Who doesn’t love free stuff? If it weren’t appealing, Oprah’s audience wouldn’t lose their minds every year when she shouts “Faaaay-vo-rit thiiiiiings!”
But enough about Oprah (Sherry’s grin says she’s a fan). We bring this up because we’re announcing a change in how we handle freebies and product offers. Going forward, we’ll decline products or services offered at a “blogger discount” or for free for our home — even if we genuinely love them. We’ll still run weekly giveaways for readers, but when it comes to outfitting our own house, we want full independence.
We don’t judge other bloggers who accept gifted items — it’s an understandable perk of the job — but since we both work on this full time and can prioritize other benefits (working from home with our dog and daughter, for example), we prefer to buy or make the things we use and recommend. That way, recommendations come solely from our experience with a product or a tradesperson’s work, not because of a behind-the-scenes arrangement. We want you to trust that when we praise something, it’s because we genuinely like it.
In the past we disclosed whenever items were gifted — like when we wrote about a faucet or a lawnmower — and we tried to secure extra items for readers when possible. But by turning down gifted products for our own home, we avoid any appearance of bias: you’ll never wonder if we loved something because it was great or because it was free.
Why make this change now? Our new house will need a lot of pieces and projects over the coming years, and we want to source every item ourselves. We plan to buy or build what we truly love and what fits our budget. We also don’t want posts about needing a new dining table, for instance, to be misinterpreted as “fishing for freebies,” nor do we want companies to assume such posts are invitations to send us products in exchange for coverage. Working within a real budget is where our most creative ideas come from, and we want to keep that constraint.
Although we’ll be passing on free offers for our home, we’ll keep finding ways to pass great finds on to you. Many of our weekly giveaways already come from deals we uncover, and we’ll continue giving away items we think readers will enjoy. Expect us to hunt discounts, clearance bargains, and Craigslist finds like it’s our job — because in a way it is. If it’s a deal any of you could find, we’re all for it. Special blogger discounts and freebies are out; thrift-store bargains and garage-sale haggling are very much in.
Also, a reminder: projects in the new house will follow a realistic timeline. Don’t expect instant, all-expenses-paid makeovers like on TV. We’ll be saving, planning, and tackling Operation New House one project at a time — just like we did with our current home, which took about four and a half years to reach its present state.
Update — We often get questions about professional blogging — how we launched the site, grew our audience, and turned it into a full-time job. For those interested, we shared detailed information on how we started a blog, increased traffic, and monetized our work.