In August 2008 I became a mom for the second time. Up until that time I had continued to work, but after much talk and prayer, I felt that I was meant to be a full time mom. I had no idea how this could possibly work. It was both exciting and scary. We live in New Jersey where the cost of living is very high.
In 2009, I was introduced to the first blog I ever read. It was a "freebie" blog. It was wonderful because it helped me become a little more savvy with my money. I started to coupon, and to take advantage of any freebies that companies would offer. This was especially helpful on baby products/food items. One day when I logged on to the site I saw something about entering sweepstakes. I knew nothing about sweepstakes. I had never won anything, and really thought it was something that happened for other people.
I tried my hand at my first sweepstakes or "sweeps" as the "professionals" call it, and was surprised to win my first prize (a candy bar). I was jumping up and down. I told my husband, and he said "that's nice...a candy bar". It was nothing big for sure, but my philosophy has always been that "every little bit helps".
In late 2010, I started seeing posts about people entering twitter contests. I had no idea what twitter was. I logged on, and had an intense headache. It was so overwhelming. I ended up connecting with some other moms there and they were all talking about twitter parties. I had no idea what a twitter party was, but heard that the odds here were better than in other "sweeps". I was terrible at first, but eventually started winning. I won some nice things from gift cards, to coupons, to toys, to clothing items, and all kinds of little things. At first it was exciting to win anything. After doing it for a while though, I limited my time to the things we truly needed. I am so grateful for the items that I won. It really helped us through some otherwise difficult times.
By early 2012 I was thinking about my return to the work force. And of course it was then that we found out we were expecting. It threw us for a loop, but we were so excited to become parents again. That pregnancy was not meant to be. I was crushed when we went in for the ultrasound and there was no longer a heartbeat. I had some very down times, and it was amazing to have so much encouragement from both "real" and "virtual" friends. It was a miracle when just 3 months later we found out we were expecting again. I was excited and nervous, and that baby is now 9 months old.
So it is now 2014, and I am still blessed to be home with my children (even though my older two are now in elementary school full time). I still enter contests on twitter when I can and try my hand at a few "sweeps". I still coupon, but now my goal is to break into the blogging community.
I am so excited for the connections and I have made and for those of you have already jumped on board. I appreciate every word of encouragement. This is something that I really have to do for myself.
That brings me back to the question though of how did you get to the point where you are reading my blog? How do you save money? I look forward to exchanging tips together. I would love to see your comments.
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