Thursday, February 22, 2007
Too Many Holidays, Too Few Gifts
The marathon is finally over!
Namely my Christmas/New Years/Wedding Anniversary/Valentine's Day marathon.
I just knew I shouldn't have gotten married in the middle of January during mid-year break at college.
It's the same quandry every year: how to mix up my wife's gifts over four occasions in less than two months. Flowers, chocolates and perfume can't be given so many times, dining out seems redundant when you're buried in holiday food already and jewelry...well, let's just say that my wife didn't exactly react as expected to the perfectly good stainless steel ring I gave to her. Go figure!
While I struggle to choose a suitable gift for all these occasions, my wife stockpiles several until I'm presented with a dozen presents when I had a hard enough time choosing one. No matter what, she keeps doing it and I keep looking cheap, even if I spend $50.00 or more for her gift.
When I do spend a lot on her for one occasion, I'm expected to top that purchase on the next one. Those boxes of chocolates only get so big, y'know.
I'm safe for a while, thank goodness. Now where did I put that gift idea list?
Friday, February 02, 2007
Cool Cupid Coupons
My wife's hinting about Valentine's stuff. I'm worrying about the cost of Valentine's stuff. I am cheap , after all.
I've bought probably 80% of the family gifts online in the past couple of years. I'm online anyway - when my mind draws a blank or I'm just plain bushed, I'll do some casual online shopping. Even at the last minute, it still beats being in a mall full of equally crazed people scrambling for something to give from the last few pickings. Otherwise, when it's not that busy, I just plain hate shopping. I'm a guy with a guy's philosophy about it: go in, grab it, pay and go.
It never occured to me to use online coupons. Instead, I would go to the site that sold what I wanted to get and pay whatever they asked. Done, but not done cheap. This could not go on.
A while ago, I was thumbing through a Readers' Digest and found an ad for a 10% discount at one of my favorite online stores that was already cheap. But was it cheap enough? This time, I looked up a one of those sites and there was a page chock full of Overstock deals waiting patiently for me. Better yet, these included offers Overstock didn't offer.
Valentine's Day tends to hurt a bit more for me because it not only follows Christmas and Nwe Years' Day, but also our wedding anniversary, Yeah, ouch. Those old corroded pennies on the sidewalk start looking mighty good by then.
What's your fave? Check out these web coupons before Valentine's Day breaks your wallet!
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