Window Shopper

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Okay, I realize this is a little late for some places in the country but not all. Now, you have to be going to the fair anyway for this one but it does save some money for you. I tumbled to this one when I thought about it a little bit. Most things at the fair are outrageously priced. However, there are usually booths that are selling local canned goods, for instance. You can get some really good deals there.

I love walking through the booths anyway to see all the newest devices and services that are provided. You can find some pretty decent deals there too since they want to sell you something and they are having a huge sale right then, right there. Frankly, there are tons of promotional items too like pens, key rings, ball caps, calendars and writing paper. It’s a treasure trove of goodies if you look in the right places. I can come away with all sorts of things for free or little money doing that. Yes, I know. Do I really need the cap? No, but it’s fun to have it anyway. The pens are always needed, calendars too. We use those all the time.

The thing is that you can find low priced or free things everywhere. And there are always bargains for people who pay attention too. It’s the only reason I would go anywhere like that anymore.

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Some years ago, I had to go on a mission trip to Mexico. Having never been there before, I tried to get all the information I could about the clothing I would need. Not that easy. The people I was going with were so used to taking this trip that they were pretty matter of fact about it. In fact, one of the ladies that I was asking about it was actually from the area of Mexico that we were heading for. But she did not see what I wore as a problem. I did since I did not have clothes that would fit for this trip. It wasn’t easy.

Two friends and I were going on this trip so we got together and worked out what we needed. Perhaps that was foolish, though it seemed right at the time, we probably spent more than we needed to on the clothes. However, I have to tell you that I was grateful for the extremely heavy jacket that got me through the winter in the mountains and for the UGG Boots that got me through the snow and the mud during that whole trip and kept my feet warm. It was Christmas time. We were taking toys, clothes and meds as well as food to an area of Mexico that had been racked with a drought. It caused most people to lose their jobs and so the young men of the villages were heading elsewhere to work. Those left really didn’t have much since they were waiting for the men to get jobs and pay for what they needed at home.

It was a real eye opener, not only what we had to shop for at home but what we shopped for when we got there as well. I was so blessed by that trip. Now I have a better appreciation for our stores, homes and the value of having money to spend in the stores. I do not take that as lightly as I used to do. Shop smart. Save money. Enjoy what you have. Simple.

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These days, it is not as easy as it once was to shop as if you had all day and all the money in the world. In hard times like now, it is very important to find ways to economize. Maybe the government can’t do it but we must do it or it will cost us more than we want to pay out. We must learn to save money where we can so that there are times when we might need money for an extra or two would not be out of the realm of happening. Visions of chocolate covered cookies dance in my head while I am trying to stop and get the bottle of diet supplement pills I need. It is not that easy to shop but it must be done. You can cut out a lot of unnecessary items but food is not one of them. So, you must shop smartly. Stop, look and listen is not only for the railroad crossings.

Here are a few tips for shopping in smart ways. They are all things that have been around for years. Now you find that you have to adopt them much like we did some years ago:

1) Do not shop for food when you are hungry. Bad timing all the way. You will always put more in your cart than you really wanted in the first place. That one is deadly to a budget.

2) If possible, do not bring the kids. Their wants will work your bill up much higher than you need.

3) At home, make a list of what you want to and need to buy. Build in a bit of room for extras spotted at the store. Check the sales and loss leaders for the store.

4) Do not buy something on sale simply because you see it on sale. If you don’t usually use it or plan to use it some time soon, don’t bother with it. It is not saving you money if you buy something you do not need.

5) Buy your meat on sale when possible. Shop for the best prices and get as much as you are able on sale.

6) Plan meals and then buy for those meals.

7) Use the generic store brands when possible. Now I know that some things are not the same as the brand names. However, I have found that most of the generic or store brands are exactly or comparable to the name brand items. These cost sometimes half the price of the name brand item. You are saving up to half or sometimes more by using the store brand.

8 ) Stock up on clearance and sale items. Do not buy it just because it’s there. Find things you really need and buy in bulk. If the individual price is higher than the case price, buy the case. But do not buy a case if you will only use two. You do not save money by having way more than you need. If sometime in the near future, you will use it, buy by the case.

9) When possible, buy fresh veggies and freeze them. Then, during a time when they are not available or are much higher priced, you have yours available to you at a lower cost.

Above all, there is an art to saving money but it’s relatively easy to learn. You stop buying the high priced items and start buying only what you need. Stock up. It might take a little effort to learn it but this is valuable to you and your family. And for those who do coupons, they save enormous amounts of money that way. Some people who do this much more than I do, find that they can pay for an entire load of groceries for pennies. I saw someone who did this coupon savings have a bill of over $400 and pay out actual money of less than $50. It can be done. These days, it’s easier than ever with online shopping, coupon websites that allow you to print out the coupons which you then take to the store to redeem.

You can save money shopping but it takes work. If you want to save, you will. Happy Shopping!

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On a blog called All Techno Blog, I found this keyboard that the person who has the blog says is a new kind. Uh no. They say that the keyboard and the computer are packed together and that this is quite new to computers. Uh no. As I recall, the Commodore was like that. And my husband still has his Color Computer which is totally in the keyboard. So, I thought I would like to say something about it. But captcha (or whatever that abomination for checking humans is called) being what it is, it would not allow my comment to go through. I tried it nine separate times to get my comment to go through and it refused me each time. Now, I had not been on that blog before so it’s not like I have been banned or anything. It simply was not allowing me access.

So, in order to have my say about that subject, here in it’s entirety is my comment to that blog person:

I’m not going to cough or politely say something to make things better here. This is not new at all! My husband still has his old Color Computer. It still works. It is STILL in the KEYBOARD. Now, I may not know much about computers but even I can see that the statement about something new is ridiculous.

Okay. Off my soapbox now. Nice pictures.

Now, is this comment mean hearted or slamming? No. I am after all giving them a link from my own blog to theirs. It is simply about me not being able to comment on a blog when it is obvious that others are able to do so. Is that fair? Nope. Is it fair that I am left out? Nope. Of course, I have no idea what is wrong with the captcha thingy. It just did not work for me. So, in this post is the link for the item they are trying to get you to see. Have at it. Hope you can comment where I could not.

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Searching for some things for another blog I write, I began to find so many things for baby and toddlers. There is so much out there to choose from if you know what to look for at least. When looking for baby gifts, if you want to find something that is really different so that you do not give the same thing everyone else did, just search out the unique gift section of any online store. There are some really great things there. For instance, I ran across things like a nature gift basket that has some stuffed toys of non-domestic animals, a bird house that opens for a baby to grab things out and so on. It seems to be a good gift for a baby that is just learning to grab and hold on. How about a baby’s first teddy bear that can be held by very small hands. Very huggable.

Looking for gifts for toddlers is not much different. Usually, the classification starts at one year up for them. You can find a whole lot of good toys and clothing. My only concern is for safety and where it was made. That works for baby too. But the toddler items are plentiful. Everything from wooden blocks and toys to very complicated items are all available with a quick search using the words toddler and unique or gifts.

But I have to tell you that the best gift I have seen in quite a while for a small child or baby is a personalized book that my sister has for her granddaughter. The baby is still way too little to read it herself but she is fascinated with the pictures. Her name is all over the book but in such tasteful ways that you just enjoy reading it yourself. For instance, the cover of the book has a fall picture with leaves all over the ground but in front, all the leaves spell out her name. That is so cute. I discovered that all the pictures had her name spelled out in large letters so that when she gets to the age that she starts recognizing her name, she will be able to know it very quickly. And I have to tell you that this is not like some of those cheesy books that were personalized. This is on a much higher level of excellence. Well done.

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