Pandoras Box

Since I have been really bad about writing lately since life has been crazy busy, I thought I'd open up Pandora's Box..... ok, so maybe I just opened up my picture files, but it sounds more dramatic that way.

Here's some new pics of the boys, taken this weekend on my shiny new Lumix YAY!






I think he looks a lot like my sister Kayleah in this one:





Bill was the absolute hit of the Syracuse Baby Expo with his baby wearing awesomeness (yes, this is the wrap I made):

The Unlikeliest Of Places

Yesterday I wandered over to the WalMart in Cicero to kill time before I had to pick Jakob up since Jericho was a little antsy sitting around at home. We picked up a few random bits and pieces, but the coolest thing happened on our way out. At WalMart they always have greeters standing by the entrances welcoming people in and saying 'farewell' to those on their way out

Well, the older gent who was the greeter at the exit I was headed to noticed the sling (that I made and posted about in a previous blog) that Jericho was being carried in. He stopped me to ask me how exactly it worked and we got to chit-chatting for a few minutes.

Come to find out this gentleman had a PHD in science and was a Biology/Chemistry/Environmental Science teacher at the high school and college level. It was so interesting considering that is what Bill is interested in going into. He told me a number of stories about his teaching days and some of the assignments he had given his students. One of them was actually really awesome! In his Environmental Science class, their final project was to write a paper on what the world would be like 50 years from that time (now mind you, this easily was 20+ years ago). He said it was fascinating to see what the students came up with. I thought it would be a neat idea for Bill to use at some point in his teaching.

But you know, who ever would have thought that I would meet someone so cool working at WalMart? I think that a lot of people (myself included!) have the preconcieved notion that people working in jobs like that are unmotivated or uneducated. Obviously that is the dead wrong assumption. Meeting him was definitely the highlight of my week I think. I ended up standing there to chat with him until I finally HAD to go or I would have been late to pick Jakob up from school. It was lovely and refreshing. I find myself liking older people and feeling sad that it's so seldom that we sit down and listen to them, living the fast paced lives that we young people live. Sometimes it's nice to slow down and listen.

Jakob is doing really well in school. He loves it, of course. And yes, I still walk him to his class every single day. I also went to the first parent workshop of the year and was sad to see so few parents there. Only five parents showed up, out of an entire school full of children, only five parents came. So needless to say, I'll be getting involved with the Parent Association. Just call me soccer mom extraordinaire!

Piaget Michael Bondi

For those of you who don't know, we have a lovely toy Poodle named Piaget. We got him last year for Jakob's birthday. After much hemming and hawing, my first choice name started to stick. Jean Piaget (who our Piaget is named after) was an influential mind in the field of behavioral development in children. Being a student of social work, I find his theories fascinating. I plan on naming our next animal Maslow... and so on (although I do think we'll skip naming a poor, unsuspecting animal after Freud).

Anyways, today Jakob decided it was reprehensible that our Piaget does not have a middle name. So he decided to share his own. Piaget will henceforth be known as Piaget Michael Bondi. I suppose this means that the next animal has to be Maslow Lawson (since that is Jericho's middle name).

On a side note: we did our grocery shopping today, and I'm proud to say that what should have been $138.... we only paid $94 for. Oh how I LOVE sales at the grocery store! My favorite, by far for anyone who is interested, is the buy one get TWO free Freihofer white or wheat bread. One loaf is usually $3.39. We paid just under seven dollars for six loaves. Bread freezes REALLY well, so if you have freezer space, I would suggest swinging by Price Chopper!

Also, if anyone is feeling an overwhelming urge for some lasagna, you really should swing by my house. I got into the mood to cook some, and ended up making an absolutely insane amount. By my calculations we'll be eating leftovers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for at least the next week.

*Hot Off The Press

In Bondi News Today:

Absolutely nothing thrilling. Seriously, nothing that splendid has been happening, which is why I haven't been blogging. But since people are starting to complain that I don't write enough, I will share all the nitty gritty little details that nobody really cares about knowing, but everyone will probably read (my readers are such an odd bunch!).

Remember in my last blog I mentioned trying my hand at sleep sacks next? Yeah, I didn't do that. But I did make Jericho some great leg warmers. Right now they are big in baby fashion, especially among cloth diapering parents and parents who baby-wear. You see, cloth diapers can be a bit bulky, and childrens clothing nowadays is made to fit over a super thin 'sposie (disposable) diaper. For a lot of CD parents, leggies are the perfect solution, because on a baby, they go all the way up to the top of the thigh where the diaper starts. And since cloth diapers can be so cute, it's fun to be able to show off a little cloth covered booty. Also, when you wear your baby, their pant legs tend to get jacked up to their knees, leaving little naked legs sticking out the bottoms.

At Target you can buy "Not Sox" for about $12. Instead, I bought a double pack of girls heavy knit gray knee socks, cut off the feet, tossed in some elastic, and VOILA! My very own NotSox for a fraction of the cost. Plus, Jericho will never have cold legs, and for hanging out around the house it makes diaper changing SOOO easy since he doesn't have to wear pants! I suppose he could go out and about without pants on... but.... I'm a fashion snob when it comes to the kids, so not wearing pants is just so not an option.

Bill had a screening interview at the school district yesterday. It went really well, and the interviewer told him that he will be getting a letter in the next few days detailing what steps he needs to take next. The coolest thing was that the guy was so impressed with Bill's experience and resume, he told him that he was honored to meet him! How cool is that? He also told Bill that he should really get a transitional B teaching certification, which basically makes it so that you can be a teacher based on your experience before you actually get a teaching certification.

The only thing that will suck about Bill getting a job there is that our current dentist doesn't take the insurance company that the district uses. Anyone who knows how much we love our dentist will understand how crushing this is to us. I mean jeeze, the dental office was one of the first places we called with the news that Jericho was here. Then we took him in to visit them when he was only a few days old. It's real love I tell you (it would be even better if they did free whitening since we're such wonderful patients.... but I think that would probably be asking a little much!)

So in order to stay with our teeth-fixin' people, we are going to do one of two things:

1. Beg the dentist to get the paperwork in so that they can take this new insurance.
2. Pay for our dental out of pocket- not the ideal choice, but we are absolutely willing to do it in order to stay where we are now.

You know, speaking of loving our dentist.... I just realized that our family has had amazing luck in picking out health care providers. I have an ob/gyn that I adore, Bill loves his GP, Jakob and Jericho have a pediatrician who I firmly believe is the very best Syracuse has to offer, and we have a dentist we absolutely adore. How many people out there can say that?

If anyone is shopping around for any of those providers, I'm more than happy to give their contact information! Our dentist takes patients starting at around two years old too, so your whole family can go to the same place. :-)

Change of subject.

Jakob is doing really well in school. He walked himself in on Monday when Bill dropped him off, but then when I dropped him off on Tuesday he started to cry and told me he would be scared to walk to his class alone..... so like the insanely protective momma bear I am, I walked him in. I'm not the only parent who does it still, so I don't feel too much like it's going to traumatize him for life.

He woke up this morning and cried when I told him it was time to get ready for school. I asked him why he was so upset and he replied "I'm just crying because the days at school are so long". I kind of have to agree with him! Being in school for eight hours really does seem excessively long for a five year old child. He's also not thrilled that they don't have as much free-play time as they did in pre-school. I understand the need for there to be learning with this whole "No Child Left behind" push, but I think people forget that they are only five years old! Let them enjoy being little for a while, in no time flat they'll be joining the rat race.

Another thing....when I dropped him off this morning, everyone was outside and there were a ton of cops around. Apparently someone called in a bomb threat! Talk about a blast from the past! When I was in high school we used to get bomb threats pretty much every single day. After Columbine, things started to be taken really seriously, so we would be outside in the dead of winter for HOURS while the buildings were searched. I was, of course, a bit nervous to leave Jakob after that, but I figured if I took him home, I would in some way be to blame for some future psychosis or something because I affirmed his fears or blah blah blah. I left him, but I was a bit on edge all day. I'm happy to report that the kids were all perfectly fine by the end of the day.

Oh and Jakob is also quite thrilled that he finally has a bunk bed (thanks dad!). We don't have space to put it up, but he is happy just to have it. He's been wanting one for about a year, but it took us forever to find one we liked.... interestingly.... we ended up liking the cheapest one we found the most. It was $199 and is FAR better quality than the $600 and $900 ones that we found (which were on SALE!)

The picture up top is one that I had to dig through the archives for since my camera is a broken down piece of junk and no longer likes serving a useful purpose. It's Jakob at Strong Museum last summer (anyone with kids who wants to road trip to Rochester let me know! Jakob has been BEGGING to go back!).

Holy wow, for someone who didn't have a lot to say, I sure have said an awful lot haven't I? I suppose I should be doing some math homework, so I will get on that and bid you all a splendid evening!

*Diaper Making Update

Well, you guys asked for it, so here it is.... the finished product!







And here it is in use!



I'm proud to say that not only does it look way cute, it also works REALLY well. Jericho peed quite a bit in it, and there wasn't a single leak. He actually took a nap in it. My mom found a number of things she didn't like about it after it was done, but she is your typical perfectionist, so in my eyes, as long as it does what it's supposed to do, I don't care that much whether there is the right amount of elasticity in the leg bands.

Needless to say, I can finally start tracing the pattern out onto the nice fabric that I bought specifically for this purpose. I can't even tell you how convenient pocket diapers are. No more difficult than using a disposable diaper! I'm more than happy to share the pattern (and tips for making it!) with anyone who is interested in giving it a go!

Oh and, while I'm on the subject of making things.... A woman that is in one of my mommy meet-up groups asked if anyone could make toddler sized sleep sacks... for those of you who have no clue what a sleep sack is, you can see one here. It's an awesome type of blanket that your baby can wear.

I thought to myself "DING DING!" How super easy those would be to create! So that is going to be the next project I try doing myself. My mom has already made it clear that I'll be on my own with that one.... but I'm going to try to weasel some help out of her.

Don't Go Breakin' My Heart.

Today, after picking Jakob up from school, I had to run up to campus to get something from Bill. Typically this is no problem at all, but today Jakob decided he wanted to go to work with daddy and use the 'telescope with the swirly things' (a special microscope that he uses). Bill had an awful lot to get done, and knew that Jakob would get bored pretty quickly, so after waffling back and forth for a while, said no.

By this time, Jakob is sobbing his eyes out. Bill looks and me and says "he's breaking my heart!" because he genuinely wanted to take Jakob in with him, but was really busy. After trying to soothe Jakob over for a few minutes, Jakob looks at Bill and through his tears yells "YOU'RE breaking MY heart!"

I had to bury my face in my arm so that he wouldn't hear me laughing. I haven't laughed to the point of tears for a really long time, but that definitely had me going!

I wish I had something more interesting to tell you, but life has been shockingly dull of late.

Since I have been horrible about picture taking the past few days, I thought I'd give you an old picture of Jakob to enjoy. Just outside of the picture, there are DVD cases spread all over the carpet. He so got busted this time!

*Kangababy

I've been thinking a lot lately about the concept of babywearing, which I absolutely love. A lot of people think that the idea of having your baby against you is a pain, but it's really so easy and convenient. Plus, it gives you a wonderful bonding opportunity. Today I had Jericho in his carrier at the store and the entire time we shopped, he rubbed his palm along my arm. It was so sweet I actually walked around the store for longer than I had planned just so he wouldn't stop doing it. If he had been in his car seat carrier, he never would have been able to do that.

Why wear your baby?

There are a variety of reasons. I won't bore you by posting them all, but if anyone is interested, you can check out this link. It has a lot of great reasons that you probably wouldn't expect.

Since we have had Jericho, he's been riding in a Baby Bjorn that was on loan from my sisters sister-in-law. We liked it so much that when I saw one advertised for really cheap on craigslist, I grabbed that one too. Now we have one for the car and one for the house.

But the way Jericho is shaped, it's starting to get awkward to carry him in it. He's short and tubby and there is only so much space for him inside of the carrier.

So I fired up google and got to searching. I found a really neat one called a Moby Wrap, and noticed that some of the moms on my mothers group had talked about them as well.



Neat huh?

But the more I looked at them, the more I thought that they were way over priced. So I did some more checking, and found the fabric they are made out of. 100% lightweight stretchy cotton. Jersey knit. A fabric that they happen to have an abundance of at the fabric store.

So I wandered over and picked some up. Easy as that. The great thing about jersey knit is that it doesn't unravel.... so you don't have to have any sewing prowess at all to make one! YAY! As long as you can wield a pair of scissors, you're good.

I bought six yards of heather gray, cut it in half length wise, and now have 2 Moby inspired wraps for less than the price of one Moby. The wrapping may look complex, but it isn't at all. There is a great youtube tutorial that teaches you how to wrap and tuck step by step.

I was the guest speaker in a class up on campus earlier today, and carried Jericho in his new wrap the entire time. He was such a little gem! Since there are no buckles or plastic pieces, it's amazingly comfortable to wear, both for mommy and baby. Had I worn him in the Baby Bjorn for an hour of standing, my back would have been killing me afterward. My back isn't bothering me a bit. It feels really natural to carry him that way too.





Doesn't Bill make a great model?

*A New Lease On Life

I was looking at one of Jericho's fancier cloth diapers the other day. They are called "pocket diapers". A pocket diaper has an inner layer, which is what is against the baby's skin, and an outter layer, which is waterproof. There is an opening somewhere on the diaper, typically in the back, where you can slide in an absorbent insert that will soak up all of the moisture. It's a diaper that we only bought one of because they happen to be quite expensive. Which is a shame, because I like it so much. It's exactly like a disposable diaper... only... it's cloth. No prefold, no cover, no pins or snappi to deal with. Just a diaper with velcro or snap closures which are really cool. Pocket diapers are advertised as being "dad friendly". They are so easy to use at night and when you're out and about, but for the cost, it's just not worth it.

Unless..... oh yes, you just knew I'd have a way around it, didn't you?

Unless... You make your own.

After spending WEEKS researching how to create these diapers on my own, looking at designs, patters, fabrics, and other diapers, I was ready to begin.

Firstly, I had to invest in a material that is both waterproof and able to be run through the washer and drier. Polyurithane Laminate is the perfect solution. It's a knit fabric with a waterproof laminate coating across one side, thus making it waterproof. Obviously, that is important when creating a cloth diaper that is one piece. It can't leak of you'll be changing baby clothes an awful lot. Sadly, you can not buy this in the fabric store. It has to be ordered online, and costs around $9.00 per yard. Not too bad considering you can probably make seven diapers out of a one yard piece, and use any left over to make mama cloth if you're interested in that. The other sad thing is that they don't make this in very exciting prints. I ended up buying plain old white, you'll understand why later.

The other thing I had to buy was something called Aplix. It's a velcro-like closure that is a lot more durable than typical velcro. Obviously, it has to stand up to an awful lot of washing. This stuff is surprisingly inexpensive. It costs about $1 a yard for either hook (the scratchy side), or loop (the soft side). You need to buy both, so it's at least two dollars. I ended up buying 3 yards of hook and 9 yards of loop. Why? Because you use more loop than hook, and the standard when you're making cloth diapers is 3 yards of loop for every yard of hook.

I needed to pick the fabric that would be against the baby, and in my search I found that the best fabrics to use are 100% cotton. I decided to use cotton flannel. Nothing fancy from the craft store. But a receiving blanket that was never used. Waste not, want not, right?

I figured that since this was a trial diaper, it would be silly to chop up brand new fabric only to do something wrong and ruin it, so I looked through my closet and found an old vest I got from the thrift store that was fleece (which is another great diapering fabric!).



Both the blanket and vest were washed with Charlies soap, which is an all natural-no additives soap that leaves no residue behind. This is important because anything that leaves a residue on cloth diapers will ruin their ability to absorb moisture. If you look at most any detergent ingredient list, you'll see things like 'softeners' and 'brighteners'. That translates into 'film left behind on fabric'. Cloth diapers need to be able to absorb moisture while being waterproof. So no fancy detergent, no fabric softener.

So anyways, I decided that the blanket would be the fabric against the baby, then would come the layer of PUL, which would be hidden by an outer layer of repurposed vest fleece.

I spent last Saturday morning creating a pattern based on ideas I got from other diapers I looked at. There were features on a number of diapers that I wanted to recreate on my own. I thought creating a pattern would be the easy part. Thus far it has actually been the most difficult! After a few hours, I finally had what I wanted.



Yes, my pattern was created on a Cheeze-It box, but it was the only thing in the house that was big enough to put the entire pattern on.



Here are all three layers: PUL, Flannel, and Fleece-



It took me a while to figure out how to pin the diaper so that once it was turned right side out, everything was where it was supposed to be. You see, the flannel is supposed to be separated from the PUL and fleece by the absorbent inner liner. So I had to pin the fabric together for sewing in such a way that it would be layered appropriately once finished. Flannel, then PUL (Laminate side facing the flannel) then the fleece. I FINALLY got everything pinned together properly.





Now, since I am not so great on a sewing machine, we are just waiting on my mom to do the actual sewing together. **Hint Hint MOM! I know you're reading this. Get moving lady!**

Hopefully, within a few days I will have the finished product and will be able to report on it's success or failure. Stay tuned!

*Kindergarten

I am proud to announce that I didn't cry much at all. This morning he was just killing me though. He got out of the shower and wrapped up in a blanket. He kept saying he was cold and shivering, but after a few minutes I realized he wasn't shivering because he was cold, he was shaking because he was nervous. He asked for waffles for breakfast, ate maybe one bite, then couldn't eat anymore.

He was *JUST* like his daddy. Bill gets like that when he is really nervous, it was so cute to see Jakob using Bill's mannerisms. Of course it also broke my heart because it made me feel even more like I didn't want to let him go.

I did really well though, the worst part was watching him walk off into his classroom with the teacher. He didn't look back or anything, just left.

I had to go to work right after we dropped him off, and I couldn't concentrate on a single thing all day long. Now I'm just waiting to go pick him up since he doesn't get out until 3 (Doesn't that seem like an awful long day for little kids? Drop off at 7:55am, pickup at 3pm). I feel comfortable with his teachers, which makes me really happy. I was afraid we wouldn't like them.

Also, Bill's schedule has been crazy since I've been working on Thursdays and Fridays now. On those days, he doesn't go in until 1:30, then has to work really late. Obviously this sucks especially with Jakob in school now, because Bill likely won't get to see him but for a few minutes in the morning. I've been trying to get him to warm up to the idea of taking the baby to work *with* him. A bunch of the other people have done it, why not him? Finally he decided to give it a try, and he was actually really pleased with the results. He said Jericho behaved wonderfully, and of course got a ton of attention. Plus Bill was able to get a lot of work done (he picked me up at one, and I drove him back up to work so that I can have the car to get Jakob from school) and won't have to work until the sun sets.

Just for the record, he doesn't take the baby in to the lab, he keeps him in the office to do computer and paper work, lest any of you think we expose our little man to hazardous chemicals.

So that was today in a nutshell. Hopefully tomorrow I'll do better with letting Jakob go to class on his own (although I doubt that will happen, I want to KNOW that he knows where his classroom is).

Getting More Bang For Your Buck

I hear an awful lot of: "How can you afford to dress your kids so well" and "OMG Where did you get that?" or "You only spent HOW MUCH?". I hear it so often in fact that I thought I would make an entry about shopping, since it's something I do so love to do.

First of all, I want to make sure people realize that cheap and frugal are two totally different concepts. Being frugal is:

"The practice of acquiring goods and services at minimum cost achieved via economical restraint or creative measures. Frugality can be related to the idea of being conservative or conserving money"

By contrast, cheap is:

"relatively low in price or charging a low price"

So you see the difference? You can be cheap without being frugal, but you can also be frugal without being cheap. The words are not appropriately interchangeable.

For example: cloth diapering is not cheap. The start up cost is actually quite a bit more than you would spend on a box of diapers. But because you are getting the best *value* for your dollar, cloth diapering *is* frugal. It is not cheap in the long run, but when you have four children and only had to spend $300 on diapers once instead of over $2,000 per child, you will realize quickly how frugal cloth diapering can be.

My most recent frugality has been shopping for back to school clothes for Jakob. Last year, school shopping was no big deal since he could still fit in all of his older clothes. We just got a few new pieces here and there for him. This year was an entirely different story. All of the clothes he had last year he had already outgrown by the end of the year, so there was no way we could reuse any of that. He needed an entirely new wardrobe, which is no small thing considering kids' clothing can be expensive.

I was able to get him an entire *BRAND NEW* fall/winter wardrobe for less than $150. Sounds like a lot, but anyone who has children and shops for brand new stuff knows that $150 is hardly anything.

Here's how I did it:

I stayed away from WalMart and KMart. Why? You might ask. Aren't WalMart and KMart supposed to be cheap places? Yes, they are... supposed to be. One pair of size 6 boys jeans at WalMart cost a whopping $24.00. Yup, you read that right. Sure there were cheaper styles, but I won't wear tapered leg jeans, so I can't imagine putting them on Jakob. For the classic boot/wide leg cut jeans, it was expensive. I could have bought him four pairs for $100 and that would have been the end of my back to school shopping.

Shopping Tip One: I start early, at the beginning of the summer clothing season actually. All the heavier clothing goes on sale to make room for summer stuff.

Shopping Tip Two: There is a store we have locally called H & M, located in both Carousel Mall (for those of us who are willing to brave the construction madness) and in Great Northern Mall. I was able to get double packs of really nice fitted, long sleeved basic color shirts (black, brown, green, blue, red, etc) for $1 each. And by that I mean each double pack was $1, making each individual shirt $.50. SCORE! People often (and sadly) overlook stores like this when back to school shopping because they seem to think that it's outrageously expensive. Most of the clothing there is a FAR better value than clothing from WalMart, KMart, or even Target.

Shopping Tip Three: When I find a great sale, like the $.50 each shirts above, instead of just getting the size Jakob is in now, I get the next few sizes up as well. Sure, it means spending a little extra money now, but in the long run, it will save me a TON!

Plus, H & M Often has a deal where if you buy any of their denim, you can pick any hoodie to go with it for free. Their denim isn't outrageous, it runs anywhere from $9.99 to around $24.99 . So you can spend $12.00 on a pair of jeans, and get a $14.00 hoodie for free. $26.00 of merchandise for less than half. Can't beat that.

I also want to add that H & M clothing is really sturdy. It's the sort of stuff you can buy for one child, and by the time the next child gets around to wearing it, it's still sturdy and in great condition. The black shirts stay black and don't turn gray, the knees of the jeans don't fade, and Jakob is rough on his clothes, but they always manage to wash clean no matter what detergent I use.

Super Shopper Savings Tip Number Four: Old Navy. You can almost always find great sales at Old Navy. Their clothing isn't quite the quality of H&M, but it's still a good value. Recently they had a huge denim sale where all childrens' denim was $7, and all adult denim was $12. That is where I got most of the jeans Jakob will be wearing for school this fall. I also got Bill a few new pairs since all of his jeans were getting pretty frayed around the edges. Since it was the first time he's needed new pants in a few years, it wasn't a big deal.

Side note: Avoid the Old Navy outlet. For some really odd reason, their outlet store sells the exact same things they sell in their regular stores.... only..... they sell them for the exact same, and sometimes MORE! Every now and then you can catch something great on sale, but for the most part, I would avoid their outlet. It's just not worth it.

Shopping Tip Number Five: Check out babygap. I adore Gap clothing, I can't see paying $34 for a sweater, but I can always find pretty good prices for stuff online. My favorite ever Gap buy was last year in their store. I was looking for pants for Jakob, and went in there as a last resort, and found a bunch of his sized jeans on sale from $34.99 down to $5.99! I bought every single pair they had in his size. Those jeans lasted him from fall to spring, and were in such good condition, I have packed them all away for Jericho. So the sale was good at the time, and will save me from having to buy jeans in that size for Jericho down the road. That same day I got a cream colored cable knit romper that was originally $65 dollars for $6.99. I put it away thinking that some day it would make a great baby shower gift, not knowing that Jericho would be coming along. It's the perfect size to fit him once the weather turns.

Shopping Tip Number Six: Check out The Childrens Place outlet often. I got both Jericho and Jakob a ton of outfits for $4 at the end of the winter season. Each top was $1.99. Instead of getting the plain tops, which I had already got at H & M for cheaper, I stuck with getting sweaters and button down shirts. The pants were also all $1.99. My favorite outfit for Jakob is a pin striped button down, with the matching argyle sweater vest, and matching dress pants. Each piece on it's own was $1.99; so the entire outfit cost me $6.

Shopping Tip Number Seven: Browse sales racks for things to put away for future gift-giving-events. You may be planning on professional Christmas pictures next year. If you shop in the few weeks after Christmas one year, you can pay up to 90% off your outfits for NEXT Christmas. Can you even beat that?

Shopping Tip Number Eight: All Targets are not created equally. Locally, We have a Target in Camillus, Cicero, Clay, and Central Square. If you find something you want at one store, but don't want to pay full price for it, call around to the other three. You'd be amazed at how the Target stores never seem to have the same thing on sale at the same time. I've paid 90% off for something at the Cicero Target, then gone to the Clay Target to find it still full price!

Edited to add:

Shopping Tip Number Nine: I can't believe I nearly forgot one of my very favorites. REPURPOSE! What's that mean? It means that the white tshirt from last year that still fits but is covered in stains can be given new life. Sort of like Lazarus being brought back from the dead, so can you bring clothes (or any fabric for that matter) back from the garbage pile. All it takes is some RIT (or any other kind you happen to favor, but I like RIT) dye. To make your money go even further, it's a good idea to keep things put away until you have a lot of stuff you want to dye and do it all at once. This way you only have to buy one package each of whatever color you may want instead of multiple.

So now your stained up old white shirt is a crisp looking blue, all stains covered up and hidden away. Not only are you saving money, but you're helping save the planet by wasting less. GO YOU!

Those are just a few of my tips on saving money on clothing. If everyone likes this entry, I'll go ahead and do another on how to save on all your non-clothing shopping!