Savings for Online Shopping

This past Christmas I took a new route and did some of my shopping online, which is a virtual shopping mall in itself!!!  After researching the ‘what if’s’ I realized it could be just as enjoyable if not more rewarding than shopping in a mall or at a store.

There is something to be said about the benefits of shopping online besides sitting in your pj’s at midnight by your computer with the music of your choice blaring in the background, without competing with the crowds for an overworked and under appreciated sales clerk.

Some of these obvious and not so known reasons include:

• You may receive an additional discount for purchasing a product online than if you went to a store. 

o    www.clearlycontacts.ca offers a wide variety of contacts and designer eyewear  that most stores can’t match in price.

• Comparison shopping is faster online than going to various stores to find the best deal, making this a fabulous green option. 

o   www.shopbot.ca provides Canadian comparison online shopping for customers  

• A Google search can sometimes provide you with an online promo or coupon code that would not be available through the store or mail.

o  www.retailmenot.com provides coupons for in store and online  shopping.

o  www.freeshipping.ca  has coupons for discounted shipping in Canada.

o  www.redflagdeal.com lists promos for businesses which features  products that   are at a lower price than what is offered in stores.

• There are so many internet businesses that sell unique and fabulous items that makes it so worthwhile to shop online.

  o  www.etsy.com is a site for handmade wedding accessories, handbags, clothes, and other wonderful treasures

New Year Actions

It’s Jan 2, 2011 and starting to think about the New Year and what it adventures it holds in store for me. I usually start the last day of the year thinking about my goals for the upcoming year and what was accomplished last year.  

I don’t usually set resolutions down as that implies that I have to change or create a will to do something that I don’t do or don’t like to do.  If I had begun the year with the usual resolutions eating healthy would have been blown as we opted for fast food rather than cooking last night.  A goal on the other hand, starts with a plan, then setting down the foundation, and then an action. 

It comes down to word play; goal vs. resolution but even the definition of goal is more appealing to the senses than that of resolution:

            Goal:   the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.

            Resolution:

o   a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.

o   the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of action, method, procedure, etc.

o   the mental state or quality of being resolved or resolute; firmness of purpose

That being said, a friend forwarded to me a blog by Christine Kane implying the same about how uninspiring the routine resolutions can be and offers an alternative by using single words to create actions/goals/resolutions. I found a lot of words that I wanted to go for the year with but narrowed it down to two, let’s see how that goes, I have 363 days to test it out!