Like most women, I have always done most of the shopping for my family.

Now, more than a shopper, I like to think of myself as a patriot.

When the president told the nation in September 2001 that we could all help resume normalcy and boost our economy, I ratcheted up my cooperation by shopping, just short of addiction.

As a devotee of things artistic, handmade and interesting, I frequent my local discount department outlet stores, which these days contain a smorgasbord of foreign goods – unusual, useful, beautiful, and relatively inexpensive:

Beautiful fabrics and clothes, handcrafted baskets, amazingly lifelike flowers, exotic pots, and handcrafted furniture and jewelry from all over the world, and particularly the Third World, arriving daily, making shopping an adventure.

This international treasure hunt raises questions, both political and economic. We worry about the loss of American jobs under globalization, and we also recognize that 10 years ago it might have been possible to not buy anything that could have come from prison labor, Chinese or elsewhere. Now it is impossible to avoid the flow of foreign goods in the mainstream of our chain stores.

It was no surprise to me last week when eBay’s president and chief executive, Meg Whitman, said they were putting an extra $100 million into China in the next year. We all see the signs that retailers are expanding their operations over there.

These numbers tend to boggle my mind. My advice to anybody out shopping in this new world of arriving goods is to compare prices and utilize the convenient return policies.

For example, the other night Target was offering black wood pedestal table made in Thailand, sturdy, nice lines, and not hard to assemble. It was exactly what I had been seeking in a dozen stores. I paid $249 for it and put it together.

A few days later I was in Pier One and saw the same table for $350. I told the manager and she said she was going to scoot out and check the opposition.

Of course, to be successful in this global shopping cult, you have to be devoted and diligent. Everything comes in eventually but you have to buy it when you see it as things get snatched up quickly – sometimes out of your basket, if you don’t watch carefully.

The other day I was on the checkout line for home goods, with two flats of beautiful silk impatiens, made in China. Behind me was a well-dressed woman who asked if I was going to buy them all. She explained she was an exhibit designer and, well, those impatiens would be so-o-o terrific.

Sorry, I explained, “I’m going to put them in flower boxes on my deck as soon as the snow melts.” Several other people asked where I found them. I pointed, like in the movies (“They went that-a-way”). Sssh, there were no more. For $24.99 each, or 50 percent less than my local nursery, I had them all.

The good thing about these outlets for new goods is that returns are easy with the receipt. Most stores give credit even with no receipt. And they are all over. Since I have family in three other states, I am able to shop near my home, anticipate what my far-flung children might need. My children can return what they don’t want, at an outlet near them. My pile of receipts extends from one end of the country to the other. And the best part is that by paying by credit card, I accumulate the airline miles so I can travel to some of the exotic places I see on the labels.

With globalization, there has been a huge increase and variety of merchandise available in these discount stores, along with grumbling by employees about the decrease of trade in their particular store.

We do a little shopping online, but I find it is better to see and touch these new goods from talented artisans all over the world. I know there are complicated issues about jobs in my country and elsewhere. It was easier when I thought about shopping for my country.

Ms. Vecsey is a writer living on Long Island. E-mail: megv@optonline.net.