Oh wow, I have FINALLY found the jackpot, friends. It’s dealnews. It’s a website that collects all the latest and greatest deals online and organizes them all for easy viewing. This site is amazing! It’s especially good for  electronics deals, and nabbing good prices on apparel, toys, movies and travel deals. Sweet!

Take, for example, my recent quest for a good, reliable paper shredder at a good price. I couldn’t find anything, even with my browser plugin. But here it is, found easily at dealnews.

The price is a good $15 less than what I paid, too.

Well, I learned my lesson. I’m definitely checking out dealnews.com first. The sales are very good, it’s like Black Friday every day. :D The prices on electronics are especially good– dealnews.com has a huge, huge listing of laptops, computers, hard drives, TVs, and more.

If you are like me and tend to forget to check websites first, you can have dealnews.com email you deals in email alerts. You can tailor the emails to suit your deal, too– choose a particular category or a specific product or a particular store, and dealnews will email you when they know there’s a discount. That’s a very nice feature. You won’t get clobbered with unrelated emails. Nice! There’s another email feature where you can sign up to receive the “best of the best” deals, too. No more wasting money on exorbitant retail prices!

Definitely check out the site. It’s totally free to use and there are no hidden charges or sneaky sales maneuvers. This is a great site and has become my favorite “go to: site before I shop. Check out the site yourself and come back and tell me what great deals you found!

Anyway, YOU can. I know some of you guys are interested in learning more about hosting your own blog, especially after hearing about JB Bean‘s horror story– her entire Blogger blog, Gmail account and checkout profile were deleted by Google. Google deleted the site because it thought JB Bean’s blog was a spam site, spewing malicious attacks. Yikes! You can imagine that a whole lot of people ditched their Blogger blogs.

I like Blogger, I have been with them for over a decade. But I moved all my important blogs to my own web hosting space on Hostgator. When I found out that Google essentially owns the content and can erase your work with one swipe, I changed over. I have never looked back, even though it does cost me about $120 a year. I can’t praise Hostgator enough. My blogs are up almost 100% of the time (I use Pingdom to track downtime), and the customer service is superior to all.

Anyway, if you have been wanting to get your own blog pad, here’s your chance. The sale will begin just after midnight, Friday, November 25th CST. I am an affiliate of Hostgator, so I get a commission if you click this Hostgator link or the Hostgator graphic below and buy something. It costs you nothing but means everything to me! I also offer basic tech help when setting up your blog, so if you have questions, leave a comment here and I’ll send you an email response.

I’ll have more details coming up about the Black Friday sale. So far, Hostgator has not released any details but last year, the price of annual hosting was slashed in half! That’s an amazing deal!

Got the summertime blues? Hey, how about a trip to Branson, Missouri! I have heard nothing but praise from the area. When we finally take our road trip, we are staying there for a few nights. The Hiltons of Branson are SO luxurious, and very affordable (especially compared to New York prices). Lots of the kids’ favorite Christian comedians and music artists have shows at the Hilton Branson Convention Center. How convenient that the convention center has a beautiful hotel. :D

Right now, the Hiltons of Branson are having a terrific summer weekend package deal for families, called the Branson Best Value Vacation Package: besides a stay in one of the the beautiful hotels, you get a third night for FREE. And the price of the accomodations includes 4 tickets (2 for adults, 2 for kids) to the spectacular Legends of Kung Fu show, two-day passes to Silver Dollar City (we SO want to go there!), a $25 $25 food credit for Level 2 Steakhouse, and a $25 gift card for shopping at one of the many shops in the promenade. I don’t know about you, but that sounds very, very appealing. It also makes a great gift for a young, hassled family who needs a little break.

If you’d rather skip the Kung Fu act, have no fear, the Hiltons of Branson have more packages for every family: there’s the Family Fishing Weekend, a Souled Out Band concert, a Michael Jackson Tribute Week (that must be amazing), and National Kids Fest. The nice thing about Branson is that they consider the family– they make sure there are nice things for the kids to do, but there are also shops and restaurants and very nice attractions for the moms and dads, too.

The deals are VERY good. Check out the Hiltons of Branson page formore information on accommodations and events. And even if you are already booked for the summer, go back and check for Branson’s off-season rates, which are outstanding. Branson also has a superb Christmas celebration, very old-fashioned and just really lovely. Check the site for more details.

Honestly, I never thought I’d get to the place where I had TOO many gadgets. But I think I do. I dislike the online auction sites because of all their outrageously high fees, so all the stuff just sits on my shelves and in the file cabinet and all over the house…. taking up space. I’ve had intentions of selling them (lots of stuff is still in exceptionally good condition), but I loathed the thought of listing them at the auction site and paying those high fees. No thanks. And those “buy back” programs from the retail stores are a RIP OFF. Don’t ever fall for those! The retail store will give you only a teeny-tiny percentage of the value of the gadget, believe me. You’ll be lucky if you break even.

Ah, but now there’s uSell! Cash for Your Cell Phones and Electronics! This is a new site (well, new to me) that allows you to list your gadgets, cell phones and other electronics. I like it because 1.) it’s limited to electronics so you won’t have to hash through old shoes, clothes, collectibles and dolls to find good gadgets, and 2.) uSell includes the top buyers of gadgets in their roster, so you know you’ll be getting bids from interested buyers.

Here’s the scoop on uSell:

• Search the site for your gadget or phone to see what the going price is on the item.
• Select the best offer coming your way.
• Send your device to uSell, and get paid.
• uSell has something called a “Max Cash Guarantee” that promises to get you the best offer on your gadget, or uSell will PAY YOU the difference.
• uSell has been mentioned by the Wall Street Journal, FOX, CBS, and the Chicago Tribune.
• Selling your old gadgets is WAY better than filling the landfills and much better than suffering through those online auction sites (IMHO).

Check it out if you have something to sell. You really don’t have anything to lose! I checked out the value of my iPhone, and a buyer would take it for $350! Wooo!

ANYWAY. I just wanted a little bitty thing that I could grab off the shelf, and quickly vacuum little messes like the wads of Chewbacca fluff all over my computer :-p. I found the terrific appliance! I chose the Bissell Cleanview Corded Hand Vacuum Cleaner for the very nice price of $40 at CSN Stores. CSN Stores generously gave me the vac in exchange for the review! Aren’t they swell!!

Here’s what I found:

Pros: 
• Nice and portable! It has a few attachments– some wonky toothed plastic thing that the directions say is for carpeting (didn’t work for me, so I don’t use it), a narrow nozzle, a nice flathead type nozzle with soft bristles at the ends, and a long tube for connecting everything.
• It’s corded, not cordless. I purposely chose a corded vac because I read in several other reviews that cordless vacs poop out very quickly. I also own a cordless mini circular saw, and that thing lasts maybe 2 minutes. :-p The Bissell Cleanview cord is very, very long– possibly as long as my regular vacuum cleaner.
• It’s very powerful. 4 amps, Works great. I have no complaints. I have to be careful when I vacuum the keyboard, though. The suction is so good that I’m afraid it might slurp up my keyboard keys!
• The detachable dust bin is well-designed. It is in a convenient location and snaps off very easily. According to the description, it’s got a “HEPA media filter captures over 99.9 percent of dust mites, pollen and ragweed.” I don’t yet know how much replacement filters costs. The ones for my regular vacuum are about $10, so I assume this is about the same.

Cons:  
• There is no carrying case. Real bummer. Right now I use the box it came in, but it’s a little awkward. I wish it has a sack or some kind of case.
• It’s a little heavy. Ten pounds! After a while, it’s gets even heavier, lol.
• The cord does not wrap around the hand vac. You have to wrap the cord separately and secure it with a velcro strap. It’s *OK.* The cord is so long that it couldn’t possibly wrap around the vac, anyway. But I wish it had a carrying case!

I think the Pros far outweigh the Cons. And the price, I think, is very reasonable. Plus, CSN Stores has free shipping on a lot of stuff, as well as a huge selection of stuff! The prices are good, too. Definitely check them out.

I absolutely LOVE my Bissell hand vac! I use it for everything now– slurping up all the dust bunnies, errant cat food bits, particles of laundry lint from the Kleenex left in the pants pockets…. It’s a great all-purpose little vac. Thumbs up!

Bets of all– I have a coupon code for you! Get 15% off your purchase if you use the coupon code BH2010, AND get free shipping for the holidays!

GalaxyGold.com is based in Los Angeles, California– all jewelry is designed and manufactured in the United States. They specialize in gemstone jewelry, but like this lovely ring, they also create alluring designs with the metals. I’m impressed! The earrings are also amazing. Whoever does the designs at GalaxyGold.com is very talented. The designs are very feminine and colorful– I like them! Some of the pendants have lovely pearls with gemstones flanking the center. Wow, it’s stunning jewelry.

GalaxyGold.com offers a lifetime guarantee, a 30-day full refund return policy, with excellent shipping prices and speedy service. They accept PayPal, money orders, and all the major credit cards. And all that with some really beautiful prices, too.

Check them out. I know there’s at least one or two ladies in your life who would love to be pampered with some resplendent earrings or necklaces. GalaxyGold.com makes it easy to shop– by jewelry type, gemstones, styles, and by birthstone, too. Use the coupon code with your order!

It’s the Aluratek Libre eBook Reader Pro, with 32GB space.. guess how much it is?? Go on, guess!!!

$135 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! And includes free shipping! It’s on sale at Buy.com. I have been waiting for eBook readers to go down in price. eGads, they are expensive. The lowest I have ever been able to find is $200. This is a great deal, PERFECT as a holiday gift, or as a treat for being such a special person. :D

The Aluratek eBook Reader comes with a 2GB SD Card with 100 preloaded free eBooks, mostly old classics like stuff by Marl Twain, Dickens, etc. You know, the stuff you had to read in high school, lol. All in all, it’s a good deal. I like giving Buy.com my business because they are so good to me. Their shipping is blazing fast and the prices.. well, you already see how low their prices are!

If you want this eBook Reader, better hurry. Stuff like this at Buy.com tends to go fast, plus I think I may grab a few!!! Nice one, Buy.com!

The kids need school stuff now. We’ve been relying on last year’s surplus, but the supplies are beginning to wane. Sheesh, remember those good old days when all we needed was some lined paper, pencils, crayons, and a calculator? Today, the kids need backpacks, scientific calculators, and (gulp) computers! The kids have relied on old hand-me-down computers for their school work, but two of them run Windows XP, and are beginning to have problems. Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft, and has been essentially phased out. So I find myself starting to browse around for computers for the boys…

There is no better place to get very inexpensive, quality computers–IMHO– than Buy.com. They are having a marvelous sale on computers right now, specifically geared for school. This Toshiba Satellite L455D-S5976 is terrific! It’s got a Sempron processor, which is lower-end, but perfect for school activities (and too slow for gaming, heh heh). My eyes popped when I saw the price: $400! For a Toshiba, that’s pretty good. I think Toshiba makes the best laptops; I have a huge desktop-sized one and I have not had one problem with it in two years. Don’t ask me about the HP laptops, though! :-x

I love Buy.com! I have purchased tons of stuff from them, and have been exceptionally pleased with their prices, customer service, and fast (and very often) free shipping. They also have great videos about products, and other informative features. Be sure to check out their Weekly Specials email– I have found stuff for very low prices through that. Ooo and there may be a very nice business laptop on sale right now, too…

A very, very inexpensive laptop. This would be perfect for one of the young children, or for travel. It’s a Visual Land 7″ Netbook with built-in wireless. It’s a very small computer with small hard drive and etc– but it’s perfect if you have an elementary-grade child who wants/needs a computer, and you just don’t want to spend $1000 on a Sony Vaio for them yet! This netbook has no moving parts, either (it’s got an internal flash drive memory instead of a spinning hard drive), so it’s very durable. I got something similar (an Eee PC) for my youngest son a few years ago, same kind of components. It’s still plugging away. These things tolerate rough treatment such as handling by a child or carrying around in a travel bag. The price is only $90!!!

This is one I am SO tempted to snatch up myself. It’s a Microsoft wireless keyboard and mouse. It’s 62% off! It’s just $29 and includes free shipping. A wireless keyboard is wonderful! I have one, and I love it. I no longer have this mass of wires all over my desk. This is a great deal, and again, makes a great holiday gift.

Those are just a few of the really good sales that jumped out at me. Buy.com is also selling stuff for back to school (backpacks, shoes, Microsoft Office Student), and there are summer clearances going on right now.

You moms are so spoiled today! You have the Internet! You can look up really cool sites like diapers.com! When I was a young mother, I was ON MY OWN. Sheesh, I remember being totally lost if I should use cloth or disposable… how to change the diapers… OMG how do I even FEED this kid?!? But moms are so spoiled today! Everything is at their fingertips.

Ain’t it grand? :D

There are also so many more ways to save money today. It is definitely a great time to be a mom. And if you are totally lost new mom, there’s help for you about that, too. Take a peek at Bright Beginnings available at diapers.com. SO CUTE!!! You will find scads and scads of delicious deals on everything you need for your baby, including toys, baby seats, and the terrific Parent’s Choice (not “Bright Beginnings”) baby formula. In case you haven’t heard, generic baby formula is just as nutritious and clean as name-brand formula. The only difference is that generic-brand formula doesn’t have the fancy packaging. Although, I think the packaging designs for Bright Beginnings formula is very cute and just as appealing as the other brands. And if your local store carries only the expensive name-brand stuff, well, go over their heads and order Bright Beginnings at Diaper.com! After all, you have the Internet now! Live it up. ;)