Guest Posts

This is a guest post from Little House on the Prairie Living. To check out more of her posts, go here. Thanks!

• Rubbing Alcohol: 4 parts
• Aloe Vera Gel: 6 parts(use a plain kind)
• Tea Tree Oil: a few drops

{ 0 comments }

If you have been following blogs for a while you will notice deals come up every now and then and they will alert to go through cash back site like Big Crumbs , Shop at Home , ebates, or cashbaq.

When you see those you may wonder if it is worth especially if you are doing an on-line deal costing $10 or less. Well yesterday I get an email with the following:

Subject: Your Big Fat Payment From Ebates!
Note: Dear Ebates Shopper, Thank you for using Ebates every time you shop online. Congratulations, here is your Big Fat Payment! Please feel free to contact us with any questions that you may have about your payment or your Ebates account. Happy shopping! Sincerely, Ebates Customer Care
Custom Note: Thank you for using Ebates every time you shop online!
Payment Type: Instant

And then I had $13+ transferred into my paypal account. Between that, You Data , Surveys , and Swagbucks I have close to $30 in my paypal account. I think that is pretty good mostly for doing things that I normally do anyway.

To figure out the best site to use I go to Ev’reward I like the site a lot because it even tells you Upromise and converts mypoints points to a percentage for you so you can compare apples with apples. They will also let you know if there are any on-line coupons/promotional codes available currently available.  However you may need to look up a few manually I don’t believe Shop at Home yet appears nor does zamzuu if you are an affiliate with them.

Two other sites to check for promotional codes are Promotional Codes and Retail Me Not.

Another thing I do is use a card that offers a rewards program. Usually credit card rewards programs are better than debit card rewards programs. Go Money Central MSN Credit Card Smarts for a great article on how you can chose the best rewards credit card for you. Go Credit.com Credit Rewards for a list of some available credit card offers. As the first article says though if you carry a balance on your credit cards then rewards credit cards are not for you. They are for those that pay their credit card off in full every month.

I do not have a rewards credit card however here is a list of some of the best rewards debit cards at Best Cash Cow best debit reward cards Every month it seems more banks are adding rewards programs so check with your local bank to see if they have one that you are not yet utilizing.

Go Extra Money for Searching Shopping and more for an article I listed previous with various cash back websites.

Also sign up for a rewards program for that store if available.

Here is an example of a transaction:
Need to buy ink from Best Buy
Ev’rewards informs that the best deal is 5.4% at Big Crumbs If I bought 2 cartridges from the store it would be $36.02 (including tax) But I buy it on-line (and choose in-store pick up) There is an automatic internet discount if you buy two cartridges you get 25% off the 2nd one bringing me down to $32.53. Additionally as a bonus I get points on my best buy rewards card (after $250 spent I get a
coupon for $5 to spend as cash. And I get a few points back for using my fifth third debit rewards card. Although the last two are minor after 8 or so more transactions at best buy of that size I have an extra $5 to spend. And from just using my debit card as I normally would I’ll have $25 deposited in my savings account. (For me it takes about a year but no extra effort.)

So how do you maximize your on-line shopping experiences?

{ 0 comments }

This is a guest post from Laura & Courtney at My Dallas Mommy. To check out more of their posts, go here. Thanks!

Google has done it again! Not everybody has On Star, etc. or a phone book handy. Look what Google is doing….

Here’s a number worth putting in your cell phone, or your home phone speed dial:
1-800-goog411.

This is an awesome service from Google, and it’s free — great when you are driving on the road with no pen, pencil or paper handy. Don’t waste your money on information calls and don’t waste your time manually dialing the number.

This is nationwide and it is absolutely free!
Click on the link below and watch the short clip for a quick demonstration.

http://www.google.com/goog411

{ 0 comments }

This is a guest post from Rita over at Chi-Town Cheapskate. To check out more of her posts, go here. Thanks Rita!

Do you have a crockpot? When is the last time you used it? I think most people have one but not everyone is good about using it and recognizing the amount of time and money they can save you! Here are some great reasons to dust off the old crockpot or pick one up on sale if you don’t already own one! Most of this is common knowledge but it might serve as a reminder of why you bought that crockpot in the first place and why the heck is it gathering dust?

1. Time Saver
   First and foremost a Crockpot is a huge time saver. For a minimal amount of prep work in the morning your dinner will be cooking away and be ready for you & your family when you get home from work. To save even more time you can pre-cut the veggies the night before and have your ingredients lined up and ready to go. This will make your morning a little less hectic! 

   Most crockpots now have removable liners. For easy clean-up just pop them right into the dishwasher. They even sell liners now which can be tossed out after use, if you have the type of crock without the removable liner this might be the way to go!

2. Saves Energy
   It does not take a genius to figure out that a crockpot uses less energy then your oven and does not heat up your kitchen on a hot summer day, thus saving your money. A slow cooker uses about 100 watts of electricity, using it once a week for eight hours at a time will only cost you twenty cents a month in electricity!
3. Money Saver
   By buying cheaper cuts of meat and cooking them “long and slow” you are able to whip up a tasty, tender meal for alot less. Often these cheaper cuts of meat can be tough and chewy. However, during the long cooking periods at lower temperatures the connective tissue breaks down making tougher meat tender and succulunt. Same thing with a smoker but that’s a topic for another day! 

   It also lessens the chance you’ll swing by drive thru on the way home because of a time crunch, again saving you money (and calories). Things come up, schedules change at a moments notice, we’ve all been there, stopping by drive-thru and skipping the dinner you were going to prepare due to unforeseen events….that does not happen if you have dinner already being prepared for you!

4. Great Tasting
   Crockpots and the recipes concocted for them have come along way since the hey day of the crockpot back in the 70′s. By following recipes carefully, in other words layering the food as directed you will be rewarded with a very tasty meal.
5. Great Feature
   If you are often not going to be home when your crockpot meal is being cooked, perhaps because you have a full time job. Consider investing in a crockput that automatically turns to warm after a certain number of hours or after it reaches a certain temperature. That way if you end up having to work late or no one will be home for some reason to turn off that crockpot you will not have an overcooked meal on your hands!
6. Cook Once Eat Twice
   Think abou investing in a larger crockpot and double the recipe. This will make for a couple of days of leftovers or freeze half for another night!

{ 0 comments }

This is a guest post from Sarah over at Sarah’s Deals. To check out more of her posts, go here. Thanks Sarah!

Two things prompted me to write this post.

One, I had a great conversation the other day in which the lady I was talking to was “amazed” when I mentioned packing our own food for a hotel. We were talking about spring break plans and I told her about a nice price I found on a place we had been wanting to go. I then mentioned that we were packing most of our own food for the trip. We got into a discussion about the types of things I prepare and how we keep it healthy.

Two, I overheard some other ladies talking about their spring break plans and how “eating out is necessary when you’re travelling”. I want to let you know that it is NOT! The amount of eating out you do is a direct result of your desire and effort.

We take several small vacations a year. Part of what makes it more affordable is packing our own food. We will spend some money on snacks and a meal or two out over the course of three days. Our hotel does not provide breakfast, but our room will have a microwave, mini fridge and coffee pot. We will pack one cooler and an additional bag or two of food.

My cooler will contain a gallon of milk, some juice/juice pouches, slices of french toast from my freezer, margarine, lunchmeat, cheese, condiments, frozen veggies, fresh fruits/veggies, and meats/main dishes.

I am planning nachos for one night in the hotel! We will simply warm the already prepared taco meat in the microwave, put it over chips, add cheese/veggies/sour cream/salsa and enjoy. Our other hotel dinner this time around is planned as ham that we will warm in the microwave with water, instant mashed potatoes and Green Giant Steamers Corn (all prepared in the microwave).

One bag that we take will be packed with snacks. I like to load it with granola bars, fruit bars, chips, crackers and cookies. These make good snacks on the road and in the hotel between meals and running around!

Another bag will be bread, cereal, canned fruits/veggies, larger bags of chips/snacks, styrofoam plates/bowls and plastic cutlery/cups.

It’s all about planning in my book. We’ve taken Family Size Banquet Entrees in the past. We’ve also done individual microwave pizzas, pizza rolls and bagel bites when we have had them in the freezer from a good sale. We even took a crockpot and did a roast in a waterpark hotel once. We were in and out of the room every couple hours at the most that day and were able to keep an eye on it.

I would love to hear what you have done to save money on food when travelling. Please share your ideas in the comments. I would love to be inspired!

{ 0 comments }

This is a guest post from Rita over at Chi-Town Cheapskate. To check out more of her posts, go here. Thanks Rita!

Postage is due to go up to .46 cents a stamp January 2011. If you’re one of the few who has not got on board with online banking and bill pay you should give it some consideration.

Here are some benefits:

1. Save Money on Postage
   On average we send out between 10-15 bills per month, but for sake of argument let’s say you send out 10 per month. In 2011 that will cost you $4.60 per month or $55.20 per year. How much does it cost to send a payment out through online bill pay? In most cases nothing!
2. Usually FREE
   Most banks offer online banking and online bill pay free of charge!
3. Better Organization & Instant Access
   You can very easily log into your account and check on what’s going on in each of your accounts…no more waiting for a statement or calling and going through a lenghty push button series to find out what has cleared your bank and what is still oustanding. 

   You can also quickly and easily find out when you last paid a bill and for what amount, often going back as far as you’d like. I love when a company tells me I have not paid them and with a couple of clicks I can tell them exactly what and when they’ve been paid!

4. Automatic Bill Pay
   Do you have a bill that is the same amount each month due on the same date? You can set up your account to automatically send out a payment for a certain amount on a certain date each month 

   Avoid Late Fees –
   Use this feature to avoid late payments on credit cards. I set my account up to send out $100 on each credit card each month. In most cases I log in and change that amount to what is owed that month. However, if I forget to do so I will not incur a late fee as my account has automatically sent out a payment!

5. Time Saver
   This one is obvious, it takes alot less time to click a few buttons and pay all your bills then to sit down w/your checkbook and write out all those checks!
6. Easy Transfers
   If you sign up for your banks online capabilities you should be able to quickly and easily transfer money from one account to another (in the same bank of course). This is a true time saver and I use it all the time! This could save you some bounce fees as well, if you log in and notice you may run short this month you can quickly throw some money from another account into your checking and avoid a costly bounce fee!
7. Save Money on Check Printing
   Obviously you’ll use considerably less checks so you won’t be ordering nearly as many as you did before online bill pay….so you’ll save a few bucks each year on checks! Plus, it’s better for the environment, less paper!
8. Mobile Access
   You can have information on your accounts and access to bill paying anywhere you have an internet connection. Realize in the middle of a Hawaiin Vacation you forgot to pay a bill? Not sweat log on and pay from any internet access.
9. Set up reminders
   Some banks let you send yourself reminders if you would rather not pay your bills automatically. Each month, you’ll get a reminder to check on your latest bills and then pay them online. You can also use reminders to alert you when the money in your checking account dips below a certain level.
10. Online Banking and Security
    Go here for a great article on online baking security —>

Do you use online banking/bill payment? Do you find it helpful/convenient? Have any tips?

{ 0 comments }