Prudent and Practical

April 22, 2009

Free Stuff? How Can I Mystery Shop Too?

Filed under: money — Tags: free, job, online, shopping — K @ 3:36 PM

How I Got Started & A Word of Caution

A while back, I stated that I would write an article about mystery shopping… so here it is!  Back in my early college days, I got an email that said something like, “Get paid to shop!”  I knew little about spam and scams at that time, so I paid a $20 fee to get started.  Although it was dumb of me to not only spend money I didn’t have, but I spent money on a company that I knew nothing about in attempt to make money.  When I got into their “portal,” it was a never ending list of surveys and complete-this-offer-to-mystery-shop.  But there were a couple real mystery shopping companies on that list and I was lucky enough to find them and write down their names.  Knowing I was scammed, I called the company to cancel my membership.  The line was constantly busy, even at off-peak times, so I called my credit card company.  I explained what happened and they reversed the charge – thank goodness!

(I tell you this little back story, not to scare you, but to let you know what happened to me.  Granted this is a very small incident compared to the cashier-check scams out there, but there are scams out there!  Don’t fall for them – listen to your intuition.  Don’t ever ever ever cash a cashier’s check or money order that was sent to you by someone you don’t know.  This scammers send you a check/money order.  You deposit the money into your own account and then send the majority of it back.  Time goes by and then your bank contacts you saying that you owe them hundreds or thousands of dollars for a fake check/MO.  Guess what?  When you contact the company you got the check/MO from, they are looooong gone and don’t exist anymore.  They have the money and leave you to pay up what is owed plus the fees.  Many scammers are also impersonating MSPs now too, so you need be cautious.)

Fast forward a few years to 2006, I hit my worst.  I quit school, my Mary Kay director quit, I was in a town one hour from any family and friends (except for D), and I had creditors calling me left and right.  Desperate, I found that little piece of paper with mystery shopping companies on it and started doing assignments.  Mystery shopping provided me with something to do with my time, a way to interact with people, and a way to make money.  I’ve been consistently mystery shopping since January 2006, but got more serious about it in June 2008.

April 15, 2009

Track Your Money Online… For Free!

Filed under: money — Tags: debt, free, manage, money, online — K @ 12:36 AM
337/365: The Big Money
Image by DavidDMuir via Flickr

I thought I was quite organized with my business finances… until I did self-employment business taxes for the first time this year.

Although  I kept everything organized, it wasn’t enough and I had a lot of papers to go through to verify some things.  I worked for quite a few companies but didn’t make enough to warrant a 1099 form.  So, I went on a search for free money trackers – something that could be just for my business expenses.  I could not find a site used only for businesses, but there isn’t any reason why the following sites could not be used.

  • Mint is a free service that allows you to track your money without having to download it to a program – it downloads your information automatically every night and it only takes 5 minutes to set up.  If you decide to add your credit cards, it will analyze them to see if you could be saving money with another card.  The site also picks out the best credit card for you based on your budget and where you shop the most.  With Mint, you can set up a budget and apply your savings to your highest interest rate credit card balance.  The program allows you to track car payments, retirement funds, investments, and student loans.  After looking into it, I may use this for my student loans, which I have a lot of and through more than one company.  The good thing about this is that Mint will analyze my student loans to see if I can get a better deal by consolidating through a variety of lenders.
  • Quicken Online allows you to track your accounts and also make a budget.  You can even track your finances on the go through your cell phone.  Although a perk of this service is that you can set up automatic reminders for upcoming payments, that’s something you can do through Google Calender or your own credit card companies.  Like Mint, registration is free and takes only 5 minutes.
  • Wesabe a free service as well and is supposed to be for for those new to finance tracking,  You “tag” your purchases to track where your money is going.  A lack of tracking  options are a disappointing feature of this free service – you can go to Quicken or Mint for more tracking options.  But a unique plus side is that they have a community area – people review financial products and advisers are available for questions.

I’m signing up with Mint, due to the student loan options.  It seems like that site will help me get the most out of my finances.  I’m wondering if any of you have tried either of these services.  Have you tried one that’s not listed?  Do you like it or not and why?

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April 1, 2009

Free Movies! Need I say more?

Filed under: entertainment — Tags: computer, discounts, entertainment, free, movies, shopping — D @ 1:00 AM
A Redbox DVD case
Image via Wikipedia

Redbox has become my favorite way to rent movies.  It’s conveniently located in our grocery store, so I don’t have to waste time and gas going all the way across town to rent an overpriced movie.  The Redbox locations are usually in busy places that are open long hours such as fast food restaurants and grocery stores.  You can also see what movies are available at all kiosks and reserve movies from the comfort of your own home before picking it up.

The movies are only $1 + tax per night and I like this “freedom”.  I feel like I pay for the time I watch the movie.  With RedBox, I return the movie by 9pm the following night or I get charged another dollar for another night.  When I rent a movie elsewhere, I usually don’t watch it over multiple days – I watch it once.  At this point I forget to return it three or four days later, incurring another $4 charge.

In addition to the dollar movies, RedBox offers multiple ways to get one night free.

  • Sign up for their emailings – you get a free rental for being a new member
  • Enter your cell phone on their website and opt in to receive texts every Monday
  • Free movie Wednesdays (so far only for March) by getting a code off their blog

The following messages have come straight from RedBox.

GET A FREE NIGHT’S RENTAL EVERY MONDAY… Sign up for Free Movie Mondays! Join the Redbox Free Movie Monday SMS program and get a promo code sent to your phone every Monday!

It’s March Movie Madness for Redbox, so get in the game… on Wednesdays! Visit Redblog every Wednesday in March for your Free Movie Wednesday code. Then visit your local Redbox kiosk for your FREE 1 NIGHT’s RENTAL.

I’ve used multiple cards and email addresses to receive the codes.  One that I’ve gotten twice is BREAKROOM.  There are also sites and forums out there catered to finding new RedBox freebie codes.

  • InsideRedBox keeps track of all new and expired codes, passing them on to you for free.
  • Slick Deals also has an entire thread devoted to RedBox codes.

Happy Movie Watching ;-)

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March 9, 2009

Cheap and Easy Tool and Craft Storage Made with Stuff You Already Have

Filed under: DIY — Tags: crafts, DIY, free, home improvement, projects, saving money — K @ 5:00 AM

frugalfriday 150x112 photo Cheap and Easy Tool and Craft Storage Made with Stuff You Already Have

When we moved into our house three years ago, we acquired a lot of extra wood and screws.  Add to this the plethora of peanut butter, jelly, pickle, marinara, and baby food jars we have lying around.  With a little creativity and only a few tools, I managed to find a solution to both of the above problems.

Tools:

  • Jars – all shapes and sizes are fine (I used a peanut butter jar this time)homestorage 001 225x300 photo Cheap and Easy Tool and Craft Storage Made with Stuff You Already Have
  • Scrap wood – I used 6″x18″ approximately, but you can choose the size depending on your need
  • Screws – to fit the depth of the wood and also to hang up the storage
  • Hammer
  • Screwdriver

Instructions:

  1. Gather materials.homestorage 002 300x225 photo Cheap and Easy Tool and Craft Storage Made with Stuff You Already Have
  2. Grab a jar lid and screw.  Hammer the screw threw the center of the lid to poke a hole in it.homestorage 003 300x225 photo Cheap and Easy Tool and Craft Storage Made with Stuff You Already Have
  3. Place the jar lid where you want to attach it to the wood, then screw the lid onto the wood.homestorage 004 300x225 photo Cheap and Easy Tool and Craft Storage Made with Stuff You Already Have
  4. Screw the jar onto the lid… voila!  Storage!homestorage 005 300x225 photo Cheap and Easy Tool and Craft Storage Made with Stuff You Already Have
  5. When adding more lids to the wood, leave an inch or two between them, so you have room to grasp the jars.
  6. This could be decorated and hung on the wall for craft storage.homestorage 006 300x225 photo Cheap and Easy Tool and Craft Storage Made with Stuff You Already Have
  7. Or hung on the ceiling in the shop.homestorage 007 225x300 photo Cheap and Easy Tool and Craft Storage Made with Stuff You Already Have
  8. I made one and then my husband made one!homestorage 008 300x225 photo Cheap and Easy Tool and Craft Storage Made with Stuff You Already Have

March 4, 2009

38 Websites that Help You Save Money

Filed under: saving money — Tags: discounts, free, saving money, shopping — K @ 2:23 PM

Gosh, I feel like I’m constantly talking about money lately, but who isn’t?  The following 38 websites will help you save money in a variety of categories.

Deal Trackers, Deal Finders, Discount Sites:

  1. Deal of the Day Tracker – deal of the day site surfs the webs for the best bargains
  2. Slickdeals is a deal finding site.  My husband uses this a lot.
  3. GottaDeal is a great deal finding site.  They’re my favorite for tracking Black Friday deals.  They also have an excellent forum.
  4. Fat Wallet is another favorite deal finder site of my husband’s.
  5. Beat That is another deal finding website.
  6. Frozen Warrior watches prices on Amazon.  It tracks and compares prices and shows a history of old prices (like all time low and high, etc.)
  7. Shop it to Me keeps track of your favorite clothing and accessory designers and then notifies you of the lowest prices online.
  8. Big Words – search tool that delivers consistent savings by keeping track of around 100 book retailers and renters world-wide.
  9. Ebates gets paid a commission when someone purchases a product through their site.  They then pass part of the commission on to you, resulting in a discount.
  10. Woot sells only one item per day, but at a huge discount.
  11. FreeCycle is a great site for getting and giving free items near you.
  12. Google the name of a store and often you’ll find a coupon code to enter at checkout. You can save 10% to 20% or more on the total order or maybe get free shipping.

Coupons:

  1. Retail Me Not – get access to more than 100,00 store coupons, online savings codes and shopping tips.
  2. Coupon Cabin is a decent site for coupons.
  3. Ultimate Coupons is another site for coupons.
  4. Restaurants.com – purchase a $25 gift card for only $10.


Medical (for humans and animals):

  1. Pharmacy Checker is a prescription price comparing site.
  2. Medical Guide.org is the Consumer Reports free search for prescription drug prices.
  3. Pet Insurance Review – compare plans from all the major pet-insurance providers and get customer reviews and ratings
  4. 1800 Pet Meds – prescriptions for your pets at low prices.


Misc. Financial:

  1. UPromise deposits money into a college savings account when you purchase certain items.
  2. Bill Shrink finds you a better deal on your cell phone or credit card after you enter in what you’re spending on those categories.
  3. Smart Hippo is a site that finds and compares mortgage rates for you.
  4. Covestor is a portfolio sharing service for proven self-investors and for those wishing to track them, according to their website.
  5. Over My Minutes alerts you when you’re about to run over your allotted cell phone minutes.
  6. Smarty Pig is a site that allows you to set up “goal” accounts.  They withdraw a certain amount out of your checking account each month and put it into a special account.
  7. My Check Free is your personal online payment center – it helps you pay your bills on time!

Travel:

  1. Kayak – searches through more than 140 sources for best airfares, hotel rates and vacation packages.
  2. Last Minute – book your whole trip just days or hours before… some of the sweetest deals pop up at the last minute.

Some excellent blogs and resources:

  1. Cheapskate Monthly/Debt Proof Living is my mom’s favorite site.  The author of the site is also well known for her Debt Proof Living books.
  2. Millionaire Mommy Next Door is my favorite site because the author inspires me.
  3. Dave Ramsey is a favorite site among some of my friends.
  4. Home Economiser sells subscriptions of their newsletter – they’ve been named “America’s Cheapest Family.”
  5. All Things Frugal covers many different topics on living a frugal life.
  6. Stretcher.com explains how to stretch your dollar.
  7. The Budget Decorator shows you how to decorate your home frugally by being creative.
  8. Frugal Living is About.com’s saving money area.
  9. Better Budgeting covers different aspects of frugal living.
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