Shout outs and "check this out"s!

I wanted to take a moment to tell you about some of the great blogs that I have visited recently, and about some of the fun prizes that I have won too. I am usually not a winner... I have thrown my name in the hat for lots of things, and it's a pretty rare occurence for me to win. I guess my luck has been changing though!

First, way back in November, I won a giveaway from A Frugal Housewife. The prize was a sample of Soap Nuts from www.LaundryTree.com. Soap Nuts are a really neat dried and deseeded fruit that actually cleans your clothes. This is a great green alternative to conventional products!

Then, in December, I won a giveaway drawing from Hindrance Crafts through her blog. She has a really cute Etsy shop, so take a minute and check out her handmade goodies: Etsy Hindrance.

January was a really good month for giveaways! Through the MoneySavingMom website, I was introduced to her awesome Mr Linky posts for giveaways - there's over a hundred giveaways to enter! It's really fun to see all the different products and things that people are giving away, and I have added a lot of great blogs to my feed reader too!

From NeverGivesUp, I won a Pay It Forward giveaway, and am eagerly awaiting a handmade goodie. I am also having fun thinking up ways to surprise *my* winners.

Then from LoChristine I won this gorgeous pair of earrings! Go check out her Etsy shop and drool over her beautiful jewelry designs!

My most recent win was from Cheeky Maiden Soap Company. It was a copy of the "Perfect Weight America" book, and I am looking forward to reading it. Go check out their site and see all of the pretty natural soaps, lip balms, and other products that they have!

The last site that I would like to share with you tonight is the One Dollar Give. They started their blog in December with the idea of featuring a different charity each day for people to each donate $1 to. Now, one dollar might not seem like much to you or me - we're apt to spend that much on an impulse item like a bottle of water or a pack of gum. but one BILLION people in this world live on less than $1 a day. Now that December is over, they are aiming to feature one charity per week. So, go and spread the word about their blog and let them know about your favorite charity! (I've already emailed them about mine - Real Hope for Haiti).

While I'm on the subject of donations, I'd like to mention GoodSearch. GoodSearch is powered by Yahoo - in other words, searching through them is just like searching through Yahoo (or google or whatever your favorite search engine is), BUT they donate 50% of their revenue to the charities and schools designated by their users. You simply choose your favorite charity, and then you can either set GoodSearch to be your default search engine, or you can download their toolbar - then when you search, they donate money to the charity that you chose! Now I don't know about you, but I search for a LOT of stuff online - recipes, patterns, craft ideas, how to's, information for the kid's homework or current interests, graphics, and more. I like knowing that my time "googling" is helping out a charity that I feel passionate about, even if it's only a small amount.

Thanks for reading through this, and I hope that you enjoy these sites.