Dear Readers,

The FTC recently announced that all bloggers must disclose certain things about how they earn money on their blogs.

This is a real bummer for me as the money laundering business was just starting to take off. Drat. (Kidding).

All joking aside, I believe it’s vital to adhere to these laws so that the folks who come to a blog expecting (and rightly so) to read the honest truth, will actually get the honest truth. Isn’t that refreshing this day and age?

So in the interest of remaining transparent and truthful, here is where I stand on all this FTC red tape and hoopla.

This is how I make my money:

• ~ Paid ads that you will see to the right of your screen.

• ~ Affiliate links with Amazon.com which I usually include in reviews.

• ~ The sale of my eBooks.

Free stuff.
When I get free stuff, I’ll tell you about it in the blog post. I’ll mention that a company sent me the product I’m reviewing. I’ll also give you a fair and honest review. That said, if I don’t like something, I generally won’t blog about it. I like my blog to be a “happy place”, and for that reason, I won’t ever write a negative review.  Bad karma, and all that. So basically, if I didn’t like it, you won’t read about it here. And if I liked it, and I got if for free from the company, I’ll tell you so in my blog post.

Being paid to say nice things.
Ya… ummm… I don’t do this. I don’t feel it’s ethical in the blog universe. I mean, blogs are all about self expression and personal opinions. If we start selling out to advertisers, then we become just as untrustable as those advertisers. Not what I want to become, thank you.

So where does all this leave you?
Here’s the run down on what I do around here.

The truth is, I have to make money to help support my family. That’s the world we live in. I’m sure you can understand that. So all those ads you see on the right hand side are what pay my bills around here.

Now, I also make a very small commission through Amazon.com if you buy something from them through a link on my site. While this method rarely pays a bill, every little bit helps.

I will NEVER say something nice about a product because a company paid me to. I do not accept money or product in exchange for a positive blog post, or any blog post at all for that matter. I just don’t feel right about doing that. If other bloggers do, that’s for them and their own conscience to work out. But it ain’t for me!

If a company sends me something for free, and I like it, and I think you as my reader might benefit from hearing about it, then yes. I will blog about it. I will tell you I got it for free, and in some cases, I might even give it away as a prize in a comment raffle. Unless I get cookie underwear, of course. Don’t think you want used underwear. I’m jussayin’.

So that’s it in a nutshell. That’s how I make my money. And that’s my policy on honesty. I hope you’ll stay and look around a bit. And if you feel inclined to make a purchase, rest assured the money will go towards continuing and supporting this blog.

Happy Baking!