Today was an exercise in futility.
Today I went to sites I had heard about, supposedly ways to save money or earn points or future cash for giving my opinions to companies. What a racket... either that, or I did it wrong. Right now my email box is jam packed with junk mail. I hope I can make it go away as easily as I made it appear.
Maybe the trick is to sign up with one and see how that goes before you click on the others thinking that more is better.
I signed up with Panda Research. They accumulate money you have "earned" by giving them your opinion, and send the "earned cash" to you via Paypal in $100 increments. If you never earn $100... you lose. If you earn $100 over time, they send you the $100 increment, saving any additional amount earned towards your future $100 payout.
So they started my pot with $3.00 for confirming my membership.
I filled out an Auto Insurance survey, which of course leads the Auto Insurance people to call you with quotes and email you ads. But I got $4.00 in my pot for that one.
I filled out a Mind Quiz survey. Didn't have to order anything. Awesome! Answered 10 questions and found out my IQ is 133.. is that good?, and got an offer via email to have my life astrologized for a fee. I declined. But I got $5.00 in my pot.
Tried to do a survey on online auctions. They wanted me to sign up, give them my credit card number, and purchase "bids" for something? Odd... I failed this one, earned nothing, wasted time.
Tried to do a survey on grocery stores. This one was horrendous, I don't even remember most of it. At the end, in order to qualify for my "free gift," they said I had to pick from a page full of offers (maybe 20), and complete two offers. I found the two least likely to get me in trouble.
I signed up for a 30 day free trial at Netflix. Cool... I can let them suggest movies based on my likes, not on the likes of my child who has given 5 stars to every kid and cooking and how this is made show out there. I'll cancel this in 30 days, since I don't need an additional time suck in my world. (They needed my credit card information for this one... yeah, stupid I know.)
The second offer I accepted was for a Free Green Dot Card (Prepaid Visa card for those who haven't heard of it). There is a monthly fee if you don't follow their guidelines... we'll see if this works or not, if not... I saved $4.95 by purchasing it online and not at a grocery store. (I also gave them personal information.)
Even though I felt that Netflix and the Green Dot card company are both reputable companies, I wonder if signing up for these things through links based in another site was bad. I looked to check if the web address was secured, and both of the pages I filled out started with https://... so I assumed that makes me safe. hmmm I hope so.
When I clicked on "submit" after accepting two of their offers, I got sent to a page telling me to accept two of the offers below... hmmm... since I already did that, I just clicked "submit" again. That time I got sent to a page telling me I had to accept 6 of the offers below!!! I chose to back out and close the page.
So I wasted A LOT of time on this one, and learned a valuable lesson about how to NOT spend my time.
Did not find any sales or coupons that would help my life during my time wading through this muck and mire of internet "savings &/or free money."
If the Panda Research site is real though, and I can find other surveys to fill out (in my spare time.. ha), that don't ask me to spend money or sign up for more spam in my mailbox, well then, that could be cool. If it's real, I guess I "earned" $12.00 today. Maybe I'll see it sometime in the future, maybe not.
Will I get smarter as time goes on? Let's hope so.
Spent $1.75 on a newspaper today to look at ads and clip coupons.
Hubby took kiddo to Target to spend the $20 gift card that her brother gave her for her birthday. She bought a doll that drinks and wets itself for $19.99. According to her, the Target toy department is going downhill.
Hubby spent $1.41 in tax on her doll, and bought a box of BooBerry Cereal, 9.6 oz for $2.66 ($.28/oz). I'll learn eventually if that's a good price per ounce for cereal.
Total expenditures today. $5.82. No yipee savings though... maybe I'll find some when I go through the newspaper tonight.
The Plan:
So yesterday as I went through Drugstore.com and Alice.com, they had store/household categories. I figure that is how I will make up my list of things we use regularly, and also how I will build the bones of the Excel spreadsheet I will use to figure out which stores are cheaper on which items on a per unit basis.
The categories I have decided that will work for me are:
Cleaning Closet - Cleaners (floor, glass, carpet, dusting, polishing, sponges, swiffer pads), lightbulbs, batteries, air & fabric odor removers, drain/septic fluids, filters (air/water), vacuum cleaner bags, trash bags, lysol wipes.
Kitchen - Dishwashing liquid/detergent, plastic bags (snack to gallon), cling wrap/reynolds wrap/press n seal, paper towels, napkins.
Bathroom - Shampoo/conditioner (adult/kids), soap (bar & liquid hand), toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss, feminine products, razors, toilet paper, wet wipes, bubble bath, toilet bowl cleaner, tub & tile cleaner.
Office Supplies - Computer paper, computer ink, letter size envelopes, stamps, pens, pencils, staples, clear tape, masking tape, scotch tape.
Outdoor/Garden - Lawn Bags.
Pets - Dog food, dog shampoo, beef bones, seasonal heartworm/tick repellent.
Laundry - Laundry detergent, bounce sheets, bleach, water softener salt.
Medicine Cabinet - Prescriptions, Advil, Aleve, Tylenol, Children's Tylenol, Dimetapp, NyQuil, Robitussen, OptiFree Contact Solution, Benadryl pills/spray/gel, Bactine, Neosporin, Bandaids.
Food Pantry - Meat, Dairy, Produce, Frozen, Boxed, Canned, Bakery, Soda/Juice/Tea, etc.
I'm sure I've forgotten many things, but this is a nice start.
Of course all of the above is subject to change if I find a better way of doing it.
Tonight I will peruse the grocery ads, including Walgreens & CVS for things we actually use. Look for deals and bargains, and coupons. Figuring out while I go, how much things really cost (I really don't know this, as hubby has been doing most of the grocery shopping for our household for quite some time).
He cooks too! We had brisket tonight for dinner... OMG... the way he makes it... totally moan worthy.
