Holiday Shopping Cash Back

If you want to earn some cash back on your holiday shopping, start with Ebates. Ebates has tons of stores listed and when you click from their site, you get cash back. They even have a daily double site (yesterday was Barnes and Nobel with 8% cash back on your purchases) they double the percentage back. And they list tons of online coupons to help you save more. It just makes sense! Ebay is even one of the stores you can click too! And it is for real! I got a check back for purchases right from the company in a reasonable amount of time. Refer your friends and when they sign up and make a $20 purchase in 90 days, you get $5. Tons of way to make some extra cash all year round.

Shutterfly for Christmas Photo Cards

We took our Christmas card photos on Thanksgiving day so I could get the photo cards started ASAP. I do not like to take pictures too early for Christmas because they look so different in one month when they are young. But if you wait too long, then you can not get them delivered soon enough with some companies (although Walgreens and Walmart do photo cards in one hour). I first checked Walgreens and did not like any of the cards (they had a $10 off coupon). I am a stickler for having "Merry Christmas" on the card, no snowman, and no "Happy Holidays". If I can find a card with some type of Jesus message on it, that is even better.

Thanksgiving night I looked at Shutterfly. I found a REALLY cute card (5 x 7) and got it all set up. I even got 25 free cards but the total was still $163! So I revamped, looked a ton of cute cards on other sites for as much money and went back to Shutterfly. This time I picked a normal 4 x 8 card, with Christmas Blessings and a cross and I was able to add in a Bible verse that I was not able to do on the super cute card AND got 25 free cards for $55 (for 100 cards). That is a deal! AND I got a free 12 month calendar for ordering over $50. Now those are regular deals (and I am not an affliate anymore so I do not even get a percentage for a click) but it is something to look into if you are getting a photo Christmas card. I love sending pictures of the kids at Christmas and this time we even added a family picture since my uncle kept saying he got Christmas cards with orphan children! :) And I forgot- it was even free shipping. So overall, I saved $56.00 for 100 Christmas cards and a great calendar for next year with tons of pictures from this year. What a deal! Needless to say, it took me a few hours on the computer doing the cards and the calendar. And after I had all the pictures for the calendar, I started a photo book I will finish after Christmas for our "Year in Photos." It is a great option since I hardly ever print pictures- I will be so sad if they disappear some day!

Chess- It is Easier Than You Think!

My six year old asked for a chess game. He said he played at summer camp. It was at the dollar store, so we bought it. He begged to play. I have never played chess and have always been intimidated by the idea of chess. The rules were not all that complicated for the basic moves. You have to remember what is what and how they are allowed to move, but other than that, playing with a six year old was easy. But I was not sure if we were playing correctly so I went online to an online chess site and read the rules and learned we were not playing right. The site had lots of nice graphics of what pieces could do. Then I went played the computer and got a few more ideas. There are parts I do not get exactly, but I think I have a basic understanding. That is until I play someone other than the computer or a six year old.

By the way, my four year old memorized the set up after one game. Maybe chess does make them smarter. I definitely see a strategist in my son and that is great! It is truly a thinking game, except for the four year old! She just wants to capture the pieces and put them in the jail so they cannot talk to each other! :)