Welcome to the Hop & Win Book Blast!

This is all part of a fun event hosted by author Lori Verni-Fogarsi (LoriTheAuthor) during a special promotion of her novel, “Momnesia.”

MOMNESIA (mahm-nee-zhuh) -noun-

Loss of the memory of who you used to be. Caused by pregnancy, play dates, and trying to keep the house cleaner than the Joneses.

“Momnesia,” which has been recognized in two awards, is the story of an average suburban mom who, feeling invisible under all the responsibilities of caring for her family, sets about finding balance between her “momminess” and her “sexiness.” She does find some adventure pursuing her own interests, but it isn't until she tosses the Invisible Rule Book altogether that she discovers life—and love—have more to offer than she ever imagined!

During this special promotion, there are all sort of fun things going on. (EVENT DATES ARE 8/12 THROUGH 8/19/13) Hope you'll enjoy them all!

• “Momnesia” is on sale for only $1.99 in Kindle format! Find it here!
• “Momnesia” is on sale for for only $5 per paperback! Find it here!
• Treasure Hunt! Visit the blogs in the Linky List below and gather their treasure hunt words. For each one you collect, you'll get an extra entry to win Lori's “Find Yourself… In a Good Book” Prize Pack! By the way my Treasure Hunt Word is: EVEREST.
• Buy the book during this promotion and get five extra entries! Send your e-receipt to LoriTheAuthor “at” gmail “dot” com. Put MOMNESIA RECEIPT in subject line.
• Enjoy a special article by Lori: Five Unusual Money-Saving Tips, below!

Win a Prize Pack which includes huge shopping tote, mouse pad, stiletto necklace, desk pad, owl pin and more !

1. Use this Linky List to visit all the blogs and find their treasure hunt words.

2. Use this Rafflecopter to enter the treasure hunt words to be entered to win the Prize Pack! a Rafflecopter giveaway

3. If you buy the book, don't forget to send your receipt to LoriTheAuthor “at” gmail “dot” com to receive 5 extra entries!

4. Article: “Five Unusual Money-Saving Tips” from Lori Verni-Fogarsi (LoriTheAuthor)

In addition to being an author, Lori is also a speaker and small business consultant. Her writing career has included many freelance article for mainstream magazines and newspapers… including articles on home finance!

In addition, she is a happily married mom of two, step mom of two more, and has two cats, both rotten. Needless to say, her expenses are huge, leading her to continuously seek savings ideas that are outside the norm.

Five Unusual Money-Saving Tips

1. Don't be “a sleeper!”: You may be surprised that certain things you pay for on an ongoing basis may have changed over the years. Some perfect examples of this include life insurance premiums, cable, and phone bills. Let's face it… the companies are not going to call you and say “we now have a cheaper offering for the same service.” Instead, do an annual review of all your bills. Call the companies and see if their current offerings are better. I've seen people save up to $500 a year by doing this!

2. Think of savings as annual, not daily or monthly: Tiny savings on a regular basis may not seem “worth it” to do. For example, let's say you use coupons or buy things on sale when you do your food shopping. And let's say (you are a real person who is not on a television show) you save only $9 per week by doing it. You may feel like the time and effort you put into clipping the coupons or buying the sale items isn't worth it. But add it up over a year… $9 X 52 = $468. saved in a year!

3. Think ahead, creatively: This one saves both money AND time/aggravation! When you find a great item on sale–and you're POSITIVE you're going to use it–stock up ahead of time! An example I've done for years has been buying these cool educational kits at Barnes & Noble. (They're near the front of the store.) Often on sale for only $5 each, (normally $15) they are really nice kits and make perfect gifts for the kids' friends' birthday parties! Then, when a party invitation comes in (shockingly, we often receive these at the last minute), we're already set with a gift at the ready!

4. Use up the things you already have: Admit it… under your bathroom sink there are dozens of facial creams, beauty products, shampoos and such that you've either bought or been given as gifts. Under your kitchen sink, you may find an equal number of cleaning products. In your pantry there are probably boxes of snacks (“My kids swore they would eat them, that's why I bought the bulk package!”) and so on. Use them or toss them! Refuse to allow yourself to buy any new beauty products, cleaning products, or snack items until the existing ones are all used up. Can't bring yourself to use them? Toss them! In the end, you will save a ton of money during the month you do this, plus will have the extra benefit of increased space in your home!

5. Make your kids–even little kids–pay for their own stuff: Tired of having your kids ask for gum each and every time you're at the check-out counter? How about when you have to take them into Toys R Us, or even Wal-Mart? It can be extremely helpful to have your kids pay for things with their own money. “Yeah, right! How is my three-year-old supposed to get their own money?” A legitimate question. Of course there are the obvious things, such as birthday or Christmas money they receive from relatives. But they can also earn money by doing jobs around the house. Even a three-year-old can earn two dollars by emptying all the little wastebaskets into the main trash can. Earn a dollar for going around the entire house, finding all the dog's toys, and putting them back in their box. Yes, you are the one to “pay them” this money. However, two lessons are learned: You have to work in order to get things, and purchases have to be worth spending your only money. You may be surprised how they can live with the stuffed animals they already have when faced with having to spend their own $6.99 + tax on the one they see in the store!

I hope you've enjoyed these tips! If you'd like, please comment below with any additional tips you may have, or your thoughts on the tips above!