giveaway

FinCon19 wrap-up, and a related giveaway.

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I’m back, sort of. Before attending FinCon19, I spent five days in Washington, D.C. with my daughter, who had five nights’ worth of free lodging. (Love those travel rewards credit cards.)

We mostly* hit the free museums, gawked at the architecture like a couple of tourists, and ate nearly every meal at the hotel (yay free breakfast!) and from our fridge (it was a full-kitchen Marriott Residence Inn, and there was a Safeway about five blocks away). This frugality allowed us to indulge in Thai and Ethiopian restaurants the rest of the time.

Then it was off to FinCon19 (aka the 2019 Financial Blogger Conference), where I ran nonstop for four days: attending programs, meeting with a bunch of writers and potential employers, and moderating a panel on why freelancers should quit undervaluing their worth.

The conference was a bit overwhelming, especially compared to the first-ever FinCon, which had fewer than 200 participants. This time around it was 2,500 attendees, and the noise and the swirl left me feeling pretty worn-out. At times I would dip out of the crush and head back up to the hotel room for 10 minutes’ worth of peace.

Overall, though, it was an absolute blast. I hung out with old friends and met some new ones, shared tips with newbies and was given great advice by veterans, attended some receptions (especially the AARP one, which was crammed with amazing women writers), and most of all, felt like a professional again.

I’ve been making a living as a writer for 35 years. Living way up in Anchorage makes me an outlier, though, far from easy access to writer meet-ups. Too, I tend to isolate myself: Sometimes I need help, or advice, or simple fellowship but don’t reach out to others.

(About that last: Had a very rewarding chat with Jackie Lam of Hey Freelancer and Sarah-Li Cain of Beyond The Dollar, who both told me to Facebook-message them any time I’m having One Of Those Days. Bless their hearts.)

Bonus: The conference yielded a moderate** amount of swag for a future giveaway, plus a very nice stand-alone item that I’ll be giving away at the end of this article.

 

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Savings.com giving $1k for back-to-school shopping.

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Win a $1000 back to school shopping spree!

 

 

Yes, the first day of school really is imminent. Here in Anchorage it happens on Aug. 20.

To help with your back-to-school shopping needs, the coupon and deal blog Savings.com is giving away a $1,000 back-to-school shopping spree.

Here’s the beauty part: You don’t have to have kids in school, or even have kids at all, to enter the #HallmarkBTSSavings giveaway.

The shopping spree is in conjunction with a recent appearance on the Hallmark Channel’s “Home & Family” show. Sara Korab, head of community development for Savings.com, showed up to talk about how to save money this back-to-school season.

Will the “spree” be in the form of $1,000 worth of discounts, or will you be limited to certain stores? Nope. The winner will get a $1,000 check, to use however he or she chooses.

 

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Giveaway: $10 Starbucks card.

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Baby, it’s hot outside. The summer has been/is still quite brutal in many parts of the Lower 48. While I can’t change the weather, I can offer a palliative.

Could anyone use a $10 Starbucks card?

Even a non-coffee-drinking weirdo like me has to admit that Starbucks has some mighty tasty and refreshing cold beverages. I can go years without setting foot in a Starbucks shop, but when I’m on the road in the summer and positively wilting from the heat, the familiar mermaid logo is rather like a siren’s call. Come on in! We have ice! And iced drinks!

 

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Giveaway: “Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk.”

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Personal finance journalist Cameron Huddleston’s new book was written from painful personal experience. “Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations With Your Parents About Their Finances” came about after Huddleston’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

She learned a lot – and she learned it the hard way. Now she wants to help other people from having to go through the difficulties of dealing with someone else’s finances after the person is ill and unable to help sort things out.

End-of-life issues are never easy to discuss. With wisdom and compassion, the author offers a tremendous amount of expertise to take you through this touchy process.

Huddleston has graciously offered to sponsor a giveaway of two copies of “Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk: How to Have Essential Conversations With Your Parents About Their Finances.” If you or anyone else you know has aging parents, this book could save a lot of grief and wasted energy, and let you focus on what’s important: finding the best solutions for your family.

The book shows how to get the conversation started before your parents actually need any help. You’ll learn how to talk about things like estate planning, whether they can (or should) age in place vs. moving to a smaller home or to an assisted living facility, what kinds of documents and legal paperwork you should have just in case, how to bring siblings into the conversation and – this is super-important! – what not to say.

Suppose your parents resist any kind of talk at all? Huddleston has a chapter about that, too. These are invasive questions, after all, and your parents (who may still see you as “the kid”) might not want to talk about money– especially if it turns out they don’t have enough).

I haven’t yet finished “Mom and Dad, We Need to Talk,” but I can already say that anyone whose family hasn’t discussed later-in-life issues needs to read this book.

 

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Giveaway: $100 HP gift cards up for grabs.

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The crew at Savings.com has a new giveaway, one I can definitely get behind: $500 worth of HP gift cards, in conjunction with HP’s Warehouse Sale. Although I use a MacBook Air computer, I’ve never owned any other printer than an HP.

The first one was given to me in 2005 or so, by a friend whose mom had died. Upon hearing I was back in college in midlife, she gave me her mother’s HP printer. I had no idea how old the machine was, and kept praying, “Please just get me through college.” And it did, letting me print out all my papers and presentations.

After completing my degree in December 2009, I figured the printer didn’t owe me a thing; after all, I’d used it pretty hard for four years and, again, I had no idea how old it was. But it wasn’t until July 2015 that the printer finally turned up its toes and died.

 

 

Its replacement, an HP OfficeJet Pro 8610, was a big step up: I now owned a printer-scanner-copier. The scanning function has come in really handy, since some freelance writing clients require me to scan and e-mail documents. The copying is useful, too. But where this puppy really shines is the printing. Thus far it has seen me through two books and DF through three.

 

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Win a $50 Home Depot card. Also: Autism awareness.

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Want a $50 head start on home improvement or summer fun? Of course you do.

The folks at the Savings.com deal site are giving away $500 worth of Home Depot gift cards this week.

Ten winners will each receive $50 worth of purchasing power at the home improvement center, just in time for summer building projects, garden add-ons, or fun stuff like a wine-bottle cooler or charcoal grill (see deal list, below).

My dad gives me a Home Depot card every year for Christmas. He knows that DF and I will use it for compost, peat pots and other items for our vegetable and flower gardening projects. The Home Depot has everything we want for summer. The retailer was also a big help to my daughter and me as we cleaned up her rental unit after her in-laws moved out. (You’ll love the before-and-after photos, although a couple of them might make you queasy.)

 

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Super-short story contest, plus giveaways.

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Got a story to tell? If it’s a short one, you could parlay that tale into a free writing class.

How short? Really short. The Gotham Writers Workshop is challenging writers to tell a story in 10 words or fewer – and if you include a title, that counts against the word-limit.

Pretty hardcore, huh? But it can be done. Witness this perhaps-apocryphal example from Ernest Hemingway:

 

For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn. 

 

Sure, it’s more of a skit than a full-length play. But with just a few words, you can evoke a mood, a backstory, a launch pad for a longer piece to be written later.

For now, keep it under 10 words. Here’s how.

 

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Giveaway: Dollar Dig swag, $50 Amazon card.

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Dollar Dig widget

Recently the creator of the Dollar Dig cash-back site sent me a box of logo items. Bless his heart.

While I will donate some of these things to a local shelter, I’ve also decided to pass along a few to my readers.

Not only is it just plain fun to win something, I figure the fruity-bright colors will add a little cheer to the dark days of winter.

Bonus: Winning a T-shirt is God’s way of saying, “You can put off doing laundry for one more day!”

Or, if you’re more virtuous: “Look! A brand-new T-shirt to wear to those workouts you swore you were going to do every day in 2019!”

Either way, here’s what’s up for grabs:

 

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3 ways to win a holiday shopping boost.

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If you’re in the market for some gift cards or extra money for your holiday shopping, read on.

Savings.com is giving away $500 worth of Walmart gift cards. Enter by using this link before 11:59 p.m. EST Friday, Dec. 7.

The site also has a discount code good for three free grocery deliveries in areas where Walmart delivers. Visit this link and use the code DISCOVER before Jan. 31, 2019.

Incidentally, grocery delivery may actually be a frugal thing. Learn more at my Money Talks News article, “How grocery delivery can save you money.”

 

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Giveaway: “Sudsy Slim Rides Again.”

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Hello again, and sorry to have maintained radio silence for so long. Some day I’ll let you know what kept me elsewhere.

Today is not that day, though. Today is the day for promoting Chad and Darin Carpenter’s second film, “Sudsy Slim Rides Again.” Specifically, it’s a day for giving away a copy of the DVD.

Their first film, “Moose: The Movie,” was shot entirely in Alaska, with a tight budget and a loose grip on reality. That one made me laugh like a loon, filled as it was with the type of goofy humor familiar to fans of Chad Carpenter’s “Tundra” comics.

Their sophomore effort is, frankly, less sophomoric than the first. Don’t get me wrong: It’s rife with humor, but is definitely more of a semi-serious attempt at movie-making.

Want to win a copy of this “spaghetti Northwestern”? Of course you do.

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