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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 07 2008, 12:34 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
It can take years for a big Hollywood movie to get approved, let alone filmed. That's why I think that the parallels between "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" and our current economic situation are probably coincidental.
Foreclosures. Job loss. Hungry people lining up for food handouts. Families who can't make ends meet no matter how hard they work. But enough about today; let's talk about the Great Depression, the setting for "Kit Kittredge."
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Posted
Jun 18 2008, 08:35 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
A recent Wall Street Journal article noted that the Cold Stone Creamery franchise is in trouble. More than 100 stores closed last year, and just over 300 shops -- 20% of total Cold Stone outlets -- are for sale. The article quotes franchisees as claiming that the parent company provided misleading information and made unreasonable demands that ate into profits.
I have a theory of my own: Their ice cream is really expensive.
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Posted
Dec 28 2007, 05:37 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Last week I rode the Holiday Carousel in downtown Seattle. For several minutes I was about 7 years old and reliving my favorite part of the Cumberland County Fair, except that we called it the "merry-go-round."
For a $2 donation, I got to be a kid again. I shook off the residual stress of my most recent university quarter. I was in a great mood for the rest of the day.
I even got a New Year's resolution out of it: that in 2008 I will create a budget category called "fun."
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Posted
Dec 12 2007, 09:18 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Only 13 more shopping days until Christmas, if you keep track of that sort of thing.
These days, you don't have to. Even if you manage to ignore our culture's near-constant advertising, friends or co-workers or even family members will likely point out that you’re not spending enough money.
A reader who calls herself "Dallas79" has been steering clear of what she calls "a thousand 'grab bag' gift exchanges." Her husband calls her "Scrooge" and suggests that she "stop being so stingy."
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Posted
Nov 21 2007, 09:06 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
The biggest newspaper of the year hits the doorstep tomorrow, crammed with Black Friday ads. Some people couldn't care less. A Smart Spending message board reader posting as "whyspend" has done away with Christmas presents -- and, subsequently, with lots of hassles. "No tension. No fake happiness when we open a gift we never asked for and never would have bought ourselves. No wasting time shopping online or in the shops," whyspend writes. "It's bliss." Another reader, "tazzmann," has also had enough. Dropping Christmas presents is a sure-fire way to get a Scrooge sobriquet, but tazzmann says a gift-free holiday has its advantages, such as "money still in your pocket." What you won't have: "Piles of wrapping paper strewn all over your house, bags full of old items and trash to take out, (or) gifts to return or go get batteries for." Different ways to give Other readers suggested dial-it-down gift strategies, such as buying only for kids, drawing one relative's name or donating to charities
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Posted
Oct 26 2007, 09:08 AM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Picture a 5-year-old kid whose oral health was so bad she needed five teeth filled, two crowned and six pulled. That must have happened in a country without floss and fluoridation, right?
Nope. This was Katelyn, a kid from suburban Chicago.
While her case is a bit extreme, it's also indicative of a growing trend here in America. An article in the Chicago Tribune noted that almost 28 percent of children between ages 2 and 5 develop at least one cavity. That's a 4% increase in 10 years, according to a survey conducted for the National Center for Health Statistics.
Four percent doesn't sound like much, yet it was the first statistically significant increase in 40 years. The likely culprit? Modern family life.
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