The explosive growth in popularity of gift cards is quite literally beyond measure. What started out with a few gift card offerings in random industries not so long ago has turned into a phenomenon. Standard or customized, they’re now available and provided by a great number of companies in practically every conceivable industry.

Business owners who have integrated gift cards into their sales and marketing arsenal can truly take the marketability of gift card presentation one step further. To truly make the presentation complete, they are electing to supplement gift cards with custom gift card holders.

Plastic gift card holders offer additional options to heighten the design theme and message of any plastic card. Coming in 4 standard sizes, custom sizes are also available.

[Image courtesy of Tom Eppenberger Jr./wikimedia.org]

Available in full photo quality color, images can be printed on one or both sides of the card holder, and use a Standard 10 pt White Material for 1-side stock, or 10 pt C2S for the tri-fold card carrier. These card holders and carriers, also known as Fold Over card carriers, are available in the following sizes: Standard size fold size gift card carrier measures 4″ x 6″; Standard top fold size gift card carrier measures 4″ x 5.5″ (even fold); Standard top fold size gift card carrier measures 2.8″ x 8.75″; and Standard tri-fold size gift card holder measures 4″ x 7.875″.

Customers can choose a custom material for the card holder based on any color or ‘feel’ preferences.

Quality, trusted online printing stores, like MyStop1.com, offer all these options, and much more on their websites.

The marketing of the image or other information doesn’t have to be exclusively on the outside of the card holder. Printing on the inside of the card carrier is an option, and is a great way to carry the message even further. This is an ideal area to print any special instructions about the card, or to perhaps highlight special use features for the card. Limited time offers or sales printed on the inside of the card carrier can give the user that last moment reminder of something significant, which really is a nice feature.

Giving a gift card to someone in a custom gift card holder is an inexpensive way to perhaps create a bit more buzz about the gift, and provide just a bit more exposure for their product.

For safety purposes, people avoid carrying that much cash especially if they are having transactions in places that they aren’t familiar with. That’s why credit and debit cards exist or simply the “plastics”. However, they are cases wherein you really need to hand over something as good as cash and this time around, checks are the only solution to it.

Opening up a checking account in your bank of choice, whether it’s for personal or business purposes, is most likely more expensive compared to the usual savings account. The reason behind is that checks can be of any amount depending on what you’re going to write on it and can sometimes be used for fraudulent transactions.

Most of the time, the bank personnel would explain the do’s and don’ts in having one upon giving your first booklet. Part of what so called ‘orientation’ would be the possible lawsuits you would face whenever you would issue a check that has no money in it.

They would also be discussing about the bank charges whenever a certain check would be deposited under other people’s account and you failed to place funds in it before the indicated date. These bank charges aren’t cheap and you would really regret the fact of not taking the dates seriously.

Also avoid placing your signature on your blank checks or you will curse yourself for the rest of your life. It’s a basic precaution that every check holder should bear in mind. If you happen to issue some checks in the future, make sure to print the amount yourself rather than letting somebody else to do it for you.

Christmas is less than three months away and by now you should have started with your Christmas shopping. If you still have to buy a few more gift items or if you haven’t even started with your Christmas shopping, there is still plenty of time for you to do so. You just have to keep in mind a few important things if you want to avoid overspending or buying items which you don’t actually need.

Here are some practical tips on how you can become a responsible shopper this holiday season:

Create a budget

 It is important that you determine how much money you can allot for shopping. The Christmas bonus that you will be receiving from work may give you the urge to spend more than what is necessary which is why you have to be very conscious of how you spend every cent.  List the items that you need to buy and bring that list with you when you shop. Refrain from buying ‘small’ and seemingly ‘inexpensive’ items, such as a tube of lipstick which you don’t actually need, because these ‘small’ purchases can take up a huge part of your shopping budget without you even realizing it.

Pay in cash

When you use your credit card, it is easy for you to just purchase items without thinking about whether or not you actually need them. But if you use cash, you can immediately see how much you have spent.

Be creative and resourceful

Although it may be easy to get swayed by the latest trends, you must be able to determine if they fit your budget and more importantly, if you actually need them. If, for instance, you need to buy an outfit for a Christmas party that you need to attend, you can still look stylish even if you aren’t wearing designer clothes. Know which clothing stores offer stylish but affordable clothes. You must also know how to mix and match different clothing items so that you can create a whole new look every time even if you have only bought a handful of new clothes and accessories. You can still express your own fashion sense even if you don’t buy the most expensive clothing items.

Compare prices. You may be pressed for time but still, you need to think about your every purchase. You cannot just grab the first thing that you see from the store. There is a risk that you will end up with an overpriced item if you don’t pay attention to what you’re buying. If you don’t have the time to visit multiple retail shops, you can look into various online stores first. Most major retailers now have their own online stores and they basically offer the same items (and the same price). You can look into their online stores first so that you have an idea of how much their products cost.

Know where to get the best deals

Competition can be stiff for retailers especially during the holiday season which is why they come up with different schemes on how to attract the attention of shoppers. Take advantage of the different discounts and other special offers that your favorite retailer offers. If you are more of an online shopper, sign up for newsletters from your favorite online stores so that you will know when they will offer huge discounts on their more popular products.

Being a wise shopper is important if you want your Christmas shopping experience to be a fun and enjoyable one.  And you don’t have to spend more than what you can actually afford on gifts just to be able to spread cheer during this holiday season.

Teaching your children be independent at a very young age is very crucial in their early years. Of course, children have their parents to support all their needs. However, teaching them to earn their very own allowance money will instill with them not only to be responsible but to be resourceful and independent as well. With that in mind, here are some amazing ways on how children can make allowance money:

Help prepare other people’s dinner

These days, more and more people are opting to hire a dinner helper. They will be looking for a junior or a high school student who will help them in preparing for dinner. They will get paid for chopping the veggies, washing the dishes, cooking the pasta, defrost meat and a whole lot more.

Sit for other people’s pet

In addition from dog walking, children also are paid to babysit the pets of other people. This will be useful for people who will be going for a vacation.

Sell unused and old stuffs online

In the event that the child has various DVDs, CDs or other stuffs he is no longer using, then he can turn this into cash by selling these things online! There are lots of websites that will allow you to market and sell these old things.

Give social media lessons

These days, children are very proficient with technology and various social media. They can capitalize on such skills by offering to teach older people how to maneuver through various social media sites as well as create their own profiles.

Take care of other people’s garden

Lawn mowing is one of the most popular ways for a child to earn money. These days, they can also add garden weeding to their job description.

With these simple jobs, any child can make his very own allowance money!

Shopping online is one of the convenient ways to buy the item you want it is either personal treat for yourself or gifts for your love ones. It is a good way to save money and it gives you a lot of choices to compare the product you want to buy through large selection of items from different online store. The freedom to select from wide range of choices makes your life easier because you don’t have to purchase something that you are not sure about.

[Image Credit: blog.myfatpocket.com]

Excitement and Fun

Furthermore shopping online can be a lot of fun too when you join online auctions because it doesn’t only give you a chance to compete with other shoppers for products that you are most interested in but it allows you on getting a good deal when you win the auction.

Saving Money and Time

Shopping online can save you money by using coupon and discount codes where you could easily find online by searching them through search engines. It also saves you time and effort for not driving your way to the store, and it helps you to avoid large crowd of people.

When we traveled to Mongolia I have experienced to ride a camel and horses it was a little bit scary at first but later on I have enjoyed it because actually it was quite comfortable. The camel or horse wouldn’t do anything scary unless you create some noises or something that could irritate them.

The only disadvantages is being in a saddle without proper riding clothes like breeches or jodhpurs. According to what I have learned this type of clothes can ensure maximum comfort and enjoyment while riding a horse as they are stretchable so you won’t feel any discomfort while on a saddle. On buying breeches you have to make sure that you are going to buy the correct size, most of them are sold by clothing size or waist measurement so you better know which one will suit you. Breeches also vary in color, fabric and style and like most other things they range in price depending on the fabric used and quality of the product, so you should buy according to your budget.

Image source: englishhabit.com

Shopping online is one of the things I enjoyed, it is therapeutic for me. Almost two weeks ago I shopped for several memory storage such as micro sd cards and flash drives, they were on a sale so I grab the opportunity to buy them. If I were going to buy memory storage here in our island it will cost more, maybe twice the sale price. The flash drives are for my mother, she immediately requested me to order 8G and 16G for her when I told her they were on sale. They download a lot of drama series episodes online and they need USB drive so they could watch it in the television which has a bigger screen and resolution.

When I shopped online, I always make sure to pay in cash on delivery to avoid hassle of losing the items while they are on delivery. The micro sd cards I have bought are for a tablet and possibly a phone, if my resources permit me. I have ordered 16G and 32G respectively. My phone is already sluggish, the wifi button doesn’t work most of the time I have to press and restart it many times before the wifi could be enabled. Maybe because I dropped it many times or it was already old since I bought it as second hand in South Korea two years ago. I have brought it in a shop to have it fix but just after few days it was not working again. With this, I have also decided to order a tablet for affordable amount.