Stampin' Up! Customer Panel

This is so cool! Did you know you can receive FREE Stampin' Up! products just for answering a few surveys?

There are only a few selected panel members - so, cross your fingers! I just filled mine out a few days ago and haven't heard anything yet - so we will see.

If you are one of the Lucky Ducks chosen, you will receive a Stampin' Up! goodie box in the mail. Every few weeks you will receive a short survey and as long as you answer the surveys and stay active in the panel you will receive a Stampin Up! goodie box every 3 months!

Stampin' Up! Customer Panel Sign Up

Good Luck!

Upromise Preferred Dinner Survey Bonus

During the month of September 2008 Upromise is offering a $2 Bonus for each preferred diner survey you fill out. You will receive the survey via email after you have dined out at a preferred diner. In case you don't receive the email you can also check your Upromise account and take the survey there.

The best part? There is no limit to the amount of free collage money you can earn for your children.

For more information: Upromise Preferred Dinner Survey Bonus

Earn Money by Shopping Online

Shopping online is very convent, fast and easy to do. Most people who shop online regularly know about online coupon codes to help save money. However, did you know there is sites that will give you reward points or pay you for shopping online?

Get cash back on all your eBay purchases!

Kick It Back allows you to earn 1% cash back for shopping on eBay. All you have to do is go to Kick It Back, click through their links, and continue to shop through eBay. The nice thing about Kick It Back is you don’t need to request your payment. Payments are automatically sent once a month through Pay Pal when your account reaches $5.


Ebates is another good program where you can earn up to 25% cash back with every purchase you make through their site. They have hundreds of different stores to choose from. They automatically pay every 3 months if you have more than $5.01 (non referral money) in your account. I like this because you don't have to request your payment they just automatically send out the checks. You also get $5 referral bonus for signing up.

Free Ride allows you to earn points for shopping, reading emails, taking surveys, watching videos and more. If you are looking to buy something online, search Free Ride and see if they have the store you wish to shop. If they do, simply click through their link and continue to shop. Each store is different in how many points you can earn. After you have collected enough points you can cash in your points for gift cards for places like: Olive Garden, Overstock, Red Lobster, Applebee’s, Home Depot and even a Virtual Visa card. I have cashed in points a few times for gift cards. They are reliable and send your reward in a timely manner.



My Points is a site where members can earn points for taking surveys, reading emails and of course shopping online. Simply search for the store you wish to shop at, click on it and continue to shop. Your points are usually credited to your account within 30 days. Once you have earned enough points you can cash them and choose from a large variety of gift cards like: Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, JC Pennys, Old Navy and many more. I have cashed in points with My Points many times and I think they have the largest selection of rewards and they are very fast in sending your rewards, within a week or less.

It might not seem like you are earning a lot shopping through these programs, but if you are already shopping online – why not get paid a little something for it. You don’t have anything to loose and the points and cash really add up. Keep in mind, to assure your points or cash are credited to your account, make sure you click through the links on the site and don’t leave the site until you are done shopping.

Readers Comments and Answers

A few days ago I was so excited to received such a wonderful comment from Patty over at My Homemade Life. She asked a lot of good questions and thought it would be nice to address them in a new post - in case anyone else had the same questions.

(Pattys comments are highlighted in blue)

Hi, yesterday I found a link to your blog on Money Saving Mom’s blog. I have really enjoyed reading about you and your family. I have a few comments and a few questions for you.

Where do you get multiple coupons?

Hi Patty, thank you for your encouragement.

I get multiple coupons in a few different ways -

1. The older kids great grandma saves the ones she dosn't use and sends them to me.

2. I have a friend who lives about 3 hours away. She will collect coupon inserts from all her friends and neighbors and every few weeks she mails them to me in a priority envelope. In return about once a month I will send her a priority box full of freebies I've gotten - that helps her out.

3. I trade coupons with friends.

4. I also like riding on coupon trains and that is a good way to get some extra coupons.

There are many other ways to get multiple coupons - the possibilities are endless.

You mentioned on you blog about wanting a stand up style freezer in the future instead of a chest freezer so you can organize it better. I wanted to comment on this; I have always been a stock up person and I have had both types of freezers. The chest style holds more than a stand up style. It can be very aggravating to open up a stand up style freezer and have items fall out. The chest freezer holds a lot more and can be packed to the brim.

I guess I will have to sit down and out way the pros and cons with a stand up or chest freezer. I never thought about all my stuff falling out - that would be a pain I wouldn't want to deal with all the time. You have inspired me to investigate this a little more.

Do you ever shop at warehouse stores to save money on your shopping? My family and I have shopped at Sam’s for years. You don’t always get the best deal on everything at a warehouse store but I have found you can save quit a bit on several items such as sugar, spices, honey, hot cocoa, cheese... and non-food items such as movies. I tend to shop the sales at my regular grocery store and use Sam’s for items that do not go on sale very often.

I remember my mom shopping at a warehouse store when I was a kid. They had these huge wheeled-dolly-cart-things that didn't have any sides. She would buy huge boxes of stuff and stack them up on her cart. I don't know if Sam's is like that or not - I've never been to Sam's. I don't even know where one is at - to be honest. I have 4 main stores I shop at that are 5 minutes from my house and practically on the same block. We rarely go anywhere else to shop for groceries or household items cause I don't like driving far away for that stuff. I know we have a Target and a Walmart but they are both about 20 minutes away and I would just rather not take the time to go that far.

However, I know there are some good deals to be had at Sam's Club and other warehouse type stores - a lot of people have had success with that, so thanks for bringing that up and pointing that out. It gives more people options to save money.

Have you heard of The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn? I used to get her newsletter and really learned a lot from her. She and her husband have 6 kids and at the time she wrote here newsletter they fed the family on $200 a month.

No - I don't' think I have ever heard of her. Wow! 6 kids! I love to meet other big families like mine. Looks like I could use some tips from her. I have 5 kids and I try to keep our budget around $250 a month. That's including groceries, household items, dog and cat food. (I've been overspending though the last few months) Thanks for suggesting her. I will look into her newsletter. There is always more to learn from other people.

On you blog you mentioned getting a used sewing machine for $19.99, what a bargain! I love to sew and at one time I taught young girls how to sew using the older machines similar to the one you purchased. The older machines were built to last and they are so easy to care for as long as you keep them oiled.

Yes! I love that sewing machine. Not only because it reminds me of the one my mom used when I was a kid, but also because it's so simple to use. Your right - they don't make things like they used to. Although I haven't been doing much sewing lately - just haven't had the time. That's great you used to teach young girls how to sew. It's a valuable lesson you can use your whole life and do anything with. I noticed you have sewn some beautiful quilts - Ohhhh you must have some steel plated patients!

Have you considered using your sewing skills to make extra money? Have you heard of etsy? This site is similar to e-bay except all things sold on etsy are handmade or vintage. All items are sold at a set price and it is so cheap to sell items on etsy. I used to sell handmade doll clothes on e-bay and did very well, but e-bay kept going up on their prices and their fees so I decided to give etsy a try last year. So far I am very pleased with etsy and I try to tell everyone about etsy, I think they will soon become e-bays competition.

I have heard of etsy before - and have come across a few people selling stuff on there. I haven't really looked into it though. I've got so many things I want to make for the kids - and it's sometimes hard to find the time to do those things. It would be nice thought to be able to make some extra money selling things you have made. I'm wondering if it was ever heard for you to part with any of your doll cloths. I know sometimes I feel attached to something I have worked hard to make and I don't want to let it go.

Once again I enjoyed your blog,

Patty

Thanks for your wonderful comments and suggestions, Patty!

Revolution Money Exchange

Revolution Money Exchange is similar to Pay Pal. If you haven't done so yet - Hurry and sign up! You have a few more days - until May 15 to get your $25 bonus for signing up. It only takes 5 minutes. After signing up, make sure you check your email and verify your account!

I love shopping for free!

Today I went to JC Pennys to spend my gift card I got from My Points. I also had a coupon for $10 off $10 and in the ad today they had another coupon for $10 off $50.

My son 'had to have' these certain kind of socks - no show socks. They had them on sale for buy 2 packs and get 1 free. I also found these - for me -


The shirts were $26.00 each - on sale for $14.99. The shorts were $38.00 - on sale for $19.99.

I also got these goofy fuzzy slipper socks - Love Them! They were originally $12 and on sale for $5.99.

Altogether, for everything, before coupons or discounts it would have been $125.97. But I paid $44.51 - after my $10 gift card, $10/$50 and $10/$10 coupons. BUT - I used my $100 Visa card that was sent to me from the Spa Rewards at Walgreens. SO - really - I got everything FREE! And still have over $50 bucks on my card! Woo Hoo!

My Points

I love My Points! If your not a member you should really sign up. You can earn points for shopping online, taking surveys or reading emails. The points are so easy to get. When you earn enough points you can cash out for lots of different gift cards like; CVS, Walgreens, Old Navy, Amazon.com and one of my favorites - Omaha Steaks! YUMMY!

Sunday I had decided to cash out some of My Points and got these -

$10 Cracker Barrel Gift Card and a $10 JC Penny Gift Card. They always come super duper fast also. I cashed in for these Sunday and they were here by Thursday of that same week.

Pine Cone Research

Pine Cone Research is one of my favorite online survey companies. They pay $5 per survey, and most surveys only take about 10 or 15 minutes.

They also send out some great test products. With the test products you get paid for the survey to qualify you for the test product, then you get the excitement of the test product and with a follow up survey on the test product - you get paid again.

They also pay automatically by Pay Pal usually within two days after taking a survey - so payout is quick and easy. I usually make an easy extra $15 - $20 a month with Pine Cone.

It is a rarity that they let new members in, usually only by invitation or if you happen to come across one of their banners - which they don't put up very often.

They are looking for new participates right now and you can find one of their sign up banners here: http://www.wchstv.com/ If you don't see the green banner the first time press refresh and hopefully it will come up for you. I don't know how long the banner will last so hurry!

Good Luck!

I Won A $5 Amazon Gift Card on Winzy!

I have been a member of Winzy Search for a while now, but only this month I've been using it faithfully to do my searches. I have over 3000 entries for this months sweepstakes and tonight - for the first time - I just won a $5 Amazon Gift Card!

This is ME!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
$5 Amazon.com Gift Certificate
Jody C, Miamisburg OH + 1 friend
1 hour, 40 minutes ago
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winzy is cool, cause when you win, all your friends win also. Sign up to me so we can search and win together! http://www.winzy.com/Benjaminna

Make Money With Online Surveys

Yes, there are legitimate ways to earn money online. You won't become rich, and don't think about quiting your job - but who wouldn't like some extra Mad Money for a rainy day? Plus, sometimes the surveys lead to product testing - which I love!

One thing you have to remember with online surveys is to NEVER EVER pay for surveys or pay to receive a list of surveys. Why? Well, for one, I am about to give you a legitimate and FREE list of online surveys - so why would you want to pay for something you are about to get free? Besides that, if they are asking you to send them money it is a scam!

I have been and still am a member to all these places and have been paid several times from each one and have always received payment in a timly manner.

Free Ride

Lightspeed

NFO My Survey

Survey Spot

Global Test Market









OTX Survey Exchange

E-Poll

Greenfield Online




My View









Zoom Panel

Your 2 Cents



Test Spin

Pine Cone Research

Harris Poll Online

Buzz Back







Mothers Know Best

Synovate Opinions Panel

NPD Online Research




Global Opinions Panel

Enjoy!