Have Fun Locally and Save Money!

Happy as a kid in a candy store. 

That’s how I described my husband as we board the train going to Los Angeles Union Station. (Psst, it was his first time to be on the train.)

We were talking about spending the day in Santa Monica Beach but the thought of driving in a busy Freeway and expensive parking almost prevented us from having a fun time.

I started researching if there are other ways of getting to Santa Monica Beach without the aggravation of driving.  City bus was not an option because it will take us maybe three to four hours to get to the beach. We would end up spending the day in the bus. Taking Uber or Lyft is kind of expensive so it was not considered.

I started researching the train option and BOOM! Problem solved. 

Metrolink tickets took us to Santa Monica and back and for only $11. Yes, it is way cheaper than driving and parking. We were able to see so many interesting things that we would not usually see when driving. We left the house at 8:00 AM and we got to the beach at 10:00 AM. For two hours, we strolled by the ocean and the pier. Around noon, we decided to walk to the nearby mall and had a delicious Mexican food for lunch.

We were home before 3 PM, happy and satisfied.

By the way, do you know that on weekends, you can get a Metrolink day pass for only $10? Yes, you can visit different Southern California beaches for that amount. What are you waiting for? Enjoy and save!

But...it is on SALE!

We have all done it. We saw an item and it was on sale. We do not need it at the moment but we tell ourselves we could keep it for a future use. A year later, we still have not found a use for it. We realized the item is just occupying space that we could use for more important things. We either give it away or toss it.

I am glad I was able to give away things that I do not need but for some, a habit of buying things they do not need can lead to a more serious problem; hoarding. 

Keep in mind, we do not have to buy things just because it is on sale. I know the promise of big savings if you buy their products is very tempting. Once you bought it, you spent, not saved. The only real saving is when the money stayed in your wallet.

Always do a balance check between wants and needs. It will help you eliminate wasteful spending.

Go For Quality, Not Quantity

I was walking in a mall one time when I saw this big sign: Closing Out Sale! Everything Must Go! My eyes gravitated to the pile of T-shirts that says 3 for $10.

I was planning to buy a few T-shirts to replace the ones I have. I thought, why not? It is cheap. As I go through the pile, I got carried away. I bought nine different colors. 

Good deal! I got nine T-shirts for $30 and so I thought. 

When I got home, I washed them right away. You probably already guessed what happened next. All of them shrunk. I could not even put them past my head.

We always hear the phrase, you get what you pay for. In my case, I did not even get what I paid for. I could have used my $30 to buy one piece of a trusted brand that would have last for a long time.

Lesson learned. 

Sew It If You Can

Our dining room.

When our drapes became so embarrassing that we did not even want to invite friends over, we realized it was time to replace it. 

Our house was built in 1928 and almost every thing in the house is from its original state including the curtain rods. It is designed for pinch pleat drapes.

Our original plan was to buy the ready made ones. We visited every store that sells curtains and drapes and we did not find ones that we wanted. Those we like were too expensive and the inexpensive ones had poor quality. Buying online was not an option. We like to inspect it first before we decide to buy it.

We thought the only remaining option was to have it custom made. I loved the idea! We can choose the materials we want. 

We were excited until we learned how much would it cost us. For the dining room, living room and two bedrooms, it would cost us between $4,000 and $5,000 depending on the materials we choose.

I told my husband, I was just going to make it myself. I can sew but I never made drapes before. I would rather try doing it myself than spend that kind of money. 

We went to the nearby fabric store and discovered that the materials were not cheap either. The cheapest we could find was $20 per yard. We needed 50 yards so just for the fabric, we would have to spend $1,000! On top of that, we wanted the drapes lined. That was another $600 for the $12 per yard lining. Whew! 

We drove to downtown Los Angeles garment district the next day hoping to find a better deal. That was an excellent move!  We found the same material for only $6 per yard and the same lining for $3 per yard. We were also able to buy curtain materials for the family room. The whole thing cost us $500.

It took me a month to finish the drapes and curtains but it was worth it.  

Costco Membership + Good Credit = Huge Savings

When our twelve-year-old car started to give us so much problems, we knew it was time to buy a new one. We started checking prices online, then we visited different dealerships. We knew what car we wanted and we were just finding ways on how to get good deal. 

Now, we are Costco Executive members and every month we receive their magazine in the mail. We have been wondering about their car buying program. We do not know anybody who used it but we thought we would give it a try.

We were surprised how easy the process was. Costco connected us to the dealer. There are sales agents that are assigned to help Costco members. We were able to meet with him the same day, BUT, before we went to see him, we went online and printed the price of the car that we wanted to buy. In that way, we will see if we were really getting a Costco member discount or not.

To our surprise, we did. We got over a thousand dollars discount! Then, after checking our credit report, the agent said we are qualified for 0% APR financing! How cool is that! The agent was even surprised that we put a down payment on it. He made a comment we could have just used the money for other things. We could but we wanted our monthly payment as low as possible.

Our payment ended up just over a hundred dollars a month. Included in that payment is a seven-year extended warranty. We were more than satisfied when we drove our new car home. It pays to maintain good credit standing. It came handy when we needed it.

Oh, and did I say we love Costco?