$hopping $marter...

One of the goals I had for this year was to become a bit smarter with money. A bit late in the game for 2010 I know, but I just found out about these two websites and thought I'd share :)
This first one is very cool. You may remember Stephen Paletta from Oprah's "Big Give"? Well, he was the winner and Oprah gave him a big fat check for a million dollars to do something good with.

Anyway - turns out he did! He has started a site called GiveBack.org (http://www.giveback.org/) and it’s a really easy way to organize and manage your charitable giving. You can use the new website to do your regular online shopping and up to 15% of what you spend automatically gets donated to your selected charities. Or you can simply make a direct donation. At the end of the year, you get one statement for taxes and 100% of your donation goes to the charity. The site is in beta now and I tested it out - I was able to sign up, pick a charity and donate all in about 10 minutes! My chosen charity was Women for Women International (http://www.womenforwomen.org/) who provide women survivors of war,  with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies. My sponsor "sister" this year has been Ekreme from Kosovo and I got my first real, live letter in Kosovan (thankfully they include a translation :)) from her this week telling me how much she has learned and enjoyed the program - how amazing!

And my second discovery is...Ebates!! (Click here) I was totally oblivious to this super-cool site on which you can earn cash back while you are doing your regular shopping online. Basically you log in to your Ebates account before you select your merchant (Ebay, Barnes and Noble, Sephora, Sears, and most of everyone else you can think of) and they either track your order automaticlly or give you a coupon code to give you cash back. I just bought some stuff today and managed to get a 10% discount, 8% cash back and a free shipping deal at B&N - all without leaving my couch! You get the cash each quarter in a check through the mail.

Anyway, instead of claiming a New Year's Resolution victory on the 'Spending Smarter' front for 2010, I've decided to add it to the 2011 list instead. That way I can be 'ahead of the game' for once and take advantage of the fact that we're spending the end of 2010 in Charleston which was voted one of the best places for shopping in America on the CNN list I saw the other day...shhh...don't tell Mike...:)

The Early Family Blog vintage collection!

For those of you hardcore Early Family Blog fans, you will be thrilled to hear that I have invested time into adding some 'vintage Early' posts! This blogging thing all started after our fabulous family trip to Washington D.C. in August, 2005. I totally fell in love with the place and couldn't wait to show my family in the UK all that I had learned about American history. Unfortunately we had so many photos that were unable to send them by email at the time! We didn't set out for the blog to become an ongoing project but have found that it's a great way to capture and share our family memories with you each month. When I'm doing my updates it also gives me an opportunity to reflect and appreciate just how lucky we are. Lucky to have each other and lucky to have all of you to share our lives with:). Anyway, I've been promising myself that if I ever set up a half-way decent 'backing up' system for my photos I would add some blog entries from back in time. I'm calling it our 'vintage collection.' Hope you enjoy...

Sounds like a blast, Clare - how do I get to the vintage collection of which you speak?

Great question Mike! Simply access the BLOG ARCHIVE section on the left hand side of the main page underneath the links to the other blogs. Pick a month and have at it. Or you can click here and keep hitting the 'Older Posts' links at the bottom to wade your way through. And you're welcome.

Will it take forever to read it all, Clare - I have a life too you know?

Good point, Scott - yes there are quite a few entries. You may want to pace yourself and read a couple each day.

Is there lots of writing - I get bored with it sometimes?

I hear you, Jen - I tried my best to keep to a minimum. You can either go to the LABELS section on the left hand side below the ARCHIVE and just click the 'Simards' label. Or you can simply skip over the writing bits and head right for the photos of your family - Rich will show you how:)

Hang on - there are lots of key events missing! I was there and I don't see nearly enough photos of me - what's up with that?

Quite right, Gail - you may not be aware but a horrible virus invaded our computer before I had any backing up system at all and many photos were lost. I'm sure you'll be happy to help me recreate missing events from all the photos you took. What's that? You didn't bring your camera? Right...

How do I submit feedback or file a complaint if I don't like it?

Good question, Tom - all complaints can be either emailed directly (in your usual way) or posted on the blog itself in the Comments section below each post. Don't be shy - I moderate all comments before they get published anyhow!!

Maddy's Big Cat Blog

Madison has started her very own blog to spread the work about how we can all help big cats. The link is on the left hand side at the top of the page under "Madison's Big Cat blog" or you can access directly by clicking http://www.mybigcatblog.blogspot.com/. She is very proud of her hard work and would love you to leave some comments if you have time :).

Been bloggin' like a crazy person...

For those of you who just can't get enough of the Early debacles there are now two more blogs (yes, two) for your viewing pleasure:). On the left hand side menu there are links to both. One is about craftsy stuff if you're that way inclined and the other is about running (which is more about struggling to run than actually running to be fair). Feel free to add comments...:)