The Bargainista team is growing again...

One of the most rewarding things about having a blog is you! You make Bargainista the community that it is today.

When I first started blogging, three years ago this month, I wondered if anyone would care what I had to say. Then some friends started reading Bargainista and leaving comments. It was the motivation I needed to keep going. Soon people I hadn’t met in real life started leaving comments, subscribing to the feed or the email updates. The community started to grow.

Now almost 700 posts and three years later, we’ve had several guest blog posts and a regular column – baby bargainista – written primarily by Jenny and Rebecca, who have been doing an awesome job.

One community member in particular made herself known to me. She first came on my radar when she started leaving comments and won a giveaway soon after. We started emailing a bit and her warm, enthusiastic personality came through.

Contrary to what many people think about bloggers and their communities, many of us do meet in real life. Last June at the ChickAdvisor Recessionista Shop Crawl, we met in person. Sumaya was as sweet in real life as she was online. We introduced ourselves to each other and she gave me a warm hug.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I was spending more time responding to emails from companies or people representing their clients than I was actually researching and writing new posts. From speaking with some of you in person, I knew many of you were wondering what happened to the volume and type of posts you used to read here. Ideas of enhancements were swirling in my head but with a full-time job and family, there was only so much time I could spend on the blog. Something had to change.

Perhaps a virtual assistant would be the answer. Only problem was, how could I justify paying an assistant when I’m not earning money from Bargainista? Even if I decided to try incorporating advertising or sponsorship to try and pay for a virtual assistant, it would take time – time that I didn’t have.

Fortunately, about a week later, Sumaya emailed me and told me she was pursuing a career in public relations – I had no idea – and she asked if I would introduce her to the principals of her favourite PR agency. I did. And then the wheels started turning.

Wouldn’t it make the most sense to create a position for a member of the community? Would she be interested in working together to create an internship/editorial assistant role whereby in exchange, she’d receive mentoring from me and the occasional product sent Bargainista’s way? So I asked her and she said “yes”!

I’m thrilled that Sumaya has agreed to join the team. Already she has done a great job of organizing Bargainista’s inbox. She’ll be helping me respond to some of the email requests I receive, post local event notices and perhaps some product reviews as a guest blogger.

Please help me welcome Sumaya to the team and stay tuned for my interview with her in an upcoming post.

Interview with Sumaya Khan – the newest edition to Bargainista’s team

Sumaya Khan recently joined team Bargainista as an editorial assistant/intern. Self-described as an “Upbeat and fun chick looking forward to a great career in public relations and marketing,” currently interning at Matchstick, I thought you might like to get to know her a bit better. I know I did.

Why have you decided to accept the challenge of Bargainista intern?
As someone who’s interested in social media, this is a great opportunity to gain exposure to various aspects in the industry. Interning at Bargainista will definitely help me gain the experience I need to pursure my career in the future.

How long have you been reading Bargainista?
I’ve been reading it for almost two years.

What was your favourite post?
I’ve enjoyed reading Eden’s weight loss journey with Nutrisystem. It’s great to see results just by healthy exercise and eating right.

If you could change anything about Bargainista, what would it be and why?
As more information is flowing in, I hope to see some changes in the layout.

What do you want other members of Bargainista’s community to know about you?
Now that I will be actively helping with the blog, feel free to say hi or ask me any questions! I’m just one e-mail/tweet/facebook away!

You can reach Sumaya at bargainista at gmail dot com.

Bargainista’s list of 2009 Boxing Day Sales

This list will be updated continuously so check it often. You may also want to click through to Bargainista’s comprehensive list on Twitter.

If you find a sale that isn’t listed here please add it by leaving a comment or e-mail me and we’ll do our best to post it quickly.

Sumaya is helping out this year. The ˆES or ˆSK at the end of each tweet represents our intials.

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Trip to The Clothing Show

Sumaya makes her Bargainista guest post debut sharing her experience The Clothing Show. Thanks to the organizers, she was able to attend for free and we were able to giveaway three pairs of passes to some of you as well.

Twice a year, I make sure to save up for a girls’ night shopping spree at The Clothing Show because I am always sure to get great discounts on clothing, jewelry and shoes.

Whether you you’re looking for the perfect vintage scarf or the funky-style leopard print clutch, this place really has it all and this past weekend wasn’t any different. I called my girlfriend up on Friday and we headed to the Better Living Centre in Toronto. When we arrived, we got a great tote bag (note: works well for doing groceries) along with some samples at the front desk and off we went!

This year, over 300 independent designers showcased their own designs. Out of the 300, our favourites included Kibo Natural Body Care, Outlaw by Design, and dara dot designs.

At Kibo, I was introduced by countless of natural soap and body products made by Kim Boland from Aurora, Ontario. I’ve always adored her soaps which is one of the reasons why I go back to the Show. Another vendor I admired was Outlaw by Design, an indie leather company from Toronto that sells authentic leather for an affordable price. I am still drooling over the neon orange belt I bought for only $15! Lastly, dara dot designs caught my eye some number of years ago when I accidently stumbled upon her etsy page. Ever since then, I’ve always been a big fan of her jewelry designs. It also helps if you’re one of the sweetest girls in town ;P

The best part of the night was the fashion show which highlighted some one of the local designers who were selling their clothes at the show. What better way to start the weekend than to see great local designs?! I can’t wait to attend next year’s show!

Have you been to The Clothing Show? If so, what did you enjoy most?

My Shop Crawl haul

Have you ever been to a ChickAdvisor Shop Crawl? Maybe you’ve thought about it but weren’t quite sure about spending $25* to save money and party with a bunch of other women (well, mostly women) who love shopping too.

Last Thursday, I attended the ChickAdvisor Recessionista Shop Crawl. The weather was a perfect ’cause the rain stayed away. My plan was to see how much swag I could walk away with without dropping a penny. Well, things didn’t quite go as planned. The deals were hard to resist and I spent some of my hard-earned cash. At least it wasn’t all on me. With an extra 25% off regular and sale items at Banana Republic, I bought Mr. B a Father’s Day gift too.

Anyway, I thought you’d like to know what I got for free, so I’ve included a photo. As you can see, I came away with a lot of goodies, including a $100 gift certificate towards an overnight stay at the Park Hyatt (another gift for Mr. B), a $25 gift certificate for Stillwater spa, 10% off at Roots online store and lots of beauty products from Maybelline – the event sponsor. All shoppers who completed the crawl got a swag bag with a bunch of stuff from the sponsor, a martini ticket and a lot of surprises on the way. Plus there were games and prizes at the FLOW after party.

Over the next little while, I’ll be coming up with a contest or two so I can share some of this swag with some of you.

This post wouldn’t be complete without a shout-out to Ali, Alex and the rest of the ChickAdvisor team for making the night a success, and especially to Sumaya – we finally met in person and she’s a sweetie.

What did you think of the Shop Crawl? Would you go again? What would you suggest to make it even better?

*Full disclosure: as a media friend, I received a complimentary ticket.