Some deals only come around once or twice a year, but offer savings that justify the wait. This post is part of our series on such 'don't miss' sales.

When I think about dressing for business, it's usually just that, thinking. In my world, a stout pair of jeans, a clean t-shirt and a sweatshirt will serve you for just about everything. Yet there's always been a part of me that wanted the natty look of a midnight blue, three piece, pinstriped Brooks Brothers suit. The company is famous for outfitting dignitaries from Abraham Lincoln to John F. Kennedy, as well as popular figures like Clark Gable, Andy Warhol and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, so it should be able to gild me as well.

The suits normally cost a minor royalty's ransom-- the Golden Fleece two-button pinstripe, for example, retails for $1,600. However, the company's semi-annual sales bring them a little closer to the Earth I inhabit. After Christmas and in June, Brooks Brothers knocks 25% off of much of its stock. If you open a Brooks Brothers credit account at that time, you can bump this discount up to 33%, quite a healthy savings on an outfit just south of $2,000.

Brooks Brothers was established in 1818, during the administration of John Quincy Adams, making it the nation's oldest clothing retailer. With 170 U.S. locations and 70 in other countries, even we in the hinterlands can dress like the famous. You may use this store locater to find Brooks Brothers near you.

Even at 33% off the regular price, those fantastic Golden Fleece suits are still a bit out of my reach, though. For now, I'll just have to imagine how a $1,600 suit must feel. Perhaps I should resume pursuing that law degree after all. Ya think?

This post is part of our series on people, places and things than have found new life in 2008.

When I'm bored, I come up with taglines for the clothesline movement. They have "right to dry," but I prefer the very British "Hang it all!" or the Bondsian "Live and let dry."

The clothesline movement? You might be asking. Umm, we need one of those? Yes, yes we do. You see, it comes down to this idea in the middle of the 20th century in America that the ownership of a machine to do -- well, anything -- was a banner of respectability. Washing dishes, blending your non-dairy whipped topping, mowing your lawn, drying your clothes: power 'em with fossil fuels or be one of the unwashed masses.

We don't want that in our neighborhoods, said the rather small-time powers-that-be, and many communities wrote a ban on outdoor clothes drying along with the removal of livestock and various more hateful bans. One such neighborhood was Awbrey Butte, Oregon, where a resident was threatened with legal action when she chose to flout the CC&Rs and hang her clothes out to dry in the plentiful warm summer sun. She might have done better with this fanciful (and spendy) clothes drying "tree."

Watch out, neighborhood boards, homeowner associations, town councils. Because the clothesline is coming back. Many of my friends now consider the last rains of spring to herald "drying weather," and extoll the fresh scent of line-hung laundry, along with the savings on their power bill and the nice feeling of appropriate use of one's precious resources. And if you want my opinion? I like the way clothes look, hung out to dry. The comeback of clotheslines is a win, win, win!

One of the thrills of pregnancy is experiencing your body change week to week as it miraculously creates a new human being. One of the many challenges of pregnancy is trying to keep yourself clothed and looking neat while you morph into a whole new shape.

It's tempting to wear nothing but sweats and oversized t-shirts. But feeling good about how you look can make pregnancy more fun -- all that friendly chit chat doesn't seem quite so intrusive, for example, if you feel confident about your appearance, I'd argue. And it most likely takes high-quality maternity clothes to do the trick.

That's where your local thrift shop can come in handy. Fact is, maternity clothes are expensive. And you'll need a lot of them to make it through a pregnancy. Most pants or shirts only fit for a month before you're onto the next size. You can fill up your closet at your local thrift shop without spending a fortune. Then, when they don't fit anymore or you have your baby and can't stand the sight of the maternity clothes anymore, you can get rid of them without buyer's remorse.

One caveat: You may have to hunt around or get your veteran thrifter friends to be on the lookout for you. It seems the best maternity wear is picked up right quick in thrift shops these days. And its often only the best run shops that take the time to separate it out from the rest of the duds. Shopping for maternity wear can be hard work at thrift stores, but it will likely be well worth the effort.

This post was written as part of a series on how to thrift shop smarter. Read more on what to buy, and not to buy, at thrift stores.

When most people think about thrift stores, they imagine musty aisles filled with broken toys, knick knacks and outgrown clothes which have been tossed aside by people without the patience to have their own rummage sales. I however have a different attitude towards those shops filled with cheap goods awaiting a home. I have discovered treasure in those shops in the form of brand new merchandise. Yes, on a regular basis my wife and I purchase unused items with the tags still on them, and we buy them at absolutely rock bottom prices.

You see, thrift stores get their merchandise from many more sources than just their dedicated drop off sites. Manufacturers can often take handsome tax deductions by donating their discontinued goods and irregular items to charitable organizations. When small retailers go out of business, they sometimes have unsold inventory picked up by organizations such as The Salvation Army, Goodwill and other smaller operations. Even large chain discount stores sometimes get into the act by donating open box items, discontinued styles and display goods.

I have included with this blog post a small gallery of still tagged items we have on hand right now. These and many other pieces like them make up the bulk of my wife's inventory which she sells on eBay and HiBidder.com. Most of the time the new items have had the tags already removed from them but sometimes we find them with retail tags still attached and looking like they were just purchased at your favorite shop in the mall. Don't let the prices that resale shops charge fool you, often times you can find first class merchandise in those shops and they'll sell it to you for far less than you'd expect to pay at Wal-Mart.



This post was written as part of a series on how to thrift shop smarter. Read more on what to buy, and not to buy, at thrift stores.

When I was in high school, one of my embarrassing secret hobbies was bargain shopping. Unfortunately, in Northern Virginia, thrift stores leaned heavily toward the elderly family estate-sale end of the spectrum, and almost inevitably reeked of vap-o-rub and that vinegary smell that old people sometimes get when they start to go bad. However, I soon discovered that if I breathed through my mouth and had a lot of patience, there were wonders to be found. I unearthed old comic books, weird kitchen supplies, and the occasional novelty shirt or jacket that enhanced the John Cryer-as-Ducky Dale look that I secretly aspired to in the late 1980's.

As I got older, my thrift store tendencies more or less stayed the same. One day, however, it occurred to me that I was laying out tons of money to buy professional clothes at department stores while I was surfing the thrift stores for cool, quirky bargains. In the process, I was turning up my nose at classic suits, oxford shirts, sweaters, overcoats, and all the boring, mainstream clothes that I wore every day.

Boden, the stylish clothing company from England, just started its annual winter sale -- just in time for Christmas, if you hurry!

With up to 50% off many items, this is a good deal for high-quality clothing for women, men, kids and baby. Check out the colourful women's wool coat, on sale for $74 (half off its original price); or the favorite v-neck cardigan (now $34). The men's check architect shirt is now only $34, and the lambswool everyday crewneck is only $29. If you're buying, better hurry up -- this stuff sells out fast.

Prices are good until Dec.31.