All Sorts of Shopping (and a tip on a great deal on a new phone) - December 3, 2013

Between my birthday, Hanukkah, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, I've had a lot of opportunities to go shopping and get great deals while doing so. Yes, I buy clothing for myself pretty often as the thrifting tag on this here blog can attest, but...thrifting is thrifting. I spend less than $3 per item in most cases and it's used. And I LOVE IT - but this was different.

First, I'd been saving the Amazon gift cards I earn from Swagbucks (that's a referral link) (and sometimes from Bing - another referral link! - and sometimes from other sources, including this blog) because I wanted to upgrade my phone.

I use Virgin Mobile because I like paying only $35 per month for unlimited text and data and 300 talk minutes that I rarely come close to using. (If I could afford more per month, I might consider another plan/carrier/even better phone, but I can't, and this works just fine for me.) I'd bought myself an HTC One V a little over a year ago using the same save-gift-cards technique, but it stopped working properly about six months in - as in, it wouldn't make nor answer phone calls half the time and often wouldn't load my contact list or send text messages. I said it many times - it's all well and good to be able to have a few apps on there or a good camera (and I do think the camera is good), but if I can't make phone calls, then the phone isn't really that great.

The phone for which I was saving was the flagship Samsung Galaxy S3 - once I saw that VM was offering it, I wanted it, but I was patient and I waited. And during Black Friday Week, Amazon finally dropped the price from a high of around $400 and an average of around $315 to $260 AND it included a free case! So I pounced. And after factoring in all the credit I'd slowly, carefully saved, I paid about $35 including tax for this fancy phone.

Imagine my surprise and annoyance when a week later, right before I went to bed, I received an alert from CamelCamelCamel (I'd forgotten to cancel it) telling me that at 10pm on Monday night my phone's price dropped down to $250 - which is a GREAT DEAL for this high-end phone, just...less than what I paid.

Happily, a friend of mine had clued me in that Amazon has a 30-day price guarantee. I simply emailed and asked for a refund and when I woke up in the morning it had been processed, bringing my out-of-pocket cost down to about $25!

I love this phone. Love love love it. Here's a link (a referral link) to this great deal on the Samsung Galaxy S3 for Virgin Mobile (be aware: you can only use the version of the phone to which I'm linking on VM in the United States). Once you get it, it's so easy to activate, and then you can pick the right plan for you!

Update 12/4/13: The price went back up but this phone is still AMAZING. Get it!

Next, boots. I have been wanting some knee-high boots for a while, and I set aside some birthday money specifically to buy some for myself. First I thought I would get these - Prize from Donald J. Pliner - but they were a bit more than I felt comfortable spending (though they are still on my wish list and if the ones I wound up buying - you'll see in a minute - don't fit, I suppose I could go back and get these instead).

Again, Amazon and Black Friday Week came through to save the day. I found these:


and when I bought them, they were marked down and there was a coupon code for 25% more off. They should arrive today and I will take pictures of them with my new phone! (Again, that's a referral link.)

Update 12/4/13: Sadly, these boots just didn't fit me the way I wanted. They were an amazing price and they're adorable, but they're going back to Amazon and I'm back on a quest for black boots.

Next, I had been drooling over one particular crafting tool for a long, long time - the Silhouette Cameo. I cannot tell you how many contests I'd entered to try and win one. This time around, after Googling "Silhouette giveaway" and entering the contests that came up in the search, I paid attention to what all the craftsy bloggers were saying - that a big Black Friday sale was coming up. I put up an alert on Amazon for the Silhouette Cameo starter kit, but on Black Friday when the deals were announced I found that - for a change - Amazon couldn't beat the deal being offered directly from Silhouette. You can find all the Silhouette America holiday deals here (though let me add that I'm a bit annoyed - I thought these deals were Friday only, and they're still available as I write this on the following Tuesday - I hate feeling pressured to buy something to get a deal and I could've waited - it hasn't even shipped yet! Oh well.). I am SO SO SO SO excited about this - I have some projects planned that I will share! (Look at me - first I'm pretending to be a fashion blogger, then I'm pretending to be a craft blogger, ha!)

Finally, I did some in-person Black Friday shopping with friends. I found a great deal on brown boots (to go with the black ones I ordered! the price in the link is likely more than what I paid - frustratingly, I didn't have the magic coupons with me, but they still were a great price and while they're synthetic, they are super duper comfy and cute!) and black clogs (to replace the Dansko clogs that I wear every day, although the reviews on these are making me worried and I'm debating returning them - the ones I bought are similar to but not the same as those in the link).

Look, here's an actual picture of my new brown boots on me:

Bonus: I'm wearing one of the tops from my most recent thrifting post - I loooove it!

And one more picture for fun:

Finally, Cuppow had a Cyber Monday sale. Cuppow? Oh, you need one of these. I got my first one from my friend Marissa as the best birthday present ever.

A Cuppow is a little plastic doohickey (made in the USA, BPA and phthalate free) that turns a glass mason jar into a travel mug. It's eco-friendly and made by a small, independent business. I loooove it. So I bought a bunch more - the one Marissa gave me is for wide-mouthed jars (and if you squint, you  can see that my jar is etched with a picture of Massachusetts - the jar is from opal & ollie on Etsy) so I bought myself one that's for regular-mouthed jars too, and then I bought a handful to give as gifts to friends and teachers and therapists (because it's that time of year and my kid has a cast of thousands!). I may also use my new Silhouette to create stencils to etch mason jars myself or to add vinyl decorations to the jars (to add to the Cuppows as gifts).

NOTE! Cuppow has extended its Cyber Monday sale through Tuesday, December 3, 2013! Use the code CYBERCUPPOW for 25% off your order. If you buy four things, you get free shipping, so that's like buying 3 and getting 1 totally free! Also here's my referral link for a bonus $2 off your order (that link is valid until December 5 - please use it!).

I think that's all for now - watch this space for new pictures and new crafts! Happy Hanukkah and happy festive holiday season!

Let's Talk about Shopping and Holidays and Rambling Stuff - November 25, 2012

I always watch the whirlwind of gift-buying swirl around me at this time of year. I grew up with Hanukkah - and a low-key Hanukkah at that. Yes, I received a present every night (sometimes it was one to share with my brother, and when my parents got divorced my dad always made sure I still had eight presents from him) but they were usually small things. I don't remember ever really getting a big gift, just something small that was exciting to open. One year my brother and I got a cassette recorder that we used for years to make our own radio shows. I think one year we got a 2XL to share. But mostly it was candy or a small toy or an item of clothing. Plus, Hanukkah moves around - as you probably know - so sometimes it was over and done with by the time my classmates where crowing over their Christmas haul.

When I got older and started dating my not-Jewish-at-all husband, I did enjoy a few Christmases with his very generous and welcoming family. Even then, we kept our own shopping pretty contained - until everyone started having babies and babies and more babies and there were more and more gifts for the kids, as the grown-up gifts dropped off. But then we moved away and needed to start our own traditions, and then we had a child with a disability and our focus moved from getting her presents to, quite honestly, getting her therapies.

So basically most years I'm not the one at the malls or online with a giant list of every single relative and a budget that is strained. It's just not how I was brought up (though seriously, sometimes it looks FUN). Our finances are tight this year - we're both freelancers, though I did just start an exciting new gig that hopefully will help things out for a few months - and most of our money is going toward boring things like bills and food. The kid's teachers and therapists (and oh there are a LOT of those!) are getting a locally made gift from a friend of mine - I've already ordered it (as one big lot) and I just need to pick it up from her.

That said, I indulged in a little shopping on this kick-off-to-the-season weekend. On Black Friday I stayed in, away from the stores and the crowds (nobody in my family does well in crowds - we all get overstimulated, though some of us handle it better than others...and by some of us I mean my husband). I wasn't going to shop at all, but then I poked around online a bit and grabbed the Toys R Us Groupon - available for about 15 more hours as of me writing this post! - so I could get my kid a few extra little things (and I bought it with Groupon credit I'd earned so it was free!). I also bought a replacement pair of headphones for my iPod/phone thanks to a very rare Apple sale (and you know, for all of my coupony-savey ways, I forgot to click through eBates to save on them, though Apple only gives 1% cash back - other stores give 6% or more!) - I had both birthday money and some cash I'd earned from Swagbucks.

Then I thought, well, I've been hoarding the Amazon gift cards I've been earning from Swagbucks, so I'll check out the deals over there - and there was a bonus $5-off-$25 coupon that was floating around that was about to expire. So this is what I "bought" myself (it was also all free* - and I even scored a free month of Prime - and now I am, again, oh so tempted to just pay for a year of Prime...):

I buy the Best Food Writing collection every year.

I needed something to get me to the $25 threshold to use the coupon - and I've been drooling over this book for some time. I love Lynda Barry!

Apparently this was a super-score, as when I decided to buy it, it was only $7.99 - it's more now. I needed something to get me off my ass since I haven't been running at all lately. I know, I know....

So yes, I bought myself Hanukkah presents - thank you Swagbucks!

But Saturday was Small Business Saturday - and I'd won a $25 gift card from FedEx's big promotional drive! Plus, my little city was having all sorts of festivities - music, massages, free snacks, free gift wrapping, and welcome mats in front of most of our amazing local businesses. So after we poked around at the farmer's market and then stopped off for some free popcorn and goodie bags, I bought the kid her big Hanukkah present - a wooden-and-felt toy salad set, because she loves to cook and to play in her toy kitchen and because the upscale toy shop was having a big sale on everything. I also bought my husband a small gift of a gourmet rubber tea infuser. It's super cute and he's quit the coffee habit and only drinks tea, so he was really excited about this one. (Yeah, they were both with me. I still made sure everything was wrapped so that we'll have the fun of unwrapping on the first night of Hanukkah!) And I bought a glass oil spritzer for me and my husband to share as well - a little bit of extravagance for our kitchen.

And I think that just about does it. Hanukkah starts on December 8 and so it's coming up soon and then, whoosh, it will be over...

Every single link in this post (except the 2XL link!) is a referral link that will give me a kickback of some sort if you click through and purchase something. I really appreciate it!

*I do spend my time to earn the credits on sites like Swagbucks, but I do the tasks while I'm taking care of other things. I consider the earnings from these activities to be "free" money as opposed to the earnings from my freelance work.