Zulily

I have blogged and blogged and blogged about swagbucks, which I still love.  Swagbucks continues to fund most of Ada's gifts and many of my book purchases.

Well, I now have another site that I love almost as much as swagbucks.  Do ya'll know about zulily?  It's a site for moms that provides daily deals on great items.  And by deals, I mean up to 75% off of really great stuff.  Often smocked dresses or melissa and doug toys or squeaky shoes, and the list goes on and on.  It's great for those of us on a budget.  I am a clearance shopper, which goes all the way back to my high school days.  And Zulily is the ultimate clearance rack!!

So...if you aren't already a member of Zulily, sign up through me (and if you happen to buy something, I will get some credit).  You will get daily e-mails telling you what is currently in the Zulily store.  I really do love it.  Try it out.  Oh, and signing up is free, of course.

Happy Thanksgiving, Favorite Bargain Site, and the Iron Bowl

I know, I know...the title is rather random, but those are the things I want to talk about in this post.

Let's start with Thanksgiving. 

We are at Scott's parents' house right now, actually missing Thanksgiving dinner with my family.  I was with my family earlier in the week, though, and I will travel (without Scott) to their house tomorrow to watch the Iron Bowl (more on that in a minute).

I am thankful for so much of course--God, Jesus, THE GOSPEL, you know the obvious ones--and the other obvious ones, family and friends and being at home with my kiddos.  A HUGE thank you, Lord for that one!!  I am thankful for all of us being healthy and safe and free to make choices about education and church and how we worship and spend our money and things like that.  There is so much that I am thankful for--I could go on and on and on. 

I am also thankful for many trivial things--coupons and Charlotte Russe jeans that are affordable and cute.  I am thankful (not so trivial to me) that I have been able to nurse John for 9 whole months with no glitches.  I am thankful for Sonic happy hour (.86 diet coke!!) and Target diapers, which I LOVE.  They are the only diapers that keep John from soaking through his diaper and clothes in the night.  I am thankful for our house.  Sometimes I am not thankful for it, which is an entire post in itself and not something I am ready to let loose on the blog about, but overall, I am thankful for comfort and safety and space and a place to call our own.  I am thankful for Netflix and Hulu and all the other things that make it easy to not have cable, despite my love for television:)  I am thankful for the library.  I love the fact that I can read almost anything I want for free.  Okay, I could go on and on and on...you get the idea.

Another thing that I am thankful for is blogging and the world that has opened to me as a result of blogs.  I have saved so much money because of blogs.  It's how I started couponing, after all.  It is also how I often find out about things, like Swagbucks, and Zulily.  I love Zulily because it allows me to purchase QUALITY items for as much as 75% off.  You simply create an account (for free), and you receive e-mails for current sales going on.  For example, right now kids crocs are 65% off.  There have also been weeks when they carry brands such as Petit Ami or Castles and Crowns at major mark downs.  Check it out here!!

And finally, the last thing I want to talk about--The Iron Bowl tomorrow.  I have to be honest, I am not even looking forward to it.  Too much is at stake, I am too nervous, and I don't even understand why it matters so much.  That is what I just said to Scott.  We were talking about the game, and I said, It matters so much, and I don't even know why!!!"  Obviously, I know that it doesn't really matter, in the grand scheme of things, but it matters enough that I know I won't enjoy the game, and I will simply be glad when its over.  It's not even a fun rivalry to me--it's just too big.

And those are the things I wanted to talk about.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

My latest money making venture

I say latest, but actually I have been doing it for a few months, and I think it's time to share the info. with you.

Have you ever seen those ads that say something like, "You're the winner. Click here for a $500 gift card to Chili's." They are pop-up ads, so I have always naturally assumed it was junk mail, and I never gave it a second thought.

That is until, I came across this blog. Carrie at Money Saving Methods has figured out a way to make these offers actually worth your time. Still, even after reading all of her advice, I was very skeptical. It just seemed too risky. But then both Jessica and Tutti decided to try it, and it worked!!!! So I jumped on the bandwagon.

So far, I have made 1,000.00 from doing these offers, in the form of two separate Visa gift cards, and I have a $500 Ikea gift card on its way. We used the first gift card to pay for our expenses on the beach trip, and I am using the latest gift card to buy groceries. We are then applying the unused grocery money to our debt snowball.

I have hesitated to blog about this because I don't even know how to explain all the details of how this works, but I know that it does. I have the money in my pocket to prove it. Carrie does an excellent job of walking you through the steps, and I highly suggest that you check. it. out!!!

So many ways that God provides

Scott and I are in a season of life that can be discouraging at times. There are days when I am tired of budgeting and couponing and crunching numbers and cleaning and the list could go on and on. Now, when I have proper perspective on life, I realize that we live an incredibly comfortable life. We have blessings in abundance. But, I don't always have the proper perspective on life. In fact, I have been known, more often than not, to have a distorted perspective:)

I have found that in this season of penny pinching, God provides in very small ways. He, of course, meets our needs in abundance. There is no question about that. But I feel like he also meets my wants, or, maybe I should say that he meets my emotional needs.

For example, as I have mentioned multiple times, we found a wonderful photographer to take Ada's picture back in December, and the result was beautiful pictures for a very low price. Until December, I did not have Ada's picture done because I didn't want to sacrifice quality. Cindy Stansberry allowed us to get quality photos for a price that fit our budget. As a mom, I am so thankful for those pictures. It just blessed my heart, not to sound cliche. I think that those photos will always remind me of this season of our life when God provided in such small ways.

Now, it's happening again. Hooray, a program much like snapfish or Kodak gallery, is giving away a free photo book, and you have from now until January 20th to take advantage of this offer. All you have to pay is 7.99 in shipping. The book normally costs 35.00 in addition to shipping. So on top of having that wonderful photo session with Cindy Stansberry, I am now uploading those photos into a photo book, for only 7.99. I know it's such a small thing, but I am so thankful for it. It's not something we have to have, but it's such a treat. A gift.