional fabric and style… it’s short (my dad says I look like a cupcake). Both of these help to save money on fabric and the labour costs if you are paying someone to create it for you.
Not everybody is lucky enough to have an Aunt Kathy (although everyone needs one. I thank god that she’s mine). So calling in this sort of favour is not always an option. But rack your brain when you start your planning. Do you know someone who sews or someone who knows someone who sews? Friends will always cut friends a deal and as long as you’re not Bridzilla, the process isn”t difficult: buy fabric, have fittings. If you aren’t blessed with friends who sew, there are still elements of this that you can take with you to the shops for cheaper off the rack gowns.
First, opt for a cocktail dress (or a simpler pattern and cut) instead of a tiered silk, trailing confection in a bridal showroom. Less fabric + less-complicated pattern = less expensive. If it’s a dress that’s not specifically marked as a bridal gown, all the better. Chances are it’ll be priced like a regular dress instead of in the highway robbery price range common in the bridal industry. Go to a department store instead of a specialty store or shop on Etsy for an affordable wedding dress. I found many a white wedding dress on the US department store website Nordstrom.com ranging in price from $88 to $570.
Additionally, if you buy/make a dress you can wear for other occasions (to other weddings, black-tie affairs, etc.) then you’ll continue to save money as time goes by. Who wants to pack their wedding memories into a box to collect dust anyway? Every time you wear it you’ll be reminded of the big day. Now isn’t that better than never seeing it in the light of day again? Detachable details (like the belt and bow) can help make the dress look different each time it’s worn.
The golden rule to remember when calling in personal favors to help you economise for the big day is that you can’t just take ‘em and run! Even if you don’t pay someone with cash, you need to acknowledge what they’ve done for you and thank them in a tangible way, whether it’s with a bottle of wine, a week of foot massages, making cupcakes… whatever. Use your talents to give them something they need just as they have used theirs to give you something you need. It’s like a bridal barter system. If you’re worried you’ll forget to pay them back or they don’t know you’re giving them something, give them a thank you card with an IOU. For me, my gift will be creating an Etsy site for my Aunt Kathy to sell her wares. It’s incredibly bad manners not to reciproate and no one’s going to help you again if you just take the favour and run.
And that is the story of how my bridal cocktail dress (and the dresses of all my sisters and cousins for every major life event) came about.
Total spent: $190.00 (£124)
Total saved: $810.00 (£532)
Posted in Bargains & Markets, Fashion, Weddings
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How to win big (and save loads) on Ebay
Here are the beloved Marni boots I scored on Ebay a couple of months ago. They’re exactly what I was after: flat heels and over the knee in a rich chocolate brown. If I bought them in-store I would have payed £850. On Ebay I paid just £53. They are seriously the best boots I’ve ever owned, but it took a little time (and Ebay savvy) to get my mits on them.
Here are my top tips for scoring big on Ebay:
• If you’re after a specific item, do your research first. Make sure you’re aware of its actual retail value.
• Resist the urge to bid on the very first thing you find. Spend a couple of weeks watching similar items on Ebay first and see how much they go for. For instance, I’ve been watching Anglepoise lamps on Ebay for the past couple of months. It’s been really interesting to see not only how much they go for, but the variety of lamps on offer – varying from very poor condition to completely re-conditioned and brand-spanking new! When I eventually come to bid on a lamp I’ll be much more confident about how much I can expect to pay.
• Save searches to your Ebay profile and sign up for daily emails alerting you to new auctions. I’ve currently saved 92 searches to my profile, and get about 40 emails a day! (I know it’s a lot but I just quickly scan the auctions for any outstanding gems.)
• Include mis-spellings in your saved searches, such as Mui Mui (instead of Miu Miu) and Vivenne Westwood (instead of Vivienne Westwood). It’s amazing how many people get the spelling wrong in their auctions – and how they’re easily overlooked.
• To avoid missing out at the last second, make sure you snipe by using a service like Just Snipe. It may be a wee bit naughty and not exactly in the spirit of Ebay, but let’s face it, everyone does it and Ebay doesn’t seem to have a problem with it. A snipe service will put in a bid during the last few seconds of the auction (which is extremely difficult and quite frantic when you try to do it manually). All you need to do is nominate your maximum bid and it will do all the work for you.
Total spent: £53
Value of boots: £850
Total saved: £797What’s your best buy on Ebay? Got any top tips of your own?
Posted in Bargains & Markets, Fashion, Vintage
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Market challenge: How much can you haggle or get for free? [Part 2]
It’s 4pm at Borough Market, and even though I’ve just filled up on a three-course menu of samples, I really need to get down to some haggling business. And just as I’m starting to panic that I’ll never pick up a bargain, a cacophany of mad discounting fills the air as the stall owners start to pack up for the day.
It’s half-price fish over at Furness Fish Market, “two pies for a fiver” (down from £3.95 each) at Pie Minster and the fruit and veg stand on Stoney Street is flogging bowls of assorted veg for a £1.
I head over to Flour Power City Bakery as the stall owners are clearing the tables by throwing dozens of loaves into bin liners. This is it – time to haggle.
“Will you take two pounds for this?” I ask, pointing at a loaf of £3.50 soda bread.
“No,” says Gruff Dude, shovelling more loaves into the rubbish bag.
“Er, you’re not chucking those away, are you?” I nervously laugh, in a rather clumsy and futile attempt to make conversation.
Gruff Dude continues to shovel bread. The stall is almost empty.
I decide to press on. “So, how much do you want for it?”
“£3.50”
“Ohhh…”
“But I’ll throw in some free bread if you like…”
Aha! A ray of light! “Deal,” I say, handing over the cash.
I watch as Gruff Dude reaches for a shopping bag and proceeds to stuff it with as many different loaves as he can. I take home a total of four loaves of artisan bread valued at £14 – for a total cost of £3.50.
I’ve learnt my lesson. Whilst drastic discounting is out, free extras on top of the original asking price is totally in.
I continue on my merry haggling way, and end up going home with:Wedge of Welsh cheese £2 – reduced from £2.90
4 loaves of artisan bread £3.50 – reduced from £14
6 pork Boston sausages £4 – reduced from £5.20
2 slices of Banoffee pie £3 – reduced from £4
Total spent: £12.50
Full price of produce: £26.10
Total saved: £13.60Posted in Bargains & Markets, Food
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Market challenge: How much can you haggle or get for free?
I love the idea of haggling. Really, I do. It’s an age-old system of two parties negotiating the best deal for themselves. But I just happen to be spectacularly crap at it. Especially at farmers markets - I feel like a total cheap-arse offering a farmer-type peanuts for their organically grown and loving-tended potatoes. OK, so that’s not exactly the reality of the situation, but you know what I’m getting at. Nobody wants to be a scumbag.
So this really was a challenge for me on a number of levels. Especially as my local “farmers market” also happens to be one of London’s number one foodie tourist attractions, Borough Market. I generally make a weekly trip to Borough to pick up some goodies for the week – and to grab some coffee from Monmouth to kick-start the weekend. The thing is, I often go first thing in the morning, mostly to avoid the tourist crowds which really start to get crazy at about 11am.
But one week I happened to be there towards the end of trading, around 4pm, and noticed that the stall owners were madly discounting all their produce. So I decided to head back there at 3.30pm, to find out exactly how much I could haggle - or get for free.
First thing I noticed? Nobody is discounting at 3.30pm. It’s still packed with tourists milling around the stall counters and paying top price for produce. So there’s no need for the owners to discount or bargain with customers. I snuck up to a couple of stall owners and offered £2 for half a dozen sausages, and was just about laughed away. The embarrassment!
So whilst I waited for the crowd to dissipate and the day to wind down, I dedicated myself fully to getting as much free stuff as possible – ie. samples. Now, I usually steer entirely clear of food samples. Honestly, I really don’t want your teensy bit of bread covered in oily pesto that has been man-handled by hundreds of other grubby fingers. Yeeuurk. So I literally had to swallow my germ-phobia and get on with it. I felt like a total scavenger, swooping in on any out-stretched platter of crumbs.
But you know what? I did quite well. In fact, I just about made a three-course meal of it. Here’s what I scored…
STARTERS:
10x chunks of cheese
3x pesto on breadMAIN:
2x samples of sausage
2x samples of ravioliDESSERT:
3x pieces of cake
1x pieces of fudge
2x pieces of browniesI was starting to feel quite full by the time 4pm drew near, so I had to draw on my inner reserves and steely determination to haggle with the best.
Coming up in part 2: The full haggling results! In the meantime - enjoy this video:
Birdy Moola goes to Borough Market! from OolaMoola on Vimeo.How much can you haggle or get for free? Read more at our blog!
Posted in Bargains & Markets, Food
