Mommin' It Up!

October 28, 2013October 28, 2013

Win $100 Holiday Cash from Checks in the Mail!

This post is sponsored by Savings.com and Checks in the Mail. All opinions are my own.

Cha-ching! Can you hear the cash registers ringing? I can! Holiday season is upon us, and as I mentioned last week, in my family, with all the November & December birthdays, the spending starts EARLY. So, I’m always looking for ways to offset the birthday-Christmas spending, whether it be through a sweet coupon deal or doing extra freelance writing to earn some additional cash. What’s even better than earning extra cash? WINNING IT! And thanks to Checks in the Mail, 10 lucky shoppers will win $100 cash this season!

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. Let’s talk about checks, baby! (Let’s talk about you and me! That’s right, I grew up in the 90s. OWNING IT!) I remember how excited I was to open my first checking account when I graduated from high school. I loved picking out the cutesy check designs on my next set of checks after I ran through the “free” ones from the bank (BOR-ING). Over the years I’ve had cute checks, funny checks, ridiculous ones with cats on them (you know, before I had kids, when I still loved animals…) – but anyway, I love having fun check designs. And there are some check-writing incidents that hold special sentimental value for me, like the very last one I wrote for Sophie’s speech therapy, and the one Bobby and I wrote earlier this year that paid off the kids’ school tuition for the whole year. Those represented big accomplishments and hard work. I will always remember those checks!

Since I’m cheap, I like to shop around for the best deals on my cutie checks, so I have to share this coupon code with you for Checks in the Mail – use coupon code BESTOFFER at checkout to get 50% off your order if you’re a new customer AND free shipping! (Which means – order a lot so they last a long time with a deal like this!)

All right, now back to how to win $100 for the holidays! There are two ways to win. This first is super-easy – just open your blue ValPak envelope full of great coupons and offers that comes in the mail! Make sure you open your Valpak envelope this month because there could be a winning check inside!! Valpak and Checks in the Mail have teamed up to giveaway $100 checks in blue envelopes all over the country. Open yours today, don’t let it sit around!

Don’t get a ValPak envelope? No worries, if you don’t receive a blue envelope in your mailbox every month you can enter to win $100 below or visit Valpak.com to enter to win $5000! (Which is a nice, fat wad of holiday cash!)

Good luck and happy entering! What will you spend the $100 holiday cash on if you win?

Entry -Form

Ten winners will each win $100 from Checks in the Mail. Only one winner per email address. Giveaway ends November 22, 2013. By submitting your email address you are agreeing to share that email with Checks in the Mail.

October 25, 2013

NPR Moment

I had an NPR moment today – you know, I sat in my car and kept listening even after I had reached my destination.

It was a piece on Storycorps (“Sharing and preserving the stories of our lives.”), and it was one of the most touching love stories I’ve ever heard.

“When a guy is happily married, no matter what happens at work, no matter what happens in the rest of the day,” Danny said, “there’s a shelter when you get home, there’s a knowledge, knowing that you can hug somebody without them throwing you down the stairs and saying ‘Get your hands off me.’ Being married is like having a color television set, you never want to go back to black and white.” -Danny Perasa

So go listen to it here. It will make your Friday better, I promise!

And while you’re at it, listen to this one about a single dad who raised his infant daughter while earning his college degree.

If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got things to do now. Like listen to every other story on that entire website.

October 25, 2013October 26, 2013

Health insurance is one hot topic!

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting (#MC) for Aflac. I received a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

Health insurance is a hot topic right now in our country. Unless you live in a cave, you have heard a lot about it lately. It’s something I think a lot about, especially every October when my husband’s employer has information meetings about it during their open enrollment period. Fortunately for us, his employer is very good about getting all information about plan changes out to us. I am very thankful because the past couple of years there have been big decisions to make about coverage levels, premiums, deductibles, etc. and having all the info has been helpful. According to a survey commissioned by Aflac, 71% of workers surveyed said they only sometimes or rarely understand the changes that are being made to their health insurance program. Yikes! That’s a huge majority.

Some of the other findings of the survey mirror what’s going on with my family’s plan: 4 out of 10 employees say they will have to cut expenses elsewhere if premiums increase and 20 percent say they will trade down on their benefits package in exchange for lower premiums. Our premiums went up big-time last year, and this year during open enrollment we took a higher deductible to make the premiums more reasonable. Hoping that works out for the best…you just never know what’s going to happen with your family’s health!

One tip I have about dealing with changes during open enrollment is not to let yourself be overwhelmed by options and paperwork. Bobby gets all the info from meetings at work, and it’s typically a lot – but it becomes much more manageable when we put two sets of eyes on it. Also, we ask questions to his benefits administrator at work and she’s always very helpful. So don’t be afraid to ask questions so you can really understand what you’re getting when you sign up.

We’ve always had a fairly expensive plan because my husband is employed by a fairly small business. We’ve also had supplemental insurance for years because my husband doesn’t get “sick time”, so if he is injured or has a prolonged illness we are up a creek since I don’t work full-time. In the event of a big stretch of him being unable to work, disability or worker’s comp would not cover all our expenses (does it ever? I don’t want to find out!) So, for more than five years now, we’ve also had Aflac. Luckily, we’ve never had to use it for an emergency or serious situation, but the policy we have has a wellness benefit where we get paid for getting our yearly cancer screenings – so I get a check after my “yearly” at the OB-GYN! Let me just say that makes the whole experience much more pleasant when that check arrives. LOL.

Any time we’ve had to file a claim with Aflac, it’s always been very easy. Their forms are simple and their reimbursement is fast. We couldn’t be happier that we’re a customer of theirs and I imagine we will be for years to come.

Do you have any health insurance woes this open enrollment season? How have you handled them, and have you opted for supplemental insurance? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments.