Christmas Shopping with American Express and $250 Giveaway Winner

So Christmas is like two seconds away and I am finally finished with my Christmas shopping.  I haven't started wrapping or even figuring out where I have stashed things over the last week, but I do know that it is all purchased and tucked away somewhere.

I finally finished using the American Express gift card and American Express Rewards Points.

On Small Business Saturday I headed out shopping and ended up buying the only present I purchased before the month of December, a gift card to The Alamo Draft House.  The Alamo is a fun little theater where you can eat dinner while watching a movie.  It is a great date destination, so I picked up a gift card for my Hubby's stocking.  If you used your Amex to make a purchase from a small business on Small Business Saturday, American Express gave you a $20 credit on your statement.  So $20 of my gift card was basically free to me.

In college I never started Christmas shopping until finals were over, around the middle of December.  I have continued to carry on that tradition even though I graduated from college in 2000.  I didn't have a lot of time to have items shipped, so I used the rewards points to purchase eGift Cards.  The eGIft Cards are in your email box within three hours of ordering them.  You print them out and head to a local store to shop away.  I used some points to purchase a Barnes & Noble eGift Card.

Magazines are a traditional stocking stuffer in my husbands family, so I headed over to the closest Barnes and Noble store and ended up with a stack of magazines for everyone.

(please excuse the picture I took while hiding from my children in the laundry room)

I also picked up a Blu-Ray box set:

And the new Guinness World Records book for 2012.  My son gets one every year for Christmas.

I picked up another eGift Card on the American Express Rewards site.  This Banana Republic gift card is actually going to someone as a gift.

I used part of the $250 American Express gift card to purchase some items that we shared with people we don't know.  One of those items was an iPod shuffle.  There are a few ways I could have picked up this iPod shuffle with American Express.  I could have used points to order it directly from the American Express Rewards site, I could have used the points to purchase the item on Amazon, but because of the last minute nature I used the American Express gift card to pick it up at Target.

There were plenty of points left over for me to purchase some board games from Amazon that won't show up until after Christmas, but since my birthday is at the beginning of January I will just count them as birthday gifts to myself.

There are a ton of fun ways to spend your American Express Rewards points.  I could have easily done all of my Christmas shopping that way.  I typically save all of my points for one large purchase.  We purchased a television from Amazon with out points last Christmas and our refrigerator using Home Depot gift cards when we moved to Austin.  But it is great for smaller purchases too.  I might use some of our accumulated points to pick up a couple of magazine subscriptions for next year too.  

That is enough of my fun shopping adventures.  Now it is time for one of you to win a $250 Gift Card and do some shopping of your own.  The lucky winner is Susan from Poca Cosas.  Congratulations Susan and Happy Shopping!!!

I hope you all have a Very Happy Holiday!! 

***Disclaimer***

I was given a $250 American Express Gift Card and 40,000 American Express Rewards points to purchase gifts this holiday season.

American Express Holiday Shopping Challenge $250 Giveaway

There are generally two groups of holiday shoppers.  The people who make it their goal to be finished before Thanksgiving and the people that don't even start until Black Friday.  Now that the craziest busiest shopping season of the year is upon us, it is finally time for me to start tackling my shopping list.  I love the fun of Black Friday, but surrounded by the crowds and deals it is pretty easy to go overboard.  It is really important for me to go in with a plan, so this year I am teaming up with American Express to share some of my favorite holiday smart shopping tips.

One thing that I find essential is to have a list, a real list written out on paper, that has the name of each person I am purchasing a gift for, the budgeted amount of money for that individual, and ideas of what present to purchase for them.  In the perfect world I would already know exactly what I was going to purchase and would have found the cheapest place to buy it, but I am never that ahead of the game.  The list helps me keep track of what I have purchased and helps me to stay within my budget.

Another trick to staying within my budget is saving money ahead of time.  Nothing squashes the joy of a holiday like getting your credit card statement afterwards.  It is a lot less painful when I have planned ahead and have the money waiting to pay off the bill when it arrives.  It is sometimes hard not to spend the extra money that is sitting around, so a trick I have picked up is to purchase gift cards to my favorite retailers throughout the year.  Plus, if I only have the gift cards with me, I can't go over budget.

And my third favorite holiday shopping tip is taking advantage of rewards cards!  I am a huge fan of reward credit cards.  We have used them to pay for vacations, buy gift cards, and I have a television and a refrigerator that were purchased with my American Express Rewards points.  And using your American Express card can save you money in other ways, like providing an extended warranty on eligible purchases so you don't have to purchase one.

American Express is letting me put some of my tips to good use for my own holiday shopping.  They have given me a $250 gift card and 40,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points Rewards to use towards my holiday shopping.  Next week I will be sharing my fun purchases with you.  One of which will be purchased from The Common Thread to celebrate Small Business Saturday.  On Saturday, November 26,  you can support the small movement by making a purchase from a local small business.  And to show their support, American Express will give you $25 of your small business purchase back.  You need to register your card to be eligible, so you can check out all of the details on the Small Business Saturday Facebook page.  You can also use the Facebook page to find local small businesses.  That is another $25 you can add to your holiday shopping budget!
 

Oh, and there is one more thing!!  American Express is giving away a $250 gift card to one of my readers.  Leave a comment on this post letting me know how you stay within your holiday budget and you will be entered to win!  For a prize this great, one chance to win just isn't enough, so you can share another tip on Facebook and one on Twitter too.  That is three chances to win.  Make sure to link to this post in your Facebook status or Tweet.  Then come back here and leave another comment (one for each entry) that includes a link to your tip.  (Please leave a link to your status update or your tweet).

You have until Wednesday, November 30th at midnight (CST) to enter.  One winner will be chosen at random from all entries and contacted via email.  Please make sure you leave a valid contact email with your entry.

***The entry period for this giveaway has ended***

***Disclaimer - This is a sponsored post from American Express.  All opinions expressed in the post are my own.***

On Star

I have seen the OnStar commercials a hundred times.  There is an accident and the friendly OnStar voice lets you know that help is on the way.  Even my 10 year old son thinks it is pretty cool that they call 911 for you.  But I didn't drive a GM car, so it wasn't an option for me.

Or so I thought.

About a month ago I learned about OnStar FMV.  You can now purchase a rearview mirror that contains the core safety, security and connectivity features of OnStar for just about any vehicle.

Their Facebook page had a tool I used to find out that it was available for my car and it also had all of the information I wanted to know about their available services.

So I had it installed in my car (it took 36 minutes from start to finish, so simple) and this is why.

Like most moms, I spend a lot of time in the car with my kids and no other adult.  I love knowing that if anything happens, help will come even if I can't ask for it.  I also like that asking for help is as easy as pushing a button.  If something were to happen and my kids needed to ask for help, they would be able to push that little blue button and talk to a real live person.

I feel like they deserve a real live person in that situation.  In addition to emergency services they also provide roadside assistance.  And I don't even need to know where I am!  They use GPS technology to send help to you.

In the car I use my cell phone for directions and making calls.  Sometimes I forget my cell phone at home.  Sometimes I put my purse on the floor when I am buckling my daughter in her car seat and forget to move it to the front seat.  Sometimes I don't have service on my cell phone at all.  This happened a lot more than I was comfortable with on our last road trip and even happens around the corner from my house.  Not to mention that looking down at my phone, even just for a second, isn't the safest option. The OnStar mirror offers turn by turn directions and handsfree calling options.  Both require absolutely no eye contact.

It is some pretty cool technology.  The speaker is clear and the volume actually adjusts to levels that a human ear can hear.  I can't say either about my husbands GPS or his bluetooth speaker he uses in his car.  I can look up directions on my computer at home and send them to my car in a matter of seconds,  another thing my hubby's GPS can't do.  And my favorite part...real live people.  Nice people.  Friendly people.  They call me Mrs. Albright and they find the nearest Chick-fil-A when we are on our way home from the swimming hole.

The swimming hole and the polite real live people on the phone both sort of feel like they are from the 50s, but both actually exist in my 2011 life.

Check out the OnStar Facebook page to learn more about OnStar FMV or check them out at your local Best Buy.  You can also check out what other bloggers think about OnStar over on BlogHer and if you want to know more about the swimming hole, you will have to come visit me in Austin.