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.