Gogoprint - Your "Go-to" digital printer for personalised printing!

Amongst my own circle of friends and contacts, I have noted that increasingly, we are getting more entrepreneurial as many are dabbling into small businesses. With that, having ready simple collateral such as business cards, tags, and even brochures are important in communicating the services and products we carry.

I, for one, definitely should look into the printing ofbusiness cards for my blog, something that I have put on hold for the longest time. But with the kiddo’s party, that’s another story altogether. I find planning for her parties easy as they are usually theme bases are you can read more about a “Frozen” party here and a “How to train your dragon” art jamming party here.

I have been doing self design for the invitation cards as well as gift tags etc, for the last few years where I print them at a digital printer in Bras Basah. But this year, I decided to try out Gogoprint's online service as it even provides door-to-door delivery! 

Gogoprint is a leading online printing marketing and technology firm, which has the distinct vision to make ordering printing products easy and cost-effective, thereby helping small- and medium-sized businesses to market their businesses and to grow. From popular promotional materials such as flyers, brochures and folders, to business cards and digital booklets, choices are aplenty. So this year, I decided to try out Gogoprint where everything is done online, with just a few clicks!

Gogoprint’s products are listed on the mainpage where at one glance you can click and enter into the dedicated product page where you can then specify your requirements by choosing:

• Size
• Materials
• Finishing
• Quantity, etc

In the case of our gift tags, we can even opt for the position for them to punch the hole for us to loop in the strings!

As Dumpling’s birthday theme this year is on Star Wars, we decided to print a booklet in addition to some gift tags and sticks using similar artwork like what we did for her e-invitation.

The party booklet which turned out gorgeous. The print was crisp and the matt lamination looked really great with the black!

Check out our stickers and thank you gift tags! We could print round shaped stickers with Gogoprint! Something that I couldn't do with my previous printer! 

Best of all, the order was done in just 3 steps! 

Here’s a walk through of how simple it was to order:

:: Step 1: Choose my options

So this is where I get to customise on materials, size, finishing (glossy or matt) and the number of pages for my booklet. What was useful for me was the short description for the under “materials” which helps me make better choices on the type of materials to choose.

:: Step 2: Choose Quantity and Delivery Speed

 The website shows very clearly the various price range for different quantity and different delivery dates. For my 8 pp booklet, I noticed that the incremental difference for non urgent orders is only about $1+ per booklet!  

 :: Step 3: Upload File

And just like that, I was brought to the next section to upload my file (free for pdf files). (For my artwork, I used both powerpoint as well as Canva to create them.) 

And once the file is uploaded, I was then prompted to checkout where I can make my payment via credit card. 

 

:: What about delivery?

The delivery was prompt as per the date indicated in my cart and the booklets were gorgeous! The printing was crisp and sharp and the paper, as per what my order was (I opted for a thick paper for the cover). Check them out! 

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored conversation where Dumpling and I were invited to review the Gogoprint's digital printing service so that we can share our experience on it. All views expressed are entirely mine and does not represent the organisation that I work for.

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!  

POSB Smart Buddy - Preparing your child for the future world

Singapore, as a whole, is moving towards a cashless society in its aim to be a smart nation. This is made even more evident in PM Lee’s recent National Day Rally speech. And as parents, we are encouraging coding and STEM so it is certainly not surprising that our children are getting a lot more tech savvy than we were at their age.

POSB Smart Buddy Programme is a tech (with a mobile app) that teaches children how to spend and save money using a watch which is a device for cashless payments. I was invited for a briefing as well as to trial the watch with Dumpling.

:: What are the features of the POSB Smart Buddy watch?

The Smart Buddy watch also acts as a fitness tracker (steps and calories counter). Additionally, if your child’s school is participating in the programme, it allows your child to make cashless transactions in the school’s canteen, school’s bookshop and even at merchants out of the school compound.

:: How does it work?

The POSB Smart Buddy watch is linked up to your savings / current account. More importantly, it allows the parent to view the below to understand the spending patterns of the child:

:: 3 things we like about the POSB Smart Buddy Watch

1) Ease of use

It’s as simple as a “tap and go” to make that NETS transaction. Dumpling tried first this out at Popular bookstore. 

All she had to do was to raise her watch and tap against the payment unit and the transaction was reflected real-time via my app.

2) Real-time “top up” and transactions update

I was away at the library when the dad and her decided on a KFC meal and the kiddo wanted to pay for it. Her balance was at $5.80 but the meal costs $8.8.

A quick call to me and I topped up there and then in the library and she was able to pay for it in under 2 minutes!

The best part is in the event if your child drops the watch, we can disable the watch via our app on the phone remotely! How’s that for security? J

3) Encourages the kiddo to be more active

Believe it or not, Dumpling was really excited with the steps and calories counter as it looks somewhat like the smart watch that I am using. She was motivated to walk a lot just to see how many steps she took and if she can outdo herself the following day. I think that this feature, when rolled out in more schools, will be one which will get the children trying to outdo each other, which in turn, get them to walk more and lead a healthier lifestyle. 

:: OK, so I understand the functions of this watch but I am worried about financial literacy. Won’t this watch not allow the child to understand that?

Honestly, to me, there is not much difference between the POSB Smart Buddy and from the child’s EZ link card which is used for bus trips and even for library charges. The only thing is that for EZ link card, we, as parents are mainly the ones responsible for topping up and for managing the account. But in the case of the POSB Smart Buddy watch, the child will be responsible for the spending and savings. 

Now, isn’t this a good thing?

This is especially so if you have a young child (e.g. Primary 1 / 2) where you can now monitor the spending and speak to your child about it before it escalates to a larger “overspending” issue? So how can I make the POSB Buddy watch work even better for us?

:: Here’s 3 tips:

1) Let them earn their allowance

Frankly, Dumpling has never had allowance going to school. We secretly joke that she must be the poorest student we know. :p But the main reason is because she does not fancy school food and even at this stage I still pack her a bento daily. She has an emergency fund which she can tap into but that’s about it.

With Dumpling “earning” her allowance (or commission ~ a term which I learnt from a financial guru), I hope that she grows up with a less entitled mindset. And by earning, it is not the chores that she is tasked to do, but to take on extra tasks. This, I learnt, makes her more careful with her spending as she now understands that money does not grow on trees. 

2) Spending, Saving and Giving

Besides the spending and saving portions, I do get Dumpling to put aside a “giving” portion back to church or any organization she wants to by understanding a certain % of her savings goes to charity.

To us, giving back is very important and I’d like for her to have such a life habit as it is certainly more meaningful than spending on frivolous items such as yet another eraser or shopkins item. 

3) Budget and Plan

Budgeting is a regular topic that I have been talking to her since young. There were instances where I did not give in to whimsy purchases or the 3rd expensive meal that weekend and I’d always told her because we do not need it. Rather, I am saving for our next vacation or for e.g. Christmas gifts, etc.  

Because of such exposure from young, I’d say that she is somewhat quite aware and showed that she seems to be quite prudent with her money management where we monitor how she spent her money recently at a Pasar Malam (night market) near our place.

Right now, Dumpling wants to have her own spending money for the upcoming X’mas and perhaps personal spending money for a year end vacation so.

To find out more please visit: posb.com.sg/smartbuddy
Here's another mum's experience using the POSB watch

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored conversation where Dumpling and I were invited to review the POSB Smart Buddy watch so that we can share our experience on it. All views expressed are entirely mine and does not represent the organisation that I work for.

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!