Is there really a "bad" seed company? I haven't heard of one. I tend to buy from different ones. This year, I think I ordered most from TGS and last year it was Totally Tomatoes. No offense to Totally Tomatoes but I'm one of those random buyers. I order some of my other seeds from Johnny's (or on occasion Park's or Burpee's). I think I decided upon TGS this year because they had a lot of great eggplant varieties I wanted along with the tomatoes I wanted so I could do most of it in one order. For me, choosing between companies, is pretty random. However, I do really like receiving a catalog right before xmas. I usually have to take a long flight to go back home for the xmas holidays, and reading the seed catalogs are my #1 thing to do on an airplane. That's the time to relax and dog-ear the pages.

I'll buy my major appliances online when: The online retailer will sponsor my local youth sports team, buy my daughter's Girl Scout cookies, donate time to a local charity, have their cars serviced in a local garage, use the corner dry cleaner's services, get a haircut, eat at a local restaurant, etc. If you live in a "sales tax" state and are able to avoid the tax by buying online, you are helping fund those same services in the other locale, while not contributing to the cost of services you enjoy in your own community. Regardless of your home state's means of funding, your local economy is enhanced by your purchases of big ticket items from local dealers and loses when you buy from out of state. In these hard economic times your local retailers really need your support. Store owners and employees are active in your community and contribute to the economy by buying the goods and services that may well be connected with the way you earn your own living. You can always get an online quote and use it as a negotiating tool with the local retailer. Most will try to either match the price, or provide extra services the online retailer cannot. To have a local company (with a reputation to uphold) looking out for your post-sale interests is an added bonus. Here's a thought for any who watched last weekend's Solheim Cup golf tournament. If an attitude of support and loyalty like that shown by the American team members were to be shown toward the local retails in our communities, the economy would be well served.

The Euro grocery store, hands down has the best price. http://www.eurofoodmart.com/index.html?target=products&mode=search&subcats=Y&type=extended&avail=Y&pshort=Y&pfull=Y&pname=Y&q=persil&cid=0amp;x=17&y=7 45 is just 19.99 there, if you order a certain amt it's free to ship. I also bought a huge box of Ariel there http://www.eurofoodmart.com/ariel-c367.html Ariel is 10 kg for $79.99 Both Persil & Ariel are listed under "cosmetics" on that site in case you're looking for it any other way.

Sams Club - Bleach and Baking Soda Home Depot - 20 Mule Team borax Never checked WalMart for the borax, but Home Depot is about a buck cheaper a box ($2.98 vs $3.98) than the supermarkets in SoCal. The BBB method mentioned above will yield a sparkling, clear pool and, believe it or not, with less head-scratching. This is from years of chasing ph bounce, cloudy water, algae bloom, etc. Your basic litany of pool horror stories that have all become nightmares of the past................