Christmas Shopping the Easy Way - How to Save Time, Money & Your Sanity This Christmas!

Christmas is here again & soon frantic shopping starts. So often because we're all so busy these days shopping for gifts gets left to the last moment & then it becomes a headache rather than something pleasurable.

This year things are tough for a lot of people & many families will be looking for any way they can to save a bit of money on Christmas Gifts & toys for the kids.

Buying online is growing in popularity each year as the shopping experience becomes more secure, the choices increase & delivery is highly efficient.

The phenomena of online shopping has led to fierce competition amongst retailers & that's where the canny shopper can capitalise this Christmas. It's a double whammy for shoppers because not only do you get the benefit of being able to comparison price shop without even leaving the house, you also get lots of really good ideas for gifts while you're at it.

It also saves you lots of time as you don't need to spend time trying to find parking at the mall, going from shop to shop looking for inspiration & then getting your parcels back to the car & into the house.

Honestly, last year when I did some of my Christmas shopping online for the first time I could have kicked myself for not doing all of it & sooner. After having a really stressful experience at the shops as a result of parking dramas, crowds & snappy over busy staff in the week leading up to Christmas day - the very next day gifts I'd purchased online early that week arrived. A knock at the door & they were inside ready to wrap.

This year I got started early as money isn't what it was last year in our household. I was looking for the best prices & also interesting gifts for the kids & close friends & relatives. I do struggle each year to think of things to buy grownups, even my husband. Most people these days have what they need & simply buy what they want when they want it, so it's hard to think of useful gifts that won't be stuck in the drawer & forgotten.

I went from no inspiration to having too much choice. My brother is a mad golfer & last year I went to the golf shop but had no idea what most of the things were or if he needed or wanted them. This year I found a brilliant golf site & it had a Top 10 Golfing Wish List with a description of the items. Perfect. I then went to Amazon to price check, found what I wanted at a better price & added it to my list, so that all my purchases could be delivered together to take advantage of cheaper shipping prices.

For my nephews, nieces & grandchildren I found a vast range of Christmas toys at great prices this year. Bakugan is the craze right now along with Ben 10 for boys, plus PSP games for the older ones. The little girls all still love Barbie & this year I purchased 2 sets of Barbie Fashion Fever styling heads which can be made over with makeup & hairstyles. Then there were the little Fur Real friends realistic animals that the seem to be popular as well, & the nursery animals are well priced.

Maybe I sound like a scrooge, but we've had to tighten our belts this year & if I can save money then I can & do, but that's not the only reason I've loved shopping this way. I can get online at any hour of the day or night, when it suits me & that works really well for me.

I like to get up early & run, come home & shower before anybody else is out of bed. Early morning is a great time for me to get online while I drink my cup of tea. I've done all my Christmas shopping that way this year & it's been simple. Even though it's often taken awhile, that's usually because I'm enjoying myself & lose track of time.

I don't think I can ever remember actually enjoying myself Christmas shopping. When the kids were little it was something I dreaded.

I can still recall that sinking feeling of looking for a cabbage patch doll (yes, back in the olden days). Those dolls were massive that year & my girls wanted one each, but they were sold out everywhere when I went to buy them. I felt guilty because I'd left it until too close to Christmas Day to go & get them, not realising they were selling out. The girls were really disappointed on Christmas day & weren't consoled by the idea that they'd be getting one sometime in January, somehow it wasn't quite the same when they finally arrived.

So this year if you haven't already, have a think about doing a bit of Christmas Gifts searching & shopping on the internet. You'll find the prices are often as good if not better than the shops, the delivery times are quick & the shipping costs have come right down due to competition. If you like me get stuck for ideas, then take a stroll around Amazon & you'll be amazed (my husband calls it Amazazon) by the amount of choices of gifts & price ranges.

Of course there are plenty of other great Christmas Gifts Guide sites where the short listing of Top 10 Toys & Gifts has been done for you including the price shopping but I've got comfortable with Amazon so that's mostly where I do my buying in the end. The internet has changed our lives enormously in a relatively short space of time & big online stores like Amazon have worked hard to make shopping online a secure & easy experience.

This year take a look at online Christmas Shopping. You have hours of time to gain, money to save & nothing to lose.

Irene Walters is an amateur long distance runner & keen shopper. Irene is currently on a mission to be more economical & has started by doing her Christmas shopping online this year. Irene suggests the following sites for great inspirational Christmas Shopping ideas this year. Please visit Christmas Gifts [http://www.christmasgiftspresents.com/].

Or visit Christmas Toys [http://www.christmasgiftspresents.com/useful_christmas__resources.php] for children's toys ideas.

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Make Extra Money on eBay by Preparing for Christmas Sales

So are you ready yet? You should be - in fact, if you haven't already been ordering in extra stock and starting to make those extra sales on eBay then you've already missed out on a pretty active October.

But there is no need to worry. There is still plenty of time to go until the big day, and that means you can make plenty of extra money this Christmas by preparing in just the right way.

In order to stay competitive, this is the time of year when it can really pay to make sure you are offering the best possible service. So with that in mind, take a look at the following hints and tips for making extra money eBay this Christmas.

And with any luck, you will be counting the cash come Christmas Eve!

1. Are your prices competitive?

You don't need to be cheaper than your competitors, but if you charge more than they do for exactly the same item you will be bound to have fewer sales. You should always check your competition and the market conditions when you first start selling an item, but it pays to check it periodically as well.

Take the time to go through all your active listings to see whether you can improve on the prices - and then see what happens.

2. Make your buyers aware of the last Christmas posting dates

You don't need to do this, but if you do, buyers normally appreciate it. If you have a shop you may like to list the dates in there, or provide a link to Royal Mail's website.

You can also ask people to check last posting dates on your listings, but if you have already sold items from an active listing you won't be able to amend it. Having the information in your shop is often enough to help people out though.

3. Offer customers a seasonal freebie

We did this last year, and it worked a treat. We actually decided not to broadcast the fact in the end - we simply popped a little extra gift into each package we sent out. This resulted in great feedback and a lot of people came back to shop with us again.

We didn't want to boast that we were giving away a free gift - we just wanted to say a little extra thank you to those people who bought from us in the run-up to Christmas.

The ideal gift is something small which doesn't cost you much to buy or post. We sell toys so we included a small party bag toy with each order. The reaction we got was enough to decide to do the same again this year.

4. Create some seasonal packing slips

We usually have snowflakes or snowmen and Santas along the bottom of our packing slips. It's only a small touch and there really isn't any extra work in it once the template has been set up. But it does get remembered and we've had comments on it too.

We figure that it isn't just the Christmas custom we want; we're hoping that people will remember us when they need toys in the year ahead as well. That's why we try everything we can to make sure we can serve people in the best possible way.

5. Let people know about any January sales you may be planning

We do this on the back of our packing slips, so that people will remember us even when the festive season is over.

You can generate interest in one of two ways. Firstly, you can think about knocking a specific percentage off some (or all) of your items. The other idea is to run a penny auction to attract people's attention.

We have done this in past years to get rid of some old stock, particularly if we receive an item that is saleable but packaging that is slightly below par. And of course the low start tends to garner the kind of interest that leads to lots of visitors - any one of whom could take a look at what else you are selling at a regular price.

6. Liven up your listings

If you are putting on any new listings - particularly if they are for seasonal items - try creating a seasonal listings template to go with them. These add an extra touch of festivity to your listings that is very quick and easy to do once you have got the template ready to use.

You can also develop this further by adding a note underneath every item description, which tells people they can view more seasonal items in your eBay shop.

7. Consider opening up a shop

If you have got a lot more stock to list at this time of year why not open an eBay shop?

You can always close it again after the seasonal period, but if there was ever a time to dip your toe into the water and give it a go, it's now. It's much easier to direct buyers to your shop than it is to ask them to look up the rest of your listings.

There's no doubt that Christmas offers a multitude of opportunities for sellers to make a decent income from eBay. But you will get the best results when you take the time to plan your approach first.

And you will find that the longer you stick with eBay and the more Christmases you sell for, the better you will know how the market works. Of course, you should never assume that what sold well last year will be equally as good a seller this year.

For more great Christmas money making ideas, home based business reviews and blueprints go to www.whatbizopp.com

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Cowgirl Costumes - Why They Win Halloween Costume Competitions

Halloween costume competitions have been traditionally done in every region during this holiday season. Whether this competition is at your own neighborhood, on a costume party or through online submissions, it is necessary to find the best Halloween costume that will make you shine out among the crowd, and one of that is excellent Cowgirl costumes.

Most of the participants choose the usual scary costumes and the magical creatures portrayed on television. However, Frankenstein and Vampire costumes are long overdue. They are not the popular costumes nowadays; instead, they are odd and uninteresting costumes and they are not the top selection of judges when it comes to costume contests. What they want is a facade that they had never seen before. Trust me; every time judges judge on Halloween contests, they had seen those freaky vampires, witches and funny mummy-looking costumes and they are not thrilled to see them now and then.

When you dress up for Halloween, it is not essential to delineate creepy creatures. You can be someone you wanted to be, a sexy cowgirl perhaps. If you want to win the best Halloween costume, then go for a realistic Western cowgirl. They are the prettiest costumes this season.

You can hardly find someone wearing a Cowgirl costume in your neighborhood. It is a unique costume that will make a fabulous statement in your costume party. The Western-look is even easy to complete. Just glam up with a denim pants, a white top, a denim vest, and do not forget to include the accessories such as cowboy hat, a funky cowgirl boots plus a fake pistol. The western culture is highly contagious, and judges will vastly admire your style.

Another thing about Cowgirl costume is that they are authentic-looking. They are not an image of unrealistic plastic costumes of zombies or fake beheaded costumes. The more you will impress the crowd with your naturally-looking cowgirl costume. When you look for cowgirl dresses, make sure that it fits your whole personality, and you are totally having fun when wearing it. Once you enjoy dressing up like a western cowgirl, it will appear on your face, actions and gestures, and completely act like a western girl. Judges also observe how you bring the cowgirl-look up till the end of the show. If they see you have trouble with your costume, they might not consider your costume winning the competition.

Did you notice how cowgirl costumes create a winning title this Halloween season? Truly, Cowgirl's are the best. Now, what are you waiting for? Rummage around the best deals of cowgirl costumes, wear those boots and vests, and do not forget to act like one. You will surely take the judges breath away.

If you want to win the Halloween costume competition, wear one of these Cowgirl Costumes like this Adult Cowgirl Costume.

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How to make money with Halloween

If you want to make money online, then there's no better place to start than the Halloween niche. The Halloween niche is in my opinion by far the easiest niche to quickly get started making money in. There are lots of reasons why this is. Firstly, the competition in the Halloween niche is much weaker than in other common affiliate marketing niches. What this means is that you can quickly and easily get Halloween related websites ranking well in Google and other popular search engines. Good rankings mean traffic which hopefully converts into sales for you.

Another reason I like the Halloween niche is that there is a very good company with a great affiliate program. I've always used BuyCostumes.com and find it the people at BuyCostumes to be very helpful and a good business partner in general. They have dedicated affiliate managers who are there to help with whatever is required. BuyCostumes pay 10% commissions on costume sales. This might not sound like much but it really adds up when Halloween rolls around.

There are also no shortages of keywords to target or costumes to promote. BuyCostumes have literally hundreds of costume options available and each costume is searched for using thousands of keywords - this makes your job so much easier. You don't need to target competitive keyword terms such as "Halloween Costumes" - you can target more specific words such as "vampire Halloween costumes" and still get a heap of high converting traffic.

So basically what you need to do is sign up for an account at Commission Junction and then opt in to the BuyCostumes affiliate program. Do a little keyword research and choose a few keywords to target. Build a websites to target each specific keyword - it doesn't need to be a big website, a couple of pages is plenty. Once you've done all this, add in your BuyCostumes links. That's the website setup complete. Next move on to link building.

Write a few helpful articles and submit them to places such as EzineArticles with links in the resource section to your site. You can also bookmark your new website using the likes of Twitter, Digg and StumbleUpon. If you want to go the extra mile, build a Hub Page about Halloween and add a couple of links in there as well. You really don't need many links to have success with this - 2 or 3 quality links is usually fine.

Lastly, remember its a numbers game. The more websites you have the more money you stand to make. Every single websites won't be a success but if you stick to the basics above I think you'll find you do pretty well. Good luck and happy Halloween!

Aidan Booth is a full time affiliate marketer. Find out more about Halloween marketing by reading Aidan's in depth Halloween Super Affiliate review today. Make sure you also check out Aidan's Halloween Super Affiliate bonus [http://halloweensuperaffiliate.org] - here he gets much more in depth about making money with Halloween.

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Dive Into Paid Surveys This Summer

With just a week or so until school is out for the summer, mothers everywhere will be adjusting their schedules to accommodate having children at home all day. From swimming in family errands to swimming at the neighborhood pool and running on full-steam to just running up to the park, the daily summer schedule can be quite different from the normal school-year routine. While summer break is a welcomed event for most, it can leave financially strapped parents in a bind for balancing earning potential with play.

For families where both parents work outside the home or families where one parent stays home, taking surveys online can be a legitimate way to earn extra cash to supplement the family income. Summer camps, vacations, increased childcare costs and incidental expenses incurred throughout the months of June, July and August can be paid for, in part, by the proceeds from cash surveys taken at home during free time.

Future survey takers can hunt down paid survey opportunities on their own, but it is much more efficient to join a free online survey site that catalogue hundreds and hundreds of survey, focus group and other marketing research opportunities that pay in cash or rewards. Pick out the survey sites that appeal to your interests the most and apply for membership with each; typically, all that is required to join is your basic contact information and interests.

After registering with a handful of survey sites, start checking your email inbox within a few days. This is where you will start to receive invitations to participate in paid surveys, focus groups or other marketing projects. Compensation to take surveys varies based on the company and the project at hand. Usually, members are reimbursed in cash, reward points to redeem for prizes, entries into sweepstakes or some combination of the three.

No need to feel cooped up in the house during summer break with only your paid online surveys and kids climbing the walls. Take your laptop or smartphone to the pool, park or indoor playground, connect to Wi-fi and continue to take surveys and earn rewards. By the time summer ends, you'll have saved up a nice nest egg to spend on back-to-school supplies, tuition, or whatever you please!

Todd Denning
Survey Adventure is the world's largest paid survey and market research directory.
Take a paid survey today and make $10 at http://www.surveyadventure.com

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Looking Ahead to the 2012 Summer Olympics

Sometime around the 8th century B. C., athletes came from Sparta, Croton, Rhodes, Athens and other city-states of the ancient world to compete in competitions on Greece. Some of these events were chariot racing, boxing and running. This gathering of strong and fast competitors would become the forerunner to today's summer Olympic Games. The Olympics of today is considered the top athletic stage in the world with more than 70 countries sending their athletes to try to take home a medal. The 2012 Summer Olympics will take place in London, United Kingdom. The games will run from July 27 through August 12.

The selection of London as host city for the 2012 games goes back to 2003. Nine cities were vying for the honor of being chosen. These cities were London, Madrid, New York, Havana, Moscow, Istanbul, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Leipzig. By 2004, the number of contenders had been narrowed to five: London, Paris, Madrid, New York and Moscow. In 2005, on July 6, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) announced that London would be the city to host the games in 2012.

Competition to be named host was heavy. Each of the cities did all they could to impress the judges. During the selection time, many people believed that Paris had an upper hand. The attempt for the 2012 games was Paris' third attempt in a few decades and it was also thought that they were "due" to win. But, London had an ace up its sleeve.

In the 1980 summer games in Moscow, and again in Los Angeles in 1984, a young British athlete won gold in the 1500 meter race. Both times, his wins were dramatic and unexpected, as he beat out another British competitor who was regarded by many as the dominating force in the race. The winning athlete was Sebastian Coe and the man whom he defeated was Steve Ovett, the favorite in the race. Twenty years after his amazing upset, Coe would play a big role in winning the nomination for the 2012 games for London.

Barbara Cassani, chairperson for London's Olympic bid committee, resigned in 2004, after the first phase of the bidding process was complete. She strongly believed that a person with close experience in the Olympics should head up phase 2.

Cassani recommended Sebastian Coe as leader of the second phase. In July 2005, Coe made a presentation to the IOC at one of its important meetings. This presentation was viewed as very successful and possibly a key deciding factor for the award going to London.

The games of 2012 will include 26 sports. Baseball and softball will not be played in London; however they do remain Olympic sports. Women's boxing has been added for 2012. The Paralympics will also take place and will feature 20 different areas of competition.

The Summer Olympic Games have a rich and fascinating history. Through the years, spectators have been awed as they watch men and women reach higher highs and faster speeds. People have marveled at seeing one nation go all out and do the impossible to upset the favored nation's team and become the victor. Let's hope the same kind of excitement is in store for 2012.

As a recognized leader in sports travel and tours, we provide 2012 Summer Olympics packages and Summer Olympics hotels and accommodations, with preferred seating and guaranteed tickets. Also available are the Rugby World Cup packages, accommodation, and tickets for the perfect experience in New Zealand in 2011!

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