lady stopped me on the street, as I was walking to the office in Center City Philadelphia a few weeks ago. She was wearing a Burberry jacket and carrying a Dooney & Bourke handbag, and she asked me if I knew where the nearest Dollar Store was. “They’re always around when you’re not looking for them,” she complained. As it happened, there were two within a three-block radius, and I directed her to the closest one.

            Shopping at dollar stores is the new shopping chic. There’s even a 99-cent store in Beverly Hills these days, reports Money magazine. Some time between the high-flying ‘90s and now, when the Hilton sisters weren’t looking, it became fashionable to save money, and more and more people are coming out of the closet about their frugal ways.  If you haven’t been to a dollar store yet, you should try it: you’ll never pay full price for garbage bags or laundry soap again.

            In this and every issue of MAKING BREAD, we share the many inventive ways our readers, writers, friends and extended family are finding to save their money.  This time of year, that can be a challenge.  As Marcia Eckerd, our “Working Mom’s Shrink,” points out in her column “How Not to Go Broke This Holiday Season,” we are at our most vulnerable when it comes to emotional spending during the holidays. She offers psychological insights into why that is, plus some savvy tips for keeping your spending in check.

            Ever mindful of the season and the drain it can be on our budgets, in our “Tip Bank” we offer “Inexpensive Ways to Dress Up Your Wardrobe” for your holiday parties and some offbeat suggestions for “Best Presents Under $50.” Then, as our gift to you, we present a MAKING BREAD Bedtime Story, “Where Money Grows on Trees,” all about—you guessed it—dough. This charming,  new-age fable comes with a  “Payoff” discussion box to help you jumpstart a dialogue with your youngsters about the importance of planning expenditures and saving for what you want.

           If a digital camera is on your “Wish List” this year, buying one becomes a snap with our “Holiday Buying Guide,” written by tech guru Mr. Modem, a.k.a. Richard A. Sherman. As a bonus, talented, savvy professional photographer Sabina Louise Pierce offers suggestions on how to get the most from your purchase after you take it out of the box.

            In our “Young Marrieds’ Guide to Staying Out of Debt,” a kaffeeklatsch of old marrieds (some of them married more than once) offer their “what I wish I’d known then” advice to help you save your budget and, perhaps, your marriage. You can take their advice to the bank.

o save money, you first have to earn it. In this issue, you’ll meet several women who are having a great time doing just that—including two franchise first-timers who broke even in their first 45 days with their UPS Store and haven’t looked back since.  (With their effervescent personalities and can-do attitude, they remind me a little of that indomitable ‘70s duo, Laverne and Shirley.) You’ll also meet Amanda Bennett, the first woman to be appointed editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, who gives us the inside scoop on her professional success.

           If you’re hunting for career advice and inspiration and those professions aren’t your cup of tea, read “Where the Jobs Are Now,” written by one of our contributing editors, Elizabeth Kaminsky.  You’ve got it made, she says, “if you’re a computer-software-writing nurse who can run a hot shuffleboard game, draw up contracts, and watch for intruders in your night-vision goggles.”  Seriously, we think she offers some great leads on the fastest-growing fields in this country now, plus suggestions for interesting work you might never have considered on your own.  (Already employed? Career coach JoAnn R. Hines’ provocative opinion piece “On-the-Job Etiquette: Why Can’t Women Be Nicer to Each Other?” is must reading.)

 Kaminsky’s dream profession, by the way, is  “chick singer”—and, happily, she reports that she just got a gig. The moral of that story: Never give up on your dreams.

            Speaking of dreams, our new “Funny Business” columnist, Jane Resnick, is dreaming of  “dropping 10 pounds” before the “no-fuss, no-stress holidays” arrive, when she’ll be serving her perfect family  “moist turkeys, succulent hams and vegetables children adore.”  Seems she’s bought into all the advice the women’s magazines dish out. As she says, “We’re only seduced by what we desire.”

 If your desire is a big nest egg, keep on reading MAKING BREAD!

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Gail Harlow is the Founding Editor of MAKING BREAD. Send your comments, questions and suggestions to gail@makingbreadmagazine.com.

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