A Little Penny Pinchin’ Stuff . . .

I've struggled with whether or not to share this information with you or not, but a few people mentioned to me that they didn't know this about Passionate Penny Pincher, so here goes . . .

I started Passionate Penny Pincher (well, Publix Penny Pincher initially), as a way to share deals and encourage folks to donate to local food pantries, but also as a way to earn money for our kid's college funds. When I prayed about starting this site, I felt God clearly saying He was okay with it (always nice to know, right?), as long as one half of any proceeds from the site were donated towards mission work. I remember mulling that one over in my head, then courageously tossing Him up a nice counter-offer including a 75/25 split.  (Can you guess how I planned to split it?  And yup, I could almost hear Him laughing too!)

Well, almost a year into this crazy blogging thing, I've donated one half of all profits from this site to the Tatum Family, missionaries from our church who've opened an orphanage in Costa Rica. There have been many days when I've added up my “hourly” rate and been thoroughly depressed at my whopping one dollar per hour earnings (really, what am I thinking???)  It never fails though, that on that very same day I get an encouraging email from one of you, or someone writes something nice on the PPP Facebook page, or I meet a reader in Publix, so I keep typing another day.  I'm slowly (ever……….sooooooo………s…….l……o……w……l……y……) seeing the benefits of these oodles of hours of labor pay off, and each month I'm a little more excited by the tiny additions to our kid's college savings accounts.  But I am overwhelmingly excited about what our family is now able to give each month beyond our tithe towards help children in another country.

I share this with you all not in any way to boast or brag or anything. (Trust me, if God hadn't clearly said it I clearly wouldn't be doing it!) All I'm doing is what I think (I hope!) I'm supposed to be doing, and I love doing something for others outside my little nest.   It does however take a LOT of time from my crazy busy family.  I struggle daily with whether or not I'm in the right “season” of my life to keep this up.  I look at my Reagan (she's still just three) who pulls on my leg a zillion times each day while I glare into the computer screen and wonder if this is worth it.  I see zillions of other fabulous money saving blogs out there and wonder why on earth anyone could need one more?  Then I stay up at night, hoping to catch up, and type something someone will actually want to read, and wonder . . . whatever happened to sleeping?  (I do so  miss sleeping, but I am slowing down a bit!)  And then I realize that it won't be long until that baby of mine is four, and then heading off to school with her big brother and sister, and it's going to be awfully lonely around here . . . so maybe hanging out with you all each day will help ease those difficult first few mornings of kindergarten!

The reason I'm sharing this with you is so that you know what I know. I read money saving blogs for years before getting into this and had no idea why so many sweet mommy bloggers did all this work for us!  Well, believe it or not there are lots of big businesses out there that want you as a consumer to buy from them!  So they are so generous and pay (*desperately frugal*) housewives like me to encourage folks to use their products.  When you print a coupon from Coupons.com, Red Plum, or Smart Source, companies like Proctor & Gamble, Kraft, and Betty Crocker give us a tiny payout.  And, if there's an amazing deal offered from other companies like Picaboo, Groupon, or even Amazon, we also make small commissions off your purchases on those sites as well.  My promise to you is that I will never promote a deal that I would not actually do myself.  (In fact I get offers on a daily basis with deals that I pass on because I don't believe them to be legitimate “deals”, so I promise I'll keep watching!)

So there you have it!  If there's a blog out there that you love, support it!  Print your coupons from it, order your Picaboo books from it , and even start Swagging through it! All those penny-pinching-blogging-ladies (and a few gentleman. . . ) work very hard to earn your readership and support.  If you frequent a site and it provides you just the information you're looking for, support them (they work for it!!!)  And, if you enjoy Passionate Penny Pincher (I really hope you do!), I'd love for you to support this site too! Each time you do that, not only are you supporting deals on this site, you're also helping a family from right here in America bless children in Costa Rica.

If you're interested in learning more about the Tatum Family or making a donation directly to their mission, visit Mission Costa Rica.