Never Pay Retail for... Antique Jewelry

This takes some serious time investment and, depending on your reckoning of hourly pay, probably is not lucrative. But for a collector of such things, it is so very worthy of the effort. Collectors usually seek a specific item classification by a specific maker. Someone may be looking for Peruzzi, Florence, 800 sterling pieces (as opposed to the Boston pieces). Another enthusiast might only be interested in Austo-Hungarian enamel necklaces depicting St. George (with pearls of course). There are just so many different antique jewelry fetishes that the best thing I can do is give real life examples.

As a rule, you are looking for a seller who does not know what they have or is not sure of what they have.

$12.99

Example: Sterling Guilloche Belt Buckle by Georg Adam Scheid

When I came across this light blue piece, it was listed for $12.99 on eBay. Hold that thought.

$485.43

A search for similar items yielded an almost identical
buckle for £380 ($485*). Both had markings on the back.
One seller knew what he had, the other did not.

94 euros

A further search of eBay showed items made and signed by Scheid ranged in price from €94 ($107) for a small, simple, sterling pin in the shape of a stirrup, holding a portrait of a horse, ...

7,500 euros

to €7,500 ($8,574*) for a small, extremely detailed,
sterling, enamel, and jeweled  pin depicting a Merbaby
riding a Merhorse (not to be confused with a seahorse).

The original light blue buckle sold for $37. It is unknown whether it will again become available (for a higher price).

*Per exchange rates at the time of this writing.

Only Serious Timepieces Need Apply

I recently had a watch stolen from my suitcase. (I'm pretty sure I know which organization of anti-Fourth Amendment criminals took it but that's another issue.) I bought this particular watch a year ago to celebrate a new job. I absolutely loved it. The two tone design (steel and rose gold), and the combination of a black leather strap and diamond face, made it extremely versatile. So after failing to recover it I went on the hunt for a replacement. This is what I discovered.

• This particular watch was only produced for a limited amount of time (no pun intended) and was no longer available.
• This watch was a Bulova analog chronograph which would hold it's value for, well, pretty much ever. Replacing the exact watch was a smart move since I'd only paid 1/4 of the retail price for it in the first place. (Classify this as "Never Pay Retail For... Watches.)
• The new digital Apple watch has just hit the market at some ridiculous price, thus I'm expecting the Apple II next-gen watch sometime next week. Digital watches are still of no interest to me. They never hold their value and frankly, never look good on. I'm old enough to remember the first ones and the snob appeal that came with them. Nothing has changed.
• My choices were limited if I wanted the features I valued in this model. Steel and rose gold with a leather strap is a combination not often found.

So I looked at other options, keeping in mind that summer is around the corner and maybe a lighter look would work just as well. 

After considering various "designer" brands, I came right back to the analog watchmakers I trusted: Bulova, Seiko, and yes, Timex. Don't get me wrong. Fossil and Michael Kors make some lovely watches. But by-and-large they charge the same prices for "crystals" as Bulova charges for actual diamonds. And I am just a girl after all. Given the choice, I'll take the diamonds all day, every day.

So I did buy a different watch. Another Bulova with a leather strap and diamonds. Found it for 1/3 of the retail price. Lovely watch but... just wasn't the "go with everything" piece I'd hoped for.

Long story short, I found one site online that had two of the original watches left. They were the demos. I didn't care. It's like having a good friend back in town.  And I learned something about watches. The classics keep their value for decades. Look on ebay and you'll see. Diamond Hamilton and Bulova watches from the early to mid 1900s STILL go for the same or more than these newer ones. Someday my son's wives will thank me.

Never Pay Retail for... Furniture

I get a lot of people asking me how I manage never to pay retail prices for anything. This isn't a casual question asked in polite conversation mind. This is more of an intense interview after backing me into a corner type of question. So, in order to reduce the number of creative escapes I must make each month, I thought I would post some of my best tips for not spending money, right here. The short answer is research. But the details are so much more complicated. I can't do it in a single post so we'll categorize.

I thought I'd start with one of my favorite subjects; furniture. I am a furniture lunatic. I admit it. And I refuse to seek therapy. The following rules have some of my favorite finds interspersed. You'll see why therapy for my furniture obsession would only cost me much more money in the long run. Only a woman obsessed would go to such lengths to find her caviar tastes for sale at pizza prices.

New puppy whose nickname is now "Satan."

Rule #1: If it isn't on sale, don't buy it. Period. Just don't. OK, so the new puppy just ate a hole in your leather sofa. You liked that sofa. It was comfy. It was part of your football watching routine. So, you check the Sunday circulars. New leather sofas are $1000. DO NOT buy one. Instead, decide which style you like. Fashions change and furniture fashions are no exception. You may or may not want one just like the previous one. All you need to do for now is decide what the replacement should look like and what quality it should be.

Rule #2: Sales are good. Clearance is better. So maybe you can find some leather sofas on sale for $800. Do you really want to pay $800? Many furniture stores have clearance sections that they do not advertise. RC Willey has an undecorated warehouse-like room in the back of its stores. This is the clearance section and it is your friend. Yes, you will have to actually visit the store to see what is there but it is sooooo worth it. (They also have some limited items online at rcwilley.com/Outlet.) You may find a reasonable match for that sofa for $400. Much better, yes?

I fell in love with this silk sofa at first sight. It was nowhere near my budget range.
By chance, I found it in the clearance room months later. It is now the reading sofa in my bedroom.
Satan has a restraining order against him regarding this sofa. He's not allowed within 10 feet of it.

Rule #3: Discount stores are the bomb. Steinmart, Tuesday Morning, Home Goods, Marshall's, Big Lots; all these are chains that carry quality items below retail. Some have furniture, some don't. Also, the stock varies and many of the items may be one of a kind depending on what the closeout item at the retail store was. Know where they are, what they carry, and how they are laid out in order to spend the least amount of time and money in them.



Rule #4: Know Thy Comparables. I'm not going to use the word "knockoffs" because these are not knockoffs. The fact is there are many "designer" brands out there that are made by the same manufacturers who also sell to lower end clients. For all intents and purposes, these lower end stores' versions are exactly the same as the designer version, minus some detail (or sometimes plus details). A good example is Pottery Barn and Target. I love the Pottery Barn catalog! But, many times I find the same item at Target or http://target.com for much less. And of course, I don't ever pay retail at Target. I wait for a sale and use my Target Visa and get another 5% back on the purchase. Which brings us to...


Rule #5: Use a card that pays you back. This one is getting easier as so many will offer you a percentage of your money back either in cash, money off your purchase, or points to be used toward gift cards. Discover gives cash back which they build in your account. You can either take the cash value or you can use it toward gift certificates for less than the face value of the certificate, i.e. $40 cash gets you a $50 gift card. Guess which one I choose.

My children are responsible for my reputation as a bargain hunter extraordinaire.
This "purchase" is one of my most famous.

Rule #6: Craigslist. That $1,000 leather sofa? Found, brand new, on Craigslist for $195. No, I am not joking. They bought it on sale and could not return it. The wife hated it. I paid them $200 even. Now that's therapy.