December 08, 2010
The Benefits of getting up with the Baby at 4:00 am
Sometimes getting up at 4:00 am in the morning pays off and today was one of those mornings. I have told you my fondness of finding good deals and usually some of the best deals are to be had in the wee hours of the night before they get well publicized on the various deal sites and most people like myself included are generally aspleep. Today was just such a day but as luck would have it in this case I was actually up.
After spending about 30 minutes to get the little girl back to sleep, I decided I should probably stay up just a bit longer to ensure that she really was fast asleep. No sense putting the head back down on the pillow and just about to fall asleep to be awoken by an upset baby. So I decided to go to the office in the next room and check on my favorite deal site http://slickdeals.net . This was the right thing to do because as it just so happened I was able to get in on the ground level of a deal before it went on fire.
Amazon.com was selling Battlefield Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition for $28.96 normally about a $60 game while at the same time offering a Trade-in credit for the game of $27.00. Just at a base level it looks like ok nothing really special here I could play the game for a week and then return it only losing a dollar but the kicker here was that this game qualified for Amazon's current promotion of Buy One Video Game or Accessory and get the 2nd 50% off. So by buying two games for just about $40 bucks I could then turn around and ship them back to Amazon for a trade in credit of about $54 in amazon gift cards.
Before proceeding with the purchase I needed to lock in my trade-in credit price because it was surely about to plummet once the market got flooded with a bunch of other Slickdealers doing the same thing. The only problem with this was that now I was locked into a seven day window in which the games must be shipped out back to Amazon and I didn't have the actual games in hand yet. The one good thing about most of the online trade-in sites is that they provide you with a prepaid shipping label so the package only has to be postmarked by the deadline not actually received. But if I were to miss the seven day window I would forfeit my guaranteed trade-in price and would be stuck with what ever the current market price was at the time received. Luckily though I am an Amazon Prime Member which means I am entitled to free 2 day shipping . So I should be able to get the games in hand before I actually need to send them back. This netted me about $14 and so I decided to repeat the deal once more but this time with the XBOX version since Amazon limits the number of trade-ins it will accept from a single user of each title. So in the end I had about $28 in credit coming to me for about 15 mins work.
As expected by the morning commute all the trade-in sites were flooded with the game and of course the premiums went down accordingly. So I got in early before the word got out all because my sweet little girl couldn't sleep and needed her Daddy at 4:00 am .
On a side note Amazon doesn't just accept trade - ins on games but also some books too. Another good site for trading in games and electronics that I like to use is http://gazelle.com . There you can get cash delivered to your Paypal account and they will sometimes even offer you a bonus amount if you accept a giftcard to a certain retailers like Amazon.
After spending about 30 minutes to get the little girl back to sleep, I decided I should probably stay up just a bit longer to ensure that she really was fast asleep. No sense putting the head back down on the pillow and just about to fall asleep to be awoken by an upset baby. So I decided to go to the office in the next room and check on my favorite deal site http://slickdeals.net . This was the right thing to do because as it just so happened I was able to get in on the ground level of a deal before it went on fire.
Amazon.com was selling Battlefield Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition for $28.96 normally about a $60 game while at the same time offering a Trade-in credit for the game of $27.00. Just at a base level it looks like ok nothing really special here I could play the game for a week and then return it only losing a dollar but the kicker here was that this game qualified for Amazon's current promotion of Buy One Video Game or Accessory and get the 2nd 50% off. So by buying two games for just about $40 bucks I could then turn around and ship them back to Amazon for a trade in credit of about $54 in amazon gift cards.
Before proceeding with the purchase I needed to lock in my trade-in credit price because it was surely about to plummet once the market got flooded with a bunch of other Slickdealers doing the same thing. The only problem with this was that now I was locked into a seven day window in which the games must be shipped out back to Amazon and I didn't have the actual games in hand yet. The one good thing about most of the online trade-in sites is that they provide you with a prepaid shipping label so the package only has to be postmarked by the deadline not actually received. But if I were to miss the seven day window I would forfeit my guaranteed trade-in price and would be stuck with what ever the current market price was at the time received. Luckily though I am an Amazon Prime Member which means I am entitled to free 2 day shipping . So I should be able to get the games in hand before I actually need to send them back. This netted me about $14 and so I decided to repeat the deal once more but this time with the XBOX version since Amazon limits the number of trade-ins it will accept from a single user of each title. So in the end I had about $28 in credit coming to me for about 15 mins work.
As expected by the morning commute all the trade-in sites were flooded with the game and of course the premiums went down accordingly. So I got in early before the word got out all because my sweet little girl couldn't sleep and needed her Daddy at 4:00 am .
On a side note Amazon doesn't just accept trade - ins on games but also some books too. Another good site for trading in games and electronics that I like to use is http://gazelle.com . There you can get cash delivered to your Paypal account and they will sometimes even offer you a bonus amount if you accept a giftcard to a certain retailers like Amazon.
December 02, 2010
FLYing update
I previously promised to display pictures of the areas I was working on in my house at the end of the month....well, I haven't done anything further to those areas so there is no point in posting any photos!
So, what am I doing? Well, right now I am in the process of creating a Household Notebook for next year. I learned about this from my Organizing Life As Mom eBook. The eBook contains a number of printable documents to help you put your own Household Notebook together so I am slowly working through them to determine what my notebook will need to contain. Once I have it all together I am going to get it spiral bound at FedEx Kinkos. I am looking forward to seeing how this helps me to bring my homemaking tasks under control in the New Year. I think just having everything in one place will be helpful in itself.
Other than that I have been working on decluttering areas of my house when I have time. I have decluttered and reorganized two large cabinets in our kitchen and the drawer in the living room that holds the baby's bibs, burp cloths, etc. I also have finished some craft projects that now need to be hung. I am really excited aboutbegging asking my husband to take care of that so I can show you!
Also, I am excited to tell you that we have found someone to start helping with getting our house clean again. Ever since the latter part of my pregnancy the house has just gone to pot! Seriously, it is nasty. Sure, it looks fine on the surface but the dust bunnies have multiplied so much that they recently attacked the dog and cobwebs have totally taken over all the light fixtures. My hope is that after a few months of regular help I will be at the point I can maintain it myself. I realize that having paid help is a luxary in a world where there are children who don't even have enough to eat. I am thankful beyond words for God's provision in my life. Kelly Blowe of Kelly's Cleaning Closet will be starting in about a week and she will be coming three times in December. After that we'll see where things stand. I am hoping that with the basics getting done (as well as some desperately needed deep cleaning) I'll be able to focus more on the decluttering that is needed in order to scale back our belongings to make room for Olivia's things as well as my sewing projects.
Other than that I have been working on decluttering areas of my house when I have time. I have decluttered and reorganized two large cabinets in our kitchen and the drawer in the living room that holds the baby's bibs, burp cloths, etc. I also have finished some craft projects that now need to be hung. I am really excited about
Also, I am excited to tell you that we have found someone to start helping with getting our house clean again. Ever since the latter part of my pregnancy the house has just gone to pot! Seriously, it is nasty. Sure, it looks fine on the surface but the dust bunnies have multiplied so much that they recently attacked the dog and cobwebs have totally taken over all the light fixtures. My hope is that after a few months of regular help I will be at the point I can maintain it myself. I realize that having paid help is a luxary in a world where there are children who don't even have enough to eat. I am thankful beyond words for God's provision in my life. Kelly Blowe of Kelly's Cleaning Closet will be starting in about a week and she will be coming three times in December. After that we'll see where things stand. I am hoping that with the basics getting done (as well as some desperately needed deep cleaning) I'll be able to focus more on the decluttering that is needed in order to scale back our belongings to make room for Olivia's things as well as my sewing projects.
Works For Me Wednesday
Okay, first let's just get it out of the way...yes, I know it is Thursday. I'm a day late, so shoot me!
I have agreed to review some FLYlady products for my FLYbaby group so rather than just post my thoughts there I decided it made more sense to post to the blog and then post that reference to the group. My plan (ha ha!) is to blog on Wednesdays about a different product I am trying until I have covered all the ones I have.....don't hold your breath....my follow through is notoriously poor! (Just a comment, I am not being compensated for this review. This is a product I purchased for my own use and I am just sharing my thoughts about it with you.)
So first up is the Rags In A Bag product. This is a set of three purple microfiber cloths that arrive in a mesh laundry bag with zipper. I have been using these for a few weeks now and have decided that they are a winner! I really like them. I have used microfiber cloths before but these truly are a superior product in my opinion. One thing I am really loving about them is that I can dampen one corner and clean mirrors or glass without using any cleaning products. If necessary I will wipe over at the end with the dry end to make sure there is no smearing. Something like this really comes in handy when you have a child. Seriously, who has time to go get the paper towels and glass cleaner? Not me! I also like that they are generously sized whereas ones I have purchased in the past were not. The only negative thing I can say about them is that they do shrink in the dryer; however, I failed to read the instruction about air drying them so I am entirely to blame!
You can find this product in the FLYshop for $9.95 plus S&H.
I have agreed to review some FLYlady products for my FLYbaby group so rather than just post my thoughts there I decided it made more sense to post to the blog and then post that reference to the group. My plan (ha ha!) is to blog on Wednesdays about a different product I am trying until I have covered all the ones I have.....don't hold your breath....my follow through is notoriously poor! (Just a comment, I am not being compensated for this review. This is a product I purchased for my own use and I am just sharing my thoughts about it with you.)
So first up is the Rags In A Bag product. This is a set of three purple microfiber cloths that arrive in a mesh laundry bag with zipper. I have been using these for a few weeks now and have decided that they are a winner! I really like them. I have used microfiber cloths before but these truly are a superior product in my opinion. One thing I am really loving about them is that I can dampen one corner and clean mirrors or glass without using any cleaning products. If necessary I will wipe over at the end with the dry end to make sure there is no smearing. Something like this really comes in handy when you have a child. Seriously, who has time to go get the paper towels and glass cleaner? Not me! I also like that they are generously sized whereas ones I have purchased in the past were not. The only negative thing I can say about them is that they do shrink in the dryer; however, I failed to read the instruction about air drying them so I am entirely to blame!
You can find this product in the FLYshop for $9.95 plus S&H.
Let's talk about Christmas cards...
It's the time of year when we begin asking ourselves what to do about the annual Christmas card. Should we get boxed cards, write a Christmas letter or take a Christmas photo and paste it inside a card? Decisions, decisions....
Personally I like to take as much of the work out of it as possible! If you are like me then can I be bold and suggest an idea to you? Shutterfly! Have you used Shutterfly before? If not, now is definitely the time to try it out. I use Shutterfly for anything I want to look really nice. I have used it for countless cards and photobooks. I posted one of my favorite projects recently and I wanted to share the Christmas card we designed for our first married Christmas as well but it has been discontinued so I cannot post a link to it - boo! It was cute though!
So, I'd like to show you a few designs that I think are worthy of your consideration -
Personally I like to take as much of the work out of it as possible! If you are like me then can I be bold and suggest an idea to you? Shutterfly! Have you used Shutterfly before? If not, now is definitely the time to try it out. I use Shutterfly for anything I want to look really nice. I have used it for countless cards and photobooks. I posted one of my favorite projects recently and I wanted to share the Christmas card we designed for our first married Christmas as well but it has been discontinued so I cannot post a link to it - boo! It was cute though!
So, I'd like to show you a few designs that I think are worthy of your consideration -
For those who cannot decide between doing a Christmas card or Christmas letter -
there is a hybrid available!
For those who want to share about their family but not in letter format,
here's a very playful option
For those with larger families,
here is one that spotlights each member
Shutterfly also has a selection of faith-based cards but honestly,
you can make most any of their cards reflect your beliefs
because of the personalization each one offers.
So, as you can see there is something for everyone at Shutterfly - that's why I love it so! AND, if you have a blog there is an opportunity here to get 50 free holiday cards for yourself (hence the reason I am posting this entire blog about Shutterfly's holiday cards though seriously, I do love them and would use them even if there were no free cards!)
I am looking forward to designing mine soon. I am always excited to get my products in the mail - Shutterfly photo cards and books ook so professional! So, check Shutterfly out and see what you think!
Can you believe it is December?
So, lo and behold Christmas is just around the corner. Do I have a tree up? No. Do I have a stocking for Olivia? No. Do I have a plan? No. In short, this mama is way behind! The only thing I can proudly claim is that most of my Christmas shopping is done. That is a first for me - normally I wait til the last minute because I haven't made it a priority but this year I had an idea and ordered a variation of it for almost everyone on my list which made things rather simple. I have a large extended family that I like to do a homemade project for each year and just this week I settled on what I'm going to do for that so I'm well on my way to being completely done with the gifts but I have no tree to put them under! Oh well, I'm not overly worried about it. Olivia will see plenty of trees and lights even if they are not at her own house!
I did put up the adorable Little People Nativity Set I got last year when I knew I was pregnant and would want my baby to have his/her very own nativity set. One of my childhood memories is of having a small tree of my own in my room each year. I'd like to do that with Olivia but using the nativity scene so I can incorporate the real meaning of Christmas into her bedtime routine as she grows up.
One of the things we also have not done yet is take a Christmas picture for our Christmas cards. We have had a Christmas dress for Olivia for a while but just have not had a chance to get a photo. Mark ordered us a new NICE camera this week so we'll probably wait til it arrives to take our photo. I'm just hoping and praying we get it done in time for me to create and order our cards! And speaking of that, I'm going to write a whole separate blog post regarding the use of Shutterfly for your Christmas cards so stay tuned!
Olivia's Birth Announcement
Just wanted to share the birth announcement I created for Olivia that we sent out to immediate family. I heart Shutterfly!
Storybook Setting Birth Announcement
Customize your own baby announcement at Shutterfly.
View the entire collection of cards.
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