BUDGET BLOGMAS | DAY TWELVE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GIFT GUIDES | IN COLLABORATION WITH PRETTY PERFECT PRODUCTS | AD


Hello and welcome to I’m NOT Disordered’s Budget Blogmas!

So, today is an introduction to probably the most stereotypical and predictable posts of a Blogmas series: Gift Guides…

The importance of being unique:

From the very beginning of creating this year’s Blogmas, I knew that I’d end up publishing some gift guides during the series… It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do them; it was just a sort of reluctance because of the thought that gift guides are just so predictable.

When I first created I’m NOT Disordered in 2013, there were really only three well-known mental health blogs and none of them were written by a current psychiatric hospital inpatient. Without even trying, I had found a niche! And I fully believe that having that – having that special, unique quality to my blog; really aided in its first few years. I think it helped my blog to ‘take off’ and become so popular that it has earned me a huge number of incredibly amazing and exciting opportunities. 

With that experience in mind, I’m very aware that now the blogging industry is so saturated – particularly by mental health blogs – it’s more important than ever to maintain some sense of individuality if I want to continue to grow I’m NOT Disordered, its audience, and the opportunities it provides me. And so, to do this, I put a ton of effort and time into attempting to make my content original and different in some way – any way – that will leave readers feeling somewhat benefited in a way that they may have been missing out amongst blogs which have similar content. 





Having that over-saturated industry and turning it into motivation to be more creative with my content, is enjoyable and something which I absolutely thrive on. But, I’m also all about having a balance in blogging and there needs to be one here… One between having a competitive side and it being 100% about support. I think that the balance is labelling it inspiration. Inspiration to do better. And so me taking on ‘Blogmas’ was actually inspired by the ‘Vlogmas’ content I saw YouTube users creating.

Why I’ve created gift guides anyway:

It seems that no matter the setup for your Christmas content, most often Bloggers and YouTubers are creating gift guides full of inspiration for presents for various (but usually specific in the actual piece of content) loved ones. And the thing is, I completely understand why. I mean, it’s kind of obvious content isn’t it? For so many people, presents are a huge part of their Christmas and if you want your blog posts to be relevant and to resonate with your readers, why wouldn’t you include gift guides at Christmastime?

In addition to wanting to create practical content, I also wanted to use gifts guides as the perfect opportunity to really illustrate the whole ‘Budget Blogmas’ theme. So, rather than use the bigger High Street and more luxury brands that a lot of fashion and beauty bloggers do, I’ve gone for more affordable stores and products/items. And it feels so much more relatable and practical. Like, the chances are; if you’re reading a mental health blog, you’ll have some sort of experience – whether that be personally or as a Carer and professional etc – of mental health; and it’s no secret that struggling in that way, can contribute to your need to budget and to your income as a whole. 

So – as with all of my blog’s content (though admittedly in a very different way) – I wanted for the Budget Blogmas gift guides to help people. I want them to be seen as an opportunity to feel less pressure at the thought of having to spend a ton of money on gifts for absolutely everyone you care about! I want for these posts to illustrate that it doesn’t take a lot of cash to give a present to someone. I don’t want anyone to feel inadequate in some way because they need to budget whilst others (particularly bloggers) are buying and receiving really extravagant and expensive gifts.

So, I hope you guys enjoy the following few posts of gift guides - I’m really sorry if it’s not up your street, but please be kind for those who do appreciate this type of content and be patient for the blog posts after these! 


 

ALL THE PPP LINKS:

https://prettyperfectproducts.com/

https://www.facebook.com/prettyperfectproducts

https://www.instagram.com/prettyperfectproducts_/?hl=en

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PerfectPrettyShop

10% Discount Code on either the PPP website or their Etsy store: ‘AIMEE10’

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