Hello everybody, my name is Kristin and I will be helping Lori stay on top of things around here while our dearest Patricia is MIA.  I wanted to just make a quick post to say hi to everybody and tell you a little about myself.  I am currently at work, at the nation’s largest textbook distributor.  November is pretty much the doldrums of this industry so I will do my best to have up to the minute information for you on hot deals and specials! I am in the middle of deer season, though, so I will not be posting on weekends as I spend most of that time in a tree in the freezing cold (though my husband still manages to keep up to date on his blackberry while in the tree!)

As Patricia mentioned, I have a sweet baby named Bob (yes that’s his real name) who is 8 months old. One thing I thought I might do in my time here is put special emphasis on any baby deals that come along. I have a monster diaper stockpile thanks to Wags so I’ll keep you posted on any I see.

So that’s my little hello! I think we’ll have a good time for the next two months and if you have any questions or things you’d like to see highlighted, please let me know!

N.B. Before you read this post, click on this link and let the sweet, sweet sound of Chantal Kreviazuk’s rendition of Leaving on a Jet Plane be the background music.

Well my faithful readers, I’m OFF!

Time to take the 2-hour drive to the airport and possibly stop by the Wentzville Walgreens (If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you know that I would do it ) Afterall, I gotta get my last dose of Walgreens because TWO MONTHS is a long time…we’ll see how keen my husband is about the idea.

Next time I post it’ll be in a whole different continent/country/island/time zone/hemisphere! Woah. I’m hoping for a safe and smooth trip (STL to LAX to MELB to ADL). With the beauty that is time zone differences, in my world, November 24th will actually not exist. I leave today, November 23rd and land in Australia on November 25th. I guess I won’t be suffering Mondayitis this coming week

Know that I will miss the regular blogging, reading your helpful and encouraging comments and most importantly, your brilliant saving schemes and scenarios (you ALL help me as much as you think I help you out!). I know that Lori and Kristin will be fantastic FWTR blogsitters - so keep the conversations/sharing coming via the comments and keep FWTR alive. And you know that I’ll just be a keyboard away (albeit on the other side of the world).

And finally, I thought I’d put this out there: if you have any questions about Australia that you’d like me to answer for you feel free to leave a comment or email me. I will have my trusty camera with me at all times and I’d be more than happy to pictorially show you how “things are done” Down Under. I’m very proud of my island home and would love to share it with you all.

Farewell everyone!
Patricia xox

The past few months I’ve received quite a few emails and comments from FWTR readers regarding some non-coupon/Walgreens related aspects of this blog. I would now like to take a few minutes to answer the two most popular questions I receive:

1. What do you use to design FWTR?
   Unfortunately, I didn’t design a large majority of the graphics you see on FWTR. I wish I was that talented. For one, I obtained the Wordpress theme you see here from Design Disease - for free, of course. Most of the graphics, I got them through the Freebies section of Smashing Magazine. While other graphics also come from Digital Scrapbooking freebies I’ve acquired all over the Internet. The only real design I do is when I manipulate some of the banners. I get fancy fonts and make banners/buttons. That’s the extent of my designing skills and it’s mainly thanks to the gem that is Photoshop.

   If you’re thinking about starting your own blog and want to do it on the cheap, have a look at all the resources available to you online. As long as you comply with the rules stated by the creator of the theme/graphics you plan to use, it’s all a breeze from there. The only part of this blog that we’ve paid for is for our domain fees for www.entempore.com (which is a domain my husband has owned even before I met and married him).
   
   

2. How much money do you earn by running FWTR?
   Not much The only advertising I utilize is Google Adsense. Affiliate programs wise, I have Amazon & Doteasy (where our domain is listed with) but neither one has provided me with any $$$. By far Google Adsense has been the most profitable for me. Since August 26th, FWTR has managed to earn $56. Not bad in my opinion.

   I realize that I could monetize my blog a whole lot more. Afterall, there are about 101 Affiliate Programs around in the blog world. But due to personal choice I’ve decided not to pursue that avenue. So unfortunately, I don’t really have much advice in this department - in terms of which programs are good and worthwhile. All I can say is I like Google Adsense.

There you have it! Hope that answers some questions. If you have any questions on either topic, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below. I’m happy to share other specific resources you might be interested in. Likewise, if you have a blog and would like to share your knowledge to other reasons, please share your experience to others.

Love FWTR? Love Walgreens deals? Love/want to blog about it? Well, here’s the opportunity you’ve been waiting for!

It is very likely that I will be leaving for Australia in the next 2 weeks. Yeah, I know! Therefore, I’m in a bit of a mad rush to try to organize ways to keep From Wags to Riches going during my absence and I’m hoping some FWTR readers will be able to help me out.

I’m looking at having 2-3 Blogsitters while I’m away, to keep the updates coming and keeping your fellow readers informed. I will have access to FWTR while I’m on the other Hemisphere of the world, but I won’t be able to post all the time sensitive deals (eg. $5 coupons) thanks to time zone differences. With the beauty of “Scheduled Posts”, I can do the weekly ad previews and RR deals but that’s about it. And I’m sure that there’ll be days/weeks where I’ll just be totally engrossed in cuddling my sweet newborn niece

So if you’re interested, please email me and put your name forward. I welcome anyone who would like to share your Walgreens deals and be willing to blog about your Walgreens adventures - much the same way I do it right now. If you’re familiar with Wordpress that is a definite bonus but if you’re not, don’t be discouraged. Wordpress is so easy to get the hang of as long as you’re pretty computer literate. Plus we’ve got the next couple of weeks to give you a crash course In my opinion, all you really need for this position is ENTHUSIASM for saving and Walgreens!

I hope to hear from a couple of you, my faithful readers! Thank you in advance! Love you all