Confessions from Householdsix» Giveaway

Holidays Made Easier – Giveaway (CLOSED)

Amanda — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 12:09:13 +0000

During the holidays, we’re all looking for ways to save time and make what we need to do easier in the mad rush. Some things you can do to ease your holiday obligations and shopping burdens are to:

1. Make sure it’s in stock before you leave home. You can check some stores online, but I’d even suggest calling. I’ve checked stores online and have it say that an item was in stock only to get there, and it’s not.

2. Use the “route planner” feature on Map Quest to map out your errands. This way you will prevent backtracking. I’d also make sure you have a list for each store so you don’t find yourself going back for a missed item.

3. Organize a wrapping party. Have everyone bring a roll of paper and any other decorative items they’d like to share, and all wrap together. Eat, drink, wrap, and be merry!

4. Exchange babysitting or playdates with friends so that you can each get some time alone to take care of things you need to accomplish this holiday season. It’s a great way to get in some kid free shopping and a lunch date with your spouse.

Above and beyond all of these things, make sure you know your budget. I know we’ve been with Bank of America Military Bank for eons. My husband got an account with them at his first duty station, and he’s been with them ever since. I inherited the bank, so to speak, when we got married 10 years ago. My favorite features are the online and mobile banking. I’m terrible at keeping track of paper, but this way I can always check to see what our balance is, and where I’m at in our budget. Instead of spending hours balancing our checkbook, if I need a quick figure, I can check electronically and be on my way. You can find more of what Bank of America offers in banking solutions that make life easier at their site. You can also follow them on Twitter @BofA_Tips for some financial tips.

Win It!

Win a $50 preloaded gift card!

To Enter: What is your time saving tip for the holiday season?

One entry person 18 and older. Entries close at 11:59pm Friday December 24, 2010. Winner will have 24 hours to reply with their shipping information.

*I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Bank of America and received a Bank of America preloaded gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

**Giveaway hosted by Confessions From HouseholdSix

Ultimate Family Vacation

Amanda — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 04:46:10 +0000

Sponsored By

Cheerios® is giving you the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, your ultimate family vacation. As part of a paid promotion for their “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, Cheerios® is sponsoring my post today about what my ultimate family vacation would be. Read mine and Enter the Sweepstakes for a chance to actually win your own fantasy family trip or one of a bunch of other great prizes.

What would our ultimate family vacation be? That’s a tough question to answer. I even enlisted the help of my husband. Even getting away for a long weekend so we could have a honeymoon was hard. Between his work schedule and going to visit our families, we have never been away on a real family vacation.

Let’s assume ideal conditions where our children don’t get over stimulated, and being out of their routines here at home doesn’t make them crazy. We’ll also assume that our youngest child would actually sleep without requiring his own adjoining hotel room. We’ll also assume available childcare for at least part of one day so my husband and I could do something without the kids.

I’m honestly torn between an amusement park like Cedar Point, or the beach. Each have their pros and cons. Each have the potential to be massively fun. I think I would choose one of these destinations because they each hold an amount of nostalgia for me. Cedar Point was where I spent Senior Skip Day in high school. My sister and I went as a girl’s day out while my husband was deployed. My husband has never gotten to go to Cedar Point with me, and I think the kids would enjoy it too.

The beach is the same thing. I grew up on Lake Erie. We spent all summer at the beach. So much so that by mid summer, I was begging to stay home just one day. I would pray for rain because I was tired of the lake and the beach. I know that sounds crazy to some, but you never realize what you have when it’s right there all the time. Now that we live landlocked, I miss those summers. I want to take my family to experience the summers of fun that I had growing up. Although knowing what I do now about Lake Erie, I’d choose to take my family to the ocean.

Where would you go for your ultimate family vacation?

Don’t forget to enter the “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, for a chance to win your own ultimate family vacation. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

Bing “Our School Needs” Contest

Amanda — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 13:12:30 +0000

I think we can all agree that education is important no matter how cash strapped our local, state, and federal governments become. For some reason education appears to be one of the first places that budget cuts occur during the hard times. As parents, we’re often hit just as hard in the budget, but we’re happy to contribute to our child’s classroom where we are able to help take the burden off the teachers who often contribute their own income to their classrooms as well.

To help our schools, Bing is offering a contest where students and teachers can submit their story by completing the sentence, “Our school needs:…………………” Entries can be an essay, photos, and/or a video. Four prizes will be awarded. There will be three $50,000 first prize winners, and one $100,000 grand prize winner. The three first prizes are one from each category, K-6, 7-9, and 10-12. You can also watch a video on the Bing site to help explain the submission process better. Submissions are accepted until October 22, 2010. Please see the Bing Our School Needs site for complete rules and details.

Voting begins October 27, 2010. Stay tuned for more information on this phase of the process at a blog near you!

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Bing and received a DonorsChoose.org giving code and gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Win Kitchen Aid Appliances

Amanda — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:03:39 +0000

Take a picture of your kitchen submit to Kitchen Aid, and get everyone you know to vote in hopes you win. I’d enter, but the appliances in my kitchen aren’t mine (ah, Army life). I’d love to have my own appliances to take when we move, but all we have is a chest freezer we got about 8 1/2 years ago when our oldest was a baby. I hope some of my readers enter, and I hope one of you wins! Voting starts November 3, 2010.

*I’m sharing this opportunity because I feel it’s relevant to my readers, and I love cooking and kitchen stuff.

Crayola Winner

Amanda — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 11:45:44 +0000

Thank you for bearing with me. The winner of the Crayola prize pack according to Random.org is:

Mami2jcn says:

August 26, 2010 at 10:54 am (Edit)

I follow you on GFC.
Mami2jcn´s last blog ..Applied Labels Review and Giveaway

The winner has been sent an e-mail and has 48 hours to claim their prize.

Crayola Green Back To School Essentials – CLOSED

Amanda — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 12:25:08 +0000

With back to school shopping in full swing, parents are trying to fulfill the yearly supply list. I know that as a parent, even when crayons, colored pencils, and the like aren’t on the list, I still take advantage of the back to school sales and stock up for our household stash. This year, you can buy the same Crayola products but feel better about what they’re doing for the environment. Crayola is using solar power to make crayons, markers from recycled bottle caps, and colored pencils from reforested wood.Speaking of the colored pencils, for every tree used, one of the same species will be planted in its place. If you’ve already bought Crayola products, you may have noticed some changes to the packaging. For example, the marker barrels are now black instead of white. This allows for more recycled bottle caps to be used. If you’d like to learn more, you can watch this video:

Win a Crayola prize pack!

Mandatory entry: In the comments below, tell us one way you help teach your children about the environment. (1 entry)

Extra entries: (leave a separate comment for each entry)

-Subscribe to Confessions From Household Six via RSS feed or Google Friend Connect (1 entry)

-”Like” Confessions From HouseholdSix on Facebook

-Follow @householdsix on Twitter, and tweet “RT @householdsix Going green and back to school with Crayola http://wp.me/pLKwr-HE #giveaway #myblogspark” (1 entry per day)

-Blog about this giveaway (3 entries)

-Stumble this post (1 entry)

Contest ends at 11:59pm EST September 8, 2010. Winner has 48 hours to claim prize upon notification. Any entries past this time do not count. Winner will be announced no later than September 10, 2010.

*Products, information, and giveaway were all provided by Crayola through My Blog Spark.

Walmart Box Tops Winner

Amanda — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:00:40 +0000

Here is the winner drawn by Random.org. Congratulations!

Vickie Bartlett says:

August 14, 2010 at 7:56 am (Edit)

tweet https://twitter.com/vlbsweeps/status/21144413450

*If prize is not claimed in 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.

Walmart Box tops for Education (CLOSED)

Amanda — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 23:10:47 +0000

This back to school season, Walmart stores are bringing consumers General Mills products that not only have one box top, but some have four box tops. Here are some of the brands we purchased*.

You too can find extra box tops on participating products at Walmart from August 3-31, 2010. Help earn more money for your school by purchasing your favorite brands. The ones I bought, aren’t the only brands. There are over 20 brands and 40 products to choose from.

Win It
$25 Walmart Gift card

Mandatory Entry:
Leave a comment stating what your must have back to school item is that you will purchase from Walmart.

Extra Entries:
1. Follow Confessions From HouseholdSix using Google Friend Connect
2. Like Confessions From HouseholdSix on Facebook.
3. Subscribe to Confessions From HouseholdSix by e-mail or RSS feed.
4. Follow @householdsix on Twitter and tweet “Win a $25 Walmart card and help your school with Box Tops for Education.” (once per day)
5. Blog about this contest (3 entries, leave a separate comment for each).

Contest will close at 11:59pm EST August 21, 2010. Winner will be chosen by random and announced August 23, 2010. If the winner does not leave a valid e-mail attached to their comment, they must check back here to see if they’ve won. Winner will have 48 hours to claim prize.

*We didn’t buy Go Gurt because it contains red dye, and the dye free Simply..Go Gurt was not part of the extra box top promotion. Not pictured that we did buy is Juicy Juice apple juice. By the time we hit the juice aisle, I was just trying to get what I wanted and get to the check out because my kids were acting like hooligans.

**General Mills provided me with a gift card, information, and giveaway through My Blog Spark.

Cuisinart Recipe Swap

Amanda — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 22:30:42 +0000

On August 10, 2010, Cuisinart is hosting a recipe swap. This time, it’s East Coast vs. West Coast. One submitter from whichever coast has more entries will be randomly selected to win a great set of products (see details on the site). How does it work? Simply submit a recipe through the site between 11am and 5pm EST. You will then be e-mailed a recipe that another participant submitted. Give a recipe, get a recipe. It’s that easy. If you’re following along on Twitter, use the hashtag #CuisinartRecipeSwap.

No Room For Ice Cream?

Amanda — Sun, 23 May 2010 12:27:59 +0000

I know I for one never seem to have enough room in the freezer for ice cream. My older son prefers to eat vanilla cones. My husband likes his chocolate marshmallow. I prefer the snacks like Drumsticks, ice cream sandwiches, and the like. There just isn’t room for it all. If you have this same problem, enter these freezer giveaways to win a GE 13.7 CU FT Frostfree Upright Freezer.

What’s That Smell
Three Kids and Us
Mommy Goggles

And yes, yes, for those Nestle boycotters, I know this is sponsored by Nestle. You know what? I don’t care. They make some awesomely tasty ice cream. If I boycotted EVERY company that pissed me off, I’d be naked and living in a cardboard box with no food.