I am horrible when it comes to managing money. It’s a miracle I haven’t been carried off by men in black suits and briefcases and locked in the basement of a bank someplace for decades, never to emerge until I finally learn how to balance my checkbook.

I am determined to save my little one from this horrible fate. And so the lessons in how to deal with money must begin. The experts say to keep it fun and simple at the beginning, and what better way to do that for your kids than with their very own piggy bank. There are literally millions of options out there… Here are three of my favorites.

This glass piggy (see above) from Brooklyn’s own The Golden Calf (one of my favorite neighborhood spots) has the added motivation of letting you watch the savings grow inside the bank.

Head a few blocks south from the Golden Calf and you will find this ceramic piggy bank, living happily among the other beautiful things at the Brook Farm General Store. And there’s no need to break the bank should the need for some extra candy money arise– a cork in the back gives you full access to all contents.

click below for more banks…

Leave it to the Japanese to come up with a hilarious and action packed way to save your pennies. Just put a coin on the dish and watch the cat emerge to gently pull the booty back into her little box. You can find this kitty bank at Modcloth.com, which, by the way, is a whole experience in and of itself, that is not to be missed.

And lastly, f you’re feeling like making an activity out of it, go to money-management-works.com to learn how to make a papier maché piggy bank of your own. And while you’re there, you can get some good financial advice for the entire family, which is never a bad thing.

Happy saving!

I was doing some reaserch online and I came across one of my all-time  favorite neighborhood stores: Brook Farm General Store. It’s the kind of place that it behooves me to think of when stuck on a rush hour subway car trying to remember why it is I live in this god forsaken city.

The store is nearly perfect. And if you have any friends who love to cook, or bathe, or garden, or have kids, this is the place to go to get them something for the holidays. Or any day, really. Even if they are the really really particular spend-their-summers-in-Provence-send-their-kids-to-waldorf-school types.

Because chances are, unless they live nearby, they don’t have porcelain measuring spoons. Or this perfect small enamel pot for heating up milk or hot cider on a chilly afternoon. But how much do you want to bet they’d freak when they saw them?

You can get these tings (and TONS more) on their website or, better yet, stroll over to the southside (they are at 75 S 6th street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn) and check out the place for yourself. You won’t be sorry.

A keyboard handcrafted out of bamboo that actually works. And a mouse to match. Hallelujah.

Beautiful. Sustainable. Practical. Available on Amazon. What more could you ask for?

Well, for it to be more compatible with Mac’s for one. Seems they forgot to include the squiggly key and the command key, the bastards. But hey, isn’t it about time for us to finally be able to give a PC compatible gift to the few unconverted PCers in our lives without cringing?

Now we can.

Keyboard and mouse by Impecca. Comes in a wireless model as well.

Maybe you have friends who have a garden and all it needs is a birdhouse to complete the picture.

Your answer?  Jack Smith’s plywood bird house.

(thanks herewegonow)

Might be logistically challenging as they are made in the UK, but it’s not super expensive (20 pounds) so the added shipping shouldn’t be too painful. And just think of how pleased the birds will be to have a little extra something to nibble on during the sparse winter months.

Too bad they don’t make houses like this for people.

(photo: courtesy of jacksmith.com)

Whenever I travel, I try to stop at a good stationary store to buy paperclips, rubber bands, erasers… all of the ordinary things that we don’t think twice about when we’re browsing the aisles at Staples, but which are so much cooler when they come from Iceland, or Cuba, or (of course) Italy.

Which is where these brightly colored tacks and paper clips are from, though thanks to the global economy, we can order them domestically through Twine, one of my favorite online sources for cool little objects.

With both the paper clips and the pins priced at a whopping $4 each, you can have yourself a singular gift from a distant land for less than it costs to buy a halfway decent glass of wine from that same country.

And these will last longer, too!

Holy sh*t I can’t believe my eyes. It’s a stylish-yet-understated cat carrier. This thing is such a miracle that I’m actually afraid I’m going to see pigs start flying or lightning is going to strike or something…

All of your cat loving friends are going to love it. And so are their feline counterparts. Brought to you by the folks at Cat Caddy, it’s available on Amazon for $89.99. Well worth it, if you ask me.

It takes a few extra days to process, so you should go order one of these babies now if you want to make sure it gets to it’s intended destination by the holidays.

And get ready to be showered with gratitude.

Flora and Henri is one of those lines of kids clothing that I generally stare wistfully at from afar whilst wondering about what kind of life allows hundreds of dollars to be spent on clothing that your beloved little angel is only going to wear for 6 months or so. And probably draw all over.

And then, somehow, I got my hands on something from them. A gift? A splurge? I can’t remember. But now I’m hooked. And every season, I manage to get my hands on at least one piece, which, me being me, I can milk over several years of long-dress-to-mini-to-tunic wear before I hand it over to somebody else’s kid to enjoy.

The clothes are impecable. Beautifully made. Exquisite detailing. Subtle colors. The kind of stuff your grandmother would approve of– if your grandmother were the Duchess of Windsor or Jackie O. With no horrible logos or cartoon characters anywhere. And man, do they make great gifts. Even the socks are impressive. (You can find the above pictured skirt here.) Plus, they LAST, so they make great hand-me-downs if you have more than one little munchkin in your house.

And every once in a while, they have a sale. Like today, Saturday November 26, in honor of Small Business Saturday. You can get 25% off any full priced item just by typing in the code BLACK25 when you check out.

And then, once you’re hooked, you will find yourself trolling the sale and clearance section of their online shop for other deals. Which do come around every so often and are sooooooo worth it.

Because lets face it, today’s kids are going to be tomorrow’s leaders so they may as well start dresing the part. The sale is in effect till midnight tonight, Pacific time.

It’s not too late.

You can still order these cards, write a bunch of short but heartfelt messages on the inside and get them in the mail before everybody takes off for the end-of-year festivities.

Spread a bit of the magic and wonder of the holiday season via pen and paper. You will look like a champion. Plus you’ll be helping the poor US Postal Service, which needs all the business it can get these days what with e cards and all. (I am, for the record, TOTALLY AGAINST e cards, though the kids’ versions that we’ve gotten can be sort of cute…)

These cards are hand made on a letterpress  by this Brooklyn husband and wife team called Campbell Raw Press that I discovered on Krrb

There is a lovely story about keeping a grandmother’s child like wonder at the glory of Christmas alive via these cards that you can read if you head over to their onlne shop…

Plus they have this card, too, which to be honest, was the first one that caught my eye.

Happy writing!