Things to do while watching the tube...

Enter Points into Your Accounts

Many of my co-workers drink cokes, as does my Father. Fortunately for us, they save their bottle caps for me each day. Because of their help over the past year, we have been able to score $50 in e-gift cards to various stores (Dominoe’s, Footlocker etc) by inputting the codes found on each plastic cap and in 24 pack boxes. I find that saving up a bunch of them and then inputting them a chunk at a time while doing something like watching TV makes it worthwhile. If you’re buying the products anyway, might as well rack up some points, right?

Get Your Drugstore Game List Ready

Have you tried out the CVS Drugstore Game yet? Our household has saved over $2,500 in the last two years by doing so. TV time is a perfect time to sign onto your favorite blogs for free match-ups of specific coupons and sales for the week.

Take Online Surveys and Read Emails for Extra Income

During our goal of paying cash for our purchases with extra income earned on the side, I racked up $41.00 my reading my daily emails. Since joining Inbox Dollars and Panda Research in January 2010, I have cashed in thousands of points for gift cards. To save time and energy and earn as many points as possible, once a week while watching television, do a search in your email inbox of “Inbox Dollars” or whatever program you sign up for in order to stack that weeks’ worth of point-earning opportunities one after the other. Then zip down the line of emails. When I was using Panda Research heavily, there were usually 3-8 emails to go through. I would read the email, click the link, then delete the email and move down to the next one using the arrow buttons. Half of the offers are points just for reading the email and clicking on a link.

Life Updates...

There hasn’t been much going on in my world, just about everything has been status quo. I did have a medical emergency this past week, but by the Grace of God, I am feeling 70-30. Work has been good, family life is peaceful and the bills are paid. Each week is a day closer to my 9 day vacation in November (woohoo, I can not wait). Overtime opportunities have been available and I have been taking them as they come. The cats are healthy, our cars have been serviced this month and we’ve even been able to fit in a couple of date nights too.

As the holidays approach, nostalgia steps in and I am immediately taken back to my youth. Usually at this time of year, I get pretty home sick. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday. I have so many wonderful memories from childhood that still resonate with me today. My Father surprised me this week when he announced he will be cooking a Thanksgiving meal, the first in 5 years. It brought such a rush of joy to hear him say that.

This month we received quite a surprise. My Father in law came to visit us (This was very unexpected). We spent some great quality time with him and my husband was thrilled to see him for the first time in 8 years. This was my first time meeting him, so I was quite nervous, but he and I clicked right away. We were very sad to see him go, but are hopeful he will return for the holidays.

Recently while on a shopping trip to Kmart, I witnessed some pretty horrible customer service. There was a customer in front of me whom disputed a price for a pair of boots. The cashier requested help from a supervisor whom decided that it wasn’t a high priority and used filthy language in front of children and adults. I was so disgusted at how she treated this customer so I called the customer complaint line. The next day the store manager contacted me and apologized profusely for the experience and asked that I meet him in person. A week later, I stopped by and met with him and after an insightful discussion and a heartfelt apology, he gave me a $10 gift card. I certainly did not expect or request anything in return, but it was a thoughtful surprise.

Like I said, life is pretty much about the same, but I am grateful for the mundane. Routine's for me feel great :)

End of week totals....

Here we are, another Friday has arrived and it's time for end of week totals... Let's see how I fared with generating side income.

• Plink 22,500 points (equals $225 gift card)

• Inbox Surveys $34.60 (Cash via Check)

• Panda Surveys $46.18 (Cash via Paypal)

• Shopkicks 17,588 points (equals $60.00 gift card)

• Swagbucks 5,881 points (equals $55.00 gift card)

• Health Savings Account $144.00 ($10 paycheck contribution)

We've been working hard on ramping up our Plink & Shopkick points. I have the week of Thanksgiving off for my vacation and the week of Christmas off, so I plan on using these points to do some serious shopping. 

CVS Weekly Shopping Trip 10/6/13

I often purchase candy to keep at work to share with my co-workers (a bunch of hungry mechanics). We scored a bounty at CVS this week after we paired a manufacturers coupon with a CVS coupon. 

Everything you see in the photo came out to $9.17 OOP

Total retail price $36.48

Value, it's a heart thing...

Almost 3 years ago when I was laid off of my job, it was a turning point in my life. I had always used coupons, but never really focused my attention to save money the way I do now. I had a green plastic tote laying around that I wasn’t using and decided that I would fill it with items that I purchased throughout the year. I would constantly find items on sale or on a clearance rack. I would sometimes add items that were given to me as gifts that I planned on re-gifting.

I asked my husband this past weekend to bring out the box so that I could begin to sort and label particular gifts for the intended recipient. I was tickled when I came across a purse I bought 2 years ago still sitting there. I bought it from my local Goodwill store for $2.85, it is brand new, never used and still had the tag on it. The retail price was $97.99. It got me to thinking, too often we place the value of gifts that we receive in monetary form, rather than from the heart.

Who has to know that this purse only cost me $2.85? Just because I saved $95.14 doesn’t make the gift cheap. It doesn’t make the recipient less valuable to me.  Why is there so much emphasis placed on the money? It’s pretty disheartening to see that many people go outside of their means to buy a gift they can not truly afford just to appease someone.

Some may consider me cheap, but I believe that a true gift comes from the heart, not from the pocket. And the person receiving it should not want to see me struggle just to make them happy.

End of week totals...

This week we received $12.00 in free bucks from CVS. We've almost completed our Christmas shopping and still have plenty of time to find more bargains and deals. 

Swagbucks 5,165 points ($50 Gift Card)

Shopkicks 17,488 points ($65 Gift Card)

Plink 21,640 points ($215 Gift Card)

Inbox $34.34 (Via Paypal)

Panda $45.30 (Via Check)

Coke Rewards 889 points

Health Savings Account $124

Locket $11.92 (Via Paypal)

Mid week shopping trip...

This week's ECB's afforded us 6 free bottles of body wash at CVS. 

We paid .06 OOP

Total retail $17.54

Not a bad haul this week. 

Ebates a plenty...

A few years ago I heard about a website called Ebates as I was making an online purchase from Old Navy. I didn’t know that it would turn out to be a great source of money savings. Generally I do most of my online shopping in the months leading up to Christmas and I have saved so much.

Ebates is a program that offers cash back for your online purchases. You can earn anywhere from 1%-35% cash back off popular retailers. You even have a choice of how to receive your cash back via check or paypal every quarter. My favorite perk is that I can still use other coupons codes for even more savings (i.e. free shipping etc.).

Each day they also have double cash back savings for a variety of retailers. I’ve signed up for their daily emails and I made a list of my favorite stores so that I don’t have to dig around for them in a time crunch.

Since it’s just the start of my online shopping season, I’ve only earned $1.84 cash back, but by the end of December, I will see a decent sum to spend on myself.

Click here to sign up!

I heart Shop your way rewards...

A week ago I shared our story about utilizing Kmart’s layaway service, and I’ve discussed how we receive free Kmart bucks via their Shop your way rewards program. In the past two months, we have unexpectedly earned $51 dollars to spend on anything in store.

We decided to purchase necessities such as toiletries and cleaning supplies, but on one occasion, we splurged on a new pair of tennis shoes for my husband that we matched with an in store $5 off coupon.

I normally did not shop at Kmart because of the distance, but located one close to my job. Each week if we receive more free Kmart bucks, my husband and I meet for dinner then head off to Kmart to grab our freebies. I signed up for Shop your way rewards 2 years ago and have seen great rewards as a result. I recently downloaded their app which also allows me to add instant & exclusive coupons that can also be used for layaway.

I also enjoy using my rewards card at Sears to earn points and to get a freebie or two. All told, the benefits of shopping at Kmart have become much more enticing then shopping at my local Walmart.

Which rewards programs are your favorites?