Being 8.5 months pregnant, I'm doing most of my Xmas shopping online this year. I'm too tired to scour the sales and and paranoid of sick people.

I'm usually thrifstoring gifts, but this year I also wanted some new things and had great luck with Amazon daily deals.

I bought hubby two magazine subscriptions that normally go for $25 only $5 each.

The board games I bought as gifts were all 1/2 of the price than Target or Walmart wanted for them, with free shipping.

Getting a trial Amazon Prime subscription and canceling within 30 days will let you get free shipping on everything for the month.


Filler Item Finder is great for when you're really, really close to $25 on your order total and want to get that free shipping.

There are also tons of sites like spendfish.com that list all the most marked down items on amazon that day.

Luckily I have a clear idea of what I want to get beforehand, because if you end up buying a bunch of stuff just cause it's on sale, obviously that defeats the purpose.

I would not be overestimating when I say that about 80% of the people on my floor purchased or upgraded to the new iPhones last week. I've put up with weeks of nerd talk about all their great features and how they will change everyone's lives.

Now everyone is busy playing and showing off their new toys. Coworkers are whipping them out in meetings, videotaping semi-funny stuff and sending it to each other, using the Star Wars lightsaber app to run around the cubefarm swinging them around.

No, I don't have one, and no I don't want one! I don't want to pay $200 bucks for it (assuming a contract) plus $100/month(data + text + voice).

Ofcourse new toys are fun, and cool, but cmon! I work with mostly guys in their 30s with lots and lots of toys: $1K+ bikes, 42" flatscreens, new iPhones, and all the top notch gear their little heart desires. They are also making payments, on the toys, on their cars, on their apartments, and most have no savings.

To each his own: we all have our own goals and reasons for doing things that we think will make us happy in the long run. I wish, however, that I had some more like-minded friends at work that I could talk to.

On another note, we had a company picnic yesterday and the weather was gorgeous. I skipped my packed lunch and went out to socialize and get some sunshine.

I'm surprised how a catering company can change a couple grand to feed a couple hundred people shredded meat, canned baked beans, velveta cheese with frozen corn in it, and some chips. Why do people oooh and ahhh over this stuff just cause they get a free lunch? With a little imagination they could have had a local/organic, delicious spread for everyone that would have been gourmet! But I'm just ranting, a free lunch is a free lunch I guess..

Happy Halloween everyone!

DH and I are getting ready for my best-friend's annual bash and I'm in charge of the music this year. He plans these parties way in advance and they are always the talk of the town, and I'm excited!

I've totally procrastinated coming up with a costume, so looks like it's just some devil horns for me. My perfectionism rares it's ugly head: unless I have a perfect costume idea worthy of a door prize, I won't even try.

Halloween used to involve driving around town looking for and purchasing a costly costume. Sushi with all of my friends downtown. Favors and booze for a couple parties and a cab ride home. This year I'm trying to keep all the holidays simpler and cheaper.

Yesterday evening my fiance and I met up with some friends from work to watch the Colorado Rockies play the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The tickets which normally run $28 were free extras from my employer. We saved ourselves the cost ($10+) and headache of parking close to the stadium by parking further away at a UCD campus lot. Cost for the meter $1.00.

We jumped on the LightRail, which dropped us off right by the stadium. Cost $0 thanks to our student passes.

Since I'm on "Mission Clean Out Pantry" we had a warm meal in the crockpot after work, and were able to resist all the hotdog/nacho temptation at the stadium. I packed a few pantry snacks and drinks in the backpack instead.

Because it cooled off considerably after the game we decided to take a long, leisurly walk back to our car. I snapped some great night-time shots of downtown and the campus. Also free, and fun!

Total for the night: $1.00 parking + minimal gas for my fiance's uber efficient little commuter car.