The gifting season

Didn’t you know? It’s Christmas season (or at least that’s what retailers would like you to think)!On my birthday, last Thursday, November 6th, I saw my first Christmas shopping commercial. Also, on the same day, my local shopping mall had erected the giant silver 20-foot menorah.

Ah.. yes.. it’s dipped below 78 degrees and SoCal is envisioning a profitable Holiday season...

Now here’s the shocking part: I do (kind of) agree with them. It is time to think about holiday gifts, but only because you want to make and give sentimental well-priced gifts.

If you tend to be a person who just rolled their eyes at my “make ... holiday gifts” statement, then I suggest that now is the time to start looking for good deals on the gifts you want to buy for people.

Here are my suggestions for getting what you want at the price you want:

1) Make a list of all the people you want to give gifts to.
There are people in your life that you’ll want to gifts to every year. I like to keep a running list throughout the year with these people's names on it. Whenever someone expresses that they like something- I simply write it next to their name. Then I’ve got plenty of gift ideas when a special event comes along.

I also like to get three general gifts. I like to find either: candles, nice towels, simple jewelry or stationary that I can give if any surprises come my way. I actually plan for these gifts in case a gift doesn’t ship in time or someone extra shows up at a function and has a gift for me. These are gifts that are cheap for my wallet, but helpful for my heart because I know I won’t feel badly if something unexpected happens. I never buy more than three extra gifts and I always keep these receipts and return unused items in January.

2) Decide what you want to spend.
You can decide this on a per-gift basis or per event basis. For example, you may want to spend $20 per gift or $200 for all Christmas gifts.

3) Research!
Websites like PriceGrabber or NextTag can give you ideas on where you may want to buy the gift, and help you research if the gift you want to give is in your price range. I also like Amazon to look up reviews for individual products.

4) Shopping time!
Check out when the retailer you’re buying from is having sales or free shipping offers. Also make sure to buy all your gifts from each retailer at one time to save on shipping or time invested in going to that store.

If you are going to buy gifts in stores make sure that you go at a time where you can spend the time parking and shopping by yourself at leisure. You want to be in a good mood, well feed, have a water bottle, and all your self-control in check. Retailers will have special “deals” on stuff you don’t need. But you’ll want them- so stick to your list and don’t give in!

Splurging- without emptying your wallet

MSN shopping had an article posted today called: Wardrobe Economics: Save or Splurge. The idea was that with a tighter economy you’ll have to make some spending choices, and the article presented some guidelines for where to cut corners.

It had the following recommendations: Save on evening dresses (you’ll probably only wear them once), hosiery (all hosiery runs, why pay more?) and activewear (remember: you are going to go sweat in them).

However, it said to splurge on jeans. When I say splurge they recommend jeans in the $100-$200 range. Now I’ve spent $60 on jeans before and they’ve lasted me almost a decade. I’ve also had jeans that cost much less that have lasted 5+ years. I’ve also tried on those designer jeans and had little success with them fitting. So, I personally wouldn't spend that much for jeans.

It also suggests splurging on handbags- to the tune of over $200! With handbag trends changing every season, why would anyone (who is trying to save money) spend so much on a purse? There are good-enough quality bags at much lower prices points, and I don’t see why someone who is trying to save money in the short run would need to buy an investment-grade leather carryall.

I guess what I don’t like about articles like this is that they are really just mouthpieces for advertisers. I tend to buy good quality pieces that I can use through the years, but a $300 sweater and a $60 sweater will both fade and lose their shape after years of wearing. I also like buying trendy pieces, but only at trend store prices. Shoppers should splurge only if they are able to and only on an item that they know they personally will value. Also, a spurge doesn't have to mean that you spend more than three digits.

The moral of this article should really be: Any reasonably good shopper can find good quality at sensible price points. No matter what the item is.

Financial update

The good news:
1) I reduced my student loan by $71 even after paying interest
2) I focused on my ROTH IRA this month and gained almost a 2% increase in it.
3) Since I made extra payments on my student loan and increased my cash holdings my NetWorth increased to only: -$1307!

The not-so-fabulous news:
1) ING rates have taken a dive with interest rates. It’s currently paying only 2.75%, but with the new rate cut that is also likely to decrease. So my accounts that I didn’t contribute to, didn’t have much interest. So my New Car, my Emergency, and my Home Down Payment funds didn’t budge.

Like many of you, I’ve found this past month both exciting and sickening. However, the things I could control (my spending, paying down debt, and where I’m putting my cash) have gone well. Being in control of those things- that’s satisfying in an uncontrollable world.

Bittersweet Birthday

It’s true.
It’s official.
As of 7pm tonight, I enter the last year of my mid-twenties.

While many of my friends freaked out when they turned 25, it had been no big deal for me. However, that was last year. Last year I was recently graduated, employed and newly engaged. Everything was fabulous!

Now, unemployed and desperately awaiting my phone to ring for interviews- it makes me feel, well- uncertain.

This year, to me, 26 feels old. While I’m excited to be celebrating with friends and family, my emotions are mixed this year. This birthday, I don’t feel like I’m doing what I wanted to be doing at 26, and that’s hard.

However, I feel like my life is on a tipping point. I feel like this year, this year I’m going to be employed and full of joy. There is so much hope in this next year: jobs have just recently posted openings, I’m going to host our first big party at our apartment, and I’ve got two friends getting married! There is so much possibility this year, and I hope I can experience it all!

My birthday wishes:
1) A job.
2) A less volatile year. I’d like 26 to be fun and challenging, but a whole lot less stressful than 25 was.

Burned

This past weekend I was flying back home on Horizon. I was sleeping comfortably when the stewardesses wheeled the beverage cart right next to me. I lazily opened my eyes and saw that they were working on the rows in front of us, so I had more time to nap.

Then- all of a sudden- there was a burning hot sensation on my leg!

In one swift movement I was awake and unbuckled my seat belt to find that a stewardess had spilled hot coffee all over my lap! My husband said she had poured it out of the carafe and had set it on the cart. Then she hit it with her elbow.

She was most apologetic, and all the stewardesses rush me with paper towels, dry and wet. I was fine. It had been hot, but thankfully, not burning hot. I was fine and I told everyone so.

Then the guilty party said she’d be back to "comp. me". My ears perked up! Compensation? Cool! So... I’m thinking: how are they going to compensate me? The price of dry cleaning? A free flight? What?

Later in the flight she brings me over a form to get compensated. I scan it and it is clear that spilling a drink on a customer is the smallest infraction with piddlely compensation.

My choices:
1,000 air miles (but we don’t have the Horizon mileage plan, so that was out)
An e-certificate for $25 to Hornizon.com
A $5 giftcard to Starbucks
Or, get this-
A teddy bear

Maybe I had gotten my hopes too high, but I kinda thought these were pathetic options. I mean, “sorry we spilled hot coffee on you, would you like $5 to get a new one?” Pretty sad.

Of course, before she said anything, I hadn’t even thought of being compensated. I’ve been a waitress, and while I never spilled a drink on anyone, I know accidents happen. However, this level of compensation still seems a bit weak to me.
What do you think?

Vote 2008!

Really, nothing I could say could be more important than this:

Remember to vote!

Freaky Friday

I’ve been waiting for a call about an application I put in, so whenever I see SoCal area codes I flip out!

So I was soo excited when a SoCal area code popped onto my phone on Friday!

The conversation went like this:

“Hello”
“Hello, is (asked for me by my maiden name) there?”
“This is she.” I grumbled- I was w-a-y let down. It was obviously not for an interview, all my applications are in my married name.

Then the phone called got weirder.

“I’m calling from (something) dental and I’m wondering what you’re going to do about this $85 charge.”

“What charge?” I said totally flabbergasted. I went to a dentist office months ago, but this wasn’t a dentist I had seen.

She goes on I tell me about the services I supposedly had in two cities which I’ve never been to before!

I tell her I’ve never been to those offices- let alone those cities. She says that if I don’t pay them she’ll send them to a collection agency. I tell her that I’m not going to pay for services I never sought.

She asks me if I’ve ever gone by two other last names- one of which is my new married name and the other was Ludbeck (or something like that). I told her just this and she said “fine” and hung up on me.

SO I’m freaking out! I’m thinking: Is some collection agency going to come after me for fraudulent charges? What would I do about that? Or was someone else just using names and happened to use mine? Was it someone phishing for my information and I gave too much??!?!?

I checked my credit score and it was still the same, and I had no unusual charges on my credit cards. I placed a fraud alert on my credit and I’ll request a copy of my credit report when I get the offer in the mail. But beyond that- what do I do?

Nothing? Do I just sit and wait for something to happen? GRrrrr…. What would you do?