Ways Of Dealing With Rough Economic Times During The Holidays

Most of us have dealt with trying to make whatever income or resources we have had stretch to cover everything before. Right now, however, things are really tough all over the U.S. Many people have lost their jobs that have never had to worry about such a thing before. Even those still employed must struggle harder than before to stretch those pennies! Gas prices may have fallen in the last couple of weeks, but still they are high enough to eat up a huge portion of a budget, and grocery prices are unreal.

There are a lot of small things that you can do to help make ends meet if you use your resources! Many resources are available online & in our communities to help us during difficult times.

Groceries: Clipping coupons and watching grocery store sale papers are a good way to save money on your grocery bill. Sites such as Coupons.Com are a great way to find the coupons that you will actually use, as opposed to having to deal with all the different ones that are in the Sunday newspaper. I use Coupons.Com quite often- you can enter your zip code to find coupons that apply in your specific area. Utilizing sites like FoodNetwork.Com and RachaelRay.Com to find creative recipes & tips to use leftovers is another way to help save cash- you are less likely to waste food if there is a way to make leftovers tasty and appealing. There are HUGE databases full of recipes on both sites. Also, rebates are a handy option! Watch magazines, newspapers, and even the store shelves themselves for great rebates on groceries. I got cash back for buying Luvs Diapers and BeechNut baby food- items that I buy anyway! Check out sites like MrRebates.Com for cash back on your Holiday shopping- up to 30% at many stores. If you don't have store savings cards for your favorite grocery stores, get them! Pretty much every major grocery store these days offers some sort of savings card that you just have to fill out a short form to get, and if you are not using it every single shopping trip, you are probably spending way too much money.

These are just a few ways that I use to help stretch my tiny little budget a bit further! Watch for my next few blogs to share other ways that I and others make our dollars go further.

Free Trial Offers Are Not Free...

I am a genuine, legitimate, real-life single mom working at home. My goal when starting this blog was to share my experiences learning all about the online world of GPT (Get Paid To) and PTC (Paid To Click) Sites, and to help other moms find ways to work from home as well. So, most of my experiences in the GPT world have been pretty positive- I have been paid now, several times, by several sites; accurately and in a timely manner. I have met lots of people, a few of whom have become what I consider to be real friends.

There have been a few "glitches" along the way, however. First and foremost, let me say sheepishly that I was warned by several people NOT to do Free Trial/Credit Card offers. I, of course, in my infinite wisdom, did anyway. Let me preface this by saying that there are tons of legitimate free trial/credit card offers- I have done a bunch and been paid for a bunch. But when you are right on the edge of financial ruin already, barely enough cash to do what you have to do, (like feed your kids) , it is not worth it to take the chance of getting yourself into a bind the way I did! There are so many free offers out there, don't cut corners - it may take a little bit longer to make money by doing a lot of small offers, but it is far easier to do that than to deal with large sums of money deducted from your bank account! Just be really careful!! I have been able to deal with most of this, but it has been horribly stressful, and also time-consuming, which was what I was trying to avoid in the first place! LOL...

In the GOOD news section, I received payments from MoneyDreams.Net, CashCrate.Com, SquishyCash.Com, DailyCashRewardz.Com, and Freebies Junction! I have one pending that I will receive within 36 hours from MySurveys4Cash.Com!

I made enough money to both reserve a nice sum for my kids' Christmas presents, and to buy my first two PTC Sites!! I am very proud & happy to announce the Grand Opening of Pioneer Clicks PTC and Cherry Blossoms PTC ! They are awesome websites, with Aurora Scripts which I like very well, and Site Design by Ksp Kreations , a great and patient lady who is very talented. I have been overwhelmed by the response & rush of new members that have joined my sites!! I am well on my way to having two very successful at-home businesses, and am so thankful.

I have a wonderful & exciting new site about to open withing the next two days that I have been brainstorming about for months now! It is a combination PTC & PTS site, and I am very proud of it. It will be so much fun to work with!!



MY SITES

Updates On GPT's That Pay Well!

It has been a looooong 12 days since Halloween! I have been doing a sort of "weeding out" process with the GPTs that I prefer based on payment, ease of use, admin support, and availability of new & different offers. Currently, here are the ones that I feel it is MOST worth it to spend my time working on:
Surveys R Us - For a number of reasons; They have good, available administrative support, they have fresh offers often, they offer quite a few contests, (a GREAT way to make extra money!) multiple payment options, and they do reliably pay. Also, they offer reasonably-priced advertising options that really do work!



SquishyCash - Another great money-making site- a really cool option on this site is the "instant payment" - through Paypal, you can get your payment within 24 hours if you need to do that, I tried it to check it out- it DOES take a 33 % fee, but if you need money quick, it is a good option to have. LOTS of offers that approve well, multiple contests, one of my best paying sites.





FreebiesJunction - Another site that is well worth spending my precious time on. I have been paid well by them, and even early! Good offers that approve well, trivia, contests, and admin that it is easy to contact & get a response.




MoneyDreams- A new site, still working a few kinks out, but with an administrator that really works hard to please! I have already been paid once, and well compensated for any glitches with the newness of the site. He is regularly posting new offers & running contests, and pays twice monthly!


There are a lot of other worthwhile sites out there, but these sites are the ones that work best for ME. Questions? Need help with something? Feel free to email me at momtotwo39@yahoo.com!