I posted on Facebook today that I was surprised the Keurig winner just wrote “thank you” in the email they sent me. Maybe it wasn’t fair to compare that to the email we received earlier this week from a coupon winner that wrote two paragraphs thanking us for the $5 free product coupon but I did compare. I shared what I thought and what so many bloggers feel yet fail to share when a giveaway winner just doesn’t share their excitement for a prize. I hope that everyone knows and understands that if we blogged for thank yous, I would have given up the minute I started way back in 2009! We, as so many bloggers, just hope to see the same excitement we have carry over to our winners because we are truly excited about what we do and the opportunity to offer giveaways. All that being said since so many of you are new here, I thought I would share why we write.
We write because we love to write.
I know that sounds silly but if we didn’t love writing, we wouldn’t be writing here at Simply Budgeted. The fact that we get to share our lives, our finds, and so much with you is a wonderful blessing that we never expected to have!
Then why do we offer giveaways?
We do this because we like to show our appreciation to our readers. Many veteran bloggers have stopped offering giveaways just because of the amount of added effort and frustration they cause. I will admit we have discussed drastically reducing the giveaways we offer for just that reason and it is still on the table for discussion.
We offer the giveaways for YOU not because they make us money or even for the products. A giveaway for a coupon is honestly not worth the time I put coordinating the giveaway, writing the post, promoting the post, and closing out the giveaway. I should probably be cleaning … or organizing the basement … or maybe I should just take that time and read but I love the opportunity to share with others and I know in some cases that coupon makes a big difference for the winner. If you knew how many giveaways I had to turn away this month, you might be shocked. This is the first time I have had to turn so much down. We just didn’t have the time to even start to offer them all and with each one I turned down I felt a little guilty as I am sure it is something that one of our readers could have really used. But our time for Simply Budgeted is very limited.
Oh and the giveaways we offer with other bloggers generally cost us money out of pocket to offer. We participate in those giveaways because we love the prizes being offered and want to offer a FUN giveaway instead of a work giveaway. The Keuirg giveaway was just that, a blogger coordinated giveaway that did not involve the brand at all. Each participating blogger PAID to participate because they wanted to offer that giveaway to their readers before the holidays. That is a bloggers way of say thanks.
But this is your business …
Yes, it is. We made the decision in July 2011 that Simply Budgeted would be a part time business. Brian runs the business … he has the business major so it fits. I essentially work for free just because I love the writing and organizing of blogging. For now, this fits in our life because he can run this business as he has time … not sure how he has time as a stay at home dad to three kids but he finds the time to manage the business side. This isn’t a dream come true though as Brian’s dream job is teaching high school social studies and that hasn’t changed. He isn’t in a classroom because there are no local jobs. We saw an opportunity though and Simply Budgeted became a HUGE blessing to our family just when we needed it. Simply Budgeted lets us make ends meet while we are paying off debt … because at the end of the day we are a budgeted family. If you are here reading this then you understand that you do what you have to do as a family to make your budget work … we just happen to share how that happens here in a public space. (Psst … you can too if you want!)
We know we are blessed. We are very blessed in what we have here at Simply Budgeted. We appreciate each and every one of our readers. You make this site what it is. But honestly, if we didn’t have you or the business side, we would keep writing just because the opportunity to share with everyone is a unique gift we have with today’s technology. We wouldn’t be offering giveaways for sure or even posting as much but we would still be here because it is our place to write and share.
I haven’t decided if the comments will be left open on this post or not. If they are closed, it isn’t anything personal but is because this is an explanation … not a debate.
Thanks for being one of our special readers. We enjoy interacting with you on an almost daily basis!!