Here’s the haul: 10 cute gift bags, three spools of satin ribbon and 50 sheets of tissue paper. Here’s the damage: $15. Thank you, Dollar Tree.

Wrapping gets expensive elsewhere. You can expect to pay $5 for a gift bag at Hallmark or Target. But the dollar store goods are just as cute these days. And I’m not exaggerating!

Cute birthday stuff

Love the baby bags, especially the bottom two on the right!

I used to go to dollar stores for two things: movie boxes of candy and mylar balloons. But as a crafter, I began looking at other items over the last couple of years. It started with those cheap rolls of satin and grosgrain ribbon. I’d buy them in every color and scoff at the mark-ups on the same items next door at Michael’s.

Now, I do a big stock-up on wrapping every few months and don’t worry about needing something in which to present last-minute gifts.

Essentials in essential colors.

Yes, it's post-Christmas, but these are just as cute as the $6 offerings the Container Store hawks.

These come packaged 2 for $1 and you can decorate or have the kids draw on them!

Right now, there’s a wide selection of really cute Valentine’s bags, too.

Sweet, right?

Adorable.

Don’t get me wrong. I still need my occasional trip from indulgent pretty papers from The Container Store. But this is a good fix in the mean time.

JC Penney shoppers will be seeing fewer of these.

The big shopping news of this week has been that J.C. Penney is permanently slashing sales. Starting Feb. 1, everything in the store will come down by 40 percent — what CEO Ron Johnson calls items’ “true value.” You can read more about the concept here.

It sounds like the heart of this idea is to give shoppers a more predictable shopping plan. I’ve definitely needed an item on a Tuesday or Wednesday (say a dress for a scheduled event), and paid way more than I should have because the in-house sale wasn’t advertised until the weekend.  So from that perspective, the permanent 40 percent reduction makes sense.

And it also make me feel a little vindicated because I’ve been saying for a while that you should only do major shopping when the entire store is marked down by 30-40 percent. It’s clear that’s the industry mark-up standard now.

But I do question how wise this is for J.C. Penney’s future. Are they aware that most of their volume hits on the weekends when those 40 percent sales had been advertised, and they’re hoping to distribute those purchases to the rest of the week? Once that 40 percent reduction becomes the new normal for their shoppers, will they stop considering that a good deal and start waiting for periodic sales again?

It seems like once you make this kind of change, you can’t go back.

A quick trip into Target after dinner last night (for toilet cleaner and bread; we live a wild life) yielded some pretty good shopping news. Pretty much half of Target is on clearance. I was seriously surprised. I don’t ever recall seeing this many discount signs throughout the store.

See? They're everywhere.

Lots of cute and sensible items marked down between 30 and 50 percent. The apparel sections seemed to harbor the best deals, though. Sweaters for $12, pants for $14, tops under $8. Coats and jackets around $20. Red lines everywhere.

My first thought was, “Oh, what do I need?!” But then I realized this would be a good chance to stock up on gifts for the rest of the year. There were several cute scarves around $10, and I was wild about some of the prints on these handy umbrellas, an item I never have around when it’s most needed.

Umbrella, ella, ella.

And yet, I managed to find the item I liked most outside of the clearance racks. It’s a talent, I swear. I need this, but more for football season than for this spring. I can’t justify the $50 when everything around it was under $20, though. Still, isn’t it lovely?

Trenched.

Photo from Go! Running's FB page.

If you’re still New-Years-Resolutioning, here’s n event you might be interested in this weekend: Go! Running in the Heights near Tipton-Hurst is having a tent sale.

Look for the tent and you’ll fine 40-60 percent off a variety of shoes including Nike, Asics, Adidas, Saucony and New Balance. There will also be 40-60 percent off some apparel and 30 percent off cold-weather workout gear.

A late January deal like this should be enough to get all of us in gear, right? Check it out Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Bring it on.

I get all excited when I hear that two of my favorite brands are partnering.

There have, of course, been times when this has resulted in colossal failure — like when I was excited for the XM/Sirius merger, which led to a product with terrible customer service and a disappointing hodge-podge of programming. But other times, it’s a best of both worlds kind of deal.

Oh dear shoppers. If you haven’t been hitting the malls and boutiques lately, you are missing out. I swear it seems like all the big box and local independent shops have everything deeply discounted now that the post-Christmas rush is past and their stores are lacking foot traffic.

Here’s a few I’d try if you’re looking for an early Valentine gift or winter birthday present.

Box Turtle on Kavanaugh: They’ll give you 20 percent off everything in the store through close this coming Saturday, Jan. 14. (One month to V-Day, y’all!)

RK Collections has all their final clearance marked down by 50 percent.

Head out to Pleasant Ridge Town Center for some preppy kids clothes at half price at The Toggery. All fall and winter clothes (there are at least two and half good winter months left!) are half off, as are some shoes.

While you’re out there, you might as well dip into Beyond Cotton and check out the designer frocks left on the 75 percent off rack. Yeah, that’s right: 75 percent!

Need something sparkly to offset those muted winter sweaters and jackets? Try the jewelry sale at Full Moon on Kavanaugh, where baubles and bangles are 20 percent off.

I’m a bit late to the party after some post-holiday travel, but I think the deals are better now than they were the week after Christmas. Go take advantage of them, y’all!

I’ve been talking about this for at least a year: There’s NO point in paying full price at major chain stores any more. Just don’t do it because within a week that store will have a promotion where everything is at least 30 percent off.

The New York Times took notice of this just before Christmas, basically asserting that 40 percent off is the new full price in this story.

The story attributes the price slashing to excess stock despite it being gift-buying season, but I don’t think it’s related to the holidays. I think it has more to do with people recognizing that they shouldn’t pay regular price and the retailers having no choice but to make big markdowns in return.

When you have Facebook pages constantly hawking those discounts and e-mails telling you each morning that two of your favorite stores have all their merchandise at 40 percent off, you’re less likely to hit those other shops where items are full-price, right?

Today, for example, pretty much every mall-type retailer where we shopped was offering 30-60 percent off ticket price. Ann Taylor, LOFT, J. Crew, Gap, Banana Republic, most of the big brands at Dillard’s — all majorly discounted.

The real test will be see if the markdowns hold up come late February through early April, when there’s less of a promotional reason to discount. And if it means that regular ticket prices stay at the same level instead of skyrocketed  to compensate.

It’s not exactly new, but it’s getting on my nerves now more than ever: the annual holiday gift suggestions list. Yes, I’ve found some neat ideas on them in the past. But when did the price limits on them get so high?

“The best gifts your bestie under $100.” Do you drop that much on a close friend?

“Great clothes for him that won’t rock your budget.” And every item is at least $60. I, for one, buy from the 40 percent off sales when I’m looking to outfit my husband.

And a stocking stuffer list with items over $30? Really?! That would mean ONE item in the stockings this year.

I’m not sure where they think all this Christmas cash is coming from, but it’s definitely counting out middle America. No wonder Amazon.com is outselling all the major retailers.

But I was inspired by a recent posting on the Butler Center’s Facebook page. Their handmade gift guide featured several fun items that were all less than $20. That fits most budgets reasonably AND has the added bonus of local appeal. I loved the flower frog and stamped mini bowls. Check the rest out here.

Why can’t every gift list offer such sensible solutions?

Inviting Company staged another sale on Thursday, and it continues on Friday. They’re promising all the usual goods — stationery, paper plates, cocktail napkins and gift wrap.

They’ll also be selling Revelry jewelry. At the sale they had a few weeks ago, I stocked up on several $5 necklaces and $3 bracelets for Christmas gifts. There was some seriously cute stuff, especially if you like charms.

Sounds like this sale will end on Friday, instead of doing the typical Saturday thing, too. The Inviting Company Facebook page says to drop by between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 2. The address is 4545 West Bethany Road, North Little Rock.