Thank You Thursday

Thank You Thursday
This is a day where I want to thank those who have linked to my giveaways or those who have a site that lets myself and others link our giveaways. Today I would like to say thank you to
Shop Annies - A site ran by a mom of 6 who loves to save money, be frugal, meet lots of friends, and gather new tips.

1. Tell us about yourself and your website, Shop Annies
I am a mother of 6 and grandma of 1 and love to meet people and share my thoughts and ideas. Through my blog you can see this as I try to join in many daily memes and blog posts as well as share products I love.

2.How did you get started blogging and what do you enjoy most about it?
I started blogging after having to temporarily shut the doors to our business. It was sort of a way out into the world to talk to others. I started reading blogs many years ago and then just got into the act around 4-5 months ago. I love meeting the many kind people and participating in memes and giveaways are fun as well.

3.What is your #1 savings tip?
I love to watch cvs for the extra bucks buys, coupon shop, walk to save gas and menu plan. There are many things that I do to save money.

4. What is your favorite low-cost recipe?
Hash, simple hamburger browned, potatos boiled still in chunks,
mix, season, and serve.

5. What is your favorite store to save at?
kroger and walmart

6. What type of giveaway do you like the most?
My family would say stuff to eat, I would say giveaways for my grandbaby.

7. Have you ever won a giveaway?
Yes, a few, I have also held some.

8. Do you have any other websites that you would like to tell us about?
No, the blog is all that I have.

Thank You Shop Annies for taking time to do this interview and especially thank you for the times you have linked to me!
April

Thank You Thursday

Thank You Janelle from Not Just Leftovers-Brand New Meals
For those of you that are new, I recently started a post called Thank You Thursday to give a big thank you for those who have either linked to me or who have a giveaway site.
So, here is todays interview:
1. Tell us about yourself, Janelle, and your websites.
I am a 30-something mom living in the Kansas City area. This summer I will celebrate my 20th wedding anniversary! Until August, I was working a very corporate job and stressed to the max. I left work because they wouldn't approve a schedule change that would allow me to spend time helping my son with his homework, and that was something that I desperately needed to do. Although our income has been cut in half, our quality of life has doubled. My kids are so much happier having me home, even though they are all in school during the day. And I get to be very involved in their school, which makes me happy. When I first started staying home, a friend told me about the "Grocery Cart Challenge" blog and that got me started on blogging. I decided to make my own blog and started "At Home with my Monkeys." A few months later, I started a second blog, "Not Just Leftovers" because friends are always asking me
what to do with their leftover foods. I love making meals from creative leftovers, and with the current economic climate, it seemed like the perfect topic for a blog - helping people save money by not wasting food.

2.How did you get started blogging and what do you enjoy most about it?
I started because I was fascinated with the information I was learning from other blogs, and I thought maybe I could contribute something. It also seemed like a great way to make some new friends and have regular contact with people since I no longer had my buddies from work around. I enjoy having that creative outlet, I love the giveaways that I find, and I like to think that some of my posts (particularly about leftovers) are helping someone out there. I also love the people that I've met and am getting to know through blogging. There are some truly wonderful bloggers and I'm thrilled to know some of them!

3.Does your family help you at all?
My family is always happy to taste-test my latest leftover experiment, and they give me honest opinions. I've also taught my kids the value of coupons and shopping carefully, and they are wonderful helpers at the grocery store, helping me find the coupon deals and not asking me to buy things that are not a good deal. I have a fabulous family! :-)

4.What is your #1 savings tip?
Never waste anything. Even a quarter-cup of leftover veggies can be utilized in a new dish. No matter how cheaply you purchased something, it wasn't a good deal if you end up wasting the product.

5. What is your favorite low-cost recipe?
I'm not sure I really have a favorite, as a lot of my recipes are creative concoctions. One of my very first recipes that I was able to make, and one that I've continued to make over the years is Budget Beef Stroganoff:
1/2 lb. ground beef (approx. $1.50)
2 T. flour (negligible)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder (negligible)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (.50 on sale)
1/2 soup can water
1 can mushroom stems and pieces (.50)
1/2 c. sour cream (.25)
Hot cooked egg noodles (.75)

Cook beef and drain. Stir in flour and seasonings until blended.
Add soup, water, and drained mushrooms. Simmer 5 minutes.
Stir in sour cream just before serving over hot noodles.

Total cost: approx. $3.50

6. What is your favorite store to save at?
Aldi is the store where I shop most often for basics. If I'm using coupons, I like to go to Hen House, because they double. However, I shop at several stores to get the best deals.

7. What type of giveaway do you like the most?
I like all types of giveaways, but gift cards and coupons are the most thrilling for me. You can't win if you don't enter, so you should always try!

8. Have you ever won a giveaway?
I have won a few giveaways, including a $25 Visa gift card and $5 at Starbucks. I've only won one giveaway where the person hosting it never bothered to send out the prize or return any of my emails. I am not letting one bad apple ruin my fun in entering them!

9. Do you have any other websites that you would like to tell us about?
If you really don't know what to make for dinner, you might check out supercook.com. You can enter the ingredients you have on hand and their database will search the most common recipe sites and give you a list of recipes you can make. And it saves your ingredients, so you can enter all sorts of things and come back and tweak it to get recipes. I love supercook!

Thanks Janelle! I love the ideas you have on your site Not Just Leftovers!

April

Thank You Thursday

Thank You Thursday
A couple of weeks ago I was getting ready to write a post thanking and giving credit to all the bloggers who have linked to me and to sites where I have posted my giveaways and then thought of Thank You Thursday. Each week I want to interview these fellow bloggers and say thank you by giving them a chance to tell you about their site and themselves. I will also be using questions that all of you offered on the last giveaway! In case you are wondering I will start with the first person who ever linked to me and go in order. However, today the interview is with Courtney Chowning of Mom Giveaways, a great place to submit a giveaway or see what giveaways are out there.

1. Tell us about yourself and your website Mom Giveaways.
I am a Christian stay at home mom to two wonderful kids. I started MomGiveaways.com because I love to enter giveaways but actually finding them can be time consuming. After seeing how many people, especially moms, enter giveaways I decided I was not the only one with this problem. MomGiveaways.com was started in an effort to make giveaways easier to find and enter for those who love giveaways. MomGiveaways.com will list every giveaway we can find, offer product reviews and our own giveaways, as well as a weekly newsletter featuring the hottest giveaways.

2.How did you get started blogging and what do you enjoy most about it?
I actually saw my husband, a doctor, reading a medical blog and was intrigued by the site and how it was setup. So I started looking for blogs about motherhood and I found a whole new world! I was instantly hooked. I enjoy meeting new people the most and being able to provide a service and helping others out.

3.Does your family help you at all?
No my family doesn't really help me. They know I blog but that is about it. They don't really get it. However, I have a great group of ladies who help me at Mom Giveaways including my best friend.

4.What is your #1 savings tip?
Create a budget and stick to it. Once I realized where my money was going it was lot easier to tell where I could cut back and save money.

5. What is your favorite low-cost recipe?
BBQ Chicken. I found this recipe at KraftFoods.com and it is one of my kids' favorites. Just put some chicken breast in a pan and cover in BBQ sauce and then bake for about 35 minutes. Easy and cheap!

6. What is your favorite store to save at?
Where I live I don't have a lot of options on where to shop for groceries but I do have an Aldi near by and love that store for getting the basics.

7.On one of my last giveaways I gave an extra entry to those who wanted to give a question to an established blogger. Donna asks:
My question would be "Do you have any tips about how to get your blog well established?"
Be consistent and network. Write good posts consistently and network consistently. Networking is almost just as important as your content in my opinion.

8. Do you have any other websites that you would like to tell us about?
I just started FaithApproved.com, a Chirstian product review site. At Faith Approved I set up blog tours for Christian products and/or Christian business owners. At the moment we have 3 tours going on and about 9 bloggers signed up to be reviewers.

Courtney
faithapproved.com

momgiveaways.com

Thank You Courtney for this interview and a great site to list our giveaways on!

April