Midweek Randoms {August 7, 2013}

Hi there! I hope y'all are having a great week so far. It's my last week of summer break so I'm trying to soak it all in before I go back to teacher mode on Monday. I'm linking up with Megan again this week for Midweek Randoms!

• One of the apps I talked about in my Money Making Apps post has been updated and I like it so much better! The app is Receipt Hog and you earn coins just by taking pictures of your grocery and drug store receipts. Once you reach 1,000 coins, you can redeem them for $5 in cash {via a PayPal deposit} or an Amazon gift card. My favorite thing about the update is that you now earn a spin at the "Hog Slots" {I know!} for every qualifying receipt. I've earned about 100 extra coins so far at the slots. :)  {My referral link is above. I'd love it if you'd click on it so I can take another trip to the Hog Slots! Ha!}

• If you have an Earth Fare in your area, you're going to want to check this out. Right now, they have a coupon that will get you 2.5 pounds of grass fed ground beef for $10.00. That's only $4.00 a pound! You just have to sign up with your e-mail address to get the coupon. I had Daniel pick some up yesterday on his way home from work and we had hamburgers for dinner last night. They were SO good! The beef was really lean, too. The coupon expires on August 11, 2013.

• Two words: Shark Week. I know I am probably going to be in the minority here, but I've never been into it. I've tuned in a couple of times this week, though, because another one of my favorite money making apps, Viggle, is doing 600 point bonuses for some of the shows. Just the few minutes that I've watched have confirmed that I am still NOT a fan. I think this is because I cannot handle gory footage {I can't even watch someone get a shot on TV}. Oh my goodness, the actual aftermath of shark bites that I saw was way too much for me. Just one more reason that I will never ride a jet ski in the ocean again.

• My mom is hilarious. My parents were recently in Ohio for business and while they were there, they bought a bunch of produce from a farm in my hometown. She made this yummy corn {cut off the cob} for our family cookout a couple of weeks ago and I just raved and raved about it. They went back to Ohio to take care of some business stuff last week and on their way home, she texted me saying she was coming home with lots more corn. We went over to their house the night they got back and my dad told me to check out the fridge. Um, wow, Mom! You weren't kidding! :) I love it!

• I cooked some rice in my beloved rice cooker yesterday because I'm making my 15 minute fried rice for dinner tonight. This is a meal I always look forward to because it's so quick, easy, and delicious! I usually serve it with these egg rolls, too. SO good!!

I hope y'all have a great rest of the week!! :)

  

Home Is Where the Heart Is {FREE Printable!}

I live in Birmingham, Alabama, but I'm originally from Ohio. I didn't move to Alabama until I was 23 years old. My brother and his family have lived in Alabama for a long time, so I'd spent a lot of time here before I moved. Shortly after I graduated from college, my sister's husband got a new job in Birmingham. I knew my parents wanted to retire somewhere in the south, so I thought it would be a good time to start considering a move myself. I'm someone who really needs to be close to my family so about six months after my sister and her husband moved, I made the move, too. It was scary. I had never lived on my own, I didn't know anyone in Birmingham other than my sister, I didn't have a job. But I knew in my heart that the Lord wanted me to take this step. He has blessed me so abundantly with a life that I absolutely love down here in the south. It's also where I met my sweet, Southern husband. :) So, I can truly say that right here in Birmingham, Alabama is where my heart is. It's my new home. When I moved from Ohio, I thought that it would always feel like home...and, in a way it will. But Alabama...this is where my heart feels at home.

I've seen prints like these in several different places and I thought it would be a perfect addition to our home office. I'm trying to add things that are truly meaningful and tell our story rather than buy random things just to fill the space. It's a slow process, but I know I'll be much happier with the results in the end.

I know this will only be for my Birmingham friends, but I thought some of y'all might like to print one of these for yourself. {Friends from other states, see the bottom of this post!} I made it in several different colors. Just click the links below to download your own 8x10 copy. :)

Yellow | Aqua | Red | Green | Gray

Instead of printing mine with my printer, I uploaded it to the Walgreens photo website and ordered an 8x10 print. They're regularly $3.99 each, but I found the coupon code ALLTODAY33 on RetailMeNot and got 33% off. My print ended up being $2.88. Yay! :) And just a heads up, that coupon code expires on July 31, 2013.

Here's how mine turned out. I love it!

Okay, so for my friends from other states, I can do this printable for you, too! Just click here to visit my Etsy shop and use the coupon code RICHLYBLESSED to get 20% off! You can also choose from 30 different backgrounds {including chalkboard}! Yay! Hope y'all like this one! :)

  

Linking up with Chef In Training

How To Save Money On Produce

 

I have a very easy tip for you today on how to save lots of money on produce. We eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, despite how it may sound sometimes. ;) We love to eat fruit for breakfast, lunches, snacks, and dessert {sometimes, let's not push it... :)}. The cost can add up, though, even if you buy it on sale. I've used this tip the last couple of months and we've been able to buy more fruits and vegetables for less money.

Price match Aldi's produce prices at Walmart
Note: This will only work if you have an Aldi in your area.

This really could not be easier. All I do is look up the Aldi weekly ad {new ads start every Wednesday} and if there's anything I want, I print out the ad.

This ad is effective until July 23, 2013.

Then you just take your printed ad {you can also show it on your phone}, show it to the cashier, and they'll change the price right there at the register. No manager required! This is what I bought a couple of weeks ago for only $5.96!! The watermelon was $2.99, the cantaloupe was $0.99, and the strawberries were $0.99 per package. Even at regular Walmart prices, these same items would have been over $12.00.

Now, let me just say that I adore Publix and do pretty much all of my other shopping there {and I save a lot more money than I would at Walmart on those items}. It's always so clean and organized, they have great sales, they're very coupon friendly, and the people that work there are incredibly helpful and friendly. Like they say, it truly is a pleasure to shop at Publix, and, well...at Walmart, it's just not. I would much rather buy all of our produce at Publix, but considering how much more produce I can buy at Walmart by price matching, it's kind of hard to pay Publix prices. Even with their sale prices, the same produce above would have been around $15.00. I may change my ways when school starts and life gets busier again, but for now, I'll probably be making a weekly trip to Walmart in addition to Publix.

If you know me at all, you know I love using coupons. I learned everything I know {including this price matching tip} from these websites. Check them out if you want to learn more. :)

Southern Savers - This one has great videos and tutorials.
Passionate Penny Pincher

Have a great week!! :)

  

Money Making Websites!

Last week, I told you about several apps you can use to make and save money! Today I'm going to share a few websites I use to make even more money! You're not going to get rich, but who doesn't love a free pedicure or new pair of shoes every now and then? :)

Inbox Dollars - Inbox Dollars is a website that allows you to earn money just by clicking on e-mails. When you sign up, you get an instant $5.00. From then on, you'll receive a few e-mails a day from them. All you have to do is click on "Confirm this Paid Email" and you earn $.02 for every single e-mail. I usually don't even look at the content that comes up. I just click it, close the window, and delete the e-mail. It takes less than a minute a day. Sometimes, I also print coupons through this website. You earn $.10 for every coupon you print and redeem. Two cents per e-mail and ten cents per coupon might not some like much, but I've earned over $100 from this website. You have to earn $30 before you can request a check. Once you request your payment, it's usually in your mailbox within a week. Then you can go to dinner, a movie, or get a pedicure! Yay! :) There are LOTS of other ways to earn money on this website, but I just stick to the e-mails. Some of the offers require you to put in a credit card number, so I stay away from those.

eBates - The next one is eBates and it is so simple to use. This website gives you cash back for shopping online. Almost every store I have ever looked for on eBates has been there. All you do is go to eBates, search for the store you want to shop from, click "Shop", and place your order as normal. You'll get an e-mail in a few hours letting you know that your cash back is processing. Major stores usually give anywhere from 2-5% cash back, but some websites give up to 20% back. I always order our ink cartridges through eBates and I get a lot of money back! They automatically send out checks every quarter and you don't have to have a minimum balance to receive a check. Also, when you sign up you get a free $10 gift card of your choice!

Swagbucks - There are so many ways to earn money with Swagbucks. You can use it as a search engine (it's as easy as Google) and it will give you bonus Swagbucks usually once a day. There are a ton of videos you can watch, too. A big way that I use Swagbucks is by printing coupons through the website. For every coupon you print and redeem, you earn 10 Swagbucks. You don't have to do all of that, though. It's really up to you how much you want to use this website to earn money. Once you have some Swagbucks, you can redeem them for gift cards.

There are lots more to choose from!

They even have local deals now. The local deals are usually a discount or coupon of some kind, but they don't cost very many Swagbucks so it's a pretty good deal!

Let me know if you have any questions or know of any other good websites! Have a fabulous Wednesday!

  

Note: Some of the links in this post are my referral links; however, the people at these websites have no idea who I am. I just really like their websites! :)

Money Making Apps for Your Smart Phone!

You may want to open this post on your phone so you can download the apps a little easier. :)

Here are some of my favorite apps that I use to make a little extra money. No, you're not going to make a ton, but I love earning gift cards to places I actually go and getting PayPal deposits into my bank account every now and then. Keep reading to learn how!

Receipt Hog - I never thought I'd be happy to say, "I'm a hog!" until I downloaded the Receipt Hog app. You start out as a runt and as you scan more receipts you eventually reach hog status (yes!). :) All you do with this app is take pictures of your grocery and drug store receipts. Dollar Tree works, too! You get a certain number of coins based on your pig's status. Once you earn 1,000 coins, you can redeem them for $5.00 in cash which will be deposited into your PayPal account. Easy! :)

{Update: Receipt Hog has been updated! Click here to read my post about the new features!}

Ibotta - This app gives you money back for buying specific products they have featured. These products vary and change every couple of weeks. The cool thing about Ibotta is that it's over and above any savings you may have already received at the grocery store. You just tap the "Earn" button underneath the item you purchased, scan your receipt, and scan your item. Once you earn $5.00, you can get a deposit from PayPal. Right now, they have a special offer going on for new users. You can get $10 if you complete five offers within your first two weeks! Combine that $10 with the savings you already got per product, and the five items would probably end up being close to free! Gotta love free stuff! :)

Viggle - I've earned over $200 in gift cards in the last year with Viggle. It takes a little effort, but not too much. The basic concept is that you use an audio check in feature to check in to a TV show and you'll get one point per minute that you watch. You don't have to stay on the TV show to get points, though. You'll get points from the time you check in until the show is over. That's really all you have to do to get points on Viggle; however, there are some ways to maximize the amount of points you earn. One is called Viggle Live and it's offered for several shows that come on during prime time. Basically, it's trivia questions about the show you're checked in to. The more questions you get right, the more points you earn. Another way to earn more points is to look for bonus videos. These are usually worth a lot of points! They can be found in the "What's On" tab and sometimes inside of a Viggle Live trivia game.

App Trailers - It takes a little longer to earn rewards with this app, but it doesn't take as much effort as Viggle. For this app, you're just watching trailers for new apps in the app store. They're usually about 15-30 seconds. When I log in to this app every day, all I do is watch the new videos that have come up and then I play the free daily scratcher game for that day (under the "Redeem" tab-see pic below). This takes me about one minute per day. I always redeem my points for Amazon gift card codes, but there are several choices including Gap, Starbucks, Target, iTunes, and more.

I hope you can use some of these apps to make a little extra money! Comment below if you have any questions or if you know of any other money making apps! :)

You can also find some great money making websites here!

Note: Some of the links in this post are my referral links; however, the people at these apps have no idea who I am. I just really like their apps.