Tips & Treasures

How to earn cash and gift cards online

2012-02-03T09:15:00.003-05:00

Are you looking to make money online? If so, you're at the right place! I put together this fabulous list for all of you that are looking to easily earn money and gift cards online!

I originally published this list here two years ago. I just updated it, although it's mostly the same, except for a few additions. Good luck and I hope they help you earn some extra cash!

I want to stress that any of these places on my list are legitimate sites that I trust. I have used each of these for quite some time now and have also been paid by each of these.

Swagbucks - Search engine powered by Google and Ask.com - They randomly award you Swagbucks and you can redeem them for gift cards and all kinds of prizes. My favorite is the Amazon gift card for only 450 Swagbucks. You can also earn Swagbucks when they give out free codes, for referring your friends, shopping, playing games and watching videos. Get 30 free Swagbucks just for signing up!

Winster - Free game site. I LOVE the games on this site and easily get addicted to them. My favorite is Slot Social. Anyway, it's completely free to play or you can upgrade to a monthly membership, but remember that you can play & earn for FREE, no need for the membership, unless you get addicted like me :) Anyway, as you play the games, you're awarded points. Redeem your points for gift cards, etc. My favorite is the Amazon gift card.

My Points - They send you emails with advertisements in them. Some are worth 5 points, some aren't worth anything. Open the emails, click the link to view the site and you are awarded your points. I only click the emails that say they are worth 5 points. I just delete the others. Also earn points from shopping at your favorite stores through their links, referring friends, printing and redeeming grocery coupons and taking surveys. Redeem your points for all kinds of gift cards!

You Data - View advertisements, click on the link to view the site and easily earn cash. They pay every Friday directly into your PayPal account. No cashout minimums. And no need to even request payments! By the way, PayPal is free and easy to use, incase you're wondering.

QuickRewards - They send you emails, you click on the advertisements and view the site. They reward you in points which translate into cash. This also pays to your PayPal account. No minimum cashouts!

Send Earnings - They send you emails, you click the link and view the advertisement or site. They reward you in cash. You can also earn cash for taking their surveys and referring friends, among other things on their site. Earn $5.00 just for signing up!

Inbox Dollars - Exactly the same as Send Earnings. Feel free to sign up for both!

Snap Dollars - They send you emails and you click the link to view the site. They award you in cash. Also earn additional cash by referring friends ($5 for each one!) and other activites on their site. Sign up and you'll get a $5 sign-up bonus.

DonkeyMails - Get paid for viewing advertisements in your email and then clicking the link. Once the new page opens, a countdown will begin and you need to stay on the page for 15 seconds. Their site is scammy looking, I'll admit. But I've been using it for over a year now and have been paid twice to my PayPal account so far with no problems at all. And I'm actually ready to cashout again for a few dollars! To request PayPal payment, you only need to have a minimum of $1 in earnings. There are other ways to be paid as well, but I prefer PayPal.

These sites are all FREE for you to use. No cost is necessary to use these sites. They will pay YOU in either cash or gift cards, depending on the site.

Note that on several of these sites there may be free trials or whatnot that you can sign up for, but beware that some of them do require a credit card and may cost you money. These are completely optional portions of the sites. I normally avoid these and I don't sign up for anything requiring a credit card, unless it's something I really want, which is pretty rare.

My suggestion is to keep with the free portions of these sites. You will still earn cash and gift cards, so no worries about that.

I hope this list helps you to get started making money online or helps you find a new site to try out. This list will not make you rich, but it sure is nice to have these extra bits of income.

Check back occasionally, as I will add sites to this list... but only after I try them out for awhile and I receive a payment from them. You can always find this list by clicking on the "Earn Cash Online" tab on my menu bar.

Any questions, please feel free to contact me and I will try my best to help you out!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The links included in this post are my affiliate links. If you sign up for any of these sites through my links, I may receive bonus points for that site. Thanks so much!

Quaker Oatmeal Squares Freebie

2012-02-01T14:06:00.001-05:00

Snag a free sample box of Quaker Oatmeal Squares Honey Nut cereal.

Simply head on over to their Facebook page and "like" them. Then you'll have access to their freebie sign-up form.

Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.

50 Things we do to save money

2012-01-30T15:13:00.000-05:00

In this new year, I've been trying to assess what we do to save money in our household and where there's still room for change.

I'd like to find a few new ways to save money this year. I'd also like to step it up a little bit on a few things we're already doing, but maybe slacking on a little bit, like couponing.

In order to figure all this out, I first wanted to make a list of things that we are already doing to save cash on a regular basis. I've also linked to some of my past blog posts that relate to each item, if you're interested.

1. Use cloth napkins for meals- Hubby and I
2. Kids use wet baby washcloths for their hands/faces during & after meals
  3. Use real plates & silverware - hardly ever use paper or plastic
4. Turn off lights in unused rooms
5. Cut coupons & print some from internet
  6. Lower thermostat at night and when away for a few hours
7. Sign up for freebie offers online
  8. Pay all bills on time to avoid late fees, etc.
  9. Pay credit cards off monthly to avoid interest
10. Only use our bank's ATMs to avoid fees
11. Hang dry most clothes
12. Use old towels as cleaning rags instead of paper towels
13. Combine sales & coupons (need to get back into this more)
14. Blank sides of unneeded paper becomes scrap paper for the kids
15. Shop at yard sales & occasionally Goodwill (but only for needed items)
16. Use containers for lunches, etc. instead of disposable baggies
17. Create a stockpile of food/toiletry/ household items when they are cheap
18. Use half the detergent that is recommended for laundry & dishes
19. Use a half dryer sheet for each load
20. Wear some things more than once before washing
21. Search for free Kindle books on Amazon
22. Use Bookmooch & PaperBackSwap for cheap book swapping
23. Eat dinner leftovers for most of my lunches
24. Look for free local family activities
25. Take books out of the library
26. Use CFL bulbs in most lighting fixtures
27. Canceled cable tv & use an antenna instead
28. Water down juice 50% (my kiddos don't need the sugar anyay!)
29. Use a bagless vacuum
30. Use a reusable, washable Swiffer cloth cover instead of the refills
31. Take our dogs to Petco's clinics for vaccines instead of the pricey vet
32. Make some of our own snacks from scratch
33. Cook dinner from home more often (room for improvement)
34. In summer, use fans & reduce need for AC
35. Use Ebates, Mr Rebates or Shop At Home when shopping online
36. Wrap presents with newspaper comics
37.  Reuse ribbon, bows, boxes, bags & tissue paper from gifts
38. Use reusable shopping totes at Target for the 5 cents per bag discount
39. Use a filtered water pitcher & reusable water bottle instead of bottled water
40. Daughter uses a water bottle instead of box drinks at school
41. Reuse glass jars from fruit, jelly, etc to store small craft pieces, hamster food, etc.
42. Reuse glass baby food jars for storing push pins, rubber bands, etc.
43. Wash most laundry in cold water
44. Pay bills online to avoid cost of envelopes, stamps & driving to mailbox
45. Canceled home phone service & use cell phones
46. Save broken crayons to melt into new crayon molds
47. Save bottle caps, toilet paper tubes, etc. to use for crafts
48. Prepare our own tax returns (Hubby is an accountant, so that helps!)
49. Open windows & use fresh air instead of air fresheners
50. Repurpose shoe boxes as storage containers/organizers in closets, etc.

So that's what we do now. Of course, there are other things here and there, but the list can't go on forever.

Now I want to take some time to be conscious of our spending habits, our routines and expenses. I'd like to find a few new ways to save more money this year. And I'd also like to improve upon a few of the items mentioned above. Any money saved will be a great help to paying off our car loan and credit card debt!

What are some of the key ways you save money?

Savings & Earnings Recap 1/22 - 1/28

2012-01-30T07:23:00.001-05:00

How much extra money did you earn this week? How much did you save? Here's my weekly recap of money/gift cards earned, cash saved by using coupons, and freebies received.

It's fun to see your savings/earnings amounts all added up. It clearly shows that it's time well spent when you cut coupons, hunt for sales, and make little bits of money here and there. Here's my recap for the past week, 1/22/12 - 1/28/12.

Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received
Nothing received this week
Total: $0.00

Coupon Savings
$0.87..... Best Deal Magazines (15% off code)
$5.00..... Friendly's
$54.14... Kohl's (30% off & $20 Kohl's Cash redeemed)
$7.55..... Walmart (grocery coupons)
$4.25..... Subway

Total: $71.81

Freebies
4 extra coupon inserts from a friend
Baby formula free in the mail (will donate these!)
Coupon for a free package of Yoplait Kids Yogurt won from Thrifty Ways and Ideas!
Coupon for a free 12-pack of Coke from redeeming My Coke Rewards points

Total 2012 Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received: $211.92
Total 2012 Coupon Savings: $144.29

Find my previous weekly recaps here.

Some Recent Blog Updates

2012-01-24T13:36:00.000-05:00

One of my New Year's resolutions was to spend more time on my blog.

I'd like to double my readers by the end of the year. I used to have more traffic, but when I was posting very irregularly, I lost some of that traffic. So, I'd like to atleast get that back to where it was. But to do so, I've got some work to do.

I'm increasing my number of weekly posts and trying to post atleast daily. I'm also trying to comment more often when I visit other blogs. I read so many other blogs, but hardly ever comment. Not sure why. I guess it just doesn't occur to me to do so. Trying to change that!

I'm also trying to read and teach myself some new tweaks to the blog to make it a better place to visit. One of the recent changes I've made is to install CommentLuv.

If you're unfamiliar, CommentLuv is great for those commenters that have their own blogs. When you're commenting, it finds your last blog post and places the title and link to it right under your comment. This is a great way to snag interested new readers when you're commenting on a post!

I've also made my blog Do Follow enabled. This means that your blog will get some great "link juice" back because the web crawlers can now find your blog link in your comment! This is obviously my very simple explanation, you can Google it if you want to find out more.

Anyway, that's what I've been up to over here. Oh and that bad case of being unmotivated last week? Totally gone now. Dishes are all caught up and laundry is getting there... got slowed down by my 5 year old with a stomach virus.

All my Christmas decorations are finally put away! So excited about that one, lol. We even got the house cleaned and decorated and held a great pirate 4th birthday party for my son over the weekend. Lots going on around here :)

Coming up soon: I have some pics to post of our homemade pirate party decorations! They turned out great!

Image Credit: Tech 2 Hell

Savings & Earnings Recap 1/15 - 1/21

2012-01-22T21:46:00.000-05:00

How much extra money did you earn this week? How much did you save? Here's my weekly recap of money/gift cards earned, cash saved by using coupons, and freebies received.

It's fun to see your savings/earnings amounts all added up. It clearly shows that it's time well spent when you cut coupons, hunt for sales, and make little bits of money here and there. Here's my recap for the past week, 1/15/12 - 1/21/12.

Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received
$5.00...... Amazon.com GC won through the Swagbucks search engine!
$95.00.... Various blog income
Total: $100.00

Coupon Savings
$5.00..... Great Clips (Men's haircut coupon)

Total: $5.00

Freebies
Organized Simplicity free Kindle book
22 coupon inserts from a friend!

Total 2012 Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received: $211.92
Total 2012 Coupon Savings: $72.48

Find my previous weekly recaps here.

Feeling Unmotivated

2012-01-20T13:57:00.001-05:00

Do you ever get into a funk where you're so unmotivated to do anything?

This entire week I've been dragging, not wanting to do anything around the house. Laundry is piling up, dishes are getting behind, our Christmas decorations are only half put away.

I'm just not motivated to do much of anything. It's weird because for the past few weeks, I've been doing really well with getting so much done around our house. I've been decluttering and organizing and tackling big projects. And now, nothing.

And the thing is, I'm not depressed about anything. Nothing has me down and I'm certainly not sad. Just unmotivated to get things done.

It's driving me insane because I want to get things done. And the disorder is getting to me. But it's just not enough to actually pick me up and make me move, lol.

Hoping for a more productive week after the weekend!

Has this ever happened to you? For no apparent reason, you just start letting things slide or you're just so unmotivated?

$1/2 New Kellogg's Krave Cereal

2012-01-20T10:52:00.001-05:00

Have you tried Krave, the new Kellogg's cereal?

Use this printable coupon for $1.00 off two boxes of Krave!

We've found this cereal for $2.50 at Walmart. So with the coupon, we've gotten it for just $2.00 per box! Oh, and the back of each box has had a coupon for $1.00 off two boxes that you can cut out for your next purchase.

My kids LOVE both flavors, the multigrain with chocolate center as well as the double chocolate.

I love that it's made with multigrains, although it does contain more sugar than I'd like them to have. So it's definitely a "treat" cereal around here.

Free Elle Digital Magazine for 1 Year

2012-01-19T14:39:00.001-05:00

Sign up for a free 1 year digital subscription to Elle magazine!

It's one of those Mercury Magazines offers and they'll have you answer a few quick questions to see if you qualify for any other free subscriptions while you're there.

Note that you don't need to select any others in order to receive this one. Enjoy!

Considering our TV options without cable

2012-01-18T18:26:00.001-05:00

When we made the decision to cancel our cable tv service, we didn't really have a plan worked out. Although we had considered ditching our cable provider many times over the past few years, we weren't sure if we'd end up with a new cable company or with some other option.

Ditching our cable tv service was kind of a spur of the moment decision. We had thought about it before, but never came close to actually going through with it. But since they wanted to increase our monthly bill by $25, it kind of gave us a big kick in the butt to cancel it.

Now that the cable is gone, I'm so happy we did it, and kind of mad that we hadn't done it years ago. Seriously, it's saving us $40 a month over what we were paying and $65 a month over what they wanted us to start paying. That extra money is going to help us pay off our car loan early!

I know some people just decide to do without tv completely in order to save money, along with other benefits. We could do that, but I'd rather not.

I enjoy watching tv in the evenings with the Hubby. It's our time to sit and relax and enjoy each other's company, with some entertainment as well. We also don't go out very often since we have two young kids (ages 4 & 5), and this is our main entertainment. So we had to consider our options.

Right from the start, we knew we weren't going to switch to another cable company because the money saved was too tempting. We already have a Netflix DVD plan, but that doesn't help with watching current tv seasons. We considered Hulu plus, but ultimately decided against that too.

Instead, we went to our favorite big box store and bought an antenna for $30. We hooked it up to the tv, which was super easy and fast. And just like that, we had about 20 channels or so for FREE. And they come in super clear. For FREE.

I don't know about you, but I'm incredibly amazed. I heard of people using an antenna, but I always thought it was like cheesy rabbit ears and fuzzy reception. Umm no. It's not like that at all. I seriously feel like we're stealing cable, ha.

With the antenna we can watch most of the tv shows that we enjoyed with cable. Though there are a few that are on channels that we don't get anymore. For those few, we're usually able to find them online on the network site or on Hulu. Instead of watching the show on the laptop, we hook it up to the tv with an HDMI cord so we can watch it on our tv instead! Love it! And it's also FREE!

Free is good! Seriously, it's one of the best decision we've made and I only wish we'd gone through with it long ago :)

Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate link. If you make a purchase through this link, it helps support Tips & Treasures at no cost to you. Thanks! Also, I was not paid to make this post, I'm just passing along my experience in the hopes that it can help someone else :)

Savings & Earnings Recap 1/8 - 1/14

2012-01-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

How much extra money did you earn this week? How much did you save? Here's my weekly recap of money/gift cards earned, cash saved by using coupons, and freebies received.

It's fun to see your savings/earnings amounts all added up. It clearly shows that it's time well spent when you cut coupons, hunt for sales, and make little bits of money here and there. Here's my recap for the past week, 1/8/12 - 1/14/12.

Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received
$45.64..... Credit card cashback rewards (credited to my account!)
$10.00..... Sale through Craigslist
Total: $55.64

Coupon Savings
$5.13..... Friendly's
$2.75..... Walmart (grocery coupon)
$54.60... Kohl's (30% off coupon)
$5.00..... TGI Friday's

Total: $67.48

Freebies
A few Kindle book downloads

Total 2012 Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received: $111.92
Total 2012 Coupon Savings: $67.48

Find my previous weekly recaps here.

Kindle ebook Freebie: Organized Simplicity

2012-01-16T14:23:00.003-05:00

How many of you resolved to be more organized this year?

This should help! Download a great book by Tsh Oxenreider, the author of the Simple Mom blog. The book is Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living, and it is FREE right now!!

This is normally $16.99 for the Kindle or $11.55 in print. So this freebie is quite a savings!

I haven't read this yet, but the reviews on Amazon are pretty darn good!

Remember, if you don't have a Kindle, simply download a free Kindle reading app for your computer, smartphone, ipod or ipad!

Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link. If you make a purchase through my link, I'll receive a few cents. This is at no cost to you and helps support this blog. Thanks!

What to do with saved cash when you cut expenses?

2012-01-13T15:18:00.003-05:00

When the Hubby and I decided to cancel our cable tv last week, we wanted to figure out how much we were saving on a monthly basis. We also wanted to put a plan in place for how that money saved could be rediverted towards something else.

We were paying $85 a month for cable and internet. We canceled the cable and locked in the internet for $40 a month for the next six months. So after taxes or whatever fees, we should be paying about $45 a month.

What to do with an extra $40 a month? Don't get me wrong here, there's plenty of areas where this $40 could go. Between credit cards, student loans, a car payment and a mortgage, that $40 could find alotta places to run to. And I'm fine with any of those options, I just don't want the extra $40 a month to be "lost" in with all of our usual monthly spending.

Since we had been comfortably affording the $85 cable and internet bill, I wanted to keep thinking like we still had an $85 bill, not a $45 one. So each month when I pay the cable bill for $45, I want to immediately pay that extra $40 into something else. So that way we're keeping our same budget, but making our money work harder for us. It's the same $85 that we've been paying, but instead of paying cable and internet, it's paying for internet and reducing our debt! Yes, it is all very exciting to me :)

So I narrowed it down to two areas where I could divert this extra cash each month and had to decide on one of them. First was our credit card, which we owe about $3,600 on. It's at 0% interest until November and we're steadily paying on it and will have it finished off before then, but obviously, the sooner the better to get rid of any debts.

The other option was our car payment. We owe $3,600 on that as well. And those payments go through November too. But that one's at 4.9% interest.

So we decided to go ahead and put the extra $40 per month towards our car payments. I had already started paying an extra $20 a month to that, so now we'll make it an extra $60. And maybe we can add some bits of extra money from anything else to that as well.

The sooner we pay it off, the less in interest we'll pay. And we'll also have more peace of mind. Hubby's car is getting up there in age at 12 years old and we'll likely be replacing that soon enough. I'm sure hoping that we can atleast get in a few months without having any car payments before we take on a new car loan. We'll see!

Have you cut back on your expenses? Cut out or reduced a bill? Did you make a plan on how to spend that saved money?

Find more financial advice and money saving tips for Frugal Fridays at Life As Mom.

Bath & Body Works $10 off $40 Coupon

2012-01-13T10:27:00.000-05:00

Take $10 off your purchase of $40 or more at Bath & Body Works.

This coupon is valid in store and online. If using in store, you can print your coupon here. If you're shopping online, use coupon code: HELLOYELLOW.

The coupon is only good through 1/15/12.

Thanks to Luv A Bargain for sharing this!

$1/2 Kellogg's Cereal Printable Coupon

2012-01-12T08:52:00.000-05:00

Print this handy coupon and score $1.00 off any two Kellogg's cereals.

Be sure to hit the back button and print it twice!

Free Sample of Rachael Ray Nutrish Just 6 Dog Food

2012-01-11T17:39:00.001-05:00

Sign up for a free sample of Rachael Ray's Nutrish Just 6 dog food.

This new "limited ingredient super premium food for dogs" is made with 6 simple, wholesome ingredients. And it contains no corn, wheat or soy.

Ditching cable for 2012

2012-01-10T14:32:00.000-05:00

So here's an unplanned New Year's resolution for ya. We're ditching cable for 2012.

Yup. It's done. It's gone. No cable TV. Crazy, I tell ya.

Now, I've said more than once, that I'd easily give up cable if we stopped getting a good rate. But every time that our promotional rate ran out, the Hubby was able to call and talk them into giving us back the promo rate for another 3-6 months or so. This has been going on for years.

One time, when he called, he even got a brand new LOWER rate than what we were originally paying. How crazy is that?!?! We used to pay about $105 a month for cable and internet. After the lower rate kicked in, we were paying about $85 a month.

But, alas, all good things must come to an end. We got a letter in the mail that stated our promotional rate was ending, but have no fear, they understand the financial issues many people are facing. So they were offering us this "new discounted promotional rate!" And they tried to make it sound so exciting, like they were doing us this awesome favor.

Oh yay! Except, no. It wasn't any kind of favor. Except maybe us doing them a favor by giving them more money. Ummm no thanks.

According to their new promotional "discounted" rate, we'd be paying about $25 more per month on our bill. Uhh yea that's SO not happening.

So the Hubby started making phone calls. And by "started," I mean that he had to call several times and speak with several different people, trying to get us a better rate than this letter stated. He was offered more channels, phone service in addition to our cable and internet, along with other horrible deals. Oh, and there was the person who said they could easily just give us our old $85 rate back. But then, no, she apparently didn't know what she was talking about because that wasn't even allowed. Go figure.

So, we made the super easy decision to just cut the cord. No more cable service as of last week. Luckily, we were able to secure a deal for our internet for $40 a month for 6 months with our same provider. So we don't need to find a new one just yet. We'll see what happens on that front in 6 months.

In an upcoming post, I'll describe where we are with our other TV options, since we don't have cable anymore.

Tell me, have you ever ditched cable? Ditched TV completely? What kind of TV service do you have? Digital converter box? Antenna? Do you stream from the internet? Netflix? Hulu? How's it working out for you?

Savings & Earnings Recap 1/1 - 1/7

2012-01-09T14:28:00.000-05:00

New year, new savings and earnings totals for my Weekly Recaps!

How much extra money did you earn this week? How much did you save? Here's my weekly recap of money/gift cards earned, cash saved by using coupons, and freebies received.

It's fun to see your savings/earnings amounts all added up. It clearly shows that it's time well spent when you cut coupons, hunt for sales, and make little bits of money here and there. Here's my recap for the past week, 1/1/12 - 1/7/12.

Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received
$5.00..... Amazon gift card from Swagbucks (Won using their search engine!)
$25.00... Amazon gift card from Winster (Play free games, earn real prizes!)
$0.36..... YouData (Paid to view ads)
$0.92..... PayPal Debit Card cash back
$25.00... Sale through Craigslist
Total: $56.28

Coupon Savings
No shopping this week, so no coupons used. I guess that's savings in itself!

Total: $0.00

Freebies
Pocket calendar and pen from my salon

Total 2012 Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received: $56.28
Total 2012 Coupon Savings: $0.00

Find my previous weekly recaps here.

Free ebook: The Cheapskate's Guide to Birthday Celebrations

2012-01-09T09:57:00.001-05:00

Planning a birthday party? As you know, birthday parties can quickly go over the top, and over your budget.

Grab this FREE ebook to help in your planning... tons of ideas to have a great party at a great price.

It's The Cheapskate's Guide to Birthday Celebrations: How to Throw an Amazing Birthday Party on a Budget. And right now, it's a completely free ebook download from Amazon!

This is a Kindle download, but can be read on other devices besides the actual Kindle. You can use their FREE Kindle reading apps for your computer, smartphone, iPod or iPad as well! Check those out here.

15 Free eBooks for kids

2012-01-06T12:33:00.000-05:00

I'm always on the lookout for free ebook downloads for myself, and regularly check Amazon for their freebies. But since our family will be doing some lengthy roadtripping this year, I was super excited to find a bunch of free ebook downloads for kids as well!

Here's a list of the free kids ebook downloads I found. My kiddos are 5 and almost 4 (but will be almost 6 and 4 when we travel), so this list of books that I found are ones that I thought would be appropriate for that age group.

Mortimer's Sweet Retreat (The Many Adventures of Mortimer Crump)
Arthur The Worm
Popcorn Dragon
A Tish, Of A Dish, For A Fish
The Ugly Duckling
Little Shoes
Garbage! Monster! Burp!
Henry Burp - Mind Your Manners
Princess Callie and the Totally Amazing Talking Tiara (Callie Chronicles)
The Clever Detective
GRANDPA HATES THE BIRD: The Battle Begins
Cougar Cub Tales: Lost and Alone
Cougar Cub Tales: I'm Just Like You
Burly and Grum and the Secret City (A Burly and Grum Tale)
When Cows Fly

These promotions come and go, so before you click to download each ebook, double check that the price still states $0 to purchase.

Oh, and remember that Kindle ebooks can be downloaded and read on other devices besides the actual Kindle. You can use their free Kindle reading apps for your computer, smartphone, iPod or iPad as well! Check it out here.

Decluttering our way to Disney

2012-01-05T11:00:00.002-05:00

Have you ever stopped and looked around your home, only to wonder where all that stuff came from? I do that all the time. And I continue to find it crazy how much stuff has accumulated in our house over the past six years since we bought it.

Over the past month we've been really focusing on decluttering our house. We are by no means hoarders, but it still weighs me down to see how much crap we have that we don't need, don't use and probably never will.

I worked in our basement for several hours on several different days trying to declutter and organize. I came up with 4 large bags of trash, several boxes for donations to Goodwill and our local library's book sale, and a few boxes for a yardsale in the spring. It was exhausting work and there's still tons more to be done. Ugh.

On the bright side of it all, I managed to put together a selection of items that were worth trying to sell on Craigslist. We had successfully sold just a few other things through Craigslist before, so I figured it was worth a shot. It certainly would be nice to get rid of a bunch of stuff before we even have our yardsale, so that it was less that we had to lug around and it would be out of our house and taking up less space sooner than waiting for the spring.

And of course, the extra cash of selling a few items now, certainly is a plus! With our vacation to Disney World coming up in two months, we're trying our best to save up some extra cash to take with us.

We were lucky to have the money for our vacation itself and have paid for it completely already. Also, we booked while they had the free meal plan, so most of our meals and some snacks will be covered. But we still needed to save up the cash for other meals and snacks as well as souvenirs while we're there. So that's where Craigslist is helping out!

I took pictures and wrote up detailed descriptions of about twelve or so items. We've sold seven things so far, which I'm pretty darn happy with!

What have we sold? Let's see...

New winter coat - $20 (Son grew out of it before he could wear it)
Girls' holiday dress - $5 (Worn once, but I bought super cheap)
Boys' suit - $8 (Worn once, but I bought super cheap)
New inflatable ball pit - $20 (Gifted to us)
New pop-up play tent - $7 (We bought on clearance for $5!)
Jimmy Rollins bobblehead from a Phillies game giveaway - $25
Fisher Price ride on fire truck - $8 (We bought this used, over 2 years ago for $5!!!)

For a total of $93. Not bad, considering there was hardly any effort involved!

I have a few more things listed and several more to photograph and list. Hopefully we'll atleast sell a few more items over the next two months.

Now, obviously this isn't enough money to take on a vacation. Don't we wish, ha! Along with this cash earned, we've also been saving up some cash each week if we have a few dollars left over from our weekly spending. Also, after Christmas I watched a friend's son for the week and earned a chunk of cash that went right into our savings for Disney. Oh and we were kindly gifted several Disney gift cards for Christmas from some thoughtful family members.

So, we should be set to take a great, first family vacation - without incurring any debt along the way! I'd just like to sell a few more things to declutter and earn just a little bit more spending money to take with us. And wow, we'll have a less cluttered home to come back to!

Check out other Thrifty Thursday posts at Coupon Teacher.

Weekly recap 11/27 - 12/31

2012-01-04T16:57:00.000-05:00

How much extra money did you earn this week? How much did you save? Here's my weekly recap of money/gift cards earned, cash saved by using coupons, and freebies received.

It's fun to see your savings/earnings amounts all added up. It clearly shows that it's time well spent when you cut coupons, hunt for sales, and make little bits of money here and there. Life got busy with Christmas, so here's my recap for the past month or so, 11/27/11 - 12/31/11.

Also, there's some missing data. With being so busy, I lost track of receipts, etc. :(

Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received
$10.00.... Amazon.com gift card from Swagbucks (Paid to use their FREE search engine!)
$0.11...... YouData (Paid to view ads)
$27.37.... Ebay sale
$10.00.... Chili's gift card from redeeming MyPoints
$68.00.... Sale of random things through Craigslist
$0.36...... PayPal Debit Card cashback
Total: $115.84

Coupon Savings
$73.18.... Fashion Bug (40% off!!)

$6.10...... Lowe's (5% off for using my Lowe's card)
$1.49...... Taco Bell (B1G1 item free coupon)
$9.40...... Walmart (grocery coupons)
$21.79.... Old Navy (30% off & $5 cash back reward)
Total: $111.96

Freebies
Woman's Day magazine
2012 Personalized Photo Calendar from Vistaprint (paid $6.41 shipping)
Kids' photo with Santa, snacks and kids crafts at a free town event!

Total 2011 Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received: $2,061.49
Total 2011 Coupon Savings: $1,795.86

Find my previous weekly recaps here.

Free after rebate: Keebler White Fudge Dipped Pretzels

2012-01-04T10:29:00.000-05:00

Keebler would like you to try their White Fudge Dipped Pretzels... absolutely free! These come in their 100 Calorie Right Bites packs, so no worries about over indulging in the new year :)

This offer is free after completing the mail in rebate. So purchase a pack of these between 1/1/12 and 8/31/12. You'll need to submit a token from the package, your original receipt and this printed rebate form.

The maximum rebate amount is $4.00. Find more info on the SnackPicks site.

Rebate Tip: Print the rebate form and fill it out now. Grab an envelope, address and stamp it and pin it to your bulletin board or put it in your planner or somewhere else where you won't forget about it. This way it's all ready to go once you make your purchase.

Freebie Alert: Puffs Tissues Sample

2012-01-03T11:15:00.000-05:00

Here's a great free sample offer that everyone can use. Snag a free sample pack of Puffs Tissues!

It's a quick and painless form to sign up for your freebie from P&G. One offer per household. Allow 8-10 weeks for delivery.

Thanks so much to Freebies4Mom for sharing this!

December Credit Card Debt Recap

2012-01-03T09:33:00.000-05:00

Hello, 2012! This past year was quite a great financial year for our family and I hope that this new year can be just as good. It's my wish that all of you, my awesome readers, can have a great year too... not just in finances, but in happiness, health and spirit as well.

We had started 2011 with $13,402.24 of debt on two major credit cards, plus some more on store cards. The store cards were paid off and then we went to work on these two major cards.

Through frugal tactics and cutbacks, an increase in income, transfers to new 0% interest cards and sheer determination, we've managed to pay off over $10,000 in credit card debt this year!

At the beginning of December, our credit card totals looked like this:

Chase 1 - $0
Chase 2 - $0
CitiCard1 - $0
CitiCard2 - $3,700.00
_____________________
Total - $3,700.00

And then at the end of December, our totals looked like this:

Chase 1 - $0
Chase 2 - $0
CitiCard1 - $0
Citicard2 - $3,600.00
______________________
Total - $3,600.00

In the month of December, we paid off a measly $100 in credit card debt. Not great, I know. But... the extra cash we had all went into purchasing Christmas gifts as well as some home improvement things we needed to take care of.

Paying down only $100 worth of credit card debt may not seem like much, but when I focus on the fact that we were able to purchase gifts for our family, teachers and close friends with cash, it makes me so proud. In years past we always relied on credit cards too much and ended up with a big bill in January. And of course, we could never pay it all off right away, so we ended up carrying a balance. But not this year!

Technically we did use our credit card this year, so we could take advantage of the great cash back rewards. But we only charged what we could easily afford to pay off right away. The balance was then paid off long before we ever got a bill, so by the time Christmas arrived, we were debt free on that card. So yea, I'm pretty proud of that and I hope to be able to do that every year going forward.

To see my previous posts about our debt payoff journey, go here.