Like most American grownups, I've been thinking a lot about the economy lately. And like most American grownups, I've been thinking about our personal finances and how they fit into the economy.

I'm wondering, what are the best ways to keep the economy afloat without wasting our own money? It's pretty obvious that the "consumerism as patriotism" thing didn't work. I've always been of the opinion that buying useless junk helps neither the economy nor our budget, but what about other things?

For instance, the other day I bought some organic cherry tomatoes. The American-grown ones cost 6 dollars a pint. There were Mexican-grown grape tomatoes next to them, which were the same as far as my recipe was concerned. The Mexican tomatoes didn't have a price tag, but I assumed they were about the same or a little bit cheaper.  I know that my $6 doesn't make a huge impact alone, but if a few other shoppers make the same decision, that helps the grocery store decide what to stock. What the grocery store stocks pretty much makes the decision for the people who don't care about these issues. So, in terms of the economy, money returned to the community, semi-local ecology, etc., was it more cost-effective to buy the American ones?

Of course, this is further complicated by my guess that the life of the average Mexican farm worker isn't so hot, either.

Forgive the lame link, but this is where I found the story about major chain stores expected to close down many--possibly all--stores.

This is interesting to me because I was just in #1-Least-Likely-to-Succeed, aka Sears, the other day. Having suffered through a few seasons of really cruddy kids' clothes that couldn't stand up to washing, I decided to see if Lands' End could do better for at least a few key items. I buy a lot of Sweety's clothes there because they're classic-looking and they last forever. And the kids' clothes were very nice, but some of them were mismarked. Not wanting to wait another five years for one of the girls to wear a certain cardigan, I readied for returns.

But returning with the included label costs you $6.50. If I understood the woman on the phone correctly, it costs that even if the return is due to their mistake. Returning them at Sears, though, is free. So off to Sears we went.

The return went very smoothly. The items were still tagged; their bags had been opened, but that was it. Everything was pretty close to pristine. And do you know what sticker they put on them? "CLEARANCE--USED." If they're having to do that every time Lands' End screws up an order, then no wonder they're not doing well.