How I Earn Target Gift Cards—Free Money!

Who doesn't want Target gift cards? I KNOW I'm not the only one who stops in for a certain item and leaves with a cart full of stuff. I personally love browsing the end caps for clearance items and may have the markdown schedule memorized.

If Target isn't your jam, no worries, you can also earn gift cards to Walmart, Old Navy, Lowes, and more. Check the end of the post for more ways to earn money for things you already do. 

The process is simple. Download the Shopkick app. Go to stores you already go to. Scan some products. That's it.

I had heard about Shopkick loooong before I downloaded the app and tried it out. And I wish I had started earlier. In the short time I've been using it, I've earned about $40.

I've now decided to save up my points to buy a new car seat for Emerson when he outgrows his infant seat.

Use my referral link and we both get a couple hundred bonus points—win, win! Earn this baby a new car seat! :D

Here's how it works!

Step 1: Download Shopkick app.

Step 2: Turn on your phone's location and bluetooth

Step 3: Open the app and see where points await

For example, you'll see below that Target is offering 30 walk-in kicks and 95 kicks for scanning products. Winn Dixie is offering 100 scanning kicks and 450 purchase kicks. (More info about those below.)

Step 4: Earn Walk In Kicks

If your bluetooth and location settings are active, the app will recognize when you are in the store and automatically award your kicks. If not, just open the app and click on the walking man icon to manual get those points. Typically you need to be in the entrance area of the store, but I've actually earned these quite a few times when I'm still in my car by the entrance haha. (But of course, you can't guarantee earning those).

You can get walk-ins each day, but there is a limit per month or something. I've also seen walk-ins worth as high as 300 kicks, especially on holiday weekends. 

Step 5: Scan Products In Store

The app will show pictures of the items available to scan and how many kicks they are worth. I've found that the scans tend to stay the same for a bit, so when I go into a store I typically know exactly where all the products are, and scanning does not add much time to my shopping trip at all. 

Step 5.5. Scan Receipts or Connect Card Purchases

You can also earn kicks for buying certain items or you can connect your card to earn kicks for every dollar you spend in a certain store (like Best Buy or clothing stores.) I have never earned kicks in this way so I can't vouch for how it works. 

Step 6: Redeem Kicks for Gift Cards

After you've acquired some points, you can browse the rewards area and decide how to redeem. The app will show you what you are eligible for and show how many kicks are needed for higher priced rewards. 

 

Step 7: Spend Your Money!!

When you select a reward, the digital gift card is actually stored right in the Shopkick app. Below is an example of a Target card I earned. You simply have the cashier scan that barcode at checkout or the numbers during an online checkout.

This is not an active card! 

Again, feel free to sign up for this app here and earn yourself a new pair of shoes. (I think I got myself two.) I love earning these small amounts of extra spending money while doing things I'd be doing anyways.

I've also earned a few hundred dollars through the Pact app (I wrote about the app when it was still called GymPact.) Of COURSE, I use Ebates for all my online shopping. It's the best and gives you cash back for a percentage of all your purchases! Use my referral link and I believe you get a bonus when you sign up.

And I use Ibotta for grocery shopping. It's like cash back couponing. I'm still exploring how to best use it for me, but this referral link will give you $10 when you sign up and redeem a rebate within 2 weeks. (You can earn for general things like purchasing milk, eggs, bread, and veggies!).

I've also heard people rave about the Walmart Savings Catcher program (via the Walmart app). I have not yet tried this one myself, but I hear great things! 

Do you use any similar programs?

5 Things I Thought BEFORE Having My Baby

We've all heard the lists of things non-parents swear they will never do when they have kids. (Think poo talk, screen time, leaving the house a mess, etc.) This list isn't like that.

Today I'm recounting some of the things I personally planned or thought that have NOT panned out the way I expected.

Nine months pregnant!

1. The baby would sleep in our room for at least six months.

Emerson was born in January. I knew we'd be moving sometime around August or September. I wasn't planning on having a crib before we moved because he'd be sleeping in our room for most of that time anyways. I planned to only have a pack'n play and stretch its use until after we moved.

Just a family nap!

Lucky for us, I found a family giving away a gently used crib, and I snatched it up. I didn't plan on having a crib, but when you get a free one, why not? Well, Emerson has proven to be an awesome sleeper and has been in his own room since 1 month, mostly sleeping through the night with only a few bumps here and there. I remember thinking when he was 3 months that I couldn't imagine him still being in our room. I know some babies do this, but I especially can't imagine him being with us for 9 months!

2. I'd have a skinny/small baby

All through my pregnancy I measured very small. I was always several weeks behind, and people always commented on my smaller-than-expected belly. Granted every pregnancy and body is different, I know. My sibling who I tend to be the most similar too also tends to have small babies, so for some reason I just assumed I'd have a small to normal size baby. 

Emerson and his cousin (who is 1 month older)

Emerson was 7 pounds, 8 ounces when he was born, which put him just above the 50th percentile. But he's been a good eater and steadily gaining weight since. Now at 5 months he's at least a steady 19 pounds tipping towards the 20 pound mark, which puts him right around the 90th percentile for weight. He is already in size 3 diapers, and I may have to try size 4 fairly soon. (I stocked up on diapers beforehand and have had to exchange quite a few size 1 and 2 packs for larger sizes.) He comfortably wears 6-9 month clothes, though I still try to squeeze him into some of the larger 3-6 month outfits.

Love that chunk!

3. I'd hang up baby clothes.

I was pretty good at washing and organizing Emerson's clothes before he was born. I snagged a huge free lot of baby boy clothes and filtered out what I wanted to use and organized everything by size and type. I was gifted several packs of child hangers and liked being able to see everything I had. We did purchase a small dresser to double as a changing table, and I designated certain drawers for sleepers or blankets. I wanted simple solutions for organization and in asking around, several people advised that they never used a dresser and use the closet or bins for all clothes.

Today the huge walk-in closet in Emerson's room operates pretty exclusive as a storage area for clothes he has grown out of, clothes he has yet to grow into, extra diapers and wipes, and other assorted baby items. EVERYTHING Emerson wears resides solely in the small, three-drawer dresser. I can't image hanging anything up and am baffled at the advice people gave me. I try to keep things as simple as possible so organization goes like this. Top drawer: half diapers and burp clothes, half bibs, socks, and hats. Middle drawer: onesies on the left, pants in basket in middle, rompers on the right. Bottom drawer: sleepers on the left, swaddle blankets on the right. That's it.

I also have a small basket right by the dirty clothes basket where we toss any clothes Emerson has grown out of. (I got that system from Do It On a Dime.) My own closet organization is also mostly hung up. I'm liking the idea o

4. I'd try to have a nap schedule

Like most newborns Emerson slept A LOT. After a bit, we did introduce a pretty regular bedtime routine but naps were pretty sporadic. Before I started working, I decided I would first finalize my schedule and find a set nap schedule to work Emerson into as he got a little older.

Nope. We have definitely maintained a go with the flow routine during the day. Bedtime we are very regular about, but it just hasn't worked out to do regular times for naps. (SO FAR...we'll see as he gets older and my schedule changes.) With my work schedule now, Emerson has several longer car rides where he takes short naps. If I'm home all day, we do usually get two longer (at least 1-3 hour) naps in. But other than that, we are out and about. He'll definitely sleep when he needs it though, whether in his carseat, in his carrier, or in the middle of the living room. (In the instance pictured on the right below, he'd been up maybe 1 hour from his morning nap...guess he needed more!)

5. My baby'd have sensitive skin.

My hubby has INSANELY sensitive skin. He practically scars from someone touching him. So add that in with naturally sensitive baby skin, I mentally prepared to have to very careful with our little guy. 

So far we've had no sensitivity issues. We had a diaper rash spray that we used as a preventative measure for the first few weeks but have never actually had a problem. I still wash most of Emerson's stuff with a baby detergent but also throw things in with regular loads and regular detergents and everything's been fine. I am still paranoid about the sun (who wants to deal with a baby sunburn?), but overall we're loving NORMAL baby skin over here so far.

Ready for the pool! No sunburns please.

Motivation Monday: Think Simple

I know myself. I know that I too often get caught up in the long-term, big picture aspects of anything and everything. What happens when I do this?

Not much.

At all. 

So this week's Motivation Monday thought is..."Think Simple."

Download a free high-res version here.

How am I going to implement this? For one, I'm going to try to not think about things too much. When I have something on my to-do list, I'm going to remember that "hey, this isn't really that hard and doesn't take all that much time. Just do it."

I started trying to think this way yesterday, which happened to be Father's Day. Because I was trying to give Jake a bit of a break from some of his daily responsibilities at home, I had to actively pause before I asked him to do something. For example, I'd be feeding Emerson and need a burp cloth or his pacifier. Typically, I'll ask Jake to bring them to me. Instead I'd stop and realize that I could just as easily get those items myself. (Although, yes having a second set of hands can be very helpful.) 

I've mentioned recently that I kinda stink at making dinner or keeping up with housework. I definitely don't get the housewife of the year award, I'll tell you that. Part of my problem is that I think I need to have a meal plan, or that if I vacuum one section of my house I need to vacuum the whole thing. So instead of focusing on doing everything, I'm going to remember to think simple and be content with maybe just sweeping the entryway, putting away a handful of things that are out of place, or even heating up and preparing leftovers for dinner. 

Simple and done is way better than complicated and never finished. 

When it comes to my business, I'm focusing on the small chunks of time I have here and there. When I have time to finish up the invoice for one client, I'm going to do it. I don't need to find a bigger chunk to get all back end tasks done at once. Small steps of progress are still progress. And that's what I'm trying to focus on. 

What is one way you can try to "think simple" in your life?

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My Outdated "About Me"

A few weeks ago, I took a look at my "About Me" page and was shocked by how out of date it was. Tasks over here in blogland have fallen to the bottom of the to-do list, haven't they? I had written the original about three years ago and, well, a lot has changed in that seemingly short amount of time.

Below I've taken a look at the outdated information to see what's changed, provided a few updates, and documented some of those changes via the very posts on this blog. Let's take a look.

"Put simply, I'm a young professional (writing, editing, and publication design) striving to find a balance between my full-time job, side projects (Zumba and freelance), personal goals, friends, family, and sleeping!"

Is 30 still considered young? I think so, but I'm gonna nix that description because I don't feel new to the field and typically work in management positions. I also quit working a traditional full-time job shortly after originally writing this (I wrote about the decision to quit working full time here) and made the side projects mentioned my main sources of income.

"Sometimes I don't think my inadequate self will ever be able to accomplish everything I want to, but I'm learning to focus on the little things and rejoice in small victories. Some of my dreams? I want to start my own business." 

I started Annesali Communications shortly after this to encompass my freelance work and additional clientele after quitting my full-time job. (See my post "Introducing Annesali Communications".)

"I want to find the love of my life." 

Wow. Check. I think I met Jake two, maybe three months after writing this. My first and only slight mention of him on the blog while we were dating was in my October Instagram recap where I show flowers he gave me. But I did write up our proposal story!

We have now been married for a bit over two years. And he is definitely the love of my life. My best friend. The one I want to do anything and everything with. My biggest supporter. And I'm completely heads over heels for him.

"I want to have a family of my own." 

Jake and I were extremely blessed to welcome our son Emerson this past January. He is a happy, chunky little guy and the perfect addition to our lives. Emerson hasn't officially appeared on the blog, but I did share his and her reactions to finding out I was pregnant.

"I want to live free and embrace happiness."

Happiness intrigues me apparently. I can't seem to stop writing about it.

Happiness Comes in the Little Things—Dec. 2013
A Happy Happy Life + 2 Goals - May 2016

I think my post "3 Things I Love About Life Without a Full-time Job" reflects what I mean about wanting to live free. 

"When I'm not writing, editing, or designing, you might find me teaching a Zumba Fitness class. I also hope to soon earn my group fitness instructor certification and explore the fitness world more from the instructing side."

I have definitely dived more into the fitness instruction world. I did earn my group fitness certification through AFAA (find my tips here). I also certified in and have taught U-Jam Fitness (my certification experience) and Piyo, and added in multiple Zumba trainings including Gold (seniors), Kids, Sentao,  and Pro Skills. Next on my list is barre!

If you made it this far, thanks for joining me on this little flashback through the past few years. I'm writing up a new description of me and this blog, so hopefully that will debut soon.

Motivation Monday: How Many Daydreams Will You Make Come True?

I'll be honest; I did not know what I'd use for today's Motivation Monday until last night during my son's bedtime routine.  I had brainstormed ideas, pulled a few quotes and had even considered using a side project I'm working on for a church girl's camp (maybe next week!).

But after bath time and reading time, we have a last feeding time, during which I sing a few bedtime songs. I'm not much of a singer and am possibly worse at remembering lyrics, so I stick to the same few songs every night. One of those songs is from my youth attending girl's camp. The song is called "Misty's Song" and the lyrics are as follows.

Tell me the reason I was born to roam,

Tell me the reason I am so far from home,

Tell me the reason only birds can fly,

Tell me the reason I was born just to die.

How many mountains will I have to climb,

How many memories will I leave behind,

How many daydreams will I make come true,

How many heartbreaks until I find you?

There is a valley called Peace of Mind,

There is a river running right by it's side,

There is a moment of Glory so new,

There is Eternity to spend loving you.

Last night as I sang the second verse, I was moved by the idea of daydreams. I thought about many of the things I have once hoped for, aspired for, and most importantly, worked for to make happen. I thought about my hopes now for the future and reveled in my personal knowledge that, yes, dreams can come true!

I love that the lyric emphasizes that I, myself, am who makes things happen. I can't sit around and simply wait for my dreams to magically show up. I can put in the effort, make a plan, set things in motion, and focus on the progress I make day by day. That's how reaching dreams actually work.

So today I ask you to think about the daydreams you've seen come true in your life. How did you make those come true? Do you have new ones or ones you still hope to see unfold? How can you make them happen?

How many daydreams will YOU make come true?

Follow the links below if you're interested in download high-res versions of the images in this post. There is both an 8.5x11 option and an 8x8 option. Thanks for reading. 

Motivation Monday: Do What Makes You Happy

Welcome back to my resurrected Motivation Monday series!

I've kinda been on a "happy" kick, huh? (In case you missed my last posts, check out "A happy HAPPY life" and "Happy does not equal perfect.") I suppose I'm trying to capitalize on my current situation and adopt life practices that help me maintain that outlook and continue to feel this way, regardless of circumstance.

Thinking about the topic actually brings back a lot of thoughts from the book, "The Happiness Project." It's been YEARS since I read it, but I'm definitely going to pick up a copy and re-familiarize myself with it. Oh, plus I want to check out the author Gretchen Rubin's newer books "Happier at Home" and "Better Than Before."

In case you aren't familiar with the bestseller, "The Happiness Project" follows the author's journey through self evaluation and noticing some simple ways to capitalize on her happiness. (Yes, that is my own personal, very brief, and very generalized summary.)

I commented on some of my take away from the book in my post "Little Ways To Live a More Simple Life." 

Today's Motivation Monday quote, "Do What Makes You Happy," is a reminder to ME to continue to seek out those little things that make me happy. Most recently, I mentioned my goal to add more writing and designing into my everyday life. Those are both aspects of my career that I don't get to do on a day-to-day basis anymore, and I've missed them.

Download this image with high resolution here! 

That said, I also what to add the reminder that the things YOU do to be happy might not be what anyone else would choose to do. And what someone else does might not make you happy. Incorporating this reminder requires you to know and accept yourself for who you are. (Which I think is a beautiful process!)

So take a minute to think about what makes you happy. What's one thing you could do to be a little happier today?

Happy does not equal perfect

A look at this moment: I'm sitting on my bed with a load of laundry to fold and Emerson laying next to me kicking me with his feet. Though we tried for a nap in his crib, he wasn't having it and squalled until I brought him into my room with me. (Granted, he slept a lot this morning in the car so we'll just do an afternoon nap.) While he was quiet but not asleep, I did manage to heat up a small lunch. After that we all headed to my bed to work (and me to eat). 

P.S. Emerson fell asleep next to me after about a half hour of watching me work on my laptop. 

P.P.S. I got a little work done on an impromptu design project for my sister but then we had a pooping-on-the-comforter incident, a spitting-up-on-the-sheets incident, and several we-definitely-won't-get-anything-done incident. 

P.P.P.S. I am now continuing this post. Two. whole. days. later. 

Wow. The struggle is real, folks. I'll say that my intent with the above information was just to show what my day might look like for a single snapshot of time. In fact, I thought it might be a fun little detail to include on any of my personal life posts going forward.

However, with each additional "P.S." I realized that the unfolding of events actually demonstrates the topic of this post pretty well.

See after I published my "Happy happy life" post, I continued to think about what I wrote. (Other people do that too, right?...right?) And I started to come up with all kinds of "wait a minute" reasons about why I shouldn't be as happy as I've been feeling.

I am constantly behind on housework
As much as I intend to meal plan and make dinner every night—shoot, every other night—I rarely do
I don't have huge attendance at my fitness classes
I have baby weight and am sensitive about unflattering pictures of myself
I am horrible at responding to or even reading text and Facebook messages and am horrible at staying in touch with friends
I have so many personal professional projects that I have never moved forward on
I still haven't scheduled the dental appointment I've been needing for months
Somedays Emerson and I don't leave the house
I have moments where I am frustrated, tired, and overwhelmed
I often don't get done any of the things I wanted to that day

Overall, the idea that kept coming up was that I have a thousand reasons NOT to happy, namely because I am not perfect. I didn't want others to think I was putting on a front to appear better than I actually am. I mean, I have so many downfalls and my life is most definitely not perfect. I don't want to be a person that pretends my life is something that it's not.

But I realized that everyone will ALWAYS have thousands of reason not to be happy. And perhaps the most gratifying thing about "happy" is finding it even through the many reasons not to.

Happiness is not dependent on perfection. Happiness is not dependent on success. Happiness is a daily choice. Happiness is thriving in the moments that give us joy. Happiness is knowing and accepting who you are and loving that person.

Happiness is driving home from a daily errand and seeing beauty in the moment. And smiling.