The Blonde Diaries

I have been scouring the internet and the local malls looking for specific items missing from my wardrobe – nice capris, sundresses, and sandals.  You would think based on the sheer volume of packages I have coming into the apartment from various online shopping and physical store shopping excursions that I must be finding everything on my missing items list but unfortunately, the opposite is true.  I have had absolutely no luck finding the items I am looking for.  In fact, most of the items I have bought in the past month have just been returned to the store within a week of purchasing them.  For the most part I’m just incurring costs from driving back and forth to the store or post office but every now and then I’m hit with a return shipping fee.  It is quite frustrating but I think I’ll be paying more attention to return policies when shopping online.  I’m hoping I have better luck this upcoming weekend when I venture to the outlet malls.

With only twelve days until Christmas, many shoppers are starting to worry that there is not enough time left to order online or to get any really good deals on items still on their shopping list. Well, I am here to tell you that is NOT the case. You still have plenty of time to shop online and there are some great bargains out there to be found.

For example, Sears has two great deals in their 12.7.08 – 12.13.08 weekly ad such as a Canon Powershot 8.0-megapixel 4X optical zoom digital camera. The Canon camera is retailing for $149.99 before you apply the $20 instant savings that Sears is offering. I am a strong believer that everyone have a camera of their own so if you have a loved one in your family without a digital camera, check this deal out tonight. I have owned 2 Canon cameras (traditional film and digital) and both have been outstanding in the photo quality category.

If everyone already has a camera, how about a pool table that converts to a table tennis game for your family room? I had a friend in high school with a pool table and we loved to go over there every Friday night to hang out in the game room watching tv and playing pool. Right now Sears has one by Fullerto that is 7 feet and is both a pool table and a table tennis table. It is on sale for $279.99 and it regularly retails for $399.99. Talk about a great sale price and a great family gift.

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, Tokoyohana, 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!

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.

The countdown to black friday has begun. In just twenty three days the official start to the holiday season and shopping bargains will be upon us. I remember growing up how my mother and I would sit at the kitchen table after Thanksgiving dinner looking at all of the Black Friday ads in the newspaper and plotting our course for the next day.

Now, the need to spend Thanksgiving day scouring ads and then camping out to get in line at places like WalMart or BestBuy has been eliminated. How? Thanks to a site called Black Friday Online, you can sign up to get email alerts any time a Black Friday ad has been released and posted on their websites. You probably didn’t know that the stores plan months in advance their sales and develop their advertisment circulars did you? You also probably didn’t know that they are the ones that “sneak” them out to the general public in advance to drum up buzz for the sales. You can start researching today by looking at ads from last year and looking at the ones released so far this year to get your game plan going. One company that jumped out in late October is Sears with their “Sears Black Friday Deals” ad and they have some deals on electronics. Another great thing you can figure out is which stores will offer their sales online through these ads and websites. Last year, I was able to stay in from the cold and shop from home on Walmart.com and was able to get everything I wanted with the click of a mouse. No need to wake up at 5 am or camp out overnight.