The need for staying connected is so compelling that despite the recession people have bought electronic gadgets more than ever! In fact, those were the only items that were in high demand in the past holidays. The sales of laptops, cellphones, smartphones and other gadgets that allowed you to stay connected with the world of entertainment and socialization remained high. If you want to know which connectivity items were on high demand check out this Mintblog infographic.

If you go by demand, in the gone holidays, laptops and notebooks top the list. I’m surprised to note that smartphones which most of us are crazy about come last on the list. Was that because of their high prices? Amongst the first three items on high demand, are portable digital media and Mp3 players, and next, a flat pane TV figure up. I’m surprised once again, to find video games as the fourth strongly wished for item! Looks like people want to stick to the old but proven items of entertainment. The demand for a digital camera is exactly midway in the top ten list. The demand for the iphone takes a backseat by being 7th out of 10.

Now, let’s see the actual sales figures of the different items. Though laptops top the list of gadgets in demand, when it came to actual sales, Portable MP3 players/ Digital Media Players overtook them by topping the list. Again it could be the price or the necessity for greater media connectivity that made this happen. Video games that were third on the demand list, shot up to the second position in the actual sales top 10 lists. Though you find the sales of GPS gadgets occupying the 7th position in the list of 10, smartphones don’t figure out anywhere on the list!

Despite the drop in holiday shopping percentage over 2008, and 2007, by 3 % and 18 % respectively, there is a rise in the sale of gift items. Consumers have spent 13 % more on electronic gift items and as the sales price of these has gone down, the final conclusion is that consumers are getting more value for their money. So on the whole you as an electronic gadget shopper, has gained.

According to the new approach, making monetary predictions is one of the most foolish things that one can do. How can you say for sure, how much you are going to spend on what at the beginning of a month when you don’t know the exact expenditure you’ll have to bear tomorrow? This is the reason many of us fail in our budgeting and that is not due to any fault of ours. Every time I’d plan my expenditure for about a month in advance, I’d have to encounter sudden extra expenditure. My spending would always be more than the planned amount. There was no point in making a rigid list of expenditures. Life is practical and you simply don’t know what lies in store for you the very next moment. Here are a couple of effective strategies that are easy to implement:

Strategy 1:

When you make a budget, don’t allot separate amounts of money for small and optional expenditures because they are so very negotiable. Put your expenditures on cosmetics, dining out, movies, all in one category and allot a chunk of money for the entire category. If you allot independently, you might actually cross the boundaries set. In a month if you are buying an extra cosmetic you can always compensate for the extra expenditure by eating out less number of times.

Big expenditures, unlike the small ones are compulsory. You probably can’t do without paying your house rent or your telephone bills. These expenses are almost the same every month and non-negotiable. So, just go ahead and strictly allot money for each and every big expenditure because you really can’t compromise on any of them. You simply can’t stop using your telephone because your house owner increased the house rent, can you?

Strategy 2:

Another tip that really works is based on when you pay yourself. Most of us are used to being paid on a monthly basis. But then, most of us are also in the habit of spending most of our allowances in the first week or ten days of the month. Naturally when you have a lot of cash in your hands, controlling yourself is quite difficult. But when you have 15-20 days to go in the month, you’ll be compelled to fill up your cash tanks once more because that is a pretty long time to manage with scarce resources. This is how you overspend. So how are you going to check your expenditure? The trick lies in reducing the time period of financial deficit. If you pay yourself weekly instead of monthly, even if you spend all your money by the first three days, you’ll not want to visit the ATM counter because you’ll psychologically feel that there are only four days to go and you can manage anyway. However, big monthly expenditures like your house rent and child’s tuition fee need to be paid on a monthly or term-wise basis only.

I hardly get to see any kid spending some leisure moments with friends. Even weekends are packed with special classes for music, karate, computer, painting, embroidery, entrance examination coaching etc. Parents have very high expectations from their kids and every kid is pressured to prove himself/herself a wonder kid. Not only parents, but peer and social pressure also make high demands on the capabilities of a child. Children today, have to struggle and survive in a highly competitive environment right from the time they wake up in the morning to late in the night.

A child is made to register in at least 3 or more extra curricular activities classes. Before registering the kids for the classes, make sure that they like them and have an aptitude for the art which is taught in those classes. Parents invariably put children in music, dancing, and sports classes without knowing the aptitude and inclinations of the child. Piano lessons seem to be a favorite with many parents, but before you enroll your child in a piano class or invite a tutor to teach the lessons at your place, make sure that your child has an inherent liking for the art. Don’t pressure the child to take up the classes because you want him/her to learn it or because your friend’s kid is learning it and you want your child to be at ‘par’ with him/her. If you enroll your kid in any of these classes, without finding out about the child’s likes and dislikes, the child will not be able to perform well in the art. This will not only depress you but result in wasting a lot of money as fees for these classes.

Isn’t it better to let children breathe a bit and let them decide upon the interests that they’d like to pursue? It’s always better for a child to opt for one other extra curricular activity and master it. Don’t pressure your child into becoming a ‘Jack of all trades and a Master of none’ by enrolling him in a number of extra curricular activities which he/she cannot handle efficiently.

Even celebrity party planners like Joanne Weir( author: Weir Cooking in the City: More than 125 Recipes and Inspiring Ideas for Relaxed Entertaining ) and Bibby Gignilliat( owner Gourmet Gatherings), who are known for their super duper high end bashes, are not immune to the monetary pinch caused by the recent recession. They have designed new ways of partying which don’t burn a hole in your pocket. So take these tips from them and get going for the coming Christmas and New Year. If they work, you can use them for the coming Valentine’s Day too.

You Surely Can Do Without Champagne Can’t You?

Is it mandatory for you to include Champagne in your party menu? I don’t think so. According to Weir, prosecco, the Italian Wine, beats Champagne in flavor and comes at a cheaper price too. Black Box wine is another good alternative for replacing the very expensive Champagne. Go ahead and try these new drinks and your guests’ll simply love them.

Buy Seasonal and Buy In Bulk

Plan your party menu with seasonal foods. I wanted to impress my guests with tomato pilaf this Christmas, but the ones shipping from Mexico are real costly. I dropped the option. The item mesmerizes taste buds for sure! But what’s the point when the single dish is going to cost me a fortune? I went for dishes with persimmons, apples and pears. They surely beat tomatoes in taste and being seasonal are pretty affordable too.

Buying things in bulk will save you a lot of money. You can buy some items with a long shelf life, such as cheese, in bulk and use them throughout the holiday season.

Opt For Simple Dishes

Don’t go for all those gourmet dishes requiring a number of ingredients which are expensive as well as not easily available. Your guests will appreciate you even if you serve them a simple, but a perfectly made dish. Good food is not about using a lot of ingredients, but making the best of everyday ingredients available.

Presentation Is Most Important

You may be serving a simple item, but present it well and your guests are sure going to fall for it. Invent your own mouthwatering desserts with seasonal fruits and cookies and present them attractively.

Did You Know That Trying On A New Garment Increases Your Desire To Own It?

If you are familiar with the human psychological motivation called the endowment effect according to which a real or perceived ownership of a material increases your desire to possess it; you’ll not fall for the tactics of clever salespersons in retail outlets, trying to convince you into trying out the dresses! Imagine, if you happen to try out that gorgeous party dress in the trial room and you looked awesome in it, you’ll naturally want to buy it at any cost! If you would have just seen it and not tried it, your desire to buy it would not have been so strong. The bottom line is, if buying for yourself is not on your agenda; don’t try anything, just look!

Even Touching Can Intensify the Desire to Buy an Item

Ask Joan Peck, consumer psychology researcher, Wisconsin School of business, she’ll tell you that even touching an item can compel you into buying it! So don’t even touch the article that is out of your budget, lest it induces you into buying it.

Romantically Primed Men Splurge on Dandy Stuff and Women Encourage Romantically Primed Shopping

According to a 2007 study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology some men who want to impress women with showy material possessions tend to buy flashy garments, cars and expensive items of luxury. They buy less of utility items like an iron for pressing clothes, etc. Women, obviously, don’t buy stuff to impress men. Instead, they are clever enough to induce the men into buying more. It’s not without good reason that stores employ attractive women. A clever saleswoman can bait a romantically primed man into buying more with her charming interaction.

9 In the Last Digit of the Sales Price Works Wonders

Price an item as $399 instead of $400, more people will buy it. Price an item as $ 499 instead of $500 it’ll find more customers for itself. Even though the difference is just $1, you’ll feel as though there is a hundred dollars difference between the two prices. The human psychology tends to focus more on the leftmost digit of the number than the rest.

Scrapbooks and Collages

Let your kid or spouse receive a fully personalized scrapbook this Christmas. Fill it with personalized snaps and messages which are going to convey to recipients about how much you care for them. The recipient will cherish this wonderful gift more than anything else! A well made collage helps in conveying to your near and dear ones that you are essentially connected to them very much at an emotional level and you care for them. You might hurry and get an expensive gift from a departmental store, but there’s nothing like a personalized gift.

Don’t Gift Cookie Cutter Jewelry But Pandora Charms

You may buy a diamond bracelet of the latest model from the jewelry shop for your wife, but don’t be disappointed if your wife’s best friend flaunts exactly the same model that your wife wears at the Christmas party ! Gift a Pandora charm instead. It is fully customizable, signifies your wishing good luck for the person you gift it to and also is less expensive.

Gift Certificates Are Not Always Impersonal, They Can Be Very Personal Too

A number of unutilized gift certificates might be lying in your drawer. You might think I’m crazy to suggest such an item for gifting. But let me narrate one incident… Last Christmas, I was running low on finances. Though I badly needed a trip to the spa before Christmas Eve, I could not afford that as I had to spend on clothes and party food as a priority. My friend Alice, who knew about all this gifted me a free certificate to the best spa in town! I cannot express how much moved I was by that gesture and how much thankful to her I am even to this day!

More of these types are personalized artifacts and memory boxes that are actually invaluable materialistic testimonials of your relationship. The artifacts and memory boxes convey to the recipient that you have not forgotten about them right from the day you met and that you still love them. Books, personal-mix CDs and Movies are other options that you could think of gifting for Christmas, festival or holiday.

Personalized gifts are always better than the best gifts that money can buy, provided the recipient knows how to acknowledge the value.

But customers on the other hand are understandably dependent on the services of the caterers at times, especially during holidays and festivals, when they can’t take the additional burden of preparing food on a large scale when there are other things, such as arranging for party events etc. is there. Good caterers make the entire process of arranging and presenting party food a cake walk for their clients. But bad caterers make it a thorny walk. So better learn to identify genuine caterers and stick to them. Here are few tips on how you could do that.

Don’t Trust Every Guy Who Calls Himself a Caterer

These days, you come across a lot of people who lack professionalism, service aptitude, and knowledge posing as caterers because this seems to be a profession that anybody can try his/her hand at. But things are not that simple, not anybody and everybody can become an efficient caterer. Catering technology and hospitability are technical in their own way and need a lot of expertise and experience. Always opt for caterers with a proven track record and before hiring always ask them to provide you with at least three references.

Don’t Go For Packaged ‘All-In-One’ Services

Many caterers offer to provide you all services that are important to get your party going- furniture for the party, liquor bottles etc. This might look like an attractive proposition for you but it is in no way economical. You can buy liquor on your own and also hire party furniture directly from the lenders. Caterers will always charge higher prices than retail prices for liquor and will charge an extra fee for providing you furniture than those directly offering it. Apart from the financial overhead, you also have a lot of choice when you go to the retail outlets to buy things on your own or hire your own furniture.

Know the Ingredients Used For the Dishes

Be sure to know the ingredients of each and every dish that is being served at your party. Make sure of the oil that is being used for preparations. If your guests have health complications and are allergic to certain ingredients, it is better to avoid using them. Some caterers use cheap quality ingredients for preparation of the dishes which may be harmful for health. If possible buy the ingredients yourself and ask the caterer to prepare it.

We have seen experts talking about economy, stock market, mortgages, credit cards, debts, etc. Let us discuss today about some interesting topic. What happens when you spend a dollar on movie tickets? Of course, it’s a loss for you and you have a dollar less than what you had. But where does this dollar go? Who are the owners of this dollar? Enough questioning; let me come to the point.

Let us consider a movie ticket costs around $10 per person and let’s say in theater XYZ. Out of this $10, 45% or $4.5 goes straight to theater XYZ, which than spends this $4.5 to pay its staff, bills, maintenance, etc. What about the remaining 55%? Oh, there are many people and department among which this $5.5 is distributed. Let’s see what and who are they.

Marketing and advertising: $2.11

There are two reasons why I have out this owner on top. First, it grabs a major part of the remaining $5.5 and second, it the most important factor affecting the success and failure of the movie. This cost is used to bear the expenses paid for advertising in newspapers, TV promos, internet, radio ads, and posters. A high profile movie probably spends more than $100 million on such activities because they know the importance of advertising.

Production: $1.71

This cost is used to spend on expenses like costumes, sets, staff salaries, insurances, and such countless other stuffs. In short, it covers all the expenses incurred from the start till the end of the movie making process. To avail more profit, it’s important for movie makers to cut down expenses in this category. However, most of them overspends as many scenes in many movies worth millions of dollars and it has to be shot many times to make it a perfect scene.

Movie Distribution: $1.00

Movie distribution is not like distributing goods all over the city. It involves carefulness, secrecy, punctuality, security, etc. And money spent per movie reel is also quite big.

Actors and Actress: $0.68

I cannot say this is the exact amount spent on paying the actors. It totally depends on the type of actor acting and type of movie being made. So the percentage of expenses in this category keeps varying. However, $0.68 is the amount paid in big budget films. If less is spent in this category, the remaining amount is divided in other three categories (not equally but according to the needs).

The price of a movie ticket is fixed by the theater and not the producers. Whatever the cost may be, they get only 45%. Now, if there is any increase in the overheads, they get less profit. Or they have the option to increase the price of the ticket. But increasing ticket price cannot be done frequently.

Base your holiday shopping on two essential mantras:

1. Spend the shortest time possible on shopping
2. Don’t ever manage to get a credit card overhead

If you make a big purchase worth $1000-$2000 on your credit card and then payout the credit on minimum payment you are going to take ages to complete your repayment and by the time you repay, in all probability, a fresh loan is going to come your way.

Here are some ways in which you can do the best shopping in the shortest time possible. You’ve just got to spend time on holiday shopping for just about a week till the 1st of December and you’ll be making the most effective purchases.

Make Relationship-Based Budget for Gifts

Different people in your life deserve gifts worth different amounts of money. Obviously your wife needs to be presented a more expensive gift than your neighbor. So make a list of people and the amount of money you’d be willing to spend on each and stick to that strictly. Also if there are people who are expecting very high presents from you and you have difficulty in meeting their expectations, just politely indicate your intentions so that they are not hurt. Take wise decisions while allocating money. Invest in gifting professional contacts and spend less on frivolous relationships (girlfriend/boyfriend).Make sensible and profitable investments.

Do Some Window Shopping Before You Decide

Before you do the actual buying go to the malls and decide upon the items that you’d like to gift. See their price tags and jot down the amount. That will give you the exact amount of money you need to spend on purchasing gifts.

Compare Prices

Compare the prices that you’ve collected from the stores with the prices for same/similar items from other stores. Do a quick online search to compare the prices with other online and brick stores. Many stores offer great discounts. If you are shopping for electronic items Black Friday is the best day for you as you can expect some good discounts on that day.

Be Cautious About Store Cards/Services

Don’t accept store cards or warranty cards as the interest rates are pretty high in comparison to your normal cards. If you want to avail any store card facility see to it that you make the payments in the first months itself. Otherwise the interest rates are very high.

Complete your holiday shopping in a week’s time and just relax the entire coming month. Don’t wait till the middle or end of December to shop for Christmas.

The increase in the price of gold is of interest to both investors and stock brokers, and also to the customers. The price variation in the cost of gold even for an ounce is going to impact the price considerably when you buy a new item. But then this is going to take time because change in price of gold jewelry takes place after 6-8 months of the change in price of the metal. So you can expect to purchase gold jewelry at a lower price than the current market value price of the metal till 2010. It is only after six to eight months that the current price of gold will show cup in the price of the jewelry.

As the price of gold is steadily on the rise for quite sometime now, the new prices which are higher than the previous prices are already influencing the selling prices of gold jewelry by some retailers. Retailers reason out that as there is an increase in the prices of raw materials, the prices of the finished products increased. Some retailers are raising the prices only on select gold items and not all items to make up for the higher material costs but at the same time to keep the overall prices of the ornaments low. So you still have the option to get a piece of jewelry at a lower price than you can expect during this festive season.

The retail price of a gold jewelry depends on the quality of the gold as well as the retailer / company that sells the jewelry. It is also dependent upon the price of raw materials which includes the price of the raw gold. During last year, the sale of gold was very low because there was very low consumer demand owing to the recession. But now the demand seems to have gone up higher. If you want to buy gold, now is the best time because in 2010 the cost price of gold will be much more than now. This year also the demand, though higher than the previous year, is on a low and this is the reason why many retailers have started selling out their wares prematurely at holiday special prices.  You can expect to get attractive discounts ranging from 15 to 55 percent on gold jewelry at both online and offline stores. So go hurry and get those deals before they get over !