The $2 Challenge: Red Patent Pleather Journal

Five Below is a store aimed at the wallets of tweens and teenagers, but in this economy, it's just as appealing to their parents and is often the first place we check when we need to buy anything.

As you'd guess from the name, everything in the store costs $5 or less, and they have a wide range of merchandise, from toys, books and software to makeup to crafts to sporting goods to tee shirts to fad items like Kooky Pens and Beanie Babies. Some day I'm going to come up with a fad like that and be able to report on purchases from Neiman Marcus again, but in the meantime, Five Below satisfies. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it's the new Target, because it presents truly stylish merchandise at 1/4 the price at which you would get it anywhere else.

For this reason, Five Below was the natural choice for the next installment of the $2 challenge. I came SO close to winning; the price tag on this item is actually $3, but it's so close that I just had to write about it. After all, $3 is only 12 quarters. Anyone who's fairly diligent could scrounge that from behind the cushions of their couch.

This faux patent leather journal has 200 pages, comes with stylish hardware, and also features a zippered pocket that you can stash stuff in if you're going to the park or the beach to write. It comes in two versions, red and black. I chose the red but I think I'll have to go back there and get the black too...maybe one will be for my racy tell-all memoir and the other one for emo poetry. At this price, you can buy SIX of them and spend less than you would for one journal at Barnes & Noble. Available at Five Below while supplies last.