Saturday, August 30, 2008

Money Makin' and Money Savin'

Since I've been on bedrest this summer, I've been doing a lot of reading on the internet of other "mom blogs". I've found a lot of really cool things and gotten a lot of tips. I thought I would pass on a couple of the things I've found out.

First of all, I've recently learned of a couple of easy to use sites that can earn you a little extra side money. I'm not trying to sound like an infomercial or something, but I thought they were pretty cool. These websites pay you to take surveys and read emails. They are: Cashcrate and InBox Dollars. If you click on the names, they will take you right to the websites. Anyways, I thought this was pretty cool and so I signed up and made ten bucks yesterday in like an hour! I read another mom blog where the woman makes a hundred bucks a week just on these sites and spends about 12 minutes a day average working on them.

The other thing I'm learning a lot about is using coupons. Now, I'm already a coupon clipper, but there are ladies out there that should be considered professionals! They get crazy amounts of groceries for like five dollars, it's awesome. I don't think I will go as far as they do, but I've learned a thing or two. First of all to make sure you know your favorite stores coupon policies, especially when it comes to printed coupons off the net. My favorite stores are Walmart and Target and here is what they say. I got these from couponmom:

From Wal-Mart:

“Wal-Mart Stores can accept coupons that are available on the Internet for customers to print from their home computers. The following are guidelines for the stores for accepting Internet coupons:
- The coupon should be legible and say "Manufacturer Coupon". There should be a valid remit address for the manufacturer, to ensure the coupon can be processed for payment.
- The coupon should have a scan-able bar code.
- The coupon should have an expiration date.
- The coupon cannot be a photocopy.
- The limit is one coupon per item, per Customer.
- A Salaried Manager can refuse to accept a coupon if it does not meet any or all of these guidelines.”

From Target:

“Coupons are a great way to save even more when shopping at Target, and we make it easy to use them at our stores. But because of the variety of coupons available to our guests, we do have some guidelines for how coupons can be redeemed at Target:

-We accept two kinds of coupons: Target-issued coupons and manufacturer-issued coupons.
-We'll accept one Target coupon and one manufacturer coupon for the same item, unless either coupon prohibits it.
-We can't give cash back if the face value of a coupon is greater than the purchase value of the item; in that case, we'll adjust the value of the coupon to equal the price of the item.
-We can't accept coupons from other retailers, or coupons for products not carried in our stores.

All valid coupons should be presented to the cashier at the time of sale."

So there ya go. Also, I've been using my coupons whenever I need a certain item. However, the key that the "pros" use is to make surey you only use your coupon when an item is also on sale. This way, you are getting your item practically free or close to it. A lot of these moms actually make money when using coupons and rebates! This mom on moneysavingmom uses her Walgreens to do just that. She always uses the coupons Walgreens puts out and gets most of her self care items for free or close to it. Here is one of her favorite coupons:
Here's an example of how she got 6 Fructis items for $2 or free depending on what coupons you have:

Garnier Fructis hair care items--$3.99

Buy 6 Garnier Fructis items at $3.99 each
Use $1/1 coupon from August EasySaver booklet (this should take off $6)
Use 6 $1/1 coupons (from 05/04 and 06/22 RedPlum inserts) or 6 $2/1 from tearpads found at Dollar General
Spend $12 plus tax out of pocket (or approx. $6 out of pocket if you have the $2/1 coupons)
Get $10 rebate from September EasySaver booklet
$2 out of pocket (or free plus overage with $2/1 coupons) after coupons and rebate!

I just think that's so cool! Some other tips include: getting the magazine All You. It has some awesome coupons in it and the magazine is only $1.77 at Walmart. Also, organize yourself. I use an accordian folder that I got for $1 at Target. It's broken down into different catagories that work for me like Baby Items, Groceries, Gift Cards, Restaraunts, Personal Items, ect. You just need to find what works for you. I've seen other people use binders or folders. Another pointer is to ask your friends and family to save their Sunday paper for you, which has all the best coupon inserts.

I'm going to be posting some more things about coupons this week, since that's what I'm into lately! :) I'll try to find other tips that seem to be working for other people across the web. Check out this site A Full Cup to get started. Or click on the Money Saving Mom link to the right under "my favorite blogs" box. Also, feel free to comment on your money saving tips to share with all the other moms who read my blog!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks to your little update I am now hooked on that survey thing. Hahaha. Anything to make a little extra cash works for me. Hope your feeling well