Stuff Parents Need - Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Four Lessons I Learned in My First Two Years of Blogging for “Stuff”

March 21, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 21 Comments

It isn’t uncommon for me to get emails from readers asking about how I got started blogging, and what advice they would give to folks who want to become bloggers, particularly in the niche of product reviews and giveaways. I’d love to share a few of the lessons I have learned and some changes I have made recently that are having a positive impact on my bottom line (my income).

So without further ado, allow me to impart some wisdom!

Blogging is easy

If you want to blog, it is SO ridiculously easy to get one set up. If you have something to say and you want to share it with your friends, your family, or even the whole darn world, then what are you waiting for? Jump right in and start banging on that keyboard! The beautiful thing about owning a blog is that YOU OWN IT. You don’t have to meet any particular deadlines or answer to anyone or write content that you don’t like. There is so much freedom in that!

Blogging for more than 3 months is hard

Ok, so it is true that blogging is super easy and that you can do whatever you want with your site. But if one of your primary goals is to earn money with your site, that’s a whole other can of worms. Today I want to share a few things that learned in my first 2 years as a blogger that have helped me have staying power and are a huge part of the reason that I’m still going, and that I’m still growing.

What I wish I had known on day 1

When I started my blog in September 2009, I really felt as though I had SO much to share with everyone. After all, I had been a parent for 7 1/2 WEEKS….so I was pretty much an expert by that point, right?! I kid at myself now, but at the time, I really felt that way. And that’s totally fine. It’s all the motivation I needed to get started. But I also wanted a piece of that pie….the STUFF pie. I didn’t know that bloggers actually earned money, but I knew that they got a whole lot of free stuff. Sign me up, baby!

darah and tiffany the week Stuff Parents Need launched

Darah and me the week Stuff Parents Need launched

Do you sometimes think the same thing? Its ok if you do. I’m being totally honest in sharing with you that I thought it. And I get asked all the time how I get so much “free stuff.” But here’s what I have learned: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FREE STUFF, at least not when it comes to blogging. Something is free if it is given to you and you have no obligation, either implicit or explicit, to do anything in return. I have never had a company send me something without a request to write about it. And blog posts DO NOT write themselves. They are hard work. When I write a post, I have to choose to not do something else, be it spend time with my kids, prepare a meal, have a meaningful conversation with my spouse, or even stare at the wall. I can’t do anything other than write. So I trade my time and my talents for the stuff. In many cases, the blogger is on the losing end of that trade. Several times early on, I traded away an hour or more of my time for a product that retailed for $6 or 7, and it may not have even been a product that I would have purchased on my own. I think this is why many product review and giveaway bloggers burn out…it seems like such a swag-tastic gig, but in reality, it is a whole lot of work for some stuff that you may or may not have wanted in the first place.

The other lesson I want to share with you today was one I learned at my first blogging conference. One of the keynote speakers said this to the audience:

Before I heard those words, I was so afraid of disappointing people who were reaching out to me to work together that I said yes to almost everything, even though in many cases, it would mean doing a lot of work for very little pay (and at that point, the pay was still only in products, not money). That is the single most important lesson I have learned as a blogger. I realized that I was headed down the road to blog burn out, and if I kept agreeing to arrangements that didn’t make any sense for me, I wouldn’t be a blogger much longer. Now I ask for what I need. And I often get it. I also often DON’T get it, and that is perfectly fine. I’m at peace letting those opportunities go to others, because I now realize that they were not good fits for me and that I would be frustrated as I performed the work agreed upon. That is SO liberating! And after learning this lesson, I also started to get brave about asking for money. And I’ll tell you more about how to do that in a future post! (And there’s a little bonus tip for you: leave your audience wanting more!).

I have a lot more to share with you about my journey as a product and review giveaway blogger, but for now, I want to share with you a tool I have been using for the past month and that has already resulted in some very positive changes in the way I run my business (and yes, my blog IS a business!). If you are a blogger or are thinking about starting a blog, you need The Blogging Planner.

I have tried for the past 3 years to fit my blog work into traditional planning calendars and it has never worked. What DOES work is having a calendar just for your blog! I am able to keep detailed to do lists, calendars of post dates, keep up with income generated (and invoices due…very important to know who still owes you money!). It also has dedicated space for brainstorming or ideas you might get while reading blogs are doing some professional development. There’s even a section for PR contacts to help you keep track of the folks you want to touch base with from time to time, just to make sure you are on their radars.

The Blogging Planner is the creation of two professional bloggers who created it after an exhaustive search for a planner that would work for a blog business. That search came up empty. Necessity is the mother of all inventions, and this is a fantastic one! I will absolutely FOR SURE 100% be purchasing another Blogging Planner when I have used mine up. It has given me a separate space for my work commitments, my goals and my dreams. It really is a mental game-changer for this stuff to not be on the same list as “fold the laundry.” Both are important. But one pays the bills, so in my book, it gets first dibs on my time. 🙂

The Blogging Planner can be started at any point in the year. It isn’t a January-December kind of thing. You fill in the calendar starting exactly when you want to start! So why not start right now??? I firmly believe this is a good investment for anyone who wants to monetize their blog or start out on the right foot as a new blogger and not give your your time away, as I did. You can purchase The Blogging Planner for $57.99. Yes, that’s a chunk of money, but a good planner is worth its weight in gold. And this is so much more than a good planner. Promise.

Next month I’ll let you take a peek inside my planner to see all the juicy details!

If you have any questions about The Blogging Planner, or about blogging in general, I’d love to hear them!

I received a complimentary planner for review purposes and am sharing my honest opinions here with you. The post contains affiliate links. I only sign up for affiliate programs when I’m NUTS about a product, so that should tell you something!

The 20/20 Experience: Mother/Daughter Bonding with Justin Timberlake

March 21, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 6 Comments

I have a vivid memory of the day that the New Kids on the Block album Step by Step was released. I happened to be at my Memaw’s house that day, along with my cousin Erin. We were both 9 at the time. When we explained to my Memaw what an EXTREMELY important day it was and how we would need to be taken to Walmart to get it, it made perfect sense to her to offer to buy just one tape for us to share.

TO SHARE, PEOPLE. Which makes absolutely NO sense to star struck 9 year old girls who have been told repeatedly by their Magic 8 balls that they will be marrying Jordan Knight.

And that is when World War III launched between my cousin and I. We spent the entire afternoon locked in separate bedrooms and sliding angry notes under the door to each other making our impassioned cases about why we should be the ones to get to take the tape that would be purchased home. We honestly fought over that tape like it was our one and only chance to own it. And ultimately, our grandmother broke down and bought two, but not without giving us an earful first. I actually still feel guilty about that, because she was living on a fixed income and those tapes were $10 each.

When I heard that Justin Timberlake, one of Darah’s favorite artists on the radio, had a new CD coming out, I wanted to make the experience much more fun for her, and teach her to celebrate great music and make an event out of buying it. This is her first non-children’s music CD, and honestly, it may be one of her last. Purchasing CDs is sort of going the way of the buffalo, isn’t it?

So, in honor of “Suit and Tie,” a song that Darah really enjoys hearing on the way to school, we put on some ties and headed over to Walmart. If you want to see our full shopping experience, check out my Google + album.

Now, I have to tell you, I haven’t purchased a CD from a store since about 2007. So I really didn’t know what the music department of the store was going to look like. Tons of CDs? Very few? Only new stuff? Mostly old stuff? But I thought that I would for sure see a display devoted entirely to The 20/20 Experience by Justin Timberlake. After all, he’s an amazing artist worthy of celebrating! Also, Walmart was running an insane special on the CD at the time (details on that, later) so I thought I’d find lots of signage and lots of CDs available.

Sadly, that is not what I found at all. When I realized there was no display, I asked the associate if The 20/20 Experience was available, and she plucked it off the shelf for me. Darah was not the least bit disappointed with this lack of fanfare in the music section, but I was pretty bummed out. This gem of an album was just thrown into the mix with Pearl Jam and Poison albums from almost 20 years ago. Oh you think I’m kidding? See for yourself!

Even though JT was denied the red carpet treatment at Walmart, we celebrated ourselves. We actually picked up a white dress shirt for Tim so he could sport his “Suit and Tie” this week. And Darah rocked a stylish hat in a nod to Justin’s swagger.

Finally, it was time to pay for the album so we could get in the car and listen to it! And here’s what we saw when it rang up:

That’s right, people! Walmart is selling The 20/20 Experience this week for $7.00. Can I just point out that this price, for a CD, is 30% cheaper than what my dear Memaw paid for a NKOTB tape 23 years ago. That is absolutely insane! If you can’t make it to the store this week, you can also order the album online.

Since I purchased the album, I claimed rights to pick the first song. I was dying to hear “Mirrors” again, as I had only heard it once when Justin performed it on Saturday Night Live. It was even better than I remembered! Here I am totally singing my heart out on the drive home. I thought Darah was rocking out with me at the moment, but the picture shows her true feelings:

She changed her tune, though, when I put Suit and Tie on (and by the way, the radio version of the song is a better choice for young ears…lesson learned).

Over the last 2 days, I have listened to the entire album while driving various places in the car. You guys…IT IS GOOD!!! Like, really REALLY GOOD. It is so worth the $7.00! It is even worth 9 year olds engaging in an all-day standoff over, but at this price, there’s just no need.

I’m really glad that I was able to make purchasing The 20/20 Experience a true experience for my daughter. And for me! I’ll remember this for the rest of my life! And Darah will probably remember how embarrassing her mom is for the rest of her life, too.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and #JT2020 #cbias #SocialFabric. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are stricly my own.

Baking Cookies with Parchment Paper (Voting Day! Giveaway!)

March 20, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 137 Comments

It’s voting day for the Reynolds Real Moms campaign! We’re in the home stretch…just two more weeks! Please take a moment to vote for me. It takes just a few seconds and it can change my life, just like Reynolds products have already done! In case you are new here, I’m Tiffany and can be found on the bottom row, second from the left.

Are you using parchment paper when you bake cookies? Its ok…I wasn’t either, until just a few months ago. But now I will NEVER EVER EVER EVER bake cookies without Reynolds Parchment Paper. Yes, it really does make that big of a difference in the baking process, as well as during clean up. Let me show you all the ways parchment paper will rock your chocolate chip world!

Are you thinking to yourself, “Looks cool, but I don’t even own any parchment paper!” No worries, friends. I’ve got you covered. Here’s a parchment paper coupon that will save you a buck. You’re welcome! 🙂

Many of you know that I already gave away a 6 month supply of Reynolds products. Well guess what? Reynolds said, “Let’s do it again!” That means one more person is going to

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a 6 month supply of Reynolds products, including foil, parchment paper, baking cups, slow cooker liners, oven bags, bake ware pans, freezer paper and pan lining paper. Oh heck yes!!!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

I am a Reynolds Real Moms finalist, and as such have received complimentary products. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. If I win this competition, there will be more opportunities for me to spread the Reynolds love (and offer Reynolds prizes!) to my readers. Will you take a moment today to vote for me? Thank you!

Product that Encourages Sensory for Toddlers (Giveaway)

March 20, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 53 Comments

The Montessori method of education gives a very strong preference to using multiple senses during the learning experience. Whether you have an infant, toddler or preschooler at home, I want to encourage to make it a goal to find sensory activities to do at some point every day. Touch, taste and smell are all very important components of memory development, and they also help pique interest when used together.

Learning Resources has a terrific product available that can be used for years and years and for so very many uses. This summer we will be working on sensory for toddlers as Layah becomes a young toddler (oh…don’t make me cry!!!) and we will be working on sensory for preschoolers as well. The Primary Science Sensory Tubes will be getting a workout, holding all sorts of fun discoveries that we can study more closely.

This is a set of 4 sturdy, clear tubes. They can be opened on both ends and have high quality lids that can be screwed on of off. They come with an extra set of vented lids just in case you want to smell what is inside or if you have small creatures in there than need some air. LIke Ariel, for example.

We have already made an “under the sea” sensory tube. Darah really enjoyed scouring the house for anything that made her think of the ocean. She has quite a collection of sea shells!

I very highly recommend the Primary Science Sensory Tubes for parents of toddlers. Each product comes with 4 tubes, so you can even keep some and give others away as gifts.

What sensory activities have you been doing in your home, whether intentional or not? I’d love to hear!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a set of Sensory Tubes for Learning Resources!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

Celebrate Your Not-So-Ordinary Daily Road Trips and Win a Free Year of Gas!

March 19, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · Leave a Comment

This post brought to you by Cooper Tire. All opinions are 100% mine.

Are you feeling the pinch at the gas station these days? Me, too.

How does winning a free year of gas sound to you? Sounds pretty good to me, too! That's why I just entered Cooper Tire's My Every Day Road Trip Contest, and I want to encourage you to do the same so that you have a shot at this amazing prize. Cooper Tires wants to celebrate road trips, but not the kind you might think of first. They are talking about road trips you take every single day (trips to the grocery store, to work, taking your kids to school, etc.). Even though we take these trips every day, that doesn't mean that extraordinary things don't occasionally happen during them!

From now until March 29th you can go to the Cooper Tire Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/coopertire/app_208465355933178) and enter to win by submitting a written story, a photo or a video highlighting your not-so-everday roadtrip story. The top written story gets a $100 gift card, the top photo gets a $500 gift card, and the very top video gets $5,000 for gas for the year! Don't forget to like the Facebook page while you are there!

Need a little inspiration? Check out this video!

In addition to entering the contest for a chance to win, you can also become eligible for some great prizes just by voting for the video finalists starting April 15! For a complete list of prizes, rules and submission guidelines, be sure to visit the Facebook page.

Cooper Tires has been in the business of helping people with their everyday road trips for nearly 100 years now! Cooper Tires fit most every vehicle on the road today, and have options for passenger vehicles, performance vehicles, sport utility, light truck and winter tires.

Spring Tablescape Idea: Use Green Split Peas!

March 19, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 8 Comments

Want to see a really easy Spring tablescape idea?

This is my “beachy” tablescape. It sits on my buffet in the dining room all year long. The tray was a T.J. Maxx find about 4 years back. The green glass thingy (seriously…what is it?) was a thrift store find. It has stones that I have purchased over the years almost entirely at The Dollar Tree. In the fall it gets more dark stones added to it, and in the summer it gets even more white stones added to it. And now, thanks to my genius 3 1/2 year old, it gets another color added to it in the spring. Do you see the green stuff scattered in there? Let’s take a closer look:

Yup, those are dry green split peas! They got there quite by accident. Darah and I were playing princesses and I poured a bag of dry split peas into a bowl and we pretended they were emeralds. They provided lots of entertainment and made for a great sensory activity, by the way. But then she just took a scoop and sprinkled them on top of the rocks. And I thought, “Yeah, ok. I see where you are going with this!” Then we poured the rest of the bowl into the tablescape!

Maybe it isn’t the world’s most beautiful tablescape idea. But it is certainly fun, kid-friendly, and the green adds such a great pop of color that is needed this time of year. Plus, a bag of green split peas is $2, max.

If you liked this idea, please share it with your friends through Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter! Share buttons can be found below, and if you hover over an image, the pin it button will appear!

Reusable Food Pouches: EZ Squeezees (Giveaway!)

March 18, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 62 Comments

My very favorite type of food to pack for both of my girls when we are taking a road trip, or even just running errands for a few hours, are reusable food pouches.

I’m sure you are familiar with food pouches, also sometimes called squeeze pouches. Most every brand that makes baby and toddler food now carries them because the kids love them so much. But are you confused about the “reusable” part? Aren’t they all disposable?

Well, most of the ready to eat food pouches from the store ARE disposable. But for the most part, that’s not how we roll! I don’t like being that wasteful, and even more importantly, I just can’t afford to give those pouches to my girls on a regular basis, as they are at least $1 each, and that’s when I shop the sales and match them up with a coupon! Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Introducting EZ Squeezees.

It looks pretty much just like a squeeze pouch you would buy from a store (though perhaps a bit sturdier). But the side of the pouch has a seal just like a plastic storage bag. Simple open up the side and fill it with whatever your little ones like! I add plain yogurt, apple sauce, and even baby food purees.

There is a bit of a learning curve with the reusable food pouches. The first few times I filled them, I over-filled them, only realizing it as I was closing the pouch. When it is too full, excess food will just spill out over the closure as you are trying to close it. Which, of course, is messy. But I have a better sense now for how much it can hold and tend to get it right.

I do wish that the caps it comes with would be attached to the pouch. This would make losing them much more difficult, and would also be a bit safer, as the caps are small, and not something you would want to be within reach of anyone under 3.

Overall, though, we are very pleased with the EZ Squeezees reusable food pouches. These save us a lot of money and still give the girls the opportunity to have their favorite type of snack. I also LOVE LOVE LOVE that these are dishwasher safe. I just put them in the top rack!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a set of 3 EZ Squeezees resusble food pouches!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

On Paying Admission to See a Newborn: What New Parents Need

March 17, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 15 Comments

This post was originally published on November 19, 2009. I’m mindful of this topic since another friend of mine just had a baby yesterday (shout out, Jessie!). I’d love to hear your thoughts on what new parents need and whether or not you should “pay admission” to see a newborn!

My dear friend (who was previously on bed rest) had an absolutely beautiful baby girl last week. Tim and I were so excited to get to see her and her husband as new parents, and we were completely ecstatic about getting to see a brand new baby again. Even though we have a little one who is only 3 months old, she is already entirely different than she was just 90 days ago. She’s grown a few inches, doubled in weight, and her personality is really starting to shine now. We love her to pieces, but we already miss that teeny tiny little peanut we brought home from the hospital!

When we went to the hospital to visit, we knew we were in for a treat. We also remembered what it was like to be new parents (both exciting and also completely overwhelming) and what new parents need, so we brought a few things with us for the parents and the baby. In other words, we brought an admission fee! Later in the week I brought a dinner over to the family. I also got to see the little love muffin again! Now, I did not bring over dinner just so that I could see the baby. I brought dinner because I knew exactly how difficult it is to put together a meal when you are adjusting to a serious lack of sleep and a pretty much total loss of personal time (these things come back little by little, but the loss at the start can be quite shocking!). With that said, though, getting to see the baby was a really fun perk for me!

Newborns are so much fun to see and hold. It is no wonder that so many people want to come for a visit in the days and weeks immediately following a birth. But let me be clear about something: If you are going to visit new parents and their baby, pay an admission fee. You need to bring something with you. I’m not saying that you have to go buy a diaper cake, or bring over an 8 course meal from a restaurant. Rather, you need to either take the initiative to bring something practical (like a meal or some baby wipes, for example), or you need to ask what you can pick up from the store for them on your way over. Should they politely protest, know this: they are simply being polite. You need to be even MORE polite and bring something useful, anyway (even a gallon of milk and a few fruits and veggies would be nice!). It is so difficult to think as far ahead as even the next meal when you are a brand new parent, and anticipating the needs of your friends and family in this situation is such a great help. It is what new parents need! What isn’t helpful is coming over to see the baby, taking up their precious (yes, precious) free time with your visit, and leaving without helping them out in some small way.

What do you think about this issue?

How to Get Healthy Hair in 7 Days (and a Free Sample)

March 16, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 2 Comments

Have you been wondering how to get healthy hair? Is your hair a victim of product build-up, flat iron damage, and breakage from being thrown in a ponytail day after day?

I can certainly identify with you! I want to share with you what my hair care routine was up until 2 weeks ago. I was actually doing the no ‘poo thing, and I used to get really great results from this. That is, until I started dyeing my hair again (my hair has started to get serious about producing more gray, so I’ve had to get serious about covering it!). Once I started dyeing my hair, I noticed that using baking soda and vinegar on dyed hair made it SOOOOOOOOOOOO dry. It just wasn’t working.

So then I switched to some organic shampoo and conditioner. I like to go green any time I can. But, unfortunately, I noticed after using it for about a week that my hair looked DIRTY. Just gross and dirty. So until recently, I’d been waffling back and forth between the no ‘poo method and the organic shampoo and conditioner method. My hair either looked dry or dirty pretty much at all times. It was not awesome. I couldn’t figure out how to get healthy hair again.

That’s when I decided to take the 7 Day Scalp & Hair Challenge from Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy (maybe you’ve seen the commercials? They feature Heidi Klum talking about repairing hair at the roots). For the past 7 shampoos (I wash my hair every other day) I have been using Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy Damage & Color Repair Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner.

Here is what my hair looks like today. I took this picture without having done anything special to my hair. I had straightened it yesterday, but I didn’t put any shine product on it, whatsoever. Look at all that natural shine!!!

Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy focuses on scalp nourishment and has a product that they are confident will give you stronger, more beautiful hair in just seven days. They even have a money back guarantee!

My experience taking the challenge was very positive. I’m ditching my old routine and switching to Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy, for sure. I love the results and I love knowing that my hair is not only clean, but also really healthy. You can find this product line at retailers like Walgreens, Walmart, and it is also available online at Amazon!

Want to take the challenge, too and find out how to get healthy hair in 7 days? Head over to the Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy Facebook page to request free product samples!

I received complimentary products for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.