Gearing up for Christmas with K-Mart Layaway

This post brought to you by Kmart. All opinions are 100% mine.

Due to my many years in retail, I know that now is the time to begin getting ready for Christmas.  Acutally, the time was about 12 days ago, but who's counting?  You might not be able to tell yet, but the retail stores are all abuzz with the Christmas Spirit right now.  They are collecting resumes and even conducting interviews.  In fact, most places will have all of their Holiday help hired by October first so they can be trained to handle the masses on Black Friday. 

Black Friday has never really been my "thing".  I prefer to shop for my holiday gifts the easy way.  Travis and I were just discussing how we are going to make it through the Christmas season this year since our families have grown so much.  Even if we get little gifts for every kid on the list we are still going to take a pretty hefty hit to the pocket book.  That's where the free layaway at K-Mart comes into play. 

It makes a lot more sense to put items on layaway and pay for them over time, and the earlier you get it on layaway, the longer you have to pay.  Work smarter, not harder!  Don't force yourself to tangle with the masses, risk getting trampled, and still miss out on that special item your little loved one was hoping for.  Get it done early and do it right the first time.  Put it on layaway now while it's on the shelf and guarantee you get what you want!  I made the mistake of mising out on one of my top items last year... this year I won't make the same mistake again.  I'm putting my LEAP PAD on layaway!!

What could make it better? Kmart's Big Layaway Giveaway, that's what! Once a week, every week until 11/17/12 K-Mart will pick a winner from their layaway customers and pay off their remaining balance!  You could get your entire Christmas haul SEVERLY discounted that way!

If you have never used layaway before, you are missing out - I'm sad to say it, but it's true.  I've been in retail a long time and I can say that layaway is a smart way to do things.  

See how simple that is?  Not only is it easy, but you can see the K-Mart is the smarter choice.  Oh you're just so very smart now aren't you.  I think you deserve a little pre-Christmas gift for having such a huge brain. 

Hurricane Isaac Devistation

This was posted on my friend's facebook page. She is from Helena, MS which is a small town that hardly anyone knows was torn apart by Hurricane Isaac. After Katrina, the news media focuses mostly on New Orleans, not mentioning the other areas of the Gulf Coast that are affected by Hurricanes and Tropical Storms. The weather channel will tell you that all is well in New Orleans, but it doesn't mean that there aren't people out there who desperately need help.

Written by Debbie Waltman ...

I still can't believe the utter devastation due to flooding in our local community. I'm not sure most people who were not affected by the flooding even know how truly devastated the Helena, and surrounding areas was impacted. Yesterday the Red Cross came to Helena and served hot meals to people who haven't had hot meals since the storm. After serving over 100 meals, they ran out of food. The loc al ministry called Sisters also served hot meals when the Red Cross ran out. The sisters served over 500 hot meals! 500! And sat with these people and heart their heart breaking stories of how they can't cook because they've lost all appliances and are living out of Ice chests. Their homes are virtually uninhabitable. Many have lost everything. Most refuse to leave, some sleeping outdoors because they don't want to be looted. Children are being BOATED in to catch their school buses.

Here are some ways you can help your hurting neighbors:

• Get your church together to cook a hot meal one day.
• Donations of furniture, appliances (refrigerators, stoves, microwaves and other household items are needed.)
• Volunteer to do laundry for victims and pick up and return.
• Organize an after spot for kids to come hang out to do homework and get a snack. ( remember, what they're going home to. Can you imagine doing home work in that? And some have no air conditioning!)
• Some people are requesting camping tents and air mattresses because they won't leave but can't sleep indoors.
• Cleaning supplies are in big demand as are workers to help with clean up.
• Groceries that need no refrigeration. (one woman wept when she got a bag with Vienna sausages because she could feed her baby). Hand powered can openers. Paper goods. Water and other drinks.

If you can help with any of these needs, you may drop items off at the Helena community center to the sisters group. If you want to do more, talk to sisters about how specifically you want to help. Inbox Tiki Simmons or contact Darlene Whittington or BJ Broome — with BJ Broome and Darlene Whittington. (Also on facebook, but links were not given)

**PLEASE SHARE SO OTHERS CAN HELP TOO**