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I have absolutely no Christmas spirit this year. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Nunca. I put on faux giddy face for the kidlets but in reality, I just want it to hurry up and get the hell outta here. I'm done with the fruitcakes (and I'm not talking the stale dessert kind), skinny smelly Santas who ask you to please sit on their lap, the incessant countdown questions of how many more days, minutes, seconds, miliseconds..., and if I have to re-wrap one more present because Gunny couldn't "halp himself," I'm gonna go batschat crazy. Seriously.
Argh. I need a vacation from Christmas vacation. Somewhere preferably where a fat man in a red suit has absolutely no pull on the local economy. Any ideas?
Anyhoo, I'm sure I'm not alone in this sentiment, or perhaps I am. Whatever the case, I'm going to barricade myself up in my house until this merry season of candy canes, eggnog, and yule logs pass over and I'm once again faced with a house that is relatively sane and free from tinsel in the litter box. Don't ask.
Some truly tasteless videos for your Christms enjoyment:
Freshly stolen from the Internet :-)...
Jose Cuervo Christmas Cookies
1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup or brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequila
Sample the Cuervo to check quality. Take a large bowl,
check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is of the highest quality,
pour one level cup and drink.
Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter
in a large fluffy bowl.
Add one peastoon of sugar. Beat again. At this point
it's best to make sure the Cuervo is still ok, try another
cup just in case.
Turn off the mixerer thingy.
Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup
of dried fruit.
Pick the frigging fruit off the floor..
Mix on the turner.
If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaters just pry
it loose with a drewscriver.
Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity.
Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who geeves
a sheet. Check the Jose Cuervo. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts.
Add one table.
Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can
find.
Greash the oven.
Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall
over.
Don't forget to beat off the turner.
Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the
Cose Juervo and make sure to put the stove in the wishdasher.
Cherry Mistmas !
Now that the holidays have been forced down our throats with cheap egg nog and stale candy canes (do they even get stale?) I'd like to offer you some tips I've been using to save money this holiday season. In no particular order...
1. Sign up for ebates. Yes, I'm gonna whore myself out here with a self-promoting linky - but you don't need to use it (unless you really want to and remain on Sandi's good list). This cool website gives you cash back if you go through their site to access the places you normally shop at (online). For example, I love Sephora and needed some more spackle for my face. I shopped through Ebates last night and got 8% back for my purchase. It may not seem like a lot but it adds up.
2. Looking for cheap books? Check out sortfloorbooks.com. These books may have slight blemishes, black binding marks, etc., but they are priced exceptionally well. Use the code "jolly" for an additional 10% off, and if you spend over $14.99, you get free shipping. If you visit the site, be sure to plug in "sets" in the search box. They have these funky little sets you can order for a coupla bucks and they make great stocking stuffers.
3. Buy a Prime Membership through Amazon.com. It's $79, but it guarantees you free 2-day shipping or $3.99 overnight shipping for a year. I save a fortune each Christmas, by not having to pay for shipping.
4. Check out deal sites like fishingfordeals.net or slickdeals.net. They are updated several times an hour with fantastic deals and coupon codes.
5. Before you place an online order anywhere, always Google to see if you can find a coupon code. I'd say 90% of the time, you'll be able to find a small discount if not a free shipping code.
6. Select "ship to site" or "site to store" when possible. For example, I need to find three bean bags for the munchkins and found some I like at Walmart.com (2% back at Ebates). I did not want to pay $40 to have them shipped so I selected "site to store." They will arrive at my closest Walmart in a few weeks and when I'm there anyway, picking up the Easy Cheese and Spam, I can easily grab them.
7. Buy local! Avoid the shipping fees altogether and support your local businesses.
8. Go homemade - well kinda. This year I'm using my photography to create calendars, photobooks, etc. for family and friends. A really cool place with great prices for this kind of thing is Artscow.com. They are located in Hong Kong so shipping take forever. However, if you sign up for daily deals, you can get some really cool stuff with free shipping - sans the bird flu ;-).
9. Don't forget to check our your local Craig's List. You can buy, sell, trade, barter - pretty much anything!
10. When all else fails, wait for the after Christmas sales and stall. A simple, "Oh crap! I forgot your gift at home!" will save you a fortune in after Christmas sales. And yes, I speak like a woman with experience in this category. Sorry mom!
What do you do? Anything helpful we can add to this list? I'm always looking for bargain hunting ideas.