Fran wrote in with a fantastic reminder about Amazon’s new sales tax policy.

Hi All,

Just read on the internet that Amazon’s one-year grace period of not charging California sales tax is up this Saturday.

So if you have any big-ticket items (or a bunch of little items) in your Amazon “wish list” or want to stock up on household supplies, books, DVD’s, baby stuff or Christmas gifts, etc., you may want to do some serious shopping on Friday, September 14.

fran

I no longer live in California, but I know a LOT of BargainBabe.com readers do, so get shopping! Here are the last five things I purchased on Amazon.

1. A professional food thermometer for making yogurt ($10). I made my first batch a few days ago and it was surprising easy!!! For my starter yogurt, I used the top part of a “fruit at the bottom” cup. So unfortunately, my homemade plain yogurt has a slight berry tinge. Next time I’ll use pure plain yogurt as my starter. Here is our homemade yogurt recipe. As for the thermometer, it seems to be working fine.

2. A 20-pack of cheap toilet paper ($22.93). I haven’t completely converted to using cloth wipes for adults yet!

3. I splurged on replacement ink for my fancy Waterman pen ($5.86) that a friend gave me awhile ago. It was only on my to do list for three years.

4. Another splurge. Rick Steves Packing Cubes ($14.21). Traveling with baby Lucy involves a lot of small parts and tons of messy laundry. Sorting it keeps me sane.

5. A paperback copy of Fifty Shades of Grey to replace my sister’s copy when it got lost in the mail back to her ($9.57). The book was so-so. Poorly written, but I’ll admit I was just as curious as the next lady about how far this S&M romance would go.

What do you buy on Amazon?