Win a $100 Amazon card for Black Friday 2011.

Yesterday I went into a drugstore and found several aisles completely stocked for Christmas: lights, ornaments, wrapping paper, toys, candy and, of course, traditional sacred images such as Mickey Mouse wearing a Santa hat. Sigh.

While too-early Christmas marketing and commercialism in general both bug me, I am also practical enough to acknowledge they exist — and to help a reader stretch his/her dollars to the utmost. That’s why I’m happy to announce a giveaway sponsored by the Consumerism Commentary blog: a $100 Amazon gift card, just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

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A neti pot with horsepower.

Each of us who attended BlogHer 2011 found a “SinuSense” in our conference bags. The best way I can describe it is a turbo neti pot. In a good way.

Made by Waterpik, it provides nasal irrigation quickly and efficiently.  You’ll want to stand over a sink when this happens, by the way, and far from relatives with cell-phone cameras and visions of YouTube stardom.

Why would you want to irrigate your nose? Because the Mayo Clinic says it is “a safe, inexpensive and easy way to relieve symptoms of nasal and sinus congestion,” that’s why.

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