15 Ways to Earn Money Online for the Holidays and more...

I LOVE fall for so many reasons — hot tea, scarves, boots, and fires in the fireplace while snuggling up with a good book — but all of the wonderful things about the upcoming holiday season might leave some of us […]

Here's what's new: 15 Ways to Earn Money Online for the Holidays 7 Habits of People Winning the Fight Against Debt Gretchen’s $31 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan Free Editable Printable November 2016 Cleaning Calendar 15 Ways to Earn Money Online for the Holidays I LOVE fall for so many reasons — hot tea, scarves, boots, and fires in the fireplace while snuggling up with a good book — but all of the wonderful things about the upcoming holiday season might leave some of us feeling a bit unprepared financially. This can ruin the wonder of the season, but it doesn’t have to! There are SO many ways to increase your holiday budget, and today, we’re going to dive into 25 different ideas to help you earn extra cash for the holidays — without even leaving the house! Way #1: Swagbucks If you've read my blog at all, you know I'm a big fan of Swagbucks. And you probably signed up a long time ago and have been earning gift cards ever since. For the handful of you who have yet to sign up for Swagbucks or for the many others who have signed up but feel like you're not earning much from it, you can go here to learn more. Way #2: Ebates Ebates works with online stores to offer you a percentage — usually somewhere between 3-10% of your total purchase — back as a rebate. While this might not seem like much, it can really add up over time. And if you're already going to be making the online purchase, you might as well get a little kickback, too, right? They currently offer cash back at over 1800 stores including Walmart, Target, JCPenney, Staples, Lands' End, Sephora, and many, many more. One of the oldest cashback sites, Ebates has an easy-to-navigate website and, in my personal view, is the best cashback program. You only have to earn $5.01 in rebates in order to get a check or Paypal payment. Way #3: Amazon Trade-In Program Amazon’s Trade-In Program is wonderful for two reasons: 1. You can earn extra cash for the holiday, and 2. You can declutter your house at the same time! This has to be one of the best ways to get ready for the holiday, right?! Find out more about how to earn cash by trading in your unused things here. Way #4: Sell your used books Selling your gently used books is a great way to build your holiday budget! Books can be expensive, so selling your used books to companies like Cash4Books.net, MyBookBuyer, Amazon Trade-In Store, and Half.com can not only help you get the extra cash you need, but it can also help others get great deals on books. Win-win! Way #5: Fiverr Fiverr is a great place to earn cash for doing simple tasks for people who are looking for specific services. It can be as easy as writing a 300-word article (Note: This post has 417 words at this point, so 300 isn’t all that much!), recording a short video, proofreading, etc. People generally pay $5 for these small tasks (or more, depending on the job), and that can really add up! Check out this guest post by Lisa of The Frugal Batavian that outlines all the need-to-know facts about how Fiverr works and how you can make money doing things you’re already good at! Way #6: Online tutoring Working as an online tutor is a great way to make extra cash in your free time, and it doesn't take much to get started. Check out what Alaina of Telecommuting Mommies has to say about the different options available and how you can start earning in time for the holidays in her guest post here. Way #7: Freelancing The idea of freelancing can intimidate some folks, but the truth is, most people have skills they can monetize that they don’t even know about. Sara of Omaha Moms shares her story of how oDesk (now Upwork) helped her and her family recover from financial challenges — and how she got her first client within 24 hours!  You can read her full guest post here. So inspiring! Other options are Guru.com and Lionbridge. Way #8: Become a virtual call center agent Seasonal work as a virtual call center agent is a fantastic way to earn some good cash before the holidays. Hear what Alaina Forbes from Telecommuting Mommies shares in another guest post she did for MoneySavingMom.com about the ins and outs of getting started and what companies are hire seasonal agents! Way #9: Take online surveys This definitely won’t make you rich, but I can say that in our lean years, I was able to earn extra cash to help us pay for the things we needed with online surveys. Check out this post that lists the survey companies I recommend the most! Way #10: Listia Another fantastic way to earn free gift cards is with Listia. Listia is an online auction website similar to eBay, except that no money is exchanged. With the credits you earn, you can cash out for gift cards among other things. You can go here to learn more about what Listia is and how to use it. Way #11: Write basic articles Textbroker works with people from all over the United States to write very basic articles on a wide variety of topics. If you have good basic English grammar skills, this is a great way to earn extra money for the holidays! Find out more about Textbroker from Miranda of WAHadventures.com in her guest post here. Way #10: Get paid to listen to music SliceThePie is another money-making website we learned about from Miranda. If you love listening to new music, this is a wonderful opportunity to earn cash doing what you love. Find out more from Miranda here. Way #12: Transcribe other people’s voicemail QuickTate hires entry-level transcriptionists to transcribe audio files into text. Miranda explains in her post that they mostly deal with voicemail recordings, which sounds like an interesting way to make extra cash. This job won’t make you rich, but it will help boost your holiday budget just in time for Christmas! Way #13: Sell your junk mail Harmony of Creating My Kaleidoscope recently shared her experience with a company who will pay you to send them your junk mail. Sounds scary, right?! Well, Harmony did her research and has some great things to say about the company who conducts market research using her junk mail. You can learn more about it here. Way #14: Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) Jason of Home Life Organized shared a tip with us last year about how to earn money with Amazon Mechanical Turk by taking surveys and completing small tasks, like verifying information on a receipt or text in an image. These are tasks that can’t be done by computers, so Amazon pays people from a few cents to a few dollars per task to get these jobs done. Find out more about how to earn cash with MTurk here. Way #15: Usability Testing for Websites Ever hear about usability testing for websites? Well, Anna of Real Ways to Earn Money Online says that companies are willing to pay good money to have their websites tested by people like you and me to better understand what improvements could be made. If you enjoy surfing the web and visiting new websites, this is a great way to earn some extra cash doing what you already enjoy! Check out Anna’s list of companies hiring website usability testers here! Looking for additional creative ways to add to your Christmas budget this year? Check out this article on How to Fund Your Christmas Budget in Just 15 Minutes Per Day! Other Articles You Might Enjoy: 12 Ways to Save for Next Christmas How to Give at Christmas When You Don't Have Enough Money 5 Ideas to Simplify Christmas and Save Your Budget How We Bought Christmas Gifts on a $0 Budget How We Lowered Our Christmas Budget, Reduced Our Clutter, and Created More Family Time Do you know of any other easy ways to earn extra cash from home? Comment below and share your tips! (Note: The links in this post are affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy here.)        7 Habits of People Winning the Fight Against Debt Guest post from Jamie of Medium Sized Family: Have you ever gotten to work and suddenly realized you zoned out while you were driving? It might make you panic a little bit… and it also shows how a habit you practice every day can be ingrained in your subconscious. Habits are powerful. Like Zig Ziglar says "Motivation gets you going and habit gets you there." Finding the motivation to dig out of debt is one thing… continuing the dig until you reach the end is another. In my opinion, people who win the fight against debt have a few habits they've put in place to stack the odds in their corner. Here are 7 habits of people winning the fight against debt. 1. They have SMART goals. Having a generic idea of what you want is NOT the same as putting a SMART goal into place. Your goal should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timed. 2. They learn. The fight against debt is a big struggle. Arm yourself with as much knowledge as you can. Read books on getting debt free, listen to podcasts, subscribe to blogs that motivate you to get out of debt or promote frugal living, print inspirational and relevant quotes and leave them where you'll see them daily. 3. They have an accountability partner. Find a friend or family member that will cheer you on and remind you why you're doing this when it gets hard. If you can't find anyone, turn to Facebook or find a frugal online forum to join. Sometimes just committing to post updates once every other week will keep you accountable. 4. They give more time than money. We believe it's important to continue giving money at church, even when we are getting out of debt. But think of all the other places that ask you for money. Perhaps a friend is in need or the school is asking for donations. Consider ways to help them out by using your time rather than your money. This has a double benefit. First, it allows you to pay off debt. (Imagine how much better you can help them when you're debt free). Second, it occupies your free time, limiting temptations to spend. 5. They choose the important. In this life, it's easy to overlook the important for the urgent. It's tempting to choose now over later. People eliminating debt form a habit of pausing to consider a choice. Most things seem important now, but in the long run, they aren't worth the bonds of debt. For example, you might feel pressured to buy your child an amazing birthday gift right now… but a few months down the road, you’ll most likely wish you would have put that money in savings and gotten your child a less expensive gift. 6. They plan ahead. People are sometimes in debt because they failed to plan ahead. Life sneaks up on them. Sudden "emergencies" (like Christmas presents or a quick meal) become credit card debt. The habit of planning ahead in both small and large matters will save you a ton of money. It's cheaper to grab a cooler of water on your way out the door than to buy drinks while you're out. Open an account to save for an upcoming bill rather than using credit cards with high interest rates. 7. They say no. A lot. Our family has gotten into the habit of saying "No." We do it so often that we've dubbed 2016 the #yearofno. Decide that the answer is no (unless you can find a convincing reason to say yes), and you'll save tons of money. Most of us have a habit of justifying purchases. We bend over backwards to say yes whenever possible. Reset yourself to saying no by default. You'll find that only the truly important things make it through that screen. These 7 habits take time to develop, but they'll carry you to debt freedom. Just as habit helps you to get to work "automatically", establishing good life habits will help you travel the road all the way to debt freedom! Jamie Jeffers instilled the #yearofno in her home, and now her family is finally kicking debt to the curb. To help you fight against debt, too, she created a free mini course called Identify and Destroy Your Budget Busters. Learn more on her blog, Medium Sized Family. photo source        Gretchen’s $31 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan Aldi 1 gallon Milk – $2.54 2 dozen Eggs – $0.99 each 1 loaf Bread – $0.99 1 pkg Crackers – $1.59 1 bag Frozen Shredded Hashbrowns – $1.65 1 bag Frozen Broccoli – $1.19 1 Unsweetened Applesauce – $1.89 1 bag Frozen Strawberries – $2.09 1 bag Frozen Peas – $0.95 2 bag Baby Carrots – $0.49 each, used $0.25/1 Checkout 51 rebate – $0.36 each after rebate 1 pkg Flour Tortillas – $0.99 1 Cucumber – $0.59 1 pkg English Muffins – $0.99 1 pint Grape Tomatoes – $0.99 Total after rebate: $19.16 Dillons 1 Hershey’s Almond Bar – $0.99, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon 1 Aquafina Water – $1, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon 1 Bob’s Red Mill Wheat Bran – $1.59, used $1/1 printable – $0.59 after coupon 2 Prego Spaghetti Sauce – $1.50 each, used $1/2 printable AND $0.25/1 Ibotta rebate – $0.87 each after coupon and rebate 1 Kroger Spaghetti – Free (On Sale Buy 2 Prego Sauce, Get Pasta Free) 1 Little Debbie Honey Buns – $1, used $0.55/1 printable (no longer available) – $0.45 after coupon 2 Frozen Tombstone Pizza – $1.99 each, used $1.50/2 e-coupon – $1.24 each after coupon 1 Kroger Yogurt – Marked down to $0.99 2 Chobani Yogurt – Marked down to $0.49 and $0.59 2 pkg Smithfield Bacon – $2.50 each, used 2 $1/1 printable AND $0.10/1 Mobisave rebate – $1.45 each after coupon 1 pkg Smithfield Ham Steak – $2.50, used $1/1 printable – $1.50 after coupon 1 Green Bell Pepper – $0.89 Total after coupons and rebates: $12.62 Total for both stores: $31.78 Menu Plan for This Week Breakfasts Cereal, Fruit Smoothies x 3 Eggs, English Muffins x 3 Baked Oatmeal Lunches Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Carrot Sticks, Grape Tomatoes x 2 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Sliced Apples Cheese, Crackers, Fruit, Veggies x 2 Leftovers Lunch with my in-laws Dinners Spaghetti, Pumpkin Muffins, Steamed Broccoli Ham Hashbrown Casserole (I will be making one to freeze as well.), Biscuits, Steamed Carrots Homemade Pizza, Breadsticks Hearty Hamburger Soup, Crackers, Veggies Chicken Enchiladas, Rice, Fruit Salad (We still have some fruit leftover from the last couple of weeks that I will be using up.) French Toast, Eggs, Bacon Date night using a gift card        Free Editable Printable November 2016 Cleaning Calendar Download a free editable printable November 2016 cleaning calendar.        Latest finds on Pinterest Breaking News! I went to the mall today… come see what I bought!! Get Spectrum Organic Virgin Coconut Oil for just $14.92 shipped on Amazon right now! 5 Reasons to Become a Money Making Mom. Being a money-making mom has changed my life and the life of my family. In three years time, I went from being a stay-at-home mom who could barely afford it, to achieving seemingly impossible goals through my at-home business. If you’re on the fence about whether or not to start a business of your own, you might want to consider these 5 reasons to become a money-making mom. Latest finds on Pinterest Breaking News! I went to the mall today… come see what I bought!! Get Spectrum Organic Virgin Coconut Oil for just $14.92 shipped on Amazon right now! 5 Reasons to Become a Money Making Mom. Being a money-making mom has changed my life and the life of my family. In three years time, I went from being a stay-at-home mom who could barely afford it, to achieving seemingly impossible goals through my at-home business. If you’re on the fence about whether or not to start a business of your own, you might want to consider these 5 reasons to become a money-making mom.     Click here to safely unsubscribe from "LITE Feed, Money Saving Mom®." Click here to view mailing archives, here to change your preferences, or here to subscribe • Privacy Email subscriptions powered by FeedBlitz, LLC, 365 Boston Post Rd, Suite 123, Sudbury, MA 01776, USA.