12 Tips on How to Save Money This Christmas/Holiday Season

Christmas Money

Image by Paradoxotaur

Christmas Cards

1. Send letters. If you regularly send Christmas cards, think about sending letters instead. With that extra cash saved, you can include an extra picture in every letter or just save the money to buy yourself a Christmas gift.

2. Send post cards. You can also send post cards to save on postage.

Decorations

3. Buy decorations after the holiday season and save them for next year. You will save big with all the sales going on.

Gifts

4. Buy less expensive gifts. Try Amazon.com, Overstock, or many other online retailers for some great deals. Make sure to compare prices with something like Google Shopping before you buy though as there may be a better deal out there.

5. Set a budget. If you set a budget and stick to it you will save a lot of money you otherwise would have wasted during your spontanious shopping spree. You can even set aside some money every money of the year to spend on Christmas gifts for your friends and family.

6. Do a gift exchange like Secret Santa with people you regularly hang out with. Set a limit, exchange names, and have fun. Also, many families do Secret Santa to relieve some of the holiday stress.

7. Make an agreement with others to buy less expensive gifts or no gifts at all. If I’m in need I will agree with people to buy less expensive gifts as I feel that not buying gifts at all is a little depressing.

8. Make your own gifts. You would be surprised at the amount of things you can make. You can make picture albums, picture frames, knitted scarves, cookies or other baked goods, a mix CD with music picked out just for that person, a digital slideshow, a pot with a seed and soil, homemade gift certificates/coupons (e.g., one free back rub, one free car wash, etc.), and many more things. Making your own gifts really shows you care.

9. Buy used. Sometimes this one can be tricky because used gifts may not look as good and it may look like you are cheap. Just shop smart and buy gifts that look as good as new. If buying online, make sure to read the full description. If buying from a garage sale or thrift store, make sure to play around with the item enough to make sure it is fully functional.

10. Give used. Some things like books you read once and may never touch again. Why not give these things as gifts. This is a great idea with books that you truly enjoyed.

11. Regift gifts. Like the above, this option is a little tricky. If you received a gift you did not like, you can give it to someone else. Just be sure the person who gave you the gift does not find out or else he or she may be offended.

12. Wrap gifts with magazine paper or the comics section of the Sunday newspaper. People are going to throw away the wrapping paper anyway so you might as well use something recycled.

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Grammar 101: A vs. An

Grammar will be important in the papers you hand in, in your business career, and in how people perceive you.

You should use an “a” before all words that begin with consonants.
* a cat
* a pineapple
* a brown dog
* a popsicle
* a broken crayon

Use “an” before all words that begin with vowels.
* an apple
* an artichoke
* an orangutan
* an iceberg
* an elliptical orbit

There are, of course, a few exceptions to this rule. In American English, for words beginning with an “h,” use “a” if you pronounce the “h” and “an” if you don’t.
* a hotel
* an herbal bouquet
* a honeybee
* an honest reply

For words that begin with “u,” when the “u” sounds like the “y” in “you,” you should use “a” instead of “an.”
* a unicorn
* an umbrella

For words that begin with “o,” when the “o” sounds like the “w” in “won,” you should use “a” instead of “an.”
* a one-hit wonder
* an overbearing boss

Bad Grammar

Image credited: Gez D

Source: Digg Comment

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The Most Amazing Science Videos: Part 1, The Universe

The following six videos are must-sees. They will increase your knowledge of the universe and are entertaining as hell:

1. Black Holes
Black holes are stars that have condensed themselves to become super-dense. Due to this, objects are able to get very close to them and be pulled into their event horizons ever to be seen again.

2. The Destruction of the Milky Way Galaxy
The leading theory is that in a few billion years, the Milky Way will crash into our neighboring galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy. Let’s just say that this will not be pretty if we are still living on Earth at that time.

3. Black Holes, Neutron Stars, and White Dwarfs Crashing into Each Other
Unless you are standing on the two crashing objects, it really is quite a pretty event.

4. Newton vs. Einstein: The Biggest Fight of Two Centuries
Since Newton, many people wondered what caused gravity to exist, but nobody could come up with a valid reason. Until Einstein.

5. Crazy Man Building Time Machine
Seriously, this scientist is building his own time machine and has been featured on numerous television networks and programs. I hope he doesn’t kill us all.

6. Man Actually Travels Forward in Time…?
This man claims that he actually traveled into the future. According to Einstein and many of the most substantial theories of our day, it is impossible to travel into the future. It is only theoretically possibly to travel into the past—if you travel faster than the speed of light. Also, he never tells us how he got back.

What do you think of this? I think it’s rubbish.

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Friday Funnies: Mathematicians

Math Beer

Image by dalydose

The following joke was recently featured on Digg.com, but due to its innocence and our recent controversies over our post titles, we thought we would feature it in this week’s Friday Funnies:

An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar. The first one orders a beer. The second orders half a beer. The third, a quarter of a beer. The bartender says “You’re all idiots”, and pours two beers.

Source: soup.io

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7 Mixed Drink Recipes to Get Girls Drunk at Your Next Party

Mixed Drinks

Image by ChrisB in SEA

These mixed drinks are always very popular among the ladies at our house:

Mind Eraser

2 ounces Vodka, 2 ounces Kahlua, 2 ounces Tonic water
In a rocks glass pour vodka, the Kahlua and then the tonic water. Serve with a straw.

Limona Corona

16 ounces Corona (one bottle), 1 ounces Bacardi Limon
Open Corona. Fill the empty space in the neck in the bottle with rum. Plug the bottle with your thumb or the palm of your hand. Turn the bottle upside-down so the rum and beer mix. Return bottle rightside-up. Drink.

110 in the shade

16 ounces Lager beer (one bottle), 1.5 ounces Tequila
Drop shooter in glass. Fill with beer

Snake Bite

8 ounces Lager (1/2 bottle), 8 ounces sweet or dry Cider
Pour ingredients into a pint glass. Drink. Fall over.

Captain Do

1 ounces spiced rum (e.g., Captain Morgan’s), 20 ounces Mountain Dew (a little more than a can and a half)
Put shot in then add soda.

Red Death #2

Absolute Vodka, Southern Comfort, Amaretto, Sloe gin, Triple sec, Orange juice
Pour all the ingredients in mixing glass with ice. Shake and strain into shot glasses.

Dew-Driver

2 ounces vodka, Mountain Dew, ice
Fill glass with ice add vodka and Mountain Dew.

Tip: 1 shot is about equal to 1 ounce

Remember: When mixing drinks don’t buy the good stuff since it will not make too much of a difference. Save your money for when you are drinking drinks straight up.

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