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!

Have you struck out or struck gold with Black Friday 2008?

How have you been doing with Black Friday 2008? Did you run out to the stores? Have you finished your Holiday shopping? Are you waiting for Black Friday sales to be over so you can safely leave home and maybe run to the store for something? Me? I’ve done ok so far this year. I did not get out before the sun rose to go to brick and mortar stores. Instead, I hopped online last night around 10:30pm and started seeing what was on sale at various stores. I’ll give a short run down of what I’ve bought and from where:

1. Canon Powershot 8MP at Newegg.com for $109, camera case for $6, and 4 2GB SD Memory Cards for $22
2. $40 in gift certificates to a Houston Restaurant we go to for $12 thanks to Restaurant.com
3. Digital Photo Frame on Buy.com for $45
4. 4 Tapout Tshirts for $130 (not a sale but shipping was free which save me $21)
5. 4 Books from Amazon.com for $30 ($16 was shipping fees)

Not too terrible but not the great deals I was hoping to find.  I still have some shopping to do at Sephora and need to call some of my friends to see what is on their DVD lists to see if I can pick up anything on sale at Target or Best Buy today.

Have you found anything really great online?

Weekend Planning

I am so ready for the weekend. I have had such an uneventful week that I am ready to regroup over this weekend and get some things accomplished. First, I want to hit Old Navy and return a few items I bought but do not have a use for. I want to go now rather than after black Friday so I can beat the shopping madness. I don’t understand how people keep their retail jobs through the Holiday season but kudos to them. After the return to Old Navy, I want to run by my Super Marshalls to check out a few of their items for possible holiday gifts. When my mom and I were in there last week they had Bliss body sets like you would find at Sephora for next to nothing. Lastly, I want to try and hit the gym all 3 days to get me in a routine and ready to face next week. How is your weekend shaping up? Anything fun or exciting?

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.