If there's one true piece of advice I could offer to any blogger, it would be to choose your blogging platform carefully.  There are several viable options out there, but I have to say wholeheartedly, that I would recommend using WordPress.  When I first began blogging one year ago, I started out using Blogger.  I mean, it was free and very easy to use...perfect, right?  Not until just three weeks after I began, Blogger shut me down...without warning, and without reason.  All of my followers, my posts, EVERYTHING was gone.  What sounds like a horrendous experience, actually turned out to be one of the most fortuitous, for I ran to WordPress and to my own self-hosted site.  Blogger eventually reinstated my blog, but by that time, I was already happily blogging on WordPress.

If you are just starting out in the blogosphere, I would recommend putting a lot of time and thought into the theme you choose and make sure you are running a self-hosted site on WordPress.  One of the awesome features of WordPress is the myriad of FREE plugins available, which can do almost anything under the sun.  I wanted to include my list of absolute favorite WordPress plugins, which I think every blogger should check out.  Without further ado, here they are:

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Each year in the U.S., more than 2,000 children under the age of 14 die as a result of a home injury, according to Safe Kids USA, a non-profit organization.

“Parents often underestimate their kids’ abilities and overestimate their intelligence,” says Chrissy Cianflone, Director of Program Operations at Safe Kids USA. “They think, my child’s too smart to do X and they often don’t realize how strong their kids are.”

There are so many things to think about as you safe-proof your home to protect small children that it’s easy to overlook important risks.

Most people are aware of common safety measures like covering your electrical outlets, keeping your child away from hot stoves and watching them like a hawk as they bathe, but there are other dangers that don’t readily come to mind.

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Greetings everyone!  I hope you're having a great week so far.  I wanted to write this post because I decided to take this blog in a little different direction.  Actually, a few days out of every week, I am going to be dedicating myself to helping those of you out there do a little better in this tough economy, by sharing some tips that I have found to be EXTREMELY FRUITFUL!

I want to turn you on to a way to stretch your dollar and possibly bring some excitement and luxuries into your life that you might not otherwise be able to afford.  So, what the heck am I talking about?  Not a get rich scheme, no pyramid scams, but online SWEEPSTAKES and CONTESTS!  That's right!

Read on, to hear all about how sweepstakes and contests on the internet have helped my family out TREMENDOUSLY since I quit my job as a Science teacher and became a stay-at-home mom to our first child, Riley.

My motive was simple enough.  I wanted to be able to quit my job when I had my first child, so that I could raise her myself.  Now, my husband and I were very unsure of how we could make ends meet if I quit my job, but we both agreed that raising Riley at home was a top priority.  When I quit, my own personal goal was to stretch our family budget as far as it would go.  I tried everything including clipping coupons, sending away for freebies and rebates, cooking every meal instead of eating out, etc.

I even tried a few "work at home" opportunities, but frankly, I found most of these to be either scams or not worth my time.  I even tried the survey racket and although I hear how many people make a lot of money doing those, it never seemed to work out for me.  It wasn't until I discovered sweepstakes, that I actually found something I liked doing and was worthwhile, monetarily.

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