Won’t you be my Valentine? Greeting cards, etc.

I’ve done it again – messed around and not bought all the Valentines I wanted to send to friends and relatives across the country. Maybe if I get them all ready tomorrow (Sunday) and into the post office on Monday they will still be delivered on time (Thursday). You think?

Sending Valentines is my way of making up for the fact that I didn’t do a very good job of getting the Christmas cards out last year. Except for that rare individual (sweetheart, spouse, mother) most people look at greeting cards, say “isn’t that nice?” and throw them in the wastebasket. In this case, it really is just the thought that counts and a card that costs $1 can be just as meaningful as one that costs $5 or more. For the kids, I have always gone to Hallmark and headed right for the 99 cent section. My favorite neighborhood Hallmark store closed, but the CVS is even closer and has a huge card section – as does Von’s. This year I found an even better deal. I was shopping at the Dollar Tree for party stuff – paper plates, cups and napkins. A nice lady was stocking the greeting cards so I stopped to browse and chat. The cards at Dollar Tree are two for a dollar. What a find! I’ll still need to visit CVS tomorrow to complete my list, but I got some great cards for the kids, one for our Mom and a card that is perfect for my husband. It has possibly the most perfect sentiment inside and I’ll leave it out for him to “discover” on Thursday morning.

Another place that has a small but interesting selection of greeting cards (not Valentines, unfortunately) is Trader Joe’s. They are displayed at the check-out counters and while I’m standing there waiting for the checker to finish totaling my stuff (I always buy way more than I planned) I browse. I’m probably one of the few people who bought and actually use one of the card organizers Hallmark used to sell. I keep a supply of birthday, sympathy, congratulations, and “thinking of you” cards, and I never pay more than a dollar for any of them. When I need stamps, I get some that are pretty and/or funny and that adds to the overall impression that I really did “care enough to send the very best”.  A stamp is a stamp – they all cost the same. Might as well get something fun! The USPS has Happy Birthday stamps, but I learned my lesson about stocking up. I’m always left with a few that require supplementing when the rates go up. Having one-cent stamps running across the envelope somehow destroys the intent. Now I just get five at a time.

Okay, so despite your best intentions tomorrow is someone’s birthday and you forgot to send a card. So it’s “e-cards” or nothing. (You could just call, you know!) The loveliest online cards can be found at www.jacquielawson.com. An annual subscription is less than $10 and your recipients will be suitably impressed. Hallmark and American Greetings have free e-cards as well as “premium” ones you have to pay for. If you send a lot of cards for business as well as personal reasons, check out www.sendoutcards.com. People love to get cards – either online or the old fashioned kind. For very little or no money, you can make a big impression for a special occasion or just for no reason at all!

Technorati Tags: greeting,cards,valentine,Hallmark,dollar,birthday

Dollar Store Dining

In May 2006, I wrote an article called Dollar Store Decor. While researching that article, I came upon a website named The Black Table and an article called “How to Eat at the Dollar Store”. It was written in 2005 and the last article dated January 2006 says “blah blah blah”. So I guess that’s the end of that website.

His question was “Can a person actually make a reasonable meal from items bought at a dollar store?” His answer was a qualified “yes” because although he didn’t starve, his menu consisted mostly of mystery meat in cans and off-brand mixes designed to look like major brand names. Like fake Tuna Helper mixed with “tuna of the sea”. Yum.

What a difference a couple of years has made. I stopped in at the 99 Cents Only Store this morning (because they have the toothpaste I like) and here’s what I bought:

A bag of frozen mashed potatoes which is a staple in my freezer. I like Inland Valley but they’ve disappeared from every store but Smith’s. This was another brand, but they were packaged in Idaho so maybe that’s a good sign.

Stouffers Bistro Paninis, I usually get Lean Cuisine, but hey! I’ll take one extra lap on the track. The best sale I’ve ever seen was still $2 each so this was a pretty good deal.

A 2 lb. bag of Yukon Gold potatoes. Trust me, that’s a good price and since it’s a small bag I’ll probably be able to use them all up before they get sprouty. In case you haven’t heard, U.S. households throw out around $50 billion worth of food every year and that “B” is NOT a typo!

16.9 oz. bottles of Gerolsteiner water, 2 for 99 cents. That is probably not a hell of a deal, but it’s not too much either and I was already there. These days you have to factor in the price of driving.

Snow’s chopped clams – another pantry staple. I know, who keeps clams in their pantry all the time? Well, I do because we love Progresso clam chowder and it helps to throw in a few more clams.

Snow’s also makes a respectable clam chowder (get the condensed version and add fat-free milk) as well as a really good corn chowder that I usually get when I’m at  99 Cents Only. Adding a can of crab meat (best price, Trader Joe’s) makes it even better.

By now you’re probably getting the idea that I’m not exactly a gourmet. I’ve got a lot going on in my life – I’m looking for easy and if it’s also cheap, so much the better!

My favorite “dollar store” for paper goods, plastic storage thingies and gift bags is The Dollar Tree, but 99 Cents Only is closer to my house. They now stock fresh produce as well as canned and frozen foods. I’ve learned to go in the morning and never on the weekend.

Oh, the toothpaste. Well, I almost forgot to buy it because I got distracted by this grocery “experiment”. Consumer Reports rated Ultra Brite the best whitening toothpaste so who am I to argue and the price is certainly right.

A little more unsolicited advice about dollar store shopping. Keep an open mind and give yourself time to browse on your first visit. There are some remarkable things on those shelves.

In Search of the Perfect Purse

When it comes to purses, or “pocket books” as my grandmother used to call them, I am very picky. I don’t like to move all my stuff from one purse to the other every time I change my clothes. I want one for summer, one for winter, one for evening wear, and that’s about it! Last week I was watching an episode of “The Closer” and I saw it – the perfect purse. Kyra Sedgewick, aka Brenda Leigh Johnson, carries a large black leather purse/tote/briefcase and several times during an episode she rummages around in it and pulls out her cell phone, a file folder, or a candy bar.

Being a cyber shopper I naturally turned to the Internet to search for that bag. Whoa, Nelly! It seems I’m not the only woman in America who covets that handbag. There are whole blogs devoted to finding one like it. Women are going nuts for that bag. Some are nuts for Brenda Leigh’s clothing, too but I won’t go there. The general consensus among Closer fans is that the closest match can be found on www.eBags.com . It’s made by Sag Harbor and the style is Valentino. I ordered one. It didn’t cost very much (less than $50) which makes me suspicious. A good handbag is usually expensive and worth it. I’ll let you know how it works out.

Another good site for purse shopping is www.onlineshoes.com. I love the detailed descriptions and photos from every conceivable angle.

Ps. Don’t send me a lot of smart remarks about the phrase “Whoa, Nelly!”. If you’ve seen The Closer, you understand. It’s a Southern Thing.

Hello, world!

If WordPress thinks my first post as a blogger should be titled “Hello World” who am I to argue? Sitting through several sessions at the BlogWorld Expo gave me a healthy respect for the creatures who populate the blogging universe (one of whom I actually gave birth to). But this is the last time I’ll let someone else do my talking for me. The Sensible Shopper is about – well what do you think? It’s about shopping for things you want and/or need while keeping your wits about you. For over two and a half years I have been running all over Las Vegas ferreting out shopping opportunities for the readers of a local home & garden magazine. Neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor gloom of night have stayed me from my appointed rounds. Neither have temperatures of over 100 degrees, but when it tops 120, I definitely head for the air conditioned malls. Now that I’ve been released from the shackles of the magazine, I can write about other types of consumer activities – not just shopping for furniture and decor. As my former editor would say, “Yippee, Skippee!”