Courtesy crayola.com

The Crayola Digital Light Designer lets kids draw lights on a cone-shaped surface with a special electronic pen.

If you need some ideas for what toys to get the kids on your list this year, the 2013 Toy of the Year nominees is a pretty good place to start. Picked by the Toy Industry Association, these are some of the hottest, fun and most innovative toys on the shelves this holiday shopping season.

The industry picked 84 different toys in 12 different categories. That's a lot of toys to go through, so I went ahead and made a virtual "toy chest" of what I think are the best of the best, based on some clear biases I have as a 30-year-old nerdy new father of a one-month old. I haven't played with any of these toys and my ideas are not reinforced by experience; my kid can barely grab a giraffe ring, let alone choose between a "4-D puzzle" and the Playmobil E-Rangers Headquarters.

But I like toys that encourage kids to move around. I like toys that are intellectually fun and make you get creative.

I'm skeptical of toys with a long list of all the discrete skills they supposedly teach, and toys that replace imagination with electronics for no good reason. I also looked for that "wow" factor that will light up a kids eye's when they open up the package.

You can see the full list over at toyawards.org and vote for which ones you think are the best. The toy with the most reader votes will receive "The People's Choice Award." As an incentive, when you vote, you also enter for a chance to win every single toy in one of the voting categories. That'll take care of your holiday shopping pretty quick!

Here are my picks for each category:

Activity
Crayola Digital Light Designer
It's a LITE-BRITE on a cone! Draw the lights on the surface with a special electronic pen and animate your creation.

Boy
HEXBUG® Warriors Battling Robots Battle Stadium
Whirring battlebots clang and bang against each other in this curvy stadium, using vibrations to knock each other from green to red. Because it's never too early to start learning chaos theory.

Gosphero.com

This robotic ball is controlled by turning and tilting a touchscreen device or tablet, and an animated, cupcake-loving beaver appears on screen when you view it with your device.

eConnected
Sphero
A robot ball you control with your smartphone or tablet and when you look at it on your device, appears to be a beaver hungry for cupcakes. You toss the cupcakes to him on the device and then move the real ball in real life, by tilting and turning your device, to catch them.

Educational
LeapPad2
The followup to last year's smash hit LeapPad. Like the iPad it's modeled after, the second generation of the device adds a camera and more power. It's a book-sized all-encompassing child entrancement device. Sure to save many a car ride from an epic meltdown.

Game
Perplexus™ Epic
A 3-D maze puzzle inside a sphere. Literally mind-bending.

Jakks.com

Motion-activated lights on this princess dress encourage the child wearing it to dance, spin and jump around.

Girl
Disney Princess Cinderella Magic Lights Dress
Motion-activated lights on this princess dress encourage the child wearing it to dance, spin, and jump around. Princesses aren't static sleeping beauties or demure ladies in waiting anymore, they go on adventures! Accessorize with a pair of light-up sneakers.

Infant/Toddler
LEGO® Duplo Creative Sorter
Kind of like training wheels for Duplos, this set features pre-cut animal shapes that help little ones assemble their first block creations. The colors are bright and awesome, too, and I love the big eyes.

Innovative
Nerf Firevision Sports Football
It always stunk, or stung, when it got too dark outside to continue tossing the football in the backyard. But with the NERF Sports FIREVISION Football, just put on the special glasses and it lights up with a 100-foot range glow.

Outdoor
YBIKE Explorer
A 3-wheeled Go-Kart with big wheels for sturdy riding. Kind of a souped up Big Wheel for the 21st century, with more precise handling, and handles. Speaking of Big Wheels, if the $199.99 price tag for the YBIKE is too "off the road" for your budget, you can't go wrong with the reintroduction of the classic Big Wheel for $59.99, also in this product category.

Toysrus.com

The Doc McStuffins doll may be the closest thing to a truly hot toy this holiday season.

Preschool
Doc McStuffins “Time For Your Check-Up” Doll
If the kid on your list is a fan of this Disney Junior animated series, which is laudable for featuring female ethnic doctor (who's 6 and heals stuffed animals and toys), this is a sweet and cool interactive toy. With her bedazzled stethoscope and tools, Doc McStuffins listens to her friend Lambie's heart and her magical toys make Lambie talk. This toy also has the added benefit of hopefully making the kid more compliant and less freaked-out the next time they see the doctor.

toysrus.com

Remember Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? They're back, and retailers are betting they'll be big this holiday season.

Property
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
After a long hiatus, the heroes in a half-shell are in a new reboot, and it actually looks cool. As a fan of the Turtles, even more so after I discovered the edgy underground comics that were their origin, all I can say is...TURTLE POWER! 

Specialty
All Duct Out™
Duct-tape wallets seem to get rediscovered by each generation of kids. Here's a kit for making them, along with headbands, belts, and more out of neon duct-tape. How cool is that?

Check out the other finalists at toyawards.org and sound off in the comments which ones you think should be the winners.

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Mall of America

Do you drop your kids off at the mall for a little post Turkey Day shopping or take them with you but let them go off on their own to browse the holiday sales?

If you shop at the Mall of America, the nation’s largest mall, you won’t be able to do that this year during peak holiday shopping times if your children are 15 or younger.

After a chair-throwing meleeinvolving unruly young people during Christmas week last year, the Bloomington, Minn., mall is extending its parental escort policy this year, the Pioneer Press reported this week.

The policy, which requires kids under 16 to be accompanied by someone 21 or older on Fridays and Saturdays after 4 p.m., will be in effect during mall hours on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, and from the day after Christmas until New Year’s Eve. The mall has had the weekend policy since 1996.

The chair-throwing incident, which was caught on video and posted online, wasn’t the primary reason for cracking down on unaccompanied young shoppers, said Dan Jasper, the mall’s vice president of public relations, who cited a record number of shoppers last year on Black Friday.

“We had never opened at midnight on Black Friday prior to last year,” he told TODAY Moms. “We had 217,000 people that day, including some unaccompanied kids who are 14, 15. Just for the safety of everyone, we expanded the policy.”

“The reason behind it is to make sure this is a safe environment,” he said.

While some who weighed in on the TODAY MOMS Facebook page supported the move, others said it was wrong to keep well-behaved young teens from shopping without a grownup.

“I think it is unfair to all teens to be treated the same as they are not,” wrote Judie Beford. “There are a lot of good ones and I am proud of them.”

“Not all teens are disrespectful and troublemakers like these kids clearly are,” Pamela Chapman wrote. “In fact, it's been my experience that most are good kids.”

Irene Miscia Martin suggested the mall beef up its security. “Don't make one bad apple spoil it for all the good ones,” she wrote. “We have wonderful teens in our family that love to shop and that would be just wrong.”

Some thought the extended ban on younger kids shopping alone or with friends could hurt sales.

“I think they will be hurting themselves because the thousands of well behaved teens still need presents for their family members,” wrote Jessica Brown.

But Jasper said the policy has helped sales, by encouraging families to shop together.

“Retailers love the policy,” he said. “When we first implemented it, there were concerns that sales would drop. But sales increased following the implementation and remain strong. It encourages more families to come out with their kids and sales went up.”

At a meeting a month ago to discuss holiday shopping, Jasper said the policy was discussed.  “Every single tenant was thrilled because they know it’s a policy that keeps everyone safe and leads to increased sales,” he said.

The mall first started its policy after officials noticed that parents were leaving children as young as 10 at the megamall.

“Families were dropping off their kids and using Mall of America as a babysitter,” Jasper said. “That’s just not safe for everybody.”

Now, he said, the policy gets enforced a handful of times each weekend.
 

Floresco Images / AP file

When shopping with -- and for -- your kids, find ways to let them make their own decisions about what to buy, and also teach them how to live with the consequences of those decisions.

No matter where you are, it seems like there is something for your child to want. At the mall, it’s a video game or 50-cent rides that last 45 seconds; at the zoo, an adorable stuffed animal; at the supermarket checkout, a pack of glitter pens; at the museum gift shop (which you have to walk through to exit the building), a cool puzzle.

If your child is constantly asking, “Can I have that?” and you’re not sure when to say yes and when to say no, we have a solution: letting kids make their own decisions and living with the consequences.

1. Provide for needs, but not wants
According to Ron Lieber, the New York Times “Your Money” columnist who is currently working on a book titled “The Opposite of Spoiled,” one approach, starting around kindergarten, is to buy your kids presents only at holidays and birthdays, and have children pay for everything else.

Learnvest.com: How many years apart should you space your kids?

“The family needs to have a very specific and ongoing conversation about the difference between needs and wants,” Lieber said, acknowledging that many things exist on a continuum. For example, many parents feel that books (within reason) are a need, not a want. Similarly, kids need a certain amount of clothing each season.

“Every family has to draw the line from when you cross over from 'want' to 'need.' These discussions become not just educational but wildly entertaining,” Lieber added.

2. Use allowance as a teaching tool
Once you establish this strategy as a framework, allowance can become your tool to empower kids to make their own decisions. How much to give will be based on your child’s age, your household’s financial situation and your family’s definition of needs and wants. 

Lieber and his wife give their 6-year-old $3 each week, $1 of which is designated for charity, $1 of which goes into a savings jar and can’t be spent right away, and the third dollar can then be spent any way the child chooses.

Now comes the tricky part: staying out of it if your child wants to use his or her money for something you think is frivolous. “It’s OK to ask in the moment, ‘Is this a purchase you really want to make?’ but you have to hold your tongue and let them accumulate small piles of junk if that is important to them,” said Lieber. “We are dealing with (younger kids) who don’t have that much impulse control.”

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Kids won’t become fully formed financial beings within weeks or months, but by giving them the power to make their own decisions and experiment with that power, they will become more financially savvy. “There is nothing like real dollars in the real world to teach real lessons,” Lieber said.

3. Decide if you have a spender or a saver
Observe your child: Is she or he a natural saver who is great at self-regulating? If so, you’ll want to ask the kid questions about what she or he is saving for. This way you can be sure you’re comfortable with what the child wants to buy, and you can also use the conversation to teach simple research and math: Talk about how much the item costs and whether you might be able to find it cheaper someplace else. Then check in every so often to see whether they’ve re-evaluated, Lieber suggested. “One of the beauties of having them save and wait is that the intense desire for this or that almost always ebbs over time, only to be replaced by something new.”

If you have children who like to spend, adjust your response. You shouldn’t nag, but Lieber suggests going through their rooms and doing a cleanup together every six months or so. You can ask, “You spent $2 on this toy at the museum, and now we’re getting rid of it. Did you get your $2 out of it?”

Learnvest.com: Quiz: What career will your child have?

The beauty of this system is that it gives you an easy out during those toy-aisle meltdowns. If they’re begging for something they haven’t saved enough to buy, the answer is simply no. “If they’ve reached a goal, let them see it through and buy the object of their desire,” Lieber said. On the off chance you were going to get them the same thing for Hanukkah or Christmas, just get them something else instead.

If you have younger children who are too little to understand allowances or saving, at least refrain from buying anything simply because they’re whining and crying. Otherwise, you’ll teach them that acting badly gets them a reward. Instead, be comfortable saying no, and dealing with the occasional tears or tantrums.

4. Make a game of buying
If your family isn’t ready to out-and-out stop buying what your kids want, there are other ways to create more thoughtfulness around buying.

When Lieber’s daughter was young and they brought her to Disney World, her parents let her buy one item of her choosing. That turned the trip into “an exercise of weighing alternatives and budgets and delaying gratification, and not grabbing the first shiny object that was appealing.”

Learnvest.com: 6 ways to save on child care

Don’t forget your own behavior, because your kids are watching you closely. Every so often, it might not hurt for you to say something to your child, like, “I would love to have that dress in the window, but we are going to save that money because we’d like to go on vacation this summer.” The message will sink in eventually.

5. Neutralize peer pressure 
If your child is upset that another kid has something and he doesn’t, try to remind him of the things he gets to do that other kids can’t. For example, maybe he’s on the travel soccer team that goes on fun day trips; Mom or Dad works someplace cool and he gets to visit; your family is taking a special trip over the break; or a parent or grandparent has a special skill and built him something special to play with.

The goal here is to remind your child that everyone gets to be first at something.

This story originally appeared on LearnVest.

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Gus Ruelas / Reuters

Shoppers pay for their purchases at an Old Navy store last holiday season. This year, overall spending is expected to be cautious, except when it comes to spending on ouselves.

Holiday shoppers plan to deck the halls and splurge a bit more on themselves this year, but overall spending will remain cautious this holiday season as shoppers hunt out the bargains they know they’ll find this time of year, according to the results of a new survey.

The average holiday shopper will spend $749.51 on gifts, décor, greeting cards and more, up slightly from the $740.57 they actually spent last year, according to the survey conducted by BIGinsight for the National Retail Federation.

“We’ve seen this pattern of cautious optimism all year and despite the challenges that still exist in our economy, it looks as if consumers are eager to celebrate with friends and family,” said Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation.

Recently, the NRF forecasted that holiday spending would rise 4.1 percent, slower than last year's growth, but higher than the average gains over the past 10 years.

‘One for You, Two for Me’
This year, holiday shoppers are looking to treat themselves, according to the survey. Six in ten shoppers, the most in the survey’s history, plan to spend an average of $139.92 on “self-gifting” this holiday season. The trend is even more pronounced among young adults between 18 years old and 24 years old, about 71.5 percent of those in this age group are planning to buy gifts for themselves.

Trendiest Halloween costumes for kids

“It looks like young adults have the ‘one for you, two for me’ mentality about the holiday season this year, which is surprising, given that this is also the age group that typically doesn’t have the income or ability to splurge,” said Pam Goodfellow, director of BIGinsights Consumer Insights division.

But it does make sense when you consider that retailers have conditioned shoppers to expect great deals on products during the holiday season. Consumers have been working hard over the past four years to hone skills to help them stretch their dollars and are likely taking advantage of the promotions, which have already started far ahead of Black Friday, the Friday after Thanksgiving that has traditionally been considered to be the start of the holiday shopping season.

Waiting to begin holiday shopping until after Thanksgiving is a tradition that clearly has been broken. About 41.4 percent of 8,899 consumers polled in early October told NRF that they will begin their holiday shopping before Halloween.

Despite the scorn, consumers embrace 'Christmas creep'

Although the NRF didn’t cite specific reasons why shoppers are starting their shopping early, retailers have been offering many incentives to get shoppers in the buying mood. Not only have stores such as Wal-Mart, Sears and Toys 'R Us offered layaway programs, but there also were lots of promotions being offered as early as Labor Day weekend.

Stretching out the holiday shopping period also is a good strategy for more budget conscious shoppers who want cut any corners they can, comparison shop and spread out their purchases to soften the blow of holiday spending, and avoid the hangover of Christmas debt.

Retailers are pulling out the stops to get shoppers into the store early. Target began running its holiday ads this week, and it joined others such as Best Buy and Toys ‘R Us in offering price matching guarantees.

Trouble in Toyland: sales slowing heading into holidays

Economy less of a factor
Although these kinds of tactics may not move the needle significantly, it may make some more cautious customers feel more confident about making those purchases early.

This year, fewer shoppers in the NRF survey cited the economy as a factor in their spending plans, but the number remains high. Some 52.3 percent said the state of the U.S. economy would affect their spending, down from 62.2 percent last year.

That may reflect that consumers are simply accustomed to living on a budget and watching their spending, and may be better prepared for holiday spending.

According to the survey, the biggest portion of the holiday budget will go towards gifts for family members, with the average person planning to spend $421.82 on their kids, parents, and other family members. About $75.13 will be allocated to friends, $23.48 on co-workers, and $28.13 on others, including their pets and members of their community.

And don’t forget the decorations. Consumers are looking to be festive this year, and are pulling out the stops on décor. The average person will spend $51.99, up from $49.15 last year, and the most in the survey’s history. That means total spending on décor could reach $6.9 billion.

More shopping than ever will occur online, as has been the trend in recent years. More than half of all shoppers will do a portion of their shopping online, up from 46.7 percent last year.

And the most-wanted gift of all? Gift cards. Some 59.8 percent of those surveyed want to receive a gift card, more than other popular gifts such as clothing, books, DVDs, videogames and electronics. Nearly one quarter want jewelry, the highest response for this category since 2008.

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Checking your email can seem like playing "Spam Invaders," where your objective is to kill as many retailer email messages before they reach your brain and drive you crazy.  Just in time for the holidays, three new online services, Shopilly, Azigo, and Hipti, aim to help you extract the “spiced ham” from the spam. 

With retailers starting their holiday email campaigns even earlier this year than last, and the number of emails they're sending out each week projected to rise, consumers will need all the help they can get.

At the broadest level, each of the three services gives you a Pinterest-esque, photo-heavy grid as a dashboard for keeping track of the same deals you would get if you were signed up for the retailer's customer email list. Where they differ is to what degree they help you manage your existing personal inbox, how deep the filtering tools are, and how good they look.

"Good-looking spam?" Yes, these services are making it possible.

Shopilly is the most-promising and spiffiest of the bunch. Its killer feature is that, with your permission, it imports spam and commercial messages from your inbox. You can set the filter to keep out the riffraff so that only trusted Shoplift-affiliated brands show up, or that all email from merchants and newsletters goes in. It can even delete the original messages from your inbox. You can also set it so that the deleted messages are archived in a special folder, just in case the e-maid gets overzealous and an important message goes missing. The service also gives you a custom @shopilly.com email address that you can give retailers, at checkout, when creating an online account, or filling out those surveys and sweepstakes that you know are just email harvesters.

Azigo also lets you transform your brand emails spam into an appealing streaming visual matrix, and provides an @azigo email address to give out instead of your personal email. What the site will do differently is let you import your existing online account information so you can see that data in your dashboard too. It also boasts a broader spectrum of brands to choose to follow, although '"more" doesn't always mean "better."

Hipiti's approach is different in that it doesn't interact with your inbox at all. Instead, you pick brands to follow and you see the same deals on your dashboard as if you subscribed to their email list. The most promising feature of the site is its deal-filtering mechanism, allowing you to sort your deals by when they end, the type of deal offers, like flash sale, free shipping, or containing a coupon code, and topic category. While currently in private beta, it's not hard to find an invite code for Hipiti with a little light Googling.

In the end, there's nothing wrong with merchant emails or spam, per se, Anirban Datta, Shoppily CEO and former eBay senior product manager, told NBC News. It's how the messages are presented, and that they interrupt your personal email. "Shopping is visual," he said. "Email was not designed for shopping."

(Tip of the hat to Fast Company.)

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“Christmas Creep” is the term for how retailers seem to keep bumping up the day they start promoting Christmas each year. It's not just for stores that barely have the decorative pumpkins out before they bring in the Santas, now the Christmas Creep is in your inbox.

Fifteen percent of top online retailers have already started the holidays in their email campaigns as of September 6, according to the 2012 Retail Email Guide to the Holiday season study released by Responsys. That's up from 11 percent at this same time in the past two years. And once they start perking up, they only increase exponentially. By Halloween, expect your inbox to be quite spooked by the Christmas Creep. It will be fully haunted by Thanksgiving.

Online retailers that began emailing in October last year have already launched their campaigns, said Christopher Donald, a strategist for the Inbox Group email marketing agency.

Retailers are constantly trying to edge each other out to be the one who gets to the shopper's pocketbook first. The earlier you can grab shoppers, the more they'll spend with you if you can grab them before the pursestrings get tight as the holidays get closer, said Donald. This leads to a veritable arms race with retailers emailing earlier and earlier each year.

If you're sick of it all and want to trim back the Christmas Creep's visits from your inbox, make sure to be selective when giving out your main email address to companies. And if you must give it out, consider using a disposable one, like one offered by mailinator.com. Gmail users can also use this handy trick.

Email marketers believe, however, that people are happy to see the Christmas Creep. “You might see a small amount of people annoyed,” said Donald, but “most people think, hey, I can get these great discounts even earlier.”

Believe what you want, spam man –- we'll be clicking “unsubscribe.”

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Sam O'keefe / AP file

A young shopper checks out displays of back-to-school supplies.

As summer comes to a close, parents giddily anticipate all of the money they’ll start saving now that they don’t have to shell out for all of those expensive camps anymore — that is, until they remember all of the expensive back-to-school purchases they have to make. Between school supplies and new clothes, the start of a new school year can also mean the start of some serious outlays of cash for parents. But experts say it doesn’t have to be this way. Here are some tips for saving this school year.

Supplies

1. Shop at home first. “Everybody’s in that mindset that you have to go out and buy new things every year, but a lot of things, like scissors, are in good shape and can be used again,” advised Erin Huffstetler, Frugal Living Guide. Check through your junk drawers and round up what you already have at home first, before going out and buying replacements.
2. A number of states offer tax-free holidays to help offset the expense of school purchases. If yours is one of them, make sure you take advantage of it.
3. Consider buying “permanent” school supplies. Huffstetler recommends investing in items like backpacks and lunch boxes. Choose ones with lifetime warranties, and your kids can use them from kindergarten onward. Be sure to pick plain ones that they won’t tire of, though. Huffstetler said she bought her children galvanized lunch boxes and has let her kids decorate them with stickers over the years, so now the boxes are fun, colorful and personalized.
4. As long as your kids have those sticker sheets out, let them decorate other supplies. Save money by buying plain, inexpensive notebooks and supplies (rather than their costlier character-based counterparts). Then, let your kids decorate them and truly make them their own. As an added bonus, you’ve just entertained your kids for at least 10 minutes.
5. Take a few minutes and put their names on everything. And we mean everything. It could help save you money down the road when you don’t have to buy replacement supplies because their old stuff wound up in lost and found because no one knew who owned it.
6. The good old Sunday circular is your friend. Once you know what you need, find out who’s offering good deals. And rather than drive all over town, find a store that will match competitors’ prices and load up there.
7. Think outside the big box store. Dollar stores, Big Lots and other discount stores can be a good place to pick up supplies for a bargain.
8. Get social. Follow some of your favorite stores on Facebook and Twitter and watch for the deals they post. Some stores will even offer deals if you check in on Foursquare or Facebook while you’re there.

Clothes

1. Have kids start with their own closets first. Do a clean-out and decide what still works, what has to go and what can be refreshed with a little styling.  
2. What was once old is new again. “Right now, it’s actually really trendy and hip to have vintage and thrift items,” said style blogger Celina Santi. Today’s styles are in your favor this year, as a lot of teens may be open to shopping at vintage and thrift stores in the hopes of scooping up not just a deal, but a trendy look as well.
3. Make money off of your kids’ old clothes. Even if buying used clothes doesn’t appeal to you or your kids, consignment stores can still work for you. Sell their old clothes there and earn a little extra spending cash to use elsewhere.
4. If your kids are craving brand names, you might be able to snag them for less by shopping at designer discount stores like TJ Maxx, Marshall’s and Nordstrom Rack.
5. Santi recommends focusing on getting a few solid basics and changing them up with accessories. There are some fun blogs that you and your little fashionista can check out together, to get some inspiration.
6. Don’t rule out alterations. Hem a pair of old pants and turn them into capris. Maybe a little fabric dye can give new life to an old garment. Pinterest and style blogs have lots of ideas for giving new life to old clothes. Cute patches and fun styling can extend the life of a pair of jeans that have a small hole in them but are otherwise in good condition.
7. Shop online. If you or your kids want high-end clothes without the high prices, check out sites like gilt.com, zulily.com and myhabit.com offer designer duds at big price reductions.
8. Get social. Once again, social media can alert you to special deals at your favorite stores.

Dana Macario is a Seattle-area writer who can practically smell the fresh crayons and newly sharpened pencils that signal the start of a new school year.

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Dana Macario

Writer Dana Macario was delighted to learn that when she signed up to have milk delivered to her home, the dairy also delivered "a darling little milk box" to her porch.

Many of us say we want to eat healthier and shop locally. Some of us actually do. But for people like me, those goals of being a health-conscious locavore just haven’t happened. I’m attempting to change that.

Last week, I signed up for the 30-Day No Grocery Store Challenge. For 30 days, I will refrain from shopping at the giant supermarket near my house and will instead purchase all of my food from small local vendors. And because I have never had the opportunity to utter the words, “money is no object,” I’m going to keep tabs on what I’m spending and see if I can make this project both healthy for my wallet and for my body.

My first foray into the project took me all of five minutes, and I didn’t even have to leave the house as I went online and signed up for milk delivery from a local dairy.

Actually, I was able to sign up for a lot more than just milk; it turns out they deliver everything from sour cream to hormone- and antibiotic-free eggs. Plus, they leave a darling little milk box on your front porch, and it’s yours as long as you use their service. I know that should be inconsequential, but I can’t decide what I like more: the cuteness of the box or the convenience of once-a-week home delivery.

Next, it was off to the local farmers market. It was my first trip since the market opened last spring, and I was pleasantly surprised at how much it offered. Aside from a number of produce stands, there was also a stand selling grass-fed ground beef at $5 per pound, a specialty pasta stand and a few bakery stands.

My Hawaii-born-and-raised husband was even treated to fresh malasadas, a Portuguese confection similar to doughnuts, an unexpected and pleasant surprise. My kids really got into it; they had freedom to roam a bit and loved helping pick out the fruits and veggies and paying the various vendors. We also enjoyed the social aspect of spending a Saturday morning at the market.

While some of the items like pasta were pretty pricey, others, like fresh dill, were a fraction of the price that I’d normally pay at the supermarket and were of much better quality. So far, we were off to a great start.

Of course, the next morning I woke up, looked at all of the produce and the pound of ground beef I’d bought and realized I hadn’t even thought about what we’d do for breakfast. We were also out of milk and were several days away from our home delivery. Just as I was about to head to the gas station’s handy mart, thinking I’d get off on a technicality, I remembered the local food co-op.

I worried that it might be cheating, since it was so grocery store-esque, but ultimately I decided it fit the essence of the challenge: It’s local, it’s small and it only sells healthy foods (which are often grown locally and organically). It had everything I needed. But, even though I tried to spend a lot of time in the cheaper, bulk bin area — who knew organic flour even existed? — it still wound up costing me a lot more than I normally pay.

Part of this may be a shopping learning curve for me. I’m normally a dedicated list person. I plan out a few menus for the week and get what I need. But shopping locally and in-season requires a different mindset. You have to get what’s fresh and available, then work your meals around that. This is going to take me a while to figure out.

In the meantime, we’re eating absurd amounts of berries and not as many grains or meats as we probably should be. I dare say we’re all quite regular.

Another option we considered, but haven’t yet tried, is home produce delivery. A week ago, I didn’t know what CSA meant. Now, I know it means community-supported agriculture and that local farmers will drop off their produce for you on a weekly basis. We have one nearby and you sign up for produce for the entire season. Then, you can pick up your box at a designated spot at a set time.

One week in, and I’m rather enjoying this little experiment. Not everyone’s completely on board, though. My daughter has been dismayed by a couple of the things I came home with, and I caught my husband popping a stray, pre-challenge frozen waffle in the toaster. I reminded him about the challenge, but he wasn’t impressed and told me he was late for work and didn’t have time for it.

I guess that’s the balance we’re all struggling to find: the realities of work and busy schedules with the desire to eat better.

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Caskets are among the more unusual items available to rent these days.

Renting a home? That we've heard of. Renting a casket? Not as much.

It's becoming clear that the rental industry — which was once reserved for tuxedos, cars and movies — has become much more, covering everything from cameras to power tools to parking spaces and, yes, burial caskets.

This new trend has a ton of benefits — for one, renting an item you'll only use once or twice is much cheaper (and more sustainable) than actually buying it. Not only that, sites like Rentalic.com let you tap into nearby resources like neighbors and community members to borrow items. Saving money and staying local? Now that's a movement we can get behind.

Here are examples of some unusual items available for rent.

Caskets 

The average American funeral can cost anywhere from  $8,000 to $10,000, with the average casket ringing in at $2,000 (although some models can reach up $10,000 or more). Recently, funeral homes have been giving families the opportunity to rent caskets for a much smaller price — over $1,000 less in some cases. Renting a casket is as simple as asking the funeral director about your options. When you choose to rent a casket, a simple interior container that looks like a wooden box will actually hold the body; at no point will the body actually come into contact with the rental casket. This box is cushioned inside the larger, more expensive casket. After the ceremony, this inner shell can be easily slid or lifted out of the outer casket.

Dresses

Let’s face it, most of us don’t have the cash to splurge on designer dresses, let alone shoes and accessories to go with them. That’s why we love the new trend of renting dresses: Sites like Rent the Runway and Lending Luxury allow users to borrow dresses for three to five days for as little as 10 percent of the retail value (plus Rent the Runway will send two sizes). To snag a matching clutch or handbag, check out Bag Borrow or Steal.

Parking spaces

If you regularly commute to a crowded city, finding parking can be a huge hassle — and parking garages are notoriously expensive. For an easier alternative, consider renting a parking space. Sites like ParkingSpacesforRent, and ParkAtMyHouse allow individuals to list their available parking spaces online. Then, users can search for a space based on location, type and time period, and rent directly with the owner.

Power tools

Whether cleaning the carpet, fixing up the garden or just taking on a day of home improvement, power tools can often come in handy. But instead of splurging on one-time-use hardware, check out the rental options at your local Home Depot or Lowes. These stores offer everything from power washers to paint sprayers for daily or weekly rentals.

Video games

Hooked on Wii Boxing? We understand. Unfortunately, video games can get pricey, and replenishing your collection can be tough on budgets. To keep the variety at a lower cost, try renting games from sites like GameFly and GameMine. These resources are just like Netflix, with a flat monthly rate, quick and free shipping and large libraries of games to select.

Textbooks

There's no denying it: College is becoming increasingly expensive. That's why we love the idea of renting textbooks — it's an easy way to save each semester. While there are a ton of book rental sites, we especially like Book Renter for its library of more than 5 million books (plus free shipping!), and Chegg, which puts a priority on low prices. In some cases, you may even be allowed to highlight or take notes in book margins.

Camera lenses

Ever wanted to capture a wedding or a graduation with a professional-grade camera, but didn’t want to shell out thousands of dollars? Sites like LensRentals.com and BorrowLenses.com now allow users to rent lenses or camera bodies much more cheaply than the cost of the normal hardware. With added bonuses like overnight shipping and quality customer service, budding photographers will love these options.

Tech hardware

Buying new technology hardware can be a huge investment — but with new models coming out every year, it's so important for businesses to stay current. Sites like Rent Smart allow small business owners to borrow all kinds of tech hardware, from iPads to smartphones, for several years at a low weekly rate. Get ready to upgrade your home office — without breaking the bank.

More from LearnVest:

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Mark Lennihan / AP

ShopSmart surveyed 1,500 women and found that about 76 percent of them say they shopped at a dollar store in the past year. Three out of four are going there more often than they did in the past.

Want to save money on household products like cereal, napkins, soap and toothpaste? Then maybe you should check out your local dollar store.

According to a just-released survey of dollar store prices by ShopSmart magazine (from the publisher of Consumer Reports), you can save a bundle there on grocery products and household items.

"Dollar stores are no longer the junky outlets they used to be and there are big savings to be had – even on brand-name products," said Lisa Lee Freeman, ShopSmart’s editor-in-chief.

Big-chain dollar stores like Dollar General, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree are bright and cheery. They have a wide variety of merchandise. Some even accept coupons. Maybe that’s why more people – and not just those on a limited budget – are shopping at dollar stores these days.

“Upscale shoppers are going to the dollar store, too,” said ShopSmart’s senior editor Jody Rohlena. “They’re looking to save money just like everyone else.”

By the way, not everything at a dollar store is a $1 or less. At Dollar General, it’s about 25 percent of the merchandise. Most items cost less than $10, although you may find a few seasonal items at a higher price.

ShopSmart surveyed 1,500 women and found that about 76 percent say they shopped at a dollar store in the past year. Three out of four are going there more often than they did in the past.

Their favorite things to buy are party supplies, paper and plastic goods (such as napkins, cups and flatware), cleaning supplies, toiletries (like soap and toothpaste) and storage containers.

ShopSmart’s mystery shoppers went to Dollar General and Family Dollar to check prices on 38 everyday products. Then they compared those prices with Target, Walmart and some supermarkets.

“Walmart had the lowest prices on most items,” Rohlena said. “Supermarkets had the highest prices by far. But dollar stores were really competitive.”

Related: Do you make $30,000 a year or less? We want to hear from you.

ShopSmart found big savings – as much as 28 percent – on some brand-name products at the dollar stores when compared to supermarket prices. The best deals were on two-liter bottles of Coke, Lipton tea bags, Planters mixed nuts, Heinz ketchup and Jif peanut butter.

But you can save even more on the store’s private-label brands.  That’s right -- dollar stores are developing their own brands of oatmeal, cereal, bathroom cleaner, flour, even cranberry juice cocktail.

ShopSmart found that these store brands are 29 percent less, on average, than national brands. That’s a better deal than the 25 percent you can save on store brands at Walmart and supermarkets or the 15 percent savings at Target.

But not everything at the dollar store is a bargain.

“Don’t buy coffee and don’t buy Tide detergent there,” Rohlena tells me. “We don’t know why, but those were the worst deals.”

The Maxwell House Original Roast ground coffee (11.5 ounces) was $5.06 at Family Dollar versus $3.89 at Walmart. The 100-ounce Tide detergent was $14.31 at Dollar General and only $11.97 at Walmart.

Note: ShopSmart suggests you check the expiration date before buying food or medication in a dollar store. Items with expiration dates (such as perishable and frozen foods) were the No. 1 thing survey respondents said they never buy at a dollar store. The editors advise against buying off-brand vitamins at these stores.

The bottom line
Dollar stores have come a long way in the last few years. If you haven’t been in one recently, you may be missing out on significant savings. The merchandise is better, the selection is greater and the shopping experience is significantly improved. To get the most bang for your buck, check the store brands.

The big dollar stores have retail Web sites, but many of the products sold online are only available by the case. The editors at ShopSmart say if it’s a product you use regularly, maybe toilet paper, buying a large quantity can be an economical way to stock up.

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Courtesy of Nordstrom

Pete Nordstrom, president of merchandising, and Erik Nordstrom, president of stores, during a news conference in New York announcing the new store.

The Nordstrom Facebook fan page has been all aflutter on news that the department store chain is finally going to take a big bite of the Big Apple.

“It's about damn time,” wrote one New Yorker, on news Nordstrom will be opening its first Manhattan store in 2018.

It’s an usual display of retail love from hardened Manhattanites who are more inclined to start campaigns keeping retailers out of their backyards, most recently Wal-Mart. 

But we’re talking about Nordstrom, the Seattle-based chain known for its insanely exhaustive shoe department and insanely attentive sales people.

“These people are the best operators in the affordable luxury department store business,” said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a retail consultancy and investment-banking firm headquartered in New York.

New Yorkers have been clamoring for a Nordstrom for years, said company spokeswoman Brooke White. And the decision to finally set the wheels in motion has been 15 years in the making, she said, adding, “It was quite a complicated process to find an ideal space.”

Nordstrom has already dipped its little toe in the New York market, operating a Faconnable boutique in the city until it sold the unit in 2007. It also opened a discount shoe outlet called Rack in 2010 in Union Square, and a charitable retail operation known as Treasure & Bond in Soho last year. “It was a way to give back and also a way to learn about serving New Yorkers,” White said.

With its new location, the retailer is now going all in, hiring at least 1,000 workers in 2018. The new store will be located on a 40,000-square-foot site on 57th Street, between Broadway and Seventh Avenue, in a location that once housed the original Hard Rock Cafe.

“It makes perfect sense that Nordstrom – one of the premier names in retailing – would want a flagship store in New York, the world's premier city for retailing,” said New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a statement. “This is very exciting news for New Yorkers and the millions of tourists who come to our city to shop each year.”

But not everyone is happy.

“Everybody will start to worry and raise their game,” said Davidowitz, referring to the department stores in the city, including Saks and Bloomingdale's, which he said have become complacent in recent years because there hasn’t been a new large competitor for a long time.

“Bloomingdale’s is going to say, ‘holy @!$%#, we better get our service better'," he said. "'We better raise our game because a giant has arrived in town.’”

Bloomingdale's is owned by Macy's Inc. The retailer's CEO Terry Lundgren did not immediately return a request for comment.

It's bad news for other retailers in the area, Davidowitz said, but great news for consumers who have seen chains such as Bonwit Teller and B. Altman & Co. shutter and never replaced.

“I really think Nordstrom is going to go gangbusters,” he said. “New Yorkers are very discriminating and they know what’s good. Nordstrom is on the mark in fashion, service and aesthetics. They are just very good.”

And given that shoes are one of the hottest fashion sellers these days, he said, Nordstrom “is going to shake things up.”

Nordstrom started out as a shoe retailer, tracing its first shoe shop in downtown Seattle back to 1901. Shoe merchants nationwide came to see Nordstrom as a model of how to sell shoes the right way, with over-the-top service and few promotions.

So what will Nordstrom’s Manhattan shoe connection be like? White said it’s too early to know exact dimensions but as with all of the retailer’s shoe havens, expect tens of thousands of pairs to choose from.

There will be five shoe departments, including women’s, active wear and juniors; designer, men’s and kids, she explained. And the store is going to stay true to its few-sales mantra with only three price blowouts yearly.

At $735 for an Oscar de la Renta satin pump at Nordstrom, there will probably be a lot of bargain-hunting New Yorkers waiting in line.

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Rotisserie chickens are about 50 percent less than a grocery store -- and heftier, too, leaving leftovers for chicken salad and sandwiches.  

Diapers on sale at a drugstore or grocery store can save a dime per diaper -- which adds up as quickly as the wee one's waste.

"Bigger is not always better," Morgan says.