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A short cluster of knowledge in one place

Every year I struggle with buying gifts for people who have everything or live on the other side of the world. Buying for parents is a nightmare. They have everything they could possibly want. And as for my relatives in America, it’s difficult to think of unique gifts that won’t cost the earth to post or get broken.

I caught on to unique photo gifts when I converted some old slides of my dad’s – taken 30 years years ago’ – into digital photos. Dad was thrilled. And there it was: photo gifts – the perfect unique gift for relatives both near and far.

There’s only so much I can do at home. So I started searching for the perfect photo gifts . Dad always complains I look scruffy in photos. So I decided to surprise him with something more professional. Now professional photo shoots can cost a lot of money but there are deals to be found.

Take Manchester’s John Clarke. If you go to bluekoko.com you’ll find a great deal on a professional photo shoot that includes a makeover. This is ideal for someone like me who normally wouldn’t bother with make-up. At only £10 down from £40 it’s a brilliant way to create a unique and lasting gift.

For the American relatives I now opt for a photo canvas. Creating a picture canvas with relatives in mind keeps them up to date with that’s going on in your life. It’s also cheap to post and won’t get damaged if packaged sensibly. There are deals to be found here too. At bluekoko.com Pixtrix has an amazing deal on a photo canvas print: just £11 down from £41. The great thing about this option is you stay in control. Just select your favourite photos and leave the rest to Pixtrix.  If you’re feeling creative you can also select a number of photo effects as part of the deal including sepia and black and white.

Now you may think that you can’t get away with buying photo gifts every time. Not true. Of all the things I’ve bought I can honestly say these are the most treasured gifts I have come up with. I just wish I’d thought of it sooner.

 I thought I would write a short post about my latest money saving finds that I have discovered on the internet this week.  I am a little bored and frustrated waiting for the boiler man to arrive.

I made a silly mistake earlier in the week.  I was rushing home from work and called into the DIY store to pick up some bits and I am embarrassed to say I had to pay full price!  Normally I wouldn’t mind but I have recently become a bit obsessed with discount voucher codes and I knew about the one for the DIY store before going shopping.  I completely forgot and so ended up losing money.Needless to say as soon as I got home from the diy store I had to redeem myself and get back the money I lost.  I made a list of all the things I had to purchase over the next month and went online to find savings on a voucher code site.Top of my list were summer clothes for myself and the kids.  It is that time of year where the sun suddenly pops out and we all repeat in harmony “we have nothing to wear”. Littlewoods had the best offers on this week; the Littlewoods promotion of 40% got me some great summer clothes for the kids.  I even managed to get them some garden toys like a huge trampoline. 

As always the day ended alright as I managed to get some cracking bargains, naturally I had to treat myself so I headed over to the Ann Summers site, guess what???   They had a massive sale too.