Monday, April 28, 2008

Mother's Day Giveaway

Mother's Day Contest for a Kodak ESP 3 All in one printer.

I looked at these a week ago with my Mom. The ink is cheap the quality of the printer is fantastic, I will be buying one (if I don't win this one!!!) She ended up with a different printer only because they couldn't swap "brands" of printers on her PC package. Oh well, the way she goes through printers she'll be upgrading in no time! Of course the printer she ended up with isn't anything whimpy! It even has the card reader & a view screen, not too shabby.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

My garden #1




These guys are my cherry tomatoes. I am hoping to have a few ready for pots early. All of our seeds have been planted in starter pots. They won't be planted outside until the end of May.

I need more practice

I am still doubting my writing skills! I think I write too much like I talk. LOL!!! But I sat down & put together an article yesterday for AC.

Check out my recently published content on AC:

Choosy Moms Choose Gift Certificates

Links to things I'm currently researching

Just to keep myself organized, and maybe help out a reader or two in the process...

28 Ways to make money with your website

Blogging Basics 101

Writing an ebook

Daily Blog Tips

Freelance writing jobs

Obviously I am on a blog reading bent about making money. Go figure!!! I am also trying to determine if writing is something I want to pursue further than my blogs. After all I am going to be 35 this year, I should know what I want to be when I grow up by now, RIGHT???

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Super Savings... Saturday!!!

Ok, so I was a little busy to post on Saturday what with the soccer game, dance practice, baseball practice & normal things like food & cleaning!

But I did run into CVS Saturday for a quick trip. I used my gift card from my points. Join MyPoints NOW!


I had a $25 card plus I had earned a $5 card from the Hershey promotion around Valentine's Day.

I picked up some Flintstones vitamins for the kids buy one get one 50% off minus the $2 I had in coupons & luckily I was able to take advantage of the "Contour Glucose Monitor" deal. It was on sale for $14.99 with $14.99 extra care bucks. I found a coupon for up to $30 off so it worked out that they paid me $14.99 to take the thing home & I found there is a mail in rebate on my box... hmmm so if I send that in I'll have $30 minus the postage... not to shabby! I think I might have spent a couple dollars out of pocket, but I had to buy an ice pack for out baseball bag & some wet wipes for the bathroom that weren't on sale. Still not too shabby for a 15 minute shopping trip with only a little planning.

The funny thing was I ran into my Mom at the checkout & gave her my other Contour coupon so she got the $14.99 too. She may think I'm nuts but she's got $14.99 she didn't before!!!


Check out other Super Savers

More Organizing!

Tackle It Tuesday Meme


My tackle today is more organizing & moving stuff around! The closet upstairs is just waiting for me to finish moving my stuff into it.

I am also tackling the kitchen floor (hands & knees scrubbing the hardwoods, ewww) & Mt. Laundry today as well!!!

I am making my list of must have to keep my new larger closet functional & neat. I am adding 2 of these to start.

Slide N' Stax

If they work I may pick up a couple more. Right now I have some t-shirts stacked in a wicker basket, which isn't really convenient. I don't like to dig to find the one thing I'm looking for, then you have to refold everything... yuck!

I also grabbed a bunch of our dividers from the chocolate shop. Lots of our chocolate came with cardboard dividers. These are so helpful in the underwear & sock drawers. So with them organized I have extra drawer space, amazing, before we had 4 drawers dedicated to these small things. Now we are sharing 2 drawers one undies, one socks, WOW!

I am not sure what I will put in the wicker baskets after I have the clothes stacked in the slide 'n stax. Maybe purses, exercise equipment, who knows!

I took another bag of papers to our schools paper recycling bin. It looked full so it's nice to see others in the community contributing too. It wasn't just school papers!

The more that leaves the house the better... I am starting to feel lighter everyday. The garbage pick up guys hate me, the freecyclers will love me & hopefully the house will stay "cleaner" longer!!! WOOHOO!

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Payperpost

I have made $245 in the year+ I've been posting. And I haven't done nearly as much as I could have to improve my rank or to write as many posts as I qualify to.

So because I was asked by a few people about it I wanted to show how easy it is to sign up & the sooner you do the sooner you can start earning money. There are ways to make money before you are able to write reviews. Referrals, reviews my posts, direct... plus it is motivating to see the people who are making money at it featured on the home page.




Follow the directions to register your blog(s) and start today!

If you already are posting what has been your favorite? How often do you post? What have you done to improve your rank?

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Mother's Day is coming....

Retrevo has reviews of several cool electronic gadgets for under $50 and under $100.

I have to admit, if you haven't already realized it I am a gadget girl. I tend to be drawn more toward the kitchen gadgets than to personal electronics but I seriously have discovered a need for an MP3 player. They are awesome for walking! Thanks sis...

I really like the reviews of the digital key chains. I am not one of those awesome Mom's that always has pics of their kiddos at the ready. This handy electronic device would remedy that for me, I'll have pics where ever I have my keys!!!

I am not really a cell phone addict, but if I were a bluetooth headset would be cool. Our neighbor needs one, she is constantly trying to make calls from her car & having to pull over so she doesn't get a ticket.

The site also reviews some floating rose bath lights, that seem to be perfect for the real low end of the $ spectrum but high on the WOW factor!!! Who wouldn't find the multi colored floating wonders strangely fascinating.

The under $100 page has some seriously cool items that every Mom never knew she needed until she has one. Like the WiFi memory card, no more cords, that ROCKS!!!

OK, so hubby pay attention... any of these would be cool gifts for Mother's Day!

GFS - Anyone been?

GFS

I know where there is one, it's not terribly close but then most major stores aren't! I am just wondering how they compare to Sam's Club. I am trying to avoid buying a membership again!!! I don't have the business to justify it or use it as a deduction anymore but I don't know where else to buy the baking supplies I use at such good prices... You know 3 pounds of yeast & 25 pound bags of flour!

I haven't been into the GFS yet so I'm just wondering if anyone has???

I was also given some bacon wrapped Filets by our neighbor, they came for Angel Food Ministries. They were delicious, so I am most likely going to be purchasing their May packages!!!

The Queen of More Green -

Jaci Rae is an author/musician/business woman I was just introduced to. She sounds like another frugalista & her books are ones I have added to my Amazon.com wishlist.

The first site I visited was Shop for a day and her book Shop for a Day with Jaci Rae - How to Get Almost Anything for Free. This book looks like a great collection of money saving strategies & ideas. I enjoyed listening to the podcasts available on the side bar. It's always good to hear someone else's frugal ideas to refuel your motivation!!!

Another of her sites Penny Meals features another book 5 Meals for $5 - How to Feed 5 People 5 Meals for $5.00 - $8.00 or Less! You Don't Need to Be Wealthy To Eat Healthy This one is huge on my list of must have books. Of course that could be the recipe addict talking...You can read a snippet of this book on the Penny Meals website, including the table of contents, which list the individual recipes available in the book, YUMMY!

You can also visit her blog.

I will be exploring her tips since she seems to take the "CVS extra care buck" theory & applied to lots of the other stuff out there. I am all about the free stuff!!! (At least the free stuff I can use or give away!)

Friday, April 11, 2008

Frugal burnout & the garden

I feel like I crashed & burned! It's like I hit a wall, no motivation!!! I have been busy feeding sourdough starters & cleaning the house. Of course all the flining of the clutter has me frustrated. It's like I know where it all comes from but it doesn't seem possible that there is that much of it.

All I seem to see are all the projects that need to be done & things that need to be bought. New bathroom towels, new bedding for me & the Princess, new curtains all around the house, table lamps (my current desk lamp is a kitty, very grown up!) some more totes for the stuff going into the basement for storage.... buy buy buy spend spend spend. I can't wait for yard sale season to start, maybe I'll be able to pick up some things that will fit my design style (oh who am I kidding, I don't have a "style"!) Of course this is why I think I am reluctant about removing the clutter, with the clutter gone I see the "house" as it is, badly in need of repair & decorating.

I think I'm feeling this way over my last trip to the grocery store, anyone try to buy shortening lately, yikes! Everything is going up in price which is going to seriously cut back on the amount of things we bring home for the same money. Even with coupons, it's going to get harder. My plan is to make more things from scratch, but even the basics are more. Milk, eggs, flour, butter, cheese, all are basics and all are way over priced.

Guess I'll go back to watching the ads & coupons & only buying what's on sale for the rest of my food items! We do have our seeds for our garden. I've already started some cherry tomato plants, mostly because we are going to put them in pots for the Princess to pick at. I might try to sun-dry some if she doesn't eat them all!!!

We will be planting corn, peas, peppers, jalapeƱo peppers, cucumbers, beans, zucchini, tomatoes for canning & salsa, pumpkins, watermelon, and for a change lemon cucumbers. I am thinking about doing the lemon cucumbers in a pot too with a trellis. I also have to find a permanent home for my chocolate mint plant & try to encourage the strawberries we planted last year, so far I've only spotted one of the 2 out there. I need to get the tiller up here & work up the garden so I can add the compost & improve the soil before it's time to plant.

We won't be planting outside for about a month so I have time. So we'll have the garden to look forward to, but I do need to go spend some $ first. WE need some peat, mulch & fertilizer, I don't have tons of compost but I have lots of garden to cover!!!

The front garden didn't get as decomposed as I thought it would, I tossed some ouf our dry wall scraps out there after reading about it online & used papers, leaves & cardboard to cover the area. It didn't really all decompose over the winter like it was supposed to but I'll remove what is left & work in the small stuff. Then we'll have to go buy some plants to put there. Right now it is an empty garden begging for landscaping. Maybe I'll submit pics to the DIY ugly yard contest! I bet I'd qualify!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

My new mission

I am on this purging kick. I'm not sure how all this junk accumulated in my house (OK, so I might have had something to do with it, but really only half of it is mine, maybe 1/3).

I have already managed to find 2 construction sized bags of garbage. Between the broken toys, stuff that was hiding in corners & under furniture. I am hoping to have a few boxes to take to the Salvation Army.

I just realized that the one thing that is standing between me & our moving the master suite upstairs is junk & lots of it. The laundry didn't get put away the three weeks I was working so it has been piled up everywhere. This opened my eyes to the sheer amount of clothing we have that we don't wear or will ever wear, because my closet was still fairly full but I had nothing to wear or that looked right. And of course my sewing room is still in shambles so little by little, project by project I am clearing the clutter & junk out to make room for the stuff I need & use.

The basement is pretty empty now that we donated our old cabinets to the little league snack stand. Except for the clothes I was saving to recycle into clothing for the kids. Most of them are going to get tossed because I doubt I will get to most of the projects I had planned & it has just become clutter. So after I get all the junk cleared out I will be able to have a nice organized storage space for our seasonal items. That will clear up some space from around the house that is currently housing the seasonal decor.