By JACQUI PORTER
Ok, so I don’t know about you, but every year the department store Christmas decorations go up earlier and earlier, and my anxiety levels inch higher and higher.
What’s not to love about trailing around a store with two overtired kids and armfuls of junk you’ve paid too much for, intended for relatives you despise? Hark! Feel the joy!
This year, I’m thinking smart- it’s all happening online with not a Michael Buble Christmas album soundtrack in sight.
Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Cash Passport Prepaid MasterCard®. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.
If you do your research, there are plenty of bargains to be had online. You just need to know where to look.
1. Member Only Deal Sites.
There are heaps of online deal sites available both in Australia and overseas. Basically, you sign up, and every day you get emailed a list of sales opening that day.
So far, I’ve purchased home wares, clothing, shoes, kids toys and hampers through some member deal sites and generally speaking, by signing up to overseas deal sites you have access to products that may not even be available in Australia.
You usually need to wait until the sale has finished before your shipping starts, but if you start hunting now, you’ll score some heavily discounted items.
2. Travel over the seas.
Well, not quite, but let your money do it.
We all know that there are certain products we Aussies pay through the nose for (cosmetics, cough cough) so if you have someone on your pressie buying list who loves the girly stuff, why not www your way through some great online beauty stores?
Many of the big ones ship to Australia now for a reasonable price and those that don’t can still be accessed using a mail forwarding service.
If you are purchasing overseas, a great way to keep tabs on your money and lock in your exchange rate is by using a Cash Passport (it’s a prepaid multi-currency MasterCard that lets you pay in foreign currency).