As many of you who follow me on twitter and facebook I lost my job only four days before Christmas! Real nice huh? Definitely makes me reflect on the years I’ve worked there and gone above and beyond for the company. The days I worked over 12 hours a day for my PART time job. Moving on the dust is starting to settle. I’m starting to freak out a little as I still need to find a way to pay for Gavin’s tuition, groceries, and many other things my income covered. I refuse to dip into our savings until I can find another job.
So that brings me to so many more options then I had originally planned. See, I was hoping to make a few more changes for Mom Spotted. As you know my blog was J. Leigh Designz since it started and in October I brought it to this next level. Jess over at iDesign did a fabulous job! She took my blog (which was the largest she had ever done!) and took amazing care of me as I was a complete wreck in the process! She moved ALL my old posts and she carried over my GFC followers too! Don’t forget today is actually the last day of her 25% off sale! Just go to iDesign click Quote in the message area tell her I sent you and you’ll get the discount (its referral only).
Back to the changes. Well, you know I won’t stop the reviews and giveaways- so if you’re a giveaway junkie you’ll still have plenty of great products to read about and enter to win. What I want to do is do more personal posting and deals mixed in. I’d love to know how many of you read my posts because you want to and not just for the extra entries in the giveaways. I’d love to start doing more recipes too. Not just baked goods and desserts but dinners and more. I want my family to get back to healthier eating and 2011 I plan on doing just that. I’ll be trying out a lot of new recipes and think that you’ll love them too. Since I’ll be on a strict budget until I find a new job you know they’ll be affordable too!
That brings me to the next topic at hand. Deals. I don’t have any intentions of turning Mom Spotted into a deal site but since I’m going to start couponing again I wanted to know if you’d be interested in any great finds I find out there. Do you already coupon? Are you looking to start? I’m putting together my coupon binder would you like me to share my set up?
Do you have an interest you’d like to see? Do you want to learn something that I might be able to help with? I’d love some feedback so please share your thoughts!
(For those curious giveaways will return on Monday)
I love sharing great finds with other families! I sign up for all the coupon by email I can get. One I really like is from Nob Hill (or Raleys, Bel Air in other areas) They have great coupons delivered to your in box. I know there is probably tons more out there, but I am just too lazy to go find them! lol!
One these monkeys go back to school monday I will be posting great recipes that helped hubby and I loose weight and some great ones my kids enjoy:)
The layoff is hard at first trying to find your groove with it all, but it does change. You find where you can cut corners that you never imagined before. We turned off the cable and got netflix, turned off the home phone and now use our cell phones…. To make it work takes sacrifice something we were not willing to do right away and we learned the hard way.
Good luck on your new adventure!
Christy
Happy New Year, Jennifer!! That really bites about your job…. I’m only working part-time right now, so I can sympathize with you. Don’t worry though… that just means there’s something bigger and better for you in 2011!! Your dedication won’t go unnoticed. 🙂
I know I don’t get by to visit often, but I DO read your posts. In fact, I can’t remember if I’ve ever entered a giveaway here or not. LOL I love couponing too, and will be by to check out your deals for the new year!
Take care!
I love your new look actually. I didn’t even realize that you were J. Leigh Designs. My FAIL of the year.
I’m sorry to hear about you losing your job. I hope you are able to find something quickly.
I am all for reading about good deals. I do coupon and enjoy it!
I would love to see more deals and some affordable meal recipes. I am already into coupons but it would be nice for you to share what you know too. You can never learn to much. I enjoy reading your blog.
I hope things look up for you as far as the job. I am so very sorry that happened to you.
Sorry to hear about your job loss. I’ve never actually won from your blog but enjoy reading the reviews and entering the giveaways. With that said, I love the idea of recipes and great deals. It would be totally awesome if you could match the coupons with the recipes. You know like $ off coupons for this product and you would use said product in your recipe/meal. I’m always looking for new recipes and a good deal so I can make them!
I, too, lost my job this year, just before the birth of daughter. I understand the scare and frustration that comes along with it. Keep up the great work on the blog – do it because you love it and people will see that in your postings and continue to follow. I found that starting my blog has given me a feeling of accomplishment while I look for employment. You’ve got a great following already which could continue to grow into a wonderful support network!
I don’t know why these heartless companies do this to people right before a holiday… When my company decided to remove my position they did it right before Thanksgiving…. That was hard because I didn’t have anything bought for Christmas. But as it worked out things were meant to be as that is the year my mom got cancer and I was able to move in with here for months to take care of her while she was recovering from surgery and gettin chemo… It turned into 18 months of my going back and forth from FL to IN to take care of her..
I have a large family of 7 so I have to buy lots of food and do lots of cooking, I always love seeing new recipes, especially meal ones. I also like to see good deals, I get so many in my email as it it. Lots of them repeats but I deal with it. I think if you want to go that route and ad that to the mix of your posting. Go right ahead. I am just learning the coupon thing and could defintely use some input. Sorry about your job loss I hope things get better for you as we bring in the new year. Happy New Year!!
I would LOVE advice for starting up on couponing. I follow frugal/coupon blogs and am always so jealous when they post pics of their shopping trip with the final cost being 73 cents or whatever, lol. So I’ve been drooling over those sites for at least six months now but it’s so intimidating to get started that I haven’t really even tried. Any ‘start up’ advice would be awesome :).
Also, I follow mainly givaway blogs but I do read all personal posts as well I just rarely comment. I need to get better about that!
I’ve been gone for almost 2 weeks and rarely saw anything on Twitter or Facebook so this is the first I’ve heard of your job loss! I am so sorry to hear that! I enjoy reading your personal posts, too. It’s fun to get to know the people behind the blogs I read. I’m not a couponer, but I know lots of people are so you’ll fit in with a lot of people in that area. I’m a giveaway junkie, when I remember. =) I have a hard time following deals because there literally is nothing near me: Rite Aid, CVS, Walgreens, etc. I have a Walmart, Target and Cub. That’s about it and very few people share info about those 3. I mostly shop at Walmart so the other 2 aren’t much in my scope. I know, I’m in the boonies and don’t count. Can’t wait to see more “personal” stuff. Happy New Year!
I am so sorry to hear about your job situation hon. I will be thinking about you. Happy New Year!
So sorry to hear about your job loss! Such an awful time of year for that . Okay, there is no GOOD time, but anywho…
I would love to see more recipes, that is where I hope to put more focus on in the upcoming year. I don’t clip coupons because our small town doesn’t have circulars in the newspaper. Good luck with your changes!
I’m so sorry to hear about your job, I hope great new things open up for you.
I would love to hear about your coupon binder set up! I just started couponing the past 6-ish months and haven’t really found a system that I *love yet. I’d also be very interested in deals and meal recipes! I read the posts that interest me or grab my attention because I want to, not for extra entries or anything else 🙂
Happy New Year!
Congratulations on losing your job.
I won’t offer condolences because you don’t need them. I firmly believe that we are faced our entire lives with opportunities disguised as obstacles.
I think back on my life and there have been several times when I thought I had hit a road block; with a job, or relationship, or financial hardship. Each time, I thought my world would crumble, and each time I clawed my way out, stronger and wiser than before.
A few years ago I was laid off of a job that I loved. I was devastated. Yet within that chaos I realized how unsuited I was to that position, and I was using that high salary as an excuse for not realizing my dreams. In the end, getting let go was the best thing that could have happened to me.
So, on this New Years Eve, I will not feel sorry for you. Instead, I will raise the champagne glass in your honor, and say “The Best is yet to come”!
(love reading your blog, though I rarely comment unless it’s a contest post. But this column of yours inspired me to respond:)
Jennifer, I do read your blog posts, though I don’t get around to commenting! Looking forward to seeing how you save with using coupons, we coupon some here in my household, but I also plan to try to save more in the next year with coupons when shopping.
Sorry to hear about your job loss. I know how you feel the economy is really tough here too! 🙂 I love your idea of incorporating more store deals & new recipes in your blog. If you’re ever looking for new recipe ideas I think it would be great to feature “rollover meals” ideas where you use 1 main leftover meat for the week like homemade meatballs or homemade grilled chicken strips & make 5 breakfast, lunch or dinner meals out of the leftovers I haven’t seen any blogs or many recipes for “roll over” meals. I think it would be interesting to see how many creative meals people could make & roll forward with leftovers
I Hope 2011 Bless You and Your Family with Many New Opportunities and a Wealth of Good Fortune! 😀
I love all your giveaway’s! I also follow you on FB and comment a lot on what you write. I am sorry about you losing your job. 🙁 My plan for the New Year is to start couponing all the time! So I would love to see some deals. I will also be setting up a coupon binder, so seeing your’s would give me some great ideas!
I’m a grocery coupon user, but I don’t shop weekly. I read some of your non-review giveaway posts, and recipes that are budget friendly are always nice.
Three Things:
1. Loosing a job, in my opinion makes us grow stronger for the next one. I look at it as a learning curve. I left a job once because I was so frustrated with doing an entire conversion for the company only to get walked all over by all new management that moved through the revolving front door of our company. When I say “revolving”, I’m referring to the high turn over in the company. It’s nothing personal, plus look – you have over 3,000 followers that your making a dif. in their lives. There’s a reason for everything.
2. Your Blog Design is much much better. The colors are vivid, where last time it was brown and it’s now a very lovely place to come visit. (sorry, hope you didn’t mind me mentioning that).
3. I LOVE LOVE coupons and always have. Anything you touch on will be a welcome.
first off- HUGS and serious prayers that you find a new job, if that is your choice, that is even better than your last one!
secondly- i think alot of people are takign the time to go back to more personal blogging and I think it’s a good thing. I personally read ALL your posts, not just the giveaways.
thirdly- we’re all cutting back and looking for bargains, so put me on board with ya, with no problems!
So very sorry to hear of the loss of your job. I enter some of your giveaways. I’m really looking forward to seeing the “budget” recipies, I can really use those as we all can.
I read all your posts- ok, 85% of your posts. =) I’d love to read more personal posts!
Happy New Year!
friend on facebook kathy l pease
kathypease(at)gmail(dot)com
whoops sorry i was reading your post and doing contests at the same time..geeeez im sorry and I hope things work out for the new year
i love couponing i save so much money when i shop this week the original total was like $230 and after my coupons and store savings it was $117..my store doubles coupons up to one dollar so that makes it even better..one thing i like to do is get coupons on ebay you just search for a product coupon you want and you can get a lot of 10 or 20 coupons pretty cheap..or they have mixed coupon lots of 100 usually pretty cheap also 🙂
I certainly read your posts, as you are a wonderful writer! I believe all that you have spoken about above would be great to incorporate into your “new” blog. I definitely coupon and bargain shop but sure do love to read the “behind-the-scenes” type posts and get to know the person who is producing the blog. Jennifer, you do an AWESOME job, and as stated on FB, I am so very sorry for your job loss. It is their loss…they certainly lost a wonderful asset to their company.
I think it would be great to share deals and stuff with us 🙂 I’m a big online shopper, and always finding amazing deals. I love to share freebies, coupon codes, or just amazing deals with everyone that I know, and get so many thank you’s from people for helping them out! I’m thinking about starting my own blog, just since it seems like everyone has been coming to me for advice lately! So I’m sure if your readers are anything like the people that I know, they’ll appreciate any help you can provide. Job or no job, its tough out here to keep a household running!!
First I just wanted to say that I’m sorry you lost your job 🙁
Also – I read ALL of your posts – not just giveaways and reviews. I wouldn’t mind at all seeing deals posted. I do coupon – I saved almost $10,000 last year! Recipes are always good!
I wish you all the best in finding a new, rewarding job quickly. I, of course, enjoy entering the giveaways but I also read your blog for other reasons as well. I’d be interested in coupon deals. It’s something that my husband and I talked about a few days ago, using coupons more often.
I come here for a little of everything you do. I love your recipes as they are nothing too fancy and show offy that my family won’t turn their noses up at them. I am so very sorry to hear you lost your job. That stinks so bad. I love you blog, love free, and love cheap so I will be happy with anything you have to offer us. I hope the new year is already treating you better and things smooth out soon. I completely understand having your life turned upside down. Things have bee crazy at our house because of tragedies around us for the past couple of months so I can understand chaos. Thanks for all you do.
Sorry about the loss of your job–if it makes you feel any better, I’ve been unemployed for over 2 yrs! 😉 I love being “retired” at 57; since I’m alone, I can look at it that way. 🙂
I think “budget” recipes would be a good addition. And then, maybe posts about the new ways you’re being “frugal”. 🙂
Best wishes for the new year!