Wishing You a very Black Christmas!

Just because Santa is deep in red you don't have to be. This Christmas I'm doing my best to rein in my spending. It's difficult though because I truly want to embrace the spirit of giving and show my loved ones how much I appreciate them. In order to keep myself on task, I'm going to be blogging about my Christmas shopping experiences. My ideal is to actually GIVE more because I'll be on the lookout for the best ways to stretch my dollar allowing me to be creative and think BIG.

Gift #1: Groupon Gift certificate for $75 worth of wine purchased at $25. I am even more of a fan of Groupon now that the online deal delivery service offers even more through its holiday gift. A note about the fine print: shipping not included in the certificate value.

Out for a Deal

That's me ... I'm always looking for a ways to live largely--but cheaply. I still don't believe in clipping my wings, cramping my style--whatever you want to call it--just because I'm on a budget. Thank heavens for the online deals delivered to my e-mail inbox. Right now, I'm signed up for Groupon.com and KGBdeals.com. Lately, I've been designing my weekends on what deal comes to me. In this way, I can meet up with friends and even treat them to a round! Forgive me if I sound too enthusiastic but this is that good.

This weekend's destination is L'oubli Gourmet Bar in the East Village. On KGB, I paid $10 for $20 worth of food and drinks. The challenge, of course, is to not overdrink overspend! Salut!