Crazy busy, I mean crazy, crazy busy!!

This week has been super busy with one thing and another.  

As with most things in life everything happens at once.  When I booked our trip to Britain, I said it'll be "sod's law" and we'll end up selling the house and having to buy another one all at the same time.

Well; we have an offer on the house.  We went back and forward with that at the beginning of the week.  We ended up accepting the offer, BUT the buyers still have theirs to sell.  Where it is at it shouldn't be a problem, but who knows?

Meanwhile we have no where to go and are going on vacation in a week or so's time.  Fast forward until today and I have narrowed down my selection of houses to ONE; BUT and there always is a but they want way more for it than it's worth and there is a bit of work to do on it.  So we are going for another look today (Friday) and we'll go from there.

The closing date for our house is October 31st, so only 60 days which isn't long when you go away on vacation in between hands!!

I also committed to send 10 knitting kits up North for a women's/girl's group, so have been busy putting them together.  Finally got that done, as they will be starting the Fall session soon, will do a post tomorrow on those.

Then we to get ready to go on vacation, plus I want to see all the grand children, they are heading up on Sunday with parents for a get together, so that will be 10 adults, 5 kids and a baby.

The home inspection is being done on Monday, so need to get the house tidied up for that.  Small children are like little tornado's and it's amazing where their sticky hand prints end up!

I still have photos to sort through and print out to take with us.  Still have a few things to buy to take with us.  Did get all paperwork sorted to take with us and got cash converted over. 

I know there are a hundred and one other things to do; I need to make a list😉

New project I am working on...

I am putting together along with my friend Angie this learning to knit project bags for the women (and possibly men) in Northern Canada.

I am making small project bags, and inside of them I am putting a simple knitted hat pattern, a ball of yarn, a stitch marker and a pair of small circular needles.  All in all enough to make an adult knitted hat. 

Angie is going to donate the needles, and will also be asking her store patrons for donations for the needles.  I will supply the rest and the shipping; unless anyone wants to donate some items?

I wanted to use the circular needles as they fit really well in the project bags.

I will be putting together 10 sets for this first shipment and hope to get them off by the beginning of September.  I haven't made up my mind yet, exactly who will be getting them, as there are a couple of options.  I am not sure to donate to the elderly or to younger girls/women?

Any input would be welcome?

My first shipment to the Uquutaq Society

I cashed in my Swagbucks for a $25 Amazon e-card and put together an order for the Uquutaq Society.  Must say I had fun figuring out what to send up to Iqaluit and stay within my budget.

I decided to concentrate on the Homeless men this time and included the following:

3 packs of 10 disposable razors

 2 packs of 10 bars of soap

 12 washcloths

 2 boxes Ziploc plastic bags (15 per box) to put above items in.

This little lot cost me out of pocket $22.94 which was $2.94 over my $20 budget, but never mind it was worth it.  I read online that one of the things the homeless have on their wish lists are things to keep themselves clean.  Which is why I chose those things.  I may concentrate on toothbrushes and toothpaste next time.

Now I have to build up my Swagbucks points back to 2,000 before I can cash in and send off my next box to them.  I am at just over 100 points, so a bit to go yet!!😊

I am also putting together another box of things to send up North which I'll post about soon.

If anyone else wants to put together a box of things for the homeless click here to read about what they are looking for and their address.

Using Swagbucks to help others....

I have been a member of Swagbucks for a number of years now, and have earned nearly 148,000 Swagbucks since joining.  I cash all mine out for Amazon e-cards, and for us in Canada 2,000 Swagbucks = $25 in Amazon e-cards.

I enjoy doing the surveys on Swagbucks and you are rewarded for you time.  There is also the daily polls and watching new items and other things also earns you Swagbucks.  You can also earn points buy visiting sites and buying things via the Swagbucks site.

It's like those money back sites, but in this case you get Swagbucks.  Some of the online sites I buy from are Amazon, The Gap, Book Outlet, and all give me Swagbucks back.  

There are daily codes you can earn Swagbucks from and also when you do a search using their search bar, you can earn Swagbucks there as well.  

Overall there are many ways to earn Swagbucks.

Recently I have become very interested in helping others in Northern Canada and have joined a Facebook Site called Northern Canada Mini Projects.  Various organizations in Northern Canada are requesting items for various projects.

I sent a box of books up for a Summer Literacy programme via Book Outlet.  They are looking for sponsors for a Thanksgiving Extravaganza for the Elders in Taloyoak.  There is a programme to help the homeless in Iqaluit.  Plus many more for children, women, for soup kitchens and general needs.

One of the issues I find though with helping people in Northern Canada are the shipping costs.  Unless you can find one of the flat rate boxes which I talked about on this post, it is super expensive so any way to save on shipping costs is a HUGE help.

So this is why I am talking about Swagbucks today.  As Amazon does ship free of charge on orders over $35 to certain areas in Northern Canada.  Iqaluit being one of those places.  So it is a win, win situation for all.  As I am sure like me every penny we earn we need for something, but we all want to help others as much as we can.  So why not use the Swagbucks we earn to cash in for Amazon e-cards and order things off, of Amazon and send them up north?

I tend to cash my Swagbucks in when I reach 2,000 and get a $25 e-card.  Think of all the toiletries I could send up the the Uquutaq Society who looks after the Homeless in Iqaluit, and it would only cost me $20.  For example I could purchase a 10 pack of Ivory soap for $3.96.  If I buy ten packages, so 100 bars of soap for $39.60 + the 13% taxes = $44.75.  Use my $25 Amazon e-card I got from Swagbucks and it is less than $20 out of pocket.

If you would like to join Swagbucks , you can click here, or if you would like to join using my referral link it's here.  If you have any questions about Swagbucks please ask away and I will do my best to answer them.  You can access Swagbucks via your mobile phone; I personally do not do that and just use it on my home computer.  

If you are on your computer or mobile phone on a daily basis you may as well use the Swagbucks site and earn Swagbucks while on there.

Would you like to help?

Back here I posted about the Northern Birthday Box Project, where you are matched with a child in Nunavut and you send up a box of items for them to have a birthday party.  I got a message that the box was received took under two weeks, so pleased about that.

Through that site I discovered another Facebook group called Northern Canada Mini Projects.  This group deals with different projects in different areas of the far north.  Again you do have to join the group to see all the posts and get further details on what they are looking for.

Some of the projects are:

Naujaat Summer Literacy Help

Inuvik Feast and Foodbank Sale

Northern Manitoba Little Ladies Club <3 span="">

Good Hope NWT Summer of Fun and Fitness Support needed

Hall Beach and Clyde River Food Bank Fundraiser Sale

Attawapiskat Summer Art and Baking Supplies Request

Port Good Hope NWT Warm Clothing and Elderwear Drive

Active Soup Kitchen Support (Sandy Lake, Baker Lake and Attawapiskat)

Active Food Bank Support

Rankin Inlet Women’s Shelter

Rankin Inlet--Adult Group Home

Sandy Lake Clothing Drive

Seeds of Love/ Greenhouse Support

Arctic Bay Women’s and Art Classes Help needed

I decided to donate to the Naujaat Summer Literacy Programme.  I ordered a number of books from Book Outlet Canada as they are having a 25% off sale on children's books and they offer free shipping in Canada with orders over $45.  If I had, had to pay for the shipping it would have been another $50.........so not going to happen😏

All are worthy causes and there are many more.  Amazon does deliver to certain places up North free of charge with a minimum order.  Walmart charges $10 and a number of the clothing stores deliver free of charge again with a minimum order.

So especially people who read this and are in Canada please think about helping out in some way; even if it is just posting a link to this blog post of mine on your blog page or on your Facebook page.  Every little helps.

Another little thing I am doing is making bookmarks for the kids using scraps of fabric I have on hand.......and believe me I have a lot!!

What you need is:

2 pieces of fabric (or scraps of fabric) 2 1/4 inches by 6 inches
1 piece of card stock paper, or light cardboard 1 1/2 inches by 5 1/4 inches
Piece of trim/ribbon/lace 5 inches

This is what it looks like when done:

That was just a sample to see what the pattern turned out like.  If you need more detail on how to make these let me know and I'll explain it step by step.

Now to make a pile more and pop them into an envelope and ship up north.