Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

MomAdvice.com Makes the News

Saturday, September 30th, 2006

We wanted to share with everyone that we have been featured in All You Magazine. This magazine is available in Walmart (nationwide) and should be at the front of the cash registers. They did an interview with us and I got the opportunity to share all about our website. The interview is on page 84, so if you have time to browse the magazine (even while waiting in line), I hope that you can check it out!

We also are proud to announce that we have been working with Cascade and we have gotten the opportunity to represent them and their new Cascade 2 in 1 product. Cascade has just issued press releases announcing the spokesperson position and have included it in their press kits. I was given the chance to write tips for their press materials and share on one thing that I enjoy talking about- saving time when cleaning! These print materials will be used to promote their new product and it was such an honor to work with them.

If you get a chance to check out the article, just give us a click on our comments button. It is so exciting to share this with all of our wonderful readers!

MomAdvice.com Advertising Requests

Friday, September 29th, 2006

I have been getting a lot of inquiries on how to advertise with us. If you haven’t noticed our new look, we have added a lot of advertisements by partnering with Women’s Forum. Although I loved being able to offer the advertising myself, it was a lot of work to maintain all of our accounts and we now are allowing Womens Forum to handle our advertising. The advertisements for work-at-home businesses that are currently posted, are only remaining until they expire because we do want to fulfill our advertising agreements with them.

If you are interested in becoming a part of a directory, we are going to take that approach with advertising. I am starting a Work-At-Home Mom directory, a Birthday Party directory, and a Cloth Diapering Directory. The Work-at-Home Mom directory will be listed in the Work-at-Home Ideas article, the Birthday Party directory will be located in our Birthday Party Ideas article, and the Cloth Diapering directory will be located under Cloth Diapering 101. Each of these will list resources at the end of the article. You can include a fifteen word text advertisement and a link to your personal website. The total cost will be $15 to be listed within that article. We will be listing more than one representative from each company so the listing will appear as a first come, first serve in order of appearance. This is a one time fee and will be up as long as we have our site up (which I hope will be keeping me busy until I am old & gray). We accept PayPal payments to advertise@momadvice.com. Include your website link & a fifteen word text ad within the notes. All other advertising requests (banners, button ads, etc..) must be directed through Womens Forum. These advertisements will say Additional Resources and all links will appear below that.

Thank you all for your continued support with our website. Please let me know if you have any questions about advertising.

WFMW: Cleaning Up Yo’ Grill

Wednesday, September 27th, 2006

Welcome to Works for Me Wednesday. Each week a bunch of us share our solutions for our family with our readers. If you want to get the full experience, please visit Shannon’s blog and you will find hundreds of ideas for your family & simplifying your life.

I have a quick and easy tip if you are looking for an easy solution for cleaning your grill. If you have a self-cleaning oven in your home, simply take the grill grates from your outdoor grill and pop them in with your oven. Run it through the self-cleaning cycle and go to bed. In the morning you will have a shiny clean grill and a shiny clean oven. What could be better than that?

Here is the listing of all my other grand ideas- feel free to browse around and I hope you find this tip helpful!!

Good Ol’ Plastic Bags
Easy Carrying & Storing
Find Just What You Are Looking For
Target Pharmacy
Say No to Hand Cramps
Foamy Soap
Adventures in Shipping
Frugal Exercise Solutions
Microfiber Obsessions
Sand Between Your Toes Blues
Giving the Gift of Magazines (Frugally)
Solution for Cheap Trash Bags
Programming Your Cell Phone
Free Up Pantry Space: Make a Snack
Weeding Through Your Child’s Art Work Creatively
Using the Coffee Maker With Ease
Making Your Spice Rack Usable
Maximizing Space

Our Birthday Party Directory

Tuesday, September 26th, 2006

Stumped for birthday party ideas this year? You are in luck because we have pulled a list of great places that you can have your next child’s birthday party at. I have created a directory of places that offer children’s birthday parties. Why, you might ask? Well, I had a hard time finding information about who offered parties for children. After researching for our son’s birthday party, we decided to have a McDonald’s birthday party and it has become among the top items searched for that have lead people to our site. I figured that I probably was not the only mom hunting for this information so I put together a list of (mostly) national places that you can host your next birthday party at.

This is not necessarily the most frugal birthday party choice. I have hosted some wonderful birthday parties at our home. For our son’s first birthday party, I made two lasagnas, a tray of baked ziti, and we had a birthday cake (for almost twenty guests- only inviting family). The total cost was around fifty dollars. Our second birthday party cost a mere forty bucks (for almost twenty people). I made a French toast soufflé, two egg casseroles, orange juice, and served Krispy Kreme donuts (that I piped blue and pink decorations onto). This was a very inexpensive “cake” because I had a coupon for buy one dozen, get one dozen free. They were a hit with the kids and a candle fit perfectly into the donut. Our third birthday party was also a home party, costing around fifty bucks for everything. We bought two subs from Walmart, a cake from Walmart, and I made a veggie tray, fruit salad, and a pasta salad. This party was hosted outdoors (cutting down on clean-up).

Party number four was a McDonald’s party and the most enjoyable of the bunch. Sixty bucks total and no clean-up for me. The savings of ten dollars seemed minor after having a second child and feeling drained of energy and creativity.

If you are just not a party type of family, that is fine too! Go out to dinner and treat yourself to some birthday freebies by visiting my blog entry and finding every freebie, known to man, that you can cash in on during your special day.

I hope that you will find some time to visit our birthday party directory. If you have a local or national place that you like to have your parties at, please give me a shout out by hitting my comments button. Please do not give me a shout out if you are trying to advertise your personal business. I will be happy to add any company (or work-at-home mom!!) to our directory for a PayPal payment of fifteen dollars to advertise@momadvice.com. This is a lifetime spot and we will only have one representative listed from each company, so it is first come first serve. I would love to add your services- clowns, mimes, face painters, juggling acts (wait, don’t we all do this?), and other birthday planning services can be included in our list.

Thank you all for your support of our site and all that we do here!

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Formula

Monday, September 25th, 2006

Head on over to Baby Cheapskate to get the tutorial you need on store brand formula versus the “good stuff.” Are store brand formulas just as good as their brand name competitors or are we being duped? This blog entry has some very valuable information in it.

Now on the market are many organic baby formulas. Just what is the difference between the organic stuff and their other counterparts? Her blog entry shares all of the information you need to justify whether or not you should be buying this expensive formula.

When I had a visit with a dietician a few months ago, for low blood sugar, I was deciding whether or not I wanted to continue nursing my daughter. She was draining me and I have never felt worse in my life. After five bouts of thrush, two cases of mastitis, and plugged milk ducts, low blood sugar, and feeling like I was going to die, I was debating on whether or not I was dedicated enough to continue. Needless to say, the dietician agreed that it might be a good move for me to make the switch to formula. We had children just a few weeks apart and she had switched at six months to formula. Curious to see if being a dietician influenced her decision to buy the brand name versus the store brand, I went ahead and asked her what she purchased. She said that she did extensive label checking and discovered that the store brand that she felt was closest to the big name stuff was…Target store brand formula. Walmart, although cheaper, did not fit the bill as closely as this store brand. I found it interesting information and being as frugal as I am, I am always wanting to know how to get the best stuff for the cheapest price.

I admit, I buy the Walmart brand and my daughter is as healthy as a horse. She is happy and her momma is happy too. We love Parent’s Choice formula and it is the cheapest brand that I have found.

Feel free to share your experience with store brand formula, organic formula, or the brand name stuff.

Monday WAHM Spotlight: CaitiMac Creations

Monday, September 25th, 2006

Name: Carolyn Carter

City/State: Cochranville, PA

Name of Company: CaitiMac Creations

Two or Three Sentences About Your Company:

I own a baby keepsake business specializing in handmade shopping cart covers, clingy cords (my own invention), fleece baby blankets and Boo-boo bags. All of my items are very unique and made w/great attention to detail. I started my business so I could stay at home w/my 19 month old daughter.

Two Tips for Moms Trying to Work-At-Home (these tips can be how you stay organized, how to be successful, how to get started- anything that you feel would help someone just starting out):

Make sure you have work/life balance. I know how easy it is to get wrapped up in my work but I have to remember that my 19 month old needs mommy time.

For me to stay organized I have to write everything thing down. For example: what I have to buy at the store, what I sold, how much it was and who bought it. Always keep a list/journal or your inventory/supplies.

**If you are interested in being featured, we will be selecting a mom for each Monday of my blog. You can read more and apply. Email confirmations are sent to each mom if they are chosen. Please remember to do your own research on these companies. If there are obvious red flags on BBB, I do not post them. Check my scam article to find out more about the potential dangers of work-at-home businesses.**

WFMW: Good Ol’ Plastic Bags

Wednesday, September 20th, 2006

Welcome to my little corner of the world over at Works-For-Me-Wednesday. For more great solutions and ideas for your family, please visit Rocks In My Dryer and click through all of the great participants.

I love plastic grocery bags and use them for just about everything- from carrying my library books to lining our trash cans.

I have a caddy with all of my cleaning supplies in it and I take that from room to room when I do the weekly house cleaning. Within it are two of my favorite free tools- newspaper and plastic trash bags. I take a giant trash bag with me from room to room and pull all of the trash from each room. In the bottom of each trash can, I put three extra trash bags and then line it with a final bag. When the trash is full, it makes it easy to toss and then place one of the empty trash bags (from the bottom) in its place. I also keep one newspaper in my caddy of tools for wiping down windows and mirrors….But I digress.

My favorite use for plastic grocery bags is to line my counters and kitchen sink. Instead of dirtying my counter when I open fresh poultry or beef, I just open the package over the empty grocery bag and dump the juices (and bacteria) directly into the trash can.

They are also really handy when peeling potatoes or carrots. Just line the interior of the kitchen sink and clean-up becomes a cinch when you gather up your bags and toss the vegetable peels in one fell swoop.

I hope this helps save some of you some clean-up time out there! Thanks so much for stopping by. For new visitors, I always include links to my past entries. Feel free to browse around!!

Past Entries:

Easy Carrying & Storing
Find Just What You Are Looking For
Target Pharmacy
Say No to Hand Cramps
Foamy Soap
Adventures in Shipping
Frugal Exercise Solutions
Microfiber Obsessions
Sand Between Your Toes Blues
Giving the Gift of Magazines (Frugally)
Solution for Cheap Trash Bags
Programming Your Cell Phone
Free Up Pantry Space: Make a Snack
Weeding Through Your Child’s Art Work Creatively
Using the Coffee Maker With Ease
Making Your Spice Rack Usable
Maximizing Space

Monday WAHM Spotlight: Heritage Makers

Monday, September 18th, 2006

Name: Melinda Steadman

City/State: San Antonio, Tx

Name of Company: Heritage Makers

Two or Three Sentences About Your Company:

This is an online publishing company that lets customers create different books, brag books, photo journals, scrapbooks, etc all online and then hit publish and we send them a hardback library bound book in 2-3 weeks. This is a brand new company that not many people have heard of and our mission is to strengthen families by helping them save their memories forever.

Two Tips for Moms Trying to Work-At-Home (these tips can be how you stay organized, how to be successful, how to get started- anything that you feel would help someone just starting out):

My first tip is to find something that excites you, don’t sell a kitchen product if you don’t like to cook, look for the business that you want to buy from and run with it.

Tip number two: Stop when it ceases to be fun and make a schedule of work hours and stick to those hours.

**If you are interested in being featured, we will be selecting a mom for each Monday of my blog. You can read more and apply. Email confirmations are sent to each mom if they are chosen. Please remember to do your own research on these companies. If there are obvious red flags on BBB, I do not post them. Check my scam article to find out more about the potential dangers of work-at-home businesses.**

WFMW: Easy Carrying & Storing

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006

Good morning and welcome to this week’s edition of Works For Me Wednesday where hundreds of mommies share solutions for their families. Be sure to stop by Miss Shannon’s blog to read all of the entries!

I do a lot of cooking for other families because that is how I feel like I can help in crisis situations and to show my appreciation to people. Since I take meals all over, I have gotten the whole process down to a science. Because balancing and carrying items was hard, I did finally invest in a serving tray that I could carry everything on, but I had a creative solution before which worked for a long time. This solution works really well, in particular, for those flimsy aluminum pans. Just invert a lid of a 9×13″ pan and rest your dish into that. I used the edges of it as a handle for carrying the dish and it made it easy to put it in the car.

This also works really well for stacking casseroles (until they become frozen or until you remember you put it in there) when you are freezing multiple dishes.

I also find, when I am running meals, usually the space in my fridge is limited. I just use my cooling racks and stack using those. I can usually get two or three stacks going, which saves on space.

Past WFMW Entries:

Find Just What You Are Looking For
Target Pharmacy
Say No to Hand Cramps
Foamy Soap
Adventures in Shipping
Frugal Exercise Solutions
Microfiber Obsessions
Sand Between Your Toes Blues
Giving the Gift of Magazines (Frugally)
Solution for Cheap Trash Bags
Programming Your Cell Phone
Free Up Pantry Space: Make a Snack
Weeding Through Your Child’s Art Work Creatively
Using the Coffee Maker With Ease
Making Your Spice Rack Usable
Maximizing Space

Monday WAHM Spotlight: Daydream River Gifts

Monday, September 11th, 2006

Name: Kristy Pruitt

City/State: Jefferson NC

Name of Company: Daydream River Gifts

Two or Three Sentences About Your Company:

Daydream River Gifts offers home decor, gifts and much more. New products are added frequently.

Two Tips for Moms Trying to Work-At-Home (these tips can be how you stay organized, how to be successful, how to get started- anything that you feel would help someone just starting out):

1. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

2. To do lists are a must if you want to get anything done!

**If you are interested in being featured, we will be selecting a mom for each Monday of my blog. You can read more and apply. Email confirmations are sent to each mom if they are chosen. Please remember to do your own research on these companies. If there are obvious red flags on BBB, I do not post them. Check my scam article to find out more about the potential dangers of work-at-home businesses.**