Pet Stores

While I love living in a big city with so many stores and social opportunities, one thing that my city lacks (at least I haven't found it yet) is a neighborhood pet store. When it comes to animals, the run of the mill chain pet store really cheapens things for me. No offense, but I do not trust the employees to tell me what is best for my pets. Plus, the customer service is so bad, probably because they have no competition to speak of. Unfortunately, we have no choice. We have to buy live crickets for our lizards and there are no other stores that carry them.

If I were ambitious and had nothing else to do, I would probably open my own pet store - you know, the kind you walk into and a cat greets you as you enter. There is a parrot perching at the register, relaxed and nonplussed by the amount of people and noise in the store. There are people available to help you at all times and can answer questions honestly and knowledgeably.
Oh to dream!

The Subject of Surveys

Among my many small hobbies and ways to save money (namely, couponing and cloth diapering), is another method called doing surveys. Awhile back, I realized that I really enjoy doing surveys, so I researched and tried to find the best survey websites out there and signed up for them. As for rewards, most of the sites will pay out cash rewards, either paying a certain amount per survey (Pinecone Research) (usually $1-$5) or using a points system (My Survey, Toluna, Lightspeed) (1000 points = $10). Some sites exclusively use prizes (HarrisPoll) so I usually take advantage of the I-gift cards because they give me the most bang for the buck.

I have cashed out checks for over $50 before, gotten prizes in the mail, and I've even been selected to evaluate products such as laundry detergent, mints, baby wipes, and iced tea. BUT the best reward I've ever gotten came in the mail today - a check for $250. Usually each survey you do, regardless of the main reward, also enters you into a cash drawing. And this time, a health survey I did for Ipsos Online Research gave me the goods. So it IS worth it, especially, as with all things, if you enjoy it too.

The best things to remember if you want to start doing this:

• Create a separate email address specifically for things like this. I also use mine to sign up for coupons and freebies that require an email address.
• Be sure to fill out all of the "basic info" surveys. Although they don't earn you rewards, these surveys will help narrow your invites down to ones you are more likely to qualify for saving you more time overall.
  
• Not all surveys work as well for some as they do for others. Factors like age, gender, and the number and ages of kids you have make a big difference in the amount and type of surveys you qualify for.
• Don't do surveys that merely enter you into sweepstakes. You would spend way too much time on them and not have maxiumum results. My rule is I only do surveys that guarantee you a reward, unless they take under five minutes to complete.
  

Here is the list of survey companies I use, in order from best to least:

• Pinecone Research - This comes by exclusive invitation only. If you EVER see a banner for this one, click on it immediately! Each survey they send that isn't labeled "Household Questions" will get you $3, no screening process necessary!
• Harris Poll Online - Gives you points for every survey invitation they send. You can redeem the points for prizes or gift cards but not cash.
• InboxDollars - This company sometimes offers you surveys but it's based on clicking on an email to view an advertisment, and getting paid .10 for it.
• Lightspeed Consumer Panel - I'm kind of newbie to this one, but have been offered many survey invitations that are listed in your panel, and have qualified for most of them. Not sure about the prizes yet but earnings are points-based.
• Ipsos i-Say - Even though I just won a good chunk of cash through them, I don't rate them very high. The point earnings are small and I don't get a lot of invitations. However, if you do not qualify, you usually get a point just for doing the survey. Plus, they do have a fun poll you can do at the end of each survey that enters you into a drawing.
  
• Toluna - Earn points that convert to cash, not a huge fan but it's decent.
  
• Opinion Outpost - I was able to redeem a ton of cash from this one recently, but since then I haven't gotten as many invitations. However, this one rewards cash only prizes.
  
• SurveySpot - I could take it or leave it. I get TONS of invitations but most of them are just for sweepstakes entries, and the few that are for points or money I usually don't end up qualifying for anyway. Plus, I just realized that I haven't been getting credited for any of the surveys I have done. :/
  
• Hotspex - Upon looking for information on how to redeem your points for prizes, I realized that the only things you can use your points for is to enter contests and donate to charity. And donating to charity is great, but I'd rather do that a little differently. So I don't really recommend this company if you want to earn money or cash in for prizes.
  

Those are all of the companies I subscribe to, I do believe. I hope that helps you on your journey to earning more money!

Windchimes (Wal-Mart Rant #2)

I had to return something at Wal-Mart and while I was at it I decided to get my sister in law some wind chimes for her birthday. (Hopefully she doesn't read this, but at this point, I don't think anyone does!) So I went back to lawn and garden to look for them, didn't see them of course, so asked an employee who immediately said they would be there but that I should ask one of the employees in lawn and garden. I asked a guy who asked the cashier who said they didn't have any. DON'T HAVE ANY?!?! Wind chimes are a pretty basic-type item I would think Wal-Mart would have, especially since they're in season. Needless to say, after my "Well that's kind of stupid" remark, I promptly left the store without getting the milk I was also planning to buy.

So, will all of my efforts cause Wal-Mart to not be the megastore monopoly it has become? No. But am I making a statement by not supporting their outrageous business practices? Yes.

Wal-Mart Rant #1

As you can tell from the title, I suspect there will be more rants pertaining to Wally World aka Voldemart on my blog. Yesterday Wal-Mart was supposed to be giving out free scoops of yummy ice cream and while my sister-in-law Grace and I didn't go there just for that, it was a nice added perk. So we decided to do our shopping first and eat the ice cream on the way out which I guess was our first mistake. We picked up what we needed and headed over to the ice cream booth where they told us that they had just ran out of ice cream and would be stocked up in about 15 minutes. I thought about leaving then (I should have) because we had some chores to do at home and had Micaiah with us, but we decided to meander over to the movie section. We spent a good 15 minutes getting there, looking, and heading back to find no one at the booth and the man who had talked to us walking away from it. This does not make me want to shop at Wal-Mart. Sure, they didn't do anything wrong by running out of ice cream but they sorely underestimated the amount of ice cream they would need and/or the amount of workers needed to keep it stocked up. This is one of the many reasons I do not shop at Wal-Mart unless absolutely necessary.

$.03 Grocery Trip

I had my best shopping trip yet this past Monday at Publix where I saved $78.04 and spent a whopping $.03. As you can see from the picture, I bought a huge amount of stuff including a gallon of milk, two containers of mayo, three bags of frozen chicken, and two quarts of ice cream. The trick? Well, there are plenty, but this time competitor coupons and overage were my best friends. Publix takes coupons from several local grocery stores and will combine their store coupons with other manufacturer coupons. This fact alone can result in some major overage. For example, the Kraft salad dressing was buy one get one free, saving 2.99 on two. So each bottle was about 1.50. I had a coupon for 1.50 off one and a Target store coupon for $1 off Kraft dressing so for each bottle I bought, I was basically paid $1.
However, this kind of thing doesn't happen often. You can't often find that many good deals in one trip. But I don't do too bad normally either, always saving at least 75% with sales and coupons. It makes me happy to save money yet be able to keep the cupboards chock full of food!

Chihuahuas

Yesterday I saw two cars with chihuahuas peeking out the drivers side window within 10 minutes. I thought that was an odd happening and blog worthy.

It also reminds me of someone who read "Chihuahua" on a map of Mexico and pronounced it "Chi - hoo-a hoo-a."

On couponing

I never realized you could save so much money with coupons. Sure, I would use the occasional coupon that came my way but I never knew you could get so many through so many different sources. I've always shopped the sales and thought I was doing pretty good when I looked at my savings at the bottom of my receipt. Boy was I wrong! I started full-on couponing around fall of last year. And since then I have become MAJORLY addicted. Just ask my husband, he thinks I'm a complete nerd. I bought a binder and trade coupons online, the whole works! In a couple weeks I'm actually doing a small "seminar" for the ladies of my church on it. Mind you, there are other ways to save and you can probably do just as well if you use a mixture of coupons and making things yourself (bread, canning, etc.) but I'm not quite there yet. I am still a ready-made type girl when it comes to food and if it's quick and easy (and cheap) I'm all over it.
If you want any tips let me know. Rest assured this is not the last you'll hear of my couponing!

Ok, I really should be packing right now (plus my 15 month old son is begging at my legs for Teddy Grahams!) so I must go!