Blogger on Vacation

Until July 6, 2014 I will be away from home with limited internet connection. I am very excited because I have not taken a real vacation in a while and it will be a great time. This year, we are going back to Disney World.

While I'm gone, I have scheduled articles and site reviews to post but I will need your help to share the deals. If you find a good deal, please leave a comment on this post. Feel free to link directly to deals or to your own site's post regarding the deals.

When I get back, I will get right back to posting wonderful deals for everyone. Have a great week!

New Weekly Column on Cinemit

I am very excited to announce that I have teamed up with Cinemit to provide movie fans with a weekly column called Making Cents with Cori. Every Thursday, you can find a recap of all the weekly deals revolving around going to the movies.

Cinemit is also a great place to find free movie screenings in your area.  They are currently offering screenings on the east coast. Besides free screenings, Cinemit also offers reviews, tweet-alongs, and other great features related to movies.

I personally love their message boards because you can talk with other movie fans. People work together to help each other get passes for screening. When someone finds an upcoming movie screening, they post it on the message board so others can also get passes.

Follow Cinemit on Facebook and Twitter for to be the first to learn of new screenings.

BlogHer'12 August 2 - 4, 2012

I am very excited to be attending BlogHer'12 in New York City. This two day conference will help me improve Making Cents of It for all of you.  I will be in NY until Sunday and while I am going to try to update the site, I might not be as quick as usual.

New Design Coming Soon

Have you checked out fiverr before?  It's a really cool site where people can offer to do anything for $5.  They have some really crazy "gigs" like screaming your message in a chicken suit on a street corner but they also have some really valuable gigs like proofreading, app designs, and more.

As you know, I have been trying to redesign Making Cents of It for a while, but we all know my brain is all math and science but not very creative artistically.  Today, I ordered a gig from a designer to overhaul Making Cents of It.  Over the next few days you will see the site going through changes as he helps me make the site get the design it deserves.

So please be patient as dilshan1987 helps give Making Cents of It a new style.

I'm Back and Sorting Through Deals

If you've been wondering where I've been the last few days, I just moved and had to wait for my internet to be hooked up. I tried to update from my phone but I was only able to send deals to Facebook and it was difficult to give exact links.

I'll be sorting through deals and posting a bunch tomorrow once I see what is still valid.

Our First Prize was Redeemed

Did you know that you can earn rewards from Making Cents of It? Since June, readers have been earning points for interacting with Making Cents of It. I received an email today saying that one of my readers redeemed the first prize.

If you're not already earning points, it's really easy. Just click the reward icon on the top left of the site to get started. For more information, check out the How Our Loyalty Program Works post from July.

Thank you to PunchTab for providing my readers with great prizes.

Meet Benny

Saving money has allowed me to welcome this beautiful baby boy into my household. Please welcome Benny and know that if I missed a great deal, it's because he's holding my attention.

I promise I'm not going anywhere and will continue to help everyone save money through great deals.

How Our Loyalty Program Works

Welcome to the new Making Cents of It loyalty program. A few people are wondering how the reward program work so I am going to try and clear a few things up. The company, Punchtab, runs the widget and allows websites to offer a prize catalog.

You earn points for visiting Making Cents of It daily, commenting on posts, and sharing posts. Once you earn enough points, you can redeem them for prizes. To access the prize catalog, click the reward ribbon on the top left of the site, then click the button for catalog.

Once you have enough points for the selected prize, a button will appear to place the order. The current catalog is limited but I hope to add more prizes in the future.

If you have any additional questions, please leave a comment and I will respond with an answer.


Last Updated: August 12, 2012

Blogger on Vacation

Until July 8, 2011, I will be away from home with limited internet connection. I am very excited because I have not taken a real vacation in a while and it will be a great time. For one week, I will be relaxing on the beach and participating in tons of water activities. The only downside is that I will not have a computer. I will also not be able to use my phone because I don't want to rack up international charges so I really will be cut off from technology.

While I'm gone, I have scheduled articles and site reviews to post but I will need your help to share the deals. This post will remain on the top of the site until I return from the trip. Please feel free to link directly to deals or to your own site's post regarding the deals. Remember, you'll get points for daily comments so there's an additional motivation to post comments and share deals.

When I get back, I will get right back to posting wonderful deals for everyone. Have a great week!

New Feature: A Loyalty Program for Making Cents of It

Look towards the top left of the page. Do you see a ribbon that says rewards? Click it. Seriously, click it. I have joined this great site called PunchTab that allows me to reward you, the reader.

You will earn points for daily visits, comments, likes, and more. These points can be redeemed for prizes through PunchTab. Additionally, I can also organize contests through PunchTab for readers with the most points.

I hope this loyalty program will help to drive great discussion on Making Cents of It. Thank you!

It's Our Anniversary (Winner)

Congratulations to our 13th post. You have 48 hours to contact me at Cori@makingcentsofit.com to claim your prize. Please let me know if you would prefer the $25 restaurant.com gift certificate or the $5 amazon.com gift certificate. Once you let me know, I'll redeem my Swagbucks for the prize.

Lynda Del. said...

Letting us know about those freebies is a huge plus.
lyndadawinda1074 at yahoo dot com

Update: I have received an email from Lynda and she has chosen the $5 Amazon gift card.

Disclaimer: I will be redeeming my personal Swagbucks for the prize. This giveaway is not sponsored by Restaurant.com, Amazon.com, or Swagbucks.com.

It's Our Anniversary So Let's Celebrate (Giveaway)

I can't believe it's been a year since I first got a .com domain. May 15, 2010 was the official date that this blog went from a sub-domain on blogger to its own site. Thank you to all my wonderful readers for sharing this excitement with me.

To celebrate the excitement, I am going to host a short giveaway. I will be giving one lucky reader the choice between a $25 gift code for restaurant.com or $5 to Amazon. There are four ways you can enter this contest.  This contest will close on Monday May 16, 2011 at 8pm (EST).

Method 1, Leave a Comment - Leave a comment on this post about what you like on Making Cents of It or what you'd like to see more of.

Method 2, Tell a Friend - Tell your friends about Making Cents of It.  You can do this using the share this button on the bottom of any post.

Method 3, Facebook - Be a fan of Making Cents of It on Facebook.

Method 4, Twitter - Follow Making Cents of It on Twitter.

After you complete your entry, come here and leave a comment on this post with the following information.  Make sure you leave a separate post for each method of entry so that they all count.

1. Your name or a way to identify your comment as the winner (If you comment anonymously, the entry will be disqualified)
2. Which method of entry the comment is for.

How a winner will be selected:  I will be using Random.org to select the winning comment.  I will enter the total number of comments and have it randomly select one number.  I will look at the winning entry and verify that it was completed correctly.

Once verified I will make an announcement of the winning post here on the blog.  Once announced the winner will have 48 hours to contact me at Cori@makingcentsofit.com.  If the entry does not correctly meet a method of entry or the winner does not reply a new comment will be selected.


Disclaimer: I will be redeeming my personal Swagbucks for the prize. This giveaway is not sponsored by Restaurant.com, Amazon.com, or Swagbucks.com.

If You Can't Beat Your Computer at Chess, Try Kickboxing

For anyone that didn't notice this on their own, Blogger has been down for the past day and while you could still see Making Cents of It, I was unable to edit or create new posts. It has just returned and I will be updating offers.

I would like to remind everyone that as with all electronically products, nothing will work 100% of the time. While other bloggers are blaming Google and Blogger for these issues and planning to switch platforms, I will continue to be a loyal user of Blogger. They did try to keep people updated about the issues through their homepage and Twitter. If the problem becomes recurring, I will consider switching to a different service provider.

It also seems the the deals I posted yesterday were deleted. I will try to repost those deals.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Help Select a New Design for Making Cents of It

Below are screen shots of a few ideas for Making Cents of It. I know which one I like but I want to see which one you all think looks the best. My goal is to give Making Cents of It a more professional look while not spending a fortune on a professional graphic designer. The designs below were created through modifying free templates or using Blogger's built in designer.

Thanks for your help.

Current	Purple Lines
Coins	Dollars
Piggy Bank	Keep Trying

Florida Bound = Less Posts

As I try to do every year, I am headed off to Florida to spend spring break (yes teachers get spring break too) with my Grandmother. There is no WiFi at her apartment, but I will be bringing my computer so I might find a Starbucks or BN to sit if I go through withdrawal. I will back Sunday (April 24, 2011) so please expect a slow down of posts between now and then.

I have stickied a link sharing widget on the top of the site so please feel free to share deals with your fellow Making Cents of It readers. You can also post to the Facebook page. 

Thinking About a Vacation?

Are you planning a vacation? I am, and it got me think about a few things. Not the big things like airfare and hotels, since we're always sharing those tips already, but the smaller things like my electronics. When you spend money on a trip that includes such adventures like scuba diving or relaxations such as laying in the sand with a coconut and good book, you want to take along certain of your favorite items.

I have recently begun contacting companies to review some new vacation bound products for you all. Hopefully I will get some positive responses and be able to give you all a heads up on whether or not something is worth the money. For example, are you better off buying a few disposable waterproof cameras or a cheap digital one? Is there a good case to protect your Nook from the beach or are you better off using a ziploc bag? These are the type of questions I hope to answer for my readers.

If you have any items you want to protect, or items you're thinking of purchasing, send me an email with the product and the type of activities you'll be doing so I can help you do the research.  Logic seems that if you are thinking about it, someone else probably is too.

Why I believe in Extended Warranties

I am currently suffering from mycomputerhatemeitis. Last week, Windows started having trouble loading and I had to go into safe mode. Yesterday, I spent the whole day allowing the computer to reformat the harddrive, and today I am still getting the error messages on start-up.

Luckily, three years ago I purchased an extended complete care warranty. At the time, I wasn't sure about the value and compared both the in-store and company based protection plans. In the end, I bought the HP Complete Care Warranty for my computer. This plan covered everything even if I dropped the computer. A great guy named Jarrod walked me through a BIOS test and determined that the problem was in fact the harddrive. I am mailing my computer in and by next week it will be working again.

Please be advised that I currently have my work computer and will still be able to update but I don't have all my software so any logos or graphics might have that annoying white box around it.

I would also like to say a quick why I love HP and would purchase their computers again. As I mentioned, I have had this computer for three years. This is literally the first time I've had any major issues. I've had the typical battery issues that all computers of this age see, but I never had to use my warranty until today.  I'm a little sad though because the problems are just starting but my three year warranty expires next month.  I guess I'll spring for the four or five year warranty next time.

Spread the Love and Become a Fan

Making Cents of It would love to grow its fan base and I'm willing to pay. For each new fan between now and New Year, I will make a donation to a charity that is selected by my readers.  So tell your friends to check out Making Cents of It.

Comment now about which charities you would like included in the poll and I will be happy to consider them. Charities I already plan to include are American Cancer Society, St. Jude's, and American Diabetes Association.

Starting Counts:

• Facebook - 213

• Twitter - 38

• RSS Feed - 51

Disclaimer: I make charitable donations every year but I will be letting the readers decide which charity I give to this year.

Back to School = Slow Down of Posts

Hi everyone!

I don't normally post personal stuff here on Making Cents of It, but since it might affect my ability to update I wanted to let you all know the good news.

I am very excited to announce that I recently accepted a new teaching position. Today was my first day and it made me realize that with the school year starting, I will not be able to update as quickly as usual.  I will be searching for a new apartment closer to work, but for now I'm commuting 1.5 hours each way.

Three hours in the car, plus eight hours in the classroom, plus lesson planning, and sleeping equals very little time for ME right now. I promise that my new job will not cause Making Cents of It to shut down. I really enjoy working on this blog and I will keep it going. The only thing is that I will not be able to update the same moment I find a deal. Most updates will take place in the evening or early morning. Once I move and the school year is underway, I should be back to posting on a normal-ish schedule.

I just wanted to let you know so you didn't wonder if I feel off the Earth.

Email Subscription Now Available

This is long overdue, but I finally set up an email mailing list for Making Cents of It.  Just sign up through feedburner for a daily email containing all of the day's posts.

The way it works is feedburner will compile all of the posts and send you a single email each day between 9 and 11pm (est).  Whether I post one or one hundred posts during the day, you will only receive one email per day so don't worry about your mailbox getting full.  If there is a strange occurrence of no posts being made during the previous 24 hours, you will not receive an email that day.

I have heard that some email servers don't work well with feedburner but hopefully this will work for us.  Please make sure to add Cori@makingcentsofit.com to your contact list to avoid the daily email ending in your spam folder.  If you decide you do not want to receive the daily email, there should be an unsubscribe link on the bottom of the email to cancel your subscription.