Friday, February 28, 2014

Fundraising Friday and a shopping tip :)

Sorry for the lack of posts since last friday!

We still have the two fundraisers going on right now. To read more about those go here

I know that money is tight right now,  for everyone. It's hard to donate money.  I break it up and donate something every month instead of a big lump sum and that helps me from feeling the hit of the donation.

I also am a crazy coupon lady as a lot of you already know, not crazy enough for a show...I won't be buying pallets of toilet paper anytime soon...but I still coupon and am able to save a lot of money.


I learned about this new shopping app on Hip2Save, and used a fellow hipper's referral code.  I was rewarded with a free lindt bar.  So I decided to make a trip to Walgreens.  They were running some other good deals that I wanted to grab.  The Scrub Bubbles are on sale for 2 for $6 and you earn a $2 RR, there are $1/1 coupons on coupons.com, so I used 2.  The Snickers are on sale for $0.49 and I had a $0.75/2 coupon. The glade starter kit is on sale for $4.99, and you earn a $2 RR.  I also had a $3/1 coupon from the glade site.  And then my lindt bar :) Full price, no sale.

I had a $4 RR from last week that I rolled into this and I used some of my balance points (another loyalty program that Wags does) and ended up paying $1.28 out of pocket (OOP) and earned my $2, and $2 RR.  Then I went to my smart phone apps :)

Shopmium is the new one.  To get the app you go to their site located here and to get a free lindt Chocolate bar you need to enter in a referral code. Mine is GMAKHAPC.  Thanks for using mine and if you sign up, feel free to add your referral code in the comments and hopefully someone else will pay it forward and so on.  All you do is scan the barcode of the item you bought and take a picture with your camera (all done on your smart phone) and you're done! BOOM! I got money back for the lindt chocolate bar and the glade starter kit.

So using my apps, and getting my RR's from walgreens I spent $1.28 OOP and earned $2 and $2 RR, earned $4 from shopmium and $2 from Checkout51 basically making money on my trip last night.

So I can donate even more to the march of dimes this month :)

and PS I tried that mega shower foamer last night, IT IS AWESOME! GREAT product! And no they are not paying me for saying that.

Friday, February 21, 2014

Fundraising FRIDAY!!!!

Are you sick of this crazy gloomy Wisconsin weather?!?! I am!


Picture from wisn.com's website.

Well, since you're already staying inside might as well have the best of it right?

Why not cook something delish and have your house smell wonderful! It's a WIN-WIN!

And what PERFECT timing ;) There's a Tastefully Simple fundraiser going on RIGHT NOW!



Nichole and I grew up a block from each other WAY back and she was kind enough to offer helping us run this fundraiser.

If you are on facebook, go to our group page here

If not, go here

Underneath Nichole's avatar, you will see "Upcoming Parties"

Click on "Jen M" and then in the orange rectangle, click on "shop now"
and you're all set!

This weekend I decided to try out their beer bread mix. YUM. I was NOT disappointed and will be ordering at least one 3-pack...maybe more...depends on what the husband will let me spend LOL

My house smelled amazing and the bread was addicting! 
Here's how they turned out:

DELICIOUS!!! Try not to lick your computer screen!


20% of your total sales will be donated to Devoted to Dylan's March of Dimes Family Team (and thus every penny going to March of Dimes)

Please consider buying this bread mix, your kitchen called me...it really wants this in the oven NOW :)


Your skin is also suffering from this cold, windy winter. Why not make it feel soft and smell great once again?  Halo Soap is also running a fundraiser for us! 20% of your total will also go to our team. Simply go to her shop online : and use coupon code DEVOTED at www.halosoap.etsy.com



I can personally swear by her body butter (pregnant moms, her mommy's tummy butter was the ONLY thing that got rid of that AWFUL itch!) her handmade soaps (Chai Tea is my Favorite and Patrick loves her Hippie Bar), and her candles last forever and so does the scent! You will not be disappointed!



Her products are handmade and she even offers you to try and custom make something for you.



Tuesday, February 11, 2014

It was a HUGE Success!

Hi everybody!!!

I know lots of people want to know how much we raised at our KickOff, but I don't exactly know just yet LOL. There's a few lingering invoices rolling around out there, and some people are donating more than what they owe...so hopefully soon I will have a grand total!

What I can tell you,  is we had over 70 people come to our event! And I can tell you with 100% certainty that even though we had less people attend this year, the right ones came BECAUSE WE RAISED MORE MONEY FOR BABIES!! 

Last year with 100 people, we raised $3000. Which is awesome! BUT this year, we are
OVER $4000!!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone that donated items, their time, and money to our event! We couldn't have done this without you!

Thanks to MiPhotoBooth Madison we got some excellent pictures of people who attended, and thank you to Elysha for taking pictures of the event! Thank mom for running the door and making sure no one got out of line! LOL

We want YOUR feedback! Did you feel like there was enough variety of items to bid on? Was there TOO much stuff making it hard to focus on stuff you wanted?? Any concerns or suggestions to making our event bigger and better next year?? Please leave your feedback in the comments here on the blog!!


Here are some of the pictures from the evening:








And for the photobooth awesomeness:










Wednesday, February 5, 2014

March for Dimes Monday...err Wednesday ;)

So I had meant to post this on Monday, to keep the theme going...but what the heck :) Let's shake it up a bit!



Devoted to Dylan has raised $295 so far this year.  Do you think we'll hit our goal of $39,000?!?!

We are definitely going to try!

Come and walk with us!! I'm trying to get 5 people to sign up for our team today! Are you one of those 5?!?!

Go here and sign up! Click on 'walk with me"

It's free to walk and it's free to spread the word about the March of Dimes and about Dylan and Noah.
Please help us to help this mission. They fund important research and help babies across the country get the care they need!

Our BIG 2nd Annual KickOff Party and Silent Auction is THIS SATURDAY!! COME on down, and bring a friend...or 12 :) The more the merrier!



We also have a Tastefully Simple fundraiser going right now, where 20% of your total will be donated to our March of Dimes team.  Whacha got cookin' ?

and enter me (Jen McGraw) as the host.  If you have a favorite item of Tastefully Simple's, please add a comment and tell us what it is!

Also exciting...We are 66 views away from 50,000 on our blog!!! I think that's pretty cool! Even if it is you clicking on us multiple times a day mom ;)

But seriously, thank you for reading and for coming back!