Crypto-Capers Series Giveaway

The Crypto-Capers Series is designed to involve the reader into the story. The reader must help the detectives solve the case by solving various puzzles and cryptograms. Book one gives the reader a basic understanding of how to solve the puzzles and cryptograms. Once you know how, you will be well on your way. Clues will be given to the reader, but with each case less clues are given to make it more challenging, and more interesting, which means that you will have to use your noodle, and pay very close attention to what is going on in the story. Come and join the Crypto-Capers on their first official case. The Crypto-Capers in: The Case of the Missing Sock.

In preparation of Renee's new releases coming out in March, she is offering a giveaway. The first one will be the Crypto-Capers Series. There are currently 4 books in the series and they are interactive. In order for the reader to solve the case they must solve cryptograms and puzzles. This series is great for children in 4th grade and up into middle school. Each book is educational working on various skills like reading comprehension, deductive reasoning and more, they are also science and history based. The settings are real. More info and a breakdown of each book is available through the website Renee Hand.

The winner will win the following autographed books by award winning author, Renee Hand.
Book 1: the Case of the Missing Sock
Book 2: The Case of Red Rock Canyon
Book 3: The Legend of the Golden Monkey
Book 4: The Chest of Mystery

Please leave a separate comment for each entry with your email address spelled out (ex. thefrugalfreegal at yahoo dot com). The giveaway is for U.S. and Canada residents only.

Mandatory Entry:

-Follow Renee's Crypto Capers Series blog 

Bonus Entries: 

-Register at Renee's Website.
-Like The Frugal Free Gal on Facebook
-Follow The Frugal Free Gal on Twitter
-Follow blog via Google Friend Connect (right sidebar)
-Subscribe *and* confirm in email (top right sidebar)
-Tweet giveaway and leave link
-Post giveaway on Facebook and leave link

Giveaway ends 2/13 at 11:59EST. I will choose a winner at random.org and will email the winner within 24 hours of the giveaway ending date. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

Motivational Mondays

Welcome to Motivational Mondays. This is a place to share your goals for the week. Your goals can be work related, household related, family or friend related, spiritual, financial--or any goal you can think of! By writing them down, you may be more motivated to get them done! Don't be shy! This is meant to be a fun and helpful way for everyone to gather your thoughts. No judging allowed--we all have our strengths and weaknesses. We let things go. It happens! Now it's time to get things back in order.

I'll start!

This week, I have a few things I would like to accomplish:

1. Clean out my pantry and organize it. I have been throwing stuff in there lately and just can't find things when I need them!
2. Fold the clothes that I just washed this weekend! They are doing no good in a pile next to my bed.
3. Get a Valentine's care package ready to send out soon.
4. Work on the Handmade with Love Giveaway Post (a HUGE giveaway event hosted by Simpy Stacie Feb. 2-6)
5. Clean out the truck and gather all the loose sippy cups, toys, cheerios, trash and who knows what else that may be lurking in there.
6. Make it to my vet appointment for my kitty cat and eye appointment without having to reschedule due to icy weather or a sick child.

Your turn! What do you want to get accomplished this week?

Free Skin Care Samples

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Free Box of Special K

Buy any ONE package of Kellogg's® Special K® Cereal, Get ONE 12 oz. Special K® Original or 13.6 oz. Special K® MultiGrain Oats & Honey Cereal FREE! (Up to a $4.49 value) at the checkout when you take The Special K Challenge. Create your free personalized plan to download your coupon.

Free Texas Travel Guide & Map

Request a free Texas Travel Guide and Map. I am from Texas and remember that I had a teacher give us the information to order one of these. I loved it! They are also great for kids for geography/map lessons!

Free Toothpaste Sample

If you have not requested this yet, it is available. Get a free sample of Arm & Hammer Toothpaste. Limit one per household. Again, first time requests only. It will not let you sign up if you have done so already. You can also register for Arm & Hammer money saving coupons.

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All You Magazine Deal

Magazines.com currently has the All You Magazine for $19.97 for 12 issues (about $1.66 an issue!) This is a very popular magazine that includes several money saving coupons inside each issue along with great money saving articles.

Create a Blog Mind Map

Remember when you were in grade school and you were taught how to make a brainstorming web or a mind map? It's time to apply that skill to help you gather your blogging thoughts into one place. All you need is a pencil and piece of paper, or a computer program that will allow you to make your own mind map like the one you see below.

Here is an example mind map that you can create for your blog. I opened up Microsoft Word and went to Insert > SmartArt tools. I found the option to create a mind map to show you. I keep a mind map at home but it is far more complex with even more branches coming off of each category. I thought I would show this basic mind map to you and allow you to go through and create the branches for your categories so that the mind map will be personalized for you.

You will see that my website is in the middle of the mind map. I decided to chart each major category for my blog that I could think of. Why is this helpful? This is helpful for those days that you run out of ideas to post. You can pull out your mind map and get a quick glance at a category that will help give you ideas for posts, and is also a way to keep your thoughts organized.

My main categories are: Money Saving Tips, Free Samples, Coupons, Daily Deals, Referral Programs, Giveaways and Reviews, Guest Posts, Surveys, Affiliates, Advertising, Blog Hops and Link Ups, and Blogging Tips.

From these categories, you can choose what you would like to write around each bubble. For example, on my coupon bubble, I have categories such as Red Plum, Coupons.com, Cellfire,  SmartSource, Target, coupon matchups, and coupon codes.

My Daily Deals bubble includes categories such as Groupon, LivingSocial, Zulily, and Deal Pulp.

Around my rewards programs, I have categories such as Swagbucks, Inbox Dollars, Send Earnings, Pampers Gifts to Grow, Huggies Enoy the Ride, and Disney Movie Rewards.

I enjoy my mind map and use it daily. I like to be able to refer to it during those times when I need a few ideas to go by. We all know that there are alot of areas in our day to day blogging and this gives you a place to track them all onto one page. When you are low on ideas, refer to your mind map and see which areas you may need to focus on at that time.

*Note: This mind map can be applied to any blog niche, not just for frugal blogs. Think about the categories included in your blog niche to create your mind map.

Free Valentine's Day Cards

You can score a set of free personalized Valentine's Day Cards with the purchase of My Very Own Fairy Tale or My Very Own Pirate Tale personalized children's books! If you just want the personalized cards, they are $4.95 per set. Order now so that you can get them by Valentine's Day!