Tonight we’re installing a new design for Nicole’s Nickels! Please pardon the dust – there may be periods where things don’t look right.  Don’t worry – it’ll all be fixed soon! I hope you’ll enjoy the new design, I think it’ll make the site easier to navigate and read.  Let me know what you think!

My new design is now up and running.  If you read my blog in a reader or via an email subscription, click on over to take a look!

You should recognize the colors but that’s about it! The navigation bar at the top is extensive and there are more categories that should hopefully be more helpful to you all.

Please let me know what you think or if you have any questions about where things are located now.

Please be advised that I am changing the design of the site today.  If you access the site and it looks funny or isn’t working properly, it should be fixed soon!

I am excited about the changes and think it will be easier for you to navigate the site.  Let me know what you think!

Today is the 1 year anniversary of the start of Nicole’s Nickels! My very first post was February 8, 2009 but it wasn’t until February 14, 2009 that I posted something more substantial and started spreading the word that I had started a blog.  I have learned so much in a year and truly love helping you all save and make money!

So, 1,340 posts later…thank you for reading and supporting this blog!

As part of my participation on the Bumble Bee Bee Squad, I receive periodic emails from Bumble Bee.  My participation doesn’t require me to post anything but I did find the most recent email fromt hem very interesting and definitely worth sharing.  Bumble Bee’s public relations people conducted a poll in August of 2009 with a representative consumer sample to ask about spending habits.

The results don’t surprise me at all – do they surprise you?

• 81% of consumers are spending more or the same on groceries as they were 2 years ago
• 50% plan their meals in advance
• almost 25% throw away 10% or more of items due to spoilage
• respondents spend on average $120 per week on groceries
• 65% are using coupons to reduce costs

Bumbel Bee did this survey as a measure to see if more people are using canned proteins in their meals because of the recession.  It would seem likely that they are but only 25% of the respondents answered that way.  Canned proteins are less expensive than their fresh counterparts and offer just as healthy of an alternative if purchased packed in water. 

The bottom line to me is that people aren’t changing their habits they way they should be.  I was in line at Walmart behind a woman using a food stamp card.  Her cart was full of non-sale brand name items and made me cringe.  I gave her my card and can only hope she will check out Nicole’s Nickels.  With just a little planning she could have had twice as many items in her cart and made her assistance stretch even further, which I am sure she would have appreciated.  So ma’am, I hope you’re reading!

I have seen how the devastating earthquake in Haiti has touched the lives of those around me.  The area where I live has a large Haitian community and I have Haitian co-workers and clients who have lost loved ones.  My heart is so heavy for them and for the people of Haiti.  The scope of the tragedy is hard to grasp and I have felt the need to help and take action since I first heard about it minutes after it happened.

The blogging community is a large one with a collective sense of giving and responsibility.  Bloggers today are banding together to support Haiti in their critical time of need.  I am pledging to donate $2.00 for every blogger who links to a post describing what they personally did to help Haiti by the end of the day tomorrow, Saturday, January 16, 2010 (up to $250).

If you don’t have a blog, I will also donate $.25 for every comment left on this post by the end of the day tomorrow, Saturday, January 16, 2010 (up to $250).

I am choosing to donate to Missionary Flights International, a group based out of Fort Pierce, Florida (where I live) that flies every week to Haiti.  They have increased their flights in the wake of the tragedy and are looking for toiletries and light food (i.e. not canned) as well as money for the fuel costs.  One flight is 1,000 gallons of fuel at $5 per gallon.  If you live locally, you can take items and donations directly to the hangar at the St Lucie Airport in Fort Pierce.  There are also drop-off points throughout the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County.  I would also recommend the Red Cross or Yele as organizations you could donate to.  If you don’t have money to donate, please consider donating items from your pantry or your closet. 

You may have noticed a new look to the blog this morning (hey you, reading from a reader, click on over to see what I am talking about!). After months of protest, I have given in and moved my blog from Blogger to WordPress.  From my perspective, WordPress gives me many more options and from your perspective, my blog should be easier to navigate! A win for all of us.

To make a long story short, the main blog address will be http://www.nicolesnickels.com .  If you use the .net it will redirect to the .com.  The old blogspot address will no longer work so change your bookmarks! Feed subscribers should not be affected by the changes.

As with any new venture there may be some kinks.  If you find something that doesn’t work the way you think it should or have  a question please either leave a comment on the post or send me an email (nicolesnickels@gmail.com).  I am going to be adding a separate page for my Holiday Gift Guide and will give more information on that when it launches on Monday.  Hope you all are excited about all of this as I am!

Lands’ End has joined forces with the National Coalition for the Homeless to start the campaign called The Big Warm-up. The Big Warm-up provides an opportunity for people across the nation to donate a gently used coat that will then go on to warm one of more than 3.5 million homeless women, men and children in the United States right now – each facing a cold winter.

Beginning October 29 until November 30, Lands’ End is hosting Big Warm-up coat donation sites at its 252 Lands’ End Shops at Sears and 13 Lands’ End Inlets®. Donated coats will be distributed via the National Coalition for the Homeless in communities nearby. Lands’ End is also giving 20 percent off the purchase of a new coat for each one donated. Please consider going through your closets and donating your gently used coats to help support this wonderful campaign!

Writing this post also entered me into a contest where if I win, Lands’ End will donate 100 coats to the charity of my choice!

I meant to post this earlier but time got away from me. I found out a few weeks ago that I had been selected to be a DealPro for savings.com. Along with 24 other bloggers, I was flown to San Francisco where I attended the Save Up Event last week.

The Save Up Event was a great one-day event where I got to meet like-minded DealPros like myself! I was excited to meet bloggers whose blogs I have been following for a long time and of course to finally meet Coupon Dad, who I felt like I already knew!We had a great time and learned a lot about savings.com, a phenomenal website I will blog more about at a later date. We had a full agenda of panel discussions, roundtable discussions, lots of food and lots of laughs! I came back from the trip exhausted but exhilarated, having met people just like me who also have a passion for deals!

Savings.com pulled out all the stops for us on the trip and we felt like savings royalty! I’m excited to get more involved in their community-based website where users work together to find and share the best deals.

As a DealPro, I received an all-expense paid trip to San Francisco sponsored by savings.com. They did not ask me to write this post or do anything in exchange for the trip. My opinions remain my own.

I posted last month about how Frigidaire and Jennifer Garner have teamed up in a great campaign called Make Time For Change where when you pledge to use the extra hour we gained this week to make change for children!

I just wanted to remind everyone to head over to Frigidaire and make your pledge – it’s for a great cause!

To make your pledge, just go to the Frigidaire website and raise your hand to make time for a child. In honor of your pledge, Frigidaire will donate $1 to support the CHANGE program to help children in the US. Also, everyone who pledges their time will also be entered to win a Frigidaire Professional Double Wall Oven. Also, for every Frigidaire Professional Wall Oven purchased, Frigidaire will donate $100 to the CHANGE program as part of their $250,000 committment to support this extraordinary program.