A Problogger Mom

Bad Bad Blogger!!!

probloggermom — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 18:07:53 +0000

Yes, I have been very very bad. I have done the biggest blogger no-no and not posted in forever. I apologize to all those who have checked in and noticed.

I don’t really have a good excuse. I did pick up my Ebay selling over the winter, and that just kind of took over. It seems spring rolls around, the sales slow down, and that is when I get the blogging bug again. Sorry to disappoint.

So what is new you ask? Well, how about a new blog for a new blogging season? I started a new one today, hopefully I can get back on track and get posting back into my routine! Please check it out: Storybook Cottage and Gardens. Hope you are all well!

On the doorstep of Holiday Shopping Season

probloggermom — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 23:31:27 +0000

Are you ready? I am honestly still in denial. I just cannot believe the holidays are upon us. It was JUST Halloween for crying out loud, and now Thanksgiving and the years biggest shopping day are just days away. Check out the Black Friday Ads here. If you are like me, and do a lot of your shopping online, don’t forget to earn cash back rewards by signing up and going through Bigcrumbs first before you shop. All those little cash back reward do add up over time. Between me and my referrals, I’ve earned almost $250 back since November of last year when I signed up. Can’t beat that!

I am at a loss as to what to get my kids this year. I refuse to get any more junk toys….you now the ones. The ones that have 4 million little pieces that you find day in and day out, all over the house. Nope. None of those. Which leaves me a little bit stumped about what to get. Here’s a cool video guide showing some of the hottest toys in action, hopefully it will help fill in some of your shopping list gaps:

Holiday Hot Toys Guide

Money Advice - Pay yourself first!

probloggermom — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:35:55 +0000

Michelle Gartner from Smart, Not Cheap, tagged me awhile ago to participate in the Moolanomy My One Piece of Money Advice Meme. Sorry it’s so late, but here it goes.

If I could offer one piece of money advice, it would be to PAY YOURSELF FIRST! I’m sure you’ve all heard it before, but how many of you actually do it? To the max? Maybe you contribute a bit to your 401K, but do you contribute enough to get your full company match? That’s free money! Do you have any going into savings as well?

It’s amazing how this country seems to live on credit, and I fully regret NOT doing this from the start. We have lived beyond our means for awhile now, but if we had paid ourselves first to the max, as a rule from the get go, it wouldn’t have happened. My husband just got a nice promotion and raise, and we are taking this year to really try and get ahead of the ball as far as our finances are concerned.

Our new goal is starting at this time next year, when my husband gets his annual performance review, to finally really start paying ourselves first. It will probably take us this whole next year, to finish paying off the credit cards, my husbands car loan AND build enough of an emergency fund in savings. We feel like we are finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. We would have never gotten in the tunnel if we had made it a rule from early on, to pay ourselves first. So there you go, take it or leave it, that’s my money advice!

I’m not going to tag anyone on this meme, but feel free to jump in and participate if you have a piece of advice you’d like to offer!

End of summer

probloggermom — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 23:56:24 +0000

Did you get everything done you wanted to this summer? I know that we are WAY behind! We wanted to refinish the decks, put in more garden beds, add Garden Lighting and way more. I am putting at least the smallest deck on my to do list this week when the kids go back to school. Luckily, it is the one that faces south and needs to be done way more than the big deck we have out front. I’ve already scraped, and I’m going to pick up sanding paper for my husband’s sander shortly, so wish me luck!

We’ve been in the house 6 yrs, and our railings are painted, but the paint has never stuck at least to the top railings, and here and there on the vertical railings, so I’m contemplating priming them. They weren’t primed before, so hopefully this is the magic trick to make the paint stick. If you have any tips, I’d love to hear them also.

Playing catchup!

probloggermom — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 23:48:52 +0000

We just got back from our last scheduled camping trip of the season and had a blast. The car is unloaded, the laundry is going, I’m about to run out and pick up something for dinner and hit Home Depot for a few things we need for projects around here tomorrow.

We had a blast at the fair, I promise to post an update on how the girls did soon. I also have been tagged by Michelle and Dana, and promise I’m not neglecting you! Just been a crazy two weeks here! Only one more day until school…..WHOO HOO! I feel like I have so much I’ve put on my list to do when the kids go back, I’m not sure where to start first! Hope to be back here posting regularly, now that our crazy end of summer routine is over.

Save money shopping online

probloggermom — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 00:38:26 +0000

I am always on the lookout for legitimate ways to save money and/or make money online. I’ve recently come across an online site that will help you save money when you shop online, and I wanted to share it with my readers. The site is www.deallocker.com and it is all about saving money online with free online coupons, and sharing these deals with your friends. They offer online coupon codes and discount codes for all the popular online stores, as well as for specialty niche shopping sites.

Deal Locker offers 10’s of thousands of coupons. They will only show coupons that work and have not yet expired. This is really convenient as I have used other sites that seem loaded with offers that don’t work or have already expired.

If you are interested in checking out this site, check out their office supply coupons and pick up your printer ink or splurge on something for yourself to make working on your computer easier or more comfortable, maybe a new office chair. Or maybe you still need to get some back to school stuff for your kids, check out their kids coupons. From clothing to back to school supplies, you are bound to find what you need and save some money too. One of my favorite places to shop is Target since you can get almost anything you need there, and you can find a lot of Target coupons at Deal Locker. And look out, holiday shopping will be here before you know it! I love doing the majority of my holiday shopping online, just to avoid the lines, the crowds, the lack of parking….yikes! Stresses me out just thinking about it! I much prefer to shop from home in my pjs with a cup of tea! I hope you will find this site useful to you. If you do, they even offer a 1-Click Coupon Bookmarklet tool, to help you remember to search for discounts before you buy. So be sure to use it and check Deal Locker first, so you don’t miss out on any money saving deals when you shop.

This is a sponsored post.

Los Angeles California Earthquake, Earthquakes History and Map

probloggermom — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 03:34:11 +0000

This is a test post, using problogger Paula Neal Mooney’s tried and true method for drawing massive visitors to your blog. Don’t worry, I will also be providing lots of relevant information on the recent California earthquake and information on Los Angeles earthquakes in general.

Here is a link to the Southern California Earthquake Center and here is a link to the NY Times article on the August 9th earthquake in the Los Angeles area. Many people may also be interested in the massive 1994 Los Angeles earthquake that registered as a 6.6 on the Richter scale.

Here is a map of recent California Earthquakes, and here is a map of recent Earthquakes in the Los Angeles area.

I hope you have found the above information useful and informative. In case you are wondering why I’ve chosen this topic to write about while testing Paula’s theory, it is because “California Earthquake” and “Los Angeles Earthquakes”, both currently show up at the top of the charts in the Yahoo Buzz Index today. This is important in Paula’s 10-step process. I will attempt to post a future update on how this test impacts my blog traffic.

Advertise your blog with car signs

probloggermom — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 21:13:19 +0000

This is a sponsored post.If you are trying to get more incoming hits to your blog, another unique way to advertise your site is by using car magnets. I have seen more and more of these on cars lately, advertising everything from preschools to dog walkers, so why not your blog? I always keep a note pad in the car with me since I am a list maker by nature, and I am always jotting things down on it that I need to look up on the web, from houses for sale in my neighborhood, to businesses I want to check out online.

July Earnings Report

probloggermom — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 04:53:23 +0000

I last posted my online earnings on June 21st. Now that August is here, I decided it is time to update you all. At the last report, my total online earnings via blogging, advertising, affiliates, pay to click type sites, etc was $128.90 for the month of May and the first 3 weeks of June.

As of today, my total is $409.15, which means in the last 5 weeks or so I have made an additional $280.25. This does NOT include an addtional $75 I have earned for referrals to Payperpost. I will only receive this money when each of those referrals follows through with writing a paid post and gets paid for it 30 days later. But if you would like to include it, that would make my total online earnings since May $484.15, or just $355.25 for the last 5 weeks or so.

Most of this income has been from paid blogging via Payperpost and PayU2blog. Now that I have that down, I just signed this blog up for Payperpost (all my Payperpost paid blog posts were on my old blog at http://aprobloggermom.blogspot.com) as well as Sponsored Reviews, so I expect my earnings will increase again over the next month. I also have two other blogs I hope to bring up to meet Payperpost’s qualification requirements soon, and then my earnings will increase yet again.

Approved for Sponsored Reviews!

probloggermom — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 18:28:50 +0000

Whoo hoo! A new fun thing to play with! I signed up for Sponsored Reviews last week before leaving on our camping trip, and just found an approval notice in my inbox! I’m looking forward to figuring out how that site works as I have only heard good things about it and that you can earn a bit more from them than you can with other paid posting type sites.

I also just signed this blog up with Payperpost, as I have finally reached the point of having over 10 approved posts on my old blog.

I will keep you posted on how I am doing with both of these paid posting programs on this site as we move forward. But just for a point of reference, on my old blog alone, I have earned over $150 for posts in the month of July just using Payperpost. Plus I had 5 people sign up for Payperpost through my referral links, and if each of them follow through with their first paid posting and actually receive payment, I will get $15 for each referral! That’s another $75!! That right there is reason enough to join, just to get referral bonuses. I’ve looked and looked, but didn’t see any info on referrals on the Sponsored Reviews site, so if I am missing something there folks, please fill me in!