Living Frugal and Simple

Beezag and Swagbucks Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:12:00 +0000

A year ago I was utilizing around 6 different money making websites. Of those, I am still using 3: Mypoints, Beezag and Swagbucks. I've actually been a member of Mypoints since 1/14/2004 - but that is a discussion for another post. :)

Swagbucks

This past summer I used the Amazon gift cards I had earned through Swagbucks, MyPoints and a couple other sites, along with some of my graduation money to purchase a new computer and a new monitor. I needed the new monitor for a summer job processing insurance forms, and well, the new computer was a nice upgrade. (My previous computer was 4 years old, and the monitor was 7+ years old.) Since then I have used the Amazon gift cards earned through Swagbucks and MyPoints to purchase books for my school's library.

Just by doing my normal searching using the Swagbucks toolbar and remembering to do the daily points about half the time, I have been able to redeem 1 - 2 Amazon gift cards almost every month. I ordered my December one about a week ago, and am close to being able to order another one. (Previously I was much more consistent with the daily points and checking for videos, plus I was doing some offers - so I earned quite a few more cards each month.)

Swagbucks now has several more ways that you can earn points, such as the video rewards (which are similar to Beezag,) and the games.

Beezag

As you can see from the screenshot of Paypal payments, after July I wasn't quite as active with Beezag. However, I have recently cashed out for my next payment, and am 1/4th of the way towards another cash out. Beezag is really quite easy to do - all you have to do is watch short videos and then enter the numbers that flash across the screen. Different videos are worth different amounts of points, and some are also eligible to enter you into drawing for gift cards.

Using the different reward sites really does not take very much time, and can net you some extra cash which you would not have otherwise. To see previous posts on Beezag or Swagbucks, see my Money Maker topic. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Looking For a Job? Be Willing to Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:23:00 +0000

As I've mentioned in previous posts, the past two years I went to school online to obtain my Masters in Library Science while tutoring to earn a living. In January I started the process of filling out applications at numerous schools across the country. By April, I had applied to schools in at least 12 states, and had seriously considered applying to one in another country. By March I was starting to feel desperate, and reading all the news stories of teachers and librarians being cut all over, decided to apply to a couple different oil and gas companies. Nothing was panning out. By May and graduation, I had had TWO interviews. One for a school librarian position, and one for a very small oil and gas company.

About at this point I decided that I probably was not going to find a job for this coming school year. So, I talked to the teacher at my local church's school about my putting together a library program for the school on a volunteer basis. I planned to continue my tutoring to support myself, but at least this way I'd be getting some experience to put on my resume. She was enthusiastic about my plan. So I put out a request on the librarian listserve for ideas on how to implement my plan. I received many fantastic responses, but one which stood out was a link to a teacher job site I had not previously found.

When I checked the job site, and filled out my information, one of the first postings immediately caught my eye. It was for a parochial mission school working with Native Americans in New Mexico. I was completely intriqued. The religious affiliation of the school was completely different than mine, and a tradition which is nearly completely foreign to my upbringing. But .. the librarian position did not require the person to be of the same faith - just that you be a Christian.

Several aspects interested me in this position. Working with NA children who are in an area which qualifies as a very low socio-economic area would qualify me for an Americorp education grant. While I don't need to pay back any loans, it could be nice to have money available to go back and get another Master's later if I really want to. :) I also was really interested in the opportunity to learn about another culture (really to be immersed in a very different cuture/area) without even leaving the United States. The pay offered was less than I made my first year of teaching in 1997 (about $7k less), but it did offer free health insurance, free housing /utilities (there is NO housing except what is provided in the area), and two free meals a day at the cafeteria when school is in session.

I spent a lot of time on Google finding out everything I could about the town the school was located in and the surrounding area. I also found out as much as I could about Americorp. My family really was NOT excited about the idea. At all. I was though. So I went ahead and submitted my application. Weeks passed. I thought it was just another fruitless effort. Then towards the end of May I received a phone call from the principal. We talked for about 20 minutes. I thought for sure I'd disqualified myself when she found out I was a vegetarian and and SDA. A few weeks later though, I received an email from her asking if I'd be willing to do a phone interview.

The phone interview went pretty well. She asked me if I'd come out to the school to visit the area and interview. A three day interview! So the third week of June I had the opportunity to visit the school while it was in summer session. I met some of the kids, got to ride a bus with some of the students out onto the reservation, and even went out on a food run (meals on wheels) into the innards of the reservation -- where I had the chance to go into a traditional hogan! Thankfully they liked me too. :D

I've spent most of my life in moderate sized cities up to metropolitan areas. Where I live now, the town has two gas stations, a Family Dollar, two restarants, a video store, a PO Office (only way to get your mail - no home delivery) and a small expensive grocery store. That's it. To get to a town with a movie theater, fast food places, Walmart, etc., it is a 30 minute drive East or West. That's going 75mph (or cough, cough 80...).

Most of my life I have not been the minority person. Some places I lived, I was in the extreme majority (i.e MN) and other places I was somewhat of a minority in a place of many nationalities (i.e. NJ). Here, I am in the extreme minority. Other than the main teachers at the school(s), the vast majority are Native American. There are a few Hispanic and African Americans as well.

Other than with my tutoring students, my teaching experience has been mainly with the lower grades. Mainly first and second grade. Here I am working with students as young as 3 and as old as 16.

Other than my first few years of life, I have always lived in either an apartment or a regular house. Here I live in my very own :D circa 1970's (maybe) mobile home.

I've now been here since the beginning of August. We started school August 17. Am I happy with my choice to step outside of my comfort zone? Am I loving teaching computers and library skills to a wide range of ages (including helping out several teachers)? In a word, YES!! :D :D

Oh, and about the salary. Although it is low, it is more than I made when I was tutoring. My expenses are also quite a bit less. My only bills are my internet, cell, gas, and food. So I will be able to start socking money away again to rebuild my emergency funds, my car replacement fund, and possibly my dream/fun funds. :D I also recently acquired a 4 month old kitten - since I now can afford any vet bills. *See picture at top of post. Isn't she sweet?

Graduated from Grad School Debt Free!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:57:00 +0000

Mom and I on graduation day - May 13, 2011

I started the online library science program in July, 2009. At the time I had visions of being able to finish it in a one-year time span. Program limitations made that plan impossible. So, I adjusted my plan to finishing in two-years. In hindsight, that really was the better way to go, at least financially.

Like I mentioned in my title, I managed to graduate with my Master's debt free. How did I do this? Well, there were many factors involved, including: previous savings, downsizing living standards, generous family and friends, scholarships, and tutoring.

Previous Savings
Before beginning graduate school (and being laid off from my oil and gas company job) I had a fully funded 6+ month emergency fund, a sizable car replacement fund, and the beginnings of a house down payment fund and dream fund. I also was living in an 8oo sq foot one-bedroom apartment with a fairly reasonable rent (at least it was reasonable when I was working full time ...)

Cutting Back and Downsizing
As soon as I was laid off I started cutting out as many of the extra expenses that I could. I'd previously cut cable due to watching very little television, but there were a few other expenses I could reduce. After making the decision to go back to school, I realized that staying in my apartment just would not work. So I began to look for a more inexpensive place to live after my lease ran out. I found such a place via Craigslist - renting a room in a home with two teenagers and two dogs. The room was quite small (about the size of a large bathroom), but I did have some storage space in the garage, as well as the use of the extra living room. In order for this to work, I sold and/or donated roughly 60% of my furniture and other belongings. I moved in at the end of September with the understanding (at least I thought so) that I would be there through June of 2011. By January, 2010, it was clear that my landlady and I had not clearly communicated our time range expectations. So, I started looking for another place that I could afford.

Generous Family and Tutoring
At this point my mom and step dad offered to let me rent an extra room in their home. Since I would have to put most of my things in a storage unit, they agreed to a slightly lower rent than I had been paying. From the time I was laid off until I moved in January, I had worked 25 - 35 hours a week at a gym. When the commute was 20 - 25 minutes, working there still made financial sense. However, with the new move, the commute would be a minimum of 90 minutes if I left at 6 a.m.

My mom runs an in-home tutoring business (she goes to the client). About this same time she had a client referred to her which she thought I might be better suited to meet the client's needs. This particular client needed someone 6 hours a week, plus another client at three hours a week, and I was able to quit the job at the gym. After the semester was over, I received many new tutoring students throughout the new school year due to the success of my first few clients.

Besides the generosity of my mom and step dad renting a room to me, I also had other family members who helped me out along the way quite generously. My dad's side of the family paid for me to come to CA at Christmastime, as well as my dad and grandma helping me with some dental expenses and other monetary gifts.

Scholarships
Before beginning graduate school, I researched for any available scholarships. There were not many available for someone just beginning. I did apply for one, which was rewarded during my second semester. During the summer between my first and second year, I became eligible to apply for numerous scholarships. I applied to everything that I came even somewhat close to qualifying for. At first, I was only awarded two scholarships. One was a repeat of the one from the second semester, and the other was a new one. Then near the end of the first semester of my second year I was awarded a third scholarship. This third scholarship was nearly 3x the amount of the previous two, and was for the full year. In all, I had one scholarship which repeated 3 times, a second scholarship which repeated twice, and a third one which was only offered once. Combined, these scholarships covered nearly 14 credits worth of tuition and fees (out of the required 36 credit hours.)

Generous Friends
This past winter my mom and step dad divorced. My ex-step dad decided that he was going to sell the house, but that he'd wait till May to put it on the market. Since May of 2010 I have helped the assistant treasurer at my church with counting the tithes and offerings. When I mentioned to her that I was going to need to find a new affordable place to live until I found a job other than tutoring, she generously offered to let me rent a room from her and her daughter. I moved in with them on May 1, 2011, and graduated on May 13, 2011.

Currently, I am still tutoring, as well as doing whatever other employment opportunities that I can find. My goal is to find a school librarian job because that is my field and my passion. However, I am open to wherever God may lead me. Thanks to generous friends, family, my downsizing, and God sending scholarships my way, I managed to not only graduate debt free, but with a small bit of savings left!

Swagbuck Users! Donate for Japan!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 03:39:00 +0000

Watching the unfolding events the past few days in Japan, I have wished that there was some way I could help. Today, swagbucks.com has opened up a way for people to donate their swagbucks to All Hands Volunteers. This is a U.S. based organization which is already on the ground in Japan beginning to help with the relief efforts.

Learn more about the Swagbucks Donation Drive

Donate your Swagbucks

Learn more about Swagbucks

Swagbucks Coupons - An Easy Way to Earn and Save!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:22:00 +0000

I've written a number of posts about Swagbucks, a search and win website. Since October, 2010 I have earned over $200 in Amazon Gift Cards and PayPal cash from Swagbucks. Today though I would like to share with you a fairly new feature - the coupons. Swagbucks teamed up with coupons.com to offer printable coupons. Each coupon you print AND redeem will give you ten Swagbucks eight to twelve weeks later. The coupons have a special tracking code on them which lets Swagbucks know that you have redeemed it, and who the credit belongs to.

Coupon Redemption Credit

Buddy - My mom's dog. :)

Recently I received my first Swagbucks Coupon Redemption points. It took just under 8 weeks from when I redeemed my first coupon. If I remember correctly it was for oatmeal. :) I should have 5 or 6 more coming in the next few weeks, thanks to there being a spate of coupons for a particular brand of wet dog food. Let's just say that Buddy won't be running out of his morning treat anytime soon. :D

Citing Creative Commons Content Just Got Much Easier

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:52:00 +0000

Most people who blog very often know that at some point they are going to need to use a picture or other item which they find on the internet. Through sites such as flickr.com or using Google's advanced image search, it is possible to find non-copyrighted pictures. These are generally licensed under Creative Commons and are free to be used (usually non-commercially) as long as you give credit to the original creator. Finding the information to cite images however can be time consuming and sometimes quite frustrating. Too often, a blogger may just forego altogether even attempting to give credit to their source. This of course is just plain wrong.

Recently at a meeting of technical minds in Barcelona, Spain during the "Learning, Freedom and the Web" Festival, a new add on was created to address this problem. It is called Open Attribute and works in both FireFox and Google Chrome browser.

watch out for falling dogs / Thom Watson / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

So, let's say you want to do a post about humorous signs about dogs. You go to flickr.com and do an advanced search for dogs and signs that are licensed under creative commons. This picture to the right is one possibility that you find. However, one of the requirements of it's CC (Creative Commons) license is that you give credit to the person who took and posted the photo.

After having installed the Open Attribute app, you will see a C with a circle around it in your address bar anytime you are on a site where information about CC is available. Just click on it to obtain the needed information to create the attribution. You can then choose to either copy it in plain text or html.

The plain text version looks like this:
watch out for falling dogs (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomwatson/192312517/#/) / Thom Watson (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomwatson/) / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)

The HTML version looks like this:
watch out for falling dogs / Thom Watson / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

You can then choose which option you would prefer to use. This way you protect yourself from infringing on the rights of another person, and you show the respect you expect others to give you for what you put out on the internet.

A Somber Yet Important Message

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 15:13:00 +0000

Texting and Driving: A 10 minute Documentary from AT&T

How many times have you been driving down the road and seen the car ahead of you or next to you swerving in their lane? You get up next to them, and can tell that they are looking down at their phone. Maybe they're texting, maybe they're looking up the weather, maybe they're entering a new location for driving directions, but they aren't paying attention to the road.

All it takes is one time, and lives may be forever changed. The text can wait. The weather can wait. Pull over somewhere to enter the new location. Put the phone away. The life you save may be yours, or it may be the son or daughter, a mother or father.

Money Maker: Beezag - Watch Videos and Earn Cash

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 01:37:00 +0000

Back in December, 2010 I started using a website called Beezag. It asks you questions about your shopping habits, likes and dislikes, future plans, etc. Then it matches you with advertisement videos. These videos generally run from less than a minute to several minutes. So far I've had music videos, Amazon (Kindle) videos, numerous beauty products videos, etc. To ensure that you have watched the video, two numbers flash - one near the beginning and one near the end. You enter those numbers and then submit to earn the points. For each video you watch, you will also be awarded with discount coupons. If you make a purchase using one of those coupons, you can send it to Beezag and earn additional points.

I have dealt with customer service due to two videos not displaying any numbers. Customer service was very quick to reply - an actual human being who had read my email. They credited me for my trouble, and made a few suggestions. All in all, I was extremely impressed.

PayPal Payment

A few weeks ago they ran a weekend long special where all videos were worth 500 points. Thanks to that I was able to do my first cashout of $8. The money arrived in my Paypal account within a week. You have three options when cashing out. One option is to have it sent to your Paypal account. A second option is to have a check mailed to you. The third option is to donate it to a charity.

I generally have one to three videos each day. Video points range from 40 - 150. Cash out happens at 8,000 points ($8.00.) It is a well designed and well run site. All in all, it is a very fun and easy way to earn a little side income.

Money Saving Tip with Amazon Prime

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 06:01:00 +0000

If you are someone who shops a lot at Amazon, and likes to get their purchases as quickly as possible, you may have considered signing up for Amazon Prime. If you are frugally minded, you then probably looked at the $79.00 per year price tag, and said .. PASS! I know that's what I said - I can wait a week to get my orders. No problem.

Amazon Prime

Today though, I read an article on Cnet.com discussing a little known fact about Amazon Prime. If you purchase the $79.00/yr plan, you are then able to share your free and expedited shipping with up to four family members*! So, you could possibly bring the cost down to $20 or less per person per year. Adding in the savings of not having to *add* items to your cart to make the minimum $25 order for Super Saving Shipping; and depending on how much shopping you do on Amazon, this may make this a steal of a deal.

Amazon Student

If you have an .edu email address, and are currently going to college or graduate school, you qualify for one-year free of Amazon Student. I haven't used mine yet (because I haven't bought anything on Amazon since I became a member of Amazon Student) but I think free is a pretty sweet deal.

*A family member is a part of your "household." To prove your relationship, you must send their email address and state their relationship with you - i.e. brother, sister, mother, etc. According to the comments on the article, the definition of "household" is quite broad.

Checkpoints App +iPhone + Swagbucks: A Winning Combination

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:05:00 +0000

If you are a member of Swagbucks and own an iPhone3 GS or 4, be sure to download the free Checkpoints app. You will receive 20 Swagbucks* just for downloading the app & entering your Swagbucks name. Then each month you use it and scan at least one product, you'll earn an additional 6 Swagbucks.

I installed this app on my phone a few weeks ago, and it is really easy to use. You just open it up when you are out and about, and see which stores are listed on the Earn tab. When you go in one of these stores, you just tap "Check In" to earn 2 points. Some stores have products which you can earn points for scanning as well.

Just by signing up with the Swagbucks code, you will have enough points for your first $1 Amazon gift card. I've earned 314 points so far just by checking in at various stores, and the bonus points for signing up.

Once you have installed the app on your phone, go to Settings: My Account. Then register using the word Swagbucks for your referral code. Next, go to Settings:My Loyalty Programs. You should see an entry for Swagbucks. Click on that, and enter your Swagbucks username.

This app is only available for use in the United States.
*Swagbucks will take up to two-weeks to credit for installation.

Cool Firefox Add On May Save You Money: Invisible Hand

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:15:00 +0000

If you do a lot of shopping online and use the Firefox browser, you may want to check out the Invisible Hand add on. What this tool does is whenever you are on a shopping site looking at a particular item, it will scour the internet for a better price. If it finds a better price, a little pop up will appear at the top of your screen (below any toolbars you have installed.)

In the screen shot below I was looking at an HP printer which Amazon.com sale priced as $127.96 = $18.99 shipping. Underneath my toolbars you will see a small yellow pop up which shows that this same printer can be found on ebay.com for only $109.00. A savings of 14%.

However, as you can see by my next screenshot of the ebay deal, this tool does not take shipping costs into account. When you add the $49.xx shipping cost, the Amazon deal is still slightly better.

Now though, lets look at another deal. Below is a screen shot of a Canon PIXMA MP560 Wireless Printer on Amazon.com. It is listed at $94.98 + $31.24 shipping. Invisible Hand pops up and tells me that this same printer is available at Buy.com for $89.95.

Next, we'll head over to buy.com and see what their shipping rate is - is this really going to be a better deal?

Yes! It is a much better deal. Not only is it less than Amazon's price, it also offers free shipping.

So, as you can see, this Invisible Hand is a nifty add on for Firefox users. You do still have to do your homework on double checking the shipping costs. More often than not, this tool will save you the time of having to check multiple websites for the best deal.

Happy Saving!

Swagbucks: The Ten-Minute Swagger

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:12:00 +0000


$20 Amazon Gift Card Balance

Swagbucks Gift Cards - 5 redeemed

Although you can earn enough Swagbucks to receive one - two Amazon gift cards each month in less than 5-minutes-a-day, you may have a little more time to put into it. Today, I will be talking about the Ten-Minutes-a-day Swagger.

First though, here are screen shots of my Amazon.com account and my Swagbucks gift cards. (Click on the photos to make them larger.) So far I have redeemed 5 Amazon $5 gift cards, and have received 4. (It takes between 7 - 14 business days for processing.)

After completing your Daily 4 (Toolbar, NOSO, Daily Poll, Trusted Surveys), and doing a few searches using the toolbar or the Swagbucks website, there is one more easy way to earn Swagbucks. Some days it may take only an extra minute or two, and other days, if you hit it right, it might take an extra ten or fifteen minutes. (An average of ten-minutes-a-day over time.)

So, what am I talking about? Watching videos! Each day after completing the Daily 4, go to Special Offers. Check each tab: Gambit, TrialPay, TapJoy, PaymentWall, GWallet and Super Rewards to see if there are any videos available. Most videos only require that you watch the entire video without fast forwarding, etc. Some videos will ask you to click on a banner. In order to be credited, you must follow whatever instructions are included. Videos last anywhere from 16 seconds to nearly 3 minutes. There are times where you may have the opportunity to watch 5 or more videos in a row. Other times, you may have no videos available. Videos give Swagbucks anywhere from 1 SB to 7 SB's.

On the Swagbucks homepage, click on "Special Offers."

This is the Swagbucks Offer Wall. Across the top are tabs for Gambit, Tapjoy, TrialPay, gWallet, Payment Wall, and Super Rewards. Each tab may possibly have videos available. The video on the Payment Wall tab is worth 2 Swagbucks.

My next Swagbucks related post will be about the Twenty-Minutes a day Swagger! Stay tuned, and as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Simple Sustenance: Grandma's Corn Pudding Casserole

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 00:03:00 +0000

A staple food in our family for Thanksgiving and for Christmas is Grandma's Corn Pudding Casserole. About the age of eleven the mantle of making this dish passed on to me. Over the years, I've made it so many times that I don't really look at the recipe anymore. More than likely, it changes a little bit each time. :) It has a slightly sweet flavor, with a creamy soufle texture. It is quite inexpensive to make, and freezes quite well. (Try to not let the lid fall into the dish as you place it into the oven ... like I did when making it today!)

Grandma's Corn Pudding Casserole
Ingredients

1 can regular corn
1 can cream style sweet corn
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup shredded cheese
2 eggs
1 cup diced green onions
1 pkg. cornbread mix

Directions
Spray your baking dish with cooking spray and layer about 1/4 cup of diced green onions on the bottom.

Mix 1/2 cup of the diced green onions plus all the other ingredients together.

Pour mixture into baking pan. Top with the remaining diced green onions.

Bake covered at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Swagbucks is currently having a recipe contest for holiday dishes. I entered this recipe and photo (of the finished product) for 50 Swagbucks. If I win, I'll get 1,000! Cross your fingers for me please! :)

How I Stump the Car Insurance Agents + A Few Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 04:08:00 +0000

Thankfully, this isn't my car.

Do you ever get offers in the mail or in your email telling you that "You Can Save $500 a year on car insurance!" Have you ever received the offer where if they can't beat your insurance rate, that they'll give you a $50 (or some other denomination) gift card? Of course, if you are a part of the various rewards websites, you probably have seen dozens of similar ploys. When I see them? I just laugh and say, "Sure, try it. This should be fun."

So far, no one has been able to beat what I pay for car insurance. I'd been curious as to why that was, but never really investigated it. I thought maybe it was a good driver discount. Or, perhaps it was a long time customer discount. Maybe it was some other discount I had never heard about. A few weeks ago I received a letter telling me that I qualified for the Accident Forgiveness Program. I hadn't even known Geico had one. More likely yet, it was because my car is so old. (I have a 1997 Honda Civic.)

Today I just happened to solve part of the mystery. My car insurance is renewing on the 25th of this month, so I've been completing some of the "We Can Beat Your Rates" offers. Just yesterday I received a call from an insurance agent who could not figure out how I was getting my rate (he was about $25 over mine.)

I needed to renew my memberships to American Library Association (ALA) and to the Texas Library Association (TLA). After having put it off as long as I could, I renewed both today. As I was browsing through the renewal process, I saw that the ALA offered a discount for Geico. So, of course I called immediately to find out how to get the discount applied.

When the representative checked my account, she told me that she would note on my account that I am a member of ALA, but that it would not make any impact on my rate. She then explained to me that I have a rate plan that Geico doesn't even offer anymore. So, the only discount available to me would be the Defensive Driver discount. Hmm... that reminded me that I'd started an online course a long while back and never finished it. So I asked her if she knew how long I could take to finish it. She said that I'd probably have to pay for it again, and start over.

After a bit of searching, I found the website. (Actually, I looked at two websites and couldn't remember which one I had used before. So I put my email in both and said I had forgotten my password.) Once I signed in, I was sent to the last module of the course and finished it about 80 minutes later. (I actually went and ate lunch during that time because I had to wait 30 minutes before taking the final exam.)

Now, not only do I have rates lower than what Geico currently offers, I also have an added 10% discount for every six-months. Sometimes loyalty pays.

Tips on Saving on Car Insurance:

Shop around when you are up for renewal
Don't get into accidents (at least not ones you have to report ...)
Take Defensive Driving (make sure to check for discounted classes offered through your car insurance - my class cost $19.95.)
Check with the company you work with for any discounts they offer
Think of all the organizations you belong to - do any of them offer discounts?
Or, you could do what I did. Stay with the same company for so long that your rates aren't even offered anymore!

Photo Credit: Free Photo . Com

Money Maker: Swagbucks, Search and Win

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 07:00:00 +0000

The past few weeks I have been trying out a rewards site called Swagbucks. I wanted to wait until after receiving my first payout before mentioning it here. This past week, I received my first payout - a $5 Amazon gift card. It is already deposited in my Amazon account waiting for me to spend it. The picture to the right is a screen shot of my Amazon account after redeeming the gift card. As I earn more gift cards, the balance will grow (unless I spend some of course.)

What is Swagbucks?
It is a website where you earn virtual currency which can be exchanged for prizes and gift cards.

How Do You Earn Swagbucks?

By doing your normal searching that you would do in Google or Yahoo in the Swagbucks search engine.
By visiting the website and completing the Daily 4 (Toolbar, Daily Poll, Trusted Survey, NOSO)
By completing surveys (after having been registered for 7 full days)
By completing various special offers
By watching sponsor videos (i.e. advertisements)
By watching Swagbucks TV (youtube videos with an advertisement)
By shopping at one of the affiliated stores (iTunes, Apple, Wal-Mart, etc.)
By finding SwagCodes
Many other ways

The Five-Minutes-a-day Swagger
You don't have a lot of time, but you do like the idea of picking up a few extra dollars each month. Just by doing the following, you can earn enough Swagbucks for 1 or 2 Amazon gift cards each month:

The Daily Four:
    Use the Toolbar

   The first time you open your browser each day with the toolbar installed, you earn 1 Swagbuck.
    Vote in the Daily Poll
Each day you vote, you earn 1 Swagbuck.
    Complete the NOSO (No Obligation Special Offers)
All you have to do to earn 1 Swagbuck is say No, or click on Skip.
    Visit Trusted Surveys
This isn't an option until you have been a member for at least 7 full days. From your 8th day forward you will earn 1 Swagbuck each day you check to see if you have any surveys available.

Do Your Normal Searching
The Swagbucks search engine utilizes Google. The results are very similar to what you'll find in Google, except that the results have advertisements mixed in. An average day may result in 3 search wins ranging from 6 Swagbucks to 50 Swagbucks. Usually most wins are more in the 7 - 12 Swagbucks range.

In upcoming posts, I will discuss The Ten-Minute-a day-Swagger, The Twenty-Minute-a-day Swagger, and The Thirty-Minute+ a-day-Swagger.
If you decide to give it a try, I would appreciate it if you signed up through my link.

Cooking Lentils

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 03:49:00 +0000

Tonight I was playing around with a website that one of my professors uses for some of her lectures. I thought I would go ahead and share it here. It's kind of silly, but I had fun. Best of all, it was free! :)

School and Life Update

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 03:34:00 +0000

I know I haven't been very active on this blog for quite awhile. There are a myriad of reasons, including school and generally life keeping me busy. Currently I only have about 5 weeks left of this semesters classes. Then next semester I will be taking my very *last* class, the certification test, and the final exam for the Master's program (called Capstone.) If everything goes well, I will march down that aisle in May and receive my hood! If everything goes *really* well, I'll also have a job lined up as a school librarian somewhere!

Besides school, I have been kept quite busy with my tutoring students. This semester I have been at full capacity, and even have had to turn down a few requests. Next semester with my school schedule being much lighter, I plan on taking on as many tutoring students as possible. This is partly due to my recent realization that even if I am hired right away, I most likely would not receive my first paycheck until sometime in September. I also am of course anxious to start rebuilding my savings which has dwindled dangerously low (although it would be much, much lower if not for the generosity of family.)

Recently I have started using a program where you can earn virtual money for completing different tasks, and change it into gift cards or other prizes. I plan on writing a post about that as soon as I receive my first gift card. So far, it seems like a good program, with a few caveats. I also plan to write a post soon about my experience with MyPoints.

I hope you have a wonderful November!

Update on Youdata

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 20:17:00 +0000

I was looking over the statistics on what some of the searches were that caused people to find this site, and saw that several people had been searching for updated information on Youdata. I first posted about this site in May of 2009. At that time I was making several dollars a week just by clicking on ads for 5 or 6 minutes. I also was making a little bit of money from referral income.

As the months wore on however, the available ads to click on became less and less. For several months I only made $.10 - $.20 a week. Then there started to be weeks at at time with no ads at all to click. After a while, I started to only check in the rare times I thought about it. Today I looked at my payment records from Youdata. I saw that the last time I received referral income was in April, 2010. The last time I received income from my own clicking of ads was in May, 2010.

The website is still up and working, so I'm not giving up hope that there may still be ads to come. However, it doesn't seem very likely. It was a nice concept, getting paid to look at ads, but unfortunately probably not one likely to generate much in the way of income for the advertisers.

Firefox Tool To Read Web Articles More Easily

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:22:00 +0000

Have you ever clicked on an article that you wanted to read, perhaps on cnn.com, and been frustrated by how much fluff the meat of the article is surrounded by? Or perhaps you are on a website where the main article is in a really small font and you can only get it to enlarge so much by doing Ctrl +.

Well, if you use the Firefox browser, then you will want to download the Readability tool!

You can take a website that looks like this:

And get it to look like this!

All you have to do is go to the Readability website, choose how you would like webpages to display, and then drag (left click and hold down) the Readability button onto your browser's toolbar. (The toolbar is generally directly under your browser's address bar.) Whenever you come across an article you would like to read, but there is a lot of "extras," all you need to do is click the Readability button on your toolbar!

Have fun!

Going In a New Direction - Jobwise.

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:37:00 +0000

I was laid-off from my job as an administrative assistant at an oil and gas company on February 13, 2009. At that time, I was also working 5 hours or so a week at a gym which was in the same office complex. The day I was let go, I was scheduled to work an evening shift. I called the manager of the gym and let him know what had happened. He very generously made it possible for me to just head over to the gym a few hours earlier, and later on he added more and more hours for me until I had over 30 hours a week.

The job at the gym was truly a good thing. It gave me something to pay the monthly expenses with until the unemployment money finally came through. Then, once I decided to go back to school, it gave me the perfect job for someone going back to school after being out over 10 years.

However, I have moved twice since being laid-off. The first time was from my apartment and into the home of a divorced mom of two teens where I rented a room from her. (This was after a lot of downsizing on my part.) I was still within a reasonable driving distance of the gym, and actually my tolls cost went down. Unfortunately, the living situation deteriorated rapidly after Christmas, and two-weeks ago I moved again. Again, I am renting a room in someone's home. This time, however, the drive to the gym is 45 minutes when leaving at 5:15 a.m. Double that if you leave at 6:30 a.m. 90% highway and tollway miles.

My mom has a tutoring business, and she was getting to the point where she had more clients than she could handle. So, last week, I started tutoring one of her clients. I also interviewed for a possible job teaching 8th grade keyboarding at a school about a ten minute drive from where I live. I didn't get that job, but starting on Monday, I will be working with an ESL student during the school day for 90 minutes a day. Plus, I have a possible third job opportunity working with a high-functioning autistic boy one or two days a week.

Needless to say, I have given my notice at the gym. This Thursday will be my last day there. I am very excited about the possibilities and opportunities that await me with these new jobs, as well as the chance to make a real difference in someone else's life. I will however miss some of the people I've had the chance to know in this past year working at the gym.

Thanks E for letting me work at the gym, and giving as good as you got. :) I look forward to seeing where this new direction leads me.

I'm Still Alive!

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:20:00 +0000

A lot has happened in the world since I last posted here. Most tragically, the earthquake in Haiti.

In my life... Well, I'm in the process of moving again. I'm also just starting my third semester of classes towards becoming a school librarian. I'm really enjoying them. Next week I'm going to have my first tutoring student, which will be quite helpful to my slim student budget.

I've figured out how to make blog posts via email now. So they may not be fancy, but they may be more frequent. :D

Been Awhile --- Leaving Entrecard

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:01:00 +0000

I only have a few minutes, but I wanted to write a quick note to let ya'll know that I still am alive. :)

I've now been in my new home for a bit over a month. I am enjoying getting to walk the two dogs everyday. They have quite interesting personalities. For the most part, not having a whole apartment to myself (i.e. privacy) hasn't been too difficult. Probably the most difficult part is the bathroom I share with the teenage boy and girl (which is located across from the boys room!)

School is going well. There are only about 5 or 6 more weeks left till the semester is over. Then I'll be heading out to California for a few weeks to visit family. I am looking forward to that - especially being picked up at the airport by my brother whom I haven't seen since June, 2008.

---

Entrecard.

I apologize to those who have been attempting to buy adverts on my blogs. I have had very spotty access to the internet where I could access my blogs and the EC site. That is now taken care of. However, I do not care for the direction that EC is heading, and have chosen to remove my EC widgets as of November 1. I will not be accepting any adverts any longer for EC.

I truly do hope that I'll be able to get back into blogging more frequently here, and at my other blogs. (In fact, starting in January, I know that I *will* be blogging more frequently on my Children's Books blog, due to a class requirement. :D )

Don't leave the penny on the ground! :D

Moving Day Is Getting Closer

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:18:00 +0000

I haven't forgotten about posting about my car saga. It doesn't have an ending yet ....

After having posted a bunch of items on Craigslist, I managed to sell just one item. Although I had lots of interested responses, only one person actually followed through in setting up a time to meet. So, tomorrow afternoon a charity van will be coming to take away all the furniture I am letting go of, plus anything else I can have ready to go.

Today I let go of my VCR/DVD combo and an office chair to someone who has been very helpful in my ongoing car saga.

One week from Sunday and I will be living amongst two teenagers, two dogs and two cats. My housing costs will be reduced by at least 60%. And I will actually be able to use my bike again (once I get it tuned up and buy a helmet) because there is a very nice park a very short distance from where I'll be living.

I'd like to suggest a very funny movie. It is kind of like the Indiana Jones movies, but quite a bit less intense. The Librarian: Quest for the Spear of Destiny. It included Noah Wylie (of ER fame - it was hard at first to NOT think "Dr. Carter" when watching him,) Bob Newhart, and Olivia Dukakis. There are two sequels to it (which I haven't seen yet.)

Back From Web Institute

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 02:17:00 +0000

Ok, ok, it has been awhile. This post still won't have much to do with frugality, but I thought I should post something so those who are interested will know that yes, I am still here. :)

The past 4 days I attended two classes for my library sciences degree. These particular classes you have to spend 4 days on campus. The schedule called for 8 to 5, but reality was more like 8 to 3 or 4, and today, a little bit before 1. All in all, I think the most valuable part of the 4 days spent on campus was meeting and interacting with other library science students. (i.e. networking) Otherwise, I personally could have figured out what needed to be done just with exploring the class site.

My third class will start on Thursday, and I am looking forward to it opening up so I can get my assignment scheduling completed. I'm taking a 1 credit course, a 4 credit course and a 3 credit course. The 1 credit course pretty much has something due once every three weeks.

The 4 credit course every week (starting Thursday) has a lot of reading, several powerpoint lectures, information quests (8 questions you have to find the answers to using a particular source, such as "define clarity using a dictionary" or "using an encyclopedia, what does surrealisim mean in the art world?"), evaluation(s) of source materials, and a two-paragraph discussion question response. There also will be a mid-term paper and an end of semester annotated bibliographic paper (I'm thinking of doing mine on barefoot running.)

So, needless to say, that one 4 credit class is going to require that I keep pretty well on top of everything. (I already have most of the first week's assignments finished. I'd like to get two weeks ahead as a safety measure.)

I've scheduled my move for September 20. I've managed to sell one item on Craigslist, and possibly will sell one or two more items. The rest of the items I'm wanting to downsize, as well as anything that doesn't sell on Craigslist, will be donated to The Family Place. It is a charity that works with domestic violence victims - helps them get a new start.

Oh, while I was at the institute I stayed at a Super 8. The hotel itself was nice enough. They had a great breakfast - make your own waffles, etc. But I was super annoyed because I could never manage to get my netbook to connect to their Wi fi! I used the time wisely of course -- by soaking up Lifetime Network and other cable viewing. :) (I'd only brought one book with me, and that was read the first night.)

For another post I will have to tell you about my lovely car adventures - all the week before the institute.

Preparing To Live The Student Life -- Again

noreply@blogger.com (Laura) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:04:00 +0000

When I was going to college, I lived in the dormitory. My first two years of college I had the same roommate. We got along great, and have remained good friends ever since. Then I changed to a different college. My Junior and Senior years I had a different roommate - we got along well.

Sharing a dorm room with another person, especially for someone who grew up having a room all to themself, took a lot of adjusting. But, it was a much less expensive way to go than renting an apartment on my own somewhere in the community. So, I adjusted, and in the end made some good friends.

Now here I am 12 years later and getting ready to live the student life again. For the majority of the past 12 years, I have had a one-two bedroom apartment all to myself. But that is going to be changing very soon. My lease on my apartment is up at the end of September. Since I was laid off from my benefits/living wage job in February, I've been working at a gym doing customer service. That gives me enough to *just* pay rent/food/gas/cell, but there is nothing left over for savings.

It really doesn't make a lot of sense for me to keep living like that while going to school, does it?

After thinking about the situation for quite a few months, I realized that I mostly spend my time at home in one room - my bedroom/office. So after some time, I came to the conclusion that I needed to drastically downsize my belongings, and find a room to rent.

For it to be worth it, however, the room rent needed to be at least 50% of what I'm paying now. It was a tall order, because my rent is pretty inexpensive as it is, and it includes utilities. But .. I found a place .. on Craigslist! It is about 60% less than my current rent (including utilities!) The homeowner is a single mom with a 13 and 14 year old, plus two dogs and two cats. I've been by there twice now, and feel quite comfortable with the neighborhood and with the family.

The room is small - smaller than a dorm room. But I can fit a bed, a dresser and my computer table in it. There is a good bit of storage space, plus a living room right off my room which will be mainly for my use.

My fall classes start in just a bit over two weeks now - so my main order of business is cleaning, packing, selling and giving away. It is going to take some adjustments on my part to go from living by myself for so long, to living with other people, but I'm up to it. :) The two big bonuses are that I'll be able to put money in savings again, and .... I'll get lots and lots of animal cuddling (with no vet bills or food costs to worry about!) :D