Consignment sales better with a plan
With the coming of fall, expect weekends to offer great consignment sales on everything from kidswear to children’s toys and accessories. Here are ways to make the most of these sales:
• Know what you need. Go through your child’s wardrobe and make a list of the sizes and items you need.
• Inspect each item. Are there buttons missing, a sticky zipper or a mysterious stain? When buying strollers and bikes, look for missing screws or loose safety handles.
• Prepare yourself. Shopping at large consignment sales can take more time because of all the variety and sizes. Take a light jacket with a zippered pocket for easy access to your keys, list, phone and money. Bring your own reusable bags to collect your bargains.
• Look for labels. Buy designer labels such as Ralph Lauren, Polo, Gymboree, Children’s Place and Land’s End. Do not focus on cost-efficient brands such as Faded Glory (Wal-Mart) and Circo (Target), which you can grab on sale at the end of every season.
— Tara McAlister
Charlotte Observer
Hints from Heloise:
Save slats on blinds during installation
John R. in Hot Springs Village, Ark., writes: When installing new or replacing old horizontal blinds, keep one or two extra slats at the bottom for future replacement. Trying to find a match if you need a new one in the future can be very difficult.
Merle C. in Salem, Ore., writes: Here’s a hint for an easy way to check car brake lights: Push the brake pedal before opening the garage door. If you can see the red lights, then you know you’re good to go!
Sara J. in Illinois writes: When transferring houseplants into new containers: Before adding the soil to the new container, cover the drainage hole with a piece of newspaper. This allows the water to drain but keeps the soil from coming out, and it will dissolve over time.
— King Features
Compare two hotels side by side on site
Here’s a website that makes choosing a hotel a snap.
Smartdepart.com allows you to drag two hotels onto the page so you can do side-by-side comparisons of price, ratings and reviews as well as night life, dining, shopping and tourism.
I’ve never seen a comparison feature like this on other hotel booking sites — it’s the key to making your decisions easier. You can use additional tools at the top of the page to fine-tune your search by price, amenities, star ratings and more. If you’re not familiar with the area, you can easily open and close a map to see where the hotels are located. If you want to know why one hotel was recommended over the other for dining, click on that topic to read the Yelp reviews.
You should double-check the prices. I found inconsistencies between search results and prices on the final booking page.
— Jen Leo
Los Angeles Times