Shopping Tips Online

You won’t be able to pick this deal up online, but this is something I found on another site. If you’re a Target shopper at all, you know that they have amazing clearances. If you time things right, you can get some awesome deals. I know that I have scored some great stuff during their toy sales at 75% off or more!

I did some searching around and found this schedule for their clearance. It may vary a bit by store and you might have to wait on your mark-down team, but this is the way it’s supposed to run.

Target Mark Down Schedule

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You may not realize it, but may stores have “one day specials” or “daily deals” in which they feature one product at a reduced price. Sometimes the deals are really good, but sometimes they’re just so-so. You’ll have to watch your favorite sites and see how their daily “deals” stack up.

One site that generally has a good daily deal is Best Deal Magazines. Best Deal Magazines specializes in offering magazines at a reduced price. Each day, they feature a different magazine and most of the time, the price can’t be beat. To make things even better, they usually offer a coupon code to sweeten the deal. It’s not unheard of to get a one-year magazine subscription for under $2 here. You just have to play the game and wait for what you want.
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A framed art print can make a great gift, especially when it reflects the person’s interests, or coordinates with his or her decor. Or maybe you need to create your own gallery at home. There are a lot of art sites out there, but the prices can be a little scary. Here’s an idea.

iStockphoto.com is a great web site for royalty-free images and artwork, submitted by professional and amateur photographers and designers. This is an excellent resource for advertising agencies, commercial designers and artists. But it’s not limited to the pros. There are thousands and thousands of very nice artistic photos to choose from that would be great framed art prints. iStockphoto.com offers a variety of search options, and member-created “lightboxes” where you can save your favorite images to sort, select and download.

The best part is the price. You become a member (free), then purchase “credits” (minimum $10). Then you can download digital files directly to your computer for as little as $1, depending on the final size of your intended output.

They also offer a FREE download every week, like the one shown here – which would look excellent with a white or cream museum style matt and a black wooden frame. (more…)

D. Lawless Hardware is my best kept secret for kitchen cabinet or furniture pulls, knobs or other hardware. They have all the popular kitchen hardware styles, and the prices are better than any place I have checked. They also have some unusual things – good for white elephants or fun stocking stuffers.

Check out my best kept secret – D. Lawless Hardware.

Shopping, Cabinet Hardware, Kitchen Cabinets, Kitchen Knobs, Remodeling, Redecorating

How can you not love a store where you can get a tiny tin of hand cream, a ceramic monkey bowl and a tea strainer ALL for about six bucks? This is my best-kept secret for all things fun and Asian – Pearl River.

This is the greatest place to go for inexpensive little gifts and stocking stuffers. This year I am thinking tiny, satin embroidered cosmetic bags ($3.50) for my nieces and some funny printed journals (they’re $2.95!) for my girlfriends.

Check out the soaps, powders and other cosmetics – the packaging is so great you won’t want to put them away. And the prices are all just crazy-low. Keep this one a secret (or don’t!), and have fun at Pearl River!

Shopping, Gifts, Fun, Asian, Stocking Stuffers

If your taste tends toward the quirky, and the new mommy and daddy are more fun-loving than traditional, ditch the cutesy bunny-and-puppy bib and go for something from The Retro Baby. They have a wide variety of fun and funny baby gifts (and some that I would steer clear of unless you know the parents pretty well).

I chose the “One Love” onesie for our friends’ new daughter Zoe. She’s personality plus, and so is the outfit!

Babies, Gifts, Onsies, Shopping