It’s a time for giving – picking out that perfect gift for someone you care about and then seeing the look of the delight in their eyes as they see something they never expected but nevertheless always wanted. It’s a demonstration of a bond and knowing the person better than they know themselves. Or if you can’t be bothered just get them a voucher.

Image via HowardLake

Guess what, I’m doing okay for myself and if I want to buy something for myself. I earn this thing called money that allows me to go to a shop and buy it any time.

Now what I’ve been given is money that limits my buying options. Thanks so much. It’s like taking someone to Florida and only letting them visit NASA when all you want to see is a giant mouse and roller coasters.

Well maybe there is something that you really want and the vouchers will be greatly appreciated. Then you go to buy and it turns it costs just a little too much. Rather than getting a lovely gift you end up resenting having to spend your own money on something you only got because it was in a particular place at a particular time.

Then you’re left questioning whether you’ve bought the right thing, just because you were in the shop or if you should have waited until there was something you really wanted. Then you realise you don’t like shopping anyway so it’s best to get out of there as soon as you can, especially if it’s those horrendously busy January sales.

Think I’m thinking in an ungrateful and slightly unstable, especially since someone has been generous enough to acknowledge my pitiful existence? Maybe you’re right but have you thought of the worst case scenario?

Shopping could be dangerous. You get attacked by a bear or the sky could fall.

Lucky there are online stores for nearly all the shops now so that danger can be avoided.

From everyone at Cashzilla, have a Happy New Year and enjoy the sales.

This Cashzilla writer is currently suffering from a breakdown. How do you plan on spending your vouchers? Tell us about it below.

Pic by mnem

Swirling winds, rugged landscapes and hillsides covered in heather are epitomised as the symbols of Scottishness by Scotch whisky companies, but this image is predicted to have a detrimental effect on the industry over the next five years.

The Dark Spirits report by market researchers Mintel has predicted that UK sales will drop 10% by 2016 because the current images of “heather and weather” is off-putting to younger drinkers. There’s a much greater sense of ceremony with Scotch, partly because they think it should be drunk neat compared to imported US whiskies which are more commonly mixed with the likes of cola or ginger ale.

Thanks to a spike in demand in emerging markets such as Brazil and Japan, exports have risen by 60% over the last 10 years, but in the UK sales have been falling.

There has been a general decline in alcohol sales in the UK, but the report suggests that Scotch is being hit particularly hard due to its image. It is often seen as a drink for dad, so despite some more up-to-date marketing campaigns from whisky companies, contemporary packaging, and attempts to target younger shoppers, its antiquated image could still see it lose more than £300m over the next five years.

Younger drinkers and women generally prefer drinks with a sweeter, more approachable flavour profile, but in 2010 a survey by ASDA found that 33% of the supermarket’s female shoppers were buying whisky, and that 60% of the women question had developed a taste for it through their husbands. More than half were also choosing to drink it neat, helping to partly dispel the male-dominated stereotype.

A senior drinks analyst for Mintel has said that major brands such as Glenfiddich and Talisker, which are owned by drinks giant Diageo, “have been guilty of focusing on ‘heather and weather’ imagery rather than more personable identity projected by the likes of bourbon import, Jack Daniel’s. Such a focus is far from emotionally engaging and feels somewhat tired.”

According to the report, overall UK whisky sales will fall from £2.55bn to £2.25bn by 2016 with Scotch bearing most of the brunt, while the sale of US imports such as bourbon are actually bucking the trend by showing a growth in sales.

There may be tough time ahead for the UK market, but a report last month by the SWA (Scotch Whisky Association) showed a 22% increase in exports for the first half of 2011, a surge which is a direct contribution to the Scottish government’s target of a 50% increase by 2017. This overall increase is the result of a burgeoning market in Asia which rose by 33% to £423m, and in Central and South America exports leapt nearly 50% to £214m. The world’s two biggest Scotch markets, the US and France, rose 14% to £268m, and 13% to £220m respectively.

Do you think the Scotch whisky industry needs a makeover? Go to our comments section below and tell us what you think would make it more appealing.

Some of my new favourite haunts include –

Rockit

This is a London based shop (they have four stores in total) but have a really decent online shop. They have a particularly lovely selection of silk scarves and their bags are also rather tempting. I really want this.

Armstrongs

Armstrong’s is an Edinburgh based Vintage Emporium that has clothing from every decade. The store on the Grassmarket is really worth a visit if you’re ever in Edinburgh, it’s a mammoth store crammed with copious amounts vintage goodies. The pricing is also really fair.

Godiva

This is another Edinburgh based vintage delight. It’s quite a small shop but I have been going here for years and they not only sell second hand stuff but also stock the most amazing range of handmade independent designers stuff. They often have pieces from graduates and their prices are unbelievable. Basically this shop is total yum. They currently don’t have an online store but it is something they are working on so keep your eyes peeled.

So perhaps vintage shopping isn’t exactly an ideal plan for my money saving strategy but it is definitely better than shopping on the high street. The chances are that if you opt to buy vintage you will spend less, get better quality clothing and it’s more ethical. So, at least when vintage shopping you can feel a lot less guilty.

One thing that seems to have cropped up is the issue of the 99p on the end of a lot of items. It is well known that having something priced at £9.99 not only means that shops can say it is below £10, but it also makes us feel as though we are spending less. However, today when I was shopping on Argos’s website, (as I am moving house soon) I noticed all the £9.99 things now cost £10.20.

So what happens now? If shops still want to hold on the 99p, they’re either going to have to drop their prices, or raise them all the way to £10.99, which isn’t too cool.

I also wonder what this means for the pound shop. While a lot of the goods in the pound shop aren’t supposed to cost that in the first place, does this means we’ll be getting less known brands on offer in the pound shop, and more what we would expect for the price.

Many customers are hoping that retailers won’t round-up prices just to keep them at a desirable number, as that would end up costing us even more than the VAT increase already will.

Research conducted by THS Omnibus has revealed that even in the current time of economic downturn, Halloween is still a major spending priority for many people. The survey showed that retailers could expect to earn up to £180m from Halloween-related purchases this year, including sales of party foods, drinks and sweet. The results also revealed an interesting gender disparity; men plan to spend twice as much on their Halloween costumes as women.

Halloween revelers in Britain spend an average of £30 each on their costumes but men appear more willing to splash out on something a little more extravagant, spending an average of £43 each. Women, by contrast, spend just £20 each on their costumes. Unfortunately, THS Omnibus don’t offer an explanation for why men spend more but it may be that women often have more clothes that can be temporarily re-purposed for fantasy dress while men often have to buy an entirely new outfit.

The findings also overturn the myth of the miserly Scots, showing that Halloween is more popular north of the border than in many parts of England, with people in Scotland spending an average of £32 each on Halloween-related items compared to £23 in the English midlands.

Halloween has become increasingly popular in Britian in recent years and has shifted from being a festival for children to one that can be enjoyed by people of all ages, with many adults throwing extravagant parties. For retailers, it occupies a convenient midpoint between back-to-school spending at the end of summer and the start of the Christmas shopping period in the late autumn/early winter.

The ongoing economic difficulties doesn’t seem to have affected Halloween festivities in the United States either, where Halloween sweet sales are expected to be up 9% on 2009 figures.

I was horrified today to find out about the case of Karyn Bosnak, a self-confessed shopaholic who ran up a debt of over $20,000 dollars … which was promptly paid off by the public when she set up a website …. pleading with her audience to pay off the debt. She couldn’t even state exactly how she got into such a mess, just presents a rather – ‘oops I’m blonde’ argument, and suckers from all around the world queue up.

There are also stories of women asking for money for boob jobs on the internet and receiving large donations. Does anyone place value in hard-work and accountability anymore? Certainly if boob jobs were funded by hard graft, rather than a hard ‘shaft’, then it might allow the owner to develop thoughts about financial assets, rather than plastic ones.

Everybody laughed at overweight McDonalds fans when they tried to take the fast food giant to court for making them fat, but apparently it’s ok to blame banks and credit card companies for preying upon vulnerable consumers. Has it become acceptable to work less, spend more and satirise the consequences?

It’s not like the information isn’t there… there are loads of financial product comparison sites loaded with information: http://www.moneynet.co.uk/ for a start, or even http://www.moneysavingexpert.com or http://www.uswitch.com/. Naturally this will involve lifting a highly expensive manicured nail and clicking the mouse a few times, but even for blonde Karyn Bosnak, I’m sure that should not have been too much trouble. As an American (need I say more) she would have had access to http://www.lowermybills.com, but even though it’s an interesting site, it’s not as pretty as Prada.

Ps: if anyone wants to pay my student loans off because I am a nice person, please e-mail ahead. I make great tea and recycle household rubbish. I also believe in world peace.