And The Winner Is...

I'm pleased to announce that the winners of the 100 Days of a New Year ebook giveaway are:

Cynthia M.

and

Golden S.

The winner have been contacted by email!

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Be sure to check out my other giveaways, Ateevia Botanica's Prime Anti-Inflammatory Cream and Noxicare All Natural Pain Relief Supplement!

Ateevia Botanica's PRIME Anti-Inflammatory Cream Review and Giveaway

I was recently asked to review Ateevia Botanica's Prime Anti-Inflammatory Cream. I was thrilled with the opportunity to try out this all natural product because aches and strains are a way of life out here in the backwoods on our little farm. Even though we're more active in the summer, we seem to end up achy more often in the winter-sliding on ice on the way to feed the chickens, forcing open the frozen lock to the chicken coop or, for Mr. S., chopping wood to burn for heat in our woodstove.

Noxicare Natural Pain Relief Supplements Review and Giveaway

I was recently chosen to review Noxicare Natural Pain Relief Supplements. I'm a huge fan of natural supplements, and I have an entire outbuilding dedicated solely to herbs. I tend to turn to natural remedies before over-the-counter medications because I have seen them work and enjoy knowing that I can help my family with all natural ingredients.

100 Days of A New Year Review and Giveaway

I used to be organized. Truly. When I had six kids in the house, it was a necessity. There's no way to keep track of games, doctor's appointments, birthdays and school programs without a Day Planner. Not just a Day Planner, but a DAY PLANNER. Those big ones in binders with sticky notes and color codes and bookmarks sticking out all over the place? Yeah, that's what I used to carry.

Not to mention clothes, toys, and various other belongings that six kids accumulate over time. You know how it goes. Going from one child to two seem to multiply the amount of kids stuff in your home by five. If you're a larger family, there's a whole other dynamic there that I can't seem to fathom.

But I did it. Dinner was served on time. Fresh-from-the-dryer clothes got folded, routed to their proper owners, and put away as part of afternoon chores. I was on time for every school event, from award ceremonies to ice cream socials to parent teacher conferences.

And then we moved.

I'm still not sure exactly what happened. Because we had our own land, and I was usually in jeans and on my knees picking weeds or moving fence posts, I started carrying most of my stuff around in my pockets. Because I usually had everything in my pockets, and I no longer needed to carry around extra changes of clothes because, for the first time in years, all of my kids that were out of diapers (except Pull-Ups at night), I stopped carrying a purse. Out with the purse went the giant day planner. And, conversely, by some weird cosmic coincidence, everything else became unorganized as well. I'm sure part of it can be blamed on the multitude of chores that owning land piles on, and my hesitancy to unpack when it was 100 degrees outside and not much cooler in our not yet air conditioned house. Not only was there unpacking, but renovation. We've had to redo wiring, rebuild the laundry room, replace most of the fixtures in the bathroom, and are now in the process of replacing flooring. In fact, there's still sub-floor exposed in my kitchen-almost two years after we moved in.

I began arriving late to school events. This one tore my heart out. Upset kids as I "just missed" them getting their awards or their part in the play. While we did make it to the Christmas play and concert on time, it was by the skin of our teeth, and I decided then, that it was time to get organized again. Not DAY PLANNER organized, but organized.  I just needed a game plan.

Then Jennifer Tankersley from ListPlanIt asked me to review her newest eBook, 100 Days of A New Year. I was thrilled with the opportunity to get the chance to take a sneak peek at her book, and get a head start on my new goal of being organized.

Photo Credit: balanced.crafts

Not only does 100 Days of a New Year give you a game plan to get organized, there's awesome tools available on ListPlanIt, and there's a Facebook group for support! You can interact with hundreds of other people who are trying to get their own organization goals set, and met!

The game plan is simple. Each day you do something. Some days, the tasks are small, and there's even catch up days, so that if you miss a day, you don't need to worry. Just save it for the catch up day! The best part of Jennifer's book is that it's not too late to start. The days are noted as "Day 1" not "January 1." So while Day 5 may not be a Saturday for you, you can still do whatever task is noted for that day.

But wait. This is a blog about deals, and saving money. Why am I talking about getting organized? I'll tell you. I was going to show you a not so neat picture of the disconnect notice for my water bill, but there's zero natural light in my house, so it was either unreadable, or just a big flash. The point is, I got one of those not so neat little notices that said "Pay up, or find another way to do your laundry!" Now, the bill got paid, but I also paid a $10 late charge. Just on my water bill, if I pay late every month, I'm out $120 per year. That's almost a week's worth of groceries for my family. Now throw in the house payment, electric bill, satellite bill, internet bill, and on and on. By not paying bills on time, I could be throwing away hundreds of dollars.

There's another issue here. Have you ever been sure that you bought something, and then not been able to find it later? So what did you do? Bought another one, usually. If your home is more organized, you'll minimize this kind of loss.

I'm very excited to be able to give two lucky winners a copy of this eBook! Entries to this giveaway will close 1/18/12 at 12:00 am EST. The winners will be announced on 1/18/12. Please make sure that you check out my Giveaway Rules prior to entry! This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere! The ARV of this eBook is $5.00.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received a free copy of 100 Days to a New Year for review purposes. Jennifer Tankersley is providing 2 copies as giveaway prizes. I was not otherwise compensated for this post.

Welcome to The Real Deal!

Welcome!

The Real Deal will launch on 1/1/13, complete with a Launch Celebration featuring some awesome giveaways and fantastic freebies!

Photo Credit: Tammra McCauley

The Real Deal is all about helping busy families like yours make the most of your time and your budget! I scour the interwebs looking for the most amazing deals for you, from some great merchants! I'll also be including weekly store sales, meal plans, and recipes to make your grocery budget stretch. I'll throw in some tips on stockpiling and food preservation so that you can make the most of those grocery store sales cycles!

I'm a mom of six, and I know how hard it can be to make your grocery budget feed many hungry mouths. I've been a wife and mother for more than twenty years, and I will be sharing my experience with you each and every day! While I will be writing about couponing, saving money is about so much more than just clipping coupons, and I am really looking forward to sharing with you about how I manage on a slim budget! I'll be helping you build a quality surplus of food for a "rainy day," that won't leave you wondering "What am I going to do with 12 boxes of cake mix and 8 bottles of ranch dressing?"

I'd love to keep you updated on my launch - including sneak peeks of the giveaways I've scheduled for the Launch Celebration! Sign up for The Real Deal Newsletter so I can let you know when I open the doors for the Launch Celebration, and give you those great sneak peeks of the giveaways I've scheduled! Once the Launch is announced, the Newsletter will go out weekly with updates on the deals and giveaways so you won't miss a thing at The Real Deal!

If you'd like to get notified daily of The Real Deal's Deal of the Day, and any other posts I do, simply give me a follow on Twitter or Facebook! This way, you get the updates when they are convenient for you, instead of clogging up your email box several times a day!

I'm so excited to be sharing this with you!