Melissa has been chosen as our Monday WAHM for MomAdvice.com. We wish her much success in her business and with her family.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. I still have many people to reply to on these so please be patient waiting for my reply. I promise to get back to you guys soon! Also 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.

Thank you to Melissa and her WAHM business, Tupperware, for taking the time to apply and be a part of my Monday feature!

Name: Melissa Wilder

City/State: Louisville KY

Name of Company: Tupperware

Two or Three Sentences About Your Company:
Awesome Storage and Kitchen Products! Great For Small, kitchens, large kitchens, RV’S Keep organized and your food longer! Saves time and Money!

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. Find your niche and then find a company that fits that. If you like jewelry and are buying it all the time than maybe that is the company for you!

2. You will be successful if you love what you are doing. Hang in there if it gets slow- it will and you just have to persevere.

Since we moved into this house, we have had high speed internet through AT&T; (formerly SBC Yahoo). When we originally signed up with this company, they were offering a promotional offer of $29.99, if you signed up for a year contract with them. At that time, this was the best deal around and we were really pleased with the rate. When my contract ended, however, my price suddenly shot up to $36.00. Why? Well, because I had not signed another contract with them so they had the right to increase my rate.

When I called the salesperson, I was not a happy camper. There was no way I was going to pay this much for our internet. After we made some small talk (what is your account number, what is your social security number, what is your blood type, etc..) I asked why my rate had increased. She told me that my contract had ended in August so they increased my rates. Little did she know that while I was on the phone with her, I was frantically going through their website to find the latest and greatest rate. I asked if I could end that contract and sign up for another year. A resounding, “Yes!” was her reply. She would give me a great deal at $29.99 a month, just like I had before. Unfortunately, my fingers had done the walking and I now knew that they actually were offering the rate of $24.99 per month. When I asked her about this, she asked me if I would like that rate instead. Um….yeah!

I asked what I could do to prevent this from happening again (because I am cheap like that). She instructed me to call her on the date that I had renewed my contract, sign up for another year, and then I could lock into the rate I was currently at.

I took this one step further the following year. I checked the current rate and saw that they were offering the internet for $19.99. When I called the customer service representative, I requested to cancel my contract and then start a new one at the advertised rate of $19.99. There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. “Now what is it you would like to do?” Again, I explained that I wanted the current rate…another longer pause. “Well, I see here that you have been a good customer with us and have paid your bills on time. We don’t normally do this, but I am willing to make an exception since you have been such a good customer.”

I now have written down in my calendar when my contract is set to expire. This gives me the opportunity to lower (or keep) my bill the same. I know that I have a date with the customer service representative on August 1st to discuss my bill and I now see that they are advertising their high speed internet at a mere $12.99.

Ah yes, I pity the fool who must answer my telephone call because I do not back down for THE MAN.

Don’t you just love America?

It has been awhile since I have done a Play It Again, Momma post. This is just where I get the opportunity to highlight something you might have missed on my blog (particularly for our new readers).

This week, let’s take a look back at my Stop the Insanity post where I (insanely) address the question of WHY in the WORLD do we have to spend so much money on all these dang birthday parties.

We are revisiting this post as my son’s fourth birthday is quickly approaching. I asked him what he would like to do for his party this year and he said he wants to go to McDonald’s..And then I thanked him, and kissed his face, and told him he was the best little boy mommy could ever have, and then I sobbed uncontrollably. A trip to McDonald’s is a lot cheaper than a party and I don’t have to clean up after a bunch of toddlers have enjoyed their chocolate cake (a tad too much). Anyone is welcome to join us and let their kids play in the giant germ-infested play area, or they can just stay home and relax- it does not matter to me.

We will have a big birthday bash for Emily’s first birthday, but we are reserving the bashes now for those *special* celebrations rather than a party for every year they get a little older.

I can put the savings towards a special gift for our son…yes, the gift of a Happy Meal…Just kidding! I’m not that cheap….Or am I?

Big Announcement for MomAdvice!

So my husband mentioned about a month ago that he submitted my site to some website network to be considered for membership. I figured this was, yet another, one of those sites that show off fancy-looking sites and that it was just another way to stroke his ego. I gave him one of my “that’s nice dear” comments and promptly forgot everything he had just said.

Then, Monday night, he comes running up the stairs yelling something about “we’re in!” along with a lot of other incoherent babble. After catching his breath, he managed to spit out what all the excitement was about: We are now a member of the incredible 9rules network.

What does that mean? I didn’t really know either at the time, but I’m now running around like a lunatic myself. I think they explain it best:

“The 9rules Network is a community of the best weblogs in the world on a variety of topics. We started 9rules to give passionate writers more exposure and to help readers find great blogs on their favorite subjects. It’s difficult to find sites worth returning to, so 9rules brings together the very best of the independent web all under one roof.”

Sounds impressive doesn’t it? I thought so too, which is why I am so honored and humbled by their invitation into the network. What makes this such a proud moment is that we were accepted, not because of my husband’s wonderful design, but for all the blood, sweat and tears *I’ve* poured into all of the content I’ve written. It is invigorating to know my hard work is being recognized and I will try to continue producing the same in-depth articles, helpful tips, and brilliant wit you all love me for.

In our best Bostonian accents, we say, “Wicked cool!” We look forward to this opportunity and the challenges that it will bring us to do better. I hope you can check out the 9rules Network and see what they are all about.

Here are this week’s festivals & carnivals for your reading pleasure.

The Carnival of Debt Reduction (#39) is being hosted at Aridni. Our College Coupons was featured in this carnival.

Also over at Aridni, you will find the Festival of Frugality Within this festival is our blog entry on Weeding Through Your Child’s Art Work. Thanks to Aridni for featuring both of these entries in these two shows.

Financial Fruition hosted the Carnival of Personal Finance this week. Goodwill is Good was one of the entries chosen to be in this carnival.

Finally, we participated in a new (or new to us) carnival called the Carnival of Family Life. Our Weeding Through Your Child’s Art Work was located there as well.

Here are this Frugal Momma’s picks for good reads this week:

Money & Values has a great entry on whether or not you haggle.
Paul’s Tips offers up his eight best negotiation tips.
It’s Just Money shares the way he got coke & popcorn at the movies without breaking his budget.
Tired but happy has some great ideas for making your child’s lunch on the cheap. I especially like her tip for yogurt cups!
Model Home shares a free/cheap way to make your pad look sweet throug Craiglist.

Enjoy these goodies today!

When I was little I loved the summer reading programs that our library offered to us. We had a Bookmobile that used to come right outside of our house and I would load up on books to get the freebies that were offered by the library for doing all of my summer reading. Always an overachiever, I reported to the library that I would read one hundred books during the two month span that the library offered the reading program. I started reading with a passion, and imagine my dismay when I only read ninety-nine books. I couldn’t just read a board book or something to get the credit because that wouldn’t be me. No, I had to report to the librarian that I did not make my summer reading goal and forfeited my chance to earn the prizes. You would think that they would have given me the free book bag or something considering how close I was to the goal…but no! It was a disappointing summer for me and one my family loves to laugh about now. For some reason this is still not funny to me- not accomplishing my goals is not a joking matter to me…well, maybe it is a little bit funny.

We have already worked hard with Ethan (and even Emily) on instilling the love of reading within them. We hit the library regularly for the kids and my husband reads to our son every night. Reading has always been such an important thing to me (and still is) and I want that for our children too. Thankfully, there are many opportunities to help our children read, particularly during the summer months when there are so many programs open to kids to get them to read during the summer.

Here are the programs that I know of. Please feel free to post any additional reading programs that you know about through our comments section….even if they are local (just post city/state) since there is bound to be someone else in your area looking for something too!

Scholastic’s Summer Reading Buzz

Scholastic offers a great summer reading program and their site includes tips for you on choosing books for your children that are age-appropriate based on the grade level that they are entering into. Scholastic is offering a donation to K.I.D.S. for each book your child reads. K.I.D.S. is a global charity of leading retailers, manufacturers, and licensors of children’s and youth products, in partnership with major foundations, committed to helping improve the lives of children and their families who are ill, living in poverty, or are the victims of natural disasters. Sign up now and you can start an online reading log to help give books to kids in need. Plus, you can enter to win cool prizes, test your wits with book quizzes, find tons of printable fun, and more!

Build-A-Bear Workshop

Join Build-A-Bear’s Summer Reading Program and get free stuff! If your child reads three books by June 30th, they will get a free bookmark. If your child reads six books by July 31st, they will get a five dollar gift card for their store & you can print out a reading certificate of achievement for them. Now the question is…what can you get for five dollars at Build-A-Bear? Hmm….I have not been in that store yet, so I am not sure, but you might want to bring your wallet with you when you go! Again, sometimes free doesn’t mean free!

Barnes & Noble

In celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program, they have partnered with Lemony Snicket, author of the A Series of Unfortunate Events collection, to foster a love of reading and its rewards. A Summer of Unfortunate Events 2006 Reading Program benefits students in the first through sixth grades and is designed to encourage kids to develop their own reading preferences and motivate them with a meaningful incentive to join Lemony Snicket and the doomed Baudelaire children on an unfortunate summer adventure.Through our Summer Reading program, it’s easy for kids to earn free books! They simply read any eight books—library books, books borrowed from friends or books bought at Barnes & Noble—write about their favorite part, and bring a completed A Summer of Unfortunate Events Journal page to a Barnes & Noble bookstore. Everything you need to help your students or children participate—and earn free books! —is available in PDF format.

*Please note that this link goes to their Community Page. For some reason (probably due to copyright laws) the link will not work directly. Just click under the summer reading program. If this link stops working, then just run a search under Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program and it should pop up within your search**

Reading is Fundamental & Target Stores

RIF and Target invite you to make reading a part of summertime fun by tracking your reading hours online for a chance to win a Target Gift Card (limited quantity available – see official rules for details). Plus, you’ll find activities, games, and ways to be a part of the RIF Reading Planet Club. Despite the fact that you only win a *chance* to receive a Target Gift Card, there are plenty of great downloads available on their site. They have a bookmark that you can download (to keep track of your hours read), a club for reading, and a free summer reading screensaver (Gotta have a theme for your computer, right?) You can also download a summer reading activity booklet.

Don’t forget to also check your local library for some of the best summer reading programs around. If you are looking for great reading material, the First Lady has compiled a list of great reads for each age group. This list can be a great starting point for your child and will help you find great age-appropriate reading material for your children.

One more helpful note, don’t let your child sign up to read one hundred books!

Happy reading, everyone!

A big congratulations to Dawn on being chosen as our Monday WAHM for MomAdvice.com. We wish her much success in her business and with her family.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. I am a little on overload with these so please be patient waiting for my reply. I promise to get back to you guys soon! Also 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.

Thank you to Dawn and her WAHM business, Usborne Books, for taking the time to apply and be a part of my Monday feature!

Name: Dawn Berkley

City/State: Beecher, Illinois

Company: Usborne Books at Home

Website: http://www.readingcanbefun.com

Two or Three Sentences About Your Company:

Usborne Books at Home offers over 1300 award-winning, beautifully illustrated, educational and fun books and activity kits for children ages infant to young adult. We offer amazing hostess and consultant benefits!

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. Find something you are passionate about. With so many companies to choose from, you really can make money at almost anything- so pick something you will ENJOY doing!

2. Find a balance. I sometimes have to step back from my business a little to make sure that my kids and husband get all the attention they need (and deserve) Make a schedule that works for you AND your family. They will support you more!

I hit Goodwill last weekend and I was so glad that I did. Pictured here, is a gorgeous sterling silver serving tray that I got for a mere fifteen bucks. I was so excited to have found it! I brought it home, with the intention of selling it on Ebay, but have grown attached to it. My husband and I decided that we would like to mount it on the wall because the detail on the inside is so beautiful. Yes, yes, yes, I know that silver must be polished- but isn’t it so worth it when you see this piece?

I frequent Goodwill quite regularly and have become a Goodwill Booster Club member for the past three years. The way I understood this, from the Goodwill website, is that each of the stores operates independently and each individual store may offer something different in their policies and what they accept. In our town, they offer a Goodwill Booster Club membership for five dollars per year. For five dollars, I receive twelve (for each month) coupons that I can use anytime during the month. With this coupon, I can choose any day that I want and make it my fifty percent off day. This is nice because my fifty percent off day isn’t everyone else’s fifty percent off day, allowing me to have a better selection and to use it when I know that it is going to be worth it. If they don’t offer this in your town, it might be worth inquiring about or sharing this type of program with them.

There is also a great online Goodwill site that you can visit to score amazing items that they have put up for auction. Shopgoodwill is the newest Goodwill store offering a wide array of antiques and collectibles pulled from Goodwill’s vast inventory of donated goods. They offer everything from unique one-of- a kind items to estate pieces. Revenues from these auction sales fund education, job training and job placement programs for people with disabilities and other disadvantages.

Don’t forget that you can donate items to Goodwill too! They take all types of donations including that rusted-out old car that you have sitting in front of your house on bricks. All donations are tax-deductible and it will free up more space for your treasures that you run across when you go to garage sales this summer. Check out their website for more details and tips on their donation procedures.

In short, Goodwill be good for this frugal momma!