The New Layaway

Remember layaway?

I do.

My mom used put all kinds of stuff on layaway when I was a kid. However, this credit free notion of paying for items over time seemed to lose favor over the last couple of decades. That is until the economy went down the toilet.

Now, lots of stores are offering this plan - including ONLINE! Yep, I recently found several online shopping groups where you can find tons of items to put on layaway - no credit issues and your monthly payments can be debited from your checking account. In some cases, you can even mail them a check. I've also found other stores where you can pay them directly (via their online store) through layaway, i.e. HSN and Sears. (Hey now. Don't pooh-pooh Sears. I did, and then I looked over the website and was pretty impressed with the furniture. Remember, they also sell kitchen appliances, too - all of which is eligible for layaway.)

This concept is so exciting that I went as far as emailing a couple of merchants to see if they would accept layaway. Believe it or not, they would! So, my dream of owning a fancy new kiln is now a reality. All I have to do is make a payment each month and when it's paid for they'll ship it to me...no interest on credit cards, no worrying about hurting my credit, and helping a company stay afloat in this crappy economy. Yea!

Check out elayaway, HSN and Sears for various layaway options. Can you believe all of the things you get?