The winner was drawn randomly from all valid entries received using a number generated by Random.org.  Congratulations to Jennifer Beggs who entered the contest after hearing about it on BlogTalk Radio.

Thanks to everyone else who entered.  There don’t forget to enter the contest for the trip for 4 to SeaWorld in Orlando for a chance to be one of the first people to ride the Manta roller coaster that opens in May!

This seems to have started when Jeremiah Owyang [@jowyang] a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research tweeted: “Kmart paid Shoemoney $500 resulting in buzz from paid blog post 300+ comments http://snipurl.com/7yi5w “Buying” social media is effective”

From there, the discussion moved to the fact that Chris Brogan [@chrisbrogan] had also been involved in the project and had posted his Kmart contest over at Dadomatic. Then the twitterverse exploded and the blog posts started.

Apparently, when one of the most trusted guys in Social Media is involved, it becomes a big deal if you think that money might be involved in the equation.

Barbara Gibson from ABC wrote an interesting post here that Chris replied to in the comments.  Barbara’s post starts from the viewpoint that a blogger taking money is selling his or her integrity.  So her analysis from that starting point is inevitable.

Here’s the thing: You can’t sell your integrity.  I’ve worked with many people of high integrity. I say “worked with” because they were getting paid for what they did.  Integrity isn’t dependent on a vow of poverty.  What it really means is that your position can’t be bought.  That no amount of money is going to get you to do something that goes against your values, morals and beliefs.

So, with so many weighing in on this, why I am?  Because I’m anticipating the next phase of this discussion.

If you take a look at the last post here, you’ll notice it’s a Walmart & Nickelodeon contest for a $500 Walmart gift card.  All of the ElevenMoms have a similar contest up.  It’s really not all that different than the K-mart contest is it? They have 5 bloggers posting contests for $500 K-mart cards, we have 20-some bloggers posting contests for $500 Walmart cards.

What’s the difference? Well, it does come down to that ’sponsored’ word. The Izea bloggers received a $500 gift card themselves.  We did not.  The Izea bloggers went to K-mart, bought things using those cards, blogged about it and then gave the chance to do the same to one of their readers. I didn’t go shopping at Walmart with a $500 gift card, blog about it, and then do the give away – I just posted the opportunity for one of my readers to win.

But in both cases, there’s a lot of work being done.  There’s the initial post. There’s sorting thru the hundreds of entries to make sure that invalid ones are thrown out, that there’s no duplicates, that people are following the rules.  Then having to choose the winner, get their information, get the card out to them.  All this administrative work? I’m doing out of the goodness of my heart so one of my readers will win something cool.  If the contest were being held on the companies’ sites? They’d have paid people doing it. I don’t have a staff here, so it’s just me and my time and effort.

Now let’s take the money out of the equation. Blogger X has a company send him/her 2 toasters – one to keep, one to give away to a reader. Or maybe it’s not toasters – maybe it’s a Wii, or an iPhone, or a MacBook Pro, or a fleece jacket (all promotions I’ve actually seen) – and the blogger says “wow! I just got to play with this new item… I love it, so here’s a chance to win it.”

That situation I just described happens every day on hundreds of blogs.  I’ve never heard anyone saying “OMG!! I totally don’t trust Blogger X’s opinions of electronics anymore because he had a contest giving away a laptop!”

But now that we’ve added money into the equation there’s a brouhaha.

So let’s add a new dimension to this, shall we? Am I “more trustworthy” because I put in all that work for free? Or are the Izea bloggers “less trustworthy” because they saw their time and effort as valuable and believed they should be compensated for it?

My answer is a resounding NO.

Let’s get down to brass tacks here, shall we? I participate in the Walmart ElevenMoms program because I actually believe in what we’re doing. I shop at Walmart *gasp* regularly.  I did before I got involved in the program.  I actually like saving money and getting good deals.  I love the thought of some reader of mine having an extra $500 to help out with the holidays this year.  I know that will go a really long way at Walmart.

Since I’ve gotten involved in the program, I’ve been accused of ‘getting paid as a Walmart shill‘ – and when I revealed that I was not paid accused of ‘setting MommyBloggers everywhere back by setting a poor example and letting companies think they can get free work out of us.‘  I’ve read that I must be getting ’secret kickbacks’ and that there’s ‘no way’ I ever shopped at Walmart. I’ve been called a lot of names. It’s been interesting, to say the least.

But I just keep doing what I’m doing.  Because if I didn’t believe in the program, I wouldn’t do it.

If K-mart had come to me and said “would you like to participate in this contest we’re doing with Izea?” I would’ve said yes. Why? Because I shop at K-mart too. *gasp* And again, I would love the idea of giving one of my readers $500 to help out with the holiday and it would go a long way there.

Would I have said “no! My time is worth nothing! Keep the $500 gift card for me, I’ll do it for free!” Hell no. If offered I would’ve said “thank you for recognizing that my time is worth something – please be aware that if you want me to actually review the store in the post, rather than just running a contest for a gift card, I will be giving my honest opinions in the review – positive & negative – and I will be making sure that my readers understand that this is a sponsored post.”

Do I think that the Izea bloggers did exactly that? Yes. I know most of those bloggers. I trust their integrity. They’re not going to be taking money from or running a contest for a company that they don’t believe will benefit their readers.  If “Pyramid Scams R Us” came calling, not one of them would’ve done it – no matter how much money or ’sponsorship’ was involved.

You can’t buy integrity.  You can’t sell integrity.  If you have integrity? Money isn’t relevant.  If you don’t? Money is the only relevancy.

Look, the only time I have problems with paying bloggers to post something is when it’s deceptive.  There are a number of models out there right now that are paying bloggers to post where the payment part is being glossed over. Sites with high profile bloggers who are definitely being compensated but where that part is as hidden as it can be. If you’re going to get all feisty about paying bloggers? Let’s point the spotlight at people who aren’t the ones saying “SPONSORED POST” all over it.

Now – tell me why I’m wrong.

What’s better than picking out just the right presents for your family members, friends, and loved ones?  Getting them for free, of course!!

It’s December – and for those of us not done with our shopping in July – that means it’s time to get the Holiday Shopping in high gear and get done before it’s too late!  But our economy is making things a bit tougher this year than in the past and so we’re all looking for ways to save money while still living well.

That’s why I’m all aglow because Nickelodeon has teamed up with the Walmart ElevenMoms to throw a Holiday Money Saving Tips Contest. One of you lucky readers will be getting a $500 Walmart Gift Card!

That’s right.  You have a chance to win a $500 Walmart Gift Card just in time for the holidays.  In fact, you can earn up to 3 entries into this contest, just by following these instructions carefully:

1. Leave a comment sharing your best Holiday Money Saving Tip.  Please make sure to put a valid email address on your comment so I can contact the winner!

2. Subscribe to my feed via RSS or email and leave a separate comment letting me know you have done so along with a DIFFERENT money-saving tip. If you’re already a subscriber, simply leave a separate comment letting me know you’re already subscribed along with another money-saving tip.

3. Share the Love!! Spread the word about this contest in some manner and come back and leave a link in a separate comment. If you twitter a tip? Just tag it with #Nick11 and paste the link in your comment.  If you blog about it? You can leave the tip in your post and just link it here.  If you digg it, stumble it, kirtsy it? Just put your Third Money Saving Tip in the comment with your link. However you do it, just come leave me a link so I know that you did!!  I know, I know, it’s hard to let other people know when you want to win… but that’s why you get another entry for it!

The other important bits

• This contest ends December 15th, 2008 at NOON (12:00 pm) Pacific Time. Any entries received after that time cannot be counted toward the winning tip.

• Any entries not including all of the required elements (One Money Saving Tip, valid email address, any relevant links) will be disqualified and deleted from the comments list. PLEASE make sure to include all elements as I do not have the time to notify those who do not.

• The winner will be chosen at random (using random.org) out of the all the valid entries (see above.)

• You can enter up to 3 Money Saving Tips according to the methods above – try to make them good tho, as the winning tips may end up on Walmart.com!

You can enter to win a $500 Walmart gift card not only here at GeekMommy.net but at most of the ElevenMoms’ sites. You can only win once, but you can enter to win at each site. Each contest may have slightly different rules, so make sure you read carefully!

I’m looking forward to seeing the tips you guys come up with!! Thanks for making my holiday season more fun (and frugal!) as well!

note: this author of this post was not compensated by either Walmart or Nickelodeon in any way regarding the posting or promotion of this contest. Please see the Disclosure Policy for further information.

What is that? Well… if you follow the link – you’ll find a site where you can get a free sample of the “Mystery Shampoo & Conditioner” that we 11moms got to try out in Bentonville.  You can also see some videos of some of my gorgeous fellow 11moms getting makeovers with this Mystery shampoo & conditioner.

I will tell you that we ALL loved it.

And we’re waiting anxiously for the reveal ourselves so we can find out what it is and go buy it. (Yep, you heard me right, we don’t know what it is either!)

So go click – get a free sample – see what you think.  And if you don’t love it, I’ll be surprised.  But comment back here and tell me why if you don’t, okay?

Yay!! Free stuff!

Right now, my darling daughter is over at the neighbors taking them mini-webkinz that she got for them at Walgreens (yep, I shop a lot of places – just like you!) and GeekDaddy is with her.  So I’m taking a moment to get this up.

Are you here for the first time? Then you’re probably a bit curious about me… and why someone calling herself “GeekMommy” is listed amongst a bunch of Frugality Blogging moms.  Guess what? I was too.

When the folks from WalMart contacted me thru Twitter.com about participating in the Eleven Moms project, I was sure they must be mistaken.  After all, I’m not a personal finance or frugality blogger – I’m just a GeekMommy who blogs about my life.  I figured they had contacted the wrong gal.  But then we got to talking and I realized that we all do what we can to cut corners and get the most out of our dollar.

Today’s economy makes everyone stop and think about ways to save more and live better – and that’s what WalMart’s current motto happens to be – Save More, Live Better.  Just like anyone reading this, I want to provide good food, nice clothes, and a comfortable home life for my family – but unless I win the lottery, I’m doing that on a budget.  I do shop at WalMart myself fairly regularly and I love a great bargain as much as the next gal… So yeah, why not me? Why not you? We’re all trying to make ends meet and make our dollars stretch further – so I realized that maybe they did get it right.

So Let’s Hit a Few FAQs, Shall We?

• Am I “doing this without getting paid?” Yes. I don’t work for WalMart.  If at some point in time there occurs a situation where WalMart enters into some sort of financial agreement with me, you can trust that I’ll be transparent about it.  That’s just how I am.  I don’t do “secret agreements.”
• Am I “doing this for free?” No. Free is a funny word.  Personally, I think if I were working for something for ‘free’ I’d be called a volunteer.  I’m not.  I am getting benefits from this.  But they’re non-monetary benefits.  I’m getting exposure to a wider audience.  I’m getting connections to new and different people I would’ve never met without participating. I’m also learning a lot from my fellow 11 Moms.  Seriously, I’ve learned so many cool things from these ladies that I wouldn’t have if this project hadn’t brought us together!  I’m also getting the  opportunity to help other folks.  That’s a big deal to me.  I like being able to help other people.  This is letting me do it on a MUCH bigger scale than I could achieve on my own.
• Do I really believe that WalMart is trying to do the right thing? Yeah, actually, I do. Look, I did my homework.  I know that WalMart’s reputation hasn’t exactly been ’stellar’ in all areas (yes, I’m understating.)  But I believe that they are doing what they can to change and improve that.  I think that this Money Saving Moms project is designed with that in mind.  If I didn’t and I thought this was all some publicity stunt? I wouldn’t be involved.  Because this is MY reputation too.  I’m working *with* WalMart to try and reach out to internet savvy (and novice) Moms (and other shoppers) to try and make their dollars stretch a little further.  Just like I believe that the Dove Women are working to change our society’s impression of what is actually beautiful and the Disney Moms are trying to help Disney bound families have the best time they can.  Sometimes, every day individuals can achieve huge change just by being willing to try.
• “Okay, but aren’t you just being naive not making WalMart pay you for this?” Um, No. To be honest? I don’t think I would’ve done this if WalMart had come to me initially and said “hey, we’d like to pay you to represent WalMart.”  They didn’t.  They asked me if I’d like to take part in a community of Moms who were helping other moms to save money.  And I didn’t say yes right away.  I thought about. I researched it.  I weighed whether or not I thought I could contribute and whether I wanted to tie my blog and myself into this project.  You already know the answer was yes.

So, I’m going to be busy migrating my site this weekend.  This post might not be accessible during that time – but it will be on my new site.  As will more information about me.  But if you want to ask me any questions about this? Feel free to comment and I’ll email you back.

Then again, if you decide just to leave an angry, vitriolic, attacking comment, I reserve my right to laugh at you and delete it, knowing you didn’t read this whole thing.  I’m willing to talk about it with anyone – but that means talk – so as I always tell my daughter? Use your ‘princess manners’ before you hit send.

Lucretia

The following people were submitted in the drawing and I really want to thank you for all of your great vlogging examples!

ultra

Mark Warren, Eric Miltsch, Mocha, Rahsheen, jennydecki, Karl, Adrienne, James from Babyspot, Liz, Tara, Tina, Kelly, Roger Gauthier, Geekazine, Connie, Mark Warren, Brian Bonn, BunnyB, Rob White, Dario Salvelli, melitami, Kevin T, CalifMom, Deb On The Rocks, Banana Lee Fishbones, TSM_Oregon, Seeker65, Freerangemom, Chris Shouse, Home Biss, RobGuy, Suzanne B, tixrus, Mama to 3 Boys and a VLA Biz Too, CanCan, Naomi, brandy3,  Go Annie, Angela Penny

So I know you want to know right now who won… but I’m kind of evil.  I’m going to give you the $2 review of the Flip Ultra first, now that I’ve had a chance to play with it a bit!  (Yes, yes, I know you can scroll down to see who won first, but you can’t blame a gal for trying!)

The Flip Ultra – A User Review

Okay, I have to admit, it’s a cute and sexy little video camera.  This isn’t your big, old wrist-bending video camera that lines the soccer fields and recital stages all across the country.  This is a ‘wow… is that a video camera? It fits in your pocket? How’s the quality? Really? It must cost a fortune then… really? wow’ camera.

The Good

• It’s small – it will fit in your coat pocket, your purse, your backpack, your diaper bag, your laptop bag.
• It’s lightweight – your wrist won’t get tired holding this up – it weighs about the same as the average smart phone or PDA
• The picture is surprisingly crisp and clear – after seeing grainy resolution and fuzzy focus from cell phones and video footage captured with the average digital camera, the resolution and clarity of the Flip Ultra was a pleasant discovery
• The sound quality is surprisingly good – again, the average video camera isn’t exactly high quality on sound unless you are willing to shell out a fair penny, the sound quality of the Flip Ultra is good even in noisier environments.
• It’s easy to use – this is a video camera that you can hand to any passer-by and have him/her push-the-red-button-and-go without any confusing extra buttons or lengthy explanations. Push up to zoom in, push down to down to zoom out.  Red button starts and stops.  It takes a couple of minutes for anyone to learn how to use.  Including my 5 year old who wants her own now.
• Widgets – it comes with connector cables that let you plug it right into any TV with an S-video jack, so you can play the footage back right away on a big screen.  You don’t have to download, reformat, burn a DVD and put it in the player to show Grandma the footage of the kids opening presents.  Just plug it in and go.
• Best of All? The Flip Ultra is incredibly affordable. Retailing at $149 or less (there are some seriously good deals out there right now!) it’s less expensive than most cellphones.  It’s certainly less expensive than the heavier, bulkier, now-collecting-dust-on-my-shelf video camera I bought a few years ago when my kidlet was younger.  Both GeekDaddy and I are fans.

The Bad

• Stability - okay, I’m being honest… I don’t have the steadiest filming hand.  Some of the test footage that I shot made GeekDaddy and I a little seasick when played back on anything larger than the tiny screen on the back.  We discovered that GeekDaddy’s footage was a little less prone to “shaky cam” but it’s hard to keep it steady for longer footage.  Yes, it can be put on any standard tripod, but that kind of defeats the point of portability.
• Lighting – Not much you can do if the lighting isn’t good.  While it handles low light situations fairly well if they are consistently lit, it’s not very adept at dealing with mixed-lighting situations.  Going in and out of shadows is a bad idea, and there’s nothing you can do to manually adjust for low-light.

The Questionable

• Software Glitches – The Flip Ultra comes with its own software.  In theory, you install it and go. From that point forward every time you plug the camera into a USB port, it’s supposed to run the built in software that lets you do basic editing, save files, delete files and play them.  This worked GREAT on my little black one.  It didn’t work at all on a different Flip Ultra camera (purchased in July) even plugged into my laptop.  Despite uninstalling and redownloading and reinstalling the ‘updated’ software, it never ran successfully on one camera, but always ran on my new one.  Was the other camera damaged? Perhaps, but that’s why it’s under questionable.

All in all though, I have to say – this is an excellent little camera.  I’d recommend it to just about anyone, especially given how affordable it is.  So I’m fairly sure that the winner of this contest is going to have as much fun with this as I am.

It seems only fair to announce this using a video, so I’m going to link the announcement from 12seconds.com (tried to embed it, but WP was having none of that…argh.)

Again, thanks everyone for entering, the list above was posted in the order the names were in my spreadsheet (1 entry per person, no matter how many comments you posted!) and the winner is…

Winner Flip Cam Contest on 12seconds.tv

Email me your mailing info at Lucretia AT Geekmommy DOT net and I’ll get it out to you this week!

See you tomorrow!

I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to play with the Flip Ultra video camera in order to write the review I want to write, so I figured that will have to wait until either Friday or next Tuesday.  But I’m not going to keep you guys in further suspense as to the nature of the contest for the Flip Ultra that the nice folks at Pure Digital (in conjunction with the WalMart 11 Money Saving Moms project) sent me to give to one lucky reader of this blog! (Mostly because I’m sure a few of you would come after me if I put it off again!)

So.  Here it is then.  I was trying to figure out what made for a good contest.

If I just say “comment and I’ll randomly draw a number” then the guy who drops by here one time for 10 seconds stands as much chance of winning as those of you who have been hanging in there with me. Plus, I’d like this to be something fun for all of us.

So I’m about to start trying to post my vlogs here with my own Flip camera and it wouldn’t hurt to learn a bit more about what you guys like in that regard.

So here’s what you have to do to win – Leave a comment here.  In the comment you need to put 2 links:

1) a link to an example of what you consider a GOOD vlog.  Something you’d actually watch.  Don’t just go to Google and put in ‘vlog’ and post the first thing you find – because I might just get clever and ask you a question like what the last line in the vlog was!

2) a link to someplace you’ve reposted the link for this contest – it can be your blog, it can be Twittered, or Plurked, or posted on Friend Feed or your favorite social network. Just post a link to where you’ve posted it so I can follow it back and verify (this means it has to be a public post!)

This should give me a good sample of vlogs you think are worth watching.  And if you’re entering to get the Flip to start your own vlogging? it might help you figure out where to start too!

The contest ends Monday, August 25th at 11:59pm Mountain Time (my time zone) and I will then use random.org to generate a number that will correspond with the commentor who wins.  (Comments without the two required links will be excluded from the numbering.)

I will announce the winner in the next Technology Tuesday post.

And just to whet your appetite? Here’s a picture of the one I opened – you’ll be receiving your own unopened box identical in nature! Yep, it’s a nice, sexy black Flip Ultra!  Good Luck!

Still in the Box

ETA: sorry about that – default comment moderated anything w/ 2 links or more! oops! Fixed it!

A simple way to save money on both your heating and cooling bills is to remember that you don’t need to heat or cool the *whole* house.

In our house, along with the 6 month changing of the furnace filter we do a 6 month “changing of the guard” on our air/heating vents.

In cooler months, we close the upstairs vents and open those on the first floor – because heat rises.  Likewise, in warmer times, we open the vents on the top floor and close those on the first floor, because colder air inevitably drifts downward.  If you’re keeping all your vents open, your heating & cooling systems have to do twice the work.  That’s twice the electricity.

It’s a small effort twice a year, but believe me, it saves you bigtime on the energy bill!!

Have a great Monday!

Seriously.  The darn things went “Out for Delivery” at 5:42 a.m.  You’d think they drove them in from Kansas.

Still, just moments before Buttercup’s bathtime, the doorbell rang and my nice UPS guy dropped off a box from the amazing folks at Pure Digital Technologies.

Inside the box was a shiny, new Flip Ultra video camera*… which I have yet to even have taken out of it’s gorgeous packaging since I want to have time to do this and savor it.

Did I say “a shiny, new Flip Ultra video camera“?  I meant two shiny, new Flip Ultra video cameras!!

That’s right, not only are the folks at Pure Digital helping me to begin vlogging my way along – they’re going to let me give one away to one of you, dear readers, so that you can join in the fun!

What do you have to do to win?  Join me next week for Technology Tuesday when I will post my review of the Flip Ultra and the contest details!  If you’re afraid you might forget, or just don’t want to miss anything else witty I might say, you can always subscribe to my RSS feed using your favorite feed-reader.  Or you can wait for me to twitter it, I do that too!

Anyhow.  See ya tomorrow – and next Tuesday!

*yeah, I know previously I said Flip Mino – that’s what I thought was coming – but you don’t see me complaining!! This way I get to vlog and one of you gets to join me – much better deal if you ask me!

What does this mean? Well to me, it means I get to use a Flip video camera to help vlog* about money-saving tips & advice that might help other folks (Moms, Dads, and Everyone who cares about $aving a little) using YouTube and my blog to get the word out. To you it means that you are among the first to know about this project and to be able to follow my posts about it (as well as the other 10 Moms who will be doing their best to do the same.) Down the road a bit it may have even better perks for you, dear reader, but we’ll get to that!

The project is still in its initial phases, but we Moms just couldn’t wait to share it with you, so that you could go along with us on this trip! We’ll be blogging, vlogging, learning from each other and sharing. We even get to meet each other in October at WalMart’s Home in Bentonville, Arkansas!! (Yes, I’ll be Twittering it too!)

Throughout the month of August, I will be uploading videos periodically on my YouTube Channel in anticipation of the September launch of Walmart’s official YouTube channel. To stay up to date with my videos I would highly suggest subscribing to my YouTube feed or here at my blog. And if you’re up to it, check out the list of the sites below that make up the Eleven Moms – I know I am subscribing to them all! These ladies rock and I’m honored to be included in this project with them.

The List of Eleven (in no particular order)

~ The Domestic Diva
~ Jessica Knows
~ MomAdvice
~ Classy Mommy
~ Being Frugal
~ Deal Seeking Mom
~ Frugal Upstate
~ Keeping the Kingdom First
~ Coupon Cravings
~ The “Cent”sible Sawyer
~ GeekMommy’s WebLife

So join me if you will in celebrating a bit because you get to go along with me… and I’m raring and ready to go!!

~ Lucretia (aka GeekMommy)

*vlog is a term that means ‘video blog’ – I’ll be using a Flip Mino video camera provided by the amazing folks over at Pure Digital Technologies who totally rockfor helping us out with this!