It's been awhile since I posted

I haven't been on the computer as much lately. I am still working on making money at home but have not been giving the sites the attention they deserve. I have cashed out around $100 for the month of June. It could have been better but we have out of towners visiting, graduation parties and one of my own has graduated.
I think almost 100 dollars is a pretty good amount based on the time I have put into it.
I have a new order of sites that I like the most, mostly because some of them have changed and not for the better in my opinion.

So here is my new order of the top six sites I use to make some spare cash or gift cards: if you have any questions I will be happy to help you out.

1)
swagbucks.com/refer/eagles32
  Swag Bucks is by far the easiest and fastest one to make money on, mostly because it has so many different choices that you can make it fit your own style. You earn points from daily polls, searching, surveys, watching sbtv, you can even watch some music videos and there is so much more. If you have Facebook or Twitter you can follow them and learn so much from other users.

2)


Inbox Dollars this one started off slow for me but all I did was recieve their emails and do the surveys. yes I got paid for opening up and confirming their emails. You get .01 for each email but it does add up and you get a $5 dollar bonus for signing up. There is a section for cash back shopping. if you are shopping online, look through their list and you can get a % of cash back just for shopping through their links. You request a check at every $30 dollars you earn. I started off slow with them because it was mixed reviews and people were claiming they did  not get paid or couldn't cash their check, ect.ect. So until I could confirm one way or the other I did the minimal on their site. I am happy to say I was able to cash out, recieved within the time they said I would and had no problem cashing it at my small hometown bank. That was just a few weeks ago and I am less $9 away from my next cashout with them. I am very pleased with this site and will continue to stick with them.
*update: I have cashed out twice with Inbox Dollars and the second check came to me in a week as promised. So first check takes a month to process(they want to make sure you will stay active) and after that as long as you continue to stay active you will get your checks mailed weekly.

3) http://paidviewpoint.com/?r=35b9kk
Paid Viewpoint  these are very quick surveys that they send to you through email, they send you one per day or every other day and no matter what you will get paid .10cents per survey. Of course there is opportunity to earn more based on your personal profile but if nothing else you get that 10cents each day and they are short quick multiple choice answers that take no time at all. This one is slow but they do pay as i have managed to cash out once with them.

4) http://www.gifthulk.com/refer/eagles36
Gift Hulk is similar to some of the others, there are different opportunities and ways to earn. I admit I don't give this site as much attention but I am close to my first gift reward, I only answer the daily poll and use my treasure keys to earn hulk points. Occasionally I watch some videos.

5) http://www.uniquerewards.com/cgi-bin/main.cgi?cmd=newref&refid=212837
Unique Rewards this is one that also offers you money for receiving and opening their emails. there is also a section in their where you can click on offers, called click cash, you get .01 cent for each click, the offer itself is optional, sometimes there are over 20 clicks on the page. Also they offer cash back incentives when you shop. They have a variety of stores to choose from and if you order you can earn cash back from your orders, if you were already planning on shopping online why not get a little back from

6)

iRazoo they are similar to other sites, you can earn points for searching, doing tasks, ect ect.

Money making sites that pay. Earn some extra money at home

They don't pay a lot and instead of giving you a huge post in details about them I am just giving you my links. Just about all of them require your time, some more than others. I value my personal so I don't make a huge amount of money on these sites but each have different oppertunities to make more. Oh and all of them have offers on their sites that want you to buy stuff. You are going to run into that anywhere, LOOK for the things that are free to do, some might be hidden but they are there. I go through and do free offers, and some free daily things. I never rarely give these sites more than 2hrs of my time throughout the day. I have recently decided to check a few new ones out also. So far they are like the others, it will add up, based on how much time I give them. I think all but swagbucks says you can only have 1 member per household. 
So check these sites out and read through the FAQ's and learn all you can to get the most of them. If you have any questions just leave a message and I will answer and help in any way I can.  If you are not in the United States than you should make sure they are offered in your country.
All of these Sites are FREE to sign up for.

Swagbucks

GiftHulk

Superpoints Network(please note: their reward system has changed recently, it now requires more points to redeem, they are around the same as the other sites now, which sucks, but they were pretty low before. You can still earn through them it will just take longer and they want you to be active, if you aren't they will cancel your account)
http://superpoints.com/refer/eagles

Instant Cash Sweepstakes http://instantcashsweepstakes.com/invitations/ref_link/402281 This is also the widget on the side of the blog, super quick little surveys and different chances to win money. You can cash out through paypal at every $2, unlike most others where $20-$30 is wanted to cash out at.

Paid  Viewpoint.com http://paidviewpoint.com/?r=35b9kk this one sends me one survey everyday , less than 3 minutes to get through it all, you don't make much each day but it adds up and there are prediction matches you can do to win more money, those are also fast and can be fun.

irazoo  pretty much the same as swagbucks, their rewards cost more to cash out but they also pay more for searches and stuff so it evens out to be the same as others.

CantBeatFree.net

Inbox Dollars


Smiley360
http://smiley360.com/?refid=126364 This one doesn't pay you money, but you can sign up and get free, full, size samples, you just follow their guidelines to continue with them and the more smiles you earn the higher up the level you get to be first invited for the sampling.

SideTick.com
 This one is the same yet different, it has a whole community where you have a blog, chat with others, have friends and do daily things to earn points for cash.

Unique Rewards

ZoomBucks http://www.zoombucks.com/join.php?ref=eagles36

Leave the coupon binder at home

  I have been couponing for awhile now and although I have saved A LOT of moneyI have not deducted the amount of money I spend per month on groceries, I didn't realize how little I was buying before. I suppose I should have since I basically went to Sam's Club every few months to stock up on the same things over and over.
  I wasn't supposed to do any shopping this month other than milk and bread, so far I have failed. I have an addictive personality and this couponing is my latest obsession.
  Today I decided to try something different in hopes to spend less money. I left my coupon binder at home. I wrote up my lists and grabbed the matching coupons and figured just how much money I should need for each store and put them in an envelope and in my purse. I also put a few other coupons in the envelope in case the store was out of some of my list items as I needed to spend a specific amount to get a deal with a dollars off coupon.. I went to the bank to deposit my mail in rebate that had come in. While I was there I took out enough cash to cover my store trips.
  Leaving the binder at home and having a set amount of cash was the smartest thing I have ever done. The blogs I follow all recommend carrying all of your coupons with you in case there is a 'great deal' or 'clearance'. There actually were some pretty good deals and I knew I had coupons to match them, at home. I just told myself , and this was hard to do, that if I really wanted the stuff I could come back later.
  If I had my coupons with me I definitly would have bought the items and I would have spent a lot more money. I came home and put my groceries that I purchased away, took my son to the ortodonist and picked up my husband at work. Here it is almost 11pm and I can't even remember what those 'great deals' were. Guess they weren't that important after all. 
     I am no longer taking my coupon binder to the store with me, that right there will save me money.  I am not giving on couponing though, I am just going to plan it out better and stick to my lists!!

Operation Smile

Operation Smile: This April Like Operation Smile on Facebook and SwimWays will donate $2 per Like http://on.fb.me/IKxw0E #OperationSmiley360 *Please remember the FTC requires you to mention that you received a free sample courtesy of Smiley360 when sharing.

Making money at home, surveys, couponing

I am loving all these couponing blogs I have been reading. I still do not agree with some of it because it feels like cheating the system, but I will use coupons with store coupons and get items that are on sale. I, however, will not go to one store and do 3 different transactions to get $100 worth of stuff for $3 or whatever it is. It doesn't feel right. I can also understand stocking up to have a little extra, but I will only buy what we will eat. I have always stocked up on certain canned and boxed foods, but not in a hoarding kind of way. I see how easy it is to get carried away and it is actually a struggle to not go down that path. I would rather just have enough on hand so when we are beyond broke I know the kids won't go hungry.

Also from these couponing blogs there are a lot of stay at home moms that are looking to feed their families and make a little extra income, so I am following their lead. It takes some research and they don't always have the best ideas, you have to be the one to determine which ideas are right for you.

As far as myself , I have some earlier posts on this blog saying which ones I like but I will post them here again. Oh and I am totally giving you my 'add friends' link because I really want you to be my friend :), but you don't have to use them unless you want too. You can find this stuff on your own and join most of them on your own. I would also suggest setting up a seperate e-mail just because you can possibly get bombarded with junk e-mails depending what you sign up for on purpose or in my case by accident. Make sure you read all of the rules and FAQ's for each site.

Superpoints Network http://superpoints.com/refer/eagles this is the only one that you actually do have to have a special invite too. You sign up, fill out your whole profile confirm your e-mail. Once your basic profile is complete you get 30 spins a day. There are various ways to earn points and although some of them are offers to buy stuff, it is optional, sometimes you can earn points from watching little video clips. After you have signed up, you also have an option to add friends, once you get two friends you move up to 50 spins per day and you get what they earn on the lucky button, and you also earn any points they recieve from doing surveys. basically the bigger your network the quicker you gain points, which you can trade in for gift certificates or even paypal cash. If you get five friends to sign up you get 100 spins per day and still get their lucky button earning and also you will get better surveys to do. Basically if you have the way to build a large network you can earn money through them rather quickly. If you are like me it will take longer but it will still happen, just a little slower. You also can only have one account per household.

Swag Bucks http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/eagles32 this one I use their search engine, do a few daily things that take less than 5 minutes and sometimes I try a few surveys with them. I have earned about $30 worth of amazon e-gift cards. I have also printed off coupons from their site and earn points for those after they have been redeemed. There are various ways to earn more swag bucks(their point system).

Opinionoutpost This is one where you just take surveys. I posted earlier that they do pay you. For every 100 points you earn you can turn them in for $10 paypal cash. It went through almost instantly.


Inbox Dollars When you reach the $30 dollar mark you become gold member and can redeem for a $30 visa card. I think there is a $3.00 service charge for this so be sure to let it go a few dollars over.  I still haven't cashed out on this one yet and am now at $25 mark. I really only open emails and do surveys that are sent to me. I have printed some coupons through the site too just to see if it worked and it did, so that is another option to hit your goal quicker.

Do your local grocery stores have bonus cards you use to save money? If so, I highly suggest you look into SavingStar https://savingstar.com you sign up and add all your store bonus card numbers, if they accept them, and then you just click on the items you think you will probably buy. After you have purchased that item it takes a few days to show up on your account. You cash out once you have at least $5 in there.

A lot of these you can sign up through Superpoints or each others sites and there will be an offer in probably all of them, it would get you a head start on earning through whichever site you pick first. I didn't know this, I was reading a particular blog who had a buch of these listed and I searched and signed up for each one. If I had known I could have joined them through the other sites it could have jumpstarted my earnings. Which is why I am sharing this with you.

There is so much more out there and I am still weeding through which are good and which are just total scams.

Anyways I hope this information helps some of you if you are looking into any of it. Please take note that none of these companies are paying me to advertise their sites. In fact I do not get paid for you to read my blog either. This is just me sharing the small bits of information I have learned and am passing it on to anyone who happens to stroll through here.

SuperPoints Network invite. ways to make moneyat home

http://superpoints.com/refer/eagles <--regualr invite equals 5 points once you confirm your e-mail and another 5 points when you fill out your basic profile.

Would you like to earn some extra money or gift cards this year. Come join Superpoints Network with me, just Click the link above, register, confirm your e-mail address fill out your entire profile, so you can start earning your points, then you just log in every day and spin the wheel, check your e-mail, you can also invite your friends, watch some short videos and these are just a few ways to earn points. Thank You for joining my network. If you have any questions please contact me through fb message. make sure you add their address to your email, if at any time it goes to spam or marked as spam your account will be canceled.

Below is my previous post about this:
You sign up, fill out your whole profile confirm your e-mail. Once your basic profile is complete you get 30 spins a day. There are various ways to earn points and although some of them are offers to buy stuff, it is optional, sometimes you can earn points from watching little video clips. After you have signed up, you also have an option to add friends, once you get two friends you move up to 50 spins per day and you get what they earn on the lucky button, and you also earn any points they recieve from doing surveys. basically the bigger your network the quicker you gain points, which you can trade in for gift certificates or even paypal cash. If you get five friends to sign up you get 100 spins per day and still get their lucky button earning and also you will get better surveys to do. Basically if you have the way to build a large network you can earn money through them rather quickly. If you are like me it will take longer but it will still happen, just a little slower. You also can only have one account per household. Also you must 18years or older. If you are not in the U.S. or Canada, please check the website to see if your country is eligible for this.
Some days you will find points racking up and others it may seem like you will never get them. I guess it is a gamble, but at least it is one that doesn't have to cost any money, only to earn some.
   When you have enough points to redeem it takes less than a week. If you get your request to redeem on or before Sunday at 11:59pm (I believe pst time) you will have your paypal and amazom by tuesday. Some of the gift cards are mailed so they take longer to receive. If you are a basic level member with less than 2 in your netowrk you can redeem at 2500 pts, which is $25. If you are gold member, with at least 2 in your network and they are at basic level you can cash out at 100pts, which is $10. If you are at platinum level, 5 or more in your network you can cash out at 500pts, which is $5.

I have cashed $25 paypal so far. I have enough to cash out another $10 and less than 20 points away from $5more but have decided to wait until it is $25. Remember it isn't something that happens overnight unless you have a huge network of people. I don't but I am more than happy to wait it out because I only spend a few minutes a day on it.
Here are pictures of my redemption and a picture of how my point earning day went. Today I won 25pt which gave me the code to share with someone to sign up with an extra start of 25 and one of my referals also won a 25pt that they can use to get someone to sign up with their network. Possible points to win range from 1-300pts.

Be careful how many blogs/pages you follow

If you are looking to save money then you should probably careful about how many 'saving' pages you follow. I personally got caught up with the deals for this and that. Although they may be great deals and have huge savings, they add up. You don't realize by how much until you start adding up how much you have spent for the month. Last night I came across a facebook page which led me to a blog and on the blog was 'giveaway' for a gift certificate, I am thinking no biggie I will sign up for a chance to win. It required me to 'like' a bunch of different facebook pages and also follow a lot of these sites on twitter. This morning I signed into my facebook page and it was swarmed with deal after deal, coupon scenario for this store or that store. There were also more giveaways that I was signing up for which led to even more pages to follow. You know what, they were all basically saying the same thing. I think this is what prompted me to sit down and add my reciepts for the month. I spent my couponing/sales savings on these 'deals' that kept showing up in front of me everyday. So tonight I went through and deleted all but one of them from facebook and twitter. I kept the one that was closest to my area, has the same stores as I do. I figure I will see how I do following one person and if I am still buying into these deals than I will delete her page too. The idea is to save money and spend less, not save money in one area and spend it elsewhere, unless it is in the budget to save for it, like a flat screen t.v. lol  We might be one of the very few homes that still has big fat chunky televisions, and it is on the 'list' to upgrade, but not first on the list.

update: savings with coupons and making money with surveys.

I wanted to update anyone that may reading this. I think if you are looking for ways to make a little money at home, my information could be of some use to you.
Around the end of December, beginning of January I decided to look for ways to start saving money and maybe make a few bucks too. I don't think I am a good enough writer to make money off of a blog, so I searched for other ways. I signed up with a lot of different companies(all free) and decided to test them out to see which ones were worth my time and which ones were a complete waste. I have a previous post about this and I must say I am sticking with the ones I listed before.  I was going to write detailed info on each of them again but realized you would be here for a month getting through my long winded writing, so in short I am going to post my referal links and what I have earned from each, and whether I have actually cashed out my earning yet. I think it would better for you to check out the sites on your own to see if it is for you or not. Please remember these are not get rich quick sites. I am just a stay at home mom looking to make a little extra birthday/Christmas money for my four boys. Also none of these sites are paying me to write this, I am just doing this because I want to save some one a little bit of time from their own research.

 I also think a lot of these are subject to certain  countries, like USA, Canada, Maybe the UK, if you are not in the US I would suggest checking to see if they are good in your country.
So here is my list:
  SuperPoints Network,   http://superpoints.com/refer/eagles                                            Only one membership per household, must be invited to sign up. I am cashing out this week with $25 paypal cash, for clicking a button everyday and few other minor things, if you want more details, ask and I will be happy to share them.

Swag Bucks,    http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/eagles32    I have cashed out a total to date of...three $5 amazon e gift cards, $10 paypal cash. Right now I have enough for two, almost three more $5 Amazon cards, which I may do since one of my son's birthday is in a few weeks and he asked for a book series. I got some great deals on used books for my husband, all under $4 each and some of them were like new. So with Swag Bucks, I admit there is more I could do earn faster, but I just use their search engine and do a daily poll, and a short video advertisment every day, and print coupons through their site and wait for them to show up weeks later, they do show up and it is 10 swag bucks per coupon redeemed.

Synovate Global Opinion Panels. I don't have a link to this one, but will share the url to their site.
https://www.globalopinionpanels.com
If you sign up and they aren't accepting anyone at this time, I would try again. It is a survey company and to my understanding you can also test products(I will know when they are available in my area). For each survey completed you earn points. If you like surveys they have some of the best ones I have ever seen. A majority of them are actually fun to do, in my opinion anyways. They have some great  places you can redeem your points at. I tested them out in january to be sure I would get paid and had them send me a $5 check. I am almost ready to cash out another $10. I think i am going for a Bath & Body Works gift card this time.

 I-Say by Ipsos. This is another survey one. I can only send a referal through e-mail so if you want to be invited that way let me know, I think you can just sign in on their site directly though. They have some really great looking and fun surveys also. I haven't cashed out with them yet, I have enough right now for $10 Amazon gc but I am going to wait. This company also gives the oppertunity to  donate your points to reputable  donation charities.

Opinionoutpost. http://www.opinionoutpost.com/  this one started off really slow, like I was never qualifying for any of the surveys, but it was MY mistake! While filling out my personal profile I clicked the wrong button and didn't realize it until almost two month went by. Once I got that fixed it has been much better. I just cashed out my second $10 with them.

Inbox Dollars  http://www.inboxdollars.com/?r=ref10568204
I don't know if the link will work, may have to copy and paste it in your browser. I haven't cashed out with this one yet either, I am around $22 but I need $30 to cash out on. I have read the e-mails stop after a certain point and it is definitly 50/50 on whether people get paid or not. I am still getting mail, though ti isn't as much as before, and I still qualify for some of the surveys, let's just say with this one I am very optimistic. when i officially cash out I will let you all know.  This one I just read e-mails and take surveys. I have also printed coupons from their site and earned ten cents for each coupon redeemed. It takes awhile for the coupons to show up.

So that is it for the survey side of things. Now for the grocery side of things.
  I posted before about not being to great at this couponing thing, but still I have been working at it and I am happy to say I am up to saving right around 50% with each shopping trip. Sometimes it has been more than that.  I come home and start bragging to the family about my savings, I think they are sick of hearing me talk about it, but they certainly don't complain about having a variety of food choices these days.
I think had wrote about winning $50 through one of my local grocery stores for posting on their  blog. That was the end of January, and within  two weeks I recieved the gift certificates. I was so excited, we were actually having a 'no food money' kind of week. We have those often which was why I started this whole coupon thing to begin with. They are happening less often these days. Anyways one of the other local grocery store was having a contest type thing, click on their site everyday for a change to win $50 gift card. If you don't win you still get a coupon. Most of the coupons didn't relate to me, but I tried to remember to click everyday anyways. Well last week I won!!!! At least I hope I did, it said my  card would be here within a couple of weeks, I haven't heard anything else though.
Before these two stores, I have never won anything I signed up for except a lot of phone calls wanting me to buy the product I didn't win, So I am extremely excited about these!!!

So that is all for tonight, I ended up writing more than I intended too, again.
I hope you made it through all of my ramblings and some of my information is useful to you.

An invite for SuperPoints Network

http://superpoints.com/refer/eagles

Would you like to earn some extra money or gift cards this year. Come join Superpoints Network with me, just Click the link above, register, confirm your e-mail address fill out your entire profile, so you can start earning your points, then you just log in every day and spin the wheel, check your e-mail, you can also invite your friends, watch some short videos and these are just a few ways to earn points. Thank You for joining my network

Grocery store success

I am getting better at this sale/coupon thing. Today I went to 3 stores, shopped specific sales and only got a few extras, but they were at least on sale, and to top it off today was Oreo's 100th birthday so I got a free package of Oreo's from one of the local stores.(I know cookies=bad unhealthy) but they were free and the kids don't need to watch their weight so whatever. I also had a coupon for free gallon of milk. win win right there.

For all three stores I spent a grand total of  214.30, I saved 124.42. So out of pocket I spent 89.88 and have 10 dollars worth of gift cards to Target.

    So here is what I did...store one(Target) total..$49.49..saved 27.20 with coupons and sales and got two $5 gift cards....paid 22.29 out of pocket and am going to save the gift cards to use around Christmas time.
     Store two(local Price Chopper). I couldn't bring myself to do two seperate transactions, I don't know why this bothers me, so I went to two different stores, good thing they are both close by lol.The Sunday paper had double off $1.00 coupons and I got a few extra papers, they also a good selection of other coupons this week so it was worth the extras.  .
so store two....total..71.63...saved 40.02 in coupons and sales...paid 31.61 out of pocket.
     Store three(other Price Chopper) total....$93.18...saved 57.20 in coupons and sales....paid 35.98 out of pocket. and I also earned 20 cents off gas up to 20 gals between both PC trips.

Gas prices are expected to go over $5 a gallon so I decided to start stocking up on the groceries as best as I can. Not because of the gas I will use to get to the stores but because the prices of EVERYTHING will skyrocket with those gas prices. Like before the price of groceries went up so high and when the gas prices lowered the food didn't. I expect this to happen again so I am going to try to get at least six months to a years worth of canned foods, boxed goods and other non parishable items. I know it may sound crazy but I just don't want to live on ramen noodles again, at least not now, we are enjoying real food these days and I am enjoying cooking healthier meals for the family. .

Couponing does/can pay off

     I am not overly frugal in the stocking up/saving on the grocery bill department, but I have been trying and today I saw some results worth mentioning.  I have decided I will never be one of those people that get almost everything for free, but my goal isn't to get things for free, it is to feed my family with a variety of foods, healthy choices especially for me because I need to lose weight.
      We went to Sam's Club and bought a few essentials, like boneless chicken breast. We have an extra freezer in the basement so we buy chicken and hamberg by the case. The chicken on sale is usually around 1.99lb at the local grocery stores, but by buying the case it was 1.62lb. That's huge savings around here. plus with my size family 40lbs will last us around two to three months, it just makes sense for us to buy this way.
     I had a plan, two stores, Tops and Price Chopper, three transactions(thankyou hubby for helping on this) for groceries based on sales and matched with my coupons. I also bought fresh veggies and fruits. So before savings my totals of all 3 stores(not including Sams) was almost $340.00 and after saving I spent around $170.00, basically I saved 50% with sales and coupons, plus I will get a few dollars in my Starsavings. My freezer is full, fridge isn't bare and the cupboards are stocked nicely. Basically if all goes well we will only need to go to the store for basics like milk and veggies for the next few weeks. I usually try to set aside a some money each week for big grocery trips like this. I also dipped into some of my earned monies from the surveys and stuff, not that it was that much but it does add up over time.
    Oh and last night I went to rite aid and got some toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, cold meds ect, basically spent $40 on about $90 worth of products, yes that was split transactions, again I planned on going more than once, just didn't work out that way, it was all stuff we needed, as we were out of everything and down to our last squeeze of toothpaste lol.

SavingsStar

Have you joined SavingsStar? It is an internet e- coupon. You just sign up and add your store bonus cards, click the items you plan to buy, and it automatically gets added to your account. Once your account has $5 in it you can cash out, either through paypal, straight to your account, an amazon gift card, or you even have an option to donate it for charity.

There is a contest going on right now to win  6months of free groceries. One lucky winner is going to walk away with 6 months of free groceries! 
Enter today - winner will be chosen on March 12, 2012!
http://pop.to/gtxz

Sign up today with Superpoints Network

You can read my thoughts and what I have learned about this company here Looking at the positives really can work just scroll down a little.

http://superpoints.com/refer/eagles
Would you like to earn some extra money or gift cards this year. Come join Superpoints Network with me, just Click the link above, register, confirm your e-mail address fill out your entire profile, so you can start earning your points, then you just log in every day and spin the wheel, check your e-mail, you can also invite your friends, watch some short videos and these are just a few ways to earn points. Thank You for joining my network

Enough with the whining!!

My last post was such a whiny post. Whine Whine Wine(yep could use some, too bad I rarely drink, and don't have any in the house, and can't go buy some LOL). So instead of the negative over the past 7years, how about I post some positives...... not in any particular order.
    For the last 7 years we have had a home to live in, not just a home but a house big enough for all six of us. It wasn't my 'dream' house and it is well over 70 years old, but sure enough it has 3 bedrroms and two toilets, really when we were looking my only requirement was two toilets lol. With having four boys it was never a big deal to make them share rooms, even though they hate it haha.
    We have our health, we continue to get kicked off our dr's patient list because we evidently don't go to see them enough. Health is definitly a plus.
     I have four amazing boys! They are smart and have an awesome sense of humor(they get that from me, of course hehe) The oldest is going to graduate high school this year and go off to college. He wants to be a neuro surgeon, can't go wrong with that one. If he changes his mind and does something else that will be great too. His father and I didn't go to college, and neither did our parents, so this is a Huge deal for him and for our entire family.
    We are a working family, granted mine is in the home, my husband works and although things have slowed down a little for his company he still has a job. When he was out of work for 6months a few years back due to a car accident, they did not let him go. When he returned and continued to struggle for a while and missed a lot of work they still kept him.  Go K(husbands initial)
   Although my husband and I are major anti social people, and I know this has hurt the kids as far as their social life, they are not as bad as we are.
  We are a house full of gamers, the kids play too but they do not live in front of the computer, or the t.v., they read, they are honor roll kids at school, they are polite, they actually know what manners are(even though the manners often go on vacation to Florida), I can trust when they go to a public place they will behave and not cause havoc, I can trust them. I am not saying I am not leary,  I do tend to know what they are up too, and I do often check up on them, not in a smothering way but I am not stupid I was a teenager once and I remember it well. All in all I can't be more proud of them and the decisions they make for themselves. I know even if they struggle in life a little they will overcome it and not let it destroy them or their values.
  Food, we always have food. I grew up in a home where money was always beyond tight but we never starved. If nothing else I know to always stock up on food when I can so when money is scarce we won't go hungry. It has been tight for awhile but dangit we always ate, even it was just ramen noodles and bread.
  So who cares that the car died, shit happens, it is a machine and it can be fixed. Okay I care a little, but it's all good and we will be just fine.

Our luck every year at tax time

It never fails, something major always seems to go at tax time. We have been in this house for over 7years..year one:washer, dryer,and car. Year two: washer(we bought a used one last time-and again a used this time) , fridge(lucked out with this one, mom moved out of state and gave us hers)and car. Year three: car and basement flood. Year four: washer(gave in and bought a new one this time) and a car, lost one to a crash and other needed a lot of work to get working. Year five: stove, and stupid car, this time we bought anotheer one instead trying to fix he other piece of junk, used but better. Year six: roof leaking, major bathroom problems, we turned into the diy home for the bathroom, it's still not fully finished but at least useable. So now we are at year seven..things are looking good for a change, in fact we decided to be smart and finish paying off the car, so we can actually afford groceries every month. In fact we are at point where we could even start saving a little money and the worst that is happening is I need a new keyboard for the computer(editing this is a pain because my keys don't want to work). I should have known better though, we are out of money and the car is now broken. I was spoiled last year, we didn't have to fix a car. Grrr

A survey company that actually pays, who knew

Today  I sat down and started organizing things. making meal plans, thinking about what I am going to get at the store, printing and clipping coupons, ya know boring stuff. Then I started filling out surveys, I usually take one or two days a week and I fill out as many as I can, most in my e-mail has expired. Most of the time I don't qualify for them, so I limit my time so it doesn't feel so wasted. Well today I was filling some out and I was actually able to finish all but two of them, that never happens, qualifing for more than one is just amazing on a good day. I am trying out a few different companies trying to weed out the bogus ones. So one of the companies I only needed ten more credits to cash out, so I decided I was going to keep going until I got there. My keyboard is dying, so everything was taking longer to fill out, but I just have to finish! So three surveys later I hit the amount to cash in on. So here is the test, it says it is going to send it to my paypal and might take awhile, and I am just thinking to myself , they are going to screw me over, thankful I didn't give them that much time, and reminding myself this would probably happen, I mean there are scams all over the place. It is only ten bucks, not the end of the world, but then again it's ten more dollars added to what I have already earned. Well I waited five minutes for that paypal e-mail confirmation and no email, so I deecided to check my paypal account and guess what it was there. It was actually legit and I didn't have to purchase anything, none of their surveys were over 25 minutes, in fact most of the ones I actually qualified for were less than ten minutes. Less points for the shorter ones though. So now I know they are legit and actually pay, so when I get a survey available from them I will actually try to do them right away in hopes to qualify before every other SAHM does them.

I can see why other people do this, I mean if you are in college, it isn't a horrible way to make a few bucks in your down time, if you have any. If you are a some one who sits home playing games on the computer, than it isn't a big deal do some of these surveys.

So today I cashed in $10 and have almost $7 from Star Savings(works like coupons) waiting to be cashed in and I can cash out my SwagBucks for 3 amazon gift cards anytime. Over all not bad since the most time I actually spent was taking the surveys and I am pretty sure it was less than 5 hours total for all of it. It averages out to a minimum wage job. Not bad for a stay at home mom whose kids are in school during the day. In case you are interested the survey company is Opinionoutpost.

Superpoints Network

http://superpoints.com/refer/eagles

Want to earn some extra money this year. It's so easy, Click the link above register, confirm your e-mail address fill out your entire profile, so you can start earning your points, then you just log in every day and spin the wheel, check your e-mail, invite your friends and these are just a few ways to earn points. Thank You for joining my network

what to write about?

I am still deciding what I want to write on this blog. I have been trying to lose weight and used to use this to track my progress. I think I want to do that again but I am not sure. Part of the reason for the whole money making thing at home has been so I can make a little extra money to make up the difference in the grocery bill.

Swag Bucks

This one is definitly not a scam I have cashed in on 3 amazon gift cards since I started using it a few weeks ago. There is potential to earn more but I just use the search engine and do a few daily things that take less than 5 minutes.
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/eagles32

internet surveys, are they scams?

If you have asked this question before then you have probably tried a few of them. I have been trying them out myself and I am still not sure. I notice it takes a lot of time for very little rewards. Some of them are not so bad though. It takes a small amount of time and you actually can make something off of them. However being a stay at home mom has made it difficult to qualfy for many of them. Which leads me to conclude that either most sahm are doing them or the industry doesn't much care what we think. I do know if you go into doing these surveys to make thousands of dollars a week you will not find success. However , if you are looking to just make a few dollars to help buy your kids a birthday present or maybe add to that Christmas list than by means give them a try. Before you judge and tell people it is a waste of time and to go get a job, remember some people can't work for many reasons, and some of those people that are sahm do it because we want to be home with our children or working doesn't cover the cost of day care.