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Posted
Aug 07 2008, 11:08 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
After a recent yard sale foray, I needed to squeeze what I'd bought into my gift closet. My "closet" is actually a big cedar chest bought for $15 at yet another yard sale. Because I'd been tossing stuff in higgledy-piggledy, I couldn't fit the new stuff in without reorganizing the stash. When I did, I was a little surprised to find out just how much I had.
Hardbacks bought at the dollar store (yes, they're by legitimate authors and no, there wasn't a mark on them) and at yard sales, plus quality fiction picked up for as little as 40 cents from the university bookstore's clearance table. Games, coloring books and a really cool fire truck bought pennies on the dollar a few months after Christmas. Unopened book-toy combos that cost as little as 50 cents at garage sales. Washable markers that were free after a drugstore rebate. Art card sets, gorgeously scented spa items, a craft kit, picture frames, candles -- all of it cheap. I felt like a frugal Santa Claus.
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Posted
Jul 25 2008, 09:10 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
The best thrift shops are as good as garage sales, offering a variety of offbeat items at low prices. Things like "Talk to the Hand: Getting Everything You Want With Ventriloquism," a how-to manual with a set of four finger puppets. Originally it cost $9.95; I paid 50 cents yesterday at Cloud 9 Consignment & Thrift. In all, I spent $9.97 for six items that will make good birthday or holiday gifts, two books for my church's library, and four tins that I'll fill with homemade cookies and give as Christmas presents.
But what made the trip memorable was discovering that Cloud 9, like some yard sales, has a free box. In it I found an olive green sweater that's from Bill Blass, if labels mean anything to you. I was more interested by its excellent condition and the fact that it is machine washable. And free.
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Posted
Jul 23 2008, 12:25 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
On Monday I bought two backpacks, five packages of notebook paper and five boxes of crayons at Office Depot for just $3.25 including tax, thanks to the magic of recycled printer cartridges and loss leaders. Then I went to Walgreens and bought two-pocket folders and five-packs of mechanical pencils for a nickel apiece, plus two-packs of gel pens and eight-packs of washable markers that will be free after rebate.
I don't have kids at home. I'm buying these for other people's children. You can, too, and I sure hope you will.
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Posted
Jul 16 2008, 09:31 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
As I walked home from doing errands on Monday, I saw an older man standing near the entrance to a shopping center parking lot. He looked wrinkled and weary and underfed, and he held a cardboard sign: "Homeless, anything will help." I put a dollar in his hand and said, "Take care of yourself. I wish it could be more." He replied, "God bless you."
Then a silver SUV roared up, sunroof open to let the summer rays strike the male pattern baldness within. The driver wore pale blue sunglasses so I couldn't see his eyes, but I could read the sneer on his face. "Sucker!" he yelled as he drove by.
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Posted
Jun 27 2008, 08:49 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
A jewelry ad I've been hearing on the radio fills me with weary disgust. The announcer suggests that as we grow up, we lose the capacity to delight in simple joys like ice cream. That's why it's important to surprise a woman with jewelry, whether it's to commemorate a specific occasion like the birth of a child or "just a gift to say 'I love you.'"
From ice cream to ice. I suppose that's a logical progression in a society that stresses acquisition as the symbol of true success.
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Posted
Jun 23 2008, 08:55 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
As yard sale experiences go, Saturday was just about perfect. The weather was beautiful and I not only found exactly what I was looking for, I scored a killer deal on it. While the low prices I saw all day were thrilling, they were also an object lesson as to why yard sales can be as dangerous as dollar stores: Things are so cheap that it's easy to overbuy.
Prime example: the foot-tall statue of a bull terrier, priced at a quarter, that reminded me of the classic "His master's voice" ads for RCA-Victor. There was something very appealing about the pup, yet I had no real need for such a thing and also no place to put it. Why in the world would I consider buying it? Because it was only 25 cents.
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Posted
May 09 2008, 10:07 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Tomorrow is the National Association of Letter Carriers Annual Food Drive, billed as "the world's largest single-day" food-gathering effort. In the past 15 years, the drive has collected more than 750 million pounds of food, according to the U.S. Postal Service.
With the rising price of food, lower-income folks are finding it harder to put food on the table. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, some 26 million Americans are fed with help from food stamps. If you're lucky, you're not among them -- and if you're that lucky, could you spare even a little something to help others? Say, a 33-cent can of tuna?
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Posted
Apr 09 2008, 09:03 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Here's a scary thought: only 233 shopping days until Christmas.
Don't blame me for bringing it up. Some readers of the Smart Spending message board are already buying -- frugally, of course. A reader who posts as "SS18612" started a thread called "Never too early to think Christmas," and shared a couple of fun, practical and cheap ideas.
The "winter car kit" was inspired by a clearance sale at CVS: gloves, hat, folding trunk snow shovel, retractable snow broom and ice scraper for just $3.45. "I will add a fleece blanket, some kitty litter and a gallon of de-icer," writes SS, whose grown kids will each get a kit.
Each year they also get "grocery-store boxes," computer-paper boxes filled with favorite foods and toiletries that SS gets free or almost free thanks to sales and coupons. "It's amazing what you can get together for a little money," SS says.
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Posted
Feb 04 2008, 09:19 AM
by
Donna Freedman
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Suppose your sweetheart found a creative or heart-stoppingly romantic way of showing his love on Feb. 14 -- but didn't spend a ton of money to do it. Would you be delighted or offended?
Our consumerist culture touts expensive Valentine's Day gifts as the way to "prove" one's devotion. It's easy to get the impression that if he doesn't take you to the right restaurant, buy the right gift and pick out the right card, he just doesn't care.
The pressure is on for men to be sufficiently romantic, because no matter what he does, or fails to do, you know she's going to be telling her girlfriends all about it.
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Posted
Dec 24 2007, 11:46 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
On Christmas morning let's all be anthropologists for a day. Come on, it'll be fun: We have our own theme song! (More on that later.)
Tomorrow, I want you to time how long it takes for everyone to open his or her gifts. Record all reactions, whether they be, "This is wonderful! Thanks!" or "I wanted the other game system! I never get anything good!" During the day, observe how long it takes for kids (and grownups) to lose interest in their new toys and baubles.
Now, figure out how long it will take you to pay off the gifts, if you charged them. If you paid cash, figure out how many hours you and/or your spouse had to work to pay for this "celebration."
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