The Freebie Mom

TAXES?!?! How to file for FREE

2011-02-02T14:25:00.003-05:00

Hey all!!! I thought I would bring this post back up to the top in light of tax season! All of the information about filing your taxes for free is still the same.

One thing being different though, Due to the tax law extension that was voted on in Dec. Anyone who files itemized deductions will have their return delayed until Feb 14 when the IRS updates all of their processing software.

That dreaded T word that most of us cringe at the sound of when January comes around.

It really doesn't bother me that much. I like math so that is not a problem. And yes it can be a little stressful making sure I don't mess up anything but I always follow the directions and double check and triple check the numbers and everything comes out fine.

This year is exceptionally stressful for us because we have a work related move that we can deduct and we have state income taxes to file! AHHHHHHH!! We have lived in Florida all our lives so we don't have state income taxes. But he has been working in Utah since September and they do. They sure don't mind that we don't live there, they take it anyways.

So I have some work ahead of me but we got all of the W2s in the mail already, so I am going to sit down and I will have our taxes figured out and filed BEFORE Friday!! That's a hefty goal you say.

Well its a goal I will work my butt off to reach. Once we get our taxes back the kids and I can join their father in Utah, finally.

Rule 1 about filing your own taxes: Don't pay for a software to file your taxes. Unless you have to. If you go to IRS website, there are 2 options this year. You can pick a company and use their software as long as you qualify for their income restrictions, or you can choose to file online with IRS for free using blank fill-able forms directly on the website. There are a dozen or so companies that will let you use their online software for FREE!!! This actually seems to be a shorter list then I have seen in previous years but it does include HR Block and Intuit Turbo Tax, which are both reputable tax software companies that you would pay $30-$50 for in a store.

Some of these options even include state income tax filing for free if you live in one of these states: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, New York, North Dakota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, West Virginia

It figures, Utah isn't one of the free file states. Oh well!!!!

If you are still uncomfortable filing yourself then check out your local library. Every year AARP helps sponsor the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program. They help low and moderate income filers prepare their tax returns for free at libraries all over the country. Click on the link above for a phone number to call to find out the closest location near you.

Have tax questions! Then go to the IRS website and you can find free information online, by phone, or in person.

FREE Breakfast at Denny's

2010-02-08T17:15:00.004-05:00

I thought it was awesome of them when they did this last year. Denny's is doing it again. One FREE Grand Slam per person between 6am and 2pm on Tuesday Feb 9.

Some locations may be very busy. Some times may be busier then others, but hey, its free food right!!!

Last year when we went we waited less than 45 min and we had 5 people 2 being small children so we had to wait for adequate seating. I remember them asking for parties of 1 and 2 people to fill smaller tables and they would pull them out of the line.

Details can be found HERE and there is also a chance to enter to win free grand slams every week for a year. Woohoo! Wouldn't that be an awesome win. You just have to become a rewards member if you aren't already one. Being a rewards member gets you access to coupons and a free grand slam on your birthday.

When I signed up I got a coupon in my email for 20% off my entire purchase. And the website says anyone who signs up before Feb 14 gets a special surprise on Feb 28 (This should be the Free burger and fries coupon)

While you are eating for FREE tomorrow remember one thing. Even though you are getting the grand slams for free the wait staff still brings it to you and takes care of you as if it was a normal day (on top of probably being 10x's more swamped then usual). They are still doing their job, even more so! Make sure to tip on what the meal would have cost BEFORE the discount is taken!!!!

Coupon Giveaway

2010-02-02T20:18:00.004-05:00

Chris over at Turning Freebies into Cash is having a giveaway this week of 4 inserts of coupons out of the Sunday paper. Over $150 value. There are 4 ways to enter and he will be having giveaways twice monthly.

So head on over HERE and enter.

Using coupons is a great way to save money. I have been using coupons for years, but just this past 2 yrs I have gotten into them hardcore (I have a coupon binder with all my coupons organized and I buy 4 copies of the paper a week). I don't buy anything unless I have a coupon for it or it never has coupons (like meat and produce).

I have regularly saved over 75% of my grocery bills for the past 2 years. I spend less than $75 per week for a family of 4 and we have plenty to eat and good quality name brand stuff too.

I have gotten cookies, soda, chips, milk, bread, cereal, crackers, and frozen foods for FREE or almost free. Not to mention all of the toiletries such as shampoo, toothbrushes, and deodorant I have gotten for free. I even regularly get diapers and pull ups for less that $4 a package.

So what does it hurt if you want to try out couponing for yourself, this is a good way to get your coupon stockpile up to get started.

Just go here and enter to win 4 coupons inserts worth $150.

New to Freebie Trading?

2010-01-25T11:05:00.004-05:00

Are you new to freebie trading? Wanting to dive in but worried about getting scammed, not making any money, or other things?

Well put all of your fears aside. I have a beginners package for you called Freebies 4 Beginners. It consists of 4 well known and trusted sites and you will get paid by me for each of them.

The best part is that the first 3 you complete are GUARANTEED to credit because of promotions going on right now. That means as long as you don't give false information and you complete what you are supposed to, and save your proof of completing the offer, you WILL get credit no matter what!

Make sure to do cash.moneybonanzas first because their support team will walk you through step by step. No better way to make sure its done right then by the people working at the site right?

FREEBIES 4 BEGINNERS
Cash.moneybonanzas ~ $20
When you sign up submit a support ticket at the site with the title "Guaranteed Green" before you complete any offers. Support will then walk you through getting a green on their site and guarantee the credit. You don't have to worry about the credit not coming through because they GUARANTEE that you will green. So this is an EASY $20 from me that you get guaranteed!

Budget.zipnadazilch ~ $10
Guaranteed credit promotion

Gooderthangrits.git-r-free ~ $15
Guaranteed credit promotion

40.ourloot2boot ~ $20

Complete all 4 sites above and get a $10 bonus. That is a total of $75 and don't forget if you become a fan of my new facebook page you get an extra $5 bonus on top of that too!
($10 bonus is paid with the final payment after the last site is completed)

Help Me Celebrate!!!!!

2010-01-24T15:50:00.003-05:00

In celebration of my new Facebook page I am offering an extra $5 bonus to anyone who becomes a fan and does a trade on a freebie site with me. If you complete a site where the payout is less than $20 I will give you a $3 bonus.

Just click on my Facebook profile badge on the left side of the blog and become a fan. Then send me an email to thefreebiemom (at) gmail (dot) com and tell me your name and I will set you up with the freebie site and information you need to complete it.

* Don't know what Freebie Trading is? It is an industry built up of Incentive sites that pay you to complete trial offers for them and bring referrals to do the same thing. I get paid a certain amount to get referrals to sign up and then once you complete the required amount of trial offers I pay you no less than 50% of my payout for helping me out. That means if I get paid $40 then you get paid $20. (Add the bonus above and you are actually getting $25) Trial offers can be small web companies trying to expand their consumer base or large companies such as Netflix or Stamps.com. This business is no different then the offers that you complete to get extra money for the Facebook games, or an advertisement that you may click on at a website. The difference is, I pay you cash money to complete the offers at the sites I am working with. (If the Facebook game money is that important to you, I have looked at the point values of some of the same offers and you could do the offer for me and use the paypal cash to pay for your game money and still have extra left over)

To learn more about Freebie Trading check out my introduction post HERE

Have you heard of SWAGBUCKS

2010-01-24T15:25:00.002-05:00

I Just Won 2 Swag Bucks on www.swagbucks.com.

So who cares? You should! You can earn FREE Swagbucks by doing all of your searches through swagbucks instead of google or yahoo. You still get the same great google results combined with results from ask.com as well. Once you get a certain amount of swagbucks you can redeem them for prizes or giftcards. I usually get the $5 Amazon giftcard for 45 swagbucks but there are hundreds of other prizes to choose from.

I actually bought one of my son's Christmas presents just from free giftcards that I earned using Swagbucks. I also have another $20 worth in my Amazon account and am about half way to another one. It doesn't take up any extra time. If any of you have Firefox or IE7 or higher you know about the little search bar next to the URL. Usually it is defaulted on Yahoo or Google but there is a drop down arrow and you can choose other search options as well like Wikipedia, ebay, or amazon. Just go to the Swagbucks website and you can download a gadget that adds Swagbucks as one of the search options. Make it your default and every time you need to search for something just type it there. You don't even have to leave the web page your are currently on. If I am searching for something that Swagbucks isn't good at like an address that would require google maps or images after I do the initial search with Swagbucks I will pop the drop down menu and switch the search to google without even having to retype it.

Swagbucks also releases some codes that get you free Swagbucks. They will have Swag code searches or just give codes for different topics of the day.

Its a great way to get some free stuff without doing anything extra or special out of your way to get it. You also get a Swagbuck for every Swagbuck one of your referrals earns up to 100 SB

If you want to start earning free stuff just by searching you can sign up HERE

Giveaway Product Review - Train to Blog

2010-01-23T00:24:00.004-05:00

The first product I am going to review from Giveaway 2010 is "Have a Full Cash Harvesting Blog in Under 1 Hour?!" The title of the e-book is actually Train To Blog and it is written by Michael Brown.

To see the master list of products from the Giveaway and to see other reviews check out the master post here.

Purpose: This e-book is meant to train you how to make money from blogging.

Pros: Some of the information in the e-book, Train to Blog, was great. There is some good information about using google keyword research programs to find out good keywords to use for the best traffic. He gives you the link to the free keyword program and everything and shows you by picture tutorial how to use it. He does a good job of explaining the purpose and need for this research. He also had some great information on how to set up a wordpress blog. This is great if you are going to use wordpress but if you use blogger or something else it isn't much help. He explains using pictures how to ad google adsense so you can make money and how to add a static page if you want one and how to add plug in widgets to make your blog useful. To be honest most of the Train to Blog is about wordpress and how to use it.

Cons: Besides explaining how to add google adsense to your blog Train to Blog doesn't really give you information on how to make money using a blog. It explains about keyword research (which is important) and how to set up the blog but that is it. What DOES actually teach you how to make money on your blog is the product that he is an affiliate for, Niche Blitzkrieg. The product costs $77 and it doesn't offer a discount when you try to close the window.

My opinion: Train to Blog is good for someone who needs some tips for setting up wordpress but you can get that information anywhere. I would NOT buy Niche Blitzkrieg. Too expensive. I have seen many cheaper products on the market for better stuff than that. What really turns me off from Train to Blog is not that he is promoting a product as an affiliate. He is trying to make money just like we are, but the fact that his e-book doesn't deliver what he says it does. It didn't teach me how to make money blogging. It taught me a little about enhancing my chances for it getting seen but that's about it. He also put cheap link plugs in there for the domain company and hosting company he is probably an affiliate for. He says you can have a cash harvesting blog in under an hour! You may have the blog itself in less than an hour and technically have google adsense on there but that doesn't do you any good. You are not going to have made any money off of adsense in less than an hour.

Like I said unless you want the Wordpress tips that you can get anywhere or you want to spend $77 on the product he is promoting, Train to Blog is not really worth the download. I am going to check the newsletter emails he sends me now, (the ones that I signed up for to get the free download) and if most of them are as lousy as this e-book I will unsubscribe. I may be wrong, he may have some good content in his emails, but from reading Train to Blog I am not getting my hopes high. I expect mainly emails with shameless plugs for this overpriced product.

Giveaway 2010 List of Products

2010-01-23T00:00:00.004-05:00

Hello,

I told you that I was going to review each product from the giveaway 2010 list as I get to it. First, here is the master list of all of the products that are available at the giveaway site and who wrote them. Oddly the product in the top spot the day I downloaded is not on the list anymore and there is another product there in its place (by the same writer though) so the one on the list is the one that is available now.

I will change the color of each title to red once I have reviewed it and link it to the blog post for that review, that way we can keep track.

Traffic Smashers Free Gold Lifetime Membership James Brown
The Essential Rocket Plan for Online Success Kevin Riley
Have a Full Cash Harvesting Blog in Under 1 Hour?! Michael Brown
How To Get Caught In Web Traffic Andy Henry
Blog Traffic Secrets John Taylor
Freebie Cash Formula Leslie FreebieGuy
Inbox Cash Techniques Jaz Lai
Google Traffic Pump System Video Heri Rosyadi
$100 Per Day System With Private Label Rights Paul Counts
Amazing Story Of How A Couple Normal Guys Turned $2,500 Into $4,600,000.00!
Kacper Postawski
Incredible Instant List Building System Brian Dew
Personality Cash Brad Gosse
The Simple Business Recipe - UPLR Paul Pavel
Free Traffic Blueprints Package Authority Blueprintx
2 HOT SELLING EBOOKS + READY SALESPAGE with PRIVATE LABEL RIGHTS!
Dee Ferdinand
FREE - Add a TinyUrl or Bit.ly Script to Your Site Ron Douglas
Profits from Passions Shawn Swinigan
The $100,000 PLR Sale Edmund Loh
Get Up & Running Online + How to Write Reviews for Affiliate Cash!
Tiffany Dow
Discover How to Build a Massive List of Subscribers Fast - Build The Perfect Email List!
Jorge Delgado
The Truth about Making Money with Teleseminars Kathleen Gage
Twitter Marketing Made Easy w/ MRR Reseller Package Stuart Sterling
Free Article Writing & Marketing Software Tim Shank
Offline Fortunes Mark Sandquist
Blog and Twitter Success 2010 Eric White
FREE BETA Membership To Marketers Junction James Allen
444 Word Essential "Blurb" Zech Smith
NetActivated's PLR Marketing Power Pack Stuart Halpryn
Web Business Basics For 2010! Wacky Gals
Access To The $239.64 Annual Value ViralHosts.com System + A Huge Surprise Bonus Package Frank Bauer
The Easiest Ways to CONQUER Article Marketing Tuti Lee
Success Visualiser (the software) Pragmatic Video
Backdoor Access ($97) To My Inner Circle PLR Membership
Khai Ng
The Digital Physical Collection James Reilly
Ultimate Toolkit For Internet Marketers Peter Downs
Automated List Builder Chris Freville
2010 Big Bucks Mind Bender Craig Desorcy
Lazy Traffic Blueprints Fabian Tan
Membership Sites Exposed - Giveaway 2010 David Moskowitz
Private Label Income Secrets Anthony Tilley
FREE Resell Rights To 28 eBay Videos Francis Ochoco
The 2-Day Profit Plan Odinn Sorensen
Secrets To Web Traffic Overdrive Alex Perez-Prat
500 Secret Marketing Strategies! Larry Dotson
7 Amazing Internet Marketing Reports! Joe Walker
Online Marketing For Newbies Francois duToit
Tweet Me Quick Free Software Robert Puddy
Create Your Own Animated Vision Board Richard Paley
Niche Hunter Newbie Guide Mike Newton
50 Ways to Make Cash Fast! Karen DeHaan
Domain Flipping Success! Gene Pimentel
How To Get Your Product On QVC And Make $10,000 in 24mins Just Like I Did!
Rich Lowe
IM Buzz Software Membership Calvin Woon
From Jail And Despair To Millionaire. Free Video Coaching Call
Mark Lyford
Six Figure with Zero Dollar Vince Tan
Clickbank Golden Secrets Phil Powdrill
Blogging Business Kit Alvin Phang

Why I love Couponing

2010-01-21T11:13:00.002-05:00

We are going to the movies today!!! Yippee, we are taking the kids to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. Under normal circumstances we wouldn't have the extra money to take them.

However, thanks to General Mills we can and we get to go for FREE!!! See last month I bought 8 boxes of cereal that were b1g1 free at Publix. I had coupons for all of them so I paid less than $1 per box. Each box had a code on it for half of a movie ticket. Buy 2 boxes and get 1 FREE movie ticket to almost any theater for any movie. You can see details about the promotion here. (It runs until June but I don't know if you can still find boxes with the codes on them or not.)

Last month we went to see 2012 for date night. That used up 2 of our tickets. Today we are going to Alvin so that is our last 2 tickets. Our son is free so we don't have to worry about him. Now our daughter is 5 so I did have to pay $2.50 for her movie ticket.

How did I only pay $2.50?

A neat site called Winster. You sign up for FREE and you get to play games like slots, bingo, etc. There is no money involved and you play for points. But instead of competing you and the other players work together, trading pieces and stuff so that you can get the most points for your game. I earned a $5 off discount code to Fandango by playing. This is the second prize I have gotten, I got a $7 code a couple of months ago. So I only paid $2.50 for my daughters ticket to the movie today.

The best part is because I am a member of our theaters points club, we have a coupon for a free small popcorn. We can upgrade to a large for about $1. So free snacks too, yay!!!

Just one more reason I love couponing.

Giveaway 2010 - Don't Forget to Download your FREE Products

2010-01-19T13:05:00.005-05:00

Giveaway 2010

Don't forget about the giveaway for the FREE products to enhance your work at home business or get it started. There are 55 absolutely FREE products that just require you to submit your first name and email address. We are talking training videos, ebooks with private label rights so that you can give them away or sell them yourself, etc.

And make sure you check out Leslie's ebook, The Freebie Report. It has a lot of great information about freebie trading and how to be profitable in it. I have done freebie trading for over 2 years now so I definitely know first hand how profitable it can be.

If you want to check out the giveaway and get your free products, just go to GiveAway 2010

To see my original post on this giveaway go HERE

If you want to check out Leslie's blog to see an explanation of how giveaways help your business then go to Thefreebieguy

Help for Haiti

2010-01-15T18:52:00.002-05:00

All of us have seen on the news about the devastation in Haiti right now. We all wish there was some way for us to help even if we don't have cash to donate.

Many of the blogs that I follow are having donation drives right now. Right now they are offering to donate certain amounts of money for every person that comments on their blog or leaves a link to their own blog talking about what they have done to help.

My family is going to be donating through the yele fund by texting yele to 501501. This organization was founded by Haitian born hip hop singer Wyclef Jean. For more information about this organization go to http://www.yele.org/ You can see his interview with CNN HERE

We are also going to be checking with the church that my daughter attends school at to see if they are accepting donations for any mission groups and donating toiletries or canned goods that I have stocked up on from using coupons.

I am also going to donate any Swagbucks I earn from today until they stop to the Haiti relief fund being run by swagbucks. They are going to donate money to 3 organizations (RedCross, Doctors w/out Borders, and Yele.org) depending on how many swagbuck donations they receive. If enough Swagbucks members donate and they reach a minimum of 25000 SB they will donate $1500. If they reach 1 Million SB donations then they will donate $100K. Read about what they are doing HERE (This should raise lots of money for Haiti. They did a Christmas Toy drive in the same fashion and the outpouring of generosity was amazing)

Finally, probably our biggest chance to contribute. I have heard on the news that as many as 4000 refugees and American citizens living in Haiti will be evacuated to Orlando and many more moved to other cities in Florida. If they need volunteers my kids and I are going to go and try to help out if we can. We will also be taking clothes and stuff I have been trying to sell for money for us to move, and if they are taking donations of clothing we will take as much of it as we can over there for the families that have lost everything.

MoneySavingMom has started what she calls the Help for Haiti project. She is donating $10 to Compassion International for every person that leaves a link on her blog to a blog post on their blog telling how they are personally helping the cause. If you don't have a blog she is donating $.30 (the equivalent of 1 meal) to Numana for every comment someone leaves on her blog telling how they are helping. So if you can't donate yourself or if you want another way to help go to her site and link or comment so that she will donate more.

On top of the $10 that she is offering she also has a list of well over 30 other mommy bloggers that are also offering donation matches for every comment or link on their blogs to help out. Just spend a few minutes and type up a blog post with how you are helping (that's what I just did) and go to every blog you have time to go to and comment or link to increase the donation amounts.

If I had the capital to do it I would donate for every comment or link on my blog but I don't so I plan on linking this post on every possible blog I can to help. My time is worth this effort.

I urge you to go to MoneySavingMom's site and comment or link and then go to all the other mommy bloggers sites and do the same thing so that you can help and it won't cost you a cent.

Free Work From Home Information

2010-01-13T19:12:00.003-05:00

Hey all,

I know most of you probably have at least some interest in making money online. Right now the owner of the freebie trading forum Calistyle101 (Leslie or thefreebieguy) is participating in a joint business product giveaway.

Over $1400 worth of free ebooks, video training and information on creating successful online business, blogging, social networking etc are included in this giveaway. Leslie has a report on freebie trading in there, psst it is product #5!

Just go here and see if there is anything that you may find of interest http://giveaway2010.com/Leslie_FreebieGuy

**No one gets compensated in any way from using this specific link. They essentially just keep tallies on which product partner is bringing in how many interested viewers.**

There are 56 FREE download products from successful internet marketing specialists. (Actually Product #2 is only free if you complete a sponsors offer which I would not suggest doing because you can do sponsors offers by freebie trading and get paid to do them and then have a freebie site to work with) Out of those I have downloaded 45 so far (It would have been 46 but I did not get Product #2). I have 10 more to go and I will have all but 1 of them.

I plan to review each one as I get done reading it. Hopefully I will be able to give you some helpful insight to which products are actually helpful and worth the time. If you want to see my reviews on each product make sure to subscribe to my blog so you can be kept up to date.

By the way, don't worry about the products that they try selling to you when you click for the free report. You do not have to purchase those products to get your free gift. You are basically getting the free gift by giving them your email address (this puts you in their email subscription list) Everyone of them gives you the option to opt out if you don't like their emails. Personally, I look for content. After I get my free product I will continue to get their emails IF the emails actually contain content. If all they are doing is trying to pushing their affiliate products to sell them in every single email I will unsubscribe.

Tips to make downloading process smoother:

1. Try to create a new email account just for this, or use your email account that you use for free stuff that way your important email account isn't flooded with newsletters.

2. Create a folder on your computer to put all of your reports and ebooks in that you get from the giveaway. Also create a bookmark folder to bookmark any pages that have multiple video or download links on them so you can find it easily.

3. Try to avoid buying anything until you have at least read what they are giving your for free first. I know it says the offer at that price will only last 10 more minutes but in my experience it is still that price or maybe even less months down the road.

4. You will get a minimum of 2 emails for most of these reports. The first one will be asking you to confirm that you were interested in their newsletters (the reason they are giving you the free gift). Once you click on the link they will send you a 2nd email with a backup link to your free product. Keep the 2nd email in case you lose the file or the download messes up somehow.

Again if you want to get in on this giveaway of internet business products go HERE and see if there is anything that sparks your interest. There are lots of things like wordpress tips and tricks, how to market with twitter, how to make money blogging, etc.

Toluna Update!!

2010-01-09T16:36:00.003-05:00

Well I don't know how this is going to effect the site in the long run, but Toluna has now partnered up with Greenfield Online. So far it doesn't seem like I am qualifying for as many surveys as I used to and sometimes you are only allowed to do one a day.They also don't seem to be as consistent with the points value for each one anymore.

On top of that there is a survey I did earlier for them, it took about 30 minutes, it was very long and it said that my points would be applied but I don't see them there yet. I will wait and see if they ever show up.

I will keep updating the more that I find out about this company and if I ever make it to 60000 points to cash out for paypal I will let you know and post the proof payment. I am over a third of the way there already, but it looks like it might be harder now then before this partnership.

Giveaway - Free Auction Entry - 3 Winners

2010-01-09T16:30:00.000-05:00

Free Auction Giveaway

Last week I talked about a new site called BidOasis. Its a penny auction site that auctions off gift cards, paypal cash and electronics. You buy credits to use for the auctions, 4 credit = $1. The best part about this site compared to others like it is that to gain entry to an auction you pay the entry fee (8 credits) and then you get unlimited bids to that auction instead of charging you per bid. There is also always at least 1 free auction running where the winner receives 8 free credits and you can receive bonus credits by doing different things.

The site owner, Steve, has been generous enough to offer a giveaway for 8 free credits (which equals 1 auction entry) to 3 winners through my blog.

How to enter: Sign up FREE at BidOasis and leave a comment on my blog with your username and what item you would most like to see auctioned off at the site in future auctions.
Sign up HERE

As an added bonus anyone who signs up through this giveaway can enter the code PENNY to get 4 credits added to any credit purchase. First time credit buyers also get a 20% bonus of credits on top of their purchase.

You can earn some bonus entries. Leave a comment for each bonus entry that you complete and make sure to include your email address so that I can contact you if you win.

1. Become a follower of my blog. (Half way down the right column of my blog) Make sure to leave a comment on this post saying you subscribed.

2. Post about this giveaway on Twitter, Facebook, or your Blog with a link to this giveaway. (Leave a comment on this post with a link to your post)

3. Subscribe to my blog via RSS Feed or email. (Options half way down right column)

This gives you a total of 4 entries into this giveaway. The giveaway will end on Jan 12 at 8pm EST. At that time I will choose 3 winners using Random.org. Winners will be contacted via email by midnight after the giveaway ends and have until Jan 14 to respond or else a new winner will be chosen and contacted.

BidOasis has not provided me with any compensation for this giveaway but they are providing the winning credits and the link to sign up is my referral link to the site. All opinions and information about BidOasis are honest and reflect my experiences on the site so far.

Survey Company Review - Toluna

2010-01-05T11:03:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I signed up with a new survey company called Toluna. So far I am happy to say it seems to be a pretty good company. I get offered a handful of surveys every week. I have qualified for about half of them. Each survey is worth $1-$3 depending on what parts of the survey you qualify for. Sometimes they send out higher worth surveys, (yesterday I got 1 that was worth $3)

When you sign up you get 500 points to start you out and if you complete advanced registration you get 1500 total for joining.

You get points for completing the surveys. Each $1 is worth 3000 points so a $3 survey gets you 9000 points. I usually try to avoid survey companies that run on points but I have already earned over 20000 points since I signed up on Dec 14 and you only need 60000 to get a check or paypal payment of $20. You can also get a $25 giftcard to pretty much anywhere for 75000 points. That is more than I have made in months or years at some other companies that I have experience with.

When you don't qualify for a survey they give you an entry into the monthly sweepstakes. Plus you get a free entry just for joining.

One downside I have noticed is that I have gotten a few errors when trying to do some surveys. Yesterday I had 3 different surveys give me errors, and support just send me an email telling me to try it again later. Haven't heard anything past that. It is a little annoying being given an error for a survey that I possibly could have qualified for.

You do get 500 points for referring a friend if they complete the advanced registration but there is no referral link. If you want me to invite you so you can help me get the 500 points let me know, otherwise just sign up with the general registration link below.

Join Toluna Survey Company

I will update you all once I reach my first cashout with my experience of that side. How long it takes to get it, if I actually get it, etc. I haven't decided yet whether to save up for a giftcard or to just get the paypal. (Paypal was just added this past week they used to only send checks)

We're Back!!!!!

2010-01-03T01:37:00.002-05:00

Hello,

Just wanted to let you know that we are back. The kids had a great time in Salt Lake. It snowed the first 2 days we were there and it was so foggy we couldn't even see the mountains. We have never been in snow when it was actually snowing before. The third day it cleared up and we could see the mountains and the snow started melting some.

It is so beautiful out there, we can't wait to move out there.

Don't forget our giveaway going on HERE. It ends Jan 5 and anyone can still win, no one has signed up yet.

New Year's Vacation!!

2009-12-28T14:30:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone,

In case you didn't know we are going to be moving to Salt Lake City within the next couple of months. My SO transferred out there and our kids and I will be moving out there with him unless by some chance a position opens up for him to transfer back here.

Since our daughter is on Christmas break until Jan 4 I am taking them out there to visit him. So we will be leaving tomorrow (Tuesday) and coming back on Friday. It is so nice that we get to fly for free (he works for Delta) otherwise him being away would be even harder then it already is.

Hopefully they will have something neat to do Downtown on New Years Eve, but the kids are super excited to see the snow even if there is nothing to do.

While I am gone you can still sign up for freebie sites to get paid by me. Sites I am paying for right now are listed in the side bar with the payment amount. You can get the tutorials on how to complete the offers HERE and feel free to choose any of the freebie forums in the list on the side of the blog to post our trade agreement at. I suggest Calistyle101. You can also view video tutorials HERE

Don't forget about the giveaway I am hosting right now HERE. You can win unlimited bids on any 1 penny auction at BidOasis.net. Right now the giveaway ends on Dec 30, so hurry up and get entered. There will be 3 winners and no one has signed up yet so anyone can win! If I don't have at least 5 entrants by then I will extend the giveaway to another date.

As always if you have any questions you can email me at thefreebiemom (at) gmail (dot) com. I will get back to you as soon as I can. The only thing I can't do is log in to a freebie site myself to check on a green or something for you, but I will do everything I can to contact support to verify your green so I can pay you.

Have a Happy New Year!!!

2009 Freebie Forum Overview

2009-12-14T15:11:00.005-05:00

It has been an interesting year in the world of freebie trading. Here are the forums that are currently running, some information about them, and links to each.

Calistyle101
I talked about this forum back in May. It is doing really well and getting up there pretty high in the website rankings. Leslie (thefreebieguy) owns this forum with Chris (Chrisdeals) and I would say they are doing a pretty good job. The forum is FREE to sign up to. You can upgrade to a silver membership which gets you some extra privileges and benefits on the site, but it is not necessary to be successful. One nice thing about this forum is that Thefreebieguy will provide you with a free mentoring site to promote your freebie trading business. The only catch is you have to pay for hosting through the hosting company that he provides a link to.

Sign up for Calistyle101

Jaymans Freebie World
This is a new forum I just found out about. Most of the same users from the other forums are on this one too. This one is run by Jayman. This forum is FREE. One nice thing that I see on this forum already is that they offer incentives for you to participate in the forum. You can get free trade stickies (prime thread advertising) and free referral lottery entries just for reaching different levels of participation on the forum. There is no upgraded membership for this forum but they do sell stickies (that is where your thread is posted at the top above everyone else). They also have a section where you can post a link to your blog as long as you back link to everyone else who has links in there. You can even post your gpt or ptc sites in a section of the forum to trade.

Sign up for Jaymans Freebie World

TheFreebieeXchange
This is another new forum that I have come across. It is run by sharkboy. This one is very similar to Jaymans but you have to have a TR of 3 on his forum and minimum post count of 150 in order to create a trade thread. They also have sections for PTC and GPT sites. This forum has a neat feature called the referral bank where you can get free referrals. Basically, if you complete a site through the referral bank your referral link for that site gets added into the bank. Then your referral link will be randomly given to people that click to go to that site. You get free referrals that way and you don't pay them part of your profit.

Sign up for TheFreebieeXchange
HERE

FreeLunchRoom
This is an older forum, the first one I ever signed up on and the one where all of my trade experience is at. It is low on the end of traffic at the moment and it seems there is some owner control transferring going on so I don't really have much to say about it right now. There has always been some really good information on this forum. At this time they have just updated their policy to where you can trade any site that is not a scam site. This is wonderful news that was just released because previously you could only trade sites listed and most of those save a few are newer sites that don't have much proof of reliability. This forum has an upgrade system that calls you "verified" and that allows you to buy stickies and get part of your money back if you are scammed by someone else who is verified.

Sign up for FreeLunchRoom

Amazon.com and Coinstar Deal!!!

2009-11-30T14:15:00.002-05:00

I just got an email from Amazon.com about a deal offered by Coinstar. (The machines that you put your coins in and they give you cash)

Anytime before December 6 cash in $40 worth of coins at your Coinstar machine onto an Amazon.com e-certificate instead of getting cash and you will not be charged a fee (you get the whole amount worth of coins that you deposited) and they will send you a bonus Amazon.com gift card in the amount of $10.

This is a really awesome deal if you have a lot of spare change sitting around. Why not put it on a gift card instead of being charged a fee to get it back in cash? And you get a free bonus $10 on top of it.

Here is information about the promotion:
Coinstar Amazon promo

New Auction Site!!! Awesome Deals!!!

2009-11-30T11:02:00.003-05:00

Trusted site owner Steve of the previous PrizeOasis sites has opened a new auction site called BidOasis.

Its FREE to be a member and sign up. Each auction costs $3 to join but once you join an auction you get unlimited free bids on that auction. There are many auctions mainly for gift cards right now since the site is new but soon he will be adding electronics such as video game consoles and ipods. He even takes suggestions on what you would like him to offer.

Now is a great time to get in on the ground floor. There are only a few people signed up so far so I have seen auctions go for super cheap. Yesterday I saw a $50 gift card of winner's choice go for $2.15 (plus 4.99 shipping). That is a super SWEET deal!!!! Currently there is an auction for a $50 Walmart gift card going for $11 and still has some hours left on it. Why not make a lot by spending a little. Its like going to the store and paying 1/5 of the price of a gift card.

But what if I don't want to take the chance of paying $3 to bid on something and not win?

The best part is right now since the site is brand new he is having FREE auctions. Whoever wins the free auction gets 3 free credits for bidding. That is the entrance fee to one auction for FREE!!! AND if you get people to sign up for the site under you and they buy credits then you get 3 free credits for yourself for each one. So you could possibly NEVER pay the entrance fee for an auction EVER!

Follow the site on twitter and keep an eye on the bonus page and you can earn even more free credits.

Sign up today and get started bidding on some great deals! Of course if you are going to sign up I would greatly appreciate you using me link so here it is - BidOasis
HURRY right now there is a $50 paypal payment auction that has 30 minutes left and it is going for less than $4!!! How sweet is that? And no shipping charge on paypal payments so $3 entry fee plus $4 for the auction = $7 for $50 in your paypal account.

For all the skeptics (this would be me if I didn't know this site owner) here is a proof of payment picture for a payment I received from one of his older sites.

Trade Rating Proof Pictures

2009-10-17T11:05:00.009-04:00

PineCone Research Taking New Members

2009-07-17T13:51:00.004-04:00

I am sure for any of you who have heard of Pine Cone Research before you know that they don't take new members often.

I got an email a couple of days ago telling me that I could forward the opportunity for new households to sign up because they are expanding their member base.

If you have never heard of Pine Cone Research they are a survey company that actually pays you CASH ($3 per survey) in your Paypal account or by mailing you a check for completing surveys for them. Sometimes they will even send you products to try.

To read about them click HERE
To read about their privacy policy click HERE

If you want to sign up for this survey panel click HERE.

Its the only one that I have ever been a member of that actually pays money and not just points or sweepstakes entries of some kind.

By the way they do not have a referral program so I don't get anything for you signing up. They just only allow sign ups for certain periods of time and only for so many people and this is the first time I have ever seen them give us the opportunity to invite people so take advantage of it.

Publix Trip 7/13 (71.7% Savings )

2009-07-13T20:39:00.004-04:00

I did awesome at Publix today. Only bummer was that they didn't have any more of the BP Gas cards for $10 off.

Total before sales and coupons: $93.88
Total paid: $26.57
Total Saved: $67.31 ($28 was coupons) 71.7% savings

3 Bananas .69/lb (pd .57)
1 pt Blueberries (pd 1.67)
4 Granny Smith Apples .99/lb (pd 1.74)
4 Red Del Apples 1.49/lb (pd 3.13)
! Fruit Salad 1.99/lb (pd 5.45)
2 Kashi Waffles (1.39 -1.50/1 -.25/1 = -.36 each)
4 Rosetto Pasta BOGO (4.10/2 -1.50/2 = 2.60 each)
2 Klondike Bars BOGO (3.99/2 -1.00/2 = 1.50 each)
2 Smart Balance 2pk BOGO (3.09/2 - 1.00/2 = 1.04 each)
1 Smart Balance Milk (3.00 - 3.00 free milk w/butter q = FREE)
1 Smart Balance Peanut Butter (2.50 - 2.50 free pb w/butter q = FREE)
2 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks BOGO (2.73/2 - .50/2 = 1.11 each)
3 Adam & Eve Organic Juice 3pk (1.59 - .50/1 - 1.00/1 = .09 each)
4 A1 Marinade BOGO (2.89/2 - 2.00/1 = -.56 each)
4 Chef Boyardee (.85 -1.00/4 = .60 each)
2 SpongeBob books Clearance .75 each (pd 1.50)

Awesome trip for me especially considering how much "healthy" stuff I got and how much produce I got that didn't have coupons. I got healthy milk and peanut butter FREE and I got paid .72 to take healthy waffles home and I got paid 2.24 to take home marinade.

Earn FREE Stuff For getting Google results!!

2009-07-08T13:09:00.005-04:00

Want to earn free giftcards just for searching? Just sign up with SwagBucks and then use them to search for anything you would normally search in Yahoo and Google for. The results are powered by Google and Ask.com so they are great results.

The easiest way I have found to remember to search through them is to click on Toolbars on their home page and choose one of the plugins. I have never been a fan of real toolbars but if you like them you can get the toolbar. The plugins for each browser will just add a swagbucks option up at the top of your browser where you normally search in yahoo (IE7) or Google (Firefox). Instead of those it will add Swagbucks and you can just enter your search term.

I am a very low searcher and I have already earned 32 swagbucks. You can get a $5 amazon giftcard for 45 swagbucks and they have airline miles, giftcards, products, sweepstakes, anything you could want.

You also earn swagbucks for any of your friends searches too.

Todays Freebies

2009-07-08T11:55:00.000-04:00

Todays Freebies Specials

Want to see what my freebie site specials for the day are without having to look through all of my posts? Whenever I have a new special I am going to label it Todays Freebies, now all you have to do is click on the Todays Freebies category at the top left of my blog and you will see the most recent specials that I am offering.

Today's special

$25 for Swiftrewards

Get paid real money in 4 easy steps!!

1. Sign up by clicking on the banner below

2. Decide which offers you want to do to get to 100%
(For instructions on the best way to do offers click here)

3. Complete offers and wait for credit to come through

4. Contact me to get paid $25!

The best part about this site if you are not familiar with freebie trading is that it is repeatable. This means that once you complete the 4 steps above and get paid by me, you can now use the site yourself. Once you have completed the offers and "greened" the site you never have to do offers on this site again. You can get your own referrals over and over. Your profit is whatever you get paid by the site minus what you pay your referral for completing the site for you.

For example: This site pays $40 for every referral that I get to sign up under my link. You complete the offers and now I can cash out for my $40. I have paid you $25 for completing the site for me so my profit is $15, and I can do this as many times as I want with as many referrals as I want, NO LIMITS!

By the way - You can pay your referrals whatever amount you want!!! I pay at least 50% on all of my sites!!