How To Save Money: Buy Second Hand

This is one of my favorite ways to save money. Shopping at second hand stores and places on line is so much fun. You can find clothing and more at discounted prices and it is always a surprise as to what you are going to discover. My local Good Will and Salvation Army often have Loli-able items for very cheap. Cute blouses and sweaters tend to be the easiest things to find. I have had no luck finding a skirt or dress that even comes close to Lolita. One day.

The egl sales comm is my go to place on line to find Lolita clothing at great prices, usually. Sometimes people price things a bit high but that does not happen too often. You can find anything and everything on the egl sales comm. I have purchased many items at great prices. One of the best things about it is that the sellers are from all over the world and many of them from the USA and Europe. This means that a lot of sellers from the US can give me good shipping prices, plus no customs. Yea! The total price is often raised because of the expensive shipping and customs. Another bonus to shopping on the egl sales comm is that you can often talk down prices. Not by a lot buy by a little. People are often kind enough to cut you a break and knock down a few dollars.

Even when I don't have money to spend on clothing I still enjoy browsing and seeing what there is. Every once in a while you find a great deal. I have seen brand dresses and skirts being sold for $50! You have to be quick though. The great deals get scooped up extremely fast.

How To Save Money: Save a Little Automatically

 photo from Tokyo Rebel

Saving money is not always easy. It is pretty darn hard sometimes. A nice easy way to save money on a regular basis is to automatically tuck a small amount away every time you get money. Whether it be a paycheck, allowance, birthday money, or anything tuck some away. A good example is direct deposit for your paycheck. For quite some time I had my paycheck automatically deposited in my bank account so this means that I don't have cash in my hands at any time. People tend to spend when they see cash in their wallet. In addition to never having cash in my hand I also had $15 per week automatically deposited into my savings account. It is so easy because it is no effort. 

If you are younger you can do this with your parents and your allowance. Just ask them to tuck a certain amount away every week. I am sure that they would be more than happy to do this for you and probably proud of your saving ways. You will be surprised how quickly your saving will add up when it is automatic and you don't have to think about it.

It is also awesome to think about the future and how much money you will have saved in a certain amount of time. For example, if I save $15 per week for 6 months I will have $360! That is a brand spankin' new brand dress. Nice. You will not even know that the $15 a week is missing but you will notice a nice new dress in your closet in 6 months.

Amazing Make Up Haul From Rite Aid

As I wrote yesterday in my post, I stopped off at my local Rite Aid that is moving. Since they are merging with another store close by they are selling their stock at 75% off. Amazing, I know! I was able to grab some make up and a few misc. items when everything was 50% off a couple weeks ago. But yesterday I did really well.

The store was baron. The whole make up section which was 3 aisles was condensed down to a small wall but it was packed with great stuff. Make up, nail polish, perfume, and other girly things. I spent 15 minutes digging through bins, scouring shelves, and sifting through the cluttered chaos and here is what I walked away with. 

I have super fair skin so I always have to buy cover up and concealer that is as pale as I can find it. I was lucky enough to find several items in the appropriate hues. I got the above products and I think I am most excited about the Physician's Formula Healthy Wear 50 SPF cover up. Since I have fair skin I burn very easily. If I go out side and the sun is out I am going to turn a little pink if not red. It is hard to find any facial product that is not sun screen that has a high SPF. Plus, the cool orange and pink bottle is really nice looking. It was only $3.75! Yes! I am super happy that I didn't have to spend $15.00 on it. The other items are great staple cover ups. I am starting to use age defying products now since in your twenties you are supposed to use prevention products that slow down the appearance of lines and wrinkles.

There was so much lip stick but I was not really in the market for any so I scouted out ti find a lip gloss or two. I was lucky enough to get one of the last Baby Lips Maybelline lip balm. It is a grape flavor and is a dark purple color and I was a bit worried it would turn my lips purple but it has almost no color at all. Just a juicy smell. I really like it. It set me back 95 cents. I know, I spent too much. I was also able to grab one of the last L'Oreal Color Juice gloss. It has a really nice cherry smell and the shine it gives is really nice. Like my lips are wet. That one was $2.12. 

Wearing false lashes is something I don't too often but sometimes I like to feel extra pretty and I will slap some on. I practically bought everything they had left in this department. It was almost all gone. 2 pair of lashes and glue. The long blue lashes are really cool and will be a really fun pair to wear. I will have to save them for a special day or event. I got all this for $4.00.

Here are all the miscellaneous items that I scooped up. The light pink eye shadow at the top left  is so pretty. It doesn't really look it in the picture or even in the container but I tried it out and it is lovely. It is so soft and has a little shimmer to it. 90 cents. How could I not buy it? I bought Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Cuticle Balm. I did not even know that this was a thing until I saw it yesterday. I love it so much now. I have long nails which I don't paint often at all but I like my nails and hands to look nice so I take care of them in other ways. So this is just another way for me to make my hands look better. It has a really nice fresh scent and it feels great. 

The little lavender mirror compact is so small and thin it is perfect for my purse/bag. I think I am going to do a little deco to it. Some pink little bows and sparkles and it will be the cutest mirror ever. 

The Cover Girl Tru Mineral Blends, above and in the middle, is a very feminine and pretty pink shimmery powder. It has a little puff in the container. It has a nice light pink color to it and will come in handy when I don't feel like wearing a blush with a lot of color. It adds a nice glow and shimmer to my face. I will use it on days when I am feeling less than glowing.

The red curlers at the top right are for an experiment. My hair does not take to curling with a curling iron so I am going to try these. My hair is thin and perhaps using these with my wet hair and allowing it to do with these will be the trick to making curls stay longer than 30 minutes.

The last things I bought were green mascara, black eye liner, and super fun blue eye liner. I can never have too many eye liners and never enough mascara. 

I am sad that the Rite Aid is closing but I thankful that I was able to grab these things at great prices. It is nice to hit great sales and save lots of money. My make up collection grew quite a bit yesterday and I can't wait to use it all.

How To Save Money: Wait A Few Days

One of my and many peoples downfalls of spending money is impulse purchasing. It is so easy and fast to just buy something up, but many a time I have buyers remorse after my quick purchase. So, to stop this I have come up with a waiting period for purchasing. I am not talking about spending $5 on a cute little bag but on bigger things. Say I see an amazing pair of boots in the store and they are $75. I really want them right now, but will I feel that way in a few days? I wait and mull it over. If 2 days pass and I still can't live without them, I will get them. Sometimes all it takes is time and some thinking to realize that you don't need an item.  Many times I don't even remember what I wanted.

I understand this does not really work well with auction sites and other sites like the egl sales comm. Even there you might find your time waited worked. There have been several items that I have seen and immediately wanted but I waited and 2 days later it is still up for grabs. And because I waited a few days I asked for a cheaper price and got it.

Try it. If you don't save a little money I would be very surprised.

How To Save Money: Never Spend your Change

  One of the best ways to save money is to never spend your change.  When a cashier asks for $7.25 don't toss that quarter their way.  Give them $8.00 and take that 75 cents back and pocket it.  Take it home and put it in a piggy bank.  

Every time I get change back I just toss it in my purse, forget about it and then clean it out every other week or so.  Once it is at the bottom of my bag I forget about it.  The only time I really think about it is when I hear it jingle and it's nice to think about the money that I am putting away.

I know this isn't a way to save tons of money but I fill up a piggy bank a couple to 3 times a year and each time I have anywhere from $100 to $130.  Think about that.  With that money you could buy a new JSK or fill your closet with a new collection of socks.  

Now, don't waste your money taking that jar of coins to the CoinStar.  CoinStar charges you and takes part of your money that you so diligently saved.  Hop on down to the bank and ask for coin wrappers.  They give them away for free.  Roll all of your money at home, take it to the bank, and get cash moneys.  

There you go.  It isn't magic but it is an easy way to save a little money.  Make sure you put it to good use.