We did not accept the political ad - or receive money for it - that ran Tuesday. Credit: DonkeyHotey/Flickr

UPDATE: Phil at Feedblitz got back to me with a brief response. The news is not good. Feedblitz ads are outsourced.

PREVIOUSLY: Reader Jennifer emailed me Tuesday making a case for why I should not have accepted a political ad for Rick Santorum that ran in Tuesday’s email (not on the blog):

I know that you need to accept ads in order to make a living from your newsletter, but I think you might want to rethink accepting political ads. Most of the ads on your site and news letter are for services that save people money so there is an implication that you endorse these advertisers and they endorse you. Rick Santorum is a very polarizing figure, while some of your readers may love him many people rather viscerally hate him. I am guessing that your readership is predominately female. Given how strongly many women feel about Santorum’s attacks on

women’s access to effective birth control and pre-natal care I would not be surprised if you lost readers over today’s ad encouraging your readers to donate to Santorum’s campaign. People really dislike political ads. I know quite a few who refuse to watch network TV or listen to radio stations aimed at adults for months before elections in order to avoid the political ads. I’m sure it’s tougher finding advertisers who want to pay to advertise on a newsletter that encourages people to save money and spend what they must wisely than it would be if you were writing about crafting but I question whether accepting political advertising is a good long term strategy.

Jennifer

Here is my response:

I’m so glad you emailed me. And I agree completely. The political ad you saw for Rick Santorum was accepted by Feedblitz, the email software we use to send the daily email, not me. I repeat, I did not accept or receive any money for this ad.

The Feedblitz software is free, but the “cost” is that Feedblitz puts its own ads in the newsletter. Until now, it’s never been a problem.

I’ve emailed the owner of Feedblitz to complain and will let you know his response. In the meantime, I’m going to blog about this because I want to let all my readers know how this ad came about.

Julia

I hope this clears things up!

http://kb.feedblitz.com/article/AA-00118

ConnieFoggles / Flickr

A couple of you have been asking how we did in Go Banking Rates’ contest for The Top Money-Saving Site for 2012. Drum roll, please! BargainBabe.com came in second place. Not bad. Eleven other blogs were in the running.

We had some tough competition, but thanks to our loyal readers we climbed to the top. Thanks to everyone who voted once, twice, or more for BargainBabe.com. We appreciate your continued support!

More than ever, we are committed to helping you save money on everyday expenses. Have a post idea you’d like us to write? Let us know!

This post is copyrighted by BargainBabe.com. Other sites posting this content are violating the DMCA.

There are two more days to vote BargainBabe.com! LWVC / Flickr

Time is running out to vote BargainBabe.com for Top Money-Saving Site for 2012. Go Banking Rates is hosting the contest, but readers get the last word.

You can cast your vote for BargainBabe.com through Feb. 29. The winner will be announced March 1. Make sure to vote and let them know how Bargain Babe has helped you save money. It only takes about a minute and you can vote more than once!

While you’re on the site, read what Go Banking Rates has to say about Bargain Babe.com.

Although we’ve received more votes, we are still in second place behind Coupon Cabin. Did I mention 12 sites were nominated? Woohoo!!! Thanks to all our readers who have voted for us! We truly appreciate your support.

This post is copyrighted by BargainBabe.com. Other sites posting this content are violating the DMCA.

Make us number one! John Bollwitt / Flickr

If you haven’t heard, BargainBabe.com has been nominated for Go Banking Rates’ Top Money-Saving Site for 2012. Yay! We’ve got some tough competition. We are up against other top-notch sites and blogger friends.

Thanks to everyone who has voted for us, we are currently number two behind Coupon Cabin. Woohoo! Help make us number one – vote BargainBabe.com! It only takes about a minute.

Readers can cast their votes through Feb. 29. Psst… You can vote more than once! The winner will be announced March 1.

Go Banking Rates recently wrote about BargainBabe.com. See what they have to say about BB in their post Bargain Babe: Because the little things really add up. Don’t forget to comment letting them know why you love BB so much!

This post is copyrighted by BargainBabe.com. Other sites posting this content are violating the DMCA.

Have you voted for Bargain Babe? Vaguely Artistic / Flickr

I’m so excited to announce that BargainBabe.com is up for Go Banking Rates‘ Top Money-Saving Site for 2012!

We are among top-notch money-saving sites (and blogger friends) including Bargain Briana, 5 Dollar Dinners, Frugal Dad, and many more.

Readers will get to decide who gets the honor by casting their vote for their favorite site through Feb. 29.

We’d appreciate it if you shared your love for BargainBabe.com! All you have to do is head over to Go Banking Rates and vote for Bargain Babe – it will only take a minute.

The winner will be announced March 1.

See you tomorrow, I hope.

Julia
Aka Bargain Babe

fekaylius/Flickr

This post originally appeared on the Bargain Hunter blog, which I wrote at the LA Daily News.

A lot has changed in a decade, but when it comes to finding bargains on September 11, I still feel the same way. I cannot do my job. Ten years has passed; should I move on? I see many have, and I also see the compulsion people feel to mark a neat round number. I prefer to take Sept. 11 as a holiday to remember and cry. A few years ago I told you why and here’s that story again.

Forgive me for not posting any bargains today, the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Trying to save $3 on a sandwich or find a shoe sale seems silly and out of place today. Instead, I’m going to try to give blood, something I wasn’t able to do that day in New York.

So many people tried to donate on September 11 – we expected waves of injured people to flood the hospitals – that the blood bank was full. They turned us away.

Walking to and from the hospital everyone we passed was talking about the twin towers, you could see it on their faces and hear snips of the awful truth in their conversations.

I was stunned, like so many other people. Was it really possible those two massive buildings that stood almost twice as tall as any other building on Manhattan could collapse? But they did. I saw it from my kitchen window.

We lived on the third floor of a brick building adjacent to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. One of the things we loved about the apartment was its three large windows that looked onto lower Manhattan.

We had a picture perfect view. On days when the air was crisp and the sun bright under a brilliant sky – almost impossible to imagine in hazy LA – I ate my breakfast cereal in front of the window, just staring at the buildings. My own New York postcard.

September 11, 2001 was one of those gorgeous fall days. I had just started grad school at Rutgers in New Jersey and had planned to go into campus that morning. But as it turned out the CDs I needed to listen to had arrived the day before in the mail. Otherwise I would have taken the subway into Manhattan, transferring to the NJ PATH train at the World Trade Center. With the CDs at home, I slept in.

The sound of sirens finally woke me up. I got out of bed at about 9 a.m. and I remember thinking there were more sirens than usual that morning. You get used to a lot of noise living in New York City. Then I saw a trail of smoke from the first tower. I went back into the bedroom and woke up Hubby, who was then my boyfriend.

“There’s something going on,” I told him, nudging him awake.

I turned on the TV and one of the people being interviewed on the BBC was declaring this was an act of war. That seemed drastic. Maybe this was just an accident?

When the second plane hit my gut told me it wasn’t. From my window I saw the terrible gash the second plane created on the side of the building. There was a lot of smoke. You could see flames.

We tried to guess how many people might work in the two buildings. Tens of thousands, we decided.

Then the buildings collapsed. Dark, smokey clouds billowed.

I bristle when people ask me what it was like to watch. What do you think it’s like seeing thousands of people die in a few minutes? It is terrible.

But there was one part that was beautiful. After the towers collapsed – but before the wind blew a blanket of smoke and debris over Brooklyn – the brilliant sky glittered.

A sparkling arc reached like a hand over the bay from Manhattan to Brooklyn. It was incredible and I watched it for a few minutes before closing the windows so the dark air would not foul our apartment. Later I found out it was reams of freed office paper catching the sunlight.

The air cleared and we went to the hospital. We wanted to give blood, to do our part, but we couldn’t. Today I am going to try again.

Join me in giving blood today. You can find a donation center through the Red Cross by clicking here.

Expect a post soon about ways to save money on kitchen renovation! I’ve accumulated a lot of tips.

See you Monday.

~Julia

aka Bargain Babe

Bargain Hubby with Simba

This is a post I never wanted to write, but coming clean seems the best thing to do. I’m writing this post because it no longer makes sense to hide the fact that my husband and I are getting divorced. In the past I have shared stories from my personal life – how I went from jazz to journalism and why I don’t blog on Sept. 11 – but sharing my heartbreak and his had no place on BargainBabe.com. Until now.

I moved out almost a year ago after months – no years – of thinking, and talking, and crying. Day by day, as I examined what had always been in front of me, I realized Bargain Hubby and I were on one path, and I wanted to be on another. So I packed�my things and left.

Starting anew was sad and overwhelming. I am lucky to have a very supportive family and friends who talked and hugged me through each day. More importantly, I am lucky to have married a man who remained as generous and open-hearted in separation as he was in marriage.

I said a private goodbye to Bargain Hubby a few days before my move to Rhode Island and asked him if he had any thoughts on how � if at all � to tell BargainBabe.com readers that we were getting divorced.

�How about an �Ode to Hubby�post?� he said. How about it.

Here is a short list of the many things my husband Andrew taught me. Thank you, Andrew, for many wonderful years. I will remember them fondly.

1. Have fun everyday.
2. Learn how to fight fairly.
3. Ordering the best dish on the menu is an art. (I�m still learning.)
4. Pull over and watch the sunset. It’s worth it.
5. Call muggins when playing cribbage no matter who your opponent is, including your wife the sore loser.
6. Experiment in the kitchen.
7. Think twice before you trash something. (A dirty black poncho doubled as a rain tarp more times than I can recall; wires can make anything happen around the house.)
8. Give hugs liberally.
9. Bring another jacket. (I always get cold.)
10. Ultimate Frisbee really is the greatest sport ever invented by man.
11. Accept your love for who they are and don�t try to change them. If you can�t, you are setting the relationship up for failure.
12. Being with someone who always wants to dance, and I mean always, really is wonderful.
13. Believe in yourself. You are a star.

UPDATE: Thank you, dear readers, for your wonderfully supportive comments. I am touched.

Katie Tegtmeyer/Flickr

I’m taking the rest of the week off and Monday to move to the biggest little state in the union. Yep, I’m headed for Rhode Island. I never thought I’d live on the East Coast again, but my life has changed dramatically in the past 12 months.� I’m taking advantage of my very portable job – I can work anywhere there is a high-speed Internet connection – to be closer to someone I love.

I will still write BargainBabe.com, with fantastic contributions from Yazmin and Bobbi, and blog for WalletPop.com (check daily for new coupons). What will change is my perspective. I expect to write more about stews and comfort food in the winter, for example, and pay closer attention to mitten sales.

I’m going to need your help getting through the summer, too. I’ve never lived in anything but a mega city, and I’m worried living in my new, smallish town is going to be a shock – culturally and financially.

Adjusting means getting to know my local thrift stores, finding the nearest farmer’s market, looking for a discount movie theater, bookmarking the bus and train schedule, and applying for a library card.

What do you look for in a new place to adjust and save money?

If you’d like to watch a news video from the 1980s about my soon-to-be home state, click below. The theme song is catchy. Rhode Island! Rhode Island!

Mike Licht/NotionsCapital.com

I’m in Colorado at the Savvy Blogging Summit and met one of the biggest personal finance bloggers tonight, J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly. He is younger and funnier than I imagined. Also, he likes to read books in the bathtub and is a cat fanatic. J.D. has been a blogger for 13 years and shared six blogging secrets.

• be yourself
• tell stories
• assume nobody is reading your blog (write freely) and that everyone is reading your blog (even “anonymous” blogs can hurt people)
• have fun
• do what works for you
• become a good writer and continue honing your skills (J.D. recommended If you want to write, by Brenda Ueland)

The conference is two days, Friday and Saturday. Sessions will cover writing, media, monetization, SEO, and a lot of other interesting topics (at least to bloggers). I already got one great idea for a new type of post that I hope to make a regular feature.

Note: this video has nothing to do with saving money, it’s just fun.

newyorkinsider/Flickr

If you are looking to grow your business, reinvent yourself at 50, or bring out the best in your children, consider applying to be in a new video series with Barbara Corcoran, real estate mogul (pictured above). The video series will appear on AOL and WalletPop.com, which I blog for, and address these ten topics:

1. Presenting yourself in the best light (Dress & Public Speaking)
2. Developing Your Company�s Vision / How to Brand
3. Adept Hiring (and Adept Firing)
4. Doing Your Homework for meetings
5. Recognizing When to Move On
6. Starting Up Pitfalls
7. Bringing Out the Best in your Children
8. How to Blow Up Your Business in the Blogosphere
9. Creating Robust Partnerships
10. Reinventing Yourself at 50

As the “real person” in the video, you’ll ask a question that Barbara will answer. Each video will be between 5 and 7 minutes long. If you are in NY, you can go into AOL’s studio or you can appear via Skype. The folks producing the series are looking for a mix of men and women from around the country who may be small business owners, workers with a dream, or people trying to make a living and have a life.

If you are interested, please send the following information to walletpopbc@gmail.com.

Name
Address
Employment situation (employed, self-employed, stay-at-home-mom, etc.)
Internet Connection and webcam availability (and Skype name)
Email and phone
Question you�d like to ask

inju/Flickr

This post has nothing to do with saving money but it’s awfully funny. Thanks to reader Glenn for submitting this collection of unfortunate newspaper headlines.