DEAR HELOISE: I work as an assistant manager at a very large grocery store, and we are always busy from early in the morning until we close at midnight. We are located in an up-scale neighborhood where we have security guards patrolling the store and parking lots. Women feel safe shopping here.
All too often, I see women leave their purses unattended in the grocery cart while something or someone has caught their attention. They turn around and their purse is gone in a flash! We have signs all over the parking lot and in the store asking shoppers not to leave valuables in their car or cart. On our sales slips we tell shoppers to always watch out for their belongings. But still, women ignore the warnings.
Holidays, when we are especially busy, is when purses and jackets seem to disappear from shopping carts. One woman draped her mink jacket over the cart she was using and someone walked off with it. At Christmas we had no less than two or three purses a week taken from a cart while the owner was day-dreaming. One woman left her newborn baby in her cart while she was looking for a turkey. When she turned around a young woman was holding her child in her arms. The baby was unharmed, and the woman was just admiring the infant. But what if it was someone who had scooped up the baby up and left the store? Such things can and do happen.
So, please warn your readers to never leave their carts unattended and never leave anything of value in their carts. Use a crossbody bag when you can to make certain your wallet and other items are protected. If anyone steals from your cart, see the store manager immediately and we'll call the police for you. Better safe than sorry, as they say.
-- Greg W.
DEAR READER: Did you donate to a charity and receive a gift that you don't need or want, or do you have too many corporate coffee cups, letter openers, books, etc. Here's what you can do:
Donate those items to a homeless shelter.
Give to someone who has a cabin for vacations.
Put the items in a yard sale.
Place them at the curb with a sign that reads: "Free! Help yourself."
DEAR HELOISE: I was married in 1958, and we had no money to speak of, so I had to get creative with shopping. Most of all, I had to stop telling myself, "It's only a dollar" or "I won't miss those two dollars, so why not buy it?" It's amazing how those one and two dollar purchases add up.
When my daughter was in college, she needed to get a few items from the drugstore, so I gave her $20. She came home in shock when she discovered that $20 didn't go far. It was the best lesson she ever had in money management.
-- Maggie B.
Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or email