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20+ Christmas Gift Ideas Under $100

This article was written by Flexo in Consumer. 19 comments.

While I’ve already offered my suggestions for this year’s best holiday toys, not everyone on your Christmas or gift-giving list is a child. You may have a special adult someone on your list who would appreciate something more useful. Although it’s early in the holiday shopping season, at least for me, some of the best deals are already starting to materialize, well before Black Friday.

If you’re looking for a great Christmas gift for one of your favorite people, consider one of these Christmas gift ideas under $100. Of course, these apply as well to Hanukkah or any other gift-giving activities you might partake in before the end of the year.

Have any good suggestions? Please leave them in the comments and I’ll add the ones I like to my list.

Gift ideas under $100: Around the house

1. Dremel Multi-Max Oscillating Tool Kit (Home Depot, $99.00). “The Dremel Multi-Max 2.3 Amp MM20 Oscillating Tool Kit incorporates a powerful, efficient motor that provides cool, smooth operation under load. This versatile tool features a compact design that makes it easy to handle in tight spaces..” For anyone who likes or wants to do work around the house.

2. Black & Decker B&D Convection Toaster Oven (Sears, $95.63). This convection toaster oven also comes with a rotisserie capability. I need to replace my toaster oven, and this is a capable option.

3. Task Force 204-Piece Standard/Metric Mechanics Tool Set with Case (Lowe’s, $89.98). With 204 pieces, this tool set is complete for any would-be handyman or handywoman, yet it is still portable.

4. Pure Beech Jersey Knit Sheet Set, 100% Modal (Bed, Bath and Beyond, $29.00 – $79.00). “The softness of these extremely soft and light silk-like sheets is reminiscent of your favorite T-shirt, offering incomparable comfort.” I’ve been a fan of jersey cotton sheets for several years. I find jersey cotton to be much more comfortable than sateen or other bed sheets.

5. Framed art (Amazon, up to $99.99). Adding art to the walls adds color and excitement to any room in the house. If you don’t know an artist willing to create work for you, shop for framed art.

6. Merkur Shaving Gift Set (Amazon, $106.50). “The set includes a chrome stand that holds a Merkur Classic Safety Razor and a fabulous badger Shaving Brush with a Chrome Handle. Also included in the set is an elegant Chrome Bowl that holds a Colonel Conk Shaving Soap.” Since April, I’ve been shaving the old-fashioned way, with a badger-hair brush, shaving soap, and a safety razor. My face has never felt healthier and I get a smooth shave. Add some inexpensive Feather blades and have smooth skin all day.

7. Helen Of Troy Hotspa Professional Ultimate Foot Bath (Amazon, $95.93). “Ozone (active oxygen) helps to control, reduce and eliminate bacteria Motorized Pedicenter rotates with the press of a foot.” These devices are quite relaxing, whether you’ve been on your feet all day teaching, hiking, or giving presentations to the board of directors.

8. Sterling Silver 1/8 Carat t.w. Diamond Heart Bracelet (Kay, $99.99). “Heart-shaped sterling silver links accented with round diamonds create playful style in this bracelet for her. One-eighth carat total diamond weight. 7″ in length. With lobster clasp.” For any women who like jewelery.

Gift ideas under $100: Electronics

9. Sony BDP-S380 Blu-ray Disc Player (Amazon, $98.00). “Enjoy Blu-ray Disc movies in brilliant high-definition resolution or upscale the quality of your DVDs to near HD. Instantly stream a wide variety of movies, TV shows, live sports, videos, and music from Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, Hulu Plus and many more.” If you have a high-definition television, you must adopt Blu-Ray and replace your DVD player. There is simple no comparison between (even up-converted) standard definition and high bit-rate Blu-Ray video and audio.

10. Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-W530 14.1 MP Digital Still Camera (Amazon, $99.99). “Shoot more life with the Sony DSC-W530. Capture landscapes with one touch using Sweep Panorama, get that perfect portrait with Smile Shutter, snap wider scenes with the 26mm wide angle lens, get high quality photos with 14.1 megapixels, and automatically get clear shots with SteadyShot image stabilization and iAuto; all in a sleek little design.” This camera features a Carl Zeiss lens, offering a great quality picture sure to beat the camera built into your phone.

11. Roku 2 (Roku, $59.99 to $99.99). “With Roku, get instant access to tons of entertainment — with more choices added all the time.” This device allows you to watch any media content on your (most likely high-definition) television, accessing the internet wirelessly from anywhere in your house. It seamlessly links to your Netflix and Hulu content as well as many other services.

12. Garmin nüvi 1300 4.3-Inch Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator (Amazon, $98.94). “The thin nüvi 1300 has a widescreen display, yet it’s slim and light enough to take along on all your travels. This affordable GPS comes with regional mapping, announces streets by name, offers pedestrian navigation options and calculates a more fuel-efficient route with ecoRoute.” I’m looking for a new GPS navigator for my car, as I’ve been using my phone since my last device was stolen.

13. Kindle Touch Wi-Fi, 6″ E Ink Display (Amazon, $99.00). I have been using my iPad for reading books purchased via Kindle, but if you have no need for an iPad and just want the ability to access your library from anywhere, choose the Kindle. Now members of Amazon Prime can read books without paying for each.

14. Coby DVD938 5.1-Channel DVD Home Theater System (Amazon, $90.01). “Dynamic sound meets sleek design in Coby’s DVD938 home theater system, which includes a progressive scan DVD player plus a 5.1-channel home theater speaker system (subwoofer and five satellite speakers).” This is a bargain if you don’t need HDMI and you’re looking for compatibility with USB players, SD cards, or karaoke.

Gift ideas under $100: Fun stuff

15. Tauntaun Sleeping Bag (ThinkGeek, $99.99). “In the sub-zero wasteland of the planet Hoth, only the strong survive… and of course those lucky Jedi protected by the thick skin of a Tauntaun.” Any Star Wars fan, adult or child, would appreciate the comfort of avoiding the cold by sleeping inside a tauntaun. ThinkGeek offers lots of gifts for science fiction and fantasy geeks and tech nerds.

16. Bicycle Premium Mega Masters Poker Chip Set (Amazon, $99.95). “The Bicycle Mega Masters Poker Set is a premium poker set for the poker enthusiast. It includes a handmade, high-lacquered wooden case with 500 11.5-gram Bicycle clay filled poker chips in a four-color assortment of red, blue, black, and green… [and] two decks of Premium Bicycle brand playing cards.” Invite your friends over and lose more money to them than the cost of buying this set.

17. Halex Premium Vivace 113mm Bocce Set (BocceBallSets.com, $94.98). With this set, you can entertain your friends with both backyard games: bocce and croquet. Best to buy these sets during the off-season for the best prices. This set normally costs $140.

18. Bob Ross Deluxe Oil Painting Set In Wood Box (Amazon, $85.00). “Bob Ross Art Sets enable the beginner artist to create a beautiful oil painting through Bob’s easy and informative instruction methods and top-quality materials. This Deluxe Art Set contains everything needed to get started in the Bob Ross ‘Wet on Wet’ technique.” Thankfully, this set comes with an instructional DVD. You recipient will be on his or her way to creating masterpieces.

Gift ideas under $100: Financial stuff

This is a personal finance blog, after all.

19. $100 Treasury Bond (TreasuryDirect, $100). TreasuryDirect offers gift functionality, so as long as you have an account and have the Social Security Number of your recipient, you can give the gift of a savings bond, a low risk investment that will earn interest over time.

20. Stock (ShareBuilder, $100). If you would like to give someone a financial gift, particularly a young individual who has an interest in the stock market but is a beginner, consider a ShareBuilder gift card to get them started. This is a good time to introduce young investors to the concept of transaction fees, as well.

21. 2011 United States Mint Silver Proof Set (United States Mint, $67.95). “The 2010 United States Mint Silver Proof Set contains all 14 circulating coins in stunning proof condition displayed in three protective lenses, each bearing the S mint mark of the United States Mint at San Francisco.” Great for collectors or non-collectors, and it can inspire and create young numismatists.

22. Kids’ Savings Account (ING Direct, $25 and up). Opening a new ING Direct Kids Savings Account is a great way to teach a child or teenager good saving habits and concepts like compound interest.

Here are some more ideas:

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Start a Salary Negotiation With a Ridiculous Request

This article was written by Flexo in Career and Work. 12 comments.

There’s some evidence that the first number mentioned in salary negotiations serves as an anchor. As an employee, you can influence the employer’s final salary by asking for a high number up front. That high number, you may know, is out of the employer’s range, but by asking for a somewhat reasonable high number, you’re making an impression that continues to influence the following discussion. If you allow the employer to make the first offer, and it’s low, they may have successfully anchored the number in your mind. As a result, you may accept a salary lower than you would have otherwise.

In a controlled study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, researchers have reason to believe that offering a ridiculously high salary proposal — even as a joke — is just as effective as an anchor. Although both parties may laugh off a $100,000 starting salary for an administrative assistant, for example, the same anchoring effect is at play during the subsequent negotiation. In the study’s simulations, candidates who started off the negotiation with a ridiculous request received 9% higher offers on average.

Here were the parameters of the study.

Participants were asked to role play in a simulation. The employer had offered the job of an administrative assistant to the applicant.
The applicant had a previous salary of $29,000.
When asked for salary requirements, the control group asked for a reasonable salary while the test group kiddingly asked for $100,000.

There’s another interpretation that it doesn’t appear the researchers have considered: starting what is usually a tense and stressful conversation with levity could put all parties at ease, and that might encourage everyone to work together to find an agreeable compromise. Also missing is a true real-world experiment. Simulations are valuable from a theoretical perspective, but until this technique is tested in a real-world environment, it will be hard to say whether a joke salary request will have a real positive effect on negotiations from the candidate’s point of view.

Would you be willing to start your salary negotiation with a joke?

Journal of Applied Psychology, TIME

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My Varied Job History

This article was written by Flexo in Career and Work. 17 comments.

For some people, finding the right career is easy. During formative years, perhaps one skill outshines all others, directing someone to develop that skill over time. Perhaps there is one particular area that develops into a passion, and the only choice is to follow that passion regardless of the income potential. In my formative years, I found myself interested in a wide variety of things, any of which could have developed into careers, some of which could have been very lucrative.

I can no longer recall the order of my earliest jobs. One of the first, while I was in high school, was as a computer programmer for a small consulting firm that developed custom applications for clients. I fumbled my way through the VisualBASIC programming language, which was fairly new at the time, after several years of hobbyist programming in BASIC. My assignments were relatively easy, but they gave me a chance to learn a skill that could prove to be useful — if I were to keep up with programming and turned it into a career. I studied C and C++. I spent hours of my own time writing and rewriting software for my bulletin board system that hundreds of people accessed by dialing with their computers’ modems. If I had wanted to, I could have taken my computer programming knowledge further by studying in college, but I had other plans.

Another early job during my high school years was working at Radio Shack. I didn’t know much about electronics other than computers, and I didn’t know anything about sales. I left the job knowing that I had no interest in working in retail again. Customers were generally unhappy. Although the company’s catchphrase at the time was, “You’ve got questions; we’ve got answers,” a phrase I was required to utter every time I picked up the store’s phone, occasionally people asked questions for which I didn’t have an answer. Compensation was partly commission-based, and the main goal seemed to be to push the TSP (Tandy Service Plan), which even as a teenager I could see that was almost always a bad deal for the customer. I didn’t want to push extended warranties, and I didn’t want to bother every customer by asking them for their phone number. Eventually, whatever break from school I was on that allowed me to spend time at this job was over, and I left retail never to return.

In college during the year, I occasionally allowed myself a job, but my schedule was usually overloaded with courses that prevented me from taking too much time to do anything other than academic. Additionally, I preferred to take leadership positions in several campus organizations rather than use that potentially free time to earn money. Of course, it helped that loans, scholarships, and my patient parents helped me afford my education. I also had a few office jobs during breaks to help pay, but during the semesters, my attentions were elsewhere. I spent one break working for the university’s music department library, an easy job hat gave me some quiet time to myself as the library was rarely visited.

Also, at the time I was in college, the World Wide Web was new. I developed a few departmental websites, including taking photographs of the staff, scanning various photographs in one of the university’s computer labs, and programming in HTML. I was paid for this work from the departments’ budgets. I also consulted for professors who wanted to develop their own “home pages,” teaching them how to use Netscape to design their own websites without having to teach them much, if any, HTML.

All this time, I was studying music education with the intent to teach. Despite my heavy involvement with computers, my desire had always been to teach music, preferably at the high school level. Somewhere along the way, I changed my mind, but I was the last to know.

In addition to the above, I spent breaks from school in cubicle environments. I usually worked with a temp agency, and impressed with my skills, they lined me up with jobs in corporate environments. With my computer skills, I tended to qualify for some of the more advanced entry-level jobs, sometimes working with computer databases or designing presentations.

After college I worked as a long-term substitute in a middle school while looking for a full-time teaching job that I liked. The middle school teaching experience was one of the worst experiences of my life. My next stop was a non-profit arts organization, managing projects. I had previously worked for the organization as an intern, a requirement of my music management minor. It was a nice organization to work for, except that the organization was practically bankrupt and I was losing money just by working there.

Part of the year, the job required an intense work schedule, which was fine when I was younger. But more and more, executives used cult-like techniques for rationalization of the work. Towards the end of my career there, they invited me to attend the “bring-a-guest” portion of a cult-like re-education seminar, complete with obvious plants talking about how their lives were changed after going through the program. The executives strongly encouraged to sign up for the full program. I wasn’t buying it.

My varied interests led me all over the map in terms of jobs, and made it somewhat difficult for me to focus on one particular career. I suppose one positive thing I’ve taken away from my experiences is that I can do things my way and succeed rather than following a path that’s laid out for me by tradition or common practice. After my first horrible experience teaching, I didn’t want to accept another job unless it was exactly what I wanted — and that eventually led me away from teaching. People chided me for claiming I never wanted to work in retail after a mediocre experience as a Radio Shack employee. The truth was that it wasn’t horrible, and I could have gone back to retail if necessary, but I’ve made that decision work for me so far.

If I’ve drawn any conclusions from my experiences, it would be that I’d much prefer to drive my own career, as long as I can find a profitable way to do it, than rely on employers to be concerned about my financial needs.

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Financial Tips for Students Entering College

This article was written by Flexo in Personal Finance. 15 comments.

Seventeen years ago I was nervous about what was about to transpire. At this time, although I had been away from home for extended periods of time, I was about to leave for college. Honestly, I thought I might not have been able to handle the responsibilities and the new social environment. Rather than living at home and attending a local college like a number of my high school classmates, I was preparing to live on the campus of a major university in another state.

I should have known that I had little to worry about. But there are a few things I wish I had known — or at least thought about — before entering college.

Pay attention to your expenses. For me, my expenses were fairly controlled. On campus, I had a meal plan. My breakfasts, lunches and dinners were paid for in advance and rolled into my tuition and board expenses. In order to eat in one of the many dining halls, all I had to do was flash my student identification card. This meal plan entitled me to a certain number of meals per week in addition to an allotment of “points” which could be used to purchase snacks at other times.

The meals and points expired at the end of each semester, and the college reminded students that “it is [their] responsibility to budget [their] points over the course of the semester/session.” I don’t recall doing any budgeting. I may have known at the time how many meals and points were available to me, but I didn’t do any planning. I ate when I felt like it and bought snacks and other things at the university’s shops when I desired. There was an option to add points to the account, and I’m sure I did this as needed.

Who is paying for college? My undergraduate education was paid for by my parents, a partial scholarship, and loans in my name. While you should not waste your time by failing any courses, this is even more important if your parents or other parties are paying for your education. Wasting your money is a problem, but wasting other people’s money is disrespectful. If you fail a class required for your degree, you will have to take that class again, paying for it twice. It’s not worth it, particularly since it’s usually difficult to outright fail a class. Paying for college yourself supposedly gives you ownership of your academic decisions while in school, but if you’re in a situation where you don’t have to worry about affording your own tuition, then consider yourself lucky.

Work shouldn’t interfere with studies. I am quite grateful I didn’t have to pay for most of my undergraduate education. It allowed me to focus on my education and extracurricular resume-building activities in my field rather than focusing on earning income to afford tuition. I did find a few jobs, however. I stayed on campus for winter and summer sessions to take more classes, but with a lighter load during these in-between semesters, I worked in the department library to earn some extra money. I also served as a web consultant in my department, designing their first departmental web site and teaching professors how to publish their own sites for a measly ten dollars an hour.

These jobs provided me with a little extra cash. I probably spent it just as fast as I was earning it, however.

Have the right bank accounts. It’s essential to establish bank accounts in your name. Free student checking accounts can help you access your money whether at home or at school, and an account that has branches nearby to both locations is one way to ensure your parents can add to your account easily if they are willing to do so. College is a great opportunity to get into positive financial habits early, like moving extra money from your checking account to a high-yield online savings account at regular intervals. This is a great destination for any extra cash you earn from odd jobs, though in college there will always be the temptation to spend money on enhancing the social aspect of the college experience.

Open a Roth IRA. I wish I had known about Roth IRAs when I started college. It would have been impossible for me to do so without a crystal ball or some other form of premonition. These retirement accounts were brought into existence while I was enrolled in the university, but I did not hear of it until a few years after I had graduated. If I had known that I could put money away for retirement in a tax-advantaged account while I was in such a low tax bracket, I might have taken advantage of the opportunity. Then again, I might not have. It’s hard to imagine retirement before you’ve officially begun a career, but it’s harder to argue with long-term investing in the stock market. If I had invested $1,000 in the S&P 500 index on October 11, 1996, it would be worth $1,825 now (not including reinvested dividends) and much more by the time I retire.

Like many, I played the “stock market game” in elementary school, learning how investing works in some respects by using fake accounts to trade. Of course, trading was a different worls when I was young, in which stock market information like prices were only available in newspaper listings. By the time I entered college, I probably knew only a little more about investing, but my interests lay elsewhere. I did not concern myself with the idea of having a secure financial future.

Avoid credit cards. The credit card companies are vultures on college campuses. I remember when I first arrived on campus as a freshman for orientation, one week before the upperclassmen. The companies set tables outside the dorms with applications and free tee-shirts, enticing subfashionable freshmen like myself to sign up. Although I escaped relatively unscathed, having a credit card without a job is asking for trouble. The Credit CARD Act limits card issuers’ abilities to market to students, but the sharks are still out there.

One particularly sneaky aspect of college-geared credit cards is the introductory offer. The 0% APR on purchases deal sounds great, but what they don’t explain is that you must pay off your entire balance on the card before the promotional period ends, otherwise you could owe back interest as if the 0% APR promotion never existed. It’s always explained in the fine print, but if you have an appointment for orientation, chances are you just want to sign the form and grab the tee-shirt.

Forbes offers these thirteen financial tips for students entering college for the first time.

Use credit cards sparingly
Pay all credit card balances in full
Get the best deal on a checking account
Start saving
Keep track of your spending
Set a limit on entertainment
Shop at second-hand stores
Keep an eye out for free money
Get a part-time job with tips
Walk or ride a bike — don’t drive
Avoid the tax on stupidity
Look for student discounts
Don’t eat out all the time

Tavis Smiley has a number of similar suggestions. He suggests making a budget, shopping smart, and learning to cook.

Had I known what I know now about compounding interest and the tendency for the stock market to increase over time, not just theoretically but from experience, I’d be in a better financial position right now. And it’s not about having more money, it’s about having more options for doing the things I like to do.

From a psychological standpoint, it’s unlikely that college students, even after receiving information about making healthy financial choices, will change behavior. That’s just a nature of age. When I was entering college, while I felt like an adult, perhaps subconsciously I knew that I had a few years remaining before I needed to concern myself with adult issues. I wasn’t concerned with retirement because I figured there would be enough time after earning my degree to worry about the future. In many respects, this is true. In college, it’s good to hang on to the last few years of childhood and limited responsibilities. While my finances would have been in better shape earlier on, it’s hard to look back at my life and wish I had taken a different approach.

After all, my financial failings in and after college led to my interest in personal finance, and not much later, the start of this website.

Photo credit: Éamon
Forbes, Tavis Smiley

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Save Money While in College

by Flexo

Higher education has its benefits, both financial and not. A bachelor’s degree helps ensure lifetime earnings will be greater than someone with just a high school diploma. Aside from the financial benefit, the cognitive skills used in tackling tough academics are useful inside and outside of a career. Nevertheless, college students often start careers at ... Continue reading this article…

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7 Tips for Using Student Credit Cards

by Flexo

If you’ve just received your first student credit card, congratulations. Perhaps you’ve used pre-paid debit cards in the past, or maybe this is your first time with plastic. Credit cards are just tools for spending the money that you do have, and are not inherently good or evil. If you use them well, they will ... Continue reading this article…

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May 10: Win a Free Kindle With Wi-Fi

by Flexo

All this month is Giveaway May at Consumerism Commentary. Every day, I’ll be choosing one winner randomly for a prize. Each day there is a small challenge in order to qualify for the giveaway, and today is no exception. Today I have a Kindle With Wi-Fi from Amazon.com to give away. This is the version ... Continue reading this article…

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Podcast 107: Building a Better Budget

by Flexo

Today’s guest on the Consumerism Commentary Podcast is J.D. Roth, author of Your Money: The Missing Manual and the personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly. A few weeks ago, J.D. gave a presentation at an Oregon public library about building and maintaining a budget that works. He adapted the presentation into an article. Today, J.D., ... Continue reading this article…

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