It’s that time of year. It’s time to take advantage of end of season clearance sales.

I NEVER pay full price for clothing. Why would I need to?

My methods of saving on clothing are to shop yard sales and consignment stores, graciously accept hand-me-downs, and to buy clothing during end of season clearance sales.

My preferred place for my and my husband’s shoes seems to be Belk. Since our feet are no longer growing, it’s easy to shop their sales. I try to shop there when they are having 50-75% off with an additional red dot of 30-40% off. I can walk out of the store having saved 75-90%. I get the kids’ shoes from Target, Belk, and consignment stores.

Target is my other favorite for clearance sales. I like to shop their 75% off rack and purchase clothing in the next size needed.

If you’re wondering how to buy shoes ahead of time, the general rule is one size larger for the following year. For very young children this may not be a good idea, since their feet usually grow two to three sizes each year.

So far, I have only had a few instances where some clothes were not used through the buying ahead method. But even then,I had paid so little for the items that it was fairly easy to get my money back out of them.

Do you shop end of season sales? If so, which stores are your favorite?

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Our huge transition is almost complete. We are living in our new area in Eastern NC. We downsized, sold stuff, given away stuff, packed, and traveled back and forth between residences. We have begun our new jobs. Life is still crazy and I just have to say that I miss you all!!!!!

I am no longer the stay-at-home mom I used to be. My days used to be full of cleaning, laundry, paying bills, playing with my little one, and managing the household. Now I’m in a full-time ministry position where I’m helping troubled youth. Thankfully, our children get to hang out with us while we’re working.

The first week of work has been very hard, with us putting in 16-17 hour days. I’m told that things will get better and I know that they will. Transitions just take time.

By the way, I haven’t lived in Eastern NC in about 13 years. I have forgotten what hurricane season is like. Geesh! I woke up several times last night to banging, loud rain, and winds. We’re all safe though.

I hope that in the next few weeks my schedule will calm and that I’ll be “seeing” you more. :)

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I have 3 excellent used baby stores in town. Sometimes, it’s a benefit. I find great buys and sometimes I just buy because it is a great deal. But twice a year, my Once Upon a Child has a seasonal sale. So when I went in the last time, I asked when their fall sale was. It is in a few weeks so I will save up and wait to get a lot of fall stuff then. I also have a 20% off card for my MIL’s store so we will shop when the new baby comes to visit. YEAH!!!

But my point is to ask your favorite stores when or if they are going to have a fall sale. All they can do is say they aren’t having one. But imagine how frustrated you will be if you shop and then find out they were having a sale in a few days.

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Karen has been sharing with you her delima on cell phone service lately. I have been wondering lately why we feel necessary to have a cell phone anyway. Granted, we have a huge business plane but we pay almost $200 a month for cell phones. We use our pohones for multiple businesses so DH can jsutify it but I would be fine if we just had a business line and I didn’t have to have a cell phone to bother me in the car, bathroom, kitchen, etc…

So why do we feel like we have to have a cell phone? The police used to get called for accidents before we had accidents and we used to be able to communicate with other parents about our kids location before cell phones. Maybe we would actually talk to other parents more if we didn’t rely on our kids having cell phones. Am I off base here? Isn’t this one more way to save money? Or do we feel that in this day and time a cell phone is a must?

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Today I had to take one of my students to a doctor’s appointment an hour away. Once again, I printed out some directions from Mapquest. Why do I even bother anymore I can’t begin to tell you the number of times the directions have been wrong (including today). It is sooooo frustrating!!!! I guess deep down I just keep hoping for the best.

I was in the company vehicle and we’ve been switching vehicles a lot lately. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my new Sony Nav-u with me today. Thankfully, someone was able to give me some assistance and help me on my way.

The new Sony Nav-u has a ton of awesome features that I’d like to tell you about. This info is especially helpful for someone that’s been thinking about purchasing a GPS.

Here are the options that I really like:

• Has option of QWERTY keyboard or ABC keyboard. Thiswas a big dealto me because I prefer to use theQWERTY keypad.
• In addition to showing the direction you are traveling, it also has an indicator that points toward your final destination. (You may be currently going east, but your final destination issoutheast.)
• Shows trail of other route previously taken to destination
• Touch screen control
• bright 4.8 inch screen
• easy access of frequently used buttons
• shows icons for major restaurant chains, fast food, and gas stations (Very helpful!!!!)
• recalculates routes quickly

And here are some other things it does that are pretty cool too:

• different voices available - male/female
• built in hands freecalling to use with blue tooth equipped cell phones
• spoken street names
• preloaded maps for the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico
• has ability to upgrade maps
• traffic capable - The Nav-u lets you know if there are traffic jams. It tells the best route to take.

My biggest issue:

• The speed of picking up satellite isn’t very good. But then again, it may just be the area I live in.

Have you tried the new Sony Nav-u?

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