Shopping Missy

We have a couple of sample boxes here in the Philippines - Glamourbox , BDJbox , Saladbox . These companies aim to provide the best way for consumers to try new products by sending a box of sample-sized beauty products monthly. A subscription may be from 1 to 12 months depending on your choice. November of last year, I was at my year's peak of online shopping. Being new to these sample boxes, I opted to subscribe to different companies for 1-3 months - with an expected 6 boxes until April 2014. On my 3rd box, I realized that this sample boxes are not for me. More than half of the products I have received are unusable with my lifestyle - a kitchen deodoriser, green nail polish, lip tint, eye brow grooming certificate or facial treatment. Except for hair care and soaps, I ended up giving away everything else. Yesterday, I surprisingly received my last box. I actually forgot about still having a subscription so I already have 20% happiness just by opening the package :) And I was

Last December, I was trying to stay away from driving to the mall because I knew the traffic would be terrible. With much free time at home coupled with my unused shopping energy, I ended up shopping online.  I am not new to online shopping as I have lived overseas where it's convenient. Back to my story -  I tried having personal items delivered here (in Makati) from strawberrynet.com . Ordered mid of December, tracking stated it arrived here in the Philippines January 2 but I received a notification from the Makati Post Office January 20. The notification was stating that I should personally claim my parcel (no doorstep delivery for parcels via the post office). Upon claiming, I was surprised with how much I needed to pay as "custom taxes." I had expected duty taxes around 12% as that's our VAT rate here in the Philippines but I was charged P1,223 for a P3,257 worth of items. That is 37.5% TAX!! Here is how it was computed: Item cost (2 small perfum