You know what’s annoying?  People that keep announcing they have new websites.

Which makes me totally annoying, because here I am with another announcement of another website.  First there was Fantabulously Coveted, then The Thirty Project, and now there’s Fantabulously Frugal in Chicago.

For the record, this is the last new website announcement I’ll be making for a good long while because as much as I’d like to make it happen, there just aren’t 30 hours in the day, of which I could spend 20 blogging. Hopefully this makes me just a tad less annoying!

Fantabulously Frugal in Chicago is exactly how you’d imagine it would be – deals for the Chicago area.  I’m pretty excited about the site because it is part of the Chicago Tribune’s blogging network, ChicagoNow.  The site is still written and maintained solely by yours truly but it is surrounded by myriad other Chicago-based bloggers.

If you are a Chicago dweller, I hope you’ll check it out!  I’ll be updating it far less than I do this site – my goal is only two posts per day, one of which will be a daily rundown of all of the daily deals available in Chicago.  {Like the sample sale posts I do here.}  Some posts will be duplicates of those you see here, though my goal is to really expand to include as many local boutiques, stores, restaurants, as possible.  And then, we’ll see where it goes, I guess!

If you work at or own a Chicago-based business, or know someone who does, or work in PR in Chicago, or are just really excited about Chicago I’d love to chat with you about getting store updates, specials etc.  Please send me an email to LisaChicago@fantabulouslyfrugal.com

Anywho, if you made it to the end of this post, thanks!  You Rock!

Dear Friends -

I’d like to formally introduce you to one of my newest blogs – Fantabulously Coveted.

I have been working on Fantabulously Coveted off and on through January, and some of you may have seen posts popping up on Twitter, or even in the links section of this site.  I haven’t mentioned the site before because I didn’t want to say anything about it until I felt the site was totally ready for its big introduction.  Well, something insane happened last week to push up the launch date.

Let me walk you through it …

I did a little bit of work on the site on June 10, and even added a couple of posts.  I’m prone to leaving all of the pages open on my computer screen so later that night I got really confused when I looked at one of the posts about a pair of P*aris H*ilton Pink Crocodile Pumps and saw that it had been retweeted 67 times, shared on Facebook 25 times, and had 24 comments.  {I didn’t have my email set up yet, so I wasn’t receiving notification about the comments.}

A little bit of snooping lead me to realize that the reason this had become the single most popular post I have ever written in my entire life is because of this:

A little tweet by Ms. Hilton lead to site stats that look like this:

How insane is that?!  I am flattered that Paris found the post about her shoes and retweeted it.  More importantly, though, her tweet reminded me to get my act in gear and launch this site already.

So, friends, I hope that some of you enjoy Fantabulously Coveted.  It isn’t going to be anything other than a catalog of “stuff.”  There’ll still be a focus on girly items, but there won’t be a focus on finding the best discount to snag those items.  While bargain shopping is my #1 love, I spend so much time window shopping online that there are *so many* things I want to share with all of you.  Now I’ll have a forum to do just that.  I can’t wait!

xo,

Lisa

This is completely off topic, but I am confused.

I keep getting comments that look like real comments and appear to be from real people.  What’s weird is that the comments have nothing to do with the post, but link to various -and legit- websites.

Is this for SEO purposes on behalf of the companies leaving these nonsensical comments?  Do you want me to write about your company?

I am getting so many of these random comments that my policy is going to be to treat them as spam and delete them immediately. If you’re a company and you’d like to chat with me about coverage on FantabulouslyFrugal.com, then I’d love to talk with you. Send me an email and I’ll get right back to you!

I welcome comments from readers, and love each and every one of them.  But if the comment doesn’t make any sense and you’re linking to a website instead of a blog, it’s going in the trash can.

Has anyone else had a problem with this?  Can somebody out there explain it?  I am getting multiple comments like this per day and they’re driving me crazy.

Edited to Add: Just wanted to add here that I am only referring to comments left on blog posts.  I love when people/companies post on Fantabulously Frugal’s Facebook Wall!  And like I said – I love comments from actual readers!  And I love comments from companies, too, if it’s a real comment.  But a fake comment on a blog post in an attempt to get a link to a site via the comments is not cool at all.

Last May was really Fantabulously Frugal’s coming out party.  If you were a reader way back in the day then you may remember the month-long celebration called “31 Days of Giveaways.”  Every single day during the month of May a new giveaway was posted.  Some featured gifts from Etsy shops, and some featured items from shops like Kate Spade, Vera Bradley, and more.

This year I would like to host the same event, but would like to open the floor and offer all of you the opportunity to have your goods featured!

Do you own an Etsy shop?  Do you own a boutique?  Have your item featured as the Giveaway of the Day sometime during the month of May!  Each giveaway will be open for one week, giving you and your shop lots of exposure!

I only have 3 very basic requirements: Nothing can be “used.”  This seems like a given, but I’d rather spell it out here lest I be sorry later!  Second, the value of the giveaway item should be at least $20.  Third, this site is geared toward women, as such, the giveaway should also be geared toward women.

To make sponsoring a giveaway even better, one of the *required* giveaway entries will be that entrants must visit your site / Etsy boutique.  The best way to get business is to first get ‘em in the door, right?  Sponsoring a giveaway costs you nothing other than the cost of the giveaway item + shipping.

If you’re interested in participating, shoot me an email and let’s chat!  You can find me here: Lisa@fantabulouslyfrugal.com