The Blonde Diaries

Cyber Monday - Did you score anything fabulous?

Cyber Monday has come and gone.  I actually forgot it was today until I logged into my email account and saw the email that flooded in from a few of my favorite online merchants.  I have to admit that I restrained myself and avoided shopping all day long.  My only exception today was my purchase at Restaurant.com in which I found that one of my favorite sushi restaurants here in Houston, Toyokohana, had gift cards available and broke down and bought some.  The gift cards for Toyokohana always sell out at the beginning of the month on that website and they were also running a promo through my rewards program that allowed me to get the $25 gift cards for $5 or 50% off regular price.  How can you pass up a deal like that?!  So I walked/shopped away with $100 in gift cards for $20.  Not too shabby!  Did you find any cool deals?  Want to check out Restaurant.com and use the promo code I used?  No problem just drop a comment or send me an email and I’ll point you in the right direction!

A budgeter’s dream: 25,000 QUALITY GIFTS UNDER $25 EACH!!!

While the holiday season is the season to give to others, you do not have to bankrupt yourself by giving extremely expensive gifts. The price of the gift is not what matters. What matters is that you have put some thought into the gift and selected one that reflects the person you are giving the gift to. So with the economy slowing down, layoffs getting larger by the day, what can you do to keep the budget under control both for the holiday season and after?

I recommend paying a visit to either your local Kmart store or to Kmart.com. Right now Kmart is offering over 25,000 gifts for under $25 and these are not crappy, cheap gifts. These are nice gifts such as an 18 piece screwdriver set by Craftsman for $23.99. I would love to receive this as I do not have any tools around the apartment and Mike and I have run into a few times where we wished we had an XYZ tool. I might order it for Mike to get his “tool shed” started. I also have a few single friends who could probably use a set like this as well. There are also these oversized fleece throws on sale for $8.99 each. Mike’s sister gave me one of these last year and I use it practically every day because I am so cold natured. I wouldn’t mind having one for the office and I know a few of my friends love mine as well and wouldn’t mind having one of their own if they only knew where to shop for one. They also have these fleece robes that look very comfortable for under $20. My mom and I are robe junkies so to speak and I think she’d really like a nice, warm fuzzy robe for those cold mornings.

Those are just a few things that caught my eye on the first page alone. If you need gift ideas or a place to get your gifts cheaply pay Kmart a visit today.

Black Friday Sales Are Already Underway!

Wow! I knew the economy was taking a toll on retail but I didn’t realize it would mean that stores would be starting their Black Friday sales early. Talk about a great way to score some deals without having to wait till Black Friday. Right now, the Sears Black Friday Sale is underway. The sale began with the release of the Sears weekly ad both in the newspaper Sunday as well as online when the ad was released. All sale items are available as quantities last but with so many great items you should be able to score at least one or two for your holiday gift needs.

I was particularly interested in the Sharp AQUOS blu-ray Disc player, $179.99 you save $120! With blu-ray finally winning out on the high definition dvd player wars I am finally ready to invest in the next generation player and $180 for a player is quite the bargain. I believe the cheapest you could find them for in the past was bundled in the Playstation 3 which was $400 or more!

Additionally, Sears is advertising the Nintendo Wii in stock and on sale for $250 which includes 1 controller, 1 nunchuck, and the Wii Sports pack. I can tell you that when I was looking for the Wii it was very hard to find one for $250 so I would jump on this deal if you are trying to get one before Christmas as it cannot be beat.

Pearls: a perfect gift and one that never goes out of style

I’m not sure how things are in your area but here in Houston the holidays are already surrounding us in the form of holiday decorations and advertisments about starting your holiday shopping now. To be honest, I am halfway done with my shopping but i really don’t know where to begin to finish my shopping. It will be a lighter holiday season for my family and myself budge-wise but that does not mean we have to give cheap or crummy presents. The same sentiment could be passed along to many other families out there that want to have a nice holiday without spending a small fortune on gifts.

I have already started featuring ideas for great budget gifts for the holidays or any event where you need a gift. Tonight I have another great gift idea that will never go out of style: Pearls. Pearls are the classic jewelry piece that women of all ages simply adore. Pearls are also very versatile and can be dressed up or down. There are many different types of pearls covering a very wide budget. One type of pearls you should consider are the Akoya pearls. Akoya pearls are high quality pearls mainly found in Japan. They have a shine and luster that other pearl types cannot compare to as you can see in the comparison below.

Akoya pearls come in the standard white color we are all familar with as well as black which give a nice twist to pearls. Akoya pearls can be found online for as low as $200 a strand which is a great bargain compared to retail jewelry store prices of $10k and up. If you are looking for a perfect gift and one that never goes out of style give some thoughts to Akoya pearls.

Moving Right along

Well, our music workshop at church was cancelled last night so Mike and I were able to start moving into the new apartment as soon as he and my mom arrived around 7pm. We decided to move kitchen and clothing since those are the easiest things to pack and unpack. So far everything that we both have from our respective apartments are fitting into the new apartment with room to spare. I did notice though that it might be time to upgrade some of our kitchen ware as both of us have very old and very cheap appliances, pots, pans, and bakeware.

I found that Sears is running at Cookware and Bakeware Sale right now. Everything is on sale right now and if you shop today, you receive an extra 20% off when using your Sears card. I really liked the basic essentials 8 piece roster set that came to $4.99 after the mail in rebate ($10 rebate). Talk about a pretty darn good deal. Sears carries all of the well known kitchen brands like KitchenAid, Wilton, and Cuisinart so if there is something you have been eyeing for a while you might want to head over there and see if you can score a deal. I did notice the famous KitchenAid mixer is on sale which doesn’t happen very often. You might be able to find some items to put aside for Christmas or even future wedding gifts.