Work At Home Musings

If you like the OxiClean products, they are offering coupons to print. You can save $1.50 on OxiClean Max Force Power Paks or Liqui-Gel, $0.75 on OxiClean Max Force Gel Stick or Spray and $1.00 on OxiClean Versatile Powder.

I am getting ready to paint the stair hallway and I have to coordinate two paint colors: Terra Cotta Pot and Pecan Sandie. Behr does a great job helping you coordinate colors and they have an online tool. After looking at the various options. This is the color scheme that I chose:

This picture is pretty close to what my entryway looks like. I think these colors will look nice together!

I have to admit, I have done almost none of my holiday shopping. Time just got away from me. In order to finish on time, my steps are:

• Make a list of all the people I need to buy presents for.
• Decide a budget and think about what gifts would fit that budget.
• Look for an online sale for products that can be shipped directly to those family and friends that live far away.
• Make a list of the stores that I need to visit and what I need to get there. I plan on dashing in and out.
• Get out all my coupons so that I will be sure to save money!

I hate waiting for the last minute, but I think I have a plan that will work!

When I was doing some back to school shopping, I came across a fantastic site called eDivvy.com. eDivvy.com is a great way to buy a group gift and it is so easy. All you have to do select and occasion, create a gift basket with the gift or gifts that you want to purchase and then invite friends and family to split the costs! Participants can choose how much they want to give.

After the participants are done entering and paying for their amounts, eDivvy.com sends the gift to the recipient (or to the organizer). If enough funds are not collected to pay for the chosen gift, the recipient will receive a VISA gift card instead. This type of giving works great for weddings, bridal showers, birthday, back to school, Christmas and new baby - the ideas are endless!

We are about to purchase a gift for a friend who is retiring from work after 30 years of service. I decided to give eDivvy.com a shot and see what kinds of gifts I could purchase for her. I was first asked to choose an invitation design to send out to my friends. I choose a simple one with a blue ribbon. I simply filled in the details of the event and the invitation asked my friends if they would like to participate in a group gift. After filling out the details, I was able to browse through the gifts. I found a beautiful earrings that I am sure that she will enjoy.

I added the gift to my basket and found that if we split the cost 10 ways, each person would pay $35 and my friend would receive a gorgeous pair of diamond and ruby earrings. Just her style!

eDivvy.com is a great place to try if you want to find perfect wedding, shower, retirement and back to school gifts, plus so much more! You are able to give a much more expensive gift when you split the costs!

Well, I didn’t take advantage of any Cyber Monday deals, I was just too busy. Now I actually have to do some real shopping. I will definitely be on the lookout for coupons and deals because I want to keep my spending down this year. I do like to shop online, so I am constantly checking Amazon.com and QVC.com (they have good deals now and then). Another good place to check is eBay.com and Overstock.com.

Don’t forget to look for coupons. Just Google the name of the item or store with “coupon” and you might find a good deal!

If you are out and about shopping for Black Friday sales, make sure that you check out the Black Friday Ads pages. This page list advertisements from stores that are having Black Friday sales. Stores such as Walmart, Target, Sears, Best Buy, Kohls, Amazon.com and many more are listed. This is a great way to target the sales that you want to attend!

My daughter has decided to start her own blog - Gifts For Teenagers. She has started blogging, but is a little behind on her gift guide. She is working hard to catch up!

Basically, she is blogging about cool gifts for teenagers. Since she is a teen, she has a good insight into what teens want as gifts. Check out her blog and let her know what you think!

I think it has been almost 10 years now since we built an upstairs on our home. Last year, we finally replaced the ugly two dollar light fixtures that were in the living room, but we still have a lot more to go! We have just never got around to changing the fixtures to something a little more appealing.

My teenage daughter has decided that she wants to totally redesign her bedroom and one of the first things she wants to do is replace the light fixture (did I mention it was ugly, and did I mention we still have them all over the house?). We don’t have really high ceilings, so she will have to pick a fixture that sits closer to the ceiling.

She found the Barrington from Murray Feiss Lighting that fits the bill, simple, yet with a touch of class. Check one item off the list!

Right now I have a single, white kitchen sink. I like the fact that it is big and roomy, but the white enameling has become a bit scratched and chipped and I thought I might just*look* at new kitchen sinks. However, now comes the question - Double or Single Sink?

Single sinks are nice because the are big and you can fit a lot of dishes in there (in case you can’t wash them right away like me). Double sinks are convenient because you can actually have dirty dishes in one side and still have a side free!

I don’t think I would opt for a double sink where one of the sinks is a lot smaller. I just don’t think that this would be useful. Instead, I think I am leaning toward either equal sizes or one slightly bigger than the other.

My favorite so far? The Kohler Staccato. It has a unique design and has one bowl slightly bigger than the other.

What kind of sink do you have and do you like it?

When we first bought our house, we had old plastic flooring in the kitchen. After decided to add an upstairs, we decided that we would tile our kitchen floor at the same time. Unfortunately, we picked out really ugly tile (we thought it was good at the time). The tile always looks dirty and is a pain to clean.

When of the times on my home repair list is to get new ceramic tile for the kitchen. This time around, I want a little darker color that will hide the dirt a bit more. While I love some of the natural stone tile, I think that is a bit out of our price range. This is my favorite so far:

Or I haven’t decided if this color would be a better match:

Hmmm…. maybe I will have to give it a bit more thought.