It’s time to bid goodbye to 2017, and there are lots of ways to do it.
Farewell. Au revoir. Macsalaamo.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Shopping Siren is particularly fond of that last one.
But it’s also the perfect time to say hello. To 2018! To a female Doctor Who! To weather that’s warmer than -10! (By June, surely. July at the latest.)
So let’s celebrate this annual out-with-the-old-and-in-with-the-new with some goodbyes and hellos. It’ll be like cleaning out your closet for the season. But without actually having to clean.
Happy New Year!
• Goodbye: Fidget spinners, Books-A-Million, $4.99
Oh, how we loved/hated thee for about six weeks this spring, with your mesmerizing twirly blades. Unless you were in someone else’s hands, in which case you were just wicked annoying. BAM still has a healthy supply of the spinners, plus the book “Fun with Fidget Spinners: 50 Super Cool Tricks and Activities” for $6.99. That’s approximately 49 super cool tricks more than I ever got my spinner to do.
• Hello: Scented Squashies key chain, Books-A-Million, $3.99
It’s squishy like a stress ball, but ice-cream-cone-shaped and fruity smelling. So like the most awesome stress ball EVER. Your kids will love it. You will love it. Your teachers/co-workers/significant other will hate it right up until they get one, and then they’ll love it. It’s the fidget spinner of 2018.
• Goodbye: Goodwill, Lewiston
Goodwill announced earlier this month that it’s closing its Lisbon Street shop to focus on the Auburn store 5 miles away. The Lewiston store, which will shut its doors Dec. 30, this week offered half-off donated items and Christmas stuff. Shelves are getting barer by the minute (Go! Go now! Run!), but as of Tuesday there were still plenty of clothes, paperbacks and, oddly enough, wicker baskets. So if your New Year’s resolutions involve adding to your workout wear, reading more and organizing clutter in low-cost-but-stylish containers, this is for you.
• Hello: Goodwill, Auburn
Where you can fulfill all of your L-A Goodwill needs, including the Soundlogic light-up karaoke microphone and speaker — with Bluetooth capabilities — for $25. Sing in the New Year! I’m pretty sure that’s how the saying goes.
• Goodbye: Scents of the season, Bath & Body Works, 50 cents and up
Bath & Body Works is in the middle of its semi-annual sale, which means 50- to 75-percent off things like Winter Candy Apple Body Cream (now $3.25 from $13.50) and Snowy Morning Body Scrub (now $8.25 from $16.50). Smell sweet. Smell spicy. Smell like you didn’t just spend three hours shoveling out your driveway.
Note: In June, PassionatePennyPincher.com offered some great tips for making BBW’s semi-annual sale even more fabulous. Think coupons, loyalty programs and price adjustments for items purchased in the past two weeks. Save more, moisturize more. There is no bad here.
• Hello: Aromatherapy, Bath & Body Works, $8.50 to $16.50
Soap, bath salts, body cream and other personal products in scents designed to comfort, energize, relax, lull you to sleep, help you focus or make you happy in 2018. By the way, happiness smells a lot like oranges. Who knew?
• Goodbye: Putting off family time, Go! Calendars, Games & Toys, about $10-plus
If 2017 was the year of screen time, make 2018 the year of family time. Open until the end of January, the pop-up toy and calendar shop in the Auburn Mall is offering half-off everything, including family board games. Bag Lady and I have been intrigued by “The Golden Girls” Clue game since it came out in June and, oh look, you can now get it here for $19.99! My money is on Sophia, in the kitchen, with her purse.
• Hello: Family picture frames, Photo Finish, $18.95
Forever remember the afternoon everyone harmoniously played Clue (or less-harmoniously played Twister) by snapping a photo and placing it in one of these dark or silver 4-by-6 frames. Some frames are poignant, like the one with “Family” cut out along the bottom. Others are fun, like the one that proclaims “All my children have paws.” Though if your kids aren’t actually animals, that one is pretty rude.
• Goodbye: 2017
Toss the past 12 months into the trash can. Forget them. They’re done. Focus instead on the next 12 months and all of the wonderful events you can book into your What Cats Teach Us engagement planner/calendar ($7.47 at Go! Calendars, Games and Toys). And what, exactly, do cats teach us? Nap more.
• Hello: 2018
Sprint toward the new year and keep running. For $2.99, you can track your pace all year with the Running Log Book. Or meander a little with the Let’s Have an Adventure wall calendar for $8.49. (Both at Go! Calendars, Games and Toys.) Whatever your speed, may 2018 match it.
See you next year!
Shopping Siren’s true identity is protected by a pair of stylish, sweater-wearing Doberman pinschers (who will greet 2018 with their best hello wag) and the Customer Service counter at the Sun Journal. You can reach her at shoppingsiren@sunjournal.com.
Welcome 2018 with the Let’s Have an Adventure wall calendar for $8.49 at Go! Calendars, Games and Toys. Because a year is a terrible thing to waste.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
