Buy And Sell Boxes Of Outgrown Kid's Clothes (And Toys) With thredUP

Swapping on thredUP is all about getting great new clothes (and toys!) for your kids while getting rid of stuff they no longer use. Pick up a box of gently used children's clothing or toys when you join today - it's Free to join and you can now earn cashback for your outgrown kids clothes, gently used toys and books on thredUP. Earn up to $10 for every great box you send to another mom. If you have clothing your children have outgrown, thredUp will send you free postage paid boxes and even arrange for them to be picked up - it couldn't be any easier!

 

I'd love to hear about your personal experiences with thredUP.  Leave me a comment below!!  Happy Halloween!

The NCSA Helps Place High School Athletes With College Recruiters!

The NCSA Athletic Recruiting Network is the largest and most trusted community connecting college coaches and qualified student-athletes. Each year, more than 35,000 college coaches discover, evaluate and recruit athletes through the NCSA Network. The National College Scouting Association was founded in 2000 to help redefine the college recruiting process. Since 2000, NCSA Athletic Recruiting has grown rapidly and been featured on ESPN and the Wall Street Journal. NCSA will place more than 6,000 athletes in 27 different sports at the collegiate level in 2011 and they will receive an average of over $18,000 per year in financial aid.

 

Help your high school student get noticed with a free scouting report. Don't get overlooked, visit the NCSA today!!  Good luck!!  :)

The New Disney/Epcot Treasure I Found, Signed By The Artist!

I recently found this little treasue while shopping for eBay inventory.  It's so cute and would go perfect in my kitchen.  The only thing is, it has an original signature by the artist, Rachel Tribble.  It's from the 2008 Epcot Flower & Garden Festival.  Ms. Tribble's sunflower image was the art used for the event's posters in 2008.

I have just listed it on eBay, so wish me luck!!

$103 Cash Bonus When You Open An ING Direct Checking Account!

Even banks have Black Friday deals! Open an ING Direct Electric Orange Checking account before midnight tonight (November 28th), and you can earn a $103 FREE bonus!! Who couldn't use some free cash?

Here's how the cash bonus will work:

* Open Electric Orange November 26th – 28th, and make a total of 7 purchases using your Electric Orange Card or Person2Person Payments (or any combination of the two) within 45 days.
* For example: If you made 4 Card purchases and 3 Person2Person Payments within 45 days of opening your account, you’d receive the $103 bonus.
* Card purchases can be either signature or PIN-based.
* Your $103 bonus will be automatically deposited into your account on day 50.
* Bonus only available for new Electric Orange checking. Only one bonus will be provided per household.

I personally love ING Direct! I've had a savings account with them for about 8 years and opened the Electric Orange Checking last year. I use the checking for my "Amazon sales account".

ING DIRECT USA Checking Account. Free ATMs. FDIC Insured. Open online now.

Make Extra Money With Your Opinions Via Surveys

It seems to me there are a tons of survey sites out on the net. The tough part for me is weeding through them. Can I trust this one, do they pay out well, pay out timely, etc...? Well, today I'm sharing one of my favorites, Synovate (Global Opinion Panels). Not only have I cashed out (via PayPal) several times, but I've also been privileged enough to try some product samples. My best advice, is log in everyday day or two and just spend a few (5 -10) minutes. After a month or two, you'll be surprised how fast your points (points = money) have added up!

Another survey site tip, don't get signed up with too many places. Find 2 or 3 that you like and visit them regularly. Have a great day!!

$1 Bonus Coupon From Cellfire And Kroger!!

Check out the great deal below from Cellfire and Kroger. Be sure to hurry, since the $1 bonus expires this Sunday (August 8th) night and it will be capped out after the first 10,000 people redeem it.

Cellfire is a website where you add electronic coupons, or "e-coupons", to your frequent shopper card.Sign up for Cellfire HERE and add your e-coupons now!!!

More Success To Share - Selling Stuffed Animals On eBay

Last month, I shared a personal eBay selling story about a stuffed dog. To read it, click here. Since then, I've had more success selling stuffed animals and read a great article about a $100 bunny.

First up, in the past week, I sold this Classic Pooh Rabbit and this Russ Tiger. The rabbit was priced at $24.97 with the "or best offer" feature added. It had been in my eBay store for almost 4 months and you'll notice the buyer paid full price! The tiger I listed a month ago, also with the "or best offer" feature and I took a $20.00 offer. I paid $.50 for the rabbit and $.75 for the tiger. Not a bad little profit, if you can be patient enough the wait for the right buyer to come along.

Now, on to the $100 story. This is compliments of my eBay mentor Debbie over at eBay Mommy. She also has a great "how-to" eBay selling website in addition to the blog. And, she is were I learned/was inspired to sell plush. Anyway, head over to her blog and read her post about a Carter's bunny that sells for big $$. Also, if you look through her recent posts, you'll find one about yours truly. :)

Have a great weekend and happy hunting (thrift store, garage sale or your own closets)!!

Having A Fun (And Frugal) Thanksgiving Weekend

I've been having a great Thanksgiving week. I guess it all started Monday night when I gave in and bought Twilight . The first novel in the way too popular Stephanie Meyer series. I say "gave in" because, well lets face it, I'm in my 30's so I've already done the whole vampire thing back in the 90's with Anne Rice. Plus, Stephanie Meyer's books have way too many screaming tween and teen fans (mostly due to the movies, I'm sure). Anyway, I couldn't put Twilight down once I stared reading it in the store. I loved it! Which is saying a lot. I love to read but I am very picky at the same time.

I finished reading Wednesday afternoon while cooking our Thanksgiving dinner. My husband worked on Thanksgiving Day, so we planned ahead for dinner on Wednesday. By the way, I used the Slow Cooker Turkey Recipe (2 ingredients plus 8 hours) and it came out awesome! We had just a few sides and a pecan pie, since it was just the 4 of us. It was so relaxing to hang out together without any stress to clean or have dinner ready at a certain time.

On Thanksgiving Day we lounged around in our pajamas (well 3 of us did, hubby was off to work), watched the Macy's parade and ate leftovers. I'll have to say the best compliment I've ever received on my cooking is when my son asked for turkey and sweet potatoes for breakfast! Anyway, then we headed out to my in-laws. The kids got to play with all their cousins. It was lots of fun and the weather was so beautiful. Then, we drove by my parents and visited them for a bit. We are so thankful to have so much of our family, living so close. :)

Friday...well, I'm not a Black Friday shopper. At all. The whole getting up really early and fighting large crowds to save a few bucks does not appeal to me. I'm more of a sleep in and shop on the Internet at my leisure type. I'm already done shopping for my kids via the internet, free shipping on everything (Santa and I shopped Toys R Us and Amazon). So yesterday, since I was afraid to go out with the crowds just for a new book (New Moon...second in the Twilight series). I stayed home again and blogged. It was so nice to devote a few hours to it, I had lots of fun. And, I opened a new checking account that will pay me a $121 bonus! More on that at the end of this post.

Today, I had to get out and get the next book. First I dropped of eBay stuff at the Post Office (yay!). Then, I picked up my free 8x10 Walgreens collage (expired offer-saved $3.99) and got a free Redbox (promo code: DVDONME, I used a new debit card- saved $1). Finally I got to Target and got the book. Last, I planned a trip to Chick-Fil-A. I saved $2.89 there using a coupon. The kids got to play while I started to read. It's already sucked me in and now I'm wondering what I'm doing blogging right now, I need to be reading!

Also, I need to say how much I love the new Wylie Target. I forgot to use a few coupons (guess I was giddy about the new book) and ran back in after loading the car. The lady at customer service was SO nice about it. They love couponers at the Wylie location! Oh and a deal alert, they have 1 lb. cartons of strawberries for $.99!!!

I mentioned I opened a new account that will pay me a $121 bonus. It's an ING Direct Electic Ornage checking account. I've been an ING saving account holder since 2003, and it's the best savings account I've ever had. So, yesterday when ING had a Black Froday offer for their checking account, I jumped on teh offer. Read yesterday's ING post for all the scoop. Here's the best part, the offer was extended for today! I have no idea when it expires exactl, so please hurry if $121 in free money sounds good to you! It's a "Black Friday" deal so it won't last long.

Okay, I'm off to post a few more things and then stick my nose back in New Moon. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and remember all that you're thankful for!

Black Friday Sale At ING Direct = A $121 Bonus With New Checking Account

Today ONLY recieve a $121 bonus for signing up with an Electic Orange Checking Account from ING Direct! Why $121? That's the average amount consumers pay in overdraft fees annually.

Here's how:

1. Open an Electric Orange checking account with reference code EOSAVE.
2. Use your Debit Card to make 3 signature transactions (you know, the ones you have to actually sign) within the first 45 days.
3. On day 50, we'll put $121 in your account. You have to open TODAY to get the $121 bonus.

I really like ING Direct a lot...I've been an account holder since 2003. :)

Earn Extra Money All Year With Surveys!!

Panda Research pays between $3 to $75 for every survey you complete. Plus, you get $3 just for signing up, and yes it's free!

Be sure to have a separate e-mail box for your surveys. It keeps your personal e-mail box clean, plus all the surveys are in one spot when you have a few minutes to sit down and respond.

$10 Bonus From Coin Star & An Idea For Holiday Shopping!

Currently Coinstar, is offering an extra $10 when you take your coins to a Coinstar® machine and change $40 for a certificate. Click here for more info. Coinstar does change an 8.9 cents per dollar. fee when you get cash for the coins. But, you can get free coin counting when you turn your coins into a Gift Card or eCertificate!

Dumping change at Coinstar was one of my holiday gift ideas in my new eHow, How To Frugally Exchange Nice Gifts Without Looking Cheap. One of my suggestions was rounding up all your spare change and taking it to Coinstar. You could use the cash for gift shopping, dump it slowly and get gift cards in even increments, or get a gift card for yourself to gift shop with.

I do belive the $10 bonus will be mailed, so it might not come in time for gift giving or shopping, but we won't know unless we try. Offer expires December 6, 2009.

One Year Subscription to Bridal Guide Magazine For Free

Yup, that's right!! Get 12 FREE issues of Bridal Guide magazine from ValueMags.Com.

Also available, 3 free issues of Field & Stream magazine.

I request all the free magazines I can get. Here's why: I can usually flip through one magazine a night. It's so fun to look at all the pretty glossy ads....! Anyway, I'm looking for articles to read (then or flag for later), coupons, interesting sweepstakes, etc.

Once I'm done, the magazine goes to the donate/sell pile. Sometimes I donate them to the library. Depending on your personal situation, this might be tax deductible. So, be sure to ask for a receipt just in case. Other times (most times, hehe) when I feel like getting a little cash for my wallet, I sell them to Half Price Books. Last month's pile was worth $10!! When selling them, it seems you get more $$ for more currents issues. Therefore, I'd advise going about once a month.

Want more freebies? Click here for my most recent freebie posts. Don't want to miss another free magazine (like Oprah, M.S. Living, Vogue, Marie Claire, Field & Stream, Car & Driver, Good Housekeeping, my list goes on and on and on...!) subscription? Subscribe to Wylie Mom via e-mail. I always post all the freebies I personally request.

Have a great day!

I Made A $.42 Profit Buying Milk & More At CVS

I finally made it into CVS this week!!

2 Boxes Cereal $5.00
Milk $2.49
Glade Candle $6.99

minus

$1.00 off Cheerios coupon from the sample I got here
$1.00 off Cin. Toast Crunch coupon
$3.00 Glade coupon (All You maybe?)
$8.00 ECB from this trip
$.50 ECB from Summer spending

Total OOP = $1.07 and I got back $9.99 in ECB.

I still had another $5 in ECB from last week, but didn't find anything to "roll" the bucks with so I settled for $1 out of pocket. I made a small Extra Care Buck profit of $1.49 ($9.99 made minus $8.50 used) combined with the $1.07 in cash spent and I "made" $.42 buying the milk I needed. On the other hand, I did not need any more cereal. But, I went ahead and got it since the Girls Scouts are "trick or treating" tonight for canned goods and toiletries. I have a huge bag of ready for them (cereal, pop-tarts, razors, deodorant, mac-n-cheese...). Plus ther was a profit that I couldn't pass up. :)

Now, I have $5 in ECB from last months trip that still need to be spent (ASAP), and the $9.99 from this trip.

*** DEAL ALERT!! Little Swimmers packs are on the clearance rack for $2.25. It's a great time to stock up for spring!!

Making Money on eBay Selling Kids Snow Bibs

If you follow me Twitter, you might have read this morning where I was getting an eBay purchase ready to ship and decided to blog about it. Kind of a "success story" if you will. :)

Last spring I purchased 3 kids snow bibs (overalls) at a thrift shop for $2 each. I placed them all in my eBay store at the time. Remember spring selling on eBay is all about Easter, not snow!

First up , a pair of Barbi snow bibs in excellent condition (looked like a Walmart brand & was missing the matching jacket) sold about 4 or 5 months ago for $13.97. I shipped those to Canada, so the timing of the purchase makes more sense.

Today, I sold and shipped a pair of Columbia snow bibs. They were navy blue, in excellent condition, and sold for $27.97. Plus, I still have a pair of kids Obermeyer's left in my store at $17.97. ***Update*** The Obermeyer pair sold on October 25th, just 3 weeks after this post. :)

Looking at all 3 pairs, once the 3rd pair sells, that will end up being about $60 in gross sales. With only spending $6 for the snow bibs, my inventory only cost me 10%. I only pay a little to PayPal and eBay after that, but once it's all said and done it's about 25-30% in inventory and fees and 70-75% profit. Impressive business model overall, I'd say! And $60 is certainly not bad off of a $6 investment. I have no knowledge of cold weather wear, I've never even been skiing. I took a small chance (as far as my experience on the items) and it is paying off. As usual, I think the key to success on eBay is listing items in a "store" and being very patient. Once you have a few hundred items listed, you should be selling something every day or so.

Have an eBay success story? I'd love to hear it! :)

Happy Meal Toy Plus eBay Equals FREE Lunch & Entertainment

When trying to save money, you need to think outside of the box and keep things fun! Check out how I take my kids to McDonald's for a free lunch and indoor playground time. First, I'll cost it out and then explain my crazy self. :)

$3.99 Chicken Nugget Happy Meal (price varies per market and Happy Meal type/size)
$1.75 Shipping
$0.50 PayPal fee
$0.09 eBay Listing fee ($.03/mo for a 3 mo. average)
$0.60 eBay Final Value fee

Total "cost" = $6.93

$4.97 Amount collect for a (new in package) McDonald's Happy Meal Toy on eBay
$2.00 Shipping & Handling fees collected

Gross profit = $6.97

Net profit = $.04 (woot woot, haha!!)

So what I do is, I head to McDonald's now and then and "treat" the kids to lunch. Depending on how cool the kids think the current Happy Meal campaign is, I might let them keep one toy per campaign and I sell the rest. For example, Star Wars, Matchbox cars, Barbi and My Little Pony are keepers. Any trips after that, I keep the toys to sell. Who needs that many tiny toys anyway?

I keep them new in the plastic and sell them on eBay. Who buys these McDonald's toys? I've seen adult collectors purchase them and moms who had a little one lose their favorite one. As far as eBay is concerned, you just never know what people sre searching for! I also recently sold 19 Happy Meal toys to someone in Japan, that was about $95 in cash deposit into my PayPal. Not to mention he bought a few outfits from my store as as well. I could, think of them as profit making ($.04) advertising. :)

My point is, find little things you can do but keep it fun. I'd say it takes me about 10 minutes to sell each toy. That's from start (taking pictures & listing) to finish (pulling from storage & shipping). I don't list them until I have 5 or 6 to list, and use "list similar" to make listing faster. So 10 minutes of my time in invested for each $4 Happy Meal I buy. That's $24 an hour, but when I add in my Wylie Mom math, I'd need to earn $32 an hour outside of the home to have the same lunch experience. I personally find that reading a book while the kids play at McDonald's for a treat, and then spending a few minutes on the computer is a great use of my time.

McDonald's indoor playgrounds are a great idea for running off energy on rainy days or on days when you're running lots of errands. Please be sure to wash up or sanitize before and after play time!!

Figure what your time is worth and combine it with what you enjoy doing, to save or make money. Obviously, I can't make a living or survive with this plan, but it combined with all the other little things I do make a huge impact. You've just got to think outside of the box!

I'd love to hear some of your ideas!

Giving Rebates Some Thought!

Since I sent off 3 rebates this week, I have been giving them some thought. Trying a product for free is always awesome, but unlike samples, rebates can be a lot more fun. When a rebate is active, there are usually coupons out there too, meaning you have a chance to make a $1 or $2 profit. To maximize your profits, purchase rebate items with catalinas or Extra Care Bucks, etc. That way you're paying with "free" money from another deal in the past, and you're getting a cashable check back. Sometime, you can even double your money.

Let's say there is a sale at CVS, if you buy shampoo for $7, you get $5 back in ECB. You also have a $3 coupon and a mfg. rebate. You'd pay $4 cash out of pocket (if you have no previous ECB...as if!), get $5 in ECB back plus $7 back from the mfg. rebate. So, pay $4 or less and get $12 back. These kinds of rebate deals are my favorites, for obvious reasons! :)

On Monday I mailed off three rebates: $3.99 for a Goody headband (made $1 profit), $7.19 for Tyson Skillet meal (made $1 profit) and a $20 rebate from Oil of Olay. That's $31.18 coming back to me. Check out my Olay rebate story here.

Last but not least, I just recently found the coolest rebate website. I wonder where I have been? Anyway, it's called Rebate Tracker. You can search for rebates, track your rebates, chat about rebates (that's a little too far for me), etc.

Want to make rebates more fun? I've thought about starting a "rebate" checking or savings account. You would use the account for only your rebate checks, but save the money for something special to keep you motivated. Like for Christmas, a trip to Disney World, a new purse, whatever gets you going! Have any rebate success stories? Tell me! Questions? Ask me!

Have a great night!! And, be sure to check out Wylie Mom on Facebook. :)

Yes, Surveys Can Be Worth Your Time!

This morning I thought I'd give my favorite survey sites a check. I don't log in as near as much as I'd like to, and was very pleased (and surprised!) to see a "cashable" balance at 3 of them. I have $47.10 on the way to me. Not too bad, huh?

There are a lot of survey sites out there to choose from. Since everyone is differnet, there's no telling which ones you'll prefer. I suggest signing up for a few at a time. Try them out for a few days/weeks, and drop the ones you don't like. Maybe add another, if you find the time. Also, I would suggest maintaining a new and seperate e-mail address just for your surveys.

Here are some things I look for in surveys (and survey sites) :

1. How many surveys do they e-mail a day? I'd like to see 1 to 4 surveys a day, depenidng on quailty.

2. How long does the survey take? It's a survey of my opinion, not a college entrance exam! You'll have to pay me pretty well to care for more than 20 minutes.

3. How much does it pay? Some places pay in cash and others in points. Points are fine, as long as they can be exchanged for cash. Time is money! Is your time worth $.50 for 20 minutes? No. Is your time worht $5 for 15 minutes? Yes.

Don't forget about the product trials!! Since I started the survey scene about a year ago, I have gotten to try and keep: Samsung Glyde phone, 5 cologne samples, sunscreen, cake mix w/ frosting, another dessert mix, shampoo, plus more. That's in addition to the few $$ they paid for my opinion as well. :)

Here are my favorite survey sites:

SurveySpot - 1 to 6 e-mails a day, but has a fair amout of $2-5 surveys and has awesome random product trials! Pays out via check and will be moving to PayPal next month which will be great. I requested a $7 check this morning. :)

Synovate Gobal Opinion Panels - 2 to 6 surveys a week and pays in points (1000 points = $1). Most surveys pay low for just a few minutes, but there will be one "awesome" survey that comes along every few weeks. Frequent product trials!! I cashed out a $10 check this morning, but had to leave a small balance. Requests can only be made in increments of $5.

InboxDollars - Today was my first time to cash out since you need $30 to request a check! I had to pay a $3 check processing fee which I then earned right back (for next time). I usually just read the e-mails and do the cash offers with this one, and I requested $30.10 today (that's after the $3 fee, haha). All offers pay out cash (no points), and you can earn for online shopping as well.

MyPoints - A lot like InboxDollars, but I don't do the surveys here. At MyPoints, you earn points reading e-mails, shopping and doing surveys (surveys pay low). I just answer the e-mails and earn points for filling out my Bzzz reports for BzzAgent. BzzAgent sends you new products to try and spread the "bzzz" about. You're rewarded with points at MyPoints. It's a win-win as far as my MyPoints account.

Have a great survey site that I didn't mention? Just leave a comment to this post. Thanks!

Cash In Your Swagbucks For CASH Via PayPal

I just cashed in 160 Swagbucks for $10 CASH!!!

Yup, Swagbucks now has the option to cash out via PayPal. I use a PayPal debit card already, so that means my $$ will be available to me even faster. :)

Here's the official scoop:

"Want to turn your Swag Bucks into CASH? This is your chance! When you snag this prize, $5 USD will be deposited into your PayPal account."

What is Swagbucks? I use it for my search engine since it's powered by Google and Ask.Com. When you use it, you are rewarded with points (Swagbucks). Points are then cashed in for rewards. Now, it's not just FREE stuff, but FREE money. Want to give it a try? Click here.

This Week's CVS Trips

I couldn't resist CVS this week....I made a tiny profit! Here's what went down:

Transaction #1

Garnier Style stuff $2.99
Crest $1.99

minus

$1.00 Garnier coupon
$1.00 Crest coupon from mailed P&G book
$2.89 in ECB

Total OOP = $.09 and I got back $3.00 in ECB

Transaction #2

5 Visines $18.95
Band-Aids $3.59

minus

(5) $2.00 Visine newspaper coupons
$2.00 CVS/Visine-A coupon from the magic coupon machine before Transaction #1
$1.00 Band-Aid newspaper coupon
$9.00 in ECB

Total OOP = $.54 and I got back $10.00 in ECB.

Overall, I spent $.63 cash out of pocket and I increased my ECB from $8.89 to $10. That's an ECB profit of $1.11, minus the $.63 cash I spent and I made a "profit" of $.48 this week at CVS. I also saved $40.89. But wait, there's more! I listed the four Visine Tears boxes on eBay ($9.99 starting price) and already have a bidder! It was another win-win week at CVS. :)

My Walgreens Trip This Morning-April 27

I made a small money making trip this morning to Walgreens. We needed starch, but here's what I got:

Transaction #1

Nivea Bodywash $4.99
Rembrandt Mouthwash $5.99
Bayer Quick Release Crystals $2.49

minus

$3.00 in RR from last week
$3/$10 Walgreens coupon (I had to drive to Rockwall, it was a grand opening coupon)

Total OOP = $7.39 in cash and I got back $13.50 in Register Rewards. $5 from Nivea, $6 from Rembrandt and $2.50 from Bayer.

Transaction #2

2 Walgreens Starch $3.00
Ecotrin Aspirin $2.00

minus

$2.25 Ecotrin printable coupon

$2.50 in RR from transaction #1

Total OOP = $.50 cash and I got back $2.00 in RR for the Ecotrin.

Overall, I spent $7.89 in cash out of pocket. Ouch! But I ended with $13.00 in RR so that's an overall profit of $5.11. I also saved $12.49. On a side note, I submitted my last Walgreens rebate yesterday! Walgreens has done away with the Easy Saver Rebates. Pretty sad, but if the Register Rewards are anything like this week, I think I can cope.

I also picked up Disney's Bedtime Story's at the Redbox on the way out for free, for the kiddos.