furniture revival continued

as you know i recently started buying, fixing up and reselling furniture. as a general rule, i focus on brass pieces. both because they're really beautiful and not that much work on the clean up.

here are a couple of my pieces - and be sure to click through to take a look in more detail.

Well, as a next step, I started finding that I was gravitating towards bigger furniture pieces, like this awesome settee:

But, it's not the most modern looking - and I thought, it can't be that difficult to recover it. Only, i have no skills in this department at all. meaning - it was time to find a course to invest in. and one that doesn't cost much money given the goal of the year. unfortunately that means the class is in Etobicoke, but its a third of the price of downtown! furtherly unfortunate, is that i'm on a wait list! but when it happens, and when i turn the above, into the below - i will be that much closer to my goal of no debt in 2013.

garden show groupon

i unsubscribed from groupons to prevent the urge to spend money, but i re-subscribe to one or two. i know i shouldn't have, but i really missed the emails in the morning! 

i am though being really strong, and haven't bought any up until one came through for the National Home Show. It was a two for one coupon, and was heavily promoted by Bryan Baeumler. and i am a HUGE fan of HGTV and specifically Bryan.

so, i bought it. and i planned on going with my parents and boyfriend on the friday that Bryan was going to be there. planning fail 1 - turns out i misread the calendar, and not until i was on the way to the show did i notice that in fact, it wasn't until the next week he'd be there.

i shook off the disappointment though, and headed in. planning fail 2 - my boyfriend was working a little late, and the ticket was for 2 person admittance, at the same time. luckily on this one, the security guard was really understanding and let us in separately.

we first of all tackled "Canada Blooms" which was a large room of individual floral and garden displays. i don't have a garden, but i did once work for a greenhouse, so i have great appreciation for flowers and gardens - it was great, some really beautiful things. my only true complaint was that it wasn't big enough and there weren't a ton of deals on flowers - which i was hoping for. take a look at some of the displays.

There were tulips everywhere, and in really great colour combinations. i love this tulip bed - it screams spring!

In addition to tulip, pussy willows were also everywhere. 

a really eye catching garden display - certainly beats a gnome!

not quite flowers, but these succulents still managed to be the most beautiful thing i saw at the show.

once we were done with Canada Blooms, we moved on to the actual home show. and i have to say i was really disappointed! i went with the wrong expectations, i definitely thought there would be more decorative and furniture stands - given we're not doing a big reno, i didn't find a ton that was helpful to me. 

the one thing though that i did find, and that i'm really excited about was Casalife. it's a furniture store in Liberty Village here in Toronto, and they have amazing stuff - what caught my eye at the show was a sputnik chandelier. but, for my budget friendly ears, i was the most excited when she told me of their upcoming warehouse sale. it takes place April 4 - 7 out on Brown's Line - and keep your eyes peeled here as we get closer to the date.

overall, i would have been disappointed if i had paid full price. but, it was a really great (relatively) cheap Friday night out and I had a good time.

bye bye bar cart

ok, so i wasn't lying before when i said i had ignited a love affair with kijiji. and, after this morning, it has only got stronger. why you ask? and what could this possibly have to do with becoming debt free?

well, i love to vintage shop - spending a weekend antiquing is my idea of a good time, but i don't have the money or space to keep it all right now. so, i've opened an etsy store to resell my finds. check out Orange Cats Vintage.

as you'll see, i love brass pieces, i think they just add so much character and charm to a room. and my biggest sale to date was a recently purchased brass bar cart, that i cleaned up a little and resold for double what i paid for it! it's really interesting how when staged and with a little dusting how much better a product looks and how much more someone is willing to pay for it. it helps people to imagine what the piece could look like in their home.

the money i make from reselling these pieces will go to the debt, and make me that much closer to paying it off in its entirety.

here is the piece, once i had cleaned it up a little - the problem was saying goodbye in the end!

saving a BUNCH of money

alright, so bad pun should probably be ignored. but, the lesson is still a good one. i love flowers, especially tulips, and while they may be seen as an unnecessary expense, they make me happy and fighting your way out of debt can't be all sacrifices!

so, enter my solution - split up a bouquet to make several bouquets for a couple rooms in your house. i buy my flowers at Costco, and for $10 was able to fill four vases and brighten up two rooms.

you could probably add them to more rooms - but as you'll notice all flowers have to be up high where the little kitties won't eat them at my house!

in the kitchen, i filled three different size vases and they sit in the windowsill where they get great light and generally last at a minimum one week. what i especially love about this look is using old milk bottles gives the arrangements some character and a nice vintage feel.

for the bathroom, i used a vase i got for christmas which i wasn't convinced on when i opened it, but honestly couldn't love it any better at this point. the four individual flowers in their own vases really makes the bouquet fell larger than it is, and adds a nice bright touch to the washroom.

it's important to remember to keep some treats in your life - flowers once every two weeks, will not stop me from being out of debt by the end of the year, and they make me smile every time i see them!

millionnaire on the couch

Long time no post, and truly no reason for that at all. At the beginning of this week, I started a new job. I now work from home, and while i'd be lying to say it's an easy transition, it certainly is revealing its benefits quite quickly. And, couldn't be more in line with my debt free in a year plan.

First of all, there is no such thing as forgetting your lunch at home, no reason to go out and buy lunch, and even better no trips to Starbucks. Take for example, the delicious yogurt parfait i made this week - a complete replica of what I was buying from Starbucks for $4.

It's easy and simple:

1/2 TBSP of Honey

Layer with 1/2 cup of 0% Greek Yogurt

Finally, top with 1/4 cup of Sugar Free granola

But, the biggest way I'm saving money, is by selling some of the old stuff I have, the stuff that has been doing nothing but gathering dust for the past 6 months. After having such good luck finding awesome stuff on Kijiji, that I'm trying the other way around.

So far I've had some bites, but in all fairness am only a couple hours in! Old nail polishes, an old mirror, and even my old Hunger Games hard cover Trliogy. 

Stay tuned for how it goes! Slow and steady on the way to millionnaire, not just debt free.

Getting my nails did

While manicures aren't a significant expense for me, they are a nice treat that I could easily recreate at home. And so, I did.

Step one, I went to the drugstore to buys more reasonably priced bottle of polish. I wanted a light grey, and Kit had the perfect colour. Only problem being Teresa's only one left and it had a broken lid. But, being in budget mode I asked to see if I could beta discount, and easily saved another 20%!

The manicure itself was easy to do as everything else I already owned from years of stocking stuffers.  And the manicure looks just like a professional one!

furniture saviour

as an extreme fan of pinterest, it goes without saying that i have a dream house in mine, with every room perfectly decorated in my mind.

tiny flaw? i both don't have a house, nor do i have the money to buy half the things i want. but, in my journey to being fiscally responsible, and as a result thinking outside of my comfort zone, i've found a solution: kijiji.

beyond looking for apartments, until 2 weeks ago it never would have crossed my mind to even look into kijiji. with my changed mentality though, when i kept seeing beautiful bar carts on pinterest, i took a chance and looked at kijiji. i can't tell you how pleasantly surprised i was, not only did I find a beautiful one, i bargained and brought the cost down an additional $20.

what do you think of my new bar cart? i think it has started a beautiful love affair with kijiji.

deal site purging

every morning i wake up to 8 new emails, not one of them from a real person. every one one of them trying to convince me to buy 6 things each - all at an incredible deal.

while i may be a glutton for punishment, the temptation is getting a little too much - time to purge. the problem with these emails is that in a moment of weakness, things that you would never ever consider buying are suddenly such a good deal that you couldn't possibly pass it up. not to mention the urgency that is placed on the purchase when there is suddenly a countdown on the screen dictating when you need to act by. i have for the past two years been collecting deals for cupcakes and fake eyelashes - which is evidence in itself of my non-existence self-restraint or sense of logic when it comes to deals.

instead of simply unsubscribing to all, i've streamlined to receive 2 only, as a starting point - no new emails would just make me feel unpopular. for now it is window shopping, but as soon as i've paid off my debt then a deal (having gone through a logic test) can be smart.