Amazon.com has those tiny little smiley faces and flowers and froggies that fit right into the holes in your Crocs for 17-cents to $4.59. If I recall correctly, they sell for about $2 a pop at a retail store. If you limit yourself to the ones here for 50-cents or less there is still a good selection. Two green and black palms with the word BUDS are 30-cents for the pair, a palm tree on a tiny island or an American flag are 49-cents, a biblical fish is 17-cents, a red Beetle or a bursting star are 49-cents each, a gift box is 17-cents, a hot pink splotch, a skeleton, or a heart with the banner LOVE are each 49-cents. Last but not least, a smile face American flag is 49-cents. Not the brand name action figures and princesses your children are trained to crave, but still fun stuff. See them all here.

Posted by Julia Scott at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Target has a 10% off coupon that works on most purchases. I tried it on a purple wrap sweater, a Kitchen Aid mixer, and a Hello Kitty two-way radio. Use code TGTAFTXC. Doesn't look like it works in thes tore. Expires 12/31/2007. Wahoo!

Posted by Julia Scott at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As part of their 105th anniversary celebration, JC Penny is cutting $10 off on orders of $50 or more. If you spend $75 or more get $15 off, or $20 off purchases of $100 or more. Use code WP34BMSM online. Expires Oct 3.

Posted by Julia Scott at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Borders has a 20% off coupon to be used in stores, not online. Also good at Waldenbooks. Expires Oct 2. Find a Borders or Waldenbooks near you. Not bad if you still have books to buy for back to school or are getting an early start on your holiday shopping.

Caveats: exludes coffee, magazine, special orders, electronics, and comics.

Posted by Julia Scott at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Backpacks, pencils, notebooks, everything a kid could dream of for back to school is still on sale. Office Depot and Office Max have 50% off backpacks, plus deals on pens, paper products, binders, and a ton of other supplies. Depot locations here. Max locations here and their weekly ad here.

Posted by Julia Scott at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Overstock has a lot of different leather bags on sale as part of its back to school offerings. This three-way bag (over one shoulder, both shoulders, and hand strap), above, is $50 (orig $100). Leather mini-backpacks are $25 (orig $90), a classic laptop/portfolio bag, below, is $80 (orig $170).
I also like the Alpine 14-inch messenger bag, below, for $25 (orig $60), even though it's not leather.

Posted by Julia Scott at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Millions of children, including my kindergarten-bound nephew, go back to school today. For many of them, that means putting on never-worn shirts, jeans, and shoes. Crisp clothes than take the edge off of not knowing who your teacher is, if you have any friends in your class, and if you will get a good cubbyhole/desk/locker.

My mom always took me shopping a week or two before the big day. She never prohibited me from wearing my new threads before the first day of school but would remind me, if you wear it now it won't be new. She kept the new clothes and shoes "hidden" in the hallway closet. I loved to take the clothes out of the bag and touch the fabric, considering which shirt I should wear first. I loved to slide the lid off the shoebox and fold back the tissue paper and examine the perfectly new shoes.

It was a yearly ritual - willing myself NOT to wear the precious new things - that ended in tenth grade when on the first day of school a peer wore a pair of dirty black hi-top converse. I was stunned. Didn't everybody have new clothes to wear on the first day of school? The joy of an entirely new outfit, from undies to socks, faded. Maybe there were more important things in life. Or maybe style didn't always come from new things.

Posted by Julia Scott at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Watch out for extra traffic at the Fallbrook Center on Fallbrook between Vanowen and Victory. Part of the parking lot in front of Old Navy and other stores are being repaved so the cars are having a hard time squeezing in. Fallbrook at Vanowen is especially bad, a colleague tells me. Guess I'll put off a trip to Trader Joe's for a few days.

Map of area here.

Posted by Julia Scott at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The trendy and fun girls clothes at Wild Thing, a Ventura Blvd boutique with sizes from tots to teens, are all 65% off. The owner is busy raising her three daughters and decided to close after a year in business. Bad part is, their last day of business is FRIDAY, Aug 31. Prices below are after discount, before tax.

A glamour girl camoflogue tee by Tokidoki was $14, a pink jersey dress with green lining by Claesen was $12, a disco-inspired stretchy belt with burgendy, orange and pink stripes was $9. Pink and white tropical print board shorts by Milk & Honey were $14, black patent leather flats with a ribbon to tie around the ankle by Pazito were $22, and last but not least, a camo-print training bra with pink lining was $5.

Visit them at 22530 Ventura, just east of Sale. Daily 10-6. (818) 225-7989.

Posted by Julia Scott at 1:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Office Depot has a fun promotion offering 15% off a backpack and everything you can stuff in it. Not bad! The coupon code is 52574466. Until Aug 25.

Lots of caveats: In-store only. Need paper coupon (check out today's local newspaper for one). Doesn't apply to graphing calculators , gift cards, cameras, memory, software, stamps, ink or toner, and a few other computer related stuff. Stick to the basic school supplies and you'll be fine.

Posted by Julia Scott at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you haven't already stocked up for the start of school, head to Office Depot for a few select deals. These prices are just to get you in the door with the hope you'll buy something else that's NOT on sale. Consider yourself warned.

With mail in rebates:
FREE: post its (orig $1.29), slim stapler (orig $3.39), lined pads of paper (orig $8.89). Limit 2 per customer.
1-cent: wood rulers ((orig $1.79), bookcovers (orig $2), plastic storage pouch (orig $2).
25-cent: crayola 10-pack markers (orig $2), comp books (orig $1), eraser 3-pack (orig $1.79).

Locations in Tarzana, Northridge, Woodland Hills, Encino, Van Nuys, Simi Valley, Sylmar and Studio City.

Posted by Julia Scott at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The stores are gearing up for an intense back to school shopping weekend with rival sales. Mervyns is givng out $10 gift cards to the first 100 shoppers, plus an extra 10% off all day today and from 7am to 1pm Saturday. Half off sales Sat between 7am and 1pm include these brands: High Sierra, Energie polos, Southpole, and Sideout. Evening sales, 4pm to midnight, are $10 off with $50 purchase and $15 off a $75 purchase. Find coupons in newspapers.

JCPenney has a buy 1 get a second for $1 for Arizona T-s and keans, junior men's jeans, dress shirts, jewelry, socks and towels. Plus 10% off during 7am to 1pm Sat. Bras, dresses, boys T-s, and Southpole gear are half off.

Sears has 50% doorbusters from 9am to noon Saturday on polos, uniform tops and bottoms, T-s, fine jewelry and Reebok tennis shoes. Plus half off on knives, towels, car floor mats, tools.

Lots of good reasons to get out of bed Sat!

Posted by Julia Scott at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kmart has at least 20 backpacks on super sale - 50 %. Decent selection and prices seem low if the packs are good enough quality to last 9 months. Most are $12.50 (orig $25) with some as low as $10 and as high as $15. The Web site was totally freaking out Tue afternoon and wouldn't let me get past the first of three pages of packs.

See all their back to school sales here.

Posted by Julia Scott at 5:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Girls and boys clothes size 3 to 12 are marked down 40% at Gymboree at Northridge Fashion Center. Thru Aug 19.

Locations in Calabasas, Northridge, Sherman Oaks, Simi Valley, Valencia, and Thousand Oaks.

Posted by Julia Scott at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Eastern Mountain Sports is having a big back-to-school sale. Until Aug. 28, get up to 40% off shorts, 20% off backpacks and totes, and 20% off Smith sunglasses. A pair of men's nylon shorts are $27 (orig $39) and a North Face Amira pack is $63 (orig $79).

Bookworm bonus: Get 15% off full-price items with college id.

As the name implies, they're an east coast retailer, so shop online.

Posted by Julia Scott at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you haven't heard about eBates.com, it sounds like a total scam at first. You sign up at eBates (email required), then link to more than 800 retailers through their site. By linking through eBates you get a percentage rebate on each purchase, which varies by store. eBates tracks your purchases and every 3 months cuts you a check.

I tested it by purchasing a subscription to Runner's World (incidentally, a mag I really like) on ValueMags.com thru eBates. I bought the mag Aug 2 and today got an email saying eBates had credited my account with $5 (a 25% savings on the going mag rate of $20). The week delay was a little longer than I would have liked, but I also got a $5 bonus from eBates for my first purchase as a new client.

Totally sweet!

Here's a sample of the "ebates" available:
Best Buy 1%
Nordstroms 2%
Target 4%
Sephora 4%
Children's Place 3%
ValueMags 25%
Travelocity 1%
Hotwire 2%
Barnes & Noble 4%
Netflix $18 cash back (not sure how this works)
Wine Enthusiast 4%
QVC 3%
Petco 6%
SmartBargains 4%

By remembering to go to eBates.com first, you could really save a load. For the record, eBates says they get the money for the discounts "primarily from marketing partnerships with our merchants, as well as advertising opportunities."

Posted by Julia Scott at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These sneakers from Graffeeti.com aren't on sale or even a very good price, but they are made of special material that lets you can draw and re-draw whatever you please on your shoes! How times have changed. When I was a kid you only had one chance with indelible roller balls.

The shoes are a converse look alike with hi-top ($41) and low-top ($39) options. A set of 6 pens is $6. Available in Kids - 12 1/2 to 5, Juniors Boys - 3 1/2 to 7 1/2, and Juniors Girls - 5 1/2 to 9 1/2.

Read about Graffeeti in the NYTimes.

Posted by Julia Scott at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

To help tweens find juuuust the right new school outfits Sears launched e-Me. Create your own online persona (called an avatar) and then "try-on" T-shirts, shorts, shoes, backpacks, pants, and skirts. You can even give them a personality, like the holier-than-thou "Talk to the Hand," or the sporty "Rock Climber."

Just for the record, in high school I was *much* dorkier than the e-Me I created above.

Best part: save the outfit (which does NOT require giving them your name/address/etc), then print it out for 10% off everything you "tried on." Discount applies to in-store purchases only. Good until Sept 9.

Store locations in Northridge, Chatsworth, North Hollywood, Burbank, Glendale and Canoga Park.

Posted by Julia Scott at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A San Deigo friend who is a *very* savvy shopper reminded me of Bed Bath & Beyond's liberal coupon policy. They accept their 20% coupons even AFTER they have expired and they accept coupons from rival Linen -n- Things. Plus, the 5 coupon limit per purchase does not seem to be in effect anymore.

So basically, you should never buy ANYTHING full price from that store. If you don't have tons of those big blue 20% coupons floating around your house, you can sign up for them here. The caveat is you can't use them online and they take 6-8 weeks to start coming. If you need a quick fix, check the inserts in your local newspaper.

Posted by Julia Scott at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you donate $3 to Macy's literacy partner, Reading is Fundamental, Macy's will give you a $10 card good towards a purchase of $50 or more. Not a bad deal, and you feel good about giving to charity.

In LA the program is on thru Sept 12. Locations in Northridge, Sherman Oaks, Canoga Park, Woodland Hills, Simi Valley, North Hollywood, Glendale, and Burbank.

Posted by Julia Scott at 8:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Linen 'n' Things has an air bed for 50%. Not sure if their AeroSport brand is related to the high-quality AeroBed. The twin bed that blows up in a minute (it's true, I've done it) is $50 (orig $100). Self-inflating, comes with backpack to stash the bed in.

LNT also has a really good price on a microwave that I paid at least $50 for at Target. The basic Emerson Microwave is $40 after a $20 mail-in rebate. It's not huge, but big enough to fit in full size plates and some dishes.

Don't forget that LNT sends out copious amounts of 20% coupons in their circulars. That brings the price of the bed down to $40, and the microwave down to $24!!

Posted by Julia Scott at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

JCPenney's has a very low price for a 106-piece pot and pan set. The quality can't be great for the price, and most of the set is plastic utensils, tupperware, or kitchen tools. But it's $60 (orig $150), making it ideal for someone who will cook at college or is moving into their first apartment. The set includes:

3 pots with lids and one 9-inch frying pan.
A roaster pan, cookie sheet, and pizza pan.
Plastics: soup ladle, turner, pasta server, spoon, skimmer, slotted spoon.
Knife block set (chef's, utility, bread, paring, boning, set of six steak knives, sharpener, wood block)
10-pc. measuring set
Gadgets: pizza cutter, can opener, grater, peeler, bottle opener.
Four each: spoons, forks, knives.
One large and one small clip.
A cutting board.
Random other stuff: 6 cookie cutters, salt and pepper set, 2 ice cube trays, 8 tupperware containers with lids, a juicer, spout cover, detachable lid, seal lid, removable lid arm, slicing blade, six blade holder with stainless steel insertable blade, egg white separator, egg white beater, food bowl, pitcher with lid, tray, 5 cups.

Posted by Julia Scott at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Until Aug 4, Staples offers 12% off using this printable coupon. Just in time for back to school!

Posted by Julia Scott at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

eBags.com says it has more than 28,000 on its site, including 96 backpacks on clearance. I like this lime CalPak Rebel for $22.49 (orig $55), above, or this Burton Reverb Pack, below, for $50 (orig $70).

Free shipping and free returns.

Posted by Julia Scott at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Linens-n-Things has a bunch of "back to college" sales, including an 11-piece pizza kit for $15. With one of their 20% coupons, which you can find in every nook and cranny of my house, it's just $11. (I hear LNT and BBB accept each others coupons). The set includes a pizza stone, cutter, server, two oven mitts, two filled spice containers, a sauce scooper, and three cheese-grating thingies.

I make pizza all the time at home and it's a cinch. Get dough from Trader Joe's for $1 and let it warm up a little before you smush it and toss it into a rough circle. (I set the oven to 400 and let it warm up on that.) Lay the dough on the stone, which hopefully you have sprinkled with about a tablespoon of corn meal. Otherwise, this sucker may not come off the stone. Spread a *little* red sauce on top, more than 3 tablespoon will make it really gooey - in a bad way. Then put on your preferred toppings (mine are garlic, peppers, and pepperoni), then put on thin slices of mozzarella. With the cheese on top everything gets bubbly. Cook for 15 minutes. Start to finish is no more than 30 minutes, unless you are a real klutz in the kitchen, in which case it'll take 45.

Posted by Julia Scott at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's a round up of back to school deals:

Clothes:
between Fri, Aug 3 and Sun, Aug 5, get an extra 25% at Camarillo outlets . One sale that looks good is at Sketchers, where they are offering 50% off a second pair until Sept 1.

Target has kids' school uniforms cheap: shorts ($9) and pants ($11) in khaki or blue, and short sleeve polos ($6.50) in six colors.

Supplies:
Office Depot has $.99 packs of pencils, buy two get one free Mead notebooks, $.25 comp books and 12-packs of Bic pens for a quarter. Some limits on how many you can buy per customer. Locations in Woodland Hills, Northridge, Van Nuys, Sylmar, and Simi Valley, Tarzana, Studio Vity, and Encino.

RiteAid is selling a free (after mail in rebate) Pentel automatic pencil and retractable pen with a coupon from an insert in your local paper. Expires July 26!

Walgreens has 100-packs of paper clips for $.19, rulers for $.19, and three-subject notebooks for $.79. Ten-pack of mechanical pencils is $.59.

Staples has 2-pocket paper folders for a penny each. A nickel will get you either a dozen eraser heads, a ruler, or 8 pencils.

Clearly, the stores are putting certain basic items on super sales. But watch out for other items because that's where they'll getcha!

Posted by Julia Scott at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)