As a reader of MoneyNing, being frugal – certainly not being wasteful – is probably important to you. But even if we’re trying to be frugal, we all have things we save on and others we splurge on. For many of us, it’s a matter of priorities and what we ultimately deem important.
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With the holidays upon us, you’re likely planning trips to a list of various stores, not just to purchase gifts, but also to return well-intentioned gifts. There are quite a few reasons you might want to return a particular item to the store, but there are also plenty of reasons that you may never get around to it, letting something sit in the back of your closet collecting dust or, worse, throwing out something that you paid money for and never used.
The key is creating a returns strategy that actually lets you get things back to the store and replace them or get your money back, rather than hanging on to something you don’t want or need.
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There’s been a lot of talk lately about what we can learn from how our grandparents got through the Great Depression. My American grandparents died when I was very young so I don’t know too much about what they did other than a very vivid memory of my father’s mother telling me that when she was a young girl all she got for Christmas was an orange and a new toothbrush.
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Purchasing batteries seems to be a requirement today. Between all the electronically based games that children play and a need for flashlights and remote controls, having batteries around the house is a necessity, not a luxury. Still, most batteries are fairly expensive little items. Is there a way to get what you need without paying a fortune? Yes.
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The exchanging of gifts is one of the core aspects of the winter holidays celebration, making the holiday season the most profitable time of year for retailers. In the U.S., the holiday shopping season begins on the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, and the frenzy often lasts until the very last minute.
Shopping Stress
But the shopping frenzy has its downside. Just Google the phrase “holiday shopping stress,” and you’ll get over 5,000 results. On the front page, you’ll find titles such as “How To Reduce Holiday Shopping Stress,” “Holiday Shopping Stress Relief,” and “Tips for taking the stress out of holiday shopping.”
If we all know holiday shopping is stressful, not to mention expensive and in many cases wasteful, why do we continue doing it, year after year? Is gift-giving truly such an integral part of the winter holidays? And has this always been the case?
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The new year is getting close. In the next month or so, many of us are going to be considering a resolution or two to start off 2011 a little better than we’re ending 2010. Most resolutions revolve around three topics: improving your health, improving your happiness and improving your finances. It’s very easy to make resolutions about money, but keeping those resolutions can be just as difficult as trying out a new diet. There are some ways to make the process a little easier.
