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Have you ever been completely surprised by someone’s kindness? It happened to me this week.
Let me give you the background. You see, it’s much easier to stick with our budget when school is in session. We have a pretty structured routine for meal planning, normal expenditures and the like. When school is dismissed for the summer, I have a tendency to spend a lot more loosely. Maybe it’s because I am more relaxed. It could also be because we are in “vacation” mode so it somehow doesn’t seem to count (until it does on bills.) When my husband is home, too, we tend to treat ourselves to an out-to-eat meal more often. We travel more often, which is another major expense that we don’t have to factor in during the school year. We are also still chipping away at our debt snowball. So the whole point of this is to explain that we’ve been on a tighter budget for the past couple of weeks….as in the, spend absolutely no money kind of budget.
When I opened the mail on June 3, I noticed an unexpected box from shareasale.com. What could it be? As you may remember from my previous post, I’m a big fan of this affiliate network so I thought maybe I signed up for something and had forgotten. I often share things like the cash bonus posts (email me if you want to know more about those) and referral bonus posts with other bloggers, so it seemed likely that they were sending me something in response to one of those shout-outs.
The top of the box was colorful and proclaimed that it was National Paper Clip Day. I remembered reading that on the ShareASale blog a few days ago. I hadn’t watched the giveaway announcement videos, though, because my computer always gives me an error message on YouTube. Plus I figured I wouldn’t be the winner. So maybe this was something they wanted me to review? I just wasn’t sure.
The enclosed card congratulated me on being the winner of paper clips and…….cash! I looked again inside the box and found a wallet filled with $100!!!!! Tears instantly sprang to my eyes.
Not only was it unexpected, it was also perfect timing. My husband and I had celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary just a few days before, and my birthday was on June 4, the next day. I hadn’t budgeted for these events so they were each just another day. Thanks to Share A Sale, we were able to splurge this week. We took the kids out for snow cones and went out for dinner on my birthday. We made an extra grocery trip and had enough left over to make a donation to a charity. The best part, though, was the blessing of a fun surprise that ShareASale gave us. They reminded me that Forrest Gump was right. Life IS like a box of chocolates. This time I got the caramel filled one.
If you are a blogger and you haven’t joined shareasale yet, what are you waiting for? It is, by far, the best affiliate program that I have found. They just proved it to me again. Thank you, ShareASale!
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9/1 bus
9/2 breakfast
9/3 lunchbox
9/4 calculator
9/5 pencils
9/6 notepads
9/7 scissors
9/8 glue
9/9 backpack
9/10 rulers
9/11 highlighter
9/12 erasers
9/13 sharpener
9/14 folders
9/15 binder
What wonderful gesture and much appreciated surprise; and I would have been tickled with just paperclips! haha
Yes!! Me, too!! I was super excited about the cute paper clips (they also sent some cool blue thumbtacks.) It was such a neat surprise.
What a great story! Like winning the lottery or an extra blessing!
That’s exactly how I felt–like I won the lottery. Plus they sent this really nice handwritten note. It was just all so nice.
OK, that is totally awesome. I need a surprise like this on my doorstep. LOL.
But, yay yay, yay for you! I ned to see if I have signed up for this…I lose track sometimes. I blame it on being overwhelmed by technology but it could be my aging brain. LOL.
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Yes! Go now and check — they are so easy to work with, and I’ll be with them for the life of my blog after this!
Congrats! That is sooooo exciting
wow!! that’s soo awesome!!
xo,
Sandy
Sandy a la Mode
Aww, how cute, congratulations!
Congratulations! on your anniversary, and Happy Birthday!
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Thank you!! 🙂 We believe in consolidating all of our events, LOL.
Aww that is fantastic! Congratulations and Happy Anniversary & Happy Birthday ..Belated!
Thank you 🙂
Very cool. I will have to check out Share a Sale too.
OH that is just awesome! Congrats to you! What a special blessing! Happy Anniversay and Birthday! And enjoy!!
Thanks Amber 🙂
Thanks for sharing this with us!
Mitch
Yay! Congrats on your birthday and anniversary! Glad you get to celebrate!
Aw, thanks Dawn! It was fun.
Aw! Congrats on your anniversary and your birthday!! A lot of excitement!
What a great story!! Life is indeed full of surprises 🙂
It was late and I was taking my dog downstairs to go outside at the hotel we were staying at. I saw a young lady ahead and she was in a hurry to get to elevator. That was fine as I don’t usually take the elevator down especially with people. (She’s adopted shelter dog and not always predictable.) Well, the door closed and I was headed for stairs when the elevator door popped open. This young lady pops her head out and says it’s okay you can ride too. I thanked her profusely and told her we needed to take the stairs. I thought that was so nice of her to wait until we got there and then ask if we wanted to ride. Totally unexpected and a blessing to me.
What a blessing you received! I love those kinds of blessings!
That is amazing! What a fantastic surprise!
What a wonderful surprise. Those are the best kind.
wow!! how wonderful was that and such a blessing… I remember such a time having a blessing like that, Just something happening wonderful when you had already thought you lost.. wow!! I say GOD has his way of making things happen…
A co-worker blessed me with 5 scrub tops that she didn’t want.I saved money by not going out to buy new tops and they fit perfect.
the gieway ws neat and then the contest and then i seen it on the net and contact
May you have a week full of good surprises.
I’m not a blogger but, wow, this is such a wonderful story. I’m just so sincerely happy that this happened right when you really needed it. Also, who doesn’t like fun paper-clips?! So cute!
May you have a week filled with nice surprises.
That sounds like it was a wonderful surprise!
What an awesome surprise! Congratulations on your 15th wedding anniversary! That’s wonderful!
How awesome! Congratulations on winning and on your birthday and anniversary!
What a beautiful story and good things always happen to good people. God knows when something is needed and you was in need.
What a beautiful idea and box! I like the theme going with the day. Today is Be an Angel Day and goes right along with this. Sweet gestures to brighten someone’s day.
What a cool surprise! 🙂
I like the colorful paperclip illustrations!