I want to wish all of you a very happy 2011.  May the New Year fill your heart with new hopes, open up new horizons and bring for you promises of brighter tomorrows.

Thank you for joining me on my journey of saving money.  I hope you will continue on this path and tag along as I set forth finding more money saving opportunities for us all.

From my family to yours,

xoxo

I just wanted to take some time to wish a Happy Christmas to my readers who celebrate this holiday.  Take the time to enjoy family, food and give love.

Things have slowed down here since yesterday and I plan on taking it easy these next two days.  I will be around, although I don’t foresee doing a whole lot of posting since I don’t think anyone is looking for anything in particular right now.  Unless I see some amazing freebie pop up, I just plan on being with my family and enjoying my children.

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take some time and thank you for your patience over the last few days.  As many of you noticed I was having issues with the site which caused problems in getting the page to load.  I have been working very hard since Monday in trying to find the cause and solution.  I just confirmed that my server package has been upgraded which means the problems should be over now.

I thank you for bearing with this.  I realize that it must have been very frustrating to try to leave a comment on a giveaway post when you couldn’t even connect to the site.  Rest assured that noone was as frustrated as I was.  Since I don’t drink I finally made some rice pudding last night to “drawn” my sorrows.  That made me feel a little better

Your continued support in the good times and the bad ones means the world to me and I thank you for it.

My favorite thing about the Holidays is giving.  I love the giving spirit every one gets into and how we are all looking for ways to make others happier with our gifts.  I love that the Holidays are also a way to give back in thanks for all of the blessings that we receive DAILY.

Today I want to share with you this simple (and FREE) way you can help support Journey 4 a Cure.  This non-profit organization is focused on helping families affected by pediatric cancer and raising money to help fund childhood cancer research.  I can’t even say pediatric cancer without feeling all choked up.

YOU can help raise $12,500 in funds towards this organization by just liking the following companies on Facebook.  They have agreed to donate $1 for every new liker they get through 12/12.  Please!  I beg you to find it in you to click on the links below and like these companies on Facebook to help raise the funds for such a worthy cause.

• Cheep: Cheep helps you find the best deals by showing you accurate price comparisons from around the web in real-time as you shop online. Perfect for holiday shopping.

• CoupSmart: This iPhone app lets you scan products you buy every week and then sends you coupons by mail for products you actually buy and use. Apps for Android and Blackberry are coming soon.

• Extrabux: Extrabux helps you find the best prices online, shares coupon codes and gives you cash-back all at once. A must for any online shopper, especially on Cyber Monday.

• Valpak: Valpak has been mailing out blue envelopes full of local coupons for years, but you can also head online to Valpak.com and enter your zip code to get printable coupons.

• Valpak Deals: Valpak Deals offers great daily deals in local areas, including Las Vegas, Omaha and Long Island. They’ve got national deals too, like a $115 portrait package at Sears Portrait Studio for only $20.

Special thanks to my friend Erin from Coupon Cravings who has worked so hard to make this campaign come to fruition.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I hope you have a nice day full of turkey, stuffing and friends and family.  Make sure to enjoy and cherish your time with your loved ones.

The site has undergone a little facelift overnight.  Well, it was installed overnight but in the works for the past few weeks.  I hope you like the new design.  As usual, I have tried to make changes to make it easier for you to find everything you need faster.

I don’t expect everyone will be happy about it for two reasons:

• First, people are averse to change.  That’s just our nature.  But I hope that with time you will grow used to it.

• Second, because we all have different likes and dislikes.  That is also in our nature.  Colors that work for me, don’t work for some of you.

If anything, take the improved functionality and make it work for you.  Also I have already noticed it loads faster.  I think that should make everyone happier!  Thank you so much for reading and visiting Common Sense with Money.  I want you to know that everything I do, I do it with you in mind.

As you guys know we are now in November and I know most of you are rounding up your Holiday Shopping list.  In this post I wanted to share two important things with you:

First, since I know a lot of you are and will be shopping for Holiday presents, I will start sharing with you deals on items that I think some of you may have on your list.  In general I am thinking toys, small appliances, gifts for guys, electronics, etc.  These are not deals that I regularly blog about but because I know some of you are looking for them I will be sharing them with you.

Here is my disclaimer: Not every deal I share will be for you.  But it may be for some else.  What I am trying to say is that when I blog about a deal I am not saying quick buy it now!  I am saying buy it if it is on your holiday shopping list.

Second, and speaking on Holiday Shopping Lists, what do you have on yours?  Let me help you score a deal on the items that you are looking to buy for the Holidays by sharing them with you (leave comment on this post).  If you tell me what it is you plan on buying I can do a better job at keeping an eye out for deals.

So, that is all I wanted to share with you.  Can you believe that the holidays are around the corner?

Yesterday morning was ver anti-climatic. I knew my 3-year anniversary of blogging was coming up so I looked at my blog archives and it turns the anniversary of my first post had actually come and gone.

Many things have happened since the start of this blog: we have added to children to our family, we have moved homes, my husband changed jobs and more. Yet one thing remains constant: our desire to save money so we can achieve our financial goals. Saving money is a lifestyle for our family. The one thing we have learned is that it’s important to do this with a purpose. Having a goal helps you stay the course. You will also find that with time these goals change. When we first started our main goal was to save money so we could survive on one income. Our goals have since progressed to saving money so we can save for our future and the future of our children, among others.

After three years I still call myself lucky to be able to share with others my passion. And while I spend a lot of time during the day doing this, it is still fun for me to do it so in any sense ever considered a chore. My goal is and has always been to help save YOU money as well. While not all of the deals that I share apply to everyone that reads this blog, I consider myself successful if at least one of you finds the information you find here useful.

While I may be late to my own anniversary celebration that doesn’t miss I should skip it entirely. So to celebrate and to thank you for your loyal readership I will be having a giveaway bash this coming Tuesday. I have a few goodies I want to share with you.