Freebies of the Day 04-26-08
Freebies:
Subscription to Premiere Guitar Magazine-enter code SUR0108
Paid Surveys:
Goodman Research-Public Radio Survey-Amazon Gift Code Incentive
Points and Prizes Keywords:
CAPPING
MILKER
BRAVADO
TANDEM
DRUMMING
Have a wonderful weekend!..(I’ll be packing)
Topics: Freebies | 2 Comments »
On Moving, Finance and Scarcity
We are moving next week and I have spent the last week trying to prepare. I’ve made a lot of progress, but if you were to look around my house; you’d never know I had even started. I am not sure when I accumulated all the treasures I have and not sure what to do with half of them. I have been so busy with the move, work and “life” in general, I haven’t had a whole lot of time to reflect on our finances and the effects this move will have on that aspect of our lives.
Today, I took a few moments to really look at our finances and got a nice surprise. Although the move will cost us about $550 in total-that includes a moving truck and all the packing supplies, plus fuel and all those little deposits for things like trash cans and recycling bins. I made $450 at my recent yard sale that will take a huge bite out of those costs. I made another $30 selling a stack of unwanted books at Cash4Books that will come in handy and I also discovered that by doing a lot of the work to the new house ourselves(rather than pay a professional) we are saving around $2500. I will be painting the inside of the house this weekend, I’ll also pressure wash the exterior and driveway/patios and re-seal all the concrete. I also plan on hooking all the electronics up myself, with the help of my super tech savvy brother, we should have the TV and surround sound, wireless networks and all the other fancy gizmos working in no time.
I know that by doing a lot of the work myself I’m taking on a lot of extra work and headaches, but the savings is great and I’d rather use any extra money we have towards anything we may need in our new house. I also know that the sense of accomplishment from doing everything myself will make me feel wonderful and I like the feeling of stepping back and seeing a project completed.
While I will be scarce around here the next week, the daily freebies will still be posted and I will try to pop in whenever I have a chance to respond to your comments and emails. I appreciate you bearing with me while I take on this move and hopefully(if I have my way) I won’t be moving again for a very long time!
I’d appreciate any frugal moving ideas you have for me and any tips on making this an easier transition. Do you have any do-it-yourself ideas for me to make this new house feel like brand new? How do you handle moving with your children and make them feel at home in a new house? I’d love to hear from everyone!
Topics: Life & Family | 14 Comments »
When Life Hands You Lemons
Lynnae at Being Frugal has tagged me with an interesting meme. I get to share with you a story of a time in my life when I have made the lemons life’s handed me into lemonade. I have had a lot of these types of situations in my life, but this is by far my favorite and most uplifting of them all. I’ll also tag 6 more bloggers to share their stories and please, if you have a story-share!
“Everything happens for a reason” -My grandmother’s favorite saying or at least her favorite thing to say to me when I was feeling blue. It was always her way of telling me to look on the bright side; that things aren’t always as they seem and that even in bad times, good may be lurking just around the corner.
I’ll never forget the last time she said this to me. It was the day she told me she had Alzheimer’s Disease. I truly could not find any reason on Earth that would make this worth happening. I was losing my grandmother (my hero, my best friend and often times, my partner in crime) to a disease that was stealing her mind. The “everything happens for a reason” line wasn’t working for me. In fact, it made no sense to me until years later.
After the initial shock wore off, I realized that my grandmother had so much more to share with me, she had so many things stored in her mind that I couldn’t stand the thought of losing and there were so many things she had left to do and see in her lifetime. I was motivated to do all I could to rescue those precious memories and make all those last wishes come true. At the tender and rather bratty age of 19 I took to recording it all. I went through thousands of pictures with her, carefully detailing who/what/when/where/how/why and put together enough scrapbooks to fill an entire closet. I filled them with her stories, recipes, photos, letters; every piece of information I could get went into those books. Not only did preserving her memories make me feel good that all would not be lost, but she loved every second of it. After all, I was her favorite. *wink*
After I felt that I had preserved what could be preserved and once her memory was obviously going, I knew I had to act fast on those wishes. One of which was to see me get married. No, I didn’t run out and grab the first guy I saw and haul him down to the courthouse, but by this time I was 22 years old and very much in love. That was only a matter of time, so I went about other wishes. I enlisted the help of other family members and she got to take a few trips she always wanted to take, she got to see Tony Bennett and Johnny Cash in concert and she was able to enjoy the company of her loving family while she still knew our names. Then it happened, that handsome guy I had fallen in love with proposed, I said yes and the rest is history. My grandmother got to see me on my wedding day, in fact she walked me down the aisle.
I realize now that if she had not been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, I may have never been prompted to collect her stories, or take her to see Johnny Cash in concert or spent that much time just hanging out with “Gram”. I am thankful everyday for those few years we had before she left us and so happy she was there on my wedding day. While, I wish she had never gotten the Alzheimer’s, I know that I can be thankful for those few years, because I know they were some of the best years of her life. What began as a horrible turn of events (life handed me lemons) became a wonderful time in my life and my grandmothers (I made lemonade)Everything happens for a reason.
What about you? Do you have a story of life handing you lemons? I’d love to hear it!
LIFE GAVE ME SOME LEMONS
- IT’S OK, I MADE DELICIOUS LEMONADE - MEME
Rules:
* Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
* Link back to person who tagged you.
* Write about an incident in your life you first thought was really bad, but ended up being a blessing.
* Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
* Let each person you tagged know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
(* And if you want to - link back to this original Lemonade Meme post too.)
Who I’m Tagging:
Kyle at Rather-Be-Shopping
1Stop Mom at My Debt Blog
Kim at Jogging in Circles
Kimberley at My Good Cents
Tara at Super Mom Saves Money
Kena at Deal Seeking Diva
Topics: Life & Family | 21 Comments »
Freebies of the Day 04-25-08
Freebies:
Free Luggage Tag from Nursery Water
Free KFC Snacker for first 1,000 Daily-answer is $1 Bill
Free Build and Grow Clinics for kids at Lowe’s
Coupons:
$3 off Woolite Carpet Cleaning Stick
$1 off 3M Command Products(pdf)
Paid Surveys:
Join House Party to share free stuff with friends and family
Join the Spectrum Discovery Center Panel -cash payments/paid focus groups
Points and Prizes Keywords:
NOURISHMENT
CARBS
ENERGY
FUSSY
DISCOMFORT
VILLAGE
CORE
Topics: Freebies | 5 Comments »
Kyle’s Coupons 04-24-08
The following is a guest post from Kyle at Rather-Be-Shopping. Each week Kyle will be sharing with us a post full of good deals. Kyle is fun and always has excellent stories, tips and bargains to share. Make sure you check in every Thursday morning for his featured article and coupons.
Any pet lovers out there? Growing up on a small farm we always had a lot of pets. Dogs, cats, sheep, chickens, a 3 legged pig, the whole nine yards! The pig actually lost her leg when she was a baby when her mom laid on it. The leg just sort of dried up and fell off. No kidding, it was really strange. But we nursed that piglet back to health and it grew into a very healthy swine and ended up in our freezer. OK, so maybe it wasn’t a “pet” per se.
The one thing we always had was man’s best friend. Today is no exception, as my family has a couple dogs. A Golden Retriever and a Bassett Hound. An odd pairing, but they get along great. Kind of like Mutt and Jeff. They are a lot of fun and the kids absolutely love them. But pets can get really expensive. We get a pretty good deal on dog food at Costco and I have found some good online resources to find treats, toys, flea and tick medicine, and heart worm medicine. All of these online resources have coupons which I wanted to share with you today. The flea and tick medicine is quite a bit cheaper at 1-800-PetMeds.com than if I were to buy it from our Veterinarian, especially when I use a coupon code.
PetSmart.com
Save 15% Off your $75+ Online Purchase + Free Shipping
Coupon Code: SAVEAPR
Expiration: 4/30/08
See All: PetSmart Coupons
Pet Food Direct.com
Save 10% Off your Entire Online Purchase
Coupon Code: PER10PCT
Expiration: 4/30/08
See All: Pet Food Direct Coupons
Petco.com
Free Shipping on your $50+ Online Purchase
Coupon Code: affreg
Expiration: 5/02/08
See All: Petco Coupons
1-800-PetMeds.com
Save 5% Off your Online Purchase
Coupon Code: W5PER
Expiration: 12/31/08
See All: 1-800-PetMeds Coupons
Pet Care RX.com
Save $10 Off your $100+ order + Free Shipping
Coupon Code: None Needed
Expiration: 4/30/08
See All: Pet Care RX Coupons
Entirely Pets.com
Save $8 Off your $150+ Online Purchase + Free Shipping
Coupon Code: FRESHPET8
Expiration: 5/01/08
See All: Entirely Pets Coupons
Target.com
Save $5 Off your $50+ Online Purchase (Discount Appears at Checkout)
Coupon Code: None Needed
Expiration: 6/30/08
See All: Target Coupons
Topics: Kyle's Coupons | No Comments »
