Online Shopping, It's the Only Way to Go... now with added GIVEAWAY!

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post in any way. All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid any money or given anything other than a voucher to be used for a giveaway for you lucky readers. So shut-up and be grateful! You can read my disclosure policy here.

On Tuesday I wrote a rather Ranty McRanterson post about my dislike for shopping, and in particular my hatred for grocery shopping. A lot of the comments suggested that I give online grocery shopping a go and I tell ya, a lightbulb went off in my head.

We used online grocery shopping quite a few times when it was first launched and it worked really well so to be honest, I have no idea why I stopped using it and promptly forgot all about it. Actually no, I think one of the reasons might have been because I kept forgetting my login details and had to go through all the rigmarole of setting everything up again. That would definitely be a reason why Miss Queen of Laziness over here would stop bothering!

I think another reason might be because it requires so much fore-thought and planning, re: meals for the week etc. But I am thinking I am going to give it another go. Maybe this week, just depends on if I can get Dave to sit down with me to plan a little bit ahead!

The thing is, I love online shopping. One of the things I buy the most online is books. Don't get me wrong, if there is one kind of shopping that I DO love to do, it's book shopping, but there is nothing like the convenience of reading a review of a new book and then jumping straight over to Booktopia to order a copy, or having a copy sent straight to my Kindle or iPad instantaneously.

One of the other places that I love to shop online at is group-buying websites. You know the ones with the daily deals that are massively discounted if a certain amount of people buy the product, holiday or experience? I LOVE them!

I love them so much in fact that I am signed up to all of the group-buying websites daily emails and have a special folder in my email where they are all delivered so I can go through them all in the one place.

The sweet 40x50 cm canvas print I bought via a group-buying site
You don't want to see the 50x100cm canvas prints I also got, which are bigger than I expected, so make the photos I used of Mia on them look more than a little freaky weird. Actually, that could be a whole post in and of itself!

I've bought nail polish, books, canvas photo prints, holiday vouchers, hair dressing vouchers, even a mother-flippin thing to project DVDs on to your roof (don't ask me why, I think I got caught up in the shopping fever and it was like 90% off, a total bargain and it's actually really cool but not something we technically needed) and every time I've saved a shit-load of money. It's awesome.

So you can imagine that when I got an email from a lovely man at Groupon, one of the awesome group-buying websites that I am signed up to, asking if I would like to offer you, dear readers, a $50 voucher to use towards anything you like from the Groupon.com.au website, well. I fucking wet my pants jumped at the chance.

The timing was perfect as I was actually trying to think of a few things I could offer in a giveaway to celebrate Mia's forthcoming 1st birthday. So today I am doing just that! I am giving you the chance to win said $50 voucher, to use on the Groupon website.

There are some seriously awesome offers at the moment, but one of the things I like about the Groupon website is the photography stuff they offer. They have heaps of offers for sessions with professional photographers for bargain prices, as well as the opportunity to participate in photography courses. I am always particularly interested in the offers for photography courses because, as you all know, I am a photography nut and love to learn as much as I can about my passion.

If you want to see what kinds of things are on offer then jump on over here to the Groupon website (personally I'm pretty keen to get my hands on this set of canvas prints). As I said, there's all sorts of things you can get for a great discount. If you're interested in any of the photography offers then you should pop over here to see what's currently available and what things they have lined up for the future.

To be in the running to win, simply leave a comment on this post, and don't forget to validate it using the little competition widget below. There's also a few other ways to increase your chances of winning so get on it!

So today, on this Thankful Thursday with We Heart Life, I am thankful for online shopping. I am thankful that I have a computer and internet that allows me to indulge in online shopping. I am thankful to have the money and a means of generating income to be able to indulge in online shopping. And I am thankful that online shopping allows me to keep the shreds of my sanity intact by not having to spend too much time with the hoards in the shopping centres! What are you thankful for today? And be honest, you're totally jealous of my DVD roof projector aren't you?!? And stay tuned next week when I announce two more things I am giving away to celebrate my Mia's 1st Birthday.  Why? Because I can that's why!
Also linking this is up with the awesome Grace for FYBF, who is currently on a sweet family holiday to Bali! Jealous! Giveaway Terms & Conditions: The $50 Groupon Australia giveaway is open only to Australian residents aged 18 years and over. The voucher can only be used on the Groupon Australia website, www.groupon.com.au, and is valid for 6 months. Competition closes 22/11/12, the winner will be announced here on the blog on 23/11/12 and the winner will be contacted via email within 48 hours after the end of the giveaway. The winner will receive a voucher code to the value of $50 to be used on the Groupon.com.au website.