Making Money With the Internet

I was talking to a friend a few days ago about various ways to earn money online. There are so many ways to do this, I thought this would make a good post. I will only post sites that I have personally received payment or rewards from.

Paid Emails/ Pay Per Click Sites
These sites pay you for clicking on links or emails. It is usually a small amount, but it adds up. They also have lots of free offers to boost your earnings. Try these:
Inbox Dollars
Send Earnings
Squishy Cash

Survey Sites
Michelle and I have both received lots of money and rewards from several survey sites. You may also be selected to receive products to test as an extra bonus! I have the best luck with:
Opinion Outpost
Survey Spot
Survey Head
Global Test Market
Harris Poll
My Survey

I know Michelle also uses:
Toluna
Pine Cone Research

Product Testing/ Party Sites
With these sites you can register to participate in in-home parties or product tests. The company will send you free product or coupons in exchange for a review or other participation.
BzzAgent
Crowdtap
Pssst (General Mills)
House Party

Shopping Sites
Get cash back or points by shopping through these sites.
My Points
Upromise
Ebates
Shop At Home

Product Rewards
These are ways to earn points for the items you purchase, such as Nintendo games or Coke products.
Club Nintendo
Coke Rewards
Pampers Gifts to Grow
Disney Movie Rewards
 
Miscellaneous
There are other sites that allow you to earn points to redeem for various rewards. For example, Swagbucks points can be redeemed for things like Amazon gift cards by using the search engine, taking surveys, or printing coupons.
Swagbucks
Recycle Bank

May not be posting much

I just wanted everyone to know that I may not be posting as much for a little while. My grandmother passed away last night, and I am having a hard time getting myself together to find deals. I will still try to post some things, but the blog may be pretty slow for a few days.

Christmas on a Tight Budget

After losing my job a few years ago we had to make some major cut-backs. One of them was Christmas. We have a very strict budget of $100 per kid, which nowadays does not buy much. While we may go over a few dollars, I do my best to only spend the allotted amount. It takes some creative spending and planning, but it is possible! Here are a few tips for people with limited funds:

1. Shop all year round. Clearance sales happen all the time, and this is the best way to score more stuff for less money. This is harder as kids get older, as I am learning with my 5-year-old. His tastes change quickly and he wants the newest things. But if you have littler kids it is much easier. My toddler is too young to care about the newest toys, so I can still shop early for him.

2. Black Friday is your friend. For those harder to please kids who want the newest toys, check the Black Friday sales. They tend to have new stuff at great prices, and I am working to get those deals posted. Plan ahead and you can pick up some good deals.

3. Take advantage of freebies. You know all those free credits I post on here? I use a lot of those for Christmas presents for my kids. I can usually get things for free or close to it, and they make fine presents. For example, I got a free Nerf Gun for my son back in January by taking advantage of the Hasbro free toy deal. I also picked up some cute wall stickers for my toddler with the Totsy credit I posted about earlier in the year. This is how I fill in the gaps of a low budget.

4. Use coupons! Watch for coupons from toy companies and save them to use during a sale.

Anyone can do these things, if you have a little discipline and forethought. I hope you all have a great holiday season and keep saving!

Let the Holiday Shopping Begin!

Now that Halloween is over, we will start seeing lots of holiday deals. For example, we go the Target Toy Book in the mail today. It has a coupon on the the back for a $5 gift card with $50 toy purchase and lots of other coupons inside. Plus, all stores are going to have Halloween stuff on clearance (if they didn't already). Let us know if you find any great deals!

Starbucks Gift Card from Yahoo?

If you have had a Yahoo email account for a long time, check and see if you have a email from them with the title "Thank you from Yahoo! Mail." Because I have been an account holder for over 10 years(!) I will receive a $10 Starbucks card. It did click through to an actual Yahoo site - so it wasn't spam. Let me know if anyone else got this!

Old Navy and Crowdtap

I have recommended Crowdtap before, but I just wanted to show everyone what you can get from Crowdtap. I was selected to try Old Navy jeans and share a pair with a friend. My mom and I got our free jeans about a week ago and we love them! They are very comfortable and flattering, and I was surprised at how many styles there were. I think I will be going back for more! Check out Crowdtap opportunities here.

I Have Become a Jamberry Nails Consultant!

After much deliberation, I have decided to become an Independent Consultant for Jamberry Nails. I have posted about Jamberry in the past - they sell nail shields that are applied to your nails with a hair dryer, lasting up to 6 weeks. I love the shields I purchased through past Save More and Deal Pulp deals! They don't chip after a week like nail polish and they have solid colors or fun designs.

I promise not to use Small Town Savers to sell my products (except occasional specials), but I did want to let everyone know that I am available to do parties in the Medina area, or Lithopolis on a weekend (if Michelle doesn't mind having her grandkids visit!). I can do book parties anywhere else and anyone can order online.

Contact me at buocl(at)yahoo.com to see what I offer to consultants joining my team and to ask any questions.
Please check out my personal site at carrie.jamberrynails.com to find out about hosting parties, becoming a consultant, or just to see the products. And wish me luck!

Send Earnings

If you have not tried a Cash for Emails account, I would like to recommend Send Earnings. I received a check for $52.55 from Send Earning last week after completing some offers and reading lots of emails. The best offer was from World Winner - an online game site. I deposited $5 into a World Winner account and was credited $30 to my Send Earnings account. I was later able to withdraw my cash from World Winner! Go here to check out Send Earnings.

The other one I know of is Inbox Dollars. I have an ID account but have not yet earned enough to cash out with them. Both companies require a minimum of $30 to cash out.

Thank You

Thanks everyone for bearing with us during this difficult time. I am trying to get back to posting more, but I don't know when Michelle will be working on the blog again. Thanks again, and keep saving!
-Carrie

Very Few Posts in the Next Few Days

Hello all:
I just found out that Michelle's mom passed away last night. So I will probably not be doing a very good job of posting stuff for a few days. Please keep Michelle in your thoughts and have a nice Easter.
Carrie

Blog May Be a Bit Slower

I just wanted to let you all know that this blog may not have as many posts in the next few days, because Michelle is taking care of her sick mother. She will be with her for an unknown period of time, and I am usually fairly busy with my boys. I will try to keep up as much as possible, but if anyone sees any deal in the Fletcher/Piqua area (especially stores like Meijer and Kroger) and would like to submit them, it would be a great help. Send an email when you find good deals, and hopefully Michelle's mom will be better soon.

Thanks to everyone for being great readers!
Carrie

Looking For Clearance

I'm sure most of you know this by now, but always look for clearance when shopping. Many stores have special areas for clearance - Target keeps it on back end caps in all departments, Rite Aid on specific shelves, Giant Eagle on a small display in the back of the store. And don't forget, you can still use coupons on clearance items. Here is an example of what you can find:

Today I was grocery shopping at Target and I happened to find a repackaged box of Gain dryer sheets on a clearance end cap.  It was marked repackage because someone had opened the front tab (but not the top) and it had been taped shut. The price was marked to $3.01, down from $4.34. I had a $3 off coupon from the newspaper, making the dryer sheets $.01 after coupon.

So remember, you can find great deals in many store, you just need to look for them!