holidays

Occupy Black Friday: A grab-bag of tips.

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Today I had a pleasant realization about the Black Friday online deals that start at 12:01 a.m.: In Alaska, that’s only 8:01 p.m. My niece and I will be able to hit the one or two specific sites we wanted without staying up late.

Midnight isn’t that late, necessarily. My hostess and I were up until almost 3 a.m. yesterday. But my niece and I also plan to do some shopping outside the house, so that 8:01 start time means we can get sufficient sleep before joining the doorbusters queue. I believe that’s 5 a.m., and we’ll probably have to brush fresh snow off the car and warm it up for a while.

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Give yourself a present for Christmas 2011: A well-stocked pantry.

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The food ads are mighty attractive at this time of year even up here in Anchorage, where prices are noticeably higher than in the Lower 48.

A few of the items currently being offered at decent sale prices: bacon, eggs, cheese, soup, canned tomatoes, flour, chicken broth, coffee, yams, canned and plain frozen vegetables, crackers (I’m partial to the cracked pepper and olive oil Triscuits), potatoes, butter, apples and canned beans.

The idea is to get us to buy extra ingredients for holiday meals and those homemade sweets. But why not buy extra ingredients for ourselves?

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Christmas 2011: Ho-ho-homemade sweets.

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Since getting my candy/jelly thermometer from Amazon.com recently I have learned a new and entirely dangerous skill: making caramels for Christmas gifts.

I know they are dangerous because:

  • Somebody had to scrape out all candy that stuck to the saucepan, right?
  • I couldn’t in good conscience give a gift without making sure it tasted OK.

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Game shows, rescued pennies, bonus Swagbucks and how to have a cheaper Christmas 2011.

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Today’s post is a bit of a grab-bag.

To anyone interested in joining Swagbucks: I might be able to get you 100 extra points. On Saturday evening I took part in an online chat about shopping/rewards sites. Those “attending” were given a code to offer to new referrals in addition to the usual 30-point sign-up bonus.

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Win a $100 Amazon card for Black Friday 2011.

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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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Tuesday short takes. (Now with more moose!)

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MJ is the winner of the box o’ Christmas oddities, courtesy of RetailMeNot.com. I just returned from the post office. Maybe there will be a Christmas miracle, i.e., it will get there on time.

A whole bunch of you sure liked that bling mug, aka the “2 Carat Coffee Cup.” If you’re interested in getting one of your own, start your shopping here — and be sure to look for a coupon code, too.

In other news:

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