Have a Better Life

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After holiday season sales continue and discounts and deals can be found in most stores. Now it is a good time to buy those pricey products we always wanted but that were too expensive.

A category of products that is very affordable right now is technology. We can find great deals on laptops, monitors, hardware and mobile devices. With huge price discounts, these products become dream gifts.

Sale season is also loved by those wanting to redecorate the house. Costly furniture can now be found at reduced prices, making redecoration an affordable pleasure.

Clothes, shoes and perfumes are the articles that usually have the biggest discounts and therefore should be closely taken into consideration.

Huge discounts are an invitation to go shopping. Cyber Monday and Black Friday are no longer the most wanted days of the year. Discounts and sales are all over the malls and stores are full of people trying to get new clothes and shoes for a low price. Tomorrow it will be my turn. I really need clothes, and this year, I’m going to take advantage of the sales and buy a few items for me.

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With the go green movement in mind a lot of people are finding alternative solutions to take advantage of existing materials. A lot of stores are now selling unfinished furniture and other wood objects leaving the buyer the power of creating the final product.

Unfinished wood products are excellent when we want to make our own creations specially when speaking of colors and details. We can finish them to combine with other pieces we have in the house and, when it is kid’s related, they can help out with their personal touch.

Unfinished furniture is cheaper than finished one. Although some money has to be spent to give the final touch, the final object will always be cheaper that when buying a finished one.

We can find all kind of unfinished wood products: chairs, coffee boxes, tea boxes, tables, napkins holders, jewelry box, etc. etc. Some of them need some real work done so it would be advised to have an annular cutter or a metal hole saw nearby. Some furniture needs to be assembled, other have some small defects that need to be minimized. Painting and final finishing are usually needed.

There are some stores that only sell unfinished furniture and there are places like Amish communities or rehab centers that have amazing unfinished furniture waiting to be bought. Whether it is for the bedroom, living room or outdoors it is excellent to be able to get personalizes items that will match the rest of the decoration we already have.

Buying unfinished furniture is also a great way to reuse items that might end up in the garbage because they are not perfect or they are no longer needed. Perfect to save some money and redecorate the house.

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The time arrived. I have been postponing it but I had no other choice. I bought a pair of Jeans for me.

I’m always thinking about my kids and husband checking what they need and buying what they need and I always leave myself out. This time I was forced to take action. Due to my weight gain most of my clothes don’t fit me. I was underweight and now I have the right weight, but most trousers don’t fit anymore. First time I am in this situation. That’s so curious, for the last 20 years that I wear the same size.

Well, I didn’t bought an apple bottom jeans but I bought “a jeans”. For me the brand is secondary, what matters is that they fit me and I finally can drive without unbutton the jeans button.

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Today I went to the mall and I was happy to find many eco-friendly products available. I have the habit of checking if a certain product has the ecologic sign and most products already have. Now, are they really eco-friendly or are the harmful products not mentioned on the label?

There was this lady from a promotional products company that was giving away their catalog and she was telling people that the products were eco-friendly. When I had already the catalog on my hand I asked her: “How do I know if your products are really eco-friendly?” Her answer was: “You have to trust us.”

I left the mall and I kept thinking about it. It’s true, we really have to trust the labels and the manufacture.

Birthdays, Anniversaries, Weddings and Baby Showers have one thing in common: a gift is involved. An when it comes to gifts I have a huge problem, I want to find an unusual gift at a lower price and this is difficult to achieved.

• Small home decor objects are gifts I don’t give anymore. Everybody has them and it will be one just to put in a shelf together with dozens of others.
• Books are precious but most of the time people spend the day working or on the computer and they don’t read real books.
• Clothes are always needed but they can be an expensive gift. If we buy a cheap piece of clothing probably the person won’t use it because it looks cheap and of low quality. Known brands are too expensive for me.

So, nothing better than shopping at The Travelling Souk. Here you can find unusual products from a wide range of prices depending on how much you want to spend. Being a “Go Green” person I love the “Eco Souk” section. All the products are eco-friendly, organic, recycled and green. On the Eco Souk section you can find:

• wooden toys
• organic cotton soft toys
• organic soaps and candles
• beautiful socks made of recycled cotton
• and much more

I like to offer unusual gifts because usually people don’t have them and they attract the gift’s receiver attention. An unusual gift also has a different value, both in quality and quantity. People can’t figure out how much it cost because they usually don’t look for that type of products. So you get compliments for the gift even if it was cheap. The unusual makes the difference.

Another important thing is that besides the unusual products, The Travelling Souk websites donates at least 2.6% of its annual sales to Breast Cancer Haven.

I hope this article can bring you some awareness of how unusual gifts can make a difference as well as the importance to raise founds to the different causes there are. The Eco-Friendly aspect of the products are also an important feature to take into consideration.

Going Green is a choice that will help you to Have a Better Life

Going Green is a major objective in my life and each time I buy something I think twice.

Our old VGA desktop screen collapsed. After months of having the screen changing color from yellow to green to blue, also the screen area started to shrink it finally stopped working and we had to decide: leave the desktop unused or spend money we don’t have on another screen.

After a few days deliberating we decided that it was better to buy a new screen and give some use to the computer. My first concern was to find a eco-friendly screen and we did. We gave €10 more to buy a 19″ LCD screen with a low energy consumption and excellent power settings. It was worth the €10.

We also bought an accessory set for the desktop. My son wanted a Bluetooth headset but instead we bought a Webcam and regular headphones. For my laptop, which doesn’t have a Webcam incorporated, I bought a Webcam and regular headphones with micro. Both Webcams have incorporated micro, so depending if we are alone or not we can decide if we use or not the headphones.

This shopping was not planned therefore we had to use the credit card. Not something we wanted to do but it was a shame to have a good desktop with no screen.
photo credit: Micky.!