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The Frigidaire Swap and Save – Energy Star Rating

The newly introduced Frigidaire line (the new fridge that I’ve been talking about from time to time) just received the EPA’s prestigious 2010 Energy Star award for their “Swap and Save” Energy Star Promotion. This award recognizes Frigidaire’s commitment to smart energy management and its efforts to share the importance of energy efficiency with a wide audience. (I save money on my electricity bill) In addition to the time-saving features you already know about, the new Frigidaire collections also save you considerable amounts of energy and water – from washers that use up to 82% less energy and 60% less water, to dishwashers that use at least 41% less energy and 40% less water than was used just 10 years ago.

What you can do is go the Frigidaire’s website and check out their swap and save and you can find out how much money you can save by purchasing a new appliance.

 

The Frigidaire refrigerator saves me time because it is so easy to keep organized. The shelves are easy to adjust making a perfect fit for creamer, milk, jams and everything we keep in the door.

 

I also save time with the freezer because in my old fridge, I had a bottom drawer and the only way to find stuff was to dig. My new freezer side of the fridge the drawers are smaller and I have them organized into, cheese drawer, meat drawer, and a frozen veggie drawer. Then we have a shelf with frozen fruit and the door has some extras. My husband loves the top shelf in the freezer because he says it’s made especially for ice cream cartons.

In this picture it’s empty but since then he has filled that empty top shelf with two cartons of ice cream. I’ll have to get a picture of that too.

 

 

“I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.”

What a Man finds important in Fridge Specifications

 

While I was gone in Texas my husband ordered Pizza. He left it in the fridge so that I could take a picture of it when I got back. See the lever above the second pizza box. You just crank that clockwise and the shelf raises. This is what’s important to a man when getting a new fridge. I think he’s hoping he can raise it enough to get one more pizza box in there. He loves the fact that it’s a perfect fit for a large pizza. Just in case this is your first time looking at my blog. This is the new double door Frigidaire refrigerator.

 

“I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator to facilitate my review.”

Get your passion Sponsored by Prilosec OTC

Prilosec OTC, a leading over-the-counter heartburn treatment, dreamed up the "Official Sponsor of Everything You Do Without Heartburn" program. They’re going to help 100 people realize their passions by providing sponsorships with an average value of  $1,000 and a maximum of $4,000. I first hear about this program on twitter when I was looking at possible sponsors for Blissdom. Then I decided well, maybe if I fill out all the information and request it for BlogHer2010. I got stuck on why I deserve the scholarship, perhaps you can answer the question better.

What is your passion?

What most moves you and will enable you to take your hobby or passion to the next level? From a commercial oven to turn your baking into a business, to plane tickets and trip coverage to take pottery classes in Italy or to hike the Grand Canyon — the application criteria are simple: "Tell us who you are, what you love to do, and what you need to do it better. We also want to know, if sponsored, who you would tell about it." 

There are a ton of categories, fifteen categories to be exact. Among those categories are food and cuisine, arts and crafts, family, home and garden, entertainment and leisure, health and fitness, travel, sports, and professional pursuits. Blogging is considered a professional pursuit or you could just chalk it up to travel, your choice but tell a good story. So much to choose from! And time’s moving fast — the deadline is February 22. Which means I need to get my thoughts organized.

 

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Prilosec OTC. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

Wendy’s A Little Something Spicy Chicken Review and #giveaway

I worked with Mom Central a few months ago and received a 20.00 Gift Card for blogging about Wendy’s Boneless Chicken Wings. At the time, I didn’t review them, I just advertised for them, so now I’m going to tell you what I think of them and give 5 5.00 Gift Cards away. I loved them. I had the sweet and sour chicken it was delicious. Just the right crispiness covered in sweet and sour sauce. Yum.

I recently went to Wendy’s and purchased myself a meal and my kids some food and I still had money left over on my 20.00 gift card. I love that one person can eat for under 5.00 easily at Wendy’s. Now Wendy’s is introducing Spicy Chicken nuggets. Oh my mouth is watering and I want to run over there and get some. I love their spicy Chicken Sandwich and their Spicy Chicken wrap. Now you can get just the spicy chicken. MMMMM. I still can’t drive yet from my surgery so I’m stuck here just thinking about them. I wish Wendy’s delivered or that I could walk about two miles, it’s just down the street.

New Spicy Chicken Nuggets are made from real, all white breast meat chicken, coated with Japanese style breadcrumbs and packed with a potent array of spices like red pepper, chili pepper, turmeric, paprika and ground mustard seed. I love it all! Best part is that they are part of the 99 cent value menu.

Now you can try them on Wendy’s!

 

To Enter:

Tell me what you like about Wendy’s.

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Advertise this giveaway on any giveaway site and tell me where you advertised it. 10 Extra Entries
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Leave a comment for every entry

The contest will run until January 11th  11:59 pm Pacific. The winner will be selected by www.random.org. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Kellogg’s Fruit Loops with Fiber Pass the Kid Test

 

Statistics show that an average of 9 out of 10 kids lack enough fiber in their diets? Which explains why every where you look food says “now with fiber”.  I had no idea it was that high, probably means I’m not getting enough fiber too. Kellogg’s knows how tough of a time we have finding ways to increase our child’s intake of anything healthy, and they came up with a great solution by adding a boost of fiber to some of their most popular kids’ cereals.

 

  

 

Yes, Kellogg’s did send me cereal to try, but we did purchase some just a week before the review was sent to us. I bought a huge box that we are still working on and we are enjoying them. My husband eats them for breakfast on Saturdays with the kids. We feel that eating meals together as a family is very important.

There are no changed other than the addition of Fiber. I check calories, sugar, vitamins, the cereal is still fortified with all of the nutrition you are looking for when caring for your family. They just added fiber and that is needed for healthy digestion.

I do want to say that my husband enjoys them. Which is funny because I was expecting  him to say these are disgusting and taste like cardboard. Because that is exactly what he thinks of Kellogg’s Fiber Pop Tarts. Kellogg’s you need to work on your pop tarts recipe with fiber.

For more information:

• Please visit www.kelloggsnutrition.com or www.Kelloggs.com/Fiber so you can find out more information about these tasty and classic cereals.

"I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Kellogg’s and received boxes of Froot Loops and Apple Jacks and a gift certificate to thank me for taking the time to participate."

If you still need ideas for Father’s Day see Mom Central

Mom Central has compiled a list of goodies you can get dad for Father’s Day.

 

 

They have ideas for under 25, under 50, under 100 and over 100. So you have a John Wayne loving coffee drinker or a camping extraordinaire that loves to take photos, you’ll find what you need on the gift guide.

Stay at Home Moms are making money writing

You can make some money blogging but I’m not in it for the money nor am I making much. Most of what I do I do as a hobby but with encouragement from friends and the fact that I do receive stuff almost on a daily basis, I feel I’m becoming a business if I want to or not.

Bloggers can also make money using sites like Pay Per Post or Sponsored Reviews. However when using these you must be careful if you feel any importance in your page rank. Google will strip you of your Page Rank with out any warning and re-submitting your blog is a pain in the butt or so I have heard.

You can also make money just writing for other sites. I’ve tried a few out but I never stick with it to find out if I could make money with it. The reason being is that I just love my blog too much. So I decided it’s all or nothing for Mom Start and here I am. Blogging away. However, I do want to share a few sites with you.

I know some moms have success with gather.com. One of the mom bloggers that I used to read, if I remembered who it was I would link to her. I’m so sorry, but I did join by clicking on your link loves gather and makes a lot of money with it and gets a lot of gift cards for shopping though gather. I had a lot of trouble figuring out how the points worked on gather, but when you only spend 10 minutes at night when you’re exhausted from chasing children all day things just don’t add up. Here is a blurb from a mom I know over the internet:

Gather, the leading social network to make new friends and form new social circles, today announced that its members have exceeded $500,000 in total earnings by redeeming Gather Points™. Since the beginning, the Gather Points program has been a popular site feature that rewards members for creating great experiences for the community. With the economic downturn, Gather Points has become an even more important member benefit. Since the start of 2009, members have redeemed over $85,000 in points they have put towards everything from home improvement projects and family vacations to summer fun for the kids.

“Gather Points have helped me buy the extra things that my kids have asked for without having to break the bank!” said Bridget A., a Gather Member who has earned $2,460 since joining the site in 2007. (http://cheekymommaof2.gather.com/) “I used my earnings from Gather Points to entirely fund our 2008 summer vacation to the Oregon Coast, where I also got to meet a fellow Gather member.”

“I have been a cash earner since Gather rolled out points spending in 2006,” said Monica Kennedy of Tennessee (http://crochetbymonica.gather.com), who has earned over $2,800 sharing her crochet expertise with the community.  “The money I have earned at Gather — doing what I love and had done elsewhere for free — has become more than extra cash for family fun. It has turned into a real, viable business for me.”

Another site moms are making money on is Helium. I have not tried Helium yet but I looked over it. It looks like a very professional site, this is what I was told:

Helium (www.Helium.com), which has quickly become the world’s largest writing community and a favorite destination for thousands of stay-at-home moms.

Helium recently announced that its writers have exceeded $1 million in total earnings. The amount — more than half of which was generated over the last six months — is a significant validation of the Helium publishing model.
At present, over one thousand Helium writers have earned more than $100, and top earners have made over $5,000 in a matter of months. Because of its flexibility, Helium is a natural fit for many stay-at-home moms who enjoy writing and have an interest in supplementing their household income.

One stay-at-home mom in Rhode Island, Trudi Buck, has earned over $3,200 over the last year by writing articles such as “How to Avoid the Holiday Bulge” for Helium.  A divorced mother of three small children, Trudi depends on the supplemental income she earns from Helium to cover special or unexpected expenses. “It is important for me to be home right now, at least until we get my daughter’s epilepsy under control,” says Trudi.

Another stay-at-home mom, Adina Allen, has made nearly $900 over the last year by writing about various parenting topics. A mother of three young children who lives in southern New Jersey, Adina spends about one hour each day on Helium, writing articles on a range of topics, such as “Simple Tips for Preparing Your House for Sale,” “Hottest Toys for 5-7 year old boys," and "Pros and Cons of the Walmart Credit Card."

Although it’s not “quit your day job money,” says Adina, the extra income generated from Helium is no small change either, especially in these tough times.

“I use my Helium earnings for simple household things like lunch money for my son, diapers for my twins, and my coffee addiction at Dunkin Donuts,” she says.

Recently named by Writer’s Digest as one of the “101 Best Websites for Writers,”  Helium rewards its writers based on merit, including the number of articles purchased through the site’s Freelance Writing Marketplace, winning writing contests and achieving high ratings from fellow writers. 

Helium is free for anyone to join and the community includes a variety of writers, including professional journalists, college students, stay-at-home moms, and medical and legal industry professionals.

Mom Bloggers Club has a few opportunities every now and then that come up. I did a post for compensation and you could think of a lot of my posts as for compensation. We’ll give you this product and 15.00 to go along with it, but it’s not much and considering how much I would charge per house I’m losing money. That’s why I don’t consider my blog writing for money, it’s more of writing to help my family save some money.

Twitter Moms has some opportunities as well. Most of them are way more work than I want to do and you only get a chance at getting something. I really like to have all of the details worked out before I do any of the work. That’s just smart right?

Mom Central pays you to blog or they provide gift cards or other opportunities.

Mom Select also provides opportunities. I’m working on the All program with them and they sent a Hayden Harnett bag worth 198.00. I was in shock when I read the value on someone else’s blog.

When it comes to getting paid though, you have to watch out for other concerns, which is another reason why I shy away from getting paid. People will not believe your posts if you were paid to write it. I want people to believe me so if I don’t like a product or find a flaw I will write about it. I just feel that showing that I’m going to write what I honestly think about something is important. More important than making the sponsor or company that provided the review item happy. I agree with Stephanie Azzarone’s article Should Mommy bloggers be paid? I also feel that we should be held accountable for our relationships with companies. We need to be paying attention to how the FTC regulations come out. I’ve kept quite for a while about how I feel because yes I do feel like I work hard on my blog, but I’m not sure I want to be paid.

I suppose this is how I feel, If I was writing for someone else’s website like Helium or gather, I would want to be paid. If what I was writing about a company or if I’m providing links and advertisements I want to be paid, but if I’m writing a review, my honest opinion, I do not want to be paid. I want the freedom to say yes I like it or this is a piece of crap. So to all of you mommies that want to make money while staying home good luck, get organized, find your niche and remember, it’s still work. It takes dedication.

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