I just heard a story on our local news channel that focused on the importance of finding reputable product reviews. I do most of my holiday shopping online and I depend on product reviews to help guide me in the decisions that I make. The trick is finding good, dependable and honest reviews. One of the main problems out there are companies who have their employees post positive reviews that are obviously not impartial. There really is no way to know if it is an honest review, but there are a few things you can do to help ensure you find reviews that will help you.
1. Look for reviews that include personal experience with the products. A good review will give you the positives and the negatives.
2. Avoid reviews that are sponsored by the company/product being reviewed. Many review sites promote the positive & sponsored reviews to the top.
3. Check out a variety of sources for reviews.
Every year we hear that phrase; “It’s the hot toy for the season” or “A must have this year”. So what is the hot toy this year? Apparently it’s something called a Zhu Zhu Pet, hamsters to be precise. The commercials started airing about a month ago, and now it’s all people can talk about. Parents are obsessed with obtaining the elusive little critters. Apparently they are in short supply and in large demand. I believe they usually retail for about $10 per hamster, but that is IF you can find them. There are some vendors online that have them at ridiculously marked up prices. I have heard that you can pre-order some items at Toys-r-Us.com, but they won’t ship until mid-December. These little hamsters have driven Moms around the country to stalk their local toy stores in the wee hours of the morning hoping to score a couple of hamsters. While my daughter is at dance class I listen to all the Moms talk about their search for the hamsters and of course their matching accessories and habitats. So if you feel like you need to add some critters to your household this holiday season, this may be the toy for you. For me, I think I have all the critters I can manage at the moment.
So here we are, day two of fall. You wouldn’t know it,as you go into many major retailers, that we still have a few holidays between now and Christmas. It seems a little unnatural to me to see Christmas decoration on display while we are still in September. What happened to Halloween and Thanksgiving? Are they not important enough holidays anymore? There shouldn’t be Christmas lights on display next to the Halloween costumes, it’s just not right.
But, as they say, if you can’t beat them…join them. So today I’m going to tell you about a website that simplified my holiday season last year. Wishlist.com is a great site that lets you create wishlists for any occasion. I used it for Christmas, but you can use it for birthdays, anniversaries, or even baby showers. I found Wishlist.com after becoming frustrated by my kids receiving gifts that they had no interest in. In turn, my house was becoming cluttered with stuff that they didn’t play with. So last year I created a wishlist for each of my kids and sent it to family members. The result was that they got things that they wanted and family members weren’t frustrated by trying to figure out what to get them. I encouraged all our family members to follow suit and it was a great time saver for me to know exactly what to buy. It was a win-win and I plan on doing it again this year.
How does it work? Got to Wishlist.com and sign up for an account. Create a wishlist for each family member. Add the ‘Add to Wishlist’ shortcut to your browser’s favorites. When at any website (such as Amazon) just click on the ‘Add to Wishlist’ in your favorites and it will be automatically add that item to your wishlist of choice. You can also search on the Wishlist.com website for items. Once your wishlist is complete, you can e-mail it to your family and even share it via Facebook. You can update the list as often as you want!
In this uncertain economy we can all stand to save a little cash. There are tons of resources available on the web that enable you to do just that. I tend to do a majority of my shopping online. It saves me time, money and patience. I never ever, ever , ever, place an order for anything without searching for a coupon code. The easiest way to do that is to just enter the name of the website and the word ‘coupon’ into your favorite search engine (I use Google). Usually this will give you results for various website that may have coupon codes that you can use. The trick is finding a code that is still valid. A majority of the time I can at least find a coupon for free shipping and often time for a percentage off the total order. There are lots of sites that offer coupons, codes and savings. Here are a few of my favorites:
1. RetailMeNot- Enter the name of the website into their search box and view the results. They also give you a success rating of others who have used the codes. They also offer local vendor coupons and grocery coupons.
2. Coupons.com- Enter your zip code and chose which coupons you want to print, some you can print multiple times. Redeem them at your favorite grocery store. You no longer need to get your Sunday paper to have access to coupons for your favorite national brands.
3. Shop It to Me- A friend of mine turned me on to this cool site. You sign up and tell them your sizes and favorite brands. Every day they will send you an e-mail filled with sale items that fit into your profile selections. You can also refer friends and earn gift cards for every 10 friends that sign up.
3. UPromise- Upromise lets you save money on your purchases and add to your kids’ college funds at the same time. Participating vendors give you back a percentage of your total purchase. That amount goes into your account and you can transfer it to your children’s 529 college saving account. If you don’t have a 529, you can sign up with one through UPromise. They often have exclusive deals and coupons from the participating vendors.
4. eBates- eBates works in the same way as UPromise. The big difference is the money back from vendors is sent to you via check quarterly. So if you don’t have a 529 or would rather have the cash in hand, this is a great alternative. You do have to have at least $5 in your account before they send you your cash
Sometimes it’s tough to sort through all the websites out there that are marketed to our kids. It seems that every TV show, channel, and toy has a website. Often these site are nothing more than glorified advertising for their product. We all want our kids to enjoy their time online, but it is an added bonus when they can learn something at the same time. So, I put together a list of 5 excellent educational sites that your kids will enjoy and that you will approve of.
- Starfall : A great resource to supplement what your kids are already learning in school. Filled with fun and educational games and activities.
- FunBrain: Fun games and parent resources for kids of all ages
- PBSKids: Games and activities from your kids’ favorite PBS characters.
- Kids’ National Geographic: Explore the world of National Geographic with games, stories, videos and activities.
- Discovery Kids: Fun and interactive science themed games.
