The Week Ahead

My plan on getting a better work and home schedule going? It’s just not working yet. I’ve been trying a few different ’systems’, but so far, nothing I’m ready to stick with.

So for the time being, I’ll just post my happenin’s and things-to-do like this. Hope ya don’t mind.

Monday is reserved for baby shots, which will undoubtedly lead to a horrific day for all of us here. I’m not planning on getting anything done. That way, I won’t disappoint myself when nothing gets done. Good plan, eh?

Tuesday, I’d like to clean up the house a bit. I have to go pick my my grandmother’s ashes in the evening, so after that highly enjoyable event, I plan on burying myself in a pillow and wallowing for as long as the kids allow it.

Wednesday: I’d really, really like to start building my new websites for my VRE training. I’ll settle on one.

The rest of the week is up in the air right now. I’ll save that for a later post. (read: stretch out some extra NaPoBloMo posts)

Grieving.

Today I am quietly mourning the passing of one of the two most important adults in my life. Quite possibly the coolest old lady on the face of the planet, my grandmother was my caregiver, my cheerleader, my best friend, my conscience, and probably the only one who loved me unconditionally.

Another longer, more thoughtful post will most likely surface soon. Right now I’m still trying to get over the shock of it all.  It was sudden, and I’m finding myself trying to wake up out of this bad dream.

Please - anyone reading - take one minute out of your day and hug your loved ones. Tell them what you feel and how much they mean to you.

Why colic-haters should gorge on turkey.

Dealing with two needy kids today, so no work is getting done. Surprise, surprise.
I’m eating turkey like a mofo today.  Why? Because the baby took an extra nap for me the day after Thanksgiving. Based on my completely unfounded and unscientific findings, I lead this to believe that the “sleepy stuff” (I make no special attempt to look these words up) that’s found in turkey is passed in breastmilk and therefore makes the baby drowsy as well.  Please - don’t correct me if I’m wrong. I like this belief. And it helps me keep the turkey down.

My Christmas Shopping Secrets! (Wrapping it up)

Wrapping it up… sigh…  dang, some things are so much funnier in my head.

Other holiday shopping resources that you’ll find helpful:

http://www.thefrugalshopper.com/articles/frugalgifts.shtml   - Inexpensive gift ideas.

http://holidays.about.com/od/giftideasshoppingtips/  - Gift ideas and shopping tips.

http://www.catalogs.com/info/gifts/christmas-gift-ideas-online.html

http://www.giftcertificates.com/   - Need a last minute bailout?  Send a gift card online.

http://sbinfocanada.about.com/b/a/132580.htm  - I know you won’t be waiting until the last minute, but in case you do here are some last minute gift ideas.

My Christmas Shopping Secrets! (Part 4)

Make some extra Christmas spending money through affiliate programs! 
Most online stores have some type of affiliate program, so while you’re shopping for gifts check out their affiliate programs.  Then, tell your friends and family about special deals at the stores and give them your affiliate link!  It’s a great way to help them save money, as well as earn some extra money for yourself!

There you have it.  These are the secrets and tips that I use personally to save a lot of money on my Christmas shopping.  You should use take advantage of them too, and save yourself some money this holiday season!

Happy Holidays!  (I know, I know… it’s still a bit early for that!)

Adsense is really easy money.

I still can’t get over how easy it is to profit from Google’s Adsense program. It’s quite possibly the easiest way I’ve ever made passive income.  All you really need to start is a blog or website, a general theme (helpful, but it’s not totally necessary to have one strict topic), and ads, and you are good to go!

I slapped Adsense on a couple of my sites several months ago, and those ads, without ANY additional work on my part, bring me in a couple hundred dollars monthly right now.  I know it could be a lot more if I had the time to update the sites/blogs with fresh content, submit them to more directories, gain more backlinks, etc.

In 2008, I plan on adding Adsense to all of my upcoming sites. I won’t totally rely on Adsense for my main income (it’s good to spread your income streams out rather than to focus on just one in case something happens to it), but I would like Adsense to account for at least 20% of my online earnings.

My Christmas Shopping Secrets! (Part 4)

Setup a Secret Santa for your family and friends!  A Secret Santa is a great way to help everyone save time and money on Christmas shopping.  Basically, how it works is everyone puts their name into a hat and then takes turns drawing a name.  Then, they only buy a gift for the person whose name they selected, but they don’t tell anyone who they’re buying for until it’s time to hand out the gifts on Christmas.

This is fun for everyone, and it takes the pressure off of having to find gifts for everyone, as you just have to shop for one person!

You can even plan your Secret Santa online at:

http://www.secretsanta.com/

Shop the night before the big sale!  This is a really big secret for shopping in the offline world, but it isn’t always the case with every store.  You’ll have to experiment with it in order to find the stores that it works at.  Basically, some stores update their computers the evening before a big sale, allowing you to take advantage of the sale prices without having to fight the crowds.  Try it out, and see if you can get lucky and find a store that does this, then add it to your list for years to come!

Ask for unadvertised discounts!  This might seem a little weird at first, but it can definitely be worth it and help you save some money.  Ask your retailers for any unadvertised discounts or sales that might be going on that week.  A lot of retailers offer special discounts to regular customers, as well as other unadvertised specials.  You won’t get them unless you ask though, so ask for them!

Secrets to Making Your Own Baby Food

Now that I’m (again) entering the wonderful world of feeding an infant, I’ve decided to create a few niche websites on topics that I’m interested in (or, at least know a bit about).  Here’s an article I’m writing and tweaking. Hopefully this will pass for today’s blog post, because I really don’t know what else to write about!

Secrets to Making Your Own Baby Food

Have you ever wondered what was in that jarred baby food you feed your child? Did you know that the majority of baby foods on the market add sugar to their products, even when it is something like chicken and peas? Imagine the chemicals and excess sugar and salt that is being pumped through your baby’s body, just by giving him commercial purees! For this reason, many mothers decide to give their child homemade baby food.

The reasons for making your own baby food are many. For one, you know exactly what is going into it and you are able to tailor the ingredients to what your baby needs and likes. Also, you can ensure that the baby food is fresh and prepared with only the best ingredients, as opposed to jarred ones which are often made from bruised fruits and vegetables with chemicals added to even out the taste. The price is another factor in going with homemade.

While it might seem daunting to take on the task of making your own baby food, it really is quite simple and needn’t take that long. You don’t need any specialized equipment, just a blender and some ice cube trays (although a food mill can be handy). There is no need to spend any money on expensive supplies since you can easily freeze the food that you make and use it later on.

For beginning eaters, your baby food will need to be soft and runny, perfect for whipping up in the blender. You can use just about any plain fruit or vegetable that has been cooked and add a little formula or breast milk to get it to the right consistency. At this age, your baby isn’t able to process most raw foods yet, so stick with things like overcooked carrots and potatoes or a boiled or baked apple.

As the child grows older and begins to get teeth, he is ready for a slightly more advanced baby food. You can stop watering the food down and simply give it in puree form. This may mean that your blender won’t be able to handle all loads. If this turns out to be the case, you might need to resort to mashing the food with a fork, or using a baby food mill which is an extremely handy device. Later, you will want to mash anyway, to give your baby a bit more texture.

To avoid making up minute amounts of baby food for every meal, most mothers find that it is far easier to cook up several batches of fruits and vegetables at once and freeze the extra in ice cube trays. You can either leave the food in the trays, or pop out the frozen baby food and store in Ziploc freezer bags. Just make sure you mark everything well, since frozen cauliflower puree can look just like frozen potato puree!

Later, you can just pop a cube or two of the chosen baby food into the microwave and thaw it out just in time for a meal. This is perfect for moms who are busy all week and don’t have time to be preparing special baby food each night. You can easily do up to a month’s worth of baby food ahead of time and freeze it.

My Christmas Shopping Secrets! (Part 3)

Use reward/portal sites!  There are sites out there that will let you earn points/rewards that you can use towards more gifts.

http://www.mypoints.com/emp/u/index.vm

http://evreward.com/   - This one actually compares various reward sites, to help you find the best one!

http://mutualpoints.com/   - This one is a UK based site.

These are just some of the sites that offer you rewards/points that you can redeem for more gifts.  Take advantage of them!

Check Overstock.com!  Overstock.com is a great site to save money on Christmas gifts.  Overstock.com offers brand name items at 40-80% off.  Use it!

http://www.overstock.com/

Blogging for money

If you can write, you can blog. And if you can blog, you can make money. It is really that simple.

Blogging is nothing more than keeping a web log, or a series of posts on absolutely any topic you like. The majority of bloggers are just personal blogger, writing about their daily life and experiences. These people tend to have a large following among family and friends, but not necessarily anyone else, unless they happen to have a fascinating life.

In order to earn money blogging, you need a topic that interests someone besides your mother. That doesn’t mean choosing a technical or difficult subject, just one that will draw a crowd when you write something interesting about it. This could be anything from natural cosmetics to horror movies and anything in between.

Although some recommend choosing your niche based on things like high quality keywords, I personally believe that you are far better off selecting a subject that interests you. After all, you will have to write about it day in and day out for the next several years if all goes well! You ought to feel some passion for the topic.

Starting a blog is easy enough. Most people have plenty of ideas at the beginning. You can start off with a handful of articles on the basics of your topic and then post every day or every week, as you please, from then on. Keep your blogging posts on topic and full of interesting information to bring people back.

Now, just because you start blogging does not mean people will come flocking to read what you write. In fact, you will probably be dismally disappointed when you see the hits counter hasn’t budged in a week. Once you have a few posts up, it is time to start promoting your blog. That means talking it up to friends and family, MSN contacts and adding your blogging URL to your signature line anywhere you can . . . in your email, forums and assorted message boards. These also count as backlinks which will eventually help you out in the search engines.

Earning with blogging can be done in several ways. For example, you can add ads to your blog. Adsense is a good one to start with, but there are plenty of alternatives. You can also take on a paid review ad from a website like Pay per Post or something similar, where you write a review of a product and post it on your blog and the site will pay you.

Affiliate marketing is another way to earn through blogging. Recommending a product and then offering your own affiliate link for buying it or signing up for a service is a good way to monetize your blog.

You could also try selling your own products. These could be real life products that need to be shipped, print on demand products like from CafePress or Printfection, or information products like e-books. The idea is to turn blogging into a profitable venture.

Even after you start selling on your blogging site, remember to continue offering good solid information on your topic.