10 minutes. You and your keyboard (or smartphone. Or tablet. Or pen and paper). No pauses, no edits, no looking back: it’s free-write time!

I know it’s only October but I’ve been thinking about Christmas shopping since last night. I usually do my Christmas shopping super early to avoid the craziness that the holiday brings. As a matter of fact I start Christmas shopping the day after Christmas :D. That’s when you usually find the best deals. I rarely shop at the mall because I don’t always find the best deals there. Most of my shopping are done online and sometimes at the outlet stores. I don’t like spending a lot of time at the mall looking for my size and I’m also not a big fan of trying out clothes at the store. Most of the time I don’t find my size at the mall and that frustrates me. That is why I’d rather shop online because my size is always available and I always find the best deals. A lot of my friends don’t like shopping online especially for clothes and shoes because they are worried that it won’t fit them but luckily in the ten plus years that I’ve been shopping online, I’ve only had an issue with an item that I purchased about three times I believed. I also didn’t have any issues returning an item for an exchange or refund. I know that shipping costs can be discouraging to some when it comes to online shopping but I’ve been fortunate that I didn’t always have to pay for shipping and I don’t spend hundreds of dollars when shopping online to qualify for a free shipping and handling. Sometimes I do pay for it but nothing more than ten dollars. I think shopping online is all about timing too. I usually shop on Mondays or Wednesdays. I avoid online shopping on the weekends and same goes with purchasing plane tickets and booking for hotels. I’m very patient too when it comes to online shopping and I do extensive research for any specific item that I’m looking for. I actually do the same thing when planning for a vacation and I even have a spreadsheet for it for comparison purposes :D.

*DP