Ok, moment over.
What I really wanted to take about was money..........Since deciding to go to a four-year college full-time my brain has been expanding while my bank account is shrinking faster than the GDP of Europe. I blame my financial situation on two dry summers where the economy has offered this lowly student nothing more than a few babysitting jobs.
After this past semester, I am officially broke. Actually. Rephrase that. I am mongo broke. I have student loans and interest that's starting to pile up and less than a hundred dollars in my bank account at any given time.
Besides a job, what I really need are ways to save what precious cents I do have. Over the course of my internet addiction I've found a few sites that are super helpful when it comes to saving money.
[DISCLAIMER: I'm not working for any of these sites (dur- obviously) and I also don't have like a million hours of experience with each and every one of these sites. I have however used each and every one these and found them mildy to very helpful]
1.) Reward sites (Example: Swagbucks) - I've used Swagbucks for about a month now. I heard about from a good friend of mine so I knew it was valid and I wanted to give it a try once I got back to the states. You get "swagbucks" for searching the internet and filling out daily polls or surveys. You can redeem said "bucks" at the "swag shop" and get free stuff.
THE GOODS: Investing even an hour on the site can earn you upwards of 40 or more Swagbucks. If you're into wasting time on sites like youtube, you can watch videos, instead, on the Swagbucks website and earn bucks. Even if you're not a faithful user you can be given swagbucks. It's highly intuitive-Right off the bat I was earning bucks. If you're a coupon person you can get mad amounts of swagbucks just printing coupons off! It's so easy, a neanderthal could do it.
THE BADS: If you've ever heard of these sites (reward sites), you'll probably know that most, if not all, of their income is from advertising. Lots and lots of advertising. So much, in fact, it starts to drive me crazy. Not only do I get pop ups, I often have to skim through my internet searches to find a legitimate website. Besides this, the prizes aren't actually that great. Sure, they advertise a new flat screen TV, but in reality the amount of time required to earn that many "swagbucks" so that you can purchase the television set would be equivalent to a full-time job. Also, the few surveys that I have "been selected" to participate in have turned out to be profitless.
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| I won swagbucks when I searched for the link for this post! hah! |
2.) Craigslist Bartering - Craigslist is a really popular site. I got my first full-time job through a post I found on Craigslist and I know several friends who sell off their children's old clothes or other knick knacks. It's honestly the best garage sale EVER. But did you know there is a section devoted to bartering? Some of the stuff on there is pretty cool and won't cost you a dime. Simply put, a seller offers a product (or service) or asks for a product (or service) in exchange for another product (or service).
THE GOODS: Fast and convenient, the site is literally bare-bones so the pages load fast. You can pretty quickly assess if the item of interest is on the bartering page. Like I said, you just need to have the item required of the seller to complete the exchange. Since most of Craigslist is local, these exchanges cut out the middle man, shipping.
THE BADS: I have never completed such a transaction over Craigslist for one simple reason, I don't have the item the seller wants. It's a hit-or-miss sort of page. Either you have what you both want or you don't. Another aspect to online selling and trading is security; not knowing who you're dealing with can be very dangerous. Also, you can wind up getting a bad deal.
3.) eBay bucks - It's the automatic reward program for eBay users. If you haven't heard about and are a member of eBay you are clearly not checking your messages or email. Shame. I would say it's a fairly simple concept. Use the site to buy and sell, earn eBay bucks. Redeem the bucks for other stuff on the site or as a coupon to take a certain amount off the total of an item.
THE GOODS: Like the rewards sites I mentioned above, you really don't have to be trying too hard (if you already use eBay on a regular basis) to get eBay bucks. It pays off fairly quickly, especially if you buy big ticket items. For example, I bought a $200 laptop on eBay and then got a free movie with the eBay bucks. It's easy to use since not a lot of effort is required by the user. I simply got emails that told me when I had eBay bucks. You are automatically signed up for this rewards program when you join the site.
THE BADS: The biggest part of eBay bucks that's a pain in the neck is remembering to use them. If you don't they'll expire 30 days after being issued. This means that, unlike swagbucks or similar sites, you can't store up bucks which means that unless you are buying bigger items, you aren't going to be getting much profit from the program. Additionally, you must wait "3-15 days after the end of the quarterly earn period" before you can get your hands on the eBay bucks.
4.) Swap your gift cards online for cash - I've seen these sites online and always wanted to try this. Especially if I had a gift card I would never use. This site simply has you enter the name of the merchant and the amount on your card. You can also buy reduced-price gift cards but since this post is about ways to SAVE money and not SPEND money I will refrain from saying anything more on the topic.
THE GOODS: Convenient. Free. Reliable. It's an easy enough concept that I think most, if not all people, should be able to do it. It's a good way to clean your wallet out.
THE BADS: You won't be refunded the whole amount. Nope. In fact, one time, years ago, I tried swapping a gift card online and found that if I had decided to go through with it I would have only received $15 back on a $20 gift card. That's a 25% cut for the company!!!
5.) Free movies (legally) - Beside the usual sites like Amazon Prime and Netflix which charge you an annual fee to watch movies online, places like Hulu, Vimeo, and YouTube are worth checking out for a free Friday night movie.
THE GOODS: Instant streaming movies means no trips to the local Red Box. Some of these sites offer variety in genre. Lots of documentaries. As long as you have an internet connection you always have free movies.
THE BADS: If you take even two and a half seconds looking at the sites you'll notice one thing in common with all the movies. They're either really old or really goofy or both. As much as I would love to watch every "Poison Ivy" ever made or re-watch a snarky Morgan Spurlock documentary or any of the countless zombie movies- most of the time I just want something that's actually entertaining.
So there it is...I'm sorry if the last one was a bit of a reach. I felt like 5 was just a good number for a list. 6 was too long, 4, too short. Just so you guys don't think I'm over-thinking this blog post I will add a random thought here:
I wonder if every silverware item in my house has been in my mouth at one point or another....
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