“Giveaways” Archive
Feb
25
I’ve been meaning to put up this post for weeks now, so my apologies for giving people a late start. A few weeks ago I was contacted by the nice folks at Mint.com–a site which I highly recommend if you don’t like Quicken or Money–about a contest they are running which I know will be of interest to many of my readers.
The specifics of the contest can be found here, but the gist is that Mint.com will select the best video/best text submission from folks who detail their holiday overspending. The winner will get their credit card bills as of December 31st, 2007 (up to 5K) paid in full. The best part is that you DON’T have to be a user of Min in order to enter or win the contest. Since a majority of folks who answered my weekly poll used credit cards to pay for their holiday spending, surely there should be some entries coming from my readers.
The deadline for submitting an entry is March 15th so there is still plenty of time to try and win. In addition to winning the 5K, you will also get free, personalized credit counseling. It costs nothing to enter so I think I too will give it a try. I wonder if my holiday overspending from years past, which I am probably still paying for still qualifies for the contest 
Aug
3
As my loyal readers have noticed, I have not been posting for quite a few days now. I am sad to report that my ex-wife’s father passed away about 10 days ago and I have been trying to focus on being there for her as best I can as well as spending some quality time with my own family including my daughter. In so doing, I realized I needed a brief break from blogging and focusing on my debt repayment so I could spend some time reflecting on what means the most to me in life.
Family and friends are clearly the things that matter to me the most. My father and I have had a very rocky relationship over the past few years as my parents divorced and I hope we are able to repair things over time. Being a great parent is also of paramount importance to me. I want to be the best parent I can possibly be as my daughter grows up.
That said, I’m coming back to both blogs as they have served as a wonderful outlet for me, particularly when I have been feeling down about the debt.
To that end, I will be putting a survey on the site over the weekend to see what things my readers want to hear about. I often feel like I am ranting about things, but I want to ensure that I’m giving my readers what they want; good, usefel content and advice.
Finally, I will be announcing the winner of the Vista Home Premium giveaway. I’m in the process of tabulating the entries and I will be using a random number generator to determine the winner. Stay tuned for the winner!
Again, I want to thank all my readers for the great comments and incredible support. My Feedburner numbers haven’t changed much during the hiatus so I want to thank everyone for being patient with me and sticking around.
Jul
5
Given that only a limited number of people have entered and I know I have a fair amount of loyal (as well as some new) readers, I will be extending the two month anniversary giveaway until the end of July. I encourage all of my readers to enter, if for no other reason you have a chance to win something that arguably (some people may disagree), has utility. I’ll also have very low “blog-esteem” if only a few people enter the giveaway.
Jun
9
WOW! Amazingly it has been two months since I started the journey of blogging about my debt situation and the twists and turns of dealing with it. To be certain it has been wild ride so far. I was fortunate enough to have an interview segment on CNN, which in turn generated some decent traffic to my site. Before that interview I was struggling to get 100 visitors per day, where I now get somewhere between 200-250 visitors per day. By no means overwhelming, but nothing to shake a stick at in just under two months. I’ve also had to take a long, hard look at my plan to eliminate the debt. Initially I did think I would be able to do it ALL on my own, while avoiding any kind of settlements or DMP type arrangements. Reality however, took hold and although not the ideal way to do things, it is probably the ONLY feasible way to do it without quite literally bankrupting myself. So to all those who encouraged me to put all the options on the table, thanks for keeping my eyes open and not letting my pride get in the way. As many of you have said, it took me many years to get into this amount of debt and it will surely take a fair amount of time to get rid of it as well. I’ve come to terms with the fact that there is no quick fix here and only hard word, extra income, discipline and sacrifice will get me there. There are certain things I will ABSOLUTELY NOT sacrifice during this ‘debt cure’ such as frequent trips to visit my daughter, eating healthy and exercising, but other than that, I’m trying to simplify my life as much as possible while still trying to live a life not completely devoid of fun. The last few weeks have indeed been trying and somewhat discouraging, as witnessed by my lack of frequent posting, but the support and positive feedback from my readers has reinspired me to keep it all going.
So, as a thank you to my readers, I actually have a decent giveaway–a tangible product–for you to enjoy. I will be giving away a copy of Windows Vista Home Premium Edition, which does have the very cool 3-D Window toggle navigation that you have all probably seen.
There are three ways to enter and you can utilize any or all of them but you can only enter once via each method. Here is how:
- Leave a comment on this post; this gets you 1 entry
- Link to my site in a post/blog review; this gets you 3 entries
- Add me to your Blogroll (email me to confirm as I don’t always see the inbound links); this will get you 5 entries
The giveaway will run for the next 30 days, at which point I will announce the lucky winner. Am I using the giveaway to potentially attract some new readers. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. That said, I’m also trying to give my loyal readers something back, something tangible that will not put me in the hole. So, by all means comment, link, add me to your blogroll if you choose, but most importantly keep reading and inspiring me to continue the journey. Thanks everyone for a great and frankly life altering two months so far. This journey will one measured in years, so stick with me and witness a true transformation.
As an added bonus, look for the official lauch of my Weight Loss blog tomorrow. Some of you already know the URL and if you are saavy, you should be able to figure it out, but tomorrow I will make it official; there isn’t anything up there just yet.
May
21
I didn’t get any responses to the giveaway, so I’ve decided to extend it until Wednesday, midnight Pacific Time. If nothing else, just drop a comment here so I can give something back to my readers.
May
15
Over the past 5 weeks my readers have given me lots of insightful and helpful emails, comments and even some advertising revenues. Well, it is time to give something back. I have a $75 Off Voucher from United Airlines that can be used toward the purchase of a roundtrip ticket. The terms and conditions are long so I have posted them here. The most important restictions are the following:
Ticket must be purchased and travel completed by June 15, 2007
Travel is only valid on flights operated by United, TED or United Express within the 48 contiguous states, i.e. not valid for Hawaii or Alaska
So, the next question is how do I earn entries for this lovely giveaway. Well, there are a few options:
- You can leave a comment on this post, rambling about whatever you would like. A comment will get you 1 entry
- If you like my site and the content I have been providing, you can add me to your blogroll. This will get you 3 entries
- You can write a review or commentary about my site on your website, including a link to my homepage, my about me page and the page for this giveaway. This will give you 5 entries
If you choose to either add me to your blogroll or write up a review/commentary on my site, please send me a quick email at fellowes at dollarbuydollar dot com so I can verify your entry.
Given the limited window, i.e. today is already May 15th, I will run the contest through 8PM Pacific Time on Sunday, May 20th. Good luck to everyone and thanks for your continued support of my debt repayment efforts.
UPDATE: Even if you don’t like my site or you think I am full of it, you can still write a review/commentary of the site. I have thick skin and welcome the good with the bad.
