Christmas on Credit...

Yes, I used credit cards to pay for Christmas gifts this season. However, as soon as a payment scheduled for 1/08 posts to my Amazon Visa, Christmas will be paid off!

I won't use cash -- I like the benefits of rewards and purchase protection, plus I don't like carrying  a lot of cash. But I also will not have paid a cent of interest on Christmas. On the plus side, I also pre-emptively paid for Feb's flight to Oahu out of my Cancun funds, which I used less than one third.

I think this is closing out 2008 on a good note. Happy Holidays!

Behaving on Amazon.com

One of Amazon's downsides is its "related items" function which encourages the shopper to spend more than s/he wanted to on stuff s/he didn't need. I'm proud to say I declined all the related items and checked out with only the thing I intended to buy. Said item was $10 cheaper than it had been on Amazon earlier this week and cheaper than at any reputable online dealer, including B&N with my member discount there.

Sweet small victories.

Remaining to purchase:

Mom

Friend

Grandma

Brother's Girlfriend

Taken care of:

2 friends

Brother

Total: $90

Christmas Shopping: The Start

I'm in awe of those who are done, I just started today and that was by accident. I'm going to follow my model of how I shopped last year as I kept it reasonable and was happy with the results. My guidelines:

• Nothing wrong with window shopping. There are some things you don't know exist to look up on line and others that you need to see/touch/feel in order to get a good idea of before purchasing.
• I jot notes while shopping so I remember the title of to look it up online to see if there is a better price to be found. I also use it to jot down where I found the item in the first place in case the local price was better.
• My favorite price comparison tool: Google Shopping, which I just searched for a DVD I'd found in a local shop today. I knew the price in the store wasn't competitive, but I wasn't sure that Amazon's was the best either. Turns out it wasn't, by far.
• Also need to keep in mind Rewards. I have an Amazon Visa that gets me 3 Amazon Rewards points per $1 spent at Amazon. I got the card for the original $30 cash back and I don't shop Amazon enough. In two+ years of having the card, I still haven't gotten enough points for the $25 Amazon gift certificate so this card doesn't really pay off for me. Related issues for me: my American Airlines Visa gives me miles and I find those more valuable, however that card's annual fee is soon to hit, so I won't renew it. I may begin to use the Amazon card more often if I don't replace the AA Visa with something else, however I don't see this card ever getting much use as compared with my primary card, the SPG Amex, which wins hands down.
• Don't over spend. Yeah, this one is going to be the challenge because I haven't set a budget. That said, I don't have too many people I buy for. Mom, brohter, grandma, three friends and a couple miscellaneous i.e. work and an as-yet undetermined white elephant exchange.  We'll see.