Our daughter, Christi, loves to go to the children’s consignment event that takes place twice a year where she lives.  It’s a lot of work pricing every item of clothing and entering it in online.  But it’s necessary because when people purchase items at the sale, barcode scanners are used to make check-out quick and efficient. It’s worth all the work because she usually makes enough from what she sells to cover what she buys.  That’s a really nice incentive for doing all of this!  And their little boys end up with some cute, quality clothes that sometimes look like new.

During this time of year, many people are trying to think of the best gift to buy for friends, family, co-workers, etc.  For someone who likes to read, Amazon books might be a good place to look for a gift.  For the person who loves to cook, then a store or website that carries kitchen items would be great places to shop.  Whatever their main interest, it makes it easier to shop if you look for those types of gifts first.

Our daughter and son-in-law have done a lot of remodeling in their house and plan to put ceramic tiles in their hall bathroom for the backsplash. They got a good deal on the tiles, and they plan to install the tile themselves. Our son-in-law did an great job on the floor tile he laid when they first moved in, and no doubt they’ll do a great job installing the tile for the backsplash.   I know their bathroom will look awesome when they get everything finished.

Do you order much online?  In the past, I didn’t because I preferred to buy it in a store.  I felt it would be easier to return if I needed to do that.  But now, I’m ordering vitamins and supplements online which saves us a lot of money.  The orders usually arrive in a week and are so well packaged that a box cutter would come in handy to make it easier to open the box.  I imagine I’ll be ordering more things online in the future, especially when I can save money!

My husband loves it when I fix a chef salad and add Hormel Natural Choice Turkey that I have fried in extra virgin olive oil.  Frying the turkey makes it taste more like bacon.  I use a mix of salad greens and chop up whatever fresh veggies I have in the fridge plus add green olives.  We top it with either my mother-in-law’s homemade salad dressing or maybe low-fat ranch dressing.  Sometimes my husband uses Ken’s Caesar Dressing.  (There are COUPONS for Hormel Natural Choice meats available.)

For those of you who were a Circuit City customer, there is another place called Buy.com that can offer you a great selection and the best deals around.  They carry name brands and offer free shipping offers on most items.  And they offer informative videos, offer product reviews, are eco-friendly, and have a competitive price engine so they can offer customers as many options as they possibly can.

Some people think way ahead, and some are probably already planning for Halloween.  They may be thinking about ordering Halloween invitations for a party, planning all of the costumes, and making a list of who to invite.  Summer is a good time to plan ahead for an October party before things get busy with all the back-to-school activities, football games, homework to oversee, and the list goes on and on.  The timing is good for starting to plan a party without any rush and last minute hassle.

If you happen to be planning to have a Halloween party this fall, you might want to check out The Party Starts Here!.com for invitations that are the right style for you.

FormalTux.com offers new tuxedos and accessories from the top designers as well as discounted new tuxedo jackets and pants.  They carry a great selection perfect for weddings and formal occasions and offer name brands such as:

• Perry Ellis
• Ralph Lauren
• Lord West
• Geoffrey Beene.
  

Women’s formalwear and a large line of career apparel are also offered as well.  They offer just about any tuxedo style, have been in business for over 70 years, and offer great customer service.

If you’re in need of a gift to give for graduation, for a wedding, or for Father’s Day, then you might consider Amazon books. They have a selection for each occasion.

Our son has received a lot of nice graduation gifts recently, and two of his gifts were books.  He received Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson, PH.D. and another book called The Power of Attitude by Mac Anderson.  Both look like excellent books!

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Are you in the mood to redecorate but don’t have the money to do it?  I was a while back.  By adding in a touch of color, the look of a room can be changed. In my case, it was adding “red” to our decor. Here’s how I did it:

• I decided on the color I wanted to add which was red.
• I shopped around for bargains and found several.
• At Cracker Barrel, I found a $20 red silk flower arrangement on clearance for $5.
• At Pottery Barn, I found red pillow covers half price and bought two.  (We had two really nice decorative pillows that came with our sofa, but I was so tired of their floral print.  We still have the nice pillows…only now they’re red.)
  
• Also at Pottery Barn, I found a red cranberry wreath half price and bought ribbon at a craft store to make a bow for it.
• At a Kirkland’s store in the mall, we found two small framed pictures with red flowers that were just perfect.  And they were on clearance, too, for a great price.

Other stores that would be great to check out would be Target’s clearance section, Ross Stores, T. J. Maxx, Tuesday Morning, clearance items at Dillard’s or any major department store, and possibly Burlington Coat Factory’s home section.