Ultimate Blog Party ~ Welcome to Coupon Mommie

Arriving from the Ultimate Blog Party?  Welcome to Coupon Mommie!

I know you’re probably busy jumping from blog to blog checking out all the bloggers on the McLinky so I’ll keep it short and sweet.  My name is Jennifer and I love to save money!  I live in the hills of East Tennessee with my husband and three children ages 9, 6 (my boys) and 3 (my girl).  Yes, my hands are full.

I began to use coupons as a small way to save money for my family while living on unemployment and my eyes were opened to a whole new world of saving.  Honestly, I’m not sure how we would have survived the last half of that year without coupons!  I’ve been writing about freebies and coupons since then on my blog as a resource for others who want to learn how to use coupons effectively and make their dollars stretch.

I hope you enjoy what you find here on Coupon Mommie and would love for you to hang around.  There are buttons in the sidebar to sign up as a Google Friend and you can also keep up via email or RSS feeds.

I look forward to chatting with all of you and getting to know you.  Thanks for stopping by!

Changes to Blogging with Blogger

Are you a blogger using Blogger?  (Instead of Wordpress or something else more cool)

Have you seen Blogger in draft?  They announced a new template designer last week that will make customizing your own blog a little bit easier!  Check it out! 

You have to pull up your blogger account with draft.blogger.com to experiment with the upcoming features.

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Plus, don’t forget that you can monetize your blog with affiliates.  Here are my top affiliate links:

• Join Logical Media – This is my favorite affiliate for free samples. 
• Join MySavings Media and Escalate Media.  They have similar offers but some different ones as well.
• Join Commission Junction – Very different from the previous two but lots of advertisers to signup with.

Free Books for Bloggers from BookSneeze

Here’s a great deal for book reading bloggers.  You can receive Free books from BookSneeze (a Thomas Nelson company).

Complete an application and once you’re approved you can choose a Freebie from their book selection.

* Count me in *

The only catch is that you have to be a blogger willing to post a review on your blog and a consumer website consisting of 200 words or more.  Plus, you can keep getting a new free book each time you submit a link to your completed review.

Thanks Money Saving Mom!

I stopped blogging! Is there a doctor in, cause I need help!

Ok, so maybe I haven’t stopped blogging but I haven’t blogged for the last few days.   Where have I been and why haven’t I been blogging?   That’s a hard question to answer but I will say this… I need help! 

You know, like the big red button from Staples?  Please, can I push it and see a flood of answers fall in from all of my wonderful readers?  BOINK {imagine a button sound}

Here’s the deal.  I’ve been sick here lately and found myself curled up in a ball these last few days trying to sleep things off.  But, while I wasn’t just sleeping or being a Mommie to my 3yo, pouring endless cups of sippies, I have been brainstorming and I realized I needed help with some of my answers. 

What have I been brainstorming?  The future of my blog and what changes I’d like to make.  So, even though I haven’t been blogging it’s been about the only thing on my mind.

The BIG thing that’s been on my mind?  A new name for my blog!  Now, why in the world would I want to change the name of my blog after I’ve been at this for so long?  Long story short ~ I started to do this awhile back but couldn’t pick out a new name I was comfortable with.  It’s still something I want/need to do and would be open to suggestions!  CouponMommie.com will be changing but primarily just for the better.

New features for the blog!  With high hopes and dreams there needs to be awesome features too, right!  Not just a name change and template upgrade but a massive blog overhaul!  Phew!  I may need to hide under the covers some more to make sure I’ll be well rested, LOL!

This is where you come in!  There is where you help!  Help me, help you!   I love blogging and I don’t have plans to stop so, let me hear from you!  Tell me what you want.  What do you like.  What are you looking for?  Have a suggestion?  Let me know.  Anything.

Leave me some comments or send me an email at jennifer AT couponmommie DOT com.  Looking for a form to fill out?  Stop over here, I made a form for you!

I see you walking my site in my feedjit, now let me see some keyboard strokes with your ideas!

Free Business Cards from MOO cards & VistaPrint

I’ve ordered business cards in the past from VistaPrint and I’m actually in desperate need for more so I was excited to see this pop up & remind me.

These handy cards are helpful in the store when I am asked how I’m able to save so much money or when someone wants more information on how to get started.  Easy, I just hand them my card.

What’s funny is that I never imagined myself the type of person who would whip out a business card and hand it to somebody and now, I am. 

Business Cards can be for anything even if you don’t have a blog to promote.  Many people have a few professional business cards on hand for when they’re job hunting and some may just want to promote their SwagBucks referral name so they can earn more points to cash in for gift cards.

Whatever your reason is for having/wanting business cards here are some Freebie offers.  Enjoy!

Go here to create and request 10 free business cards from MOO cards.

Order 250 Free business cards from VistaPrint for as little as a $6 shipping.  (Tip: even if choose the longest shipping period you’ll still get them alot quicker than it states.  I received mine in almost 1/2 the time)

And the awesome thing about VistaPrint is that they offer alot of freebies quite often and all you pay is shipping.  I just received an email from them for a free Notebook filled with 80 pages of filler paper and other things like postcards, brochures, t-shirts and more.  Check it out!

Thanks to Gabrielle for the Moo link!

Stealing is stealing ~ NO If’s, And’s or But’s

Stealing isn’t cool whether it’s in real life or online.

Think about it ~ A blogging community is no different than the community you live in.  You wouldn’t steal your neighbor’s bird bath and claim it to be your own, would you?  I mean, even if you sprayed some paint on that bird bath it still doesn’t take away the fact you stole it, right?  So, why is it ok to presume in the blogging world that copying someone else’s blog post is not considered stealing?

I personally read alot of different “coupon deal” blogs and when I see a deal posted on one site then I normally see it on a dozen others but…they’re all different posts.  And, I always link up to one of them when I share the deal on my site.  Simply put, it’s a sign of respect!

Just like this post you’re reading now.  I actually had this topic on my mind earlier today but I read an awesome post that I want to link you guys over to.  I even have the emails from earlier today and some from a week ago to prove I wouldn’t be stealing this blogger’s idea.  But, why would I do that?  Sharing link love is is cool!  Really, how else do friends make friends?  I link to so&so and you click on it and you like their stuff.  You start following them and you’ve found a new bloggy friend. 

Like I said, I was discussing with a friend where we had both found OUR info on another site without any credit being returned to us.  We were going to pull a post together this week when I happened to read Andrea’s awesome post in her Begin to Blog series on this very topic.  Awesome!  So, I’m going to give her some linky love and tell you to visit her site to read her post!  I’m sure this series is going to be amazing so I encourage you to Follow Her or signup for her Feeds while you’re there too! 

So, if you said Amen to this post and feel like sharing it then link back to someone whether it’s me or Andrea or someone else.  Just be respectful and give credit where credit is due.

Remember to spread the linky love in the future whether it’s a deal or or a funny picture! Just don’t steal!

Windows Live Essentials = One Happy Blogger!

Are you a blogger?  I can’t say anything about Wordpress or other blogging platforms but I can definitely tell you that I hate the Blogger tool to create/edit posts.  Hate it!  I don’t exactly remember how or when I stumbled across Windows Live but I fell in love with it.  The main tools that I use from Windows Live are the Windows Live Mail, Messenger, Movie Maker Beta, and Writer.  Since I specifically use the Live Mail and Writer for blogging I’ll talk a little bit about those and you can checkout all the other things if you like.

Windows Live Mail

I have multiple upon multiple email accounts.  Don’t you?  I have my personal one for family.  I have a professional one for job applications, a blogging one for reader comments, a blogging one for affiliates, a freebie one for free samples, a survey one for MyPoints and so forth.  Get the picture?  They all add up.  So, why do I have so many email accounts?  To keep things simple so I can concentrate on the task at hand.

Enter Windows Live Mail.   Here’s where my life gets real simple.  I no longer have to log into each hotmail or gmail account that I have online.  I add each email account once using their setup tool and voila.  One inbox.  But, it gets better.  Even though all of my emails are delivered to ONE inbox I can just simply click on one email folder and drill down on one specific email account that I want to see at anytime.  Simply awesome!

Calendar & Contacts This are pretty simple features.  Everyone knows how to use them I’m sure.

RSS Feeds & Newsgroups  Love these.  If I’m in a hurry I can do a quick scan of my RSS feeds and click through to the blogs that catch my attention and finish up by perusing their site.  It’s the way that I work best.  I do have feeds setup in Google Reader and if I’m not home then I will access it to check things out but I don’t really like it that much. Windows Live pulls feeds in just like an email which is downloaded to my PC.  Why do I like this?  I have high speed satellite which is not always reliable so if my internet is down I can rely on the last feed update that I received through Windows Live so that I don’t go through bloggy withdrawal

Catching my drift?  LOL.  Now, here’s where the real blogger tool really comes into play.  You ready?

Windows Live Writer

This tool can be used for Windows Live, Wordpress, Blogger, LiveJournal, Typepad and many more.  And, if you can use any of the Microsoft programs then you’ll feel right at home with this software.  It’s so easy!

Once you download the program you go through a few simple steps to add your blog and you’re up and running to blog your little heart out with this cool baby!

You’ve got Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough.  Numbering, Bullets, Quote.  Left, Center, Right, Justify.  You can insert Links, Pictures, Tables (my little secret to putting pictures beside my weekly store matchups).  You can save drafts to pull up later, pull recently posted to edit.  Publish to multiple blogs if you have more.  You can Preview how it will look on your blog or edit the Source HTML code.  Schedule posts out with set publish dates.  Need I say more?  OK, Sure…

The editing tools that you have for pictures is awesome!!  This is one of my main reasons that I like this program.  You can manipulate the picture in so many ways besides just aligning it. You can add margins, links and borders.  And there are even Advanced Picture tools like Rotate, Crop, Tilt, Contrast, Watermark, Resize and so much more…

So, that’s a little bit about how I blog with Windows Live Writer and I hope that you might take some time to download it and see if it works for you and makes blogging a little easier.  I know it sure does for me!  :)

See my new little JuiceBoxJungle widget in my sidebar?

More parenting videos

I’m on my way out the door with my kids for their dental checkups but wanted to share this news with you.  I received my invitation to the new Jungle Ad Network this morning and uploaded the widget already!  See it?

If you’re a blogger you’ll be excited to hear that this network pays pretty good.  Like, each time your page loads.  However, it is by invitation only so you’ll have to email me for an invite. Stay tuned for more details when I get back from town!

Your Mission as a Mommy Blogger ~ Are you ready?

You have a Mission as a Mommy Blogger.  Will you accept?  Click Yes or No.  LOL!  Seriously now…

Did you see the cool little button in my sidebar where I am listed as a Top Mommy Blogger?  Want one?  Better yet, want a 125x125 advertising spot on the Top Mommy Blogger site?  Be sure to enter her giveaway then.

Cales at MarieLynn Boutique Blog started this site a couple of days ago with the intention of giving Mommy Bloggers the attention they deserve but she needs your help to promote the site while you promote yourself.

So, here’s your mission as a Mommy Blogger:

• Promote the Top Mommy Blogger site. 
• Promote yourself and add your blog to the site.
• Enter the Top Mommy Blogger advertisement giveaway.
• Check out some of the blogs listed.  Like them?  Rate them.  Leave comments. 
• And most of all…Have Fun!

Oh, and as part of the giveaway I earn entries for referring friends so I’d love for you to drop me an email with your site if you enter.  Plus, if I’m not following you already I’ll have a new friend to follow once I get your url.  Send me an email to jennifer [at] couponmommie.com {removing the spaces and [ ] symbols}.  Coolio?

If you like me…

Pause for a minute while I ask a favor?  Would you stop by the Top 100 Mommy Bloggers and rate my blog?

It is my desire for my Coupon Mommie site to be used to help other Mommie’s save money using coupons.
I hope that this site does just that and that you find it to be a useful resource to keep coming back to often.

So, do you like me?  Will you rate my site?  Please help promote me & I’ll be thanking you kindly in advance!

Check out Ready Site – Get $25 Sign-up Bonus

I have my own .com – Yeppers, little ole me!

Yep, I’m stepping it up a notch on here so I hope you are enjoying the whole site!

And, since the .blogspot is no longer part of my address I introduce you to…

WWW.COUPONMOMMIE.COM

Yea! Wahoo! Can you tell I’m happy? Well, I have grown to LOVE my blog as much as I LOVE scouting out deals and clipping coupons! All my hobbies rolled together of me having fun and I’m saving money to boot. Awesome!

Now for a little about the site. Some highlights and so forth:

Header - Jenny at Pink Armchair Designs designed my header which is so very me. Button – I have a button to share. Grab it in my sidebar or go here for instructions. Navigational Toolbar – I’m proud of this as it took me hours to learn how to implement. Three Column Layout – Room for plenty of things on the left and right of the posts. Links – Links are everywhere: Google, Subscribe, Follow, Search, Coupons, Promotions Email – I have my own .com email!! jennifer {at} couponmommie.com Too cool!

I hope that you enjoy the site as much as I do and I also hope that you read, bookmark, subscribe, follow, link and comment often. You get the picture, right. {smile}

My toolbar is back – What should I put in it?

Did you notice that my navigational toolbar disappeared right after I had just figured out how to make it when I got my new button?  Well, it’s back up.  Phew!

Alright, so here are my questions.

Do you like it?

What should I put in it?

What should the main buttons be?  (I think I can fit about 10 across the top.)

What should be under the main buttons in the submenu?

I’ve thrown a few things up there for starters but I need help deciding what else should go up there.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering how I made the navigational toolbar?  I used WonderWebWare but I also had to change the blogger template and used instructions from Real Life.  If I’m feeling perky enough one day I’ll try to do a step-by-step tutorial if anyone is interested?

SO, leave me some comments.  What d’ya say?

What happened to my toolbar?

Agg!  I don’t know what happened but I deleted my navigational toolbar at the top of the page and lost all my links.

Well, I know what happened but I don’t want to take ownership of the fact that I deleted the wrong HTML code from my blogger layout.  Argh!  Ok, it was me.

I thought something looked a little different.  I’m just now figuring this out and I don’t know how long it’s been missing.  But, anyways.  Bear with me while I get it recoded with all the links.

What luxuries do you have to share?

What is a luxury in your household?  Is it your favorite soap or do you buy what you can with coupons(ding!)?  Is it your favorite brand of yogurt or again what you can buy with coupons(ding!)?  Or is it the luxury of watching your favorite television show or picking up the phone to call someone?  Or is it simply having enough groceries in your cupboard to feed your family without worrying how long it will last?  Those are the things that have resonated as luxuries with me and my immediate family this past year.

Seriously, I think about what some people consider luxuries compared to what I think of a luxury.  I have to say that the one luxury in my household is the internet yet that is debatable with me.  Access to the internet helps me to read my money saving blogs like Nickels-N-Dimes as well as print coupons to use at the grocery store.  So, I debate whether it is a luxury or a money-saving expense.  Could I save money without it?  Yes.  Would I save as much?  Maybe a little less but we would still manage.  So my internet is debatable.

What luxuries could your family do without?  What do you consider essential?

We have no home phone service.  Some people use MagicJack to get free local calls but it won’t work on our satellite internet.  And a lot of people use cell phones instead of home phones to save money but where I live cell phone service does NOT pick up except about 5% of the time because of the mountains and that's if you stand real still outside with your arm up in the air while standing on one foot.  OK, really, it's hard to get a signal.   

We have no cable/satellite service.  To some people letting cable/satellite go for just the basic channels is easy enough to do but because of where I live we don't even get the basic channels because of the mountains.  Does it bother us?  No.  We have our FREE Redbox Monday movies we watch each week or our FREE movies we can pickup at the library but even those are not high priority if we forget.

Then I think about groceries.  How many people consider groceries a luxury?  Not many I bet but to some it is.  I know I use coupons now but a lot of people still don't. 

Do you know what a pantry looks like that isn't stockpiled with luxuries?  I do.  Do you know what it is like to be at a loved ones house and not be able to fill a grocery bag full of what you see sitting in the cabinet?  I do.

I won't even talk about what it feels like to debate on setting aside some gas money just in case your part time job actually calls you in for a few shifts or paying the past due part of the light bill that is more than two days beyond the disconnect notice date so they won't shut you off.  Those were some hard months.

Since I've started using coupons it has been a relief on our budget to provide for my family.  Being that I understand what it is like to scrimp by I still get what few extras at the store that I can and donate to others too because I've been in their shoes, I am still in their shoes.

I have experienced hard times and I still experience hard times but do you think about how many people are currently experiencing hard times?  Have you helped anyone recently?  Think about what luxuries you have and what you could donate.  I promise you will reap the heartfelt rewards just as much as the person receiving the donation!

I’m Organizing - Where Do You Want The Links On My Site?

Full Page for One Stop Button Link Clicking?  Likes?  Dislikes?

In trying to organize my site a little better and I wanted to ask you for suggestions where I should place the linkups for the various promotions that you can find on here.

I have opened a poll in my sidebar that I would like for you to participate in.  Feel free to leave comments here as well because I would love to hear them!

Here is the preview for the pages I have designed for the last two options of the poll.  I like them both…how about you?

Button Links:

Button Links with Descriptions:

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</> </> </> </> </> </> </> </>

ClipNGo Coupons – Gas Card Get $75.00 worth of printable coupons and a chance to win a $1,500 Gas Card.
Coupons.com Access and print coupons from the largest selection of grocery coupons online.
General Mills – Dinner Made Easy Sign up with General Mills for the Dinner Made Easy Newsletter and FREE coupon booklets.
General Mills – Eat Better America Sign up with General Mills for the Eat Better America Newsletter and FREE coupon booklets.
Home Depot Do-It-Herself Workshop Register for an in-store class and receive $10 coupon.
Pampers $1.50 Coupon Fill out a short form to receive a free coupon for $1.50 towards your next purchase of Pampers.
Quality Health Sprint Samples Get your Slim Down Spring Samples.
Touch of Gray Just For Men Print a free coupon for sample Touch of Gray.

Spread Some Bloggy Love

Do you show bloggy love?  (We’d like for you to)

Do you click around on ads?  (It pays us a little bit)

Do you comment?  (We love what you have to say)

Do you read archives?  (You’ll find some good stuff)

Do you subscribe/follow/bookmark?  (Keep up with us)

And there is so much more that you can do to show some bloggy love…so, do you?

Take up the Bloggy Love challenge hosted by HappyToBeAtHome.net to Spread Some Bloggy Love.

Are you up to the challenge?  Click the button to read more about this!

Problems Switching to Feedburner

I think I killed my feeds…oh NO!  That’s what I get for trying to change things myself.

I was trying to sign up with Feedburner and thought I updated everything correctly but I didn’t get my last post via feed. 

Oh, this blog stuff is so confusing!  Hopefully, I can figure out what I didn’t do right and get things fixed.

I apologize in the meantime and if I deleted anyone’s feeds permanently I’m sorry, and I hope you find your way back to signup again.

Being Married to a Coupon Queen

I read this and laughed til my sides hurt because this is exactly what my poor husband and family feel like when I talk to them.  Couponing takes on a whole new second language in the household and some people never pick it up.

Head over to Blissfully Domestic and read the guest post by LittleMissKnowItAll.

You’ll really enjoy reading this and if you’re new to using coupon’s you WILL be talking like this soon!  I promise.

Blog changes

Two things:

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Name Change

Some people are referring to me as Rockin' Coupon Mommie as per my header. 

Most people are referring to me as Coupon Mommie as per my blogger address.

I tend to comment as Coupon Mommie on other blogs because it is shorter.

So, from here on out I am going to start going by the shortened name ~ Coupon Mommie ~.

The shortened name will also go along with a bloggy face change as well.  Details below.

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Face Change

I'm doodling around with the HTML code on my blogger design so bear with me as I try to make some inexperienced code changes!

And I mean bear with me because I installed this Free template awhile back but I really want something Custom.

The pink has got to go so I'm going to take my 10 weeks of HTML schooling to see what I can customize myself.

If I disappear you'll know I did something bad wrong.

If I succeed you'll know I will end up with an accidental success.

So bear with me while things start looking screwy!

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