Financial Friday: Mypoints & BZZAgent

Financial Friday: Mypoints & BZZAgent

MYPOINTS

These days, everyone shops online. If you're going to be buying online, you may as well earn some rewards at the same time.

There are several ways to earn points on mypoints. The quickest is by shopping through their site. Whenever I am going to make online purchases, rather than going directly to the website, I always check mypoints first. In entering the website through mypoints, I can accumulate points for every dollar I spend.

Even if you're not much of an online shopper, mypoints is still worth checking out. Every day they send 2-3 emails with special offers, and you get 5 points just for clicking on the link. Those little 5 points can quickly add up. Mypoints also offers games that you can win points through. If you're a member of bzzagent, they pay their rewards in mypoints. So that helps them add up quickly!

Depending on your shopping habits, it can take a little while to build up enough points, but its well worth it. Just this month I turned in enough points for $50 at Amazon.com. $50 isn't bad for zero effort!


BZZAgent.com 

Raise of hands, who likes free things? Silly question, we all like free things. From the samples at Costco, to the toothbrush at the dentist. When you're a member of bzzagent, you get freebies in two different ways.

Bzzagent is all about word of mouth advertising. After creating a  profile and answering some survey questions, they are able to match you up with products that you might enjoy. In order for you to spread the good word about the products, they will mail you a Buzz Kit. Typically a Buzz Kit will contain information about the product, either the product itself or a voucher to get the product at the store, and samples or coupons to share with your friends.

Once you have been accepted into a campaign, and gotten your Buzz Kit in the mail, you then report your experiences on bzzagent. Over the course of the campaign, you can report back as often as you like.  Every time you discuss the product with someone, bzzagent.com wants their feedback and reaction. In exchange for your word of mouth advertising, you receive points over on mypoints which you can redeem for gift cards! Its a win-win situation.

Over the past few years, I've gotten many free products through bzzagent. Perfume, turkeys, Aveeno lotion, a Sonicare toothbrush. Just this week I joined campaigns for make-up and dog food.


About the author:
Carli Lintemuth is located in the Metro-Detroit area and has been a professional nanny for 13 years . She co-moderates World Wide Nannies, an online support group exclusively for nannies. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WorldwideNannies/

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Financial Friday: Saving Money While Eating Out

Financial Friday:  Saving Money While Eating Out

by Alice Shaffer

Several of my friends keep telling me about Restaurant.Com and how awesome it is.  It is a website where you can buy discounted coupons for meals at various restaurants for as much as 80% off! They are delivered immediately to your email address.  You must use a credit card to purchase them.


Right now they have a deal for 80% till April 30, today. Why not take your mom out to dinner or a special mom friend out for Mother's Day!  By going to the website you can explore tons of various restaurants, close to you and where you might be going on vacation or visiting in the coming months. 


The Code for the 80% off is MEAL it does expire today April 30, 2010. Make sure to become a fan on facebook for them as they post new codes there as well or via emails.


I purchased the following 5 coupons for $10.  Without the code for 80% they were $10 for a $25 coupon.  There are restrictions.  It tells you on the website for each place what the rules are.   Most of these had dine in Dinner only and a minimum purchase of $35 or $45 plus 18% gratuity.  I will ask a friend or two to go out to dinner and say I have the first $25 and you all get the rest of the bill.  Who wants to go out to dinner? :)

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Financial Friday: When Do I Buy Things?

For the past several years, I have read various articles in magazines and websites about when is the best time throughout the year to buy certain things. Today I ran across this blog, Budgets are Sexy.
They had an entry Friday January 22 called The Best Time To Buy Things. Budgets are Sexy had received the information from one of their readers. The story is from LifeHacker's post called The Best Times to Buy Anything, All Year Round. It even includes a chart for how long you can keep foods frozen and so forth. Apparently in the month of March is a great time to buy frozen foods! Guess we should all be looking for a freezer to stock up on the great sales on frozen foods. I also learned that March is a great time to purchase luggage. I will be purchasing some new luggage for the INA conference in May then.

Be sure to check out Budgets are Sexy. J. Money has some great info on her blog.
Don't forget to read in depth the Lifehacker article The Best Times to Buy Anything, All Year Round. Both proved to valuable to me. I printed out the chart for buying things.

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Financial Friday: A Blog Review of Couponing to Disney

Blog Review: Couponing to Disney
by Alice Shaffer

I have been following Couponing to Disney for awhile now. I have been impressed how Kristin has saved $1900 since May 1 2009 for her family trip to Disney in June 2010 for 10 days!

Kristin combined her love of couponing and Disney World together. She shares with her readers how to make money by taking surveys, redeeming rebates, banking found money, using coupons and other ways.

On the left side of her blog you can find a drop down box that has her Previous Posts list. This is where you can find all kinds of helpful things from her 4 A Day (free samples) and a 5 A Day posts. The 5 A Day is a list of 5 companies you can write to and express your opinion-good or bad. Alot of the times they will send you coupons. Kristin has received many coupons for her letters.

There are several stores that she covers in their best shopping deals. (Amazon, CVS, Kmart, Publix, Rite Aid, Target, Walmart, Walgreens, Toys R Us/Babies R US.)

One of her secrets to saving money is to never pay full price for a meal. Here is a list of the current dining deals.

There are so many good things on this blog. You will just have to carve some time each day and read one of her sections. Then you can decide what you would like to use in your everyday life.

I have been inspired by Kristin and I will be tracking my coupons/rebates/found money for 2010 in preparing for my trip to the INA's 25th annual conference May 20-23, 2010.

What things will you be doing to save money in 2010?

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Financial Friday: Online Coupons and more

You don't need to always get the Sunday newspaper to get the best deals at the store. Many times you can subscribe to the stores online emails and receive the coupons right in your own email inbox.

With the holidays here and people making "homemade" gifts, joining the many hobby & craft store email lists is great. You can use them at the various stores. If you have a A.C. Moore coupon for 50% for one item, you can take that to Michael's Craft store and use. Just call the store to ask if they accept competitor's coupons.

Hobby Lobby
A.C. Moore sign up for the email to receive the coupon
Michaels Arts & Crafts
Jo Anne Fabrics 40% off coupon for online item expires 1/2/10

For blogs that give you great coupon deals for various stores visit:
Deal Seeking Mom
Stretching a Buck
Hustler Money Blog- One month FREE of Amazon Prime on this link

To find various coupon codes for all types of places visit:
Retail Me Not anything from Domino's Pizza, Kohl's, Snapfish to Amazon.
Cheep Tweet this blog scours Twitter to find the best deals available.

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Financial Friday: How to make the most of Black Friday

I love getting a great deal when shopping. As a nanny I shop for the family, and I am always looking at the sale items and so forth. They don't ask me too, I just do it because I enjoy finding a good deal.

Here is what you can do now:
1. Make a list of your family that you need to purchase gifts for
2. Make a list of your friends that you would like to purchase gifts for
3. Make a list of anyone's birthdays that are coming up in December, January or February.

With these lists start assigning gift ideas to them. Remember that 2009 has been a hard year for everyone in just about every economic bracket. You are allowed to not purchase gifts for people this holiday season. You can give gift certificates to be used at a future date. For example, last year I was signed up for 3 different holiday card exchanges, but life got in the way and I didn't get them out. I was going to make Inauguration cards for the people, but it was too close to the madness of the holidays. I ended up making Valentine Cards for them. I had several people email me and let me know it was such a nice surprise to get a card in February and not in the middle of the other cards of the holiday. Look for next week's Financial Friday on alternative gift ideas on The Financial Nanny.

This brings me to what is going to happen next Friday, November 27, the day after Thanksgiving-Black Friday! This is when people have little sleep and go shopping before the coffee is brewing and the kids are awake for the best deals of the season.

The ads have been leaked on the Internet. I will be honest with you and tell you that last year was the first year I believe I looked at Black Friday Ads online. I want you to save money this holiday season so I have gathered numerous websites that have the ads available to us.

1. Slickdeals Black Friday Forum This site has many sub forums of the various stores, discussions broken up into categories like LCD TVS, digital cameras, laptops etc

2. Black Friday at Gotta A Deal on the left side of the site, is a listing of all the stores they have ads for. In the middle are discussions about how to attack Black Friday, if you can purchase items online for Black Friday and other helpful things

3. Black Friday Info more ads from the stores

4. Black Friday 2009 They have a shopping list, if you sign up for the site and sign in. On the left side, they have a pricing guide, store hours

5. Black Friday Online Specials This is a listing of the retailers that have online specials on Black Friday if you don't feel like going out in the craziness of the shopping frenzies.
6. Cyber Monday is the Monday after Black Friday, November 30. You can complete your list with any items, you missed on Black Friday.

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Financial Friday: Where do I put my money?

A couple of weeks ago, I posted Step 2: Setting up a Monthly Budget for professional nannies and others on making sure you have enough money for your fixed and flexible expenses. JanStClair commented and asked

"Will you address expenses that come due annually, such as insurance? In the
past, I've divided them by twelve and put them into the monthly budget. But it
does confuse me because it looks like I have more money in the bank than I
should until WHAM, the bill comes due."

This was an excellent question. I have quarterly, semi annually and annually bills due as well. Jan was correct that you should be saving for these monthly in your budget along with other expenses like clothing, gas, food and utilities. I have been using the online ING Orange Savings account at ING Direct This is an online savings account that is linked to my checking account. I can put money into my ING Orange Savings Account at any time online or via phone. What you would do is monthly deposit your expenses that you are saving for later pay dates. When it is time to pay the bill you will need at least 3 business days for the transfer from Orange Savings to your checking account. You can also set up an automatic transfer from your checking to your ING Orange Savings.

This is taken from the website regarding Orange Savings:

Watch Your Savings Grow.
Earn a variable 1.30% Annual Percentage Yield (effective 09/09/2009). Open an Orange Savings Account today.

The Orange Savings Account

• High Interest, No Fees, No Minimums - All your money goes to work for you.


• No Changing Banks - It electronically links to your current checking account. Transfers are free and easy.


• FDIC Insured - Your deposits are FDIC–insured up to $250,000 per depositor.


• Quick Application - Start saving in less than 5 minutes.


• Start now

The other really neat thing is that you can earn $25 free from ING for setting up an ING savings account with an initial $250 deposit. That is a 10% return on your deposit. If you are interested in receiving the email for this email me at thefinancialnanny (at) gmail (dot)com. I will receive $10 per person that signs up through the special link. I will be using the money I receive from this to buy holiday items for a local children's shelter that ADCAN is working with closely throughout the coming year.

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