Deals for Sweet Tooths, Decorators and Parents

You survived Hurricane Irene! Nothing inspires that money-spending side of us like a good survival experience. Bearing that in mind, we bring you five deals around town that should balance your so-glad-it's-over spending spirit with your innate frugality. Treat yourself to discounted treats, spice up the bland walls of the living room and save on uniforms, dry cleaning and eBooks.

Deal: This is every Melrosian's lucky week. Busy Bee Bakery, home to mouthwatering ganache-covered cupcakes and artisan bread, is offering a special end-of-summer deal just for Patch readers. Head on into the Hurd Street treats trove, mention Melrose Patch and get a delicious 10 percent off your order.

Good through: September 5

J.B. Edward Uniforms

Deal: Considering many schools are back in action this week, even the most last-minute of parents probably have autumn school uniforms in order. Yet cold-weather uniform needs (long-sleeve polos! crew-neck sweaters!) will rear their head soon. Quick, get on the J.B. Edward Uniforms e-mail blast list and prepare to get coupons just when you need then. The manager of the Woburn store promises that some handy 20 percent outerwear discounts will be coming down the pike to e-mail subscribers very soon. (Another promise: Your e-mail address will only be used for promotions; it's never sold.) Call the Woburn store at 781-376-2071 or use the Contact Us page to get yourself added to the list.

Good through: Ongoing

Sal's Custom Dry Cleaning

Deal: Sometimes there's something to be said about a coupon for a plain old set amount, or in this case, $2.50. That's what Sal's is offering now until the end of September as a (prolonged) Labor Day special: As long as you bring in $20 worth of dry cleaning, you get $2.50 off with this coupon. (Just think what that $2.50 could get you at Busy Bee with that discount above. We're thinking...muffins.)

Good through: September 30

Harper Perennial eBook Sale

Deal: Just in time for a long weekend, publisher Harper Perennial is finishing up its August eBook promotion: 20 titles (formatted as Google eBooks) for only $.99 each. Described as "cutting edge," the titles range from the timely Diary of a Very Bad Year: Confessions of an Anonymous Hedge Fund Manager to the coming-of-age Grab on to me tightly as if I knew the way. Buy quickly; amazingly enough, September starts this Thursday.

Good through: August 31

Connor Malone

Local Etsy Deal of the Week: We like the unusual. And nothing says "interestingly eye-catching" like an abstract drawing. North Reading's Connor Malone has a brand-new Etsy shop full of drawings that meet our standards nicely (how he does these wildly colored patterns freehand is beyond us). Some of the pieces are matted and some are not, and the size of the fairly diminutive works are across the board, from 8" x 7" to 17" x 14". We wager that many of the very reasonably priced drawings would be staggeringly eye-catching once framed. Visit Connor's shop, and if you enter the code MELROSEPATCH when you place your order, you'll receive a very non-abstract 10 percent off.

Good through: September 30