Get Rich Slowly on the Internet - A Guide to My Favorite Sites

I find myself telling my friends the same thing over and over, so I'm going to make this into a post that I can email to them. If it helps you, please leave a comment!

My favorite sites to find out about deals/sales/coupons/savings:
http://www.couponmom.com - my most-checked site, she breaks down the sales for all major grocery stores plus Target, CVS, Walgreens, and more, and matches up coupons. She sticks to coupons in circulars and the occasional printable from coupons.com or smartsource.com, but this makes it MUCH easier to handle.
http://www.moneysavingmom.com - my second-most-checked site. If there's a freebie out there, she probably knows about it. If there's a sale, she'll tell you about it. There's a new feature of the site that breaks down coupon matchups/sales for individual stores around the country, and those DO go further than the circulars and easy printables.
http://www.iheartcvs.com - Want to shop CVS? This is the best site for info.
http://www.iheartpublix.com - a new discovery - she has matchups for Publix sales, makes separate posts for the best deals of the week, notes new coupons, lists recipes, and more!

My favorite sites to make a bit of money (NOT A LOT) or to earn gift certificates or free stuff:
http://www.youdata.com - pays you to click on ads that are targeted to your interests. No minimum payout, pays to PayPal each week. Note that lately I haven't gotten any ads at all, but in the past I've gotten about 50 cents a week. Not bad for just a few seconds of time, and I've really enjoyed the websites I've found through the site.
http://www.swagbucks.com - a search engine that awards "bucks" randomly as you search and also awards them for viewing offers or other things. You can earn between 10 and 30 bucks a day with minor effort, and 450 bucks is a $5 Amazon gift card. I've earned about $400 in gift cards over time, so yes, it's worth it. Just use it for your regular searching!
https://www.mysurvey.com/ - points for taking surveys, cash rewards.
http://www.bzzagent.com - they'll send you full-sized products to try out and then "Bzz" about (talk about with others on and offline). Usually you get high-value coupons too.
http://www.vocalpoint.com - they'll randomly send you samples or even full-sized products to try, plus coupons.
http://www.mypoints.com - emails with click-throughs that are worth a few points, plus a site through which you can click to get to sites on which you shop. I've earned hundreds of dollars in Amazon gift cards here too. I suggest setting up a folder in your email box and filtering all their emails to it so you can click through at your leisure. If you want to sign up, I'd love it if you'd use me as a referral - just comment with your email address and I'll send you an email through the site. (They don't do referral links.)

I'll add to and update this post periodically. I know I've made posts like this in the past, but I've finally set it up so I can find this one easily and refer back to it!

CVS - Free diabetes monitor, Zantac, and big profit!

Transaction 1:
1 Sunday paper - $2 (I went too late and they were either out of the double paper or never had it)
1 Bayer diabetes monitor - $14.99
1 Zantac - $8.99

I used the $30/Bayer coupon and for a minute thought I was in trouble because the cashier had to call someone for help, but in the end it was just because it was a high-value coupon, and it went through just fine otherwise. Then I used the $2 Zantac printable. And at the last minute I remembered I had the get-$4-when-you-spend-$20 coupon so I handed that over too, as well as $8 in ECBs. I paid about $1.60 (I'll update with exact figures later) and got back $8.99, $5 for the monitor, and $4 for the coupon. Not bad at all, I say! Plus I'm 1 away from another $1 from the Green Bag Tag.

Then I went back and got:

1 Aveeno baby lotion - $5.69
I used $1/Aveeno coupon, $3 and $1.59 ECBs. I paid 50 cents OOP. Didn't get anything back but that's OK because I made such a lovely profit on the first deal AND this was something we really needed. (It's part of my daughter's bedtime routine...)

I skipped all the Christmas stuff this week, but next week I may grab some of the wrapping stuff.

Also I went to the mall and got my free Godiva truffle as well as a handful of samples of Hershey's Bliss (I like it much better than regular Hershey's - and the handful was given to me by the person staffing the table, I didn't take it! He also gave me coupons). I was at the mall looking for a case for my brand new iPod Touch - thanks to Swagbucks, I paid about $140 for a brand new 3rd generation 32 gig iPod Touch. I used over $120 in credit that I'd accrued. Not bad! (I didn't get a case yet. I didn't like what I saw at the mall.)

And I just cashed in another $10 from MySurvey (referral link is to the right, if you are so inclined - it's the small black graphic...).

And I earned 50 cents this week from YouData - hey, every little bit helps!

Total OOP: $78.13 ($34.83)
Total merchandise: 24 double Sunday papers, 5 single Sunday papers, 4 boxes Throat Coolers, 1 Garnier 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner, 8 packs of Stayfree maxi pads, 1 box of sheer Band Aids, 4 boxes of Soy Joy bars, 20 Soy Joy bars, 1 pack of Nutra Trim gum, 6 bottles Dawn, 5 travel packs of tissues, 7 greeting cards, 2 boxes 5 ct. allergy meds, 3 3-packs of CVS brand paper towels, 1 box of CVS cold medicine (Dayquil-ish), 1 Gillette shampoo, 1 Gillette conditioner, 1 Gillette shampoo+conditioner, 1 box of 30 Breathe Right strips, 4 Gillette Gamer razors, 4 L'Oreal towelettes, 1 KY product, 1 CVS toilet paper, 1 10-count Excedrin, 1 chewable aspirin, 2 Johnson's Buddies soaps, 1 20 oz. Dr. Pepper, 2 small CVS mouthwashes, 10 25-count CVS cotton rounds, 4 small boxes of Wheat Thins, 1 Boost Kid Essentials, 2 Cascade Action Pacs, 2 bags of Halls cough drops, 2 Energy Shots 2 pack, 6 Colgate toothpastes, 1 small box Breathe Right strips, 5 bottles Suave body wash, 2 bottles Herbal Essences shampoo, 2 bottles Herbal Essences conditioner, 1 Snickers heart candy, 2 bottles Mylanta Mint, 1 Fruitopia shampoo, 2 Venus Spa Breeze razors, 1 Renuzit Tri-Scent starter kit, 1 box 10-count Carnation Instant Breakfast, 2 single-serving Pringles, 1 bottle Vaseline lotion, 1 tube Crest toothpaste, 1 bottle Irish Spring body wash, 5 Dry Idea roll on deodorants, 1 Colgate Max White, 3 Colgate Max Fresh, 2 Crest Pro-Health Enamel, 2 Hylands teething tablets, 2 Skintimate shave gels, 1 pack Juicyfruit gum, 1 Softsoap coconut scrub, 2 Colgate sensitive toothpastes, 1 Zantrex 2-pack, 1 Adidas deodorant, 3 Contour monitors, 1 Bayer quick-release aspirin, 3 tubs CVS-brand baby wipes, 2 bags Purina dog treats, 1 box of Playtex tampons, 2 boxes of Hello Kitty bandaids, 1 Clearasil face wash, 3 Speed Stick pro deodorants, 1 diet Dr. Pepper, 2 Gillette Fusion razors, 3 Powerades, 2 Thermacare wraps, 2 packs CVS panty liners, 3 boxes Post Trail Mix Crunch cereal, 2 rolls CVS tape, 2 bottles school glue, 8 10-packs of pens, 2 rulers, 3 scissors, 4 1-subject notebooks, 3 Dove chocolate bars, 1 Bayer Breeze2 monitor, 6 photobooks, 1 photo DVD, 2 small packs of almonds, 4 packs of filler paper, 2 vinyl binders, 2 small memo pads, 3 bubble mailers, 4 composition books, 2 packs of Pilot pens, 3 caramels, 2 packs of sticky notes, 3 boxes Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal, 1 Blink Tears, 5 bottles Softsoap Serum, 1 Revlon mineral mousse, 3 travel packs CVS baby wipes, 6 Twix bars, 1 Milky Way dark bar, 1 Axe shampoo/bonus hair gel, 2 mini composition books, 1 L'Oreal Revitalift deep set wrinkle repair, 1 L'Oreal Revitalift Eye Duo, 6 Red Cross first aid kits, 1 pair Phillips headphones, 4 packs of Carefree panty liners, 1 trial size Arm&Hammer toothpaste, 10 packs of Poise liners, 1 big Glade Fragrance Collection soy candle, 1 mini Glade Fragrance Collection soy candle, 1 Clairol Living Color hair dye, 6 bottles Renu (one sensitive, three regular), 1 pack of Schick disposable sensitive razors, 1 Lifelock starter kit, 1 bottle infant ibuprofen, 1 12-pack Cottonelle toilet paper, 1 Colgate Enamel Care toothpaste, 3 bottles Listerine Total Care, 2 bottles Purex, 2 Dyna energy shot packs, 2 3-packs CVS glue sticks, 2 Accu-Check Aviva monitors, 5 printed photos, 2 Vaseline Sheer Infusion lotions, 1 Revlon nail polish, 1 4-pack CVS razors, 1 bottle CVS ibuprofen (24 count), 1 package of moleskin, 1 package of pantyhose, 1 big Glade candle, 1 tub of CVS baby wipes, 1 package of Cascade, 1 "Green Bag Tag", 1 tube antibiotic ointment, 1 carton epsom salts., 2 Glade Sense&Spray starter kits, 1 10 pack of AA batteries, 2 bottles Complete contact lens solution, 2 Bic Soleil razors, 1 Schick razor, 1 bottle St Ives body wash, 1 King-size pack M&Ms, 1 Degree deodorant, 1 Aveeno baby lotion, 1 Bayer diabetes monitor, 1 box of Zantac.

Current ECB status: $17.99

Publix Week at Examiner - Articles about Publix all week!

As I've mentioned before, I'm the Atlanta Budget Grocery Examiner at Examiner.com. I cover both local and national deals and offer tips and tricks for using coupons. I wanted to let you know that this week I'm going to be covering a bunch of deals at Publix!

Check out what this week's Publix penny item is (good on August 3, 2009)
Learn about a new coupon booklet available at Publix (full of manufacturer coupons that you can use at stores like Kroger and CVS!)

Later this week I'll be covering a new contest that Publix is featuring.

In addition, I'm working on a series called "Coupons 101" that features basic information that can help you use coupons all across the country. Here are some of the articles in the series:

How to read coupon lingo
How to use coupons to save money on produce - fresh, frozen, and canned
How to use printable Internet coupons to save money

Writing for Examiner.com is a lot of fun, and I've made some money writing my articles too. If you're interested in learning more about becoming an Examiner in your area of expertise and getting paid to write about what you love, please let me know.

And if you sign up at Examiner.com, please use me (Marla Blair, the Atlanta Budget Grocery Examiner) as your referrer. I'd greatly appreciate it! Click here to view a video that shows you how.

I've joined Paperback Swap

I have far too many books, as you can see on my other blog, but I finally started adding books to my PB Swap bookshelf (I joined in 2005, actually, but then put off listing anything...). Please join, add me as a buddy, request my books, and so on! It's a great, thrifty way to get the books you really want to read and to clear out your house of the ones you don't!

By the way...

I just started a new blog at http://tiarabooks.blogspot.com

It's just a way for me to keep track of the books I buy - and I buy a LOT of books - but since I hate to pay full price for books, bargain hunters who love to read are going to want to check in over there because I plan to link to great book sales and sites and deals. ;)

Thanks for looking!

YouData!

I love YouData - you fill out some survey information, you visit the site and click some links that are targeted to your interests, and you get paid. It's not a *lot* of money, but there's also no minimum. Every Friday whatever you've earned gets deposited into your PayPal account. Some weeks I only get 50 cents or so, but I leave it in PayPal and use it toward postage or ebay purchases, so I look at it as a little discount. Plus, the links actually are interesting - I've bookmarked a few for future use! They don't email you, they don't spam you - it's great!

http://www.youdata.com/join/marlatiara

This is my referral link - I hope you'll use it!

I Love Swagbucks

I know I've mentioned this before, but I have to say again - I LOVE SWAGBUCKS.

I started doing it in January and already have earned $60 in Amazon gift cards. Not bad!




All you have to do is use it as a search engine. If you want to get fancy, you can use their clickthrough site to earn bucks with shopping and you can search for SwagCodes that appear on occasion.

If you like my blog, I really would love it if you'd use my referral link *and* if you'd use the site for a week to see how easy it is to earn bucks!

Have fun!

Some Scenarios for CVS - January 18, 2009

I have a few ideas for today - it all depends on what's in stock...

1 box of Soy Joy bars - $6
2 bottles of Dawn - $1.49 minus two 50 cent coupons, 49 cents.
2 boxes of CVS allergy medicine - $7.58
3 greeting cards - $2.98
99 cent filler - diaper wipes
$18.04
Use $12, $2, $3.99. Get back $6, $7.58, $3

But what are the odds my store still has Soy Joys? And it seems that the American Greetings limit (what my store carries) is one.

I also could throw in a Throat Coolers - I have already bought 4 on this card, and I have a 50 cent coupon so it would be a small money maker. That would mean I would need to pay with a $10 and $12 and add a filler. But again, odds aren't very good that my store will have these.

In the end, I really want to get the cards and the Dawn - and probably the allergy meds too. We'll see how I do.

I also have a $2 ECB set to expire in a few days on my other card, so I'll probably use that to buy the paper. I'm going late, so I don't know if they'll have any double papers left, and I may need to go elsewhere and pay cash for that this week.

We'll see!

I also wanted to plug Swagbucks again:




I've earned about $25 in Amazon gift cards just for doing a few searches every day. Not bad! Please use my referral if you sign up.

And also I highly recommend signing up for www.youdata.com. I get no referral for this - but all you do is click on a few ads (and the ads are targeted specifically to you - I've actually ENJOYED the websites they send me to and have bookmarked several! - and you get a few cents. The money is deposited every week into your PayPal account, with no minimum. Sure, it's around $1 most weeks, but I just leave that in my PayPal account and look at it as a coupon toward an ebay purchase or something else I use PayPal for. Not bad at all!

SwagBucks!

Just another way to earn some gift certificates - SwagBucks! I search about 10 times a day and usually earn between 1-5 bucks. I've only been doing this for a month and have already earned $10 in Amazon gift certificates - and since I recently broke my digital camera, I really could use more!

Click and sign up - it's easy!

Day Ten - Trip One

Returned the CVS brand sunscreen (I think the cashier thought I had used it up in its entirety and then returned it. For the record - just putting this here to make myself feel better ;) - it was a spray that felt empty when I bought it to start with, we used it once, and my daughter had a skin reaction to it) and I got a gift card for the full price plus tax. So I have a gift card now for $5.34 that I can use with either card.

I'm looking forward to using the gift card to cover my 10 cents here, 20 cents there OOP purchases. I also am very close to earning a $10 gift card to CVS from mypoints.

And here's some more shamelessness - I have been a mypoints.com member for years. I've gotten TONS of gift cards from them, including Target, Amazon, and CVS. It's easy - they send you emails (which all have a common header, so I filter them into a single email folder to keep the clutter down - I got NO other spam from them) and you click the link in the email for 5 points (sometimes more, sometimes if you do a survey it's 10 points if you don't qualify/50 if you do, that sort of thing). You can also click through mypoints.com and make purchases to get points (I do this all the time - from the Entertainment Book to gifts from Babies R Us to purchases at drugstore.com). They add up pretty quickly and then you can cash them in for gift cards! I just got another $25 Amazon gift card and like I said, next up is $10 at CVS!

Why am I telling you this? Because if I refer you, I get points. If you find my blog or this post interesting, leave your email address in a comment and I'll send you a referral. Thanks!

Oh, and I bought stuff with my other card (toothpaste, razors, cereal, toilet paper - they were out of the toothbrushes, which I don't need but may buy anyway for the $1 profit) and plan on walking to the other CVS later in the week to do my other deal for the "experiment" card to roll my ECBs.