Woot, literally

For some good deals, check out Woot. What is Woot?


Here's the answer straight from them:

What is Woot and who's behind it?
Woot.com is an online store and community that focuses on selling cool stuff cheap. It started as an employee-store slash market-testing type of place for an electronics distributor, but it's taken on a life of its own. We anticipate profitability by 2043 – by then we should be retired; someone smarter might take over and jack up the prices. Until then, we're still the lovable scamps we've always been. But don't take our word for it: see what the online community has to say at this Wikipedia article.
I see only one item, do you sell anything else?
No. We sell one item per day until it is sold out or until 11:59pm central time when it is replaced (see next entry for details). However, each item we sell is in stock and typically ships within 2-3 business days.
What is the schedule for new items?
The short answer: we offer a new item every single day. The details: a new product is released every morning at 12am central time, seven days a week. (If you're not a morning person, this can be described as every night at midnight. Better?) If a product sells out during its run, a new item will not appear until the next release time. You will know if a product is sold out, because the main page says "SOLD OUT" instead of "I want one". (Clever, eh?)

Today's item is a Westinghouse 32" LCD HDTV for $399.99. But you have to purchase early, because items sell out quickly! Fortunately, you can subscribe to their RSS Feed.

Re-upholstering dining room chairs

I'm moving into a new apartment this month (in a week!) and I'd really like it to look nice. But of course, I don't have a ton of money to spend (none, actually). As such, I've spending a lot of time looking for good deals.

My roommates and I got together and discussed what furniture and other apartment necessities we each had and could contribute, so that way we could decide what we still needed. None of us had a dining room table or chairs to offer.

My aunt called me up yesterday to tell me that a house down her street was having a garage sale and that they were offering a table and four chairs for $40. Immediately, my mother and I got in the car and drove over.

Now this turned out to be an amazing garage sale. It was a three-family sale and they were giving away a ton of really nice, good-quality stuff. We're talking gorgeous lamps, mirrors and a even a leather sofa for just $25! Needless to say, I bought the set (and my mom picked up a lamp for $4). We actually got them to bring it down to $35. One of the guys that was selling stuff was even nice enough to bring the table and chairs back to the house since my mom's car wasn't big enough for all of it.



One of the chairs




The table (it also has a leaf so that it can expand)

I really loved the set, but I didn't really like the seat cushions. Brown corduroy? Ick. I mentioned to my mom that I wasn't too crazy about them, and she suggested that I get fabric and cover them myself. I could've lived with the old fabric, but I thought changing it would be a fun project. So I went out and bought some new fabric.



I thought it had a sort of cheese-y 70's quality to it - and I loved it

My aunt and uncle are pretty good at re-upholstering, so my mom asked if they could help me. This ended up turning into a family project.

Now, while DIY is cheaper and fun, I recommend this sort of project to only those who have some skill, a lot of time, a whole lot of patience, and at least one helping hand.

1. First we had to unscrew the seats from the chairs.
2. Next, there was a piece of black material stapled to the bottom of each chair. We removed the staples using a flat-head screwdriver (to lift up the staple) and a pair of pliers (to pull it out).
3. Then we had to remove the staples from the corduroy. (Have you ever seen an uncovered cushion? It was just foam sitting on a plank of wood. I expected something else, for some reason.)
4. Next, my aunt used the old pieces of corduroy to measure out the new fabric.
5. Then we covered the cushion with the new fabric. Your helping hand is very important here, as you'll need someone to help hold it while you stretch the fabric.
The fabric is again stapled onto the wood.
6. I covered my seats with plastic to protect them, but of course, this is optional. But if you do this, repeat the process with the plastic. Remember to pull TIGHTLY or else the plastic is wrinkled. My aunt actually used a blow drier to melt the plastic a bit and have it conform to the cushions.
7. The cushions were then screwed back into the chairs. Remember to keep track of which cushion went with what chair, because the holes in the cushions might be lined up differently.







Voila!


Table and four chairs: $35
Fabric and plastic: $10.10
Total: $45.10


I have a lot of fabric left over so I'm planning to make matching seat cushions for a couple of bar stools. Sweet deal!

Bienvenidos!

Welcome to Cheap Inspiration! I'm hoping to share with you ideas that I've had to live frugally, especially on a college student's budget. I grew up with frugal parents and their habits affected me. And now that I'm in college without a stable job, I've learned to be even more careful with money. I think I've gotten pretty good at it, which is why I'd like to share my ideas. And, please, if you have any cool ideas, send them to me and I'll share them.