Ebates is starting the year off with Double Cash Back on select stores – what a way to start 2012!
I posted quite awhile ago about the “Ebates Sign up Bonus”. In addition to the $5 Ebates credit, if you sign up now, you may opt instead to choose from several gift cards: $10 Barnes & Nobles, $10 Home Depot, $10 Target or a $10 Magazine.com.
What is Ebates? It is an online cash back shopping site, working with over 1,200 stores to give cash back and coupons to you. They get a commission from the stores when you make a purchase and instead of keeping that money, they share it with you! Joining Ebates is free. And four times a year they mail you a big fat check, or transfer the money to your PayPal account if you’d prefer.
Like I always say, “you have to spend money to make money, so, the more you spend, the more you get back!” Seriously though, if you shop online, why not get a rebate for it?
Ebates has a nice referral program also. You receive $5 for each referral who signs up using your unique link (found under the “Tell-a-Friend” tab) and then makes a $20 purchase within 90 days of joining. Try it and if you like it, why not tell others. Help them earn money on their online purchases also.
I mentioned yesterday that we will be starting a catering business. When the opportunity presented itself, John suggested that I see if I could find a building. Craigslist does it again!
I found a great deal on a building that just had to be moved. The building is an older Morgan brand, 20 ft x 20 ft and comes apart into two pieces. After calling around for prices to have it moved, we decided to do it ourselves!
The first step of this process was to take it apart. John and the children spent all day Friday working on it. In late afternoon, the building was in two pieces and John started jacking it up. Everything went fine on the first side but the second side was another story. The ground was soft from a recent rain and not too stable. So as the house was jacked up, the supports tipped and down it went. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the building was also fine. John figured that the mover cost less than an emergency room bill so we decided pay the mover. We already had the permits, he was available and the time was set for Saturday (Nov. 13) at 10:00 am.
Straps were placed under the half of building to be moved and a crane lifted it up, over the backyard fence. There was an alley behind the fence where the trailer was parked.
The mover had a “dump bed” trailer – the bed could be lifted up and whatever is on the bed can be slid or dumped off. The first side was loaded onto the mover’s dump bed trailer.
Since our move was set up on such short notice and the mover’s second large trailer was at another job, the second side was loaded onto our trailer (actually borrowed from a friend) and pulled by our 15 passenger van.
John had already prepared a place for the building about 50 feet from our house. So, once we traveled the ~50 miles, the back side of the building was simply pulled into place.
The side on the mover’s trailer was pulled up next to the first side as evenly as possible.
He then began to raise the bed of his trailer tipping the building.
As he slowly tipped the trailer, his partner drove forward sliding the building off.
The next process was to get the two halves as even as possible. On his trailer was a wench which he attached a chain to. The chain was wrapped around the base of the front side and used to pull it until the sides were even.
John then used a tractor to push the buildings together.
After the two sides are bolted back together, the building will be leveled and painted.
In “Creative Income“, I described how our family’s frugal adventure included two paper routes to help meet living expenses. It has been 11 months now, 7 days a week, of rising at 4:30am to faithfully deliver the newspapers to our little town. My husband and oldest daughter were the primary carriers but the younger children were included on Sundays to insert the additional advertisements.
Having been a chemist in his former life, John made the routes a science. He experimented with different routes to maximize efficiency and cut time. Once it was made as efficient as possible, they began sleeping an extra hour. Waking at 4:30am instead of 3:30am helped tremendously.
Since the Lord has provided our living expenses for next year through the grape harvest, there will be no more paper route. Yesterday, Oct. 31 was the last day – yeah!
While the younger children, who love to go on Sunday are a bit sad, the rest of the family is rejoicing! I realize, I will no longer be getting the coupon inserts from the Sunday’s paper, but I will have a rested husband.
So, what did we do to celebrate? We made homemade doughnuts. And, we ate doughnuts! We also drank fresh milk to make them even more nutritious.
One big lesson our whole family has learned from the paper route is to appreciate people. It is so easy to take people for granted, especially when they provide services that keep them behind the scenes. Don’t forget to show your appreciation to your paper carrier, mailman, UPS man, trash man …. anyone who serves you. Sure, they get a paycheck. But, it may be less than you think. Either way, a demonstration of appreciation – a tip – goes a long way to encourage and uplift others. It also gives you the opportunity to show gratefulness.
I have posted about Swagbucks before, how quickly they accumulate and all the wonderful purchases that can be made with them in the Swag Store. But, all this week, they are having a Back to School promotion to take away the blues!
If you are not familiar with Swagbucks it is a search engine which randomly awards Swag Bucks as you search. You get “paid” to do what you normally do! The bucks are then automatically deposited into your Swagbucks account to be redeemed for prizes. My personal favorite is the $5 amazon.com giftcard for 450 Swag Bucks. This may sound like a lot, but they add up quickly. I have bought a 17″ cast iron skillet ($68) and have an automatic delivery schedule for gluten flour set up (both through amazon) and I have paid nothing out of pocket!
This week’s promotion includes:
- Five one-of-a-kind Back-To-School themed Swag Buck bills in varying amounts – collect them all throughout the week and you’ll earn yourself a 50 Swag Buck bonus!
- Sales on all School Supplies and Cookie’s Kids items in the Swag Store
- Some special Facebook/Twitter specific promos
- Thursday they are having a Swag Code Extravaganza, a day in which there will be no less than 5 Swag Codes!
Sign Up Bonus! If you have not yet signed up for Swagbucks, enter the code BackToSchool while signing up and receive an extra 40 Swag Bucks (in addition to the normal 30) when you sign up, giving a grand total of 70 out of the gate. This code is valid until 11:59pm PDT on Sunday, August 15.
If you are already signed up – get to searching!
I just received an email stating that the National Consumer Panel has openings!
Are you familiar with the National Consumer Panel? It is a national organization made up of people like you and me that provide information by what we purchase. These opinions help manufacturers and retailers decide what products to produce and improve. If accepted as a member, you will be sent a hand held scanner. After returning home from shopping, you or a family member simply scan the bar codes of the products purchased. Then weekly, you send them your information.
What are the benefits? You will earn points that may be redeemed for name brand merchandise including, electronics, household items, jewelry, toys and more! You are also earning entries into their sweepstakes. And, you are making your opinions count!
To join, simply fill out the information form on the NCP website. You will know after submitting the first page whether they are accepting in your area or not. Always before when applying, I received the message after the first page, that there were no openings in our area! I am making progress! This time I received the message after completing the whole form, that I was placed on a waiting list and will be sent a scanner when selected. The form is 5 pages and took no more than 5 minutes to answer all the household information. I am excited to see what happens!
Bonus swagbucks!
Today is the last chance to sign up for Swagbucks and receive the 60 Bonus Swagbucks!
In honor of their second birthday, I have been thrilled to offer my readers who have not signed up yet for Swagbucks, a special code which will give 60 Bonus Swagbucks! It is case sensitive and good from Thurs. Feb. 25, 2010 at 6 am PST until Thurs. March 4, 2010 at 6 am PST. So hurry, today is the last day!
The code is: DIMES2VINES
If you don’t know yet, Swagbucks is a totally free search engine that awards “bucks” randomly. These bucks can then be redeemed at the Swagstore for great prizes including electronics, gift cards, apparel – the list goes on! My personal favorite is the $5 Amazon Gift Card. I think it gives the most bang for the buck!
The celebration also includes:
- The launching of Swagbucks.com 3.0 with special features and tons of Swagcode giveaways through their blog, twitter, and facebook.
- Earn swagbucks by viewing their special “No Obligation” offers.
- Earn swagbucks by downloading the toolbar and being logged in through the toolbar. Downloading is easy to do and I find that having the toolbar at my fingertips, makes searching with Swagbucks even easier and more convenient.
- Launch of the Swagstore Portal: Previously they had a dozen on-going sweepstakes (called Swagstakes) at any given time. Now with the lauch of 3.0 there willl be dozens of Swagstakes running at all times! Tentative items offered include: $100 Amazon Gift Cards, Sony 25″ TV, Amazon Kindle, Apple iPod Touch, Rachel Ray 10pc Cookware set and much more!
Head on over to Swagbucks and join in the celebration, download the toolbar and start winning!
Swagbucks is celebrating!
In honor of their second birthday, I am thrilled to offer my readers who have not signed up yet for Swagbucks, a special code which will give 60 Bonus Swagbucks! It is case sensitive and good from Thurs. Feb. 25, 2010 at 6 am PST until Thurs. March 4, 2010 at 6 am PST.
The code is: DIMES2VINES
Swagbucks is ready to celebrate and they want you to join in the fun! If you are already signed up, they will be doing a LOT of swagcode giveaways with plenty of opportunities to earn free bucks today, Feb. 25! Also, starting today, any swagbucks in your account will be multiplied by 10 as will the prices of items at the swagstore. This will enable them to offer swagbucks to users in ways never before imagined! If you have 45 swagbucks in your account, you will now have 450! The Amazon Gift Card which was 45SB will now be 450SB. Prices are not being raised just multiplied along with your bucks.
If you don’t know yet, Swagbucks is a totally free search engine that awards “bucks” randomly. These bucks can then be redeemed at the Swagstore for great prizes including electronics, gift cards, apparel – the list goes on! My personal favorite is the $5 Amazon Gift Card. I think it gives the most bang for the buck!
The celebration also includes:
- The launching of Swagbucks.com 3.0 with special features and tons of Swagcode giveaways through their blog, twitter, and facebook.
- Earn swagbucks by viewing their special “No Obligation” offers.
- Earn swagbucks by downloading the toolbar and being logged in through the toolbar. Downloading is easy to do and I find that having the toolbar at my fingertips, makes searching with Swagbucks even easier and more convenient.
- Launch of the Swagstore Portal: Previously they had a dozen on-going sweepstakes (called Swagstakes) at any given time. Now with the lauch of 3.0 there willl be dozens of Swagstakes running at all times! Tentative items offered include: $100 Amazon Gift Cards, Sony 25″ TV, Amazon Kindle, Apple iPod Touch, Rachel Ray 10pc Cookware set and much more!
Head on over to Swagbucks and join in the celebration, download the toolbar and start winning!
With savings dwindling and the house in Alabama not selling, we have gotten creative in generating income! My husband has taken a paper route. Yes, he has gone back to his childhood days, except now, on the paper route, he is driving a car instead of a bike. He and our oldest daughter get up before dawn, about 3:30 am, to faithfully deliver the papers to our little town. This has become special father/daughter time for them. On the weekends, the other children alternately go with them in twos to help with the inserts. They started with one paper route to fund her college and added a second and longer route when it became available. This second paper route is stretching our living expense money. Talk about creatively generating income!
This paper route has become part of our frugal living family adventure! The other children love going on the weekends. The only problem so far is car sickness. When rolling a paper to put a rubber band it on it – you must not only look down ,but, keep looking up, or otherwise…
Do you take the paper? If so, do you tip your carrier? We did not receive the paper so I had never thought about this before! It is amazing to see how nice some people are. Everything from money, cards, cookies and a ham have been left in mailboxes as tips! Many people have special requests as to where and how they want their papers delivered. If you are one of these, please understand that every special detour not only costs time but also money in gasoline! Whether you have special requests or not, consider that your carrier is up and out, way before the normal hour to get you your paper, on time, 7 days a week – no exceptions!
My husband, with his chemistry background has turned these routes into a science. He has determined the most efficient route both for time and gasoline. He checks weather to see if bagging is necessary because they too (like rubber bands) cost money which comes out of the profit.
It is easy to take for granted the people behind the scenes. I definitely have thought more about those who provide me everyday services, such as, mailmen, trash collectors, UPS deliverers … you know the ones who serve you. Yes, these people get paid, but often the base pay is not that much. Even so, a tip of any kind will brighten their day and show gratitude.
One way I have stretched our budget is through the use of Swagbucks. What you see pictured below came in the mail and was purchased using Amazon gift cards bought with Swagbucks! I wanted to take this opportunity to encourage you to think about items you already use or items you would like to purchase that you could possibly get for free.
If you are not familiar with Swagbucks read more here. Basically, it is a free search engine (yes, it is really free – no catches!) that awards “bucks” for your normal daily searches. To make searching with Swagbucks even more convenient, simply download the toolbar. Swagbucks are awarded randomly and can then be used for purchases at the Swagstore . The $5 Amazon giftcard for 45SB, in my opinion, gives the most bang for the buck! As a bonus, you will get 3 Bonus Swagbucks just for signing up! What are you waiting for?
If you are a bread maker and use wheat gluten, Amazon has the least expensive price when you set up an automatic delivery order. With this automatic delivery, you are given a 15% discount and free shipping! You also have the flexibiltiy of choosing the scheduled timing intervals and you will receive an email before the scheduled delivery with the option to cancel if necessary. Using my gift cards earned with Swagbucks, I no longer have to pay for it out of pocket!
If you have not already signed up for this great, completely free way to earn some extra “bucks”, what are you waiting for? Haven’t heard of Swagbucks? It is a search engine that pays you to search the web as you normally do . As you search, Swagbucks are randomly awarded and can then be redeemed in the Swagstore for electronics, gift cards, DVD’s, sports memorabilia and much more. My favorite item (which I think has the greatest bang for the buck) is the $5 Amazon Gift Card for only 450 SBs.
What is so great about Friday? Fridays are Mega Swagbucks day. Swagbucks are awarded in the denominational values of 10′s, 20′s, 50′s and even 100′s. It is a great day to really rack up some Swagbucks!
I use it as my everyday search engine. It is so easy. I downloaded the toolbar so it is right there waiting to be used. There are several other ways available to earn Swagbucks. First, you will receive 3 bonus “bucks” for signing up! Another is through codes which can be entered on the Swagbucks homepage and you are then awarded a “buck”. There are also several ways to receive codes. Sign up to receive the newsletter and there is normally a code at the bottom of it. Check the homepage for alerts to Swaghunts where clues are given and you hunt for the codes. Often, I will receive an email from the Swag guy (which is shown on my Swagbucks toolbar) which contains a Swag code.
It really is an easy way to earn some great prizes. And, who doesn’t mind doing that!
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Grab My Dime! 
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About Me 
God has amazingly blessed me, Dina-Marie, with a wonderful husband and 10 beautiful children. Moving from our "secure" life in Alabama to the "exciting" life of starting a vineyard in west Texas has been challenging to say the least. I have had the opportunity to take a crash course in frugal living and become a real farm girl - complete with milk cow and chickens. I have learned the importance of health from the inside out, "traditional" cooking and cod liver oil!
I hope to encourage you to make the most of where you are and what you have. |
