Saving with Style

[#1]

Reason #1: No Jabby Elbows......

No, I'm just kidding, sort of.

If tradition follows suit this year, you’ll soon be trolling the mall, shopping for awesome deals for the holidays. Where I live, the mall actually opens at 1am for shoppers that just can’t wait.

Believe it or not, they even tailgate in the parking lot before hand. And while I’m not interested in freezing to death on Thanksgiving Night, I certainly admire their enthusiasm.

However, I have a plan of my very own. I’ll get up on the 28th at 6am, make a pot of Earl Grey Tea (I recently gave up my coffee), and turn on my computer. I’ll do all of my shopping online in my fuzzy slippers and my favorite J. Crew sweater. I’ll give my husband $50 and ask him to take the kid out to breakfast and he’ll oblige; after all, we do this every year. He’ll end up taking her to his mother’s and pocketing the cash, but that’s a whole different story.

While some people hesitate to do their holiday shopping online, for a number of reasons, let me give you some of the reasons you should – at least in my eyes.

1. You can control the screaming children. When you’re at the mall and someone else’s kid is screaming, the only thing you can do is shoot them dirty looks; trust me, it doesn’t work very well.

2. You’ll save money on coffee or tea. What’s your poison? Starbucks? Tazo? Or do you sip Mimosa’s? You can have multiples of whatever you’re drinking for a fraction of the price that you’ll pay for one of those on the go.

3. No lines, no waiting. As a Type A that can’t sit still or stand wasting one precious moment of my day, standing in line is a huge pet peeve of mine. So much so that, if there are more than two people ahead of me in line, I leave – no matter where I am.

4. No fighting for a parking space. Ever take the scenic tour of the mall parking lot? Only to have a tiny little Prius turn into your spot even when you had your blinker on? What a waste of time! And gas!! The only wait you’ll have is the few minutes it takes to boot up your computer.

5. No rude, shoving people. Face it, Black Friday shoppers are not cordial. In fact, they can be downright nasty. They haven’t been freezing to death in the parking lot all night for nothing you know. If you shop online, you’ll have the best deal before they even get to the store. Ha!

6. You’ll get to see your UPS man. Ok, maybe this is just my vice. But really, my UPS guy is kind of adorable. So I don’t mind him stopping by every couple of days to drop off my holiday packages.

7. You can have gifts shipped directly to their destination. If you’ve got family spread out across the country (or world) like I do, this can be a huge time saver. Because there’s only one other place on earth that has a longer line than the mall – and that’s the post office.

8. You can usually get better deals. Yep, I said it. It’s true. Over 80% of the time, you’ll find a better selection – and better prices – online. And that’s a fact you can take to the bank, ma’am.

9. You can visit more stores. Think of the reach of the Internet. You’re not bound by what your local mall has to offer. You can shop little boutiques or major department stores no matter where you live. Talk about selection!

10. You can save money for college! This is a no-brainer. And while each of your individual purchases may not seem like a lot, they all add up.

So, what have we accomplished? We’ve saved time, money, our sanity, we’ve helped our kids by saving money for college, we’ve seen our cute UPS guy, we’ve avoided fighting with total strangers, and more importantly, we got to do it all in our jammies with no make-up! How much better could this get?

Stay tuned…..soon we’ll have some very special deals for the big shopping day – and the days immediately following. I’m not one to spill a secret, but I’ll tell you this: they’re pretty darn sweet.

And if you have any holiday shopping horror stories, share them with us! Even though I stay home to do my shopping, I love to hear about the train wreck that other people endure.....just call it "living vicariously through my readers." Go ahead, post those horror stories in the comments so we can all laugh with you!!