TGIF or TGITLFOTM (Thank God It's The Last Friday Of The Month): Sample Sales

I know it's Wednesday, but I wanted to give you advance notice so there won't be any hard feelings. *LA girls take note: The last Friday of each month = major sample sale!* (Ladies not in Los Angeles hold on a sec, I have something for you too). Every last Friday of the month, the California Market Center (California Mart) and the New Mart have a sample sale event (except in December when every Friday is sample sale day). These two large buildings located in LA's Fashion District house the showrooms (which have everything from adult and kids clothing to accessories) where all the buyers select the hottest trends for boutiques and department stores. After they take their orders for the season many of the showrooms sell off the samples to the public at deep discounts (like an extremely fashionable garage sale-everything must go!) Some of my previous finds (way too many to name) include a evening coat from the BCBG showroom for $50 and a beautiful Francesco Biasia overnight bag (worth at least $500) for $200. No need to worry if you're not in LA you can shop the sample sales at home with cool online sites like http://www.hautelook.com/, http://www.gilt.com/, and http://www.ideeli.com/. Save without having to find a parking spot by signing up for free membership and get invitations to shop designer's sample sales at up to 70% off for limited time periods (usually 12-36 hours per sale).

*Tips for LA sample sale shoppers - The sales vary by showroom and last from 9AM-3PM(ish). Bring cash, your own shopping tote (or rollaway suitcase-I'm not kidding) and set a budget. I like to get there for the last two hours (with a set amount of cash). There are so many things to buy I don't want to go broke (then I'd really have something to be stressed out about). So do whatever you need to do to free your schedule Friday and scour those samples (did I hear a sniffle?).