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Life Update

It's been almost two months since my baby girl was born. I haven't written about it yet because I'm never quite sure how. She's beautiful and perfect, and I'm convinced she's insanely smart and strong (but what mother isn't, really?)

Life continues and every day I figure out a little bit better how to manage things. Flylady has been a help in some ways; having a few routines (I vacuum on Tuesdays, clean mirrors on Wednesdays, swish and swipe every morning) helps to keep me sane and keep my house clean enough by getting things done in little spurts. It also helped to have groceries (and especially diapers!!) stockpiled to so I didn't have to run around buying stuff up, and some meals in the freezer for when I didn't have time/energy to cook. I'd much rather play with or cuddle my little girl than deal with that stuff.

As for the money part, it continues too. I found I can read some deal and freebie blogs with her on my shoulder or in my lap playing, so I'm starting to get back into couponing, but only as much as works for me. I can't easily run to several stores, so the drugstore deals are taking a backseat for a while, and I'm just focusing on one grocery trip on the weekends when my husband is home. I've had to schedule some time into my week to do bills and budgeting too, stuff that used to always just get done whenever, but now wouldn't get done if I didn't make an appointment with myself. So again, things are coming along.

I'm going to start trying to post some money and life tips as I figure them out and experience them, but remember that I'm no expert. I'm just trying to get through and enjoy this phase of life, and I know so many others out there are too.

Do good: 100,000 Heartbeats for Women

Stop waiting and use your stuff before it expires!

I recently was trying to get stuff organized and in sorting through everything found the following items, all of which were expired:

• Several high value coupons, including a few free item coupons
  
• A $15 facebook ads credit
  
• A coupon for a $20 Target gift card for completing a baby registry (which I did)
  
• A $25 cash card from Huggies Enjoy the Ride (Oh the pain! The shame!)
  

It made me literally sick to my stomach to essentially throw away over $45 just because of my procrastination and lack of organization. In truth I knew I had the cash card, but didn't realize it had an expiration date on it and was saving it. Why was I saving something that could essentially be used as cash for any of my everyday purchases? Partly because it's a pain to use, but really mostly because it was something I had won, and so I wanted to use it for something special for me. So I waited just long enough to not be able to use it on anything.

There is surely a lesson to be learned from this. Keep track of what you have by going through things regularly instead of twice a year. Check gift cards and coupons for expiration dates immediately and make little reminders for yourself if those dates are short. But mostly... stop waiting. There will never be a perfect moment to use something, so take the plunge and just use it while it's still good. You'll get your value and save yourself this sick feeling.

Easy way to earn some extra swagbucks

I recently discovered a way to earn some extra Swagbucks, in addition to doing regular web searches and taking the daily poll (you do have a Swagbucks account, right?)

If you click on "ways to earn" and then "special offers" at the top of the page, you'll be taken to a page with limited time offers. Many of these are email submits, sign ups, or other typical GPT type offers. However, if you flip through the offers, you'll find several that pay you swagbucks just to watch a 2 minute video. I found videos in the SuperRewards section and the OfferPal section, but there seem to be different ones every few days.

I typically earn enough SB for a $5 Amazon giftcard every three months or so just from my searches, so this will speed it up a bit!