Money Saving Mom & Swagbucks Are Helping Our Christmas This Year...

[AuntJamelle]

Has anyone else discovered the site Money Saving Mom?

http://moneysavingmom.com

I found it via Pinterest and I am HOOKED! There is lots of different stuff on her site, but every day I check the FREEBIES & GIVEAWAYS section multiple times a day.

I have gotten a TON of free samples already and plenty more on their way. For example, I was able to sign up the Target Spring Beauty bag a few weeks ago and got a really nice little case full of fun samples. The whole thing got put aside for my sister's stocking this year.

My favorites are the samples of shampoo and/or conditioner. A trick I learned via Pinterest is to save those babies up and then when you have enough of one kind (shampoo vs cond) - squirt them ALL into a saved empty shampoo bottle so that it is about half full. Fill the rest with water and shake it up.

The idea is that the samples are of a thicker/stronger consistency than bottles off the shelf. They want you to be impressed with their product! So you can easily add water and still have a nice, normal consistency of shampoo left to use.

I haven't gotten enough samples saved up to try this yet, but I am thinking about it.

Or I could just through samples into stockings this year. Either way, its FREE! And the great thing is that all these samples come with coupons for the product. Usually high dollar coupons that I then can use to get great deals in the store.

Win-Win!

Another thing that this site turned me on to is Swagbucks. I've earned enough points - pretty easily - in a month to "order" four $5 gift cards that I intend to use for Christmas gifts. They haven't processed yet, so I'm still a little nervous about how it will all work.

Has anyone else tried Swagbucks? What do you think?

 

[Minta]

Thanks I will have to check out the mom site. No I have not done swags and I am a bit leary.. I have 2 friends who used too until they kept getting viruses on their computer.

 

[luludou]

AJ - wvalice has used swagbucks several time and seems to enjoy it. I have been on it but am not as productive as I could be. Tricia has joined too and has started a thread about it.

will look up the moneysavingmom. thanks!

 

[wvalice]

Lulu is right - I love swagbucks! I've never had a problem with using it. It takes a while for them to pay out, but they do. Closer to Christmas time, you have the option of giving them an extra 50 swagbucks, and they will get your reward to you sooner. The best way to earn a bunch of points is to have referrals; I used to have a bunch, but now everyone that I've referred doesn't use it to search, which is the way I get swagbucks from the referral.

Savingstar.com is another way to get amazon.com gift cards. You choose coupons you want, and, then, when you use the coupon, you don't get it taken off at the register, but it goes into your account, and when you have enough, you can request an amazon.com gift card. Plus, you still get to use your paper coupons at the store, because my stores will no longer take e-coupons and paper ones.

 

[AuntJamelle]

No luck getting referrals so far, but I 've earned enough to get a $20 Starbucks gift card for one friend this Christmas.

Working on earning Amazon gift cards now. I earned a $5 Amazon GC a while back and it was easy to apply to my account. I assume that I could not only purchase merchandise with the applied amount but also purchase Amazon GC's for others?

I have several people that I could happily give Amazon GCs to for birthdays and Christmas this year. Hoping I can keep earning points and use them this way!!!

I'm hoping to see a good influx of points over the next month from all the coupons I printed and redeemed this month. Those take a while to show up though! Which is why I'm starting all this now!

Still time left before Christmas!

 

[wvalice]

Aunt Jamelle - mycokerewards is another site I use. I get nike.com gift cards plus some actual gifts from there. I have coke points sent to me from all over plus I work at a college, and my students bring them to me. (Plus my husband works for the city in the waste garage/recycling center, so he brings them home to me - I wash my hands really well after I enter those! LOL) If you drink coke or have people who would give you their points, I think it is a great site! We don't even drink coke, but through people's generosity we have TONS of points. People are nice, don't ya think?

 

[AuntJamelle]

People can be very nice!!! I was actually considering doing the Coke points thing again. I've saved a bunch of codes for a while but I had dropped off doing the program after they hiked the "price" on the prizes I was interested in.

That was over a year ago, but I should probably give it another try. We purchase a lot of their products ourselves. Good work on finding the different sources for them! We do what we have to do, right? lol

 

[wvalice]

I love all the sharing of ideas and encouragement you find on this site. Plus, finding people willing to talk Christmas year-round is a real find for me!

 

[StressLess]

Hi,
I just signed up for Money Saving Mom. I love it so far. The tips are very interesting. Thanks for sharing!