Become a Early Tech Adopter

I love new technology. The earlier the better is what I say. Every product that you are using from a search engine to your laptop has been first put out to a few select people to test. These people are known as Beta Testers. I currently am writing this on a CR-48 laptop which was the first Chomebooks from Google. Google sent out these laptops for free from a sign up program last December. The laptop is now available in a version from Samsung and Acer.  Other products im currently testing are Google+(Google’s replacement for Facebook) and Spotify (the amazing music service from Europe) which are by invite only. Now you don’t have to be a techno wiz to participate, many companies have testing programs that are free to sign up and enable you to be on the cutting edge. All the companies ask in return is to be prepared to have a few bugs in what you are testing and provide feedback to the developers.

Here are just a few places where you can sign up to be a tester :

Microsoft

HP

Nike

Companies look for a diverse criteria when selecting testers so just because you aren’t picked for one test does not mean you will not be picked for a different one.

So feel free to sign up. It’s Fun It’s Free and You Will Be on the Cutting Edge!

Coupon Radar

Coupons are everywhere. No longer are they simply resigned to the Sunday Paper. One of my favorite places to find coupons is at the store I am shopping at. Store coupons and manufacturer coupons at the store are nothing new but the key is how to use them. Lets go over the type of coupons available:

 

• Store Coupons-These will most often come in the weekly circular and can only be used at the store that is issuing them. The key to remember on these coupons is that they can be stacked(used with) a manufacturer coupon so this type of coupon is great for getting the most savings out of your clipped coupons. Another place to find store coupons is in store issued Monthly and Seasonal saving books, these are normally found next to the weekly circular and have coupons that last for several weeks or months so if you shop at one store on a regular basis these can also be saved until a great sale comes along for even more savings!
•  Coupon Dispensers-These handy little machines are basically dispensing free money. They are found hanging by the products the coupons are for. These are manufacturers coupons so feel free to take a few and save them up. These have longer expiration dates than a store coupon so they can be stockpiled in your coupon collection and used when the time is right to get the best deal.
• Peelies aka Tear Off Coupons-These are coupons the are actually attached to the product that they are meant for. The manufacturer attaches these savings but that doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to detach and save for later just like the coupon dispensers. A recent trip to Kmart had a $2.00 off coupon attached to a bottle of Ocean Potion sun block that was $9.99. After tearing off and looking at the coupon it was for any product that Ocean Potion Makes. They have a face sun block for $3.99 so after the coupon it was $1.99.

With all three types of these coupons it is important to always be looking around as you are shopping because you never know where Coupons will turn up!

Happy Savings!

Free Sample Glass Cleaner

Head on over here to receive a free sample of Invisible Glass cleaner.

Free Hot Dogs!!!?!??!

Oscar Mayer has a unique Facebook promotion going on right now! If you install the TASTE-a-MONIALS app on Facebook and give your thoughts on Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs, you will receive a coupon. Currently, the coupon’s value is $3.00 off! And, as more and more people give their TASTE-a-MONIAL, the value of the coupon will increase so we may potentially receive a FREE Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs coupon! (If there are 60,000 reviews, we will get FREE coupons!) To get in on this fun promotion, go HERE to “like” Oscar Mayer TASTE-a-MONIALS on Facebook. Then, click the “Hot Dogs TASTE-a-MONIALS” category. Fill in your review and give your mailing address. A coupon will be sent to you after the program ends on August 15th or beforehand if 60,000 reviews are received. This is a fun and unique way in which to “earn” a free product 🙂

 

 

Thanks AddictedtoSaving.com

Free MONEY!!!!!!

One of the ways to boost your modest income is to sign up for class action lawsuits. So far, I have made $200 entering into class action lawsuits. Remember, to  only sign up for those class actions that you qualify for. Another hard lesson learned is that once you sign up to be in one, remember to follow up on it. For instance, I was part of a class action lawsuit for GAP insurance. Since I had paid off my car early, I should not have had to pay for the full GAP insurance, well I paid full price. Someone started a class action lawsuit. I was to get over $180 for being a class action member. Well, I had moved and didn’t leave a forwarding address. It wasn’t until I was unpacking some boxes that I came across the GAP Insurance information. It was too late 😦  I lost out on $180 because I didn’t stay on top of things!

Sharper Image Gift Card Class Action Lawsuit Settlement:

It’s been over three years since Sharper Image went bankrupt, but there’s good news for consumers who held on to their Sharper Image Gift Cards. A class action lawsuit settlement will allow Gift Card holders to receive a cash refund of the remaining balance on their Sharper Image Gift Card. Even those consumers who threw out their Gift Cards can still file a claim to receive up to $100 from the Sharper Image Gift Card class action settlement.

The Sharper Image Gift Card settlement will resolve a class action lawsuit filed in Bankruptcy Court after Sharper Image filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2008. On June 8, 2011, the Bankruptcy Court approved a process that will allow Sharper Image Gift Card holders with outstanding balances to receive a distribution from the TSIC (f/k/a Sharper Image Corporation) bankruptcy estate.

The Sharper Image Gift Card class action settlement will allow anyone who has or had a Sharper Image Gift Card with an outstanding balance to submit a claim to receive payment for the outstanding balance of the card, as long as the balance does not exceed $2,245. If you can, you should submit a copy of the front and back of your Gift Card with the claim form. However, if you do not have a copy of your Gift Card, you are still eligible to file a claim form. Claim forms submitted without a copy of the Gift Card, however, will be set aside until distributions are made to holders of Gift Card claims who presented copies of their Gift Card. If any money remains, those who submitted claims without copies of their Gift Cards will receive a pro rated share of the remaining settlement funds, but will be limited to receiving no more than $100. Distributions that total less than $10 will not be made.

The deadline to submit your claim under the Sharper Image Gift Card Class Action Lawsuit Settlement is September 1, 2011. Claim forms can be downloaded and submitted online to www.SharperImageGiftCards.com.

Thanks topclassactions.com

Review Books

I love to read. The more, the better. Just last month, I found an awesome site called bookrooster.com. You select which genres of books that you would like to read and then your name and your email address. For me, about once a week I get an email from bookrooster giving me a brief description of the book and then a link to sign up to review it. If I am chosen to review the book, I get a free kindle edition. I then review the book and write what I liked and what I didn’t like on amazon.com. Then, once a month, bookrooster will giveaway a grand prize of a new kindle and $25 amazon gift cards for those reviewers who were selected.

Last month, I got to review two new books. One I absolutely loved and the other one needed some work. I did not get chosen for the kindle nor did I receive a $25 gift card to amazon. However, I did get to read two brand new books. In the end, I think it is a good trade off 🙂

 

Below is the link to the book that I loved! It was a fast paced thriller that dealt with espionage and intrigue! I likened it to the movie “Salt”. It was so hard to put it down.

Our Financial Goals

I have firmly believed that if you don’t have a goal, you will not get to the place you want to be. I liken it to having a road trip with no map and no destination. Of course, it will be fun at first, but then you will need to have some sort of direction or you will be spinning your wheels. So here are our goals:

1. We would like to pay off the house in ten years. We have had the house for two years. This year we would like to apply $1000 extra to the principle of the mortgage and increase it at least $250 every year there after. I am taking into account raises that we will hopefully get every year (fingers crossed) and us paying our last two credit cards off.

2. We would like to pay cash for our next car. My beloved Suzuki is 200 miles shy of turning over at 95,000. I am not sure how much longer the Suzuki will last, but it is paid for and I think I can get another two to three years out of it.

3. We love to travel, but it has to be done cheaply. Maybe a cruise or another week in Europe.

4. My student loan is a huge portion of our cash. My goal is to pay at least $600 a month towards it. One day it will be paid off, one day!

There you have it, our four goals. I will update you later on where we stand on all the goals monthly 🙂

Cutting the Cord

In May 2011, I decided to quit my stressful job. We knew that we would be hurting for money and we would need to cut back on some expenses. Funny how life throws you a curve ball and how you decide to handle what is important in your life.

We had NPG cable, we had a bundle package: Internet, Cable (with a DVR), and a home landline phone. All of this for $140 a month. Not too shabby, but still an expense that we thought we could get cheaper.

Since we had cell phones, we really didn’t need the landline phone, so that could go. Did we really need a DVR? Not really, it was nice, but not needed and we really weren’t using it. The internet, though, we needed for Dale’s work.

Dale began to look into alternatives. We decided that we would keep the internet with NPG cable for $51 a month. Dale found netflix.com and we got the one DVD mailed and streaming on the internet for $8.99 a month. (Just this week, Netflix announced that it would seperate the DVD mailers and streaming online. Each service is now $7.99, almost doubling what we had been paying. We have decided to just go for the streaming over the internet and save money.)

Then Dale found hulu plus, you can find out more here, this is an internet streaming website that shows current shows from NBC, FOX, Comedy Central, CBS, and others. This costs $8.99 a month. We use this as our DVR. The shows have all of the seasons and will be available the next day after they show. This is a great savings, since NPG was charging us $9 a month for the DVR.

When we bought the house, it came with a huge antenna. We called a local television repair company, Alpine Communications, and they came out and hooked up this huge antenna. Now, we get over 30 channels just from the antenna! It cost us $89 for Alpine Communications to hook up the antenna to every room.

A problem arises. We do not have an internet capable TV. Dale found the Roku Box. To find out more about the Roku box click here. The Roku box has three options, the base model for $59.99 all the way up to $79.99. We went with the $79.99 box. You hook up the Roku box to the internet (either wired or wireless) and then to your TV. You will then be able to stream netflix and huluplus to your TV. The Roku box also has its own free programming, like news, weather, amazon, NASA, etc.

All total, we spent $169 to cut the cable. Now we spend $51 for internet, $8.99 for Netflix and $8.99 for hulu plus. A savings of $71.02 a month!!!! That is a credit card payment for us!

Scrubbing Bubbles Prize Pack

A week ago on the Scrubbing Bubbles Facebook page, they gave away 500 prize packs for lucky fans. I was one of the lucky fans!!!! It is a wonderful prize pack that I value around $30.

This is what was included:

Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner

Fantastik Cleaning spray

Scrubby toy

and toilet bowl cleaner.

I believe that they will be giving away more samples so check them out on facebook here.

 

House PARTY!!!

Towards the end of June, Dale found out that he was selected to host a Budweiser House Party!!!!   Dale signed up for parties at houseparty.com and was selected! This is what we got:

3 large Budweiser T-Shirts

24 Can Cozies

a Budweiser Beach Ball

Frisbees

1 Bottle of Budweiser BBQ Sauce

1 Budweiser Plater

1 Budweiser Red Apron

24 Budweiser Cups

a $10 Gift Card

Coupons (Lots of Coupons)

and a $30 Rebate form.

On July 3, 2011 we hosted the party. All the guests brought stuff to compliment the BBQ: Potato Salad, buns, and chips. We supplied the beer, pop, hamburgers, and hot dogs. It was a roaring success. We even gave away parting gifts! I think we spent about $30 total for the hamburger, charcoal, and other supplies.

Houseparty.com is always looking for more participants to host parties, so sign up today!