Budget Constraints Keeping You From Shopping To Your Heart's Delight and Content?

These are tough times we are living in, indeed. Shopping is no longer as easy on the pocket or wallet like it used to be. Reason: Shopping Budget squeezed tight to just the bare necessities by inflation and/or significantly reduced income as a result of perpetually increasing taxes, the vulture VAT, and high interest rates.

But there's a better way to shop with your slim budget buying you more. Instead of going to brick-and-mortar stores, where products are priced sky-high, use the Internet and hunt for bargains. Spare yourself the hustle of driving through slow-moving traffic and wading a sea of sometimes foul-smelling humankind in hot, humid, and crowded marketplaces just to look for an item that is all that your pitifully-shrunk budget can afford. Shop in the comfort of your home. The whole world lies before you as your virtual mall. Hunting for bargains has never been easier and very convenient.

There's the risk of course of having your credit card details hijacked and your account wiped clean but that is, if you aren't careful and attentive enough to watch out for security holes when you visit merchant sites. It wouldn't happen though if you just make sure that the letter "s" appears as one more letter to the "http" of the url that you type on your browser's address bar. So instead of just "http://domain.com," it now becomes "https://domain.com." Also, look for the padlock icon on the lower right corner of your browser's window. Well, well, dear me, I shouldn't be telling you this. You know it if you've been using the Internet since its Jurassic days.

But I'm thinking of the many Internet newbies who are just beginning to learn the ABCs of the WorldWideW(onder)and haven't yet heard of the leeches lurking in the dark alleyways of cyberspace preying on unsuspecting surfers. One of them may stumble on this blog and find the above little tip a big help. In which case, this blog shall have contributed, albeit in a very small way, to the effort to make the Internet safer for business transactions, through education.

So go ahead. Shop online. Don't be so overly cautious about risks. Risk is ever-present everywhere you go ... whatever you do. I have had my share of bad malling experience when my purse that had my newly-issued ATM card in it was snatched while I was in a mall brimming with shoppers. But I only have myself to blame for the misfortune because of all stupid things that I could do in my life, nothing could be more stupid than having the ATM card and the piece of paper on which was scribbled my PIN number sitting side by side inside my purse like inseparable love-struck lame ducks. The next thing I knew, my account was sucked dry of its "blood." That was one VERY BIG LESSON I learned and will never forget for the rest of my lfe. I've been avoiding crowded malls since.

I find it a lot more convenient (and safer too) to shop online, except of course for the things that I have no choice but drive to the neighborhood market to buy like: fresh fish, meat, fruits and veggies. I don't think there's any vendor on this planet who could ship to me those goodies as fresh as I could get them from the wet market nearby ... and at prices low enough to leave me having a little extra from my budget with which I could buy other things besides.

You know what, since that unfortunate incident at the mall that had me losing quite a sum to snatchers, I've been thinking of how I could make use of the Internet as the better way to shop, not just for my own convenience and benefit but for those who hate milling around in crowded shopping places as well.

Applying the Law of Financial Success, I worked long hours, oftentimes stretching late into the night, studying the Internet. And then the opportunity presented itself ... when I least expected it.

HAPPY SHOPPING :)