Earlier this week, my wife knocked out all of our back-to-school shopping in one fell swoop. Between clearance racks and sales at both Target and Kohls, she picked up pretty much everything the boys need clothing-wise. And then she hit the freshly stocked Wal-Mart school supply section. She had it pretty much to herself, and got everything knocked out in short order.
That’s the upside. The downside is that we won’t be taking full advantage of this year’s sales tax holiday. On the one hand… Bummer. On the other hand… Back-to-school shopping with no crowds? Priceless.
And with that, here are some interesting articles…
NCN talked about how he’s able to enjoys spending now that he has a financial plan. Plus… I’m one of his heroes!
Madison put together a list of tasks for your mid-year financial checkup.
Dovetailing nicely with my article on how to freeze your credit record, Ben talked about some of the ramifications of identity theft.
Flexo talked about how net worth calculations are best used as an internal metric for tracking your progress.
JLP illustrated the value of making your extra principal payments earlier rather than later.
FMF listed three ways to save money on greeting cards.
Jim covered the best sites for selling your stuff. I’ve really only used eBay and craigslist (and had the most luck with eBay).
Lazy Man talked about good debt vs. bad debt.
The Good Human pointed out that gas is still cheap in the United States (by global standards).
Clever Dude and J. Savings both lamented the practice of splitting dinner checks evenly.
Credit Addict pointed out that you can get a free credit report simply by placing a fraud alert on your credit record.
Finally, for all of you that are convinced that the glass if half full, Jaimie brought us five benefits to financial pessimism.
P.S. Reporter Leslie Earnest (who interviewed me a couple of months ago) wrote a nice article on frugal back-to-school shopping for the L.A. Times (Sun. Business section) – Should be at latime.com online –
My husband loves the men’s clothes at Kohl’s – so I gave him a $25 gift card for Kohl’s for his birthday – which I had earned by my participation in the bzz agent campaigns and some other mypoints activity.
He went for the 80% off rack and got 2 pairs of nice slacks and a fancy nautical polo shirt. It would have all cost $100 at reg. prices – but he did pay $5 for tax and such. Somehow the Simi Va. Kohl’s isn’t crowded when we visit. And I went next door to Michaels for knitting needles and snagged some free patterns and some jewelry pendants on sale.
I usually don’t hit sells for just that reason – too many people. I don’t buy that much anyway so full price isn’t going to kill me. But the last few months I’ve noticed far fewer shoppers in the malls. I’ve had to make a record 2 trips to the mall this summer (I try to make 0 trips each summer), but both times I’ve been amazed at how fewer people are out shopping on the weekends. Of course that means a lot fewer people on the roads, too. It’s nice. So maybe back-to-school shopping won’t be so painful this year.