NOW AVAILABLE ON FIVERR!

For those people who don't have a Kindle device or app, you can now get a copy of my book, SMART COUPONING, on Fiverr.

Go to http://fiverr.com/savemoney101 and you will see my new book that will save you loads of money when you go shopping.  I will send you a copy by email.  You can choose to read it on your computer or tablet, or you can print it out if you want.

You know, people OFTEN tell me that they absolutely HATE going to the grocery store.  I'm just the opposite.  I love the adventure, the sense of challenge and I especially like looking at the cash register tape after I check out.  I usually find that I save up to 60% on my shopping trips to the grocery store.

Do you?  If you don't, my book can help you. 

For $5, I will send you a copy of my book, complete with my secret places for locating coupons.  The one objection that people will raise when I tell them I save lots of money with coupons-- "But I can never find them" they say OR "it takes too long to cut them out and organize them."

My book shows how I do it...I spend about an hour or so A WEEK finding coupons and getting them ready to use.

Why don't you give it a try.  You'll be glad you did.

SAVING MONEY AT WALMARTS

We just got back from a trip to Walmarts and, of course, I had my coupons all ready.

I sort out my new coupons that I want to use as I get them in and have them clipped to the front of my coupon holder on the left.  I also have the coupons ready to expire by the end of the month ready in a separate envelop so that I don't miss anything that I really want to buy.

Here's another hint to save money that really worked for me this time:  Walmarts will price match with local stores. 

Just have the other store's ads ready with the items circled, in my case it was Save a Lot (this ad was good for 2 weeks) and Winn-Dixie (this ad was good for 3 days.)  I price matched milk $2.99 instead of $3.63 a gallon.  Also nectarines were 99 cents a lb. and so were the Roma tomatoes.  This saved us about 50% on these items.  I always put my price matched items on the checkout belt first and explain to the cashier that I am price matching.  They appreciate this, because if you don't tell them and they start to ring up your order, they will have to start all over again anyway.

Hope these ideas help you out in saving money on your grocery bill!

If you want more information on couponing and wish you could save 50% or more on your shopping trips, get my Kindle book  SMART COUPONING.  It only costs $3.25 and you will save that easily in the first week of shopping with my handy tips and tricks. 

Just click here:  www.amazon.com 
Go to the Kindle store in the search box
Type in smart couponing.  Mine is the first book listed there.

Let me know what you think of it!

SAVING MONEY WHILE CELEBRATING A SPECIAL DAY

Well, Father's Day has just passed.  Let me tell you about how we saved money but still had a great day.

Greeting Cards--Sometimes I go online to Crosscards.com and choose a great card that will be sent to the recipient on their special day.  This year, I couldn't find any Father's Day cards for husbands there that I liked, so I decided to make my own.  I just went to MS Word, new document, and typed in cards.  There were many templates to choose from.  I didn't like their picture or their words, so got rid of that part and imported a picture of Neal and granddaughter Nina sitting on his lap...It was especially nice because he had not seen the picture so it was a real surprise.  Then, I made up a message that was just what I wanted to say...I didn't have to look for 10-15 minutes in the Hallmark store for an appropriate message.  I printed it out in color and voile!  There it was.  He loved it.

Food--A fish fry was calling us on Friday night at a local restaurant.  We hadn't gone there before and really wanted to try it, so, that really was the Father's Day dinner celebration.  On the day itself, we had one of his favorite dishes, Chicken Italian, at home.  Before that, though, I whipped up a batch of oatmeal cookies with peanut butter M&Ms in them.  (Neal knows that I won't eat these, so when we put the leftovers in the frig, they were alllll his.)  I made a few plain and with raisins for me.  Boy, did they taste good, and we had all the makings here.  I don't bake as much anymore, so it was very special to have fresh cookies for dessert.

Activities--We were both a little under the weather Sunday, so decided to play it close to home.  Usually, we would go to church and then for a drive or a long bike ride to enjoy the Florida scenery.  This time, we talked and talked and laughed and laughed together...that's what happens when you've been married 45 years.  You have lots to talk about.  We also had a nice "church" service here.  Neal chose the Scriptures and we had a prayer time for each other and for each of our kids, spouses and grandkids.  There are always challenges in a family, so there are always prayer needs.  And God can take care of anything that comes our way.  We thank Him for that.  And we love that He is concerned about us, big things and little things.

Gifts--I got Neal a special collage of pictures from our trip to Key West--eight pictures that were vibrant and colorful and fit on an 8 x 10" picture.  Thanks to Walgreens for giving that to us for free.  Neal got one for me of pictures from our train trip four years ago across the country.  That was a special surprise for me!  I had seen a book at Sam's Club that I snuck past Neal at the checkout--How to Do Practically Anything from Reader's Digest.  I loved previewing it, so I know he will enjoy it as well.

Hope this gives you some ideas for the future.

MONEY SAVING HINTS FROM CLEANING OUT THE GARAGE

Every time I clean out the garage, I think it will be the last time for a LONG, LONG time.

Not so...somehow, it keeps filling up again.  Of course, our laundry room is out there as well, so that fills up a little more space.  (I just love the garage laundry room here in Florida.)

Sooo, today I decided to go out early and see what I could sort through and throw out or repurpose.

Some of my moneysavers:

     Metal cookie tin with cover--Neal rescued this one from the trash.  He said it would make an awesome container for his tool shelf.  OK.  Score one for free container.

     Plastic food containers that previously held potato salad etc.  Throw them out or save them?  I guess I'll save them to take on picnics, so I don't have to bring home dirty dishes.

     Vintage books about farming, building and the German language.  Some of these were from Neal's dad, so I'll be asking if it's OK to sell them on Ebay or Amazon.

     Also, I found a whole bunch of plastic containers for summer drinks and a big thermos that we can use for picnics.  I saved $ by not having to go out and buy some of these things.  We were looking at Big Lots yesterday at some summer stuff, and I'm glad we didn't buy any.

     Found Frisbees and folding chairs to pack in our car in anticipation of fun times.

     I also found ribbon and yarn in my chest of drawers where I've been storing them.  Forgot about them.  Yeah!

FREE 8 x 10 COLLAGE TODAY AT WALGREENS

Here is another good opportunity to get a free collage at Walgreens.

Just go to their website:  www.walgreens.com and Log In (or create an account)

Upload the pix you are interested in for your collage.

During checkout, use the code:  DADCOLLAGE

The 8 x 10" collage will be free at pickup at your local Walgreens!

A VISIT TO THE KEYS

It's been pretty busy around here, what with taking care of our granddaughter twice a week, selling tablets and generally trying to stay out of trouble.  So, we decided to take a couple of days out of the normal routine and enjoy a little getaway.

We chose to go to the Florida Keys, first to Key Largo (where the famous movie was made with Humphrey Bogart) and then on to Key West (once the largest city in the whole state of Florida (1905.)

We like to enjoy the ride down too, so we took Route 41 instead of Interstate 75 (Alligator Alley) and we saved all the tolls.  We were able to soak up all the beautiful scenery, saw where many of the Native Americans live now in south Florida and stopped at a visitor's center as we were nearing Route 1 heading for the Keys.

The photo ops were stupendous, both in the colors and the vegetation.  I took almost 500 pictures in 3 days, so you can tell I really enjoyed the scenery.  Key West, especially, was a treasure trove of architectural elements and color.  And a great chance to eat well and walk it off.  (It's 1.25 miles from one end of Duval Street where you see the marker for the southernmost tip of the United States to the other end where the big cruise ships dock and travelers go ashore for the shopping opportunities.)

We missed the 3-8 inches of rain they promised in Key West (Yeah!) and carried our umbrellas along with our ponchos, just in case.

It is off-season right now, so the room rate at our bed and breakfast was very reasonable and was located right in the middle of Old Town, full of history.  We saved $20 by not taking the tram which travels up and down the same streets that we walk on.  PTL that we can still get around really well.

Another great way to save money was with our new phone app:  Gas Buddy.  The app is free at the Google Play Store and when you click on it, it finds all the nearby gas stations and lists their prices and addresses.  You can sort by price.  We sometimes save 15 cents a gallon by using this new app!  That really adds up.

We also found a Denny's in Key West with their delicious menu.  AAA members get 10% off their bill and AARP get 20% off their bill after 4 pm.  All these little discounts really add up.

Our last evening there, we shopped at a local grocery store and heated our burritos in the microwave.  That, along with the giant chocolate chip cookies and soda chilling in our refrig, really hit the spot.

Here is Neal sitting in the "big chair" on Key Largo at the Visitor's Center and below is a typical house in Key West.

SAVE BIG MONEY AND GET LOTS MORE FLAVOR

How, you say?  By making your own soup.

A can of soup (the better kind, not condensed soup) costs ~ $2 a can and that is for about 2 cups worth.

I am making a really easy and delicious lentil soup today.  When I'm done, it will cost me about $1.50 for lentils, $1 for meat and 50 cents or so for onions.  Those are the main ingredients.  I will have over 12 cups of soup when it's finished cooking in the slow cooker.

So, it costs about 26 cents a cup or about a quarter of what the canned soup costs, plus there are no chemicals or hidden preservatives in it.

And lentil soup is really delicious and loaded with fiber to keep you feeling full after you eat it.  Whatever you don't eat when you first make it, you can store in a quart jar or plastic container and continue to enjoy it, heated up in the microwave.

WANT AN IPAD BUT DON'T HAVE $400-500?

I know a lot of people who are interested in tablets. 

You know what they are--portable computers that connect to the Internet, can hold E-books, can be used to check your email and offer an array of games to play on the run or keep your kids entertained.

How do you get around the huge price tags on these things? 

I have an idea.  Look for comparable products that are generic, not name brand.  Right now, we are selling 9.2" Android tablets for $150.  These are new, and in the box. 

Our customers are very satisfied with the product.  It comes with a one-year manufacturer's warranty against defects.

We have been using tablets since August, 2012 and have been very happy with the value that these generic tablets provide.

If you are interested in ordering from us, we can ship to any place in the United States for a reasonable amount.  Leave a comment on this post with your email or phone and we will contact you.

DO YOU HAVE $5 AND NEED HELP?

It only costs a little to get the help you need to
     market your book
     design a book cover
     find a recipe that will really impress and be delicious
     proofread something you've written, but you are no good at grammar and punctuation yourself
     find a way to reach someone else that is new and different

Just go to www.FIVERR.com.

For $5, there are thousands of items that people offer to help you out.

And $5 is very little money and you get something SOOO good!

I have two items listed on Fiverr right now.

1.  You can find my new picture recipe book, Chicken Italian, on Fiverr.  Look under Lifestyles and then Recipes.  Click on New and it will come up.  To make sure that you are getting mine, it should say that it is offered by SaveMoney101.  For $5, I will send you the actual book with the full color pictures.  You will get it delivered to your computer where you can save it or even print it out if you want.  (It is copyrighted, so you are entitled to one copy only.)

2.  Another item that I have on Fiverr I put up yesterday.  Many of you know that I taught shorthand for years and I am an expert in it.  Shorthand forms are really beautiful to look at and I have delighted many students by writing their names in shorthand.  That is what this gig is:  For $5, I will write your name in shorthand in the color of your choice and send it to you.  What can you do with that, you wonder?  You can save it, copy it, print it out or use it to enhance your signature line on correspondence (copy and paste.) 

Just go to Fiverr and click on Fun and Bizarre, then Your Message On.  Click on New and scroll down until you see the photo with the shorthand on it.  To make sure that you are getting mine, it should say that it is offered by SaveMoney101.

SAVE MONEY BY MAKING YOUR OWN HOT FUDGE SAUCE!

And is it good.  If you really LOVE chocolate, you'll especially love how easy this is to make.  We like to serve it over vanilla ice cream, but you can also use it instead of frosting on a cake.  Sprinkle with pecans or walnuts to top if you wish and dig in.  It tastes great.

Ingredients: 

1/4 c cocoa powder
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c light corn syrup
1/4 c milk or light cream
a pinch of salt

Stir these ingredients together in a saucepan until blended.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Boil for 3 minutes.

Take off the burner and add:
1/2 t vanilla
1  1/2 T butter

Stir to blend. 

This hot fudge sauce will harden up pretty quickly.  Plan to keep this on a warmer or low burner so it stays soft for serving.  Refrigerate leftovers.

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT FIVERR??

This website is really unique and a fun experience to get on and see what you can purchase for only $5.

I just listed my Cooking School Chicken Italian book on here.  You will find it under Lifestyles and then Recipes. 

This is my full-color picture book showing step by step instructions for making the delicious Chicken Italian dinner that my guests rave about.

Just go to www.fiverr.com and see what I'm talking about.

Not only can you buy gigs for $5 each, you can also list some for yourself and maybe pick up a few extra dollars every week.

Try it, you'll like it!!

ANOTHER PLUG FOR MY E-BOOKS!

I can see that several people went to Amazon and purchased my 2 books for Kindle and Android this month.

If you haven't heard about them yet, the first one is Saving Money 101--Smart Couponing.  I promise that if you read this book and put into practice the ideas in there, you will definitely save money on your grocery bill. 

I save 50% or more when purchasing our food for the week.

The book has about a dozen pages on where you can find coupons and also tells how to use them to your best advantage.

I hope you'll consider buying this one; the purchase price is only $3.25.  You'll save at least that much the first week.

My second book has gotten rave reviews:  Saving Money 101--Cooking School Chicken Italian.  This is a step-by-step photo book on how to prepare a delicious entree.  I haven't talked to anyone who doesn't like this dish.

This one only costs $1.

To see both of them, just click on www.amazon.net/author/dianeschmitt

FREE COLLAGE 8 x 10 PRINT

Walgreens has done it again.  From today through 5/11/13, they are offering a FREE 8 x 10" collage print from photos of your choice.

Just go to the Walgreens website:  www.walgreens.com

Sign in or create an account if you haven't already.

Go to the photo section.

Upload the pictures that you want to include in the collage.

Select them and arrange them in whatever order you want.  Choose a border color, title and orientation.

You need to put in the special code to apply for the free photo:  collage4you

Select the Walgreens where you want the photo printed. 

Mine will be ready ~ 9 pm tonight.  I'll probably just wait until we are out for errands tomorrow.  It's right on the way.  I'm looking forward to seeing our last trip to Disney pictures in this collage.

Saving Money on Biking

Here, in our neck of the woods, the roads are rough, with cracks in the pavement and grass and weeds (sandspurs) growing in places.  They definitely need to be repaved and our city is promising that will happen either this year, or next year, or the following year.

In the meantime, it is tough walking on our streets (we don't have sidewalks or gutters to walk in.)  We do even more biking on our streets. 

As a result, our tires suffer...we often develop blowouts or slow leaks that we find out about the next day.

We could take our tires to the bike shop and pay a lot of money each time our tires are flat.  Or we could save LOTS OF MONEY by buying replacement tubes and repair kits and doing it ourselves.  That's what we do!

This weekend we went for a nice little ride (about 7 miles or so) and had no problems on the ride.  The next day when we went to take the bikes out, my front tire was flat.  Real gone, man.  So, I rode my "old" bike, not very comfortable for long distances, but it will get me where I want to go.

I'm looking for Neal to fix my tire in the next day or so, and then we'll be off and away again, enjoying the Florida scenery and hoping to spot a wild animal or two on our rides!

A Good Way to Save Money on Produce

Do you love fruits and vegetables, but don't eat as much of them as you should because of the cost?

I've found a great way to save money on fruits and veggies.  Buy local from growers near you!

Having grown up on a farm, I learned how important it is to get FRESH fruits and vegetables.  That is where the vitamins are, that is where the great taste is, and nothing looks better than colorful fruits and vegetables in your dishes and on your table!  My dad, the farmer, grew many acres of sweet corn and was known as the corn king in our area of Upstate New York.  He said that as soon as you picked sweet corn was the best time to cook it and eat it.

The prices are significantly lower at the farm market.  At the one down the street from us, they are careful to sell top grade produce at prices that are about 50-60% of what we would pay in the grocery stores or Walmarts.  Not only that, but bananas that are ripe are almost always available there for 29 cents a pound.  I buy three or four bunches, take the skins off and freeze them for smoothies.  They are delicious.  You could also make banana bread out of them. 

Give it a try.  You'll be helping your local economy and benefiting from getting the freshest of the fresh in local fruits and vegetables.

How I Saved Big Money Today

So, here's the story...About a year or so ago, we bought a new printer.  It also scans and copies and faxes.  We print and copy with it.

All was well until yesterday, when it started making screeching noises.  Oh, oh...but it still was printing just fine.

Today, it screeched and also wasn't printing.  This was bad!  We had just bought another two boxes of inkjet ink for this printer...it was too soon to die. 

I had Neal look at it, when I couldn't get the paper jam message to go away myself.  He couldn't either.  Of course, we don't have an instruction booklet, since they don't pack those with the product anymore.

After about an hour of this and when Neal gave up on it, I thought about trying to find out if there was anything that I could do from Brother, the maker.  I searched through Yahoo for their official website and easily found it.  I found the instruction manual online, but didn't find any specific instructions for fixing the problem that I hadn't already tried. 

But I did find phone numbers for customer service, and a very nice and patient representative listened to my dilemna and led me step by step through the inside and outside of the printer, looking for anything that didn't look quite right. 

After about 10 minutes on the phone with her, suddenly, the printer started working again, perfectly!  No more screeching either!

Oh boy, we were almost ready to chuck it.  This little manover saved us $150-200, since we didn't have to run out and buy a replacement.  PTL!

FREE PHOTOS

It's one of those special days again.  You can get 25 FREE photos printed at Walgreens.

Here's how I do it.

1.  Sign up for emails from Walgreens.  That way you will know whenever they have these opportunities.  Or, if you are reading this today (April 4, 2013) you can go to www.walgreens.com and click on the photo section to see this feature.

2.  Be ready with photos that you have taken and loaded on your computer.

3.  Upload your pictures to an album on the Walgreens website.
     a.  First be on the webpage for Walgreens that shows info about their photo department.
     b.  Click on Upload Pictures.
     c.  Go to your pictures on your computer and select those that you want to consider.
     d.  Click OPEN  (This will bring them to a central location on Walgreens website that they call an album.  I use today's date to save them for each album.)
     e.  When you have all that you want, click on those that you want printed as photos at Walgreens.

4.  In the checkout process, they will ask you if you have any promotion codes: 
Today's CODE is Pictures25.

5.  They will have you choose a Walgreen's store close to you and ask you if you want to pay now or in the store.  (In my case, there is no charge because 25 photos are free TODAY only.)  I always choose pay in the store because I also want to use my Rewards card.

6.  They will print them today, but you can wait a day or two to pick them up with no trouble.


**Once you start to take advantage of these photo opportunities at Walgreen's, you will become hooked.  I have also gotten several collages printed for free at different times and this is a great way to remember an event, like a holiday, wedding of a friend or a graduation.

**We have tried several Walgreen's photo departments and have found one that we really like best, so when it's time to print, we always choose that one.

My Smart Couponing Book is Free on Friday March 22

As part of Kindle Direct Publishing Select, I can give away this book for free on a day or two per month.

Tomorrow (Friday March 22) my new book

Saving Money 101--Smart Couponing
by Diane Schmitt

will be free for you to download.

Just go to www.amazon.com/author/dianeschmitt and select that book.

You might wonder WHY I would want to give away this book:
     1.  To get more people familiar with my books
     2.  To have satisfied customers write a stellar review for me (that helps authors sell more books on Amazon.)  As of right now, none of the over 100 book buyers for this book has written a review.  :(

**If you want this book for free, please do it early in the day.  After I reach 100 giveaways, I will stop the offer.

Do you or your children need tutoring?

I'm speaking from my other life now as a tutor. 

A tutor is a professional educator, not someone who is currently taking the course and doing well in it. 

The best tutor has taught the subject and grade level you need help with for years and is current with state testing requirements.

A tutor has resources at their fingertips to help the student.

The best tutors know how to write curriculum (just in case the state you live in decides to change the standards and the publishers haven't caught up yet.)

Wonderful tutors can explain things in simple terms so that anyone can understand.

Great tutors in Math can make up any type of problem you need on the spot.

You (or your student) will start to understand better from the first session.

A fantastic tutor will teach you their own tricks for solving problems and answering questions.

A great tutor will have much patience with you and give you their undivided attention during tutoring sessions.

This tutor spends from 1-2 hours preparing for each one hour session of tutoring with a student.

Professional tutors are worth far more than they charge.

New Book Cover

Here is my new book cover and what to look for on Amazon Kindle books:

Also, see my previous blog post for more information on this book.

SAVING MONEY 101: COOKING SCHOOL CHICKEN ITALIAN

It's live.  My second book is finished and published with Kindle. 

It's called  Saving Money 101:  Cooking School Chicken Italian. 

If you want to see it NOW on Amazon, just go to www.amazon.com and at the top, scroll down to Kindle books and type in Cooking School.  My book is the very colorful one there with the picture of the chicken cooking on my stove. 

I'm surrounded by Martha Stewart showing her books.  :)

I am so happy.

And it looks SOOOOO GOOD!

That's really important this time because it's a picture book to show beginning cooks how to make a wonderful main dish, good enough for company.

Yes, Chicken Italian is one of those recipes that is easy enough for everybody to try.  Not a lot of ingredients, simple equipment needed, easy process and not a lot of time necessary.  It's really a win-win, especially for people who have always wanted to cook or admired others who create wonderful meals, but felt like they couldn't even try.

And we all know how expensive it is to eat out these days!  At least $12-15 for an entree and then there is the tax and tip on top of that.  You probably could make 4 Chicken Italian dinners for that, including a nice salad and garlic bread.

I really wanted to write this book and give it away for free, but I couldn't.  (I have to pay a little for each time that someone buys one of my Kindle books--that's how Amazon makes money with Kindle books.)  So, I priced it as low as I could--$1!

This book will show up on my author's page soon (they said in less than 5 days).

www.amazon.com/author/dianeschmitt

When it does, it'll be joining my first wildly popular book for those wanting to have more money at the end of the week--That one is called

Saving Money 101--Smart Couponing

How to figure your MBs

Who would have thought that a Math teacher would have trouble converting KBs (kilobytes) to MBs (megabytes)?

It took a little lesson from my son to help me with this one.  It is important since it affects my pricing structure when publishing a Kindle book.  I'm just about ready to publish my 2nd book that you are going to love, especially if you are a beginning cook and are looking for a really great meal to make for yourself or your special someone.  The title of the book is

Saving Money 101--Cooking School Chicken Italian

Look for it in the next couple of days at www.amazon.com/author/dianeschmitt

Anyways, here is how to change from kilobytes to megabytes:

Take your kilobytes:  I had 1745 kilobytes.
Convert those to bytes.  Since "kilo" means 1,000, multiply your kilobytes by 1,000 to find bytes.

1745 x 1000 = 1745000 or 1,745,000 bytes.

In one megabyte, there are 1,000,000 bytes.

So, (now here comes the real math) 
Take 1,745,000 and divide by 1,000,000
The answer is 1.745 MBs. 

Yeah.  Download fees at Kindle charge $0.15 (15 cents) per MB, so to figure how much it would be to download this book for me for each one purchased I would multiply 1.745 x 15 cents or ~ 27 cents each if I used one royalty structure. 

(With the other royalty structure, there is no download fee.)

Free Recipe

I am offering a recipe for

THE BEST SMOOTHIE IN THE WORLD.

Here's how you can get it emailed to you for free--

1.  Go to

www.Amazon.com/author/dianeschmitt

2.  Find my book Saving Money 101--Smart Couponing with the red cover.

Download that book and write a review for it. 

3. Come to this blog and comment with your name and email address, telling me that you wrote a review for my book.

4.  I'll email you this recipe for free!  It tastes great and you will love it!

CHICKEN ITALIAN IT IS!

Guess what we had for supper last night.

Guess who took pictures while I was cooking of each step to show anyone, even a beginner, how to duplicate this recipe.

You are right...it was me.

We totally enjoyed the meal and I downloaded the pictures after supper and started to arrange them and write the book.  It is a short one, for sure.  But, the way it is written is totally appropriate for people who KNOW NOTHING about cooking.  They will be successful with this recipe if they will just try.  They don't really need to be able to read--just look at the pictures and duplicate it on their stove.

I've talked with several younger women who don't cook, never cooked, and aren't really interested in learning how to cook.  That just puts a person at the mercy of someone else as far as food is concerned--the cook in the family or what restaurants to eat at.  It's so much better to learn as many different skills as you can in life--then you can choose when you want to use them and when you don't.  And COOKING AT HOME SAVES YOU SO MUCH MONEY TOO.

It looks like there will be 12 pictures in the book.  I had to eliminate a couple of them, because the book took up too many kilobytes.

I learned how to zip a file today and then the pictures were resized; the way they were, I couldn't afford to publish this Kindle book because of how much it would cost to download each book from Amazon. 

Originally, it would have cost about $5.50 when a customer downloaded this book because of all the pictures.  No one would buy it at that price.  So, instead of ~20 KB like my last book, there were more than 30,000 KB in this book file!  Who knew that pictures took up so much space!  I didn't.

If you look at yesterday's post, you'll see that I was hoping to publish a Kindle book for free.  This was supposed to be it...well, it won't be.  I still have to determine what I'll ask for it.  I guess if I want to publish a book for free, it'll only have one picture and that one will be on the cover since that is not figured in the downloads.

Working on my next book

Hi Everyone!  I'm starting to work on my next book in the Saving Money 101 series. 

This one will be a recipe book that uses meats that are commonly on sale at the grocery store.

So far, I have 25 recipes that I've developed and that are really delicious.  I've got some printed out, others are not written down yet.  I still need to take pictures as I finish each recipe.

I'm trying to decide a couple of things--
first, how many recipes I'll put in my book. 
And second, I'm thinking that it should be a shorter book, maybe I could actually do a promo book and offer it for free.  Then I would do a longer book and charge for that one.

One of my favorite recipes that is always a crowd pleaser is Chicken Italian.  I'm thinking about publishing a Kindle book that describes and shows in pictures every single step to making it and probably putting it out there for free to help get my name out there.  It'll be a little book, but I've seen people publish short books before and even charge quite a bit for them ($5).

Please give me feedback if you have any ideas or comments.

First Post

My new Kindle book was published last week!  It's my first, and I've had 140 people download a copy of it in four days.  That is amazing to me.  Obviously, a lot of people are interested in saving money and are interested in using coupons to do it!

The title is Saving Money 101--Smart Couponing.  This book is the first in a series on saving money and wise use of your resources.

Here is a picture of the book cover.  It shows a picture of my husband outside our neighborhood Publix store, coupon box in place in the cart and even a poster by the store that says "Love to Shop Here--Welcome Couponers!"

You can get a free preview of this book to see if you are interested in buying it by going to Amazon:  www.amazon.com/author/dianeschmitt.  Click on the book and on the left of the screen you can look at the Table of Contents and the Introduction.  I can promise you that you can save hundreds and even thousands of dollars every year if you use the fantastic and easy to use ideas that I've included in my book.  And it takes hardly any time at all to coupon.

The book costs $3.25 (or you can borrow it for free if you are a member of Amazon Prime.) 

This great book can be downloaded to any of your devices that have a free Kindle app on it.  That means that you don't have to buy a Kindle eReader if you don't have one.  You can go to the Google Play Store and download a FREE Kindle application.  That's what I did for my Android tablets.  See, you are saving money already!  You could also download a free Kindle app to your computer.