Thirty-One Gifts personalized tote bag review and giveaway - WAHM and earn money

Thirty-One Gift's large tote bag in pink - personalized!

Having an odd spelling of a common name, I literally never am able to purchase anything with my name on it unless I get it personalized.  So when Rita Dillingham, an Independent Director with Thirty-One Gifts, approached me about reviewing a storage tote with my name on it, I jumped at the chance.  I had actually heard of Thirty-One before since one of my son's classmate's mom introduced me to the brand at a school picnic.  Let's just say I wasn't the only mom drooling over the organizational tote that she had brought with her.  I could tell just by looking at it that it was made with durable and quality material.  She told us all about the many uses she had for it from storing sports equipment, to packing it full of items for a day at the beach, to packing it full of picnic supplies that day.

Picnic supplies! Plates, forks, napkins, cups and there was still room.

So while I knew a little something about the items that Thirty-One Gifts offers, I didn't really know anything about the company itself.  The name of the company is inspired by Proverbs 31.  The woman in this verse works hard for her home and contributes to her household by selling goods.  Selling Thirty-One goods enables a mom to earn extra cash, while providing others with quality and unique goods that are getting harder to find or are unavailable in regular stores. 

A bit about the Thirty-One Gifts storage tote I received and how I used it...

Aside from loving the color, the personalization, and the sheer quality of this tote, I love the roominess.  This bag is large, but not overly cumbersome to carry around.  It certainly makes a fashion statement too.

Me on the way to the picnic.

I attended a picnic event with this tote, packing picnic supplies in the bag and still having room for more items.  The seams were strong and well sewn.  No chance that the bottom was going to fall out of it on me!

I also used my bag on a trip back home to PA to visit my parents.  I stuffed that bag full of everything I could and it held up to a lot of weight.  I took it mainly because when we travel, we end up short a bag by the time we pack up.  On the way home, the leftover clean clothes went into the bag.  It was nice to have so much room because we sure needed it because we tend to buy clothes back in PA where there's no sales tax on clothing.

Selling Thirty-One Gifts products...

I'm one of those people who was always in last place for fundraisers because I was never comfortable selling things, even to people I knew fairly well.  However, having seen, touched, and used an actual Thirty-One product, I wouldn't hesitate to become a sales consultant for their company because I would know first-hand that what they are offering for sale is quality products at affordable prices.  If I were a less shy person, I'd consider becoming a consultant.  However, if you are interested in learning more about Thirty-One and it's opportunities for you, I do recommend making contact with Rita Dillingham, who is an Independent Director/Sales Consultant for Thirty-One.  She'd be happy to share her experience with Thirty-One and what it has done for her personally.  She's also agreed to sponsor a giveaway!

Rita also does Parties to Go.  How this works is she sends you her Party To Go kit, which includes 4 or 5 products, plenty of catalogs, and order forms.  Then you just carry the Party To Go wherever you go and collect orders from friends and family, so don't think you actually have to host a party in your home!  You earn free and discounted products.  She's also willing to travel out of her home state to show Thirty-One in areas that have never heard of it. 

Giveaway!  Win a storage tote just like mine (and you can even get it personalized!)  ARV for this giveaway is approximately $35 with personalization.

This giveaway will run through October 7, 2011 at 11:59 PM Eastern time.  Winner will be drawn via Random.org on or about October 8, 2011 and will have 48 hours to respond to an email from me seeking additional information.  If winner does not respond within that time frame, a different winner shall be chosen.  This giveaway is limited to US residents only who are 18 or older.  Please be sure to include your email within the mandatory comment (preferable) or ensure that it is visible via your public profile.  If you win, I need to be able to reach you!

Mandatory entry:  View the Fall Catalog  and leave me a comment letting me know which Thirty-One you liked most! 

After you've completed the mandatory entry, please consider these extra entry options to increase your chance of winning!

Extra entries:  Leave a comment for each extra entry that you complete.  As always, if you've already friended/followed/subscribed, etc., just leave me a comment saying so.  New friends and old friends are treated alike here! 

• Connect with Rita Dillingham, Independent Director/Sales Consultant for Thirty-One by adding her as a friend (note: she posts great deals going on at Thirty-One often.)

• Get added to Rita's email subscriber list by visiting her Thirty-One page and clicking "email me" and then send her a note asking to be added to her subscriber list.  This is a monthly newsletter.

• Like Making Ends Meet on Facebook  

• Share this giveaway with your friends on Facebook.  You can do this entry daily, just leave a comment for each share with a link to your post.  

• Share this giveaway with your friends on Twitter by tweeting out the contest link.  You can do this entry daily, just leave a comment for each daily tweet and leave a link to your tweet in your comment.   As a suggestion, you could use:  Learn more about Thirty-One Gifts and enter to win a large, personalized organizational tote  #giveaway #gifts http://ow.ly/6CJeT 

• Subscribe/Be subscribed to Making Ends Meet's emails (right side bar)

• Be/Become a Google Friend (right side bar)

• One last easy entry - Check out how to become a Thirty-One consultant and then comment letting me know what aspect of Thirty-One that intrigues you?  Is it hostess discounts, earning money, or something else?  Let me know by leaving me a comment!

Good luck to all and I can't wait to read your comments to learn what products you loved from their Fall catalog.

Disclosure:  Rita Dillingham, who is an Independent Director/Consultant for Thirty-One Gifts provided me with a product and information to facilitate a review.  The opinions are my own.  In addition, she, in her capacity as a consultant, is providing a lucky winner with a personalized tote.  My thanks to Rita for providing me with an opportunity to try out a Thirty-One product and for providing a giveaway item.