The way I shop is apparently pretty weird. I don’t just go to a store and buy something I like. That would be too easy, you see. It would also be too expensive. I just feel like doing a little bit of research, and maybe even doing it yourself, is worth the savings. When I wanted to update our kitchen light, I did a lot of research first. Here’s how my shopping process goes:
- Determine your want or need. This step is easy. What do you want to purchase/update/make yourself?
- Research. Before running out the store to buy that want, check it out online. For this particular want (chandelier), I wanted to stay below $50 and I knew that I liked the beautiful capiz shell chandeliers that I’d spotted at several places. I found one that I absolutely loved at Pottery Barn, but it was way out of my budget at over $200 and much smaller than I needed for the space. The beauty at Pottery Barn only had one light to boot, whereas the light I was replacing had three.
- Make a compromise if necessary. Such a dirty word, I know. However, if you have a budget and your want is not within, you either have to compromise or put it on the back burner until you’ve saved up enough money to purchase without using credit. For my chandelier, I realized that capiz shell chandeliers were out of my budget, but that capiz shells themselves were very inexpensive. I also discovered that capiz shell wind chimes were already strung like chandeliers, but without the light — which is kind of a big deal.
Since I already had a chandelier with three lights, why on earth would I buy a brand new chandelier?? Sure, the old chandelier was super outdated and looked out-of-place in my kitchen, but buying a whole, new, expensive chandelier would be wasteful and illogical. How could I possibly tell people that I write for SeeDebtRun and make poor financial choices as such?!
Instead, I decided to bust out the glue gun and make my own little DIY capiz shell chandelier.
The first step was purchasing a pair of capiz shell light shades for about $19 each from World Market (At last glance, they are no longer available, though they still have the larger version sold for $69.99! I recommend searching for capiz shell wind chimes as an alternative). The shells were bright, golden hued, and lovely, and were already pre-strung in columns of varying lengths, which was perfect for my needs. If trying this project on your own, you could also find capiz shells not already strung together (usually sold by the bag) and string them yourself for additional savings!