I did great spending wise this week! I fueled up my car on Wednesday and went to see a movie on Saturday night with a friend. Other than that, I didn't spend a dime.
I received $4 back on my gasoline purchase through endorse.
I also earned my first freebie of the year toward goal #3. I redeemed my I-say points from taking surveys for a $10 Amazon gift card.
This past week I made a huge batch of hamburger soup and I worked on a few DIY wall art projects. I'll post the recipe and pictures of the wall art in a separate post.
Yesterday I had a bunch of eBay listings end and sold five items. Once I calculate the shipping costs and fees, I'll add that total earned to my goal #3 total.
I was also invited to a new Bzz campaign this week to try out a new type of cereal. I'm looking forward to receiving that in the mail and trying it out.
Yesterday I spent the day running errands with my dad and doing some shopkicking while I was out. In just a week I've earned enough points for a $5 gift card....almost enough for a $10 one. And I haven't spent any money being in the stores.
This week I also found out that I did get the promotion at work and I also became an aunt. :)
Friday, January 4, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Earning Extra Money
One of my goals for 2013 is to earn an extra $1000 in cash and gift cards from things like taking surveys, mail in rebates, rewards programs etc.
Here is a list of the programs, websites and mobile apps I plan to use.
1. My Discover card runs promotions where certain types of purchases will earn 5% cash back during a certain month. For me, the best deal is when they run it on gasoline (usually during the summer). I typically only use this credit card for the special 5% items. (For the record, I pay of my credit cards each month and NEVER carry a balance or pay interest.)
2. My Bank of America Visa also does cash back....3% on gas, 2% on groceries and 1% on everything else. This card also gives a 10% bonus on your cash back if you have it deposited into your BOA account.
3. Ebates & Mr. Rebates. These cash back shopping sites are great. You earn a certain percentage of cash back on purchases at hundreds of online retailers. You just need to be sure to use their links to get to the retailers web page.
4. Endorse. This is a mobile app that I recently found. Each week they offer cash back on different items. You scan take a photo of your receipt with your smart phone, check off the items you bought and submit it. They have offers like 100% cash back on a cup of coffee or 10% back on a tank of gas.
5. Shopkick. This is another mobile app I was just introduced to last week. They give you points just for walking into certain stores in your area. You can also earn points for scanning the bar codes on certain items, by making purchases at certain stores and by clicking through their "look books." You can redeem your points for gift cards from places like Target, Best Buy, Starbucks etc.
6. Plink. This site gives you points when you link up your credit card and make purchases at certain retailers.
7. Mypoints. I've been a member of this site for about 6 years. I open a few emails every day and take surveys once in a while and usually get $50 - $100 in gift cards every year.
I also use the following sites to get freebies, coupons and sample products:
Vocal Point
MyInsite
She Speaks
Influenster - Leave a comment with your email address if you'd like an invite. I have 2 left!
BzzAgent
What sites/apps do you use to make extra money or earn gift cards?
Here is a list of the programs, websites and mobile apps I plan to use.
1. My Discover card runs promotions where certain types of purchases will earn 5% cash back during a certain month. For me, the best deal is when they run it on gasoline (usually during the summer). I typically only use this credit card for the special 5% items. (For the record, I pay of my credit cards each month and NEVER carry a balance or pay interest.)
2. My Bank of America Visa also does cash back....3% on gas, 2% on groceries and 1% on everything else. This card also gives a 10% bonus on your cash back if you have it deposited into your BOA account.
3. Ebates & Mr. Rebates. These cash back shopping sites are great. You earn a certain percentage of cash back on purchases at hundreds of online retailers. You just need to be sure to use their links to get to the retailers web page.
4. Endorse. This is a mobile app that I recently found. Each week they offer cash back on different items. You scan take a photo of your receipt with your smart phone, check off the items you bought and submit it. They have offers like 100% cash back on a cup of coffee or 10% back on a tank of gas.
5. Shopkick. This is another mobile app I was just introduced to last week. They give you points just for walking into certain stores in your area. You can also earn points for scanning the bar codes on certain items, by making purchases at certain stores and by clicking through their "look books." You can redeem your points for gift cards from places like Target, Best Buy, Starbucks etc.
6. Plink. This site gives you points when you link up your credit card and make purchases at certain retailers.
7. Mypoints. I've been a member of this site for about 6 years. I open a few emails every day and take surveys once in a while and usually get $50 - $100 in gift cards every year.
I also use the following sites to get freebies, coupons and sample products:
Vocal Point
MyInsite
She Speaks
Influenster - Leave a comment with your email address if you'd like an invite. I have 2 left!
BzzAgent
What sites/apps do you use to make extra money or earn gift cards?
Monday, December 31, 2012
2013 Goals!
I will be going into super saver mode this year. I've picked up so many tips along the way, and I've been applying a bunch of them, but sometimes I slack off and get lazy. Here are the goals I've come up with for the upcoming year.
1. Pay off my mom and dad. I owe my parents $592. I'm not even sure what it's for...but it's going to be the first priority this year.
2. Continue saving 10% of my net paycheck each week to put towards a new car. My car is 12 years old, but I know I can make it last until I save up enough money to pay for a new one with cash.
3. Earn $1000 in "extra money" (and gift cards). I participate in a bunch of rewards programs, so I'm hoping between those, mail in rebates, selling unwanted items on ebay/craigslist, credit card rewards, mystery shopping and taking surveys I can rake in $1000 in extra cash and gift cards.
4. No spending money on clothing or shoes for myself. This will be a tough one, but I did an inventory of my closets and drawers and I have more than enough clothing. I am most likely getting a promotion at work in a few weeks. This will require a completely new set of uniforms, however, my agency will provide me with a purchase order that should cover the expense of all of my new uniforms and equipment. So while there will be some new clothing coming into my home, it won't be paid for by me.
5. Continue trying to make the majority of my meals at home. Treating myself to take out when I work a double shift seems to be a good compromise.
So that's it for the year. Clothing and eating out are where most of my discretionary money gets spent, so hopefully that will help out big time. What are your 2013 goals?
1. Pay off my mom and dad. I owe my parents $592. I'm not even sure what it's for...but it's going to be the first priority this year.
2. Continue saving 10% of my net paycheck each week to put towards a new car. My car is 12 years old, but I know I can make it last until I save up enough money to pay for a new one with cash.
3. Earn $1000 in "extra money" (and gift cards). I participate in a bunch of rewards programs, so I'm hoping between those, mail in rebates, selling unwanted items on ebay/craigslist, credit card rewards, mystery shopping and taking surveys I can rake in $1000 in extra cash and gift cards.
4. No spending money on clothing or shoes for myself. This will be a tough one, but I did an inventory of my closets and drawers and I have more than enough clothing. I am most likely getting a promotion at work in a few weeks. This will require a completely new set of uniforms, however, my agency will provide me with a purchase order that should cover the expense of all of my new uniforms and equipment. So while there will be some new clothing coming into my home, it won't be paid for by me.
5. Continue trying to make the majority of my meals at home. Treating myself to take out when I work a double shift seems to be a good compromise.
So that's it for the year. Clothing and eating out are where most of my discretionary money gets spent, so hopefully that will help out big time. What are your 2013 goals?
Monday, December 24, 2012
Review of 2012 Goals
I’m trying to get back into blogging. Although I didn’t post
much of anything this past year, I was scrimping and saving just the same.
Here’s how I did on my 2012 goals I set for myself in this post here.
11. Have 3 “no spend days” each week. I’m not sure
if I passed this one or not since I stopped keeping track about three weeks
into January. One thing I did learn over
the past year, is if I make something too difficult, I won’t keep up with it. I
tried to be so organized at the beginning of 2012 by creating a spreadsheet to
keep track of what I was spending and saving, when I was exercising, how much
water I was drinking each day…all that in addition to the spreadsheets I use to
do my budget and keep track of my rebates. It was just too much. My guess is
that I averaged 3 “no spend days” each week, but I don’t know for sure. FAIL.
22. Get my emergency fund up to $10k. PASS!
33. Pay off my mom and dad: I paid them down. I owed
$1700 at the beginning of the year, and I’m down to a little over $600. This
will be my first priority in 2013.
44. Build a short term emergency fund of $1000. For
a while this was a PASS! But I had to dip into it, and it only has $300 in it
now. Second priority of 2013 is to get this back to $1000.
55. Save for a new car. PASS! Once my emergency fund
was up to $10k, I started putting 10% of my net paycheck into a separate
savings account for a new car. I have over $3300 saved so far.
66. Work out. PASS!
Again, I didn’t keep track of this, but I worked myself up to being able
to run 6 miles over the summer (all at once…without stopping!) I also bought a
few dumbbells, kettle bells and a yoga mat and did some weight lifting each
week.
77. This was a three part goal….Do a better job of
eating more healthy: Pass! I all but gave up on drive thru food. I had a sundae
from McDonalds once, but other than that, I didn’t get anything from McDonalds
or Burger King all year. I did hit up a
Wendy’s one day and Taco Bell a few times, but that’s such an
improvement over how often I was eating that stuff before. Drink more water and
less soda. I all but gave up soda too. I think I averaged maybe one soda a
month...again, way better than have 2-3 per day like I used to. I bought myself
a Brita water pitcher for home and use the water cooler at work all the time.
Bring lunch/dinner to work: Pass! I was pretty good about this most of the
year. I allowed myself to get take out for one meal on days that I was working
a double shift. There were definitely times that I was too lazy to pack
something for work or didn’t have anything in the house to bring, but overall I
did a pretty good job.
88.
Find a storage solution for the alcove in my
dining room. Pass! I bought a buffet table last winter and I absolutely love
it.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Crest 3D White Whitestrips Intensive Professional Effects Review
I received these in the mail the other day from Influenster to try out (for free! woot woot!). I was psyched to get the opportunity to try these since I've been thinking about getting my teeth professionally whitened for a while now, but didn't want to fork over the cash. These boast that they will whiten your teeth as well as a professional treatment. The downside is you do have to wear them for two hours a day for seven days. After just two days I can see a little bit of improvement but I'm hoping to see much more once I finish the entire set of strips.
These strips are very sturdy and I haven't had a problem with them sliding off of my teeth like I've had with other varieties of whitestrips in the past. I even took a short nap with them in yesterday and had no problems. Today I did some house cleaning and some reading while they were on and barely noticed they were there. Some reviewers complain of tooth sensitivity, but I haven't experienced any. Fingers crossed!
At the end of the seven days I'll post my before and after picture!
From Crest:
Introducing our most effective teeth whitening treatment yet for your more glamorous smile that is sure to turn heads. Intensive Professional Effects penetrate beneath the enamel surface to whiten as well as $500* professional treatments. Transform your smile and boost your confidence with noticeable results in 1 day.
- Professional-level teeth whitening at home.
- Apply once a day for 2 hours.
- Start seeing results in 1 day.
- Advanced Seal Technology no-slip grip. As effective as $500 professional* treatment. Advanced Seal Technology no-slip grip.
- For level 5 whitening on whitening meter.
- Enamel Safe: All Crest 3D White Whitestrips use the same enamel safe whitening ingredient as the dentist.
Have you ever tried these? What were your results like?
Friday, June 15, 2012
Guess? Not.
It's been a while since my last post, but I had such a horrible customer service experience with one of my favorite places to shop for clothes. I've been a loyal customer and have exclusively worn their jeans for at least the past 10 years. We won't even discuss how many pairs of shoes I've bought from them.
I'll start from the beginning...on May 18, I placed an order from Guess.com for a dress, a sweater, a pair of earrings and a necklace. The total, including tax and shipping, was $180.51. I had a gift card for $96.13, and I put the remaining $84.38 on my credit card. About a week later the order arrived. I was a little disappointed to learn that the two clothing items didn't fit as I had hoped they would and that I wasn't as in love with the necklace as I thought I would be.
I decided to return the three items to the local Guess? store rather than pay to ship them back. Their return policy is as follows:
"GUESS.com gladly accepts unworn, unwashed or defective full-priced merchandise for up to thirty days after purchase date. Original receipt, hygiene strip and tags must be attached. Unfortunately, pierced jewelry are final sales. Sale merchandise may only be returned to a store for an exchange.
Refunds for items returned within thirty days of the purchase date will be credited in the same form as the original payment type. The only exception to this are returns made to a store that were purchased online through PayPal or Bill Me Later®. These returns must be refunded via a merchandise return card. If the item was a gift purchased online, send it back to GUESS.com along with your online gift receipt. Refunds will be in the form of a merchandise credit redeemable with your next purchase online or at any GUESS store."
When I arrived at the store, the associate looked at the items I brought in to return and told me they don't accept returns on jewelry. Their policy states they don't accept returns on pierced jewelry...nowhere does it mention they won't accept returns on necklaces. The original tags were still attached to the piece. I was annoyed, but rather than argue, I decided I would just have to mail the necklace back for a return.
The associate then goes on to say the dress and sweater were purchased on sale, and that they can't be returned. I did decide to argue this point, and she relented saying I could only exchange them. I asked if she had either item in a different size and was told no. I then asked if I could just have the amount put on a gift card/merchandise return card as I was a bit pressed for time. I was told I had to pick something out that day or I could not return the items. Fine. At this point I was really irritated, but I went through the store and picked up a pair of jeans and a top. I end up owing them $18.XX. Beyond irritated. I went to the mall expecting $84 back on my credit card and a new gift card with about $55 on it.
When I got home I packaged up the necklace and the invoice and returned it to Guess.com. Last night I received a confirmation email that the necklace had been received and that the refund was processed and put back on a gift card. I emailed them back a short time later and advised that I had charged $84 on my credit card from that order and would appreciate it if the refund could be put on the credit card instead.
I got an email a little while later "apologizing for the confusion" but stating that they can't refund the money to my credit card. I wrote back explaining that I was frustrated and disappointed with their return policy, which I quoted, and also told them I didn't understand why I couldn't be refunded on the credit card I used to pay for nearly half of the order. Furthermore, I stated that if I did not get a refund on my credit card, I would no longer shop at Guess? and would be sure to share my story with my friends, family and co-workers.
What did I get in response? Nothing. The $32 was put back on the gift card and my email was not answered. Sounds pretty typical these days, but I thought that a more "high end" company whose customers pay a lot for their wares might treat their customers a little better. Guess not...
I am sticking to my guns though...once I use the gift card, or gift it to someone, I won't shop there ever again.
For the record, I returned another part of an online order just two days ago where I had paid the same way...with both a gift card and credit card... and I received the full amount back on my credit card and a partial refund to a gift card.
*UPDATE: Moments after I posted this, I received an email from Guess? again stating they can only refund thegift card since that is how I paid...I guess they're ignoring the fact that I also put $84 on my credit card that day.
I'll start from the beginning...on May 18, I placed an order from Guess.com for a dress, a sweater, a pair of earrings and a necklace. The total, including tax and shipping, was $180.51. I had a gift card for $96.13, and I put the remaining $84.38 on my credit card. About a week later the order arrived. I was a little disappointed to learn that the two clothing items didn't fit as I had hoped they would and that I wasn't as in love with the necklace as I thought I would be.
I decided to return the three items to the local Guess? store rather than pay to ship them back. Their return policy is as follows:
"GUESS.com gladly accepts unworn, unwashed or defective full-priced merchandise for up to thirty days after purchase date. Original receipt, hygiene strip and tags must be attached. Unfortunately, pierced jewelry are final sales. Sale merchandise may only be returned to a store for an exchange.
Refunds for items returned within thirty days of the purchase date will be credited in the same form as the original payment type. The only exception to this are returns made to a store that were purchased online through PayPal or Bill Me Later®. These returns must be refunded via a merchandise return card. If the item was a gift purchased online, send it back to GUESS.com along with your online gift receipt. Refunds will be in the form of a merchandise credit redeemable with your next purchase online or at any GUESS store."
When I arrived at the store, the associate looked at the items I brought in to return and told me they don't accept returns on jewelry. Their policy states they don't accept returns on pierced jewelry...nowhere does it mention they won't accept returns on necklaces. The original tags were still attached to the piece. I was annoyed, but rather than argue, I decided I would just have to mail the necklace back for a return.
The associate then goes on to say the dress and sweater were purchased on sale, and that they can't be returned. I did decide to argue this point, and she relented saying I could only exchange them. I asked if she had either item in a different size and was told no. I then asked if I could just have the amount put on a gift card/merchandise return card as I was a bit pressed for time. I was told I had to pick something out that day or I could not return the items. Fine. At this point I was really irritated, but I went through the store and picked up a pair of jeans and a top. I end up owing them $18.XX. Beyond irritated. I went to the mall expecting $84 back on my credit card and a new gift card with about $55 on it.
When I got home I packaged up the necklace and the invoice and returned it to Guess.com. Last night I received a confirmation email that the necklace had been received and that the refund was processed and put back on a gift card. I emailed them back a short time later and advised that I had charged $84 on my credit card from that order and would appreciate it if the refund could be put on the credit card instead.
I got an email a little while later "apologizing for the confusion" but stating that they can't refund the money to my credit card. I wrote back explaining that I was frustrated and disappointed with their return policy, which I quoted, and also told them I didn't understand why I couldn't be refunded on the credit card I used to pay for nearly half of the order. Furthermore, I stated that if I did not get a refund on my credit card, I would no longer shop at Guess? and would be sure to share my story with my friends, family and co-workers.
What did I get in response? Nothing. The $32 was put back on the gift card and my email was not answered. Sounds pretty typical these days, but I thought that a more "high end" company whose customers pay a lot for their wares might treat their customers a little better. Guess not...
I am sticking to my guns though...once I use the gift card, or gift it to someone, I won't shop there ever again.
For the record, I returned another part of an online order just two days ago where I had paid the same way...with both a gift card and credit card... and I received the full amount back on my credit card and a partial refund to a gift card.
*UPDATE: Moments after I posted this, I received an email from Guess? again stating they can only refund thegift card since that is how I paid...I guess they're ignoring the fact that I also put $84 on my credit card that day.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Review: Dr. Oetker's Ristorante Pizza
A few weeks back, I posted that I had received my bzzkit from Bzzagent that included two coupons to try out Dr. Oetker's Ristorante Pizza for free.
I finally got to try it out last Sunday. I got the quattro formagio variety because I'm a cheese lover.
I followed the instructions on the package....preheat oven to 450 degrees, then place pizza directly on the oven rack to cook for 10-12 minutes. Easy peasy.
Mine was done after 10 minutes and it looked almost exactly like the photo on the box. I didn't even think to snap a photo since I was so hungry and it smelled so good.
I was surprised at how good it tasted! You definitely wouldn't mistake this for delivery pizza, but it still rocked. The cheese didn't get weird like it normally does on frozen pizza which I was grateful for. I was a little nervous about two of the types of cheese since I had never heard of them, but the cheese was great.
The crust was nice and thin and cooked perfectly.
I don't think I would have ever tried this pizza on my own, so I'm glad I got the opportunity to try it out through Bzzagent. I can definitely see myself buying this in the future. It made great and easy meal last week when I declared a "lazy day".
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