How To Have A Less Expensive Christmas

by Liz Heather in

Do I have wish I had thousands of dollars to spend on Christmas? Fuck yes! Is that a plausible reality?

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Technically I have three jobs at the moment, but neither of them are crazy lucrative so HERE I BE. About to blow your mind with some money saving ideas for the next two months (ie. the most expensive two months of the entire year, arguably). BEHOLD.

  1. If you share a certain amount of friends in common, do a Secret Santa exchange within that group. It saves so much money not to buy all those individual gifts, it's insane.
  2. Make a ton of holiday cookies/candies/brownies & individually sized gift boxes with Christmas tissue wrap from Dollarama to house them in. I've done this a few times over the years when money is tight, and people seem to be into it. Also, food gifts are the best gifts. I love a gift that doesn't necessarily have to sit atop my bedroom dresser for the rest of time. EAT THAT GIFT.
  3. Try to buy as many gifts as you can on the week of Cyber Monday (I've noticed that Cyber Monday deals last the entire week). The deals are sometimes better than Black Friday, and there's so, so much more comfort involved.
  4. Instead of buying new holiday dresses, BORROW from your close friends and vice versa. Is this too frugal? Oh sorry, MILLIONAIRE. I thought you were here for cheap-ass ideas. Gorgeous dresses were meant to be worn as much as possible, and a true friend ain't gonna judge you for suggesting to swap for an event. 
  5. Take advantage of so many free things to do this time of year: putting up Christmas lights, decorating your tree, making hot chocolate and taking it on a walk through your neighborhood, watching/streaming old Christmas movies, calling someone you haven't talked to in a long time, volunteering, donating anything you don't have any use for anymore, LITERALLY SO MANY THINGS.
  6. See less people over the holiday season! Haha, I'm kidding...? I mean, if you see less of them, expectations on giving gifts drastically falls. So this one kind of makes sense. Something that also works? Send a Christmas card. The card acts as your way of keeping in touch, but not having to spend money on dinner/gift/drinks/etc. This one sounds harsh, but it's sort of genius, said the person who came up with it.
  7. Spend more time with your family. Your family never wants to go out and spend money, right? Maybe that's a Caribbean thing.

I could tell you to just stick to a budget throughout the holidays, but I never find that helpful because I'm too easy of a target when it comes to spontaneous shopping. In any case, it is completely possible to not be 1000% broke once the holidays are over. 

Honey Chrome Extension

by Liz Heather in ,

This is how I feel when I save money.

This is how I feel when I save money

I know that, lately, I've been pretty into finding new Chrome extensions. Why? I'm not sure, really. Maybe it's a phase that we all go through? In any case, this one I just heard about it is amazing.

It's basically a browser extension that automatically finds and applies coupon codes at checkouts whenever you buy something online. WHENEVER. So you don't have to search for them anymore (you were searching for them, right?)! 

Such a great idea.

Fact of the Day

by Liz Heather in

The physical act of walking through a doorway is the reason why you sometimes walk into a room and completely forget what you were doing. Going through a door signifies the beginning or end of something, so it creates an ‘event boundary’ within your mind. Every time you pass through a doorway, your brain is filing away the thoughts you had in your previous location to make room for a new group of memories in the next.

Lilica's Pregnancy Shoot

by Liz Heather in

Am I into pregnancy photo shoots? I think you can answer that question. But for dog pregnancy photo shoots?! C'mon. That's gonna be heaven.

Lilica the dog crushed her maternity photo shoot. Photographer Ana Paula Grillo captured all the shots in only 20 minutes because Lilica smiled for the camera and posed perfectly. She gave birth to her 5 puppies the very next day. Here are her photos.