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.

Jordi Labanda Products 40% Off At Unicahome.com

Jordi Labanda is a genius fashion illustrator based in Barcelona, Spain, who may be best known for his notebook cover designs for Miquelrius. Target currently has a series of them themed as fashion magazine covers that are a steal at $9.00-- they're so cute I bought every single one of them up.

His illustrations are instantly recognizable for their carefree insouciance. Besides stationery, they also grace such products as handbags, makeup cases and mouse pads, and right now www.unicahome.com is running a 40% off sale on all Jordi Labanda products. A small vertical zip bag in the Capri print (pictured above), excellent for carrying a passport and other travel necessities, costs less than $30, including shipping and handling. This print is also available as a backpack or pencil case, but act quickly, as quantities are very limited. I wish he'd make full-sized luggage; it would be the cutest thing ever and impossible to miss on the baggage carousel!