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Christmas Present Tips for Guys

Christmas Shopping Tips for Guys

giftgreen1Most of us guys are useless at Christmas shopping. Here's a few tips I've picked up over the years.

Ladies, you might want to share this with the men in your family to avoid getting an undesirable and badly wrapped present this Christmas.

  1. Buying your Christmas presents at a petrol station or dairy on Christmas morning really isn't the done thing - apparently not everyone wants a funnel, box of biscuits or a car care kit. Don't do it.
  2. Get started early, no not on Christmas Eve, yesterday was already too late.
  3. First thing in the morning is the best time to Christmas shop, and I mean first thing, teenagers are still in bed.
  4. It's not the thought that counts, it's how MUCH thought that counts.
  5. Cash is a GREAT present for teenagers - and me.
  6. If you must give gift vouchers make sure they are from a shop the recipient actually shops in and try and avoid those with an expiry date.
  7. Wrapping and cards are important, you and I know it's just paper but for some reason they are important.
  8. Before you start browsing in a shop check that it does gift wrapping and accept the service - wait if necessary. If the shop doesn't do gift wrapping move on to the next. Unless you are an expert present wrapper - Yeah Right!
  9. Even if every present you buy is gift wrapped, buy plenty of wrapping paper and sellotape. You are going to need it because dairy's and petrol stations don't gift wrap and being a bloke you'll probably ignore number 1.

Guys ignore the above at your peril and have a wonderful Christmas.

Posted in Saving Schemes.

Income insecurity brings on the blues

New research by Deakin University in Australia suggests a lack of income security is giving one in five folk depression.

Research respondents were asked to rate their income security on a scale from 10 to zero, where 10 is certainty and zero is uncertainty, 20 per cent rated their certainty level as five or less.

Many felt they were living close to the financial edge, which raises questions about whether folk are forgetting the importance of planning ahead and managing financial situations effectively to accommodate the unexpected.

The Reserve Bank (Australia), and the same with NZ, says debt has risen much faster than disposable household income. Folk need to consider what these patterns of debt and consumption are actually doing to our wellbeing and quality of life.

The good people at Deakin also found that income uncertainty is a far more negative influence on wellbeing than either distress at mortgage interest rate rises or petrol prices.

Income uncertainty puts an individual's wellbeing at below normal levels and, as a consequence, they face a higher risk of depression.  This is a concern given that so many are convinced that happiness will come from purchasing material possessions, and are caught in what has been recently described as the ‘work-and-spend’ cycle.

Over-spending contributes to increasing folk’s stress about their income. Income security has a bigger impact on those with household incomes of less than $30,000 and this certainly has parallels here in New Zealand.

 

Original Article published January 2007

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