Kawaii & Cute on a budget! Stationary

Hello Everyone!

As promised, here is the first post for Kawaii & Cute on a budget!
Today's subject is stationary! I love cute stationary, but its often hard to find or really, really over priced.

Paperchase and some of the other high street stores in the UK have started to stock kawaii items like the Iwako erasers, or in Paperchase's case, their own lines, but these are often quite expensive outside of a sale, but do keep them in mind around sale seasons - eg. After Christmas, as I've managed to find quite a few bargains here, if you don't mind stocking up you can even pick up cute Christmas cards and decorations for next year!

Of course buying online is nearly always cheaper and usually offers a better selection than you would find on the high street and if you don't mind waiting a week or two you can also purchase from abroad giving you even more choice!

So for online purchases you have a few options: eBay is one of the main ones, though it can be a tad hit and miss. As long as you stick with sellers that don't have too high a percentage of negative reviews you should be fine - and you can always dispute if paying by Paypal if you have an issue. The key to finding great and cute things is to search worldwide - there are a lot of sellers charging way over for items they have imported from China for a fraction of the cost, if you look carefully, you'll be able to find the item direct! Another way is, again keeping the world wide selection on, search for the item you want and switch the sort by to items ending soonest, quite often I've found items with very few or extremely low bids.

I thought I'd also share a couple of stationary shops that I've found whilst on my travels on the web too!

MIMO PENCIL CASE SHOP

USA BASED - free shipping for domestic USA orders - other countries need to email for a shipping quote.

Oh my gosh you guys, I recently discovered this store after a friend tagged me on a photo of a Rilakkuma pencil case (I can't imagine why they tagged me, haha!) it's totally filled with the most Kawaii and cute stationary! MIMO specialise in providing cute stationary that you won't find in main stream stores. 

There's my favourite Rilakkuma, the adorable Bunny Molang, cute kitties and so much more! They sell a variety of themes but more importantly they stock a really wide selection of items. I also love that they sell planners and everything to do with decorating planners! 

I've found pens, markers, pencils, highlighters, diaries, tapes, stickers, mascots and more!! The site itself is bright and cheerful and really makes you want to browse the contents which is also super easy due to the clean layout

I also like the banner at the top which features new and upcoming products (it currently has the Rilakkuma pencil cases and some pretty pastel coloured Macaron planners that are arriving soon. 

The prices are also very good and definitely on the cheaper side of the scale, which is always good news! Handily for those not in the USA there's an option to change the prices from USD to GBP, CAD or Euro too. They also offer a gift wrapping service for a little extra, which is great news if you are buying a gift for someone. 

MIMO also has their own reward scheme which means you'll get discounts with them for future purchases too - I like when stores offer this as it makes me think that they care about return customers.

To check out their store click the link below!

www.mimopencilcaseshop.com

MODES4U

Hong kong based £2.25 base postage + fee based on weight OR free postage for orders over £54.00 FedEx also available for those in a rush!

Now Modes4u I have known about for a few years and I've used them once or twice to purchase presents for a friend. Modes4u only stock genuine products -  Rather than just stationary Modes4u also stock lunch boxes/bento, phone cases, fabrics and other items too! The site itself is very easy to navigate with different categories and there's a useful search bar so you can go directly to what you are looking for. 

Some of the stock seems quite expensive but they are well worth checking out if you are looking for something specific, especially as its genuine, and its definitely worth checking out the sale page!

You can also change the currency from USD to GBP and the site is available in a few different languages too. I seem to remember the last time I ordered was around Chinese New Year and they sent a little new year gift of washi tape  with a card which I thought was a lovely touch - everything arrived quite quickly too which is always a plus.

www.modes4u.com

Do you have any favourite shops for stationary? Let me know in the comments below!

Ta-ta for now!

X