I can now add Sears to my list of must-see stores this holiday season, as Sears has also brought back its layaway program. If you visit a Sears, Sears Hardware, Sears Grand, or Sears Essentials store within the next few weeks, you can use Sears Layaway to spread out your payments on almost any item in the store. All you have to do is select the item or items that you want to put on layaway, bring them to the layaway counter, and pay a cash down payment of either $15 or 20 percent of your purchase price, whichever is greater. Some items are excluded from layaway, like home electronics, home appliances, automotive merchandise, food, beer, wine, live plants, and photos. Sears also charges a nonrefundable $5 service fee and a $10 cancellation fee. Items cannot be put on layaway after December 22 and must be picked up and paid in full by December 23.
Sears has a lot of great items that are eligible for its layaway program. I would love to put this Covington zip front, Nappa leather jacket on layaway for my mother. She has a full-length wool coat for work and a lightweight fleece for the weekends, but she doesn't have an in between jacket that she can wear anywhere. Just last week she asked my grandmother--her mother--if she could have my great grandmother's leather jacket. The jacket is just sitting in my great grandmother's closet, collecting dust and absorbing the stench of thirty years worth of moth balls. My grandmother told my mother that she couldn't have it because she might want to wear it one day. My grandmother has five closets full of clothes and jackets, including a hideous, animal-unfriendly mink number that none of us will allow her to wear in public. Sure, she needs an old leather jacket more than my mother who, if she threw out all of her clothes that no longer fit or were worn out, could probably fit all of her things in a broom closet. I wish that I could get this jacket from Sears so that my mother could tell her mother, "Thanks, but I have my own now, and it doesn't reek of moth balls. Keep Granny's."
I also wish that I could put this tool set on layaway. It's called the Rockwell 37-Piece Sonicrafter Kit. It's just the tool my mother needs to finally finish refinishing the old buffet that she found at a junk shop downtown years ago. The thing is a hot mess right now. My other got the bright idea of stripping the age old, white paint off of the buffet with RediStrip when she first bought it, but, unlike in the infomercial, the RediStrip stuck to the buffet. We've been able to get the Redistrip and underlying paint off of parts of the buffet--the flat, easy-to-access areas--but not off of the detailed parts. Not only would the Sonicrafter allow my mom to gain access to those tiny areas with its contour sander attachment, it would also allow her to complete other projects around the house, like replace the stained grout in her kitchen or lay down new laminate flooring in the living room.
Finally, I'd love to put this Top Heavy layered T on layaway for my nephew. He doesn't have a lot of long sleeved shirts, not because my mom or sister won't buy him any but because they can't agree on style. My mom wants to turn my nephew into a walking, talking J. Crew ad. If she could have it her way, Chandler would wear plaid shorts, polo shirts, and knee socks every day of the week. The problem is Chandler is so not a preppy kind of kid. He likes his graphic tees and not much else. Good luck, however, finding a long-sleeve graphic tee that both he, my mom, and my sister can all agree on. I think this layered number would be a great compromise. It has long sleeves so my sister would be happy. It doesn't have some saying like "my sister ate my homework," so my mom would be happy. Believe it or not, she and Chandler had a 20 minute argument over such a shirt once because my mother insisted that Chandler couldn't wear a shirt about his sister when he doesn't actually have a sister. Chandler will like it because it's red, his favorite color, and because it has a drum set on it. If Santa brings him the Wii and Guitar Hero that he wants for Christmas, he could totally rock this shirt.Now all I need is some money and directions to Sears. To find the Sears store nearest you or to learn more about Sears Layaway, please visit Sears.com or click on the link below.
