Reunited (and it feels so good)

A few years back, this blog & I broke up.  It just wasn't working out.  The blog was needy and smothered me.  And I have to admit, there was another man in my life.  A six month old man.  Who is now a 5 year old who has been joined by a 3 year old younger sister.  But anyway, I think I am ready now.  Ready to commit to the blog again.  Ready to do the hard work to make this relationship last.  So blog, I sing to you:

"If ever you're in my arms again, this time, I'll love you much better.  If ever you're in my arms again, this time, I'll hold you forever.  This time will never end!"

OK, enough silliness.  (And my apologies if that lyric has turned into the earworm for you that it has for me).  I'm resurrecting the blog.  The last time around, I ended up blogging primarily about couponing.  I still coupon occasionally, but I have moved on to bigger & better things, specifically in the way of funding vacations for my family and I get lots of questions about them, so I am using this blog as a resource/reference for folks who are interested in doing the same.  I am going to start with a series on earning free gift cards for travel - something that I have had tremendous success with in the past couple of months ($700 since the last week of April.  HOLLA!!!).  Before I get started with all the details about how this works, here are some basic facts everyone needs to know.

Fact #1: I am defining "free" as zero monetary cost to me.  I pay nothing for these gift cards.  BUT (and this is a big BUT.  Pause while my son giggles.), there is a time and effort cost.  If you are looking for a portal to a magical land where Disney gift cards rain out of the sky and all you have to do is scoop them up and put them in your pockets, this ain't it.  Check your crazy uncle's house for wardrobes - that might get you there (but don't eat the Turkish Delight, whatever that is).  I am going to show you how to minimize the time & effort involved, but you are going to have to do something!

Fact #2: I'll be introducing you to some point earning sites that allow you to convert points into gift cards.  I'll provide links for signing up to them.  The links are referrals for me.  If you end up using these sites, I get a small amount of extra points.  That is not the reason I am doing this, because honestly, I could earn more points in the time it takes me to write this blog points than any referrals I get, but I did want full disclosure.  I teach public speaking, so I am all about revealing my vested interest to enhance my credibility.  Aristotle would be proud of me.

Fact #3: If you are interested in a Disney vacation specifically, a big key to making this work is getting a Target Red Card (there are credit and debit versions of the Red Card - I recommend the debit version).  Now, I know Target is not without controversy.  There was that whole security breach thing.  And they support local gun carry laws.  And they say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.  Basically, whatever your socio-political stance, you can find something to hate at Target.  But here's the thing... they are also AWESOME!  (And their Red Cards were actually the most secure during the security problems last year).  The Red Card gives you an additional 5% off on purchases and free shipping with any Target.com purchase.  Did you know that Target sells Disney gift cards??  And that you can get 5% off of those?  Cool, right?  I'll explain in detail later how to do all this, but I did want to let you know up front that you will need to get cozy with Target to maximize your earnings.  Oh, and if you don't live near a Target?  No problem.  You can do everything you need to do on Target.com.

Fact #4:  I am a certified cuckoo crazypants when it comes to this stuff.  I do A LOT to make this happen.  But I love it - no kidding, I consider it my hobby and it is relaxing and fun for me.  I can pretty much guarantee that at some point during this series, you will pause your reading, look up from your computer and say, "Is she nuts??? I don't have time to do all of this!!!"  That's fine.  Just figure out what fits into your life and do that.  No pressure to do it all - just do what makes sense for you.

I am excited to get back into this!  I am going to put on my professor hat and say "I am intending this to be a conversation, not a lecture" and "If you have a question, a bunch of other people probably have the same one" so feel free to use the comments to ask about anything that isn't clear. 

Have a wonderful 4th of July!