Recently I posted about Ebates on Myspace :


"It's basically just a portal for online retailers like amazon, target, barnes and nobel...pretty much anyplace I might shop online...So the deal is that I get cash back when I do my regular shopping...I like cash back.It makes me happy :)I also get referral bonuses if my friends and family sign-up and shop ...Also, you get a 10 gift card when you sign up... you chose between amazon, sephora, target and some others.So check it out and see if your interested."

With things tightening up with the economy and my family being a one income family I have really been interested in how to make every penny stretch. I don't need a lot of stuff, God provides quite nicely, but it's always nice to have some wiggle room too. God is being very generous in showing me these too and I really enjoy showing them to others too!

Someone teased me after I posted about Ebates that I was just in it to get my referals, and while I don't deny that referals rock, I want to share the wealth too!

I also just found out about Swagbucks...which is a way to earn giftcards just for websearches.

I have my own special referal link to both swagbucks and ebates in my sidebar, check them out and sign-up if you are interested.

Also watch my twitter on the sidebar for fun freebies as I find them.

And I can't access my pictures or anything fun...

I have been sitting on the floor looking through my CVS add and playing with all my coupons putting together deals for tomorrow and it frightens me how excited I get thinking about the fun and exciting freebies that I am hoping to get this week.

My husband just laughs at my little game and chooses to be glad that it doesn't cost us anything extra.

Even still I have to keep myself in check, not allowing the thrill of the deal to become a distraction in my life. I know I have done that before, gotten sidetracked with all of my planning and stopped asking God to lead, when it comes to finances.

So, as silly as it seems, I sometimes have to take a chance to make sure I am submitting even this, to God. That I am not relying on a deal or getting greedy.

I am grateful that God would think enough of my everything to care about even this area of my life.

I have stopped myself about five different times today and thought, "That would be great for my blog," but then something new happens anp *poof* that idea is gone.

I guess I could explain my little banner up top?

One personal challenge just wasn't enough for me this month. Classic over achiever that I am, or I should say wannabe over achiever, big plans that don't always make it.

So I added a second challenge for myself. Or a second idea still evolving I suppose. I want my blog to have more me in it. And I realize how silly that sounds, it's a blog I write, about my life...how much more me does it need? I wanted to put some more color. A different glimpse of who I am...and so now you have the banners.

I am not sure they will always be pictures from the day, but they are pictures I have taken and cropped into these little banners. they all tell a story. I might not always tell the whole thing, but know that each picture is solidly matched to the day.

Today's banner shows what I purchased at CVS and Walgreens. I have been hanging out on some blogs of some amazing women who know how to put a deal together. Who scan sale adds and coupons and find ways to save thousands of dollars a year.

And I have to say, it's thrilling to know that you are saving money and stocking your household goods.

I was raised in a house that had plenty. I guess we were either solidly middle-class, or possibly slightly upper middle-class. We always had nice things, my dad always had a new car and cars always outnumbered drivers. I never saw my parents struggle with a monthly budget, or even appear to have one. I never saw them save for a minor purchase. If they wanted or needed it, they bought it. They worked really hard and lots of long hours to get there, but Sunday cupons were never anything more than the pages between the comics.

I always sensed my dad even had a slight dislike for coupons. Like they would be beneath him. To the point that he didn't even like to use the old school gift certificates. Remeber the paper ones?

So here I am, a grown-up in my own right, with my own family, and my own bills. Money and budgets operate much differently in my house. There is only one income to start. We choose to have a few less extras in order to have me here with the kids. There are a few more of those too. I was one of one. This house is filled with the squeals of three...and we still can't say there won't be more.

I have come to not just use the coupons but to love them. To find delight in stretching our budget by watching the adds and making the coupon matches. It's not only rewarding, but it's a heck of a lot of fun.

So up in that banner there is what I bought to day for, essentially, free.

I matched some coupons, used a rebate, and earned store credit, and spent some credit.

Good times.

11 years ago when my husband and I made the choice to have children, we knew that raising children on one salary, a teacher's salary no less, was going to require some budgeting.

We haven't always been good at that, nor has it always been pleasant. We adjusted from bi-weekly paychecks to once a month pay check. Just one. We have struggled and we have prospered at different times.

Added into all the creative budgeting are our beautiful summers. Time to recharge and reconnect after an overly full academic year. Time to enjoy the California sunshine. Two months free of papers to grade, lessons to plan, and...well...pay.

People tend to shudder when they realize my husband draw no check in the summer, and truth be told I have more than once myself.

We have tried different versions of budgets, and many have failed miserably. My husband has often worked during the summers to bridge the monetary gap, but that option isn't always available and rarely reliable.

God has done a lot in me in this area. Finances seemed to be my biggest area of struggle. The place I am the weakest. I feel such a burden to "do the right thing" that I often wrestle ultimate control right out of the hands of the Maker of the Universe.

I mean, it's one thing to ask God for healing or patience but money seems so immediate. so essential. I have babies to feed. I have a home to run. I need money to do that. So I ask God to provide, to teach me to see His plan and to wait on His provision...and then the cupboards appear to go bare and I panic and start to plan and crunch numbers again.

Clearly this is an area where I need to be proactive yet my heart and faith need to not be bound by fear.

It is subtle. In a way indefinable. Yet I know there is a change in me...and I see that change reflected in my bank statements as well. My spiritual change has some obvious physical results.