As much as I LOOOOOVE Christmas (I love the Christmas tree lights, I love the smell of Christmas, I love Christmas music, and I even love the Christmas burning fireplace channel).  But to be honest, I usually dread the potential massive credit card bills of this holiday season and usually begin ruminating about how much this tradition is going to cost me.  I usually think about how much I need to spend for each person.  I usually make a list and check it twice.

I have a few girl friends who I travel with and who I love hanging out with, but there are about 5-6 of them.  If I spent $25 to $30 each on a present (which is pretty much what I’ve done in the past), that could easily add up to $200 spent on Christmas presents.  And this DOES NOT include presents for my family and BF’s family!

So I suggested to my friends that we start a tradition of homemade gifts for each other (but absolutely refuse to call it: Recession or starving student budget presents haha).  There are a few good reasons for making your own gifts:

PROS of Homemade Gifts:

• Cheap!  Buy a bunch of supplies or ingredients and make a batch of presents
• You can show off your creative side
• Unique and unforgettable- isn’t it the thought that counts?
• Everyone gets the same thing so friends don’t feel alienated or left out if their present isn’t as good as others’

CONS of Homemade Gifts:

• It takes time
• It is easy to go overboard and want to make/create the best homemade gift
• It might not be useful
• Sometimes the supplies and cost of purchasing new ingredients can add up too

Some ideas that are practical and useful and people may look forward to receiving them.  I think I would much rather receive something practical that I can use rather than something that would just sit there to collect dust.

Some Practical Homemade Gift Ideas (the “How To” can easily be Googled)

• Homemade Baileys (this is what I’m doing- and no, it’s not an excuse to buy a 750mL bottle of Irish Whiskey for myself haha).  I’m planning to buy cute mason jars and decorate them with a candy cane.
• Homemade spice rubs (for example, taco seasoning, meat rub etc.)
• A Hollow Book (I personally LOVE this idea but I’m worried my friends might think its tacky- you carve a hole in an old book so you can hide your expensive stuff in it in case of a break and enter!)
• Homemade magnets
• Homemade bath salts
• Homemade soap
• Chocolate Syrup or any cookies, baking, etc. etc.

Initiate a Secret Santa Gift Exchange

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Okay so maybe I’m not really starving, but I do like the alliteration.

As our Shaw Plan Personalizer deal that was in place for six months came to an end (it was $62 including tax for some HD channels, selected channels, and extreme internet), I started practicing my negotiation skills in front of the mirror (no, not really) to see if I could get the discounted rate extended or see if I could get some other promotion. If I didn’t figure something out, we would be paying $120 a month for cable and internet.

I called Shaw (after waiting for 20 minutes, no doubt) and asked to speak to one of their customer service representatives.  Because I practiced negotiating for my cell phone contract last year, I thought I had the upper hand.

I even tried to see if I could downgrade the extreme internet to “just” high speed internet and see if that would take the sting away.  It took the sting away by a  measly $10.  The cable and internet bill would still come to $120 or so a month.

I asked the representative if there were any promotions available.

Negative.

“Miss, we often have free television channel promos that we give to our customers for free, right now, you can watch MTV Canada for free”

(my inside voice: I DON’T CARE ABOUT MTV CANADA! It sucks anyways and the last time I’ve watched that was 2 years ago when “The City” was on! I just want to pay less!)

I even threatened to leave Shaw and go to Telus.

This didn’t phase the customer service rep.  I guess it doesn’t help that I wasn’t on a contract, ha!

I then politely hung up and started brainstorming.

I thought that students must get some sort of a break on cable, seeing as students have no income and yet need some sort of distraction from studying.  Students also need internet.  They must give students a break.

I then called back and asked if there were any student discounts.

Jackpot.

So for classic cable (which includes more channels than we were getting on our Shaw Plan Personalizer) and extreme internet, the bill would total $63 or so just because I was a post secondary student.  Regular price would be $130 a month.

And how long does this goodness last?  I thought it would be for another six months or something, but noooooo…

It lasts as long as I am a student! So for two more years, I will get cheap cable and internet.

That alone makes my miserable part time work and full time student life worthwhile!  Oh, and it’s not me who is addicted to cable, it’s my boyfriend.  Him and his Walking Dead episodes *sigh*.

Here’s what you have to do to get in on this deal:

• First of all, Shaw said you can’t be a full time student (I believe it was only full time students who are eligible) and live in your parents home or even in their basement… because that would mean your parents are getting cheap cable.
• Print out a copy of your tuition statement to prove to them you’re legit and in school
• Print out a copy of your enrollment or acceptance letter or other proof to say that you are in post-secondary school (My program is online and it was still fine!)
• Bring your student ID
• Find the Shaw customer service centre (for me it is in the lovely Shaw tower in Coal Harbor- pretty fancy!)
• Bring your student ID and your copies of tuition and enrollment to the Shaw Customer Service Centre
• Speedwalk/race to the customer service line up alongside a mid-forties male who sees you in his peripheral vision and obviously doesn’t care that you are female and wanting to get in the line up too (hey, what about ladies first? Maybe I didn’t look like a lady that day?? lol)
• Wait in line for 20-30 minutes with other people who look disgruntled
• Show them the goods and they will look at you and make sure your ID is real and then give you the discount!

Et Voila!  $750+ annually saved on cable.

This alone makes me want to be a perpetual student.  Perhaps Million Dollar Journey should go to MBA school so he can get this deal too?

Readers, are there any other “WOW” discounts you know of that gives students an advantage?

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This time of year it’s easy to get caught up in the gift giving, and the stores put their marketing & sales efforts into high gear too. Saving and investing go together, it takes money to invest and you can’t have the money if you spend it all. Here are some ways to save you money this Christmas.

Do You Really Need The Latest & Greatest?

Step 1, do you (or your recipient) really need the latest, flashiest, greatest product? Do you really need a 64GB iPhone when a 16GB version will do? Do you really need a 70” TV when a 50” or 46” will do just fine. Leading edge products are always more expensive than the trailing edge ones. Does your spouse really need a $2000 laptop just to check emails when a basic brand new laptop can be had for $399?

When it comes to technology products keep in mind that what you buy today will be half price in about a year from now. So pause, and think about what product you really need.

Check Online for the Lowest Prices First

Now that you know what you need you can move on to step 2. There are a number of websites that allow you to comparison shop from the comfort of your own home. Simply type in the name of an item you are looking for, and these websites will give you a list of all the stores that sell that item and its price. You can then sort the list from lowest price to highest.

Comparison Shopping Websites (Canada):
www.shopbot.ca
www.canadapost.ca/shopper

Comparison Shopping Websites (USA):
www.pricegrabber.com
www.nextag.com

A quick search for “Panasonic TC-P50S30” reveals prices ranging from $733.99 to $1199.00 for the exact
same product! This step alone could save you $465.01!

Always Price Match

Most large retailers will match competitor’s prices and give you an additional 10 % off of the difference.
Here’s a quick test for (this is a true story but I’ve changed the store names):

• Both stores ABC, and XYZ offer price matching with 10% of the difference.

• Store ABC is selling the laptop you are looking to buy for Christmas for $1200

• Store XYC is selling the same laptop for $788

Which store do you purchase the laptop from? If you said store XYZ you would be wrong!

Purchase the laptop from store ABC and you’ll actually get it for less than $788, here’s how:

Store ABC will match the $788 price plus give you 10% off the difference ($1200 – $788 = $412).

The price you pay is going to be: $788 – $41.20 = $746.80

Not bad, you saved an additional $41.20 just comparison shopping and price matching.

Price matching is very simple to do, just bring in the ad (or print-out) of a competitor’s ad to the store,
and they will make the price adjustment for you.

Always Get Free Shipping

Most places will ship for free if your order is above a certain amount (Amazon.ca $25, Bestbuy.ca $20).
What if your order is less than the minimum amount, can you still get free shipping? Yes, combine your
order with someone else. Just ask around at home, or work and see if someone else is also looking to
place an order. I’ve done this so many times, and it benefits both parties, you both get free shipping!

Follow these 4 simple steps and you can easily save lots of money, enjoy your Christmas, and have more
money left over to invest!

Kanwal Sarai, is the founder of Simply Investing and on a quest to bring financial freedom to all. He
created the Simply Investing Online Course on the belief that the world can be a better place if people
didn’t have to worry or stress out about money. Simply Investing’s goal is to change the world one
investor at a time, by helping people like you to invest easily and successfully.

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It’s been probably about six years since I bought a text book and things have definitely changed in the ‘saving money on text books’ sphere.  Before, the way to save money was to line up at the used text book store on campus and fight with other people to get the nicest looking used text book.  Things have seemed to change this time around.  There are many more options for us starving students.  Which is a good thing, because text books can seriously add up (and break the bank!).

When I got my text book list (yes, I checked the first day it was out, August 1), I was astounded by the number of texts I needed to get.  I added up how much it would cost if I got the books new ($900).  I added up how much it would cost if I got them used ($650).  I would have to order them for delivery from the university as I am doing distance education.  I was going to try to get all my text books used, until I saw the tiny tiny print at the bottom of the page:

“If used texts are not available, we will send you a new textbook automatically”

Then I thought, ugh! How would I know if there were used books or not? That’s a gamble, and I didn’t want to do that with my precious starving student budget.

So I went to Amazon.ca and Amazon.com and compared the prices of the text books I needed to get.

Even though the Canadian dollar has been doing very well, there is still a huge discrepancy in prices of the text books.  Like a 15-25% difference.

Cost of new text books through Amazon.ca:

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Here’s a guest post by Taylor Laurents, a freelance writer who wanted to share how he thinks a storage unit can save people money.  When he is not out saving money, he spends his time explaining to people that he is Taylor Laurents and not Taylor Lautner.  I have yet to ask him whether he has watched Storage Wars yet.

Everyone is looking for convenient ways to save money these days. Carpooling, keeping lights off, and turning down the air conditioning are just a few of the tricks people are using to keep extra money in their pockets at the end of each month.  However, when thinking of ways to save money, very few consider renting a Toronto self storage unit. Wait, paying money to rent a storage unit can actually save you money?  That’s right. It may sound counter-intuitive, but there are actually a number of circumstances in which renting a storage unit can save you money.

A few of those circumstances include:

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