Seventeen Magazine Freebie Codes January 2012

The holidays are over! Now it's time to think of yourself! Enter these contests everyday for the chance to win something awesome!

1/1: cell
1/2: digits
1/3: contacts
1/4: phone
1/5: facebook
1/6: slide
1/7: sleek
1/8: game
1/9: race
1/10: sports
1/11: action
1/12: disney
1/13: cowboy
1/14: dance
1/15: mouse
1/16: speakers
1/17: case
1/18: listen
1/19: earbuds
1/20: pattern
1/21: leopard
1/22: book
1/23: read
1/24: story
1/25: words
1/26: fiction
1/27: series
1/28: download
1/29: click
1/30: frame
1/31: cam
Grand Prize: bundle
Make Me Chic Scarf: 17MMC

Good luck everyone!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Everyone here at Shopping Girl vs the World (just me) would like to wish you a Merry Christmas!!! The shopping is all done and now it's time to relax for a day.

Thanks for all of your support!

Merry Christmas again!

Holiday Gift Guide: To Groupon or Not to Groupon?

During the Holiday Season group buying sites like Groupon become more popular, helping people save money at the places where they buy their gifts. But is it okay to give someone a coupon as a gift without seeming cheap? To answer this question you have to first answer three different questions:

1. Is it a cheap or unexciting gift?
Group buying sites offer amazing discounts on expensive things, but they also offer discounts on smaller things. For example, the other day I recieved a notification from LivingSocial for 50% off on 5 Big Macs and 5 large fries from McDonald's. Although it's a good deal (and a bulk buy), it might not be the best gift for some people because they can go to a McDonald's whenever they want. The answer to giving coupons like this would normally be a "No". All in all it depends on the person. I'm sure Don Gorske would appreciate a McDonald's coupon like this very much.

2. Is it something they have to participate in?
Many times a week, group buying sites offer deals on activities like bowling, whale cruises, and trips to the spa. These types of coupons are usually okay to give as gifts because it can be something your gift recipient has always wanted to do or the activities are normally expensive. For example Groupon San Diego is currenlty offering $25 for a $65 ticket to the Poinsettia Bowl football game, $39 for a $110 fitness class, and $32 for $80 worth of hair treatments and wine at a salon. These are all examples of acceptable gifts and each group buying site has something for every budget. The answer to this question would be a "Yes".

3. Is it something you can do yourself?
Gift buying sites sometimes offer deals for merchandise at stores.  Such as $48 for an $80 curling iron. While it would be acceptable to give the coupin directly to the gift recipient, it would be more courteous to use the coupon to buy the curling iron yourself and directly give the person their gift. The answer to this question could go both ways but it would be safer to go with "No".

Any questions or comments? Leave them below!

Holiday Gift Guide: The Little Things

When buying gifts, we may feel obligated to buy expensive extravagant items especially for family members and close friends but what we don't realize is that little inexpensive items, depending on what they are, may have an even greater impact.

1. Handmade things:
There are times when you need to take it back to elementary school days when your gifts included pine cone ornaments and popsicle stick action figures.
Use one of your talents/hobbies or create something based on the interests of your "gift reciever". Bake some cookies for the foodie in your life, make a quilt for the sleepyheads you know, or paint a vase for the flower child next door.
Homemade Gifts Ideas

2. Gifted Memories:
Use items from memories that you share with someone.
For example, create a scrapbook from all of the pictures you have with each other, make a pillow out of your old baby blanket for your mom, or create a custom CD for your friend of your favorite songs from when you were younger.

3. Inside Jokes and Gifts for a Laugh:
Got a funny memory or know your friend's favorite childhood toy? Buy a fun gift for everyone you know. Does your dad keep talking about his favorite childhood cartoon? Buy him an action figure of the main character. Got a friend who loves bacon? Buy them some soap that smells like bacon.Your co-worker has never seen snow? How about snow in a can?
Perpetual Kid
Fred Flare
ModCloth

Any questions, comments, or other ideas? Leave them below!