The EZ way to sell online. Check out EZShoppes!

Have you heard of EZshoppes?
Tried selling on Etsy or Artfire? To complicated? Ezshoppes is a new easier way to sell online.
I opened a shop with them last week, you can visit it here. I was set up in a flash. It took me about a half hour to sign up, fill our all my policies, shop announcements, welcome and about info, set up checkout, and add a few items to my store page! Ezshoppes is so easy to configure and even has cute built in templates for your page.
I really like that all check out is routed to paypal and Ezshoppes allows you to control all your transactions via paypal. For the beginner, I would recommended give Ezshoppes a try. I think you'll like it. And you can't beat the price at less than $40 PER YEAR! Thats right, for less than $4 a month you can eliminate all your shop fees. (in exception to paypal fees.) ( =
The site is growing every day, so check it our and add your shop to the site. You never know, you might have just stumbled upon the next big market place! Click here to visit EZShoppes. Not a shop owner? There is still something for you. Hope on over to Ezshoppes and check out all the cool family friendly items up for grabs. Just follow the link above and click on the "Let's Go Shopping" shopping bag graphic.

"We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same." -Carlos Casteneda

   Thats right ladies. I've gone back to work. And this time... I mean a real job. I started yesterday. I've always worked in boutiques, shops, or with children but last week I was faced with a brand new opportunity. My sister in high school decided to take a summer job at a local packaging factory and asked me to join her. We are working long 12-18 hour shift for a less than gracious salary.
   When I told my husband that of the job he quickly wondered why I agreed to spend my summer in such a way. I wasn't really sure how to answer other than that I feel like it's what I should do.
Yesterday was our first day, and boy was it hard work for me! I have never worked in a factory, or even 12 hour shifts for that matter... but I'm going to do my best to hang in there.
  I feel like this might be an eye opener for me. I'm spending time with a totally different group of people at work then I would usually socialize with, but who seem nice. I think I'm going to appreciate my time off more and make better use of the time I get to spend with my DH. I think it will be good for me to become more appreciative of my hubby working while I home make. I'm not exactly sure what will come of working this summer, but I have a good feeling that it's going to be something pretty great.
SO... I'm sure a few of you are spazzing while reading this, wondering if I am ending my blog... well, fear not.. I wont be disappearing, but only make less frequent appearances. I'll still be filling orders from my Etsy shop, and I'll accept custom orders on a longer production time. I hope that you guys can understand that I'm going though this little self discover phase. ( =
Anyone else returned to work recently after years of being a home maker?

Bootcamp

No, I haven't joined the Army, or enrolled in some sort of strenuous physical boot camp, but I have discovered another "boot-camp" that's pretty darn cool. Have you heard about Learnvest.com yet? It's an awesome site that has all sorts of informative articles about anything you can think of, these guys range from date ideas to how to refinance your home. The reoccurring theme I see at Learn Vest is how to get more out of life for less. There slogan is "Where life gets richer."  I check out their site almost daily for fun articles. A few weeks ago i signed up for their free get out of debt 15 day boot-camp. Compared to the average American family, our debt is tiny, but I would still love to accomplish a "debt free" status. I have to say that I really liked the set up of the program and I feel like It covered a lot of points in a short period of time without becoming overwhelming.
The inspiration that I took with me from the program is:
"No one will ever care about my money as much as I do. I am in control of my financial future."
So what did I learn?
-To be honest with myself about where my debt is coming from.
  * Used neato Learnvest calculators to see exactly how much my debt is costing me with fees. (a $2000 charge card paid at $70 a month for 4 years (with no farther use) could actually cost $3345.81!
-Learned the difference in good and bad debt and why it's important to quit contributing to bad debt.
-Organized my current debt between monthly bills, actual debt, and current spending using the Learnvest budget calculator.
-Learned some skills for gaining control of interest rates. Including visiting billshrink, learning how to negotiate with companies for lower rates, and some tips for what to do when companies don't cooperate with your negotiation.
-Discovered the pros and cons of balance transfers, when it's a good idea, and when it will actually hurt your credit. When and how to manage a transfer and what to do afterwards. *Never do more than one balance transfer per year and be careful with hard inquires that can harm your credit.
-Shared ways to free up more money to help pay off debt.
-Calculated my yearly interest rates, transfered all bills from credit to debit, organized spending habits with a spending journal, created a budget, attempted to negotiate card rates, set up auto pay on credit card to avoic late fees, and recognized my bad spending habits and triggers.
-Learned what debt to tackle first and how to set reasonable goals
-Was introduced to several free credit counciling services, learned what average and good credit rating are, and how to obtain a free credit report and start seeing improvements in as little as 90 days.
In short:
Set goals, know your habits, cut cost, live within your budget, pay down debt, raise your credit score, and reach your goals. ( =
One thing I learned, sad, though somewhat comforting fact I learned though this whole process is that my credit score is about average for someone my age, and that our family's debt isn't even enough to consider a councilor. I hope that also means that I'll be able to buckle down, and pay off what debt that we have, so that we we start house hunting, we'll get the best rates available. ( =
I hope that you'll take the time to stop by and check out LearnVest. They offer other great boot camps too.

shock and devastation

Sorry I've been out of the blogging loop, but there has been some major things happening in our area, and I'm focusing all my extra attention on these issues. A week ago last Wednesday our little rural area was devastated by the longest running tornado on the ground in U.S. history. The death toll continues to rise and many people have missing family members, and/or have lost all of their worldly possessions due to this horrible EF-4 tornado.  At this time there have been 355+ deaths, and 100’s reported missing. The National Guard has sent out search teams to look for missing residents within the rubble. The Red Cross has triage centers set up to treat injured residents and shelters for people who are now homeless. Almost a week later the Red Cross is still housing 80+ families.  My family was very lucky to be in small area of the region that was for the most part, sheltered from the storm. All of our neighboring cities took a hard hit, and most schools and business have been out of operation. Our county will resume school tomorrow, but other counties will be forced to rebuild their schools. Ringgold, Ga (better known as the hometown of American Idol star Lauren Elena) is about 15 minutes north of where I live, and the whole town is in complete shambles. All of the roads are blocked, including the interstate, in exception to emergency personnel. Friday morning the National Guard bussed in families to survey their losses, the view was devastating.

photo credit

photo credit

photo credit

Friday after the storm I immediately wanted to try to help the tornado victims. The area was in such shambles that the city deemed the roads unsafe for volunteers. I checked in with our local mission to see what I could do to help. Although most of our city residents were not affected, the areas of mass destruction where so close to our town that the Red Cross and the United Way are referring Ringgold residents to our county food banks and relief resources. We will continue to serve victims until the food banks in Ringgold are rebuilt. This is putting a huge strain on the budget of our mission, who will be serving the tornado victim in addition to the 4,400+ families they already serve each year. The need will extend far beyond the immediate assistance that the Red Cross and relief programs can offer. The need will grow in coming weeks as families move from shelters, back in to their temporary homes and need to restock their life. The tornado hit an area that was already struggling immensely economically, and that’s sure to make the recovery process even harder for victims. I hope that the community will support our relief services to help get our sister cities back on their feet again. If you are not from our area, you can learn more about the storm, and how you can help by visiting this website: Click here to help!

The story of the Ugly Chair.

Don't forget to check out yesterday's Extreme Couponing review and enter your shopping savings for a chance to win a free coupon binder!

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There once was an ugly chair that landed on the curb when our old neighbors moved out. The chair was ugly, dirty, and no one claimed him. He was destined for the dump. Enter ME. I spotted this ugly chair and seen potential in it's rounded back and lightly worn cushioning. I help the ugly chair make it's way to my front porch where he was scrubbed, vacuumed, and disinfected. Enter my husband, and his disbelief that I've brought home yet another curb side find.
I was determined to make this chair a little less ugly so that I could bring it in the house without catching too much grief. It remained on the porch covered with a sheet while I contemplated recovering it for weeks, but every upholstery tutorial I ran across looked complicated. Now Enter Trixie, our new puppy, who quickly became an "outside dog" after chewing up my favorite dress shoes. Trixie decided to pull the sheet off the chair and chew a big hole in it. *Sigh* As I was getting ready to throw away the sheet, I thought: Hey! I might as try to make a slip cover from this fabric. After all... if it was a project fail, I hadn't really wasted any supplies. So off I went... on a crafty slipcover adventure.
Wew! This project took so much longer than I planned. I had never made a slip cover, had no clue where to start, and the chair had an odd shape to pattern. I traced off each section of fabric from the chair and made my own pattern. I wanted the cover to fit kind of tight around the chair so I only left about an inch seam allowance... bad idea! 3 hours in to the project, just when I was seeing light at the end of the tunnel, I put the finished cover on the chair, just to see that it was too small! *sigh* I decided to split the cover down the center and add in some accent fabric. I love that Micheal Miller fabric and had enough in my stash to add an accent stripe as well as trim the T cushion and make a pillow. As for the back of the chair... I added a pleated panel that ties like a drape with coordinating ribbon from the accent pillow. Sorry there's no picture of the back of the chair. And just for those who are wondering why I choose the blue ribbon ties... it's hard to tell from the photos, but there is a touch of blue in the Micheal Miller fabric, and I'm also incorporating the blue in to some of my spring wall art. (=
The chair and cover looked a lot better before yesterday when Trixie struck again and managed to sneak inside the house to put her muddy little paws all over my new slip cover. *huff* I pulled the cover off and threw it in the washer. The fabric puckered at the seams when I washed it and I had to mend a few places. *Note: I recommended pre washing BOTH fabrics that you plan to slip cover with. SO you don't end up in a pickle when you wash your finished project.
Live and learn... so I've got a few puckers in my fabric... it's ok. I still think the "Ugly Chair" has a pretty good new life.
The chair is by no means perfect, and there are tons of projects out there that look a 100x better than this, but for a first attempt at slip covering, I'm proud of the results. AND... it just so happens that the new chair is one of the doubtful husband's favorite new spots. ( =

RIP Ugly Chair & Welcome my cute comfy chair. ( =

Have you ever made slip covers? How about re-upholstery projects?

I would love to see your projects. Link us up below:

RainieDawn Sundries Soap give away winner.

Don't forget to check out yesterday's Extreme Couponing review and enter your shopping savings for a chance to win a free coupon binder!
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Winner Winner! Sweet smellin soaps are headed your way Terry. 

Random.org says comment 50, Terry is our yummy smelling handmade soap winner.

Terry- Message me within 48 hours to claim your prize. Everyone else... stay tuned. I'm about to announce another giveaway. 

Extreme Couponing on TLC review/experiences & Win a custom coupon Binder!

Have you seen TLC's new Extreme Couponing? I found out about the show when Rachel Ray did a short interview segment with some of the ladies from the show. Rachel sent them out to purchase items for the dinner that she would be making. Yes, the results were amazing with both ladies returning with several baskets full for less than $10, and another for $0, actually  one of the ladies GOT BACK money to take her purchases out of the store! So- I had to find out what the catch was. I skipped on over to the trusty tivo and added the series to my list.
I've watched 3 episodes now and at first I was really excited... thinking wow! I could do this too.I could save tons of money and even donate some of my finds. But the more I watched, I realized that these ladies are spending the precious time they have been giving with their families, to cut out a million coupons, plan shopping trips, and find room to stash 900 mustard bottles. It saddened me to see how their passion for saving has taken over their home. Also I've noticed that the "extreme couponers' are not buying everything that they need for a meal plan in one shopping trip.Their buggys are filled with 52 yougurts and 92 cans of pasta sauce.  I have yet to see fresh meat and produce coupons, have you? Yes, I can "save 90%" why I got buy 35 cans of cat food (when I don't own a cat) but your are still spending that 10% on something that you wouldn't normally buy. So In my opinion, your actually loosing that 10%. Also- These couponers claim to be saving around 40K per year. Really $40000? Keep in mind that they are still spending SOME money on these shopping trips, so they are basically telling us that they would normally spending 40K + whatever they are actually spending on the trips, in one year, to feed (in some cases) a family of 2. That's crazy! I think the issue is is a warped definition of savings.
I'm not trying to make it sound all bad, because some people are really doing great things with their "stock piles" (that phrase makes me cringe and invision walls of pasta). Kudos to the people who are sending food to the troops, supporting food banks, and less fortunates. Sure, I've clipped a coupon here or there, and really scrounged for a good deal on a tight budget, but I've never, nor do I hope to ever be like some of these extreme couponers.
SO in efforts to stick to my "Don't knock it, till you try it" motto, I set out on my own extreme coupon experiment.
After watching all the TLC episodes, I headed to the net to see what I could save. I didn't know whether to start with my actual grocery list, or if I should search for highest value coupons. I know, I know, I just ranted about how the ladies on the show buy things they wouldn't normally have on their list, but then I went straight for high value coupons. ) = I get excited when I see a coupon for more than $1.00 off, it's hard to pass them up. So yes, I gave in and printed off some high value coupons for some instant gratification.
Here's what I came up with from my trip to the family dollar:

$1 -Large Lysol wipes
coupon for $1 off any lysol wipes product. store had twin packs on sale for $4, I used the coupon on each of the containers in the twin pack, saving $2, which means I got the large containers of lysol wipes for $1 each.
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$.25 big packs of five gum
coupon for $1 off when you buy 2 packs. packs on sale for 75 cents each. I got 2 packs for 50 cents.
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$1.70 6 pack clorox cleaning wand starter kit
coupon for $3 off any starter kit, store had marked down in clearance bins for $4.70, and the package had a pill off coupon for a $5 mail in rebate. so I spent $1.70 on the purchase and they are sending me a rebate for 5 bucks. Looks like I made $4.30 to take that item out of the store. ( =
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$.35 ajax dishsoap
.25/1 coupon, cracked nozzle bottle marked 60cents (I put mine in a glass bottle anyway)
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PROS: I got -2 Lysol wipes, -2 packs of gum, -a clorox cleaning system, - and dish soap
All for $3.30 + tax out of pocket. If you count the $5 mail in rebate... I MADE $1.70
CONS: I spent about 2 hours fishing thought websites and my total without the coupons would have been $10.80 based on the killer sales I found, so REALLY I only saved $7.50 (if you don't count the rebate)
So, Did I really save anything by trading my time for $3.75 per hour savings?
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Another Experiment with Multi stores:
I received a Home Made Simple coupon book in the mail with some really great deals, and decided that maybe I do need a little cleaning "Stock pile" (cringe). So Heres the summary of my trip:
Store..... Spent..... Saved
cvs         18.42      22.15
Bilo         39.04      44.64
$ General 25.04    10.75
Freds       25.32     8.00
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total $107.82 spent
total saved $84.54 (78.4% SAVINGS)
Without coupons my bill would have been: $192.36. I PAID: $107.82 ( = ( = ( =
We never made it to Walmart because my little car was bursting with cheap finds. We didn't have a bit of room for anything else.
Heres what my trip looked like:

This was my first big trip, and I'm just a beginner, so I'm sure some of you extreme clippers out there probably think this is a small haul, but for me, it was decent savings for the time spend on the project.

I did take some extra time to check on some store policies in my area. I found that our home town shop rite types each coupon in at face value, while Bi-lo scans and doubles coupons up to $.60. Walmart does not price match BOGO Free offers and only allows 1 coupon per item. Dollar General computer will only accept one coupon per item, even if the coupon is on the package, and you brought one in too. Family dollar won't allow you to get anything for "free." I tried to buy 4 Reach toothbrushes at $1 each and use 2 coupons for $2 off any 2 reach products, and the computer wouldn't take the coupon. They will not override it. I'll be using those coupons at Walmart and getting the brushes for FREE. If your a fan of the Dollar General or Save A Lot, they both offer a $5 off of $25 coupon. SAL has it printable on their website when you sign up for their newsletter while the DG offers it in random sell papers.
 I also learned that shop rite, bilo, savealot, ingles, cvs, walmart, both dollar stores, and freds have online circulars and coupons available. The more I check in to coupon policies, the more limits per transaction, per person, per day restrictions I see. Maybe this is the store's efforts to keep people like extreme couponers from cleaning them out and getting a payday all at once? I'm not the first one to notice that my store policies are stricter than those of these extreme couponers. Jenny at Southern Savers says:
"...stores view this as press, and they are willingly and knowingly breaking their own policies so that you will see how much you can save if you shop with them. "
She also points out that:
Stores aren't going to let you hold up the check out for 5 hours, many are ending the double coupon offer because of neglect like we see on the show, there are usually a limit on the number of coupons you can use on one item or even a limit on the number of coupons per transaction.

So whats the point I'm trying to make? Yes, you can save money, yes, you will buy things that you usually wouldn't, and yes, this will take a huge chunk of your free time. Is it worth it? I'll let you decide. Maybe you would like to conduct your own extreme coupon experiment? If so, please enter your trip summary in this month's contest. I would love to see what kind of deals you can come up with!

Win a custom coupon binder made by me. These binders are invaluable to couponers.  WINNER will receive a FREE* binder, tab dividers, and clear coupon organizer inserts for your binder, as well as important buy list and sale cycle info, and coupon policies for your favorite stores. It's everything you need to get couponing.

Go ahead, enter. What do you have to loose? 

Save some money, and win a binder (Over $50 Value) to keep you clipping. ( =

*S&H may apply, depending on location.

Giveaway contest.

To enter you must be a public follower of this blog.

How to enter:

-Visit sites like Southern Savers, Redplum, Coupons.com, coupon network, and smart source to find coupons for your shopping trip. Save your receipt and post your trip summary on this comment to enter.

Trip summary must include:

Store name, date, total spent, total saved, percent saved. (See my family dollar experiment in the beginning of this post.)

Winner will be announced 5/31/11 

Please note: This contest is for those who are NEW to couponing, if you are a long time pro, or own a coupon blog/website, please refrain from entering.