Birthday Savings

  Did you know that you can sign up online for special birthday offers?  For instance, if you join the e-mail club for Carlos O'Kelly's, they'll send you periodic coupons for things like a free appetizer or $5 off a $20 bill.  Around your birthday, they'll also send you one for a specific free dessert.  (I think it's sopapillas, IF I remember correctly).

  Also, if you're close to Riverside Casino in Riverside, Iowa, you get something special during your birth month.  They will provide you with $10 to spend on the machines and a free buffet meal once during your birth month.  The buffet, at supper time, is worth a few cents short of $17.  So worth signing up for!!!  I went to Riverside this weekend, got my free buffet meal (seafood night on Friday!) and free gambling money.  I spent a total of $13 of my own while I was there, and won a total of $29.31.  Not bad at all for an evening of entertainment for cheap!

  These are only 2 examples.  Do a little research and you'll find all kinds of cool deals to use around your birthday!

My 95 Cent jar of pickles

  I needed pickles for the next time I make tuna salad.  The other day, I found a coupon for 55 cents off a jar of Vlasic ones.  Cool!  And then today, I just randomly decided to look online at the Hy-Vee ad, and found that Vlasic pickles were on sale, 2/$4 I think.  Even cooler!  Once I got to Hy-Vee, I found that some of them were actually below ad- 2/$3. SO cool!

  I have been a total geek all night, excited about my 95 cent jar of pickles!

Wish me luck

  I have a meeting with a friend tonight.  We are going to brain-storm some money-making ideas.  We are both at the point where we really need to make more money to get by.  Hopefully we come up with some good things to look into! :)

Couponing

  I am not an avid couponer, but I want to be.  I want to be one of those people who gets hundreds of dollars worth of items for five dollars.  I don't see it ever happening, but wouldn't it be great?!

  What I do, though, is this...

  I have a subscription to All You magazine.  They have tons of coupons in each issue.  Not all of them are things I would use but some of them are.  And the magazine always has great money saving hints in it, as well as lots of other interesting things.  Totally worth the subscription.  And cheaper to subscribe than to keep buying the mags off the rack.

  I periodically visit ValPak.com.  You put in your zipcode and it pulls up the coupons available in your area.  I get alot of good restaurant coupons this way.  The best part is that you don't have to download anything to be able to print.  It's great!

  A friend of mine gave me the link to a new website she's putting together tonight.  It's http://www.couponinginiowa.com/.  It's still under construction, but there are already some great things there for us Iowans!  Amber is a couponing rockstar, so I recommend you check it out!

  I am currently thinking about starting up a facebook group for Cedar Rapids, Iowa-area couponers and frugirlies and fruguys to share ideas, cool finds, etc.  I am thinking about even trying to initiate an occasional hang out session for coupon trading, idea sharing, etc.

"Side Jobs"

  I am always on the lookout for legit work-from-home side jobs.  I currently sell mark.cosmetics and do a small amount of freelance writing for a local publication.  Neither bring in a steady income.  They're both pretty hit and miss.  But at least I can make a few bucks a couple of times a year.

  Does anyone else know of any worthwhile, legitimate work-from-home jobs?

Earning Free Stuff!

  One of my favorite websites is swagbucks.com.  There are a ton of different things you can do to earn swagbucks.  Once you build up your bucks, you can use them to buy things (for free!) in the swagbucks store.  So far I have bought several amazon.com gift certificates, and a certificate for $25 off a 2 night hotel room stay thru travelocityincentives.com. 

  I do a minimal amount of things to earn my swagbucks.  I visit the survey page for 1 swagbuck.  I do the daily poll for 1 swagbuck.  I go thru the NOSO offers and usually just click "skip" on the offers there for 2 swagbucks.  And then I use their search engine 1 or 2 times a day until I get some swagbucks.  I usually am awarded somewhere between 8 and 11 bucks that way.  There's so much more you can do to earn swagbucks, too, if you want to put more time into it!

  One of the coolest things is that you can have people join under you, and that allows you to earn even more.  Pretty please leave a comment here or shoot me an e-mail at winterstarpromo@aol.com and I'll be happy to send you an invitation.  Seriously.  It's so worth it!  Who can argue with free stuff that you'll actually use?!

A little about me and why I'm here.

  I am a rocker chick.  And this means that I need to spend lots of time out seeing my favorite local bands play.  I need to have the cool makeup I love.  I need to see an occasional national act when they come thru.  I need to have money to grab a bite and shop with my friends.  And I need to travel and see places that are way cooler than Cedar Rapids, Iowa!

  Or, at least, I think I do. 

  What do I really need?  To pay my rent and other bills. To be able to afford the neccessities.  To be able to eat healthy foods to help me with this diet (ahem.  I prefer the term "lifestyle change", just so you know) that I am on.  To be able to go to the doctor when I need to.  And to be able to help some family members out with their financial needs.  Can I afford to do all of this?  Nope.  Can I afford to do all of this and have WAY so much fun?  That's a heck nope!

  So this will be my attempt at seeing what changes I can make to help myself spend wisely.  To help myself start to save.  And to offer good tips, advice, and websites that I find to others who are also trying to figure their finances out.  And so I wish good luck to all of us!

-FruGirlie