Alright people, it is my birthday time!! And what really happens every year on my birthday,since I’ve been married is that my husband, Steve, tries to surprise me. Yes! He is adorable and I love him for that. But he just can’t pull off a surprise on me. I always manage to figure out what he is planning because he just can’t keep any secret.

Birthdays mean shopping and partying. It also means extra expenses. Now as a grown up, I can afford a little binge every now and then but it was not always like this. Let me rewind my life a little bit and take you down memory lane. When I was a little girl, my dad would take me shopping for a birthday dress at least a month in advance. The reason why my dad used to do this was because my birthday falls on Halloween, which is incidentally on end of the month. Towards the month end, the finances would usually be a little tight around the house, so my dad would also set my birthday party budget much in advance, so that there would be no unwelcome surprises.

The funny thing is that, when you grow up, the tables get turned. It is now cheaper, if you shop on your birthday than on any other day. A lot of stores give discounts or freebies for the birthday kid.

Victoria’s Secret does that and so does the cosmetics retailer Sephora.. I’m sure that there are many more on this list. This would please a lot of people out there. The trick to happy shopping on your birthday is to know the stores that give will you goodies for free or at discounted rates.

So this time around, it turns out that you can bake your cake and have it too.

Happy Birthday to me and Happy Shopping to you!