Happy New Year!! Regular readers probably know about my fondness for making New Year resolutions and the marginal success that I generally manage to achieve as regards keeping those New Year resolutions. This year as well, there are resolutions being made and which specific reference to my financial situation.
So here are my financial New Year resolutions for the year 2012: [Read more →]
Clothing, accessories, jewelry, watches, perfumes, wine, chocolates and such items are de rigueur for the holidays and are some of the first things that pop into your mind when you think of gifting options. Some people however are difficult to get gifts for – either because they are generally picky or because they seem to have everything, you may really have to wrack your brains for what to get them.
Here are some unusual gifting ideas for the quirky or the difficult to please individuals in your life:
A Piggy Bank that doubles as a décor piece. This can actually be a practical gift for a kid to teach them the rudiments of savings and can also be something that they will happily display on their desk.I don’t know about you, but looming financial world crisis has had me tightening my belt if you know what I mean. So Halloween this year won’t be as splashy as it could have been. Rather I am going to be my usual bargain hunting self to try and get some Halloween deals, discounts and bargains. My search for random and interesting things for Halloween this year yielded the following results:
This inflatable Halloween tombstone (with a purple bat, no less) tickled my fancy; it’s just such a fun and silly thing to have lying around. And I’m thinking that festooning this with some strategically placed blood stains would just about enhance the effect! The fact that it’s on a 75% discount down to ten dollars from forty of course has nothing to do with it! And when I’m done playing with it on Halloween, this can be a rather unusual pool float to have around! [Read more →]
It could be the single people find the whole brouhaha surrounding Valentine’s Day a wee bit nauseating, the in your face displays of love and affection rather too smug to take – so whether as a joke or as a mutinous reaction to Valentine Day, someone came up with Singles Awareness Day (acronym SAD, so it must be someone’s idea of ironic wit) – there is some difference of opinion whether it is celebrated on 13th, 14th or 15th of February, but celebrated it is!
So the idea is that if people will send their ‘better halves’ all manner of mawkish gifts, then there is no reason why single people shouldn’t send themselves a gift of two as well! Getting together for a singles party, getting some pampering from a spa or similar, going for a holiday, doing something meaningful like volunteering to help with or donate to a charity can all be terrific ideas for Singles Awareness Day and equally, one can treat oneself to the following gifts –
Clearly I am in the Valentine mood and am thinking all things Valentine, and thought to myself what the best kinds of gifts are that make the least environmental impact? And hence this post about green Valentine Day Gifts, with ideas from here and there and a few of my own –
It’s going to be Valentines Days soon and I was looking for unique, unusual Valentines day gifts that don’t cost the earth. I have done many posts about valentines day in the years past, About My Plans for Valentines Day, about DVD Gifts for Valentines Day, about Fine Wines for Valentines Day, about some of the usual (and cheesy I admit it) Valentines Day Gifts, and I even did a post about some Free Valentines Day Gifts which can be put together with little or no monetary cost but which will fetch you lots of brownie points for time and effort invested.
Now one idea that I had was these Flying lanterns which I can launch for Valentines day. These symbolize knowledge and wisdom and are traditionally used by the Chinese to celebrate their new year; but who’s to say I cannot use them for Valentines Day! They fly up into the air and last about 20 minutes traveling several miles and then the flame blows out and they descend to the ground; quite safe. So perhaps I could write something meaningful on each of them and l could launch several! They cost less than five dollars each.
For a bunch of reasons, you will be looking to get cheap gifts for the festive season: first and foremost is financial stringency, secondly there are some people that you simply don’t want to spend that much money on (that’s not being cheap, just practical), then there are those who don’t appreciate expensive stuff and who will promptly break, dismember and/or destroy something expensive (read children). So here are some stocking stuffer ideas under $5:
These fridge magnets are excellent for all the Domestic Goddesses we know out there; the ones with a sense of humor: I thought they were all hilarious: “Every day I give my family two choices for dinner…take it or leave it”, “Housework is evil. It must be stopped.” “A clean house is a sign of a wasted life” “It’s not nagging if you wave a butcher knife, dear.” For under $20 for a set of four, you can give these to four different individuals! Alternatively these fridge magnets would do great for your girlfriends in office; again those with a sense of humor!
Yes I know all the reasons why Valentine’s Day should not be such a big deal: after all why should you wait for this one day every year to tell your loved ones how much you love them and what if you don’t have a significant other in your life right now, etc.
But then there are so many reasons that you should celebrate Valentine’s Day: for one it is a good idea to make the extra effort to make a special someone feel special, and any excuse for a celebration is a good excuse, and so what if you don’t have that one special someone in your life, family, friends, any and all dear ones count. Show them that they count, that they mean something to you; be it by deed, word or indeed gift. This post of mine is about all the things that you can give that won’t cost you a thing; just the thing for the recession:
The festive season is the season not only of joy and goodwill to all mankind but also the season of spending. Decorations, parties, gifts and a myriad other reasons to empty our pockets; however this year, with the recession ominously but unequivocally upon us, it may be time to tighten our belts. So I combed the internet looking for the best ways to save money these holidays.
There were some great ideas contributed by the readers of the site themselves. One suggestion was to exchange gifts in January instead of at the actual holiday so that one can take advantage of post holiday sales and also you are not so stressed getting gifts just ahead of Christmas. Another reader suggested giving the New Year party a miss in favor or calling some friends over for a contributory meal where everyone listens to music, plays games and has a better time than if they had gone on to a big public place and spent a bunch of money. And if someone is on a really tight budget, you can get books for $1 or $2 at local friends-of-the-library book sales to give as gifts.
