We recently watched an episode of Ask This Old House (do y’all watch home improvement shows like this and sit on the couch and go, “Oh, that’s such a good idea, we should do that!” and then just keep eating popcorn and doing nothing? Just us…?) where a family with a bunch of bikes had them come in and organize their garage. The solution was a bevy of bike hoists—at the end of the episode, all of the bikes were either dangling from the ceiling or hanging on the wall, and again, we were left saying, “Huh, that’s a great idea.”

Guess where our family’s bikes are right now. Go on, guess. (Everyone who guessed “cluttering up the garage floor” wins a pony. Check your mailbox.) But this morning I see that Buy.com is doing their 2-pack of RAD bike hoists for $18 shipped, again, so I’m thinking it may be time for me to actually try this out. (And by “try this out” I of course mean “buy them and then bat my eyelashes at my husband until he installs them for me.”)

For comparison’s sake: The same lifts are currently $25 at Amazon, and the reviews are largely favorable. Though I didn’t see anyone mentioning that episode of Ask This Old House.

I am referring, of course, to your holiday cards. I haven’t done holiday cards in years; our loved ones probably think we’re all dead. Or that I’m tremendously lazy. (One of those things is probably true.)

But if you want cards, or a nice personalized stationery gift for someone, get on over to Expressionery today, because you can use coupon code HOLIDAY2012 for 20% off and free shipping. They have everything you could possibly want on paper—cards, labels, memo pads, and more—plus they even offer personalized plates. Very cool if you have a hard-to-shop-for person on your list, particularly if they have an unusual name.

(Personalized gifts were always my favorite when I was a kid. All of those racks of license plates and personalized barrettes at the mall never had Miriam as an option!)

I feel like the notion of “Black Friday” is about to go the way of the dodo, what with most stores starting their “big deals” even before Thanksgiving arrives. And have you noticed that Amazon’s already doing Black Friday Lightning Deals? I’ll give them a pass because I like the deals (heh), but still, it seems kinda early.

Oh, well. Gather ye bargains while ye may, right? Plenty of active deals happening right now, and another batch coming up in five minutes (which will include a Kindle Fire at a special price). Get your clicking finger ready.

I have switched to “hippie crunchy” laundry detergent over the last few years, but every now and then I do kind of miss the reliability of Tide. Sure, my detergent is better for the environment. But… I do miss not having to pre-treat stains. Heh.

If you’re still a Tide devotee (no judgment!), right now Amazon has 2 50-ounce bottles of HE detergent available for $11.98, which isn’t bad (it’s their lowest price ever on that, actually). But! There’s also a $1 coupon you can clip on the page, bringing it down to $11, plus you can buy via Subscribe & Save, which knocks off another bit of money and gets you free shipping (and these suckers are heavy), plus if you pay with a Mastercard you’ll get another 10% off when you apply coupon code MSTRCRD1. So you can end up with this for under $10, if you do it right.

Happy laundering!