I’ve spent the last couple days processing my trip to Blissdom.  (In between kissing on my boys, trying to get caught up on blogging, enjoying our news interview, attempting to get unpacked–emphasis on attempting–and kissing on my boys a little bit more).

I wrote a big long list of ‘things to do’ while flying home, but I won’t bore you with those details.  Simply know that over the next weeks and months, I will be implementing some changes that will make this blog a better resource for you, my readers.  I can’t wait!

But beyond a list of things to do, if I could sum up the biggest take home from this conference, it would be this: The internet is a powerful tool. I have been so blessed by the money-saving information that the internet has provided for me–and I trust that you have been too.  The ability to connect and share information through the internet has changed how we do life.

I think of my Mom, who has a very entrepreneurial spirit. Throughout my childhood, her creative endeavors included things like authoring a creative writing curriculum and creating a mystery mail program for kids.  (All while raising 6 children!)

What is amazing to me is that we didn’t even own a computer until I was a senior in high school.

All of the research, writing, publishing, and promoting of her material was accomplished by typewriter, phone, and snail mail.  I don’t even know what to say.  No Twitter? No Facebook? No Wikipedia?  No Google?  {Gasp!}

At the end of typing this post, I will click ‘Publish’ and reach thousands of people with the click of a button.  Yes.  The internet is a powerful tool.

(If you’d like an amazing example of how powerful the internet can be, check out Stellan’s story.  His Mommy was one of our keynote speakers.  You may need a couple hours and a box of tissues–but it’s a beautiful story.)

I think my biggest take-home was a sense of responsibility.   Just  because the internet has made communicating with the world as simple as the click of a button, doesn’t mean that I have any less responsibility to be sure that what I share is helpful, meaningful, and connects with you as a PERSON.

This blog continues to grow and I love that! I want you to know that I am grateful for each one of you.  I may not be able to sit down with you and share a cup of {fill in your beverage of choice} while we discuss the latest moneymaker at CVS or how we’re doing at sticking to our budget.  But I want you to know that I value you!  More than anything, I want to be a positive, encouraging, and helpful resource for you.

And that’s what I took home with me.

And as for what I wish I could have taken home with me?  Harry Connick, Jr.  {He gave us our own little private concert!}

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Note: I am going to sticky this post up here for the day.  Scroll down to find all the latest deals!

If you found us by watching our feature on Saving with 6abc, welcome to Cha-Ching on a Shoestring! (If you missed the segment, you can watch it online here.)

Feel free to take some time to have a seat, put your feet up, and stay a while!

If you’d like to know more about how I use coupons to save money at the drugstore, you’ll want to check out my tips on playing the Drugstore Game.  Learn other creative ways that we stretch our money by checking out our ‘How We Save Money’ section.

I’ve also compiled a list of the latest greatest deals and freebies for you to help you out a bit.  Check them out here and then feel free to take a look around the blog.  So glad you stopped by!

• Want to know where I find my online coupons?  Check out my favorite sites: Coupons.com, SmartSource, and RedPlum.(Be sure to check out our Coupons 101 section too!)

• Click here to find out how you can score FREE cereal at Rite Aid this week.

• Click here to find out how to score Luvs diapers for only $3.42 a pack!

• Click here to print a coupon for $15 off a $15 purchase at The Limited.  (Exp. 2/10)

• Click here to find out how you can sign up to earn rewards from Nielsen for tracking your shopping.

• Click here to enter our $35 Jiffy Lube gift card giveaway.

• Click here to enter our CVS In-Store Photo Book giveaway.

• Click here to enter our Coupon Mom’s Guide to Cutting your Grocery Bills in Half giveaway.

If you’d like to learn more about us:

• Read our story about how this blog began here and our ‘How We Got Here’ series here.

• If you’d like to see how I (Kaley) challenge myself to save money, you may want to check out my weekly Cha-Ching Challenge post.  My personal fave is the week I challenged myself to see how many deals I could score for less than $10.  Go here to check out my stash.

I am one excited girl right now.

I am officially on my way to Blissdom–a conference for bloggers.  (Yep, they have such things!)

I have so much to learn about making my blog a more helpful tool for you all and a conference is exactly the next step that I needed.

There are a few people who are making this happen for me:

1. My husband and Mother-in-Law who are going to tag team with those two crazy boys of mine this weekend.  It’s been a long week around here with both boys being sick, so it is with deep gratitude that I say THANK YOU to them!
2. If you’ve been around here for long, you’ve already heard me profess my deep love for E-Mealz, a meal planning resource for busy moms and frugal family cooks.  When I signed up for E-Mealz nearly a year ago now, little did I know how much it would impact me.   It has been a huge blessing, saving me both time and money.  (If you’d like to find out more, check it out here.  You’ll thank me later!)

The wonderful folks over at E-Mealz are also sponsoring my ticket to Blissdom.  Again, I am one grateful girl.  THANK YOU, E-MEALZ!

I am also super excited to room with my college friend Beckie.  She is a barrel of fun and energy and I know we will have a BLAST!

Now it’s time for me to head out the door so I don’t miss my flight!  I will do my best to get some posts up while I am there, but it will be a littler quieter around these parts.  Next week I’ll be back in full force though!

I’ve taken some time this week to sit back and consider, “What would I like to see happen with Cha-Ching on a Shoestring in 2010?”

I am very grateful to those of you who took time to fill out my reader survey.  It was fun and helpful to hear your thoughts.  Of course, I may not be able to implement every suggestion offered, but I am already using your ideas to improve the blog.

If I could sum up my goals for this year it would sound something like this:

“My goal for this blog in 2010 is to have goals for this blog in 2010.”

Yes, you heard me right.  I flew by the seat of my pants in many ways last year.  My idea to start a money-saving blog in the first place was even somewhat impulsive.

And yet, I’m really amazed at how far we have come.

So if we could move from zero readers to 2000 without laying out any kind of strategy, it’s exciting to me to think where we could go with some good solid goals in place.

If I could sum my goals up in three words, they would be:

1) Organize.

2) Learn.

3) Teamwork.

Of course, there’s much more to it than that, but I won’t bore you with the details. =)

I am also excited about creating more opportunities for me to work with you on establishing and implementing savings goals.  The Cha-Ching Christmas Club is just one example of how that will happen.  Look for more on that soon!

Now, can I ask one thing of you? My one little request is for you to feel free to leave lots of comments! There are times when I can’t answer  a question in the comments very quickly.  But most of you know just as much or more than I do.  I love it when you help each other out in the comments section!  (By the way, if you are reading this in an e-mail or feed reader, simply click on the title of a post to leave a comment at the bottom.)

Thank you again, dear readers for sticking with us.  We appreciate your willingness to let us learn about this whole money-saving-journey right along with you.

Now let’s keep Living Large in 2010!

I’m not writing New Year’s Resolutions.  Yet.

I decided that today is going to be my day of reflecting.  Tomorrow I think about the future.

What a year it has been–both personally and as a blog. Throughout this past year, our family has dealt with the discouragements of unemployment and job-hunting and survived.  In September, Wes took a job in Pennsylvania.  We uprooted from our home town and now have a new home, new friends, new church, and a new state.

It’s been crazy.  But we love it and wouldn’t have it any other way.

And as for this blog? Well, it’s been a life-changing venture for me. Since the beginning of Cha-Ching on a Shoestring in April of this year, I’ve discovered a passion that has been lurking beneath the surface for many years.

I thought it would be fun to share the highlights (both the good and the bad!) of the past year on Cha-Ching on a Shoestring.  So here goes:

April:

• Cha-Ching on a Shoestring was born!!  (A HUGE thanks to Solution Three for making this possible!)

• Wes and I shared Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of our “How We Got Here” series

May:

• The Mars Chocolate Giveaway began. *sigh* I miss those days.

• My family officially labeled me as ‘Frugal‘.

• I shared Part 4 of our “How We Got Here” series.

• The infamous KFC and Oprah fiasco went down.

• I ran a 10 mile race. (Ok…so that one isn’t blog-related.  I just wanted to add it in!)

June:

• I gave away a prize to the person who could guess how quickly I could make a Target trip.

• Our story about how we save money during tough times was featured in our local paper.

July:

• We announced the Next Step in our Journey.

• Wes and I were featured on our local radio station.

• Wes encouraged us to Simplify.

August:

• Wes and I were featured on our local News.

• I discovered that you can get a FREE drink on your birthday at Starbucks!

• We moved!

• My Mom introduced the Cha-Ching Couponing System.

September:

• I shared some of my time-saving, money-saving tips.

• I won a $25 Starbucks gift card through the Huggies Rewards Program!

October:

• I began my series on How I Plan to Spend Less than $50 on Christmas (look for a follow-up post soon!)

• The HOT Kodak Gallery deal began.

• I shared how Living Large starts by Living Small.

November:

• The HOT Snapfish $10 credit began.

• I shared my first Vlog!

December:

• We bought a goat and two chickens.

• I introduced the Cha-Ching! Christmas Club.

• Three other bloggers and I shared The Beautiful Christmas series.

• Amazon gave away a $4 credit for Video on Demand, International Delight gave away pints of creamer, and QuikTrip gave away yet another free sandwich, wrap, or salad.  (All still available!)

And the biggest highlight of all?!

YOU!

Thank you for reading Cha-Ching on a Shoestring, dear readers!  Your kind words and encouragement keep me going.  I can’t thank you enough!  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you!!!

Happy New Year!

This year I decided to read the Christmas story to my four year old son while he acted it out with our Nativity Scene.

He provided a whole new take on the story.

I had no idea that there was so much punching the bad guy involved in the birth of Christ.  But to be fair, we read the version that shares how Herod tried to kill Baby Jesus by killing all of the children under two years.  He deserved a punch or two.

The other night we held our own little Christmas pageant at our church.  My husband closed the evening by talking about the Upside-Down-Way of Christ.

If I were Jesus, I’m not sure I would have done this story this way.  Why God chose to become a Baby and be born in a manger is a bit of a mystery.

If I were Jesus, there would be a whole lot more than punching the Bad Guy.  The Bad Guy wouldn’t have a chance.

But it’s the way He does things.  Upside-Down.  He gives everyone a chance. He demonstrates real love in the form of this Baby.  And offers Hope.

And it’s Beautiful.

I wish you all a very Beautiful Christmas.

Want to transform your Christmas with us? My Book The Merry Little Christmas Project – Five Words that will Transform your Christmas has helped thousands of women do just that. If you have ever wished that Christmas didn’t have to be so stressful, I wrote this book for you. Click here to learn more and begin simplifying and organizing your Christmas with me! 

One of my favorite aspects of our new home is that we finally have a Guest Room (which Griffin calls the Clue Room –apparently he thinks it’s the Guess room.)

Since we moved three weeks ago, we have already hosted 7 overnight visitors (and two more are coming this weekend!) That’s probably about twice as many overnight guests as we ever had in our little two-bedroom apartment.

Thank god I got new mattresses for my guest room as well. I’m sure my guests really appreciated sleeping in a comfortable bed. Griffen thought there was no need, but spent ages looking up mattress reviews (for example, you can find out more about bestmattress-brand here if you wanted) and I told him that it would be totally worth it since we would have a lot of people coming in and staying in our home.

As I was preparing the guest room last week, a fun idea hit me. Why not use my CVS stockpile to make a little hospitality basket for our visitors? Now they would have no reason to skip brushing their teeth all weekend if they forgot their toothbrush!

So I gathered deodorants, toothbrushes, pain reliever, toothpaste, soaps, shampoos, and feminine items in a little basket like this:

I placed it by the bed along with a magazine for a little leisurely reading. All it needs now is a welcome note!

Now who’s coming to visit?!