Shopping My Own Closet

My hours picked up at work, which is a great thing, well, in the aspect of making money it is. When I'm not at work, I've still been diligently working on my Spring Cleaning. One major task I've been dreading has been cleaning out my closet. There are years of clothing I have purchased. So much of it was disorganized. It was a pain to decide what to keep and what to pitch.

Even after I weeded out stuff that no longer fit me or was stained/torn, I still had a lot of stuff I could still wear. When I had more money a few years ago, I also had a little bit of a shopping addiction. I realized with the selection of clothes I had, I could make several different stylish outfits. However, where do I start?

One awesome site that I went to that had some great tips is:  http://myyearwithoutclothesshopping.com/. There is also a 30 Day Shop Your Wardrobe Challenge. Yes, I'm going to take it, because it had some great challenges in pulling off outfits from the clothes I have. Here's the PDF if you would like to try the challenge out yourself: http://myyearwithoutclothesshopping.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/30-Day-Shop-Your-Wardrobe-Challenge.pdf

Saving on Hygiene

I have just gotten a nasty flu. I even ended up missing work last Thursday because of it. I hate that. I missed a full day of work. My hygiene was not the best in the west this week and ended up not showering on Thursday. On Friday, I smelled awful. I am one of those that cannot skip a day of showering.

There are a lot of articles out there saying that you do not need to shower (or bathe if you prefer) on a daily basis. If you are one of them that don't need to bathe daily, well, good for you. However, I have to shower on a daily basis or I smell like BO and my hair is a grease pit. Skipping a shower to save time or on the water bill is not an option for me.

Luckily for me, there are ways for me to save money on hygiene products. I buy a lot of mine at Dollar Tree. Dollar tree is a good place to get shaving cream, soap, body wash, and even deodorant. I can smell clean and look good for little money.

There are also times of the year there are a lot of free samples of hygiene products on freebie sites. My favorite freebie site is Freaky Freddies. They have a ton of free samples and not for hygiene items, but for household items and a bunch of other categories. Click on the link below to check it out.




Being frugal doesn't have to cause you not to look and feel your best. Being frugal is living the good life for less!

Working a Full Time Job

My main source of making money is my full time job. It is the most effective way to make money. Sometimes, I have to remember that. Before I started working full time this year, I was working part time. While working full time, my paycheck has doubled.

I know, in this economy it is getting harder and harder to work a full time job. There are times, where I've had to work 2 part time jobs to get 40 hours. That in itself is more exhausting than just working 1 job to get 40 hours a week.

I am grateful in this economy I do have a full time job. Well, its time for me to go to bed, I need to be up early in the morning so I can make some more money!

Nail Stickers!

I wanted to close out my account on Listia and I had a few thousand credits left. I didn't want to waste my credits completely, so I bid on the cheapest thing I could find. Since the inflation of credits on Listia, its impossible to find anything under 1,000 credits. Just a few months ago, 1,000 credits was like 40 cents. Now, its more like 10 cents. So, I was able to get some nail stickers for 3,350 credits.  Since, surveys only pay out 1,500 credits, Listia really wasn't worth it. Another item I'm waiting on in the mail is a key chain. That should just about clean out my credits.

Send Earnings

I joined Send Earnings and it is seeming like a very promising site. It has the same layout as Inbox Dollars. At this site you can get the paid emails, which I like, because even though it is a couple of cents per email I view it does add up. I also like the surveys on this site, because they are surveys I can actually qualify for.

After researching a little bit on Send Earnings, I found it is actually a legit site. Though the payout seems like pennies, the pennies do add up. One way to tell if one of those sites is legit, is if the payout promises to be big, its not legit. If the payout is small, like a dollar a survey, then it is very well likely to be legit.

Here is the link to where you can sign up. They even have a $5 sign up bonus which pretty cool.

House Cleaning

One project I am working on in the evenings is organizing my stuff. I have not moved in 7 years, so I have accumulated some clutter. I have a bunch of pictures and scrap booking items, from scrap books I was supposed to make back in 2010 and before. Tsk, Tsk.

But, one thing I've learned about organizing my clutter is, it helps me to see what I already have, so I don't buy duplicates or triplicates of items. Somehow, I ended up with 3 pairs of scissors. I found clothes that no longer fit, that I donated. I found with organizing my stuff, I can see what I have, and that will curb any impulse buying, or buying something I don't think I have because I can't readily see it.

I even organized my books. Woo hoo! I have books I forgot I have. I am just basically donating stuff I don't need and throwing away stuff that is broken. I really do not want to do a garage sale, because it is more trouble than it is worth, however, that is another post for another day.

I found a clean organized home is great to come home to after a long day at work. Now, it is time to tackle that garage...

Surveys

A few years ago, I did surveys for a little extra cash. I decided to start doing the surveys again. Now, picking out the right survey site can be difficult. Also, its discouraging whenever you try to do a survey and get disqualified. The best survey site I've been on is www.Inboxdollars.com, they are a legit site and I have actually gotten paid for my surveys. Another good site I used to be on is http://www.dollarsurveys.net/. They actually pay you through PayPal, and I have gotten a few bucks from them before.

A lot of sites, unfortunately, do not have a good payout. Do not trust survey sites that say they will pay $50 or $75 for a survey. It is most likely a scam. Those, I don't even bother signing up for. Usually, legit survey sites pay out a dollar per survey.

Are doing surveys worth it? It really depends. Some of them it is difficult to qualify. Some days, it seems like you are doing one survey after another, and other days it is discouraging, because you don't qualify for anything. Surveys usually take about 10-15 minutes. In all, you end up making an average of $1 an hour.

Inbox Dollars is good, though, because you get the paid emails. You get paid a few cents for clicking on an email and after a while it adds up. Mypoints.com is also good for this. I would suggest not to sign up for the free offers with other companies, because a lot of them will just leave you with some very scamy spam.

In all, its pocket change, but can also be very good, if you are bored and looking to make a few extra dollars.

Brown Bagging

One money saving thing I've been doing for a couple of years now and not noticing is bringing my own lunch to work. Let's face it, going out to lunch every day is expensive. Even if you go to McDonald's. Let's just say you spend $7 at a fast food restaurant. That's $35 a week, $140 a month! That ends up totaling $1,680 a year! A lot of people I know end up spending more.

Making a sandwich, putting in a zip lock bag of chips, and some fruit would only costs me about $2 a day. Its even cheaper when I take leftovers from dinner. It only takes me a few minutes to pack my lunch when I get ready for work in the morning.

This is a really good tip, because not only does it save a lot of cash, but you no longer have to deal with the hassle of going to the drive through and worrying about making it back to your desk on time. Also, it is so much healthier to brown bag, because fast food is extremely unhealthy and full of calories!

Less calories, more money, and also more time, this money saving tip gets an A+++.

My Goals

I finally got some tangible goals set today. Well, more tangible than just "I need to make money".  As you can tell, I'm still new at this. My main goal is to set a budget. I need a budget to know exactly what is going out versus what is coming in. My tasks for this is:

1.) Write down everything I am spending money on. I know this one is a duh, but I need to write down every receipt, every penny. I can give approximate figures, but how am I going to know how much I exactly spend on stuff (i.e. gas, coffee, ect) unless I write it down.

2.) Figure out needs v.s. wants. Yes, I know this is may be a matter of opinion.

3.) Figure out where I can shave costs. What can I get for cheaper?

4.) Actually figure out how much I can put into savings! (This is a big one for me!)

There are some things that can set this back. My hours at work got cut down a little bit. If they keep being cut, I may need to get a second job or find out how to make money online. I know unexpected expenses may pop up. Two unexpected expenses that popped up last month were needing to get two teeth pulled and my air-conditioning needing to be replaced.

Now, its time to get started on step one...

Listia

Months ago I loved Listia.com. It is a website to where you can give away items for credits and then "buy" new items for credits. Recently, Listia is not worth it. Let me tell you why.

If you sell items for credits and have free shipping, you still have to pay to ship them and go through the hassle of shipping. If you charge for shipping, then the number of credits your items go for is a lot lower. You may end up selling an item for 1 credit.

If you do survey for credits, you end up wasting a lot of time. I don't qualify for most surveys and Peanut Lab's payout for surveys is a lot lower lately. I just don't have the time to mess with it with a full time job.

There has been an inflation recently when it came to the credits. 1,000 credits used to equal 1 dollar. Now, its 5,000 credits equals 1 dollar. That means you are paying more for items, making the items you are bidding on just not worth it. You can get it cheaper at a used store. Also, you have no idea what you are getting, since all of the items are used.

Listia used to be a fun pastime, but now its just not worth it.

Going to Aldi

My money saving trick I tried today was going to Aldi. Now, I usually go to Wal-Mart and buy generic. That does save cash. However, at Aldi it did shave $20 off my grocery bill. Its not the highest class place to shop, but hey it works.

One thing I can't do without is my take and bake pizzas. I know, its more expensive and my hubby complains that I just don't like the frozen ones. However, they do have them at Aldis for $5.99 and Wal-Mart has them for $8.99.

Milk was half the price!! That's one thing that I through a lot of! I can go on and on, but if you don't mind generic items (and seriously, you are just paying for advertising!) you can save a lot of $$$. If I can save at least $20 a week, I really will have a Merry Christmas.

Yes, having to bring my own tote bags and paying the quarter for the shopping cart was a pain in the butt, but this really will help me save money in the future.

First Post

I'm blogging, well, mainly for myself. I'm writing about ways I try to make money and save money. No, I'm not saving for retirement or just to horde money. What I really want to do is save money to go on trips, have a better quality of life, ect. I will be writing about what works and what doesn't.