Frugal Pages

Monday

Is Swagbucks.com for Men?

My wife has been a member at Swagbucks.com for almost two years now.  In that time she has earned hundreds of dollars in Swag and prizes.  This has been an IMMENSE help to our family budget - both on items we buy for special occassions, and for Christmas gifts we are picking up for our kids.

In fact, the Swagbucks she has earned there, helped us buy a laptop computer, Nintendo DS's for our kids, a whole pile of other goods at Amazon, and maybe some stuff I can't even remember.

Up until now, though, every household was only allowed to have one account.  And the Swagbucks owners are sticklers for keeping their members honest and trustworthy.  So, we didn't want to ruin the good thing we had going there.

However, in August this year, Christy told me that it was now possible to have separate accounts for multiple people in your household.  And so I joined the Swagbucks camp.
You can see here - that I joined on August 9th.

And within the last two months, I've been able to earn an extra $25 for our family.  And, I only use the Swagbucks service occasionally.  So, it's a perfect added money boost for our family.
 
While I know $25 isn't going to be enough to solve the problems of the entire world... it sure does help out with special gifts and items you might want to pick up for your family.

So, yes men... you can use Swagbucks even if you are working 40 or more hours per week.  Here are my top tips for earning extra swagbucks while working full-time.

How to earn Swagbucks while working Full-time

Real quick, I wanted to run through how I have been able to use Swagbucks to earn some extra money for our family, even though I only use it a few times during my day at work and a few minutes when I get home at night.

I always thought, you had to be using their web-service for hours and hours throughout the day to earn your bucks.  However, I quickly realized, that you can still earn little bits throughout your day.

Typically, I use search engines at work when I do research on potential new customers, when I am looking up  information about parts, or when I am looking up account information.  Instead of doing all my searches at Google, I now use the Swagbucks search.  It's a small, but effective change.

I use Chrome or Firefox as my favorite browsers at work.  And my corporate policy doesn't allow me to use the Swagbucks toolbar on Firefox, so I  installed the Chrome plug-in.  You can read more about this here.  Essentially, this allows me to just type my search term into the Chrome url address bar, and then it does the search in Swagbucks for me.

Why do this?

Instead of me remembering to go to the Swagbucks website, I can just type my thoughts as I go, and it is built into my work process.

Here are the top strategies I use to get Swag bucks during my work day: 

  • I do searches throughout my day - every time I would have done a normal Google search, instead I use Swagbucks.  In general, you will only get search wins 2-3 times per day, but it slowly builds up over time.  
  • Occasionally, I am able to get the extra Swag codes that they release during the day.  

On top of my work wins, I also build up my Swagbucks at night.  Here are the strategies I use at home.

  • I continue to search when I get home.  This may get me one more search win for the day.
  • I also try and fill out some of the surveys they have on their site.  These are pretty time intensive, so I only do them about once a week - if that.  However, if you do get a survey to pay out, it is usually for quite a few Swagbucks.  
  • In addition, my wife is a couponer, so we print out several coupons from my Swagbucks account, as well as hers.  When we use these coupons, at the grocery store, they will credit 10 bucks into my account.  
  • I always do what my wife calls 'Daily's'.  When you click the 'Earn' tab at the top of the Swagbucks home page, you will see these options:
    Daily Poll
    NOSO - and just skip through all the ads until you get the points at the end
    Special Offers - there are generally a few free things you can do here per day.  In general, I only watch the free videos that give me points.

On average, I am able to get about 20-50 Swagbucks per day.  This isn't a lot.  But every time you get 450 Swagbucks, it equals $5 on Amazon.  And you can purchase almost anything you can think of on Amazon.  This puts me a new $5 addition at Amazon every 10-15 days or so.  
Here is my list of winnings from August 9th through October 31st.  Of course, not everyone will get the same results, but you can see that I have done pretty well in the last two and a half months, adding extra gift-getting money to our account.


So, if you add up my small amount of Swag buck winnings, with the Swagbucks that Christy gathers throughout her day... we can end up with a fair amount of extra Amazon spending money at the end of the year.  And you can do exactly the same thing.

Believe me, in this tight economy, every little bit helps.

Tuesday

Saving Money on Meat - Zaycon Foods

Lately it seems like the deals for meat are getting few-and-far between. And the quality of the meat being offered on sale seems to be going down as well.

Recently, though, I found a company that offers great prices on high-quality meat and other produce.
It is a place called Zaycon Foods.

Why in the world would anyone want to order from an independent start-up company like Zaycon Foods?

  • First = Quality.
    They only sell products they would eat themselves.  High-quality, healthy food products.
  • Second = Price.
    Fresh, retail quality food product sold at wholesale prices.
  • Three = Service
    Easy-to-understand the entire process, from ordering, to reminders, to quick pick-up.

They are able to keep the prices low because they sell directly from the farmers, with no stores to maintain. They have what are called local 'events', where they offer certain types of individual meats or produce at each event.

So far I have purchased the Boneless skinless Chicken Breast (which is 100% natural, with no added hormones, additives, or artifical ingredients), and the 93% Extra-Lean Ground beef.  They have been excellent quality meats and I am very happy with the entire process. 

Granted, it is a bit different than driving down to your local grocery store and buying meat with the rest of your food.  But it really seems to be a great deal, and oh so worth it.

The process goes like this:

  1. First you go to the website, Zaycon Foods and sign up with your e-mail address. 
  2. Then go and select the area that you live in.  Once you have that set up, they can contact you when they have events in your area.  Each event offers a different type of product.  One event will feature chicken.  Another event will have produce - like apples, or pears, or peaches, or tomatoes, or blueberries. The next event might have bacon or hamburger.  It all depends on what is fresh and available at that time.       
  3. Next, when they plan to be in your area for an event, they will e-mail you details about that event.  This will include details on the food they will be offering and when you can sign up to purchase it. 
  4. From there, on order day, you can log on and purchase the amount of packages you want.  Zaycon offers bulk type of purchasing, not single servings of the products.  So, you'll have to be ready to package and use the case size of product when you pick it up.
  5. Once you have made your purchase, and then selected a location for pick up,  on the day that is assigned, you will go and pick up you meat or other product.
  6. Essentially, the pick-ups occur at various locations around your area.  You choose the location you want to pick up your product.
  7. There are signs directing you where to go.  There is someone standing there.  You confirm with them your name and quantity you've ordered.  You drive up to the truck and they put your order in your car for you.  You don't even have to get out.  
    Average pick-up time is under two minutes.  

The first time I placed an order was for the chicken.  When ordering, the chicken price was originally purchased at $1.69 a lb.  (By the way, that is a KILLER price for this quality of boneless, skinless meat).


However, a few days after I had purchased, they sent me an e-mail saying that the prices had been lowered to $1.49.  So,  they actually credited my account for the difference - AFTER I had already picked up the meat, without me doing anything.

How many retailers do you know who would do that!?
Not many - I dare say.

I was so impressed that they had gotten a lower price, and were passing the savings on to me, instead of keeping the extra profit. What a class act! That impressed me so much that I knew as soon as other things were offered in my area I would be making another purchase.

The only down side to it is that you have to purchase in large quantities.

The Chicken and ground Beef come in 40 lb cases.  And the Bacon comes in a 30lb case. They will not break them up.  So, you have to agree to purchase the entire case.  But at that price it is a deal!

Basically, it is essential that you have a bit of time once you get home to repackage it and freeze it for later use. But for me that is not a problem at all. If you do not have enough freezer space you could consider splitting the case with a friend or your family. That way you can still take part in the deal but have less to store.

They have events offered all over the U.S.!

So go sign up now so that you can get in on these great deals!
Currently they are having a Ground beef event in the local Florida area. You can order between today and Friday evening the 28th and pick up is on the 2nd of November. 

And as a side note for any of our local friends... I would be willing to pick up your order.

I purchase from the Tampa location. (I am hoping that they will come to Lakeland soon, but for now I will go to Tampa to get it.)  So, if would like to get some, but you are unable to get to the location to pick it up I would be willing to do it for you and drop it by your place!

Zaycon Foods also offers produce, but at this time I have not been able to purchase any. But when I do I will let you know what I think of it.

Friday

Grocery Savings

Here is what was on my grocery list this week and the breakdown of savings.
This is what I got during last weeks sales at Publix. I was able to work out a great deal with a new coupon that came out late in the week. So I went on ahead and got a few more things that I had been thinking about getting earlier in the week. The total for everything would have been $31.29 and after sales and coupons I paid $3.07.
This is what I got.
20- Cups Publix Yogurt. sale price .40 each. No additional coupons used.
6- Suave Mens Shampoo and conditioners $2.19 I used 3 manufactures coupons for buy one get one and 1 manufactures coupon for .50 off 2 and 2 Publix coupons for $3.00 off 3 mens care products. Bringing the total for all 5 bottles to .07!
2- 1 liter Coke on sale for .99 each. I used a manufactures coupons for buy one get one free making them .49 each
3- 20oz coke $1.59 I used  manufactures coupons for free coke making them all FREE!
I was able to use a competitor store coupon for $5.00 off a $25.00 or more purchase making my total out of pocket only $3.07.
That is a total saving of 91%! not bad for a last minute trip to the store.

And here is what was on my list for this week!
4- DiGiorno Cheese $4.79 BOGO I use manufactures coupons for $2.00 off 1 making the .39 each
4- Tropicana Lemonaids $1.99 BOGO no other coupons used making the .99 each
4- Smart Balance Milk half gallon $3.00 I used manufactures coupons for $1.50 off each making them $1.50 each. or $3.00 a gallon. And that here that is cheaper than the regular milk.
5- lbs pears Sale price of .88per/lb total for all $4.32
1- 4lb bag Oranges $2.99 no other coupons used.
4- bags Nestles candies $8.49 BOGO used manufactures coupons for $1.40 off each making them $2.84 each
2- Jennie-O Ground Turkey. on sale for $2.99 each
4- Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cereal $3.49 BOGO used manufactures coupons for $1.10 off 2 making them $1.19 each
1- Honey Nut Cheerio on sale for $1.99 used a manufactures coupons for .75 off making it $1.24
6- Skippy Peanut Butter on sale for $1.99 used manufactures coupons for .60 off 2 and Publix store coupons for $1.00 off each making them .65 each.
I broke all this up into 3 different transactions so that i could use the competitor store coupon of $5.00 off a $25.00 or more purchase taking an additional $15.00 off the total. So before sales and coupons all this would have cost $135.31 and after I only paid $31.99. For a total saving of 87%
 If you have any questions just ask. I would be happy to help you work it out and help you start saving for your family.
Chris