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Hack-Friendly Last-Minute Gifts on the Cheap
Posted by Kevin Purdy at 12:30 AM on December 22, 2007
Tired of forking over too much cash for gift cards for last-minute gifts? The Zen Habits blog points out more than two dozen life-hack-friendly, GTD-ish gifts that can be had for less than $10 and show a bit more thought than a Home Depot voucher. Amongst the goods suggested are a Moleskine notebook (likely not name brand at that price), pedometers, and a self-made cookbook. I'm sure our readers have far more great suggestions, however—what have you all given when time and money aren't abundant? Spread the spirit of productive giving in the comments!
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
weedwalker
Posted 5:57 AM 21/12/07
Did you mean "forking over"?
weedwalker
Therevan
Posted 6:45 AM 21/12/07
Hey everyone: Sorry if the article lacked a link before—no idea why that happened. Should be fixed now.
Therevan
Iain Cheyne
Posted 6:31 AM 21/12/07
Here is a link to the original Zen Habits article:
[zenhabits.net]
Iain Cheyne
HeartBurnKid
Posted 8:26 AM 21/12/07
I actually took the advice from this post for a last-minute gift I put together last night for a friend; I took a 2GB memory stick, put a bunch of free- and abandonware games on it, boxed it up with a couple of inexpensive game pads (I always have a few laying around, as they're great for DIY projects; I made sure to give her ones I hadn't opened up yet, of course!), and called it a "gaming kit".
I'm giving it to her today; we'll see how it goes over.
HeartBurnKid
Therevan
Posted 8:02 AM 21/12/07
@longbourne: Ha!
Therevan
Brian
Posted 8:00 AM 21/12/07
If you were to go with the smaller moleskine, like the pocket-sized one, you can get one of those for right around $10. I know, because my mother-in-law picked one up for me at Borders (while I was there, which was funny) for my stocking. :D
Brian
longbourne
Posted 7:35 AM 21/12/07
Not as awkward as giving both baked goods and a pedometer. With one hand you giveth, with the other you taketh away...
longbourne
technotolitan
Posted 7:23 AM 21/12/07
I'm sorry but some of those idea's would really just never fly.
#25 - A jar of gratitude.
You would get some pretty awkward looks with that one I think.
technotolitan
genix
Posted 6:20 AM 21/12/07
Where is the link to the blog post?
genix
mahalie
Posted 12:05 PM 21/12/07
This won't help those who are already scrambling, but when I see a crazy deal/sale for something cool I stock up ahead of time. Things everyone likes such as good-smelling candles, board games, and novelty/gag gifts like weird ice molds. T-shirt blanks are great for last minute sew/draw/iron on and I got some bulk bags of costume jewelry off ebay, most ladies I know (myself included) can't resist "sparklies"...my emergency gift stash. It's saved me a dozen times this year.
mahalie
GBMax
Posted 8:39 PM 21/12/07
Scotch RESTICKABLE adhesive glue sticks. Make your own post-its! Who couldn't use one of these? Try your local Staples store.
GBMax
Schalliol
Posted 6:29 AM 22/12/07
Watch out for the tire monitoring devices (at least the linked brand). Here's a reviewer from Amazon:
I had high hopes for these. Bought several sets, put them on all my three cars' tires. Then this spring when changing back to summer tires from winter tires I decided to do pressure checks on the remounted summer tires. All had Accu-Pressure caps on them and all the caps showed green. When checked with my tire pressure gage, all were 10 psi down from the nominal value stamped on the caps.
The caps are worthless junk, in my view. Car and Driver tested them a while back and found pretty much the same thing.
Schalliol