Year End Earnings Wrap-up

I have posted before about some different ways to earn money with online activities.  You can read the overview HERE.  If you have questions about individual earnings sites, you can contact me through the comments.  As stated before, I would never endorse a site unless I had gotten paid by them.  I won't inflate my earnings to make it sound better than it is, but I also don't spend as much time as possible on the different sites.

I want to say that Swagbucks singlehandedly funded my Christmas shopping.  If you haven't done Swagbucks yet, or if you started it but didn't really do much, you may want to give it another look.



Ok, the totals.  I may have forgotten some sites, so I will add to them as I remember.  I usually request payments from all right before the end of the year so that I can use the extra money for shopping.  Ebates pays out as the payments arrive, and I do order Amazon gift cards all year long from Swagbucks.

Swagbucks: $390, mostly in Amazon gift cards but some Paypal (cash!) payouts.  I currently have enough Swagbucks for another $50 Amazon gift card, but I'm waiting for the first of the month.
Inbox Dollars: $36.38 check
FreeRide: $25 AGC
MyPoints: $30 B&N gift cards
Ebates: $33.93 in Paypal

I'm going to have to go back and check out the survey sites and add that information here later.  Total for the year-- $515.31.  Again, I did not get rich, but the extra money was great for Christmas shopping.  I also use some of my Swagbucks Amazon earnings throughout the year to buy some grocery items.

Read my descriptions for each one.  I do not do the high point offers that need a credit card or free trials that need to be cancelled.  Each one of these, I do the bare minimum.  I also was much busier this year, with two or three jobs at times.  Some sites fell by the wayside so that I didn't even always click all the easy email points.

MyPoints Referral Deal

If you've read about MyPoints but haven't yet joined, this might be a great opportunity to do so. Join today, and get a $20 Chili's gift card for only $10.  You can read my review of MyPoints HERE.  It's free to join and there's no obligation at all.  Here is the link for joining and getting in on this gift card deal.

Updates on Favorite GPTs

Don't exactly know what a GPT is? Here's a refresher post that will help explain.

How can you make money online, legitimately?  There are tons of ads and spam emails that claim they will pay you hundreds or thousands per month.  It's right to be leery of these, because they are almost all scams.  I've found a lot, through a lot of research, and I've reviewed many sites on here.  I'll highlight some different types of pay sites and explain some of the pros and cons.

To start with, what does GPT mean?  It means Get Paid To...

You can get paid to read and click emails.  These are my favorite because of how easy they are.  As I go through all my emails every day, I click them all open, then close all the tabs.  The drawback?  Because they are so easy to do, the amount they pay is fairly low.  The three main sites I use for this are MyPoints, Inbox Dollars, and Free Ride.  You can read my reviews on each by clicking the links, and I will do the review on Free Ride later this week.

These sites also have other faster ways to earn within their sites, like signing up for email newsletters, printing coupons, clicking around on the site.  Inbox Dollars has recently added coupons to their site, and they are paying 10 cents per coupon you print and use.  This can really add up, or at least pay for the ink and paper you use.

You can get paid to answer surveys.  These pay much more, but obviously require more time than the email ones.  I also love that the different survey sites send us products to test.  I did go into the survey sites in depth on another post, and you can read it HERE.

You can get paid to search online--you know, like googling?  Swagbucks is my favorite of these types, and some people also like Blingo.  I never had any luck with Blingo, and if I don't make any money right away, I usually lose interest.  You can read my review of Swagbucks HERE.  A recent development with Swagbucks is that they've added a survey section.  You can now earn 150 or 200 SB for a 15 minute survey, along with the other ways I outlined in my earlier review.

I have had a lot of people sign up for Swagbucks through my link, and I'm surprised at the people who haven't really earned anything yet.  It is so easy.  I search for stores, coupons, and other things that interest me at least 10 times per day, so the earnings can really add up fast.  I started at the beginning of January, and I have already cashed in for $260 in Amazon and Paypal money.

You can get paid to shop online.  I love this one.  If you are going to shop online, find a way to make it pay.  There are several sites that have online shopping portals.  You click through them, they earn affiliate money from the store, and they give you a portion of their earnings.  Swagbucks, MyPoints, FreeRide, Inbox Dollars, and Ebates all have different amounts and different ways that they pay out.

Can you get rich?  Probably not, but the money you make can be used to save for Christmas presents, buy your groceries, or just supplement your fun money.

Do you have a favorite site that I haven't mentioned here?  I'd love to learn about it.  Do you have a site you're interested in but don't know enough about it?  Ask, and I (or one of the other readers) can help you out with some first hand knowledge. 

Good Shopping Weekend

I'd like to show an example of how you can stock up on items for little out of pocket. Remember that Band-Aid deal I showed earlier? I went to Walgreens to take advantage of some of their weekly RR deals.

In their weekly ad, they had:

• 8 packs of Sharpies, normally $8.99, marked down to $3.99.
  

• Scotch tape was buy one get one free. $1.79

• Band-Aids, regularly $3.99, on sale 2/$3.00. Used the $2 off coupon from the Children's Activity book. I bought four packs, and it either adjusted the coupon to where I saved $1.50 per box, or the limit was for 3 items. $1 RR.
  

• Toothpaste and toothbrushes were 4/$10.00. I used a manufacturer's coupon for $1 off 2 brushes, another one for $1 off 2 toothpastes. I used the Walgreens coupons for $1 off from the Childrens Activity book. $5 in RR.

So, for those items, total before sale and coupons=$44.49
Total paid=$9.78
Register Rewards received=$6.00

Total actual cost=$3.78.**

Then I went to Target to get the big Christmas gift for our family. We decided earlier in the year that we wanted to buy a Wii. I set about saving to make sure that we could get it. We got a bonus right off the bat when Nintendo lowered the price from $249 to $199. I saved up my rewards from MyPoints and had $100 in Target gift cards, and bided my time for them to offer a gift card with purchase of the Wii. This week was the week, and as luck would have it, they also offered a coupon on their web page for a free Nunchuk with purchase of a Wii. A friend called and offered a coupon she had received for $15 gift card with purchase of $150.

So for about $100** out of pocket, I got a Wii console, a nunchuk, and $35 in Target gift cards to use when I need them.


**I did not take sales tax into account on either of these shopping experiences, because tax differs from place to place.

The Tricks to Online Bargain Shopping

Online shopping can often be a great time saver, or it allows you to shop at stores you don't have in your area. Some people run into problems with it also being a money saver, so I want to offer a few helpful hints.

• Before you shop at an online retailer, do your homework. Most stores offer discount codes for free shipping or a percentage off. I NEVER go to any store without first looking for a discount code. You can look for codes by googling "store X coupon code" or you can have some websites in your shopping favorites list. I have a few favorites for finding discounts. My all-time favorite is Naughty Codes, but I've also found codes at Current Codes and Retailmenot.
• Another way to save is to sign up for the store email newsletters. Stores will often mail out special deals to their customers, and if you have your heart set on a certain item, you can wait it out for a good sale or a 25% off members only deal.
• Always use a shopping portal like Ebates or MyPoints! These two are my favorites, though you can also shop through FreeRide and InboxDollars for some stores. When you go through these sites, they pay you a certain percentage back, either in cash or points towards gift cards, and that 2-10% is extra money in your wallet.

The best thing to remember is that if you wait, there will always be a sale or a discount. I plan ahead for major purchases, because I can't bear to pay full price for anything if I can help it. Obviously, if your refrigerator dies, shopping around isn't as possible, but if you know you will all need winter coats, waiting for Old Navy's 50% off outerwear sale (going on now!) is the way to go.

Couponing 101--Where to find them

I use a LOT of coupons. Using coupons is a great way to save money on your groceries and everyday household needs. For many people, this is a matter of whether there is a meal on the table or not; for some, it's a way to save on some staples so that you can splurge more on extras, your non-negotiable name brands, or organic items.

First off, where do you find coupons?

• The Sunday circulars have coupons to clip. In the central Iowa area, local Kum & Go stores offer a free paper with gas purchase. I always get my gas on Sunday for that reason.
  
• My favorite, Mypoints will allow you to print out coupons from coupons.com and smartsource both. Don't forget, they're also giving you points toward earning gift cards at the same time. These are the first coupons I always use, since they pay me to use them.
  
• Coupons.com is a great site with everyday items. There are pages of coupons on their site, and they update often. I put a little widget on the side bar with a link to their site. You can use it to scroll through and find the ones that interest you, or just click to go straight there.
  
• Smartsource is another great site for printable coupons.
• Anyone who regularly clips the Sunday coupons has seen the Red Plum section. They also have an online source for printing here.
• All You magazine, which usually has $80-$100 worth of coupons for health and beauty items. This magazine is only available in a store where I don't shop, or you can get it by subscription. Since I don't shop at that store, I do not want to give them even one mention in my blog. If you google, you can find which store. Looks like Amazon is offering a discount on subscriptions to All You right now.
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• If you have a product you love, go to their webpage and look for special offers or coupons. Get on their email or snail mail list. It's not spam if they mail you coupons every month. We really like Horizon organic dairy products, and they always have coupons available.
• Also local to my area, Hy-Vee and Fareway both occasionally offer printable coupons on their websites. Target has their own printable coupons as well, and these store coupons can be "stacked" with the manufacturer's coupons for more savings. More on this in a later blog post.

Where's your favorite place to get coupons? I'd love to add more sites if people recommend them.

Mypoints

By far my favorite GPT (get paid to...) site, and probably the one to which I've earned the most is Mypoints. Mypoints gives you points for doing things you do every day--5 points per email, 50-200 points per survey, anywhere from 2-10 points per dollar spent through their online shopping portal. My favorite, though, is the coupons. They have links to coupons you can use online to save 10% or more, get free shipping, or other online shopping codes.

They also have my most used and most beneficial option: printing out grocery coupons to use at the store. The best part--the coupons through their site are often higher value than the Sunday paper coupons, and Mypoints pays you to use them! I get 25 points every month if I print and use 10 coupons from two different sites. I also get 10 points for every coupon I use in the store. These points add up fast.

Mypoints pays out their rewards in the form of gift cards from places I shop. Some are cheaper to get than others--the best value are from Borders, 1400 points for a $10 gift card. There are also cards for Starbucks, Burger King, Target, Kmart, and Amazon. I use my points to get Target cards because I can maximize the dollar value with my coupons and bargain shopping there. In just the past month, I've redeemed for $75 in Target gift cards.

I'd be glad to answer any questions about any site, just leave them in the comments. Mypoints also offers rewards for referrals, so please click through my link if you're interested in joining.

Good Mail

I know many people dread getting the mail, because it is full of bills and junk mail. I love it! I plan to add the contents of my mailbox often as an example of how I earn and save money for our household. Generally, I will just add my mail to new posts, but I am going to dedicate this whole post to the last few days of mail.

Thursday:

• Free sample Oregon Chai PLUS $1.00 coupon.
  
• $10 check from Synovate for doing surveys through email.

Friday:

• Free sample Pampers Extra Protection PLUS $1.50 coupon. (Click the link, this sample is still available!
• Free sample Taster's Choice coffee--This was 6 separate samples of their new flavors. Still available!
• $10 check from HCG Research for doing surveys through email.

Saturday:

• $25 Target Gift Card from My Points. Click link for my full explanation of this site and its benefits.
  

Monday:

• $7 Pantene coupons from Vocalpoint.
• Free Red button from Inspi(red).
• 3 Sesame Street Board books from redeeming my Pampers points from diapers and wipes. These will be great stocking stuffers.

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It's mail like this that helps towards our bills, either by lowering the grocery bills or simply giving a check or gift card for a small amount of work. As the days go by, I will put a new post to explain each site and how you can make it work for you.