If you’re new to Savvy Brown welcome to the party! If you’ve been here for a while, I’m sure things look a little different. After receiving some suggestions from some of you, having code issues, and problems posting, I decided to streamline things a bit.

What’s New at SB

New Buttons – At the top of the page, above the search window you can easily now see where you can email me, subscribe to the blog, become a fan on facebook or follow me on twitter. Just put your cursor over the icons and they’ll tell you what to do!http://savvybrown.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=2999&message=10

Savvy Shop – Also, there’s a bright new button in the sidebar to the right I designed for the Savvy Shop! So if you’ve been wondering where to find a lot of the affordable items I talk about here in the blog, click the big colorful shopping cart and start browsing!

Grab my Badge – And by popular demand you can now grab my badge and put it on your site letting everyone know how Savvy you are! If you have a blog or website, just highlight the code next to the badge and paste it tight into the code for your sidebar or wherever you keep your badges! (Thanks for your help Erica!)

One of my favorite new blogs is All Day Natural. MissLycia teaches about everything from when you should throw out your make up to sweet vegan recipes! So I was truly honored when she asked me to do an interview/guest blog post on her site about the benfits of living green and healthy, and how it’s all connected. Check it out and please comment and show her some Savvy love people!

Savvy Brown, Blogger: Spotlight on a Naturalista

If you’re trying to cut back on using paper towels, then using Handi Wipes, Microfiber cloths and Skoy cloths and even sponges are a good option. However, in the kitchen we all want to reduce germs right? So what I do is every couple of days or so I wet my sink sponge, or cloth or whatever I’ve been using to wipe off the counters and stick it in the microwave on high for 30 seconds. (The item being nuked MUST BE WET , trust me on this.) Then at the end of the week, any cloths or dishtowels get sprayed with Hydrogen peroxide and tossed in the washer. Simple, cheap and..(wait for it) Savvy!

The WINNER of the 1st Savvy Brown Subscription Challenge Giveaway is…

ERICA

CONGRATULATIONS!!

What you’ll get…

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Laundry Detergent (64oz.) – Geranium Scent

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Liquid Fabric Softener (32oz.) – Lavender Scent

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Oxygen Bleach (20 oz.)- Lavender Scent

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day makes affordable, natural, cruelty-free, biodegradable, allergen-free cleaning products for all over your home. All of her containers are recyclable and some of her products can be purchased as refills, (so that you’re not constantly throwing away spray bottles!) For more info on Mrs. Meyers click here.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED AND SUBSCRIBED!

PLEASE TELL ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT SAVVY BROWN, AND KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR MORE TIPS, IDEAS AND GIVEAWAYS!

Note: The winner of this giveaway was chose randomly using Random.org

(it’s kind of like and electronic way of picking a name out of a hat)

This has been a big week here at Savvy Brown. My First Giveaway, and now my First Interview! The lovely Fleurtzy of Texture Playground (it’s in my links section on the sidebar) has a lovely hair and lifestyle blog. She interviewed me by email and now I’m featured in her “Who’s Who” Section. Check it out and leave her some comments! Other bloggers need love too!

Thank you to all my new subscribers!  This giveaway is now officially over. I will announce the winner on Sat. Feb. 6th!

The Savvy Brown Subscription Challenge Giveaway!

I want to thank all of you who are following me on Facebook and Twitter, and those of you who have visited this blog everyday since I launched it.

In appreciation of your feedback and your insight I invite you to take part in this blog’s first giveaway!

The Dates: Jan.31-Feb. 5

The prize: Mrs. Meyer’s Cleaning Day Laundry Products!

(and not the sample sizes either)

Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Products

What you’ll get…

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Laundry Detergent (64oz.) – Geranium Scent

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Liquid Fabric Softener (32oz.) – Lavender Scent

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Oxygen Bleach (20 oz.)- Lavender Scent

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day makes affordable, natural, cruelty-free, biodegradable, allergen-free cleaning products for all over your home. All of her containers are recyclable and some of her products can be purchased as refills, (so that you’re not constantly throwing away spray bottles!) For more info on Mrs. Meyers click here.

The Giveaway Rules

1. Become a Savvy Brown subscriber for FREE* by clicking on the link below and follow the directions

Subscribe to Savvy Brown

2. Come back to THIS post and leave a comment telling everyone what day you became a subscriber!** ex.- Hi everybody, I’m (first name or handle only), and I subscribed on Feb. _, 2010

3. On Friday, Feb. 5th, a winner will be chosen at random. The winner will have 48hrs to contact me, otherwise another winner will be chosen.

*For more info on what a subscription means, check out What is RSS? and Why should I subscribe?

**Make SURE you comment using a working email address, otherwise I can’t contact you!

Good luck everybody!

I’ve had several people ask me 3 questions since I launched this blog…
1. How much is a subscription to your site?
2. What is that RSS thing on the right side of your blog?
3. If I subscribe to your site, how does that help you?

Answers:
1. Subscribing to this site is FREE. What subscribing allows you to do is to read  all of the posts (articles) from this site sent to one central location. A subscription “feed” converts all of the information from a blog posting or website  into text. (Kind of like email) You can easily scan the latest post to see if you’re interested in reading it or not. If you are, just click on the title of the post you’re interested in and it takes you right to that page on the blog itself. It’s really helpful once you subscribe to more than one blog, or site because everything is laid out nice and neat for you to read in one place as opposed to opening each blog page separately. I personally subscribe to all of the links listed in the Savvy Links section plus the New York Times, CNN and a few others.

The best part? You don’t have to give up any personal information, or pay any money, you can’t get “spammed” and you can unsubscribe at ANY time with just a click. You can even tell it to send you feeds directly to your inbox. See? Simple.

2. RSS stands for “Rich Site Summary” or “Really Simple Syndication”. When you click on the icon that looks like this . it will take you to another page with a list of posts from this site and at the top will say something like “Subscribe to this feed using..” and next to it will be a little pull down menu that allows you to choose what application you would like to use to read the feed. It will list free readers powered by popular search engines that you can sign up with such as My Yahoo, Bloglines, and Google Reader. Many other sites, like msn, bing,  allow you to use one of these readers too!

3. The more subscribers the blog has the more visibility Savvy will get. With more visibility, comes higher web ranking and advertsing. Then I can offer more things to my readers, like guest bloggers, video how-tos, podcasts and even subscriber-only discounts and promotions!

So please subscribe to this blog today by clicking the link in the right column titled “Subscribe to Savvy Brown”

http://www.whatisrss.com/
http://www.copyblogger.com/what-the-heck-is-rss/
http://searchenginewatch.com/3531486

I’m always looking for ways to save money, look good, keep my house clean, and keep my weight down. But I’ve decided to challenge myself by minimizing the use of anything unhealthy in or on my body, or in my house. Even if I have to make it myself.

So I ask the questions…
Isn’t it possible to save ourselves AND the planet?
Isn’t it possible to have great looking natural hair without chemicals and minimal heat?
Isn’t it possible to clean your house without using harmful chemicals or pesticides?
Isn’t it possible to to do all of the above on a budget?

The answer is YES! (I’ve done it).

I am not a doctor, hairdresser or nutritionist. I’m a wife and a homeowner with a full-time job, a crazy cat and not enough hours in the day…who thinks there MUST be a better way.

So I invite you to take this journey with me, to become more healthy, smart and of course…SAVVY!