An alternative solution to Christmas Shopping

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Having posted about the Top 10 Things to Remember when Times Get Tough, there was one piece of advice that I hadn’t really been following, and that’s point 6: There are other ways to get what you want besides money.  I bought a book a few weeks back on How to Win Competitions, and started taking action on the tips in it.  I think so far I must have entered about 30 competitions in the last week.

Well, yesterday I got my first payoff.  An email was waiting for me, congratulating me on winning a weekly prize of a $200 gift card.  I don’t think the timing could have been any better, especially in terms of Christmas Shopping (most of which I can happily take care of with this card).  I also, incidentally, discovered something called a slanket – a blanket with sleeves for tucking yourself under and reading/drinking hot chocolate/whatever.  So if you start entering competitions, you should probably be aware that you might end up finding yourself wanting things you never knew existed…

Quite a few of my other gifts were taken care of at work the other day when someone brought in a fundraiser catalogue for their child’s school.  A gift that gives on both ends!  That one did cost money, but not nearly as much as going out and trying to find things for all those people individually, so I’m happy with that.

The point is, when you open your mind to finding alternatives to the usual ideas of Christmas Shopping (I read about a shootout at a toy store in the States again this morning, on top of the employee trampled to death for the black friday sales I mentioned in my last post), then it’s amazing how many ways you can find to accomplish the end without ever stepping foot into a regular bricks and mortar shop!

Having said that, though, I did end up at Uncle Pete’s toystore yesterday picking up the much sought after presents for my niece and nephew.  Apparently, having sat on the shelf for months, the minute they were mentioned on TV the shelves cleared.  I have them now, though!  (The poem I put up 2 days ago now has a happy ending…)

Tagged as: Christmas, Competitions, comping, financial crisis, Happy ending, holidays, Luck, Top 10, Toy store