ALKHOBAR: We’ve all seen the advertisements that show a credit card involved in the creation of a wonderful occasion to remember forever. Of course when the credit card bill arrives, that will also create a memory - one that would be forgettable if the payments didn't go on for so long.
My perspective on our society's propensity toward spending is that it's ridiculous. I've got stuff — loads of it — and I don't need any more. It's easy to give people stuff because all that's required in the giving is money or lacking that, credit. Personally, what I look for in a gift is time. How much effort went into making the gift? Does the gift involve spending time with me? Does the gift show the giver's creativity or just the ability to throw around some cash?
I have surrounded myself with presents made by family and friends. The walls of my office are hung with paintings done just for me. I have an amazing dried flower arrangement that was created out of weeds. It's so beautiful and in terms of materials, it cost nothing. Flower arrangements are lovely thoughtful gifts and anyone can learn to make them using inexpensive materials and the easy videos from WonderHowTo.com.
When my husband wants to give me a romantic gift, he ties on his denim apron and I know that an evening of fun is ahead in the kitchen. The FoodNetwork.com is a superb resource for planning the perfect meal to prepare as a family. The site makes available everything from shopping lists to menu suggestions and cooking lessons, so there's no hassle involved. If you're on a diet or need to eat low-fat or sugar free, the FoodNetwork.com has superb meal suggestions, too. You might want to let someone else search for those recipes though, since the site does have an entire section devoted to homemade chocolate treats.
Cooking may not be your forte, but perhaps poetry is. I have a collection of handmade cards with original verse written inside. They've arrived on special occasions over the years. I keep the cards in an antique box and take them out when I'm feeling blue. They always cheer me. An updated version of this idea is to use an e-card available online and add a personal message or poem to the graphics. Such e-cards can be sent at anytime, not just for occasions. In fact, people remember them more when they're unexpected. Consider using the e-cards from www.care2.com. For every e-card sent from their site, Care2 makes a donation to an environmental nonprofit organization to save a square foot of rainforest.
Not every gift is one that can be held in the hand. A friend of mine gave her husband a special gift for his birthday. She promised that she would stop being late when they were going out together. To do that she got herself organized. After a few months of effort she told me that the gift she'd given her husband had actually been an even better gift for herself.
There are plenty of online organizers and mobile calendar applications to help with such a gift. Recently I found some nice ones at www.springpadit.com. At the site you'll find Springpads, which are free online notebooks that help you manage your life. Use your Springpad to keep track of notes, photos, maps, to-do's, contacts, appointments and more. You can use the templates for one of the themed Springpads already available or create and customize your own. Springpads can be shared within a family or group to get organized around an event or project. Or if there's someone you know who could use a little help getting through life, create a customize Springpad that reflects his or her activities and special events. Since the Springpad can be reused, there will never be a need to rewrite regularly occurring calendar entries again.
One gift entry that could be placed in your Springpad is a chat with someone special. It's easy to use your mobile phone to place a call, but the resulting bill can be painful. I call my relatives who live outside the Kingdom with a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) application. If your computer is running Microsoft Windows, Skype has just launched Skype 4.0 for Windows, the most distinctive new release in the company's five-year history. Thanks to the feedback of tens of thousands of people, the new version offers full-screen video calling, crystal clear call quality and is easier to use than ever before. In addition, Skype users will find all of the features they have come to expect — free voice and video calls to other Skype users, instant messaging and SMS.
For its Face-to-Face Video Calling, Skype has a built-in bandwidth manager, which ensures that consumers have the very best Skype video calling experience possible even on a low-bandwidth connection. Many people in Saudi Arabia are struggling with low-bandwidth and call quality is substantially improved in the new version of Skype. The new audio codec achieves wideband audio quality using fifty percent less bandwidth than previously required. For a more detailed explanation of the many other features and improvements in the application, or to download Skype 4.0 for Windows visit www.skype.com/go/download.
Remember, that the best gifts are the ones from the heart. Make an effort. Give your time. Share your life and your talents to create wonderful presents that money can’t buy.