Saving at Subway

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If you have not heard, all foot long (except for the ones marked Premium) sandwiches at Subway are $5 during the month of February.  February is almost gone, so if you have not taken advantage of the savings, it’s time to start.  Whether it’s a quick lunch or something to store in the fridge for later, you can’t go wrong with something that has the potential to be healthy and cheap.

On Leap Day most Subway sandwich locations will give you a free cookie with any purchase.  Woohoo!

Also, Subway’s foot long of the month in March will be the Jalapeno Tuna and yes, to get the $5 deal on the sandwich, you do have to get the jalapenos on it.

Woking From Home, Overcoming Obstacle #1

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Overcoming Working From Home Obstacle #1:

  • Search for referrals from friends, family and other people you trust.  There are many internet scams out there, so finding a legitimate Work from Home Job may be like finding a needle in a haystack.
  • Consider following trusted sources on Social Media.  I have found two more legitimate Work from Home opportunities by following someone I trust through Social Media.  She rocks and only tweets what she think will benefit her followers, not what she is paid to post.
  • Search until you find one opportunity and take it.  Legitimate employers who pay well that give employees a 40 hour work week also have to make sure they are hiring legitimate employees.  Just like there are job scams, there are people posing as employees who end up stealing information or just not following through on contracts.  For this reason, it’s important to develop an online, Work From Home, resume.

If you are serious, just get started.  Once you get started and prove yourself, you will find that more doors will open up to you.

 

Working from Home, Obstacle #1

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As I have said before, working from home has many great advantages and I love it.  For those who would like to join the work from home group, there are a few obstacles that may need to be tackled.  Here’s the first …

Working from Home, Obstacle # 1: Getting Started

The internet has changed our lives.  As great as the internet is and as much as it has exploded, the internet has also become prime breeding ground for scams.  Any scam you can think of can be found on the internet.  Scams make working from home a little more difficult simply because you don’t know who to trust.  You don’t know which offers are real and which offers are too good to be true because there are plenty of both, so how do you decipher between the two?

I found my first work from home job through Craigslist.  I read through the offer and sent a reply.  I received a blurb back and went ahead and applied through the actual company site.  As I started to fill out my application, I was asked for my Social Security number.  I stopped and told myself, this is not real.  Why do they want that information from me?  Given my situation at that time, I decided that I was going to take a risk and go for it.  At that point, I didn’t have anything to lose and if something happened to my credit, there were ways to get it fixed.  I was lucky.  I had found a legitimate opportunity.  Others are not so lucky.

In order to find legitimate work from home opportunities, it’s best to talk with those who have already found one and are currently still employed by them.  It’s always best to get a referral from someone you know and trust.  Completing searches online will bring up thousands of results, some are real and some are not.  You can click on each result, to read through their blurb (be sure that your computer has the latest anti-virus, internet protection before you go that route, some links will contaminate your machine with viruses) or you can find referrals.

I still work for my first work at home job, but they go through downtime just like regular companies do.  The difference is that when an online company has no work, they don’t lay people off, they just don’t provide anything to do, so you’re still technically employed.  When I experienced my first lull with them, I realized that I needed to have a back up and then a back up to that back up.  At that point, my situation allowed me to go through that downtime without any damage.  I was able to weather the storm, but I started to actively search for more opportunities.

Save on Amazon.com

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I started using Amazon.com years ago.  I was not an online shopper for a long time.  I reasoned how are you suppose to buy something like clothes or shoes without trying them on first?  Then you get them and don’t fit, then what?  I realized that online shopping like every other piece of technology was evolving.  Online shopping did not just mean shopping for shoes and clothes.  Suddenly there was books, music and movies for purchase online too.

I purchase my books through Amazon.com.  Recently, I have added movies to the repertoire.  There’s some prices that just can’t be beat.  It’s true that Amazon has developed algorithms that track your purchases in order to make suggestions all in the name of getting you to buy more and more often.  Amazon knowing you is not the worst thing in the world especially when recommendations for items that you actually want to buy are made to you at ridiculously low prices.  Today, Amazon.com sold the Kindle version of Twilight for just $2.99.  That was $5 off the regular price.  Percentage-wise, that’s a great savings.  In the process of deciding whether or not to make the purchase ( I don’t own a Kindle, but I do know that I can get the app that will allow me to read the book on my iPod), I came across a great surprise.

I clicked on the email Amazon sent me letting me know about the special Twilight offer to browse the deal.  Looking through the options, there it was, an offer for the Twilight audiobook.  When I purchased the Twilight Saga paperbacks  and devoured them quickly, I wished for an easy way to take them with me and yes, to have them read to me, so I looked up any possible options.  Yes, the Twilight Saga is on audio, but somewhat expensive, so I decided it would be a purchase that would have to wait.  Finding audible.com through Amazon today was like my Valentines Day gift to myself.  Normally, I don’t open Amazon’s suggestions, but I’m glad that I did today, so here’s the skinny …

Audible.com is a membership site that offers books on CD for up to 75% off.  The offer that I took advantage of today was the one that gave me the Twilight audiobook for free (normally $28) and a second book for free (I took advantage and choose Breaking Dawn, the most expensive Twilight book, normally $35).  So here I am sitting, typing and working while listening to Twilight for free.  In 30 days, I will be charged $14.95 and every month thereafter (unless I cancel my membership), but I will earn a free book each time, so I will be able to essentially purchase the two remaining Twilight books for less than their retail price and the set for about $30, hello savings!

Here’s the offer that I took advantage of: Audible.com Twilight Offer

Now, I don’t know how long this offer will be available, so if this one is not available by the time you get to it, browse around for another.  I did see others, but this one was the best one for me.

Organization = Saving .

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To save, it’s essential to be organized.  There’s no way around it.  Being organized means that you are always prepared.  Being prepared means that you always have your coupons, need to purchase list and smartphone with you.  Every time I am going to run errands, I plan the most efficient route possible and make my handy list, but even then, there’s always something I remember I have to pick up while already out on the road.  It’s OK though because I always make sure that I have my coupons with me.  Even if you don’t plan on picking something up on a particular shopping trip and then stumble upon a great sale or discount, having all your tools with you means that you will still maximize your savings.

Saving and being organized go hand in hand.  Disorganization means that you don’t know what you truly need to purchase right now and what you can hold off on.  When you are forced to make a purchase because you weren’t organized, you may end up paying a premium.  Some retailers that I will name in future posts, will raise the price of an item to a higher price when the sale expires.  The price will be higher than it was before it went on sale.  I realized this a few years ago at Walmart. Here’s an example to get your wheels turning.

At that time, I was buying oil for my car consistently.   I’m brand loyal, so when I saw that Walmart put that oil on sale, I purchased a few extras.  I went back into Walmart and noticed that the sale for the oil was over (the sale had gone on for about 3 weeks).  When the sale was over the price was $3 higher than the original price than before the oil was on sale, so yeah, if you miss out on the sale, you can expect to pay a premium.  My guess is that Walmart was trying to make up for the $$’s it “lost” during the sale.  Unfair, absolutely, but all is fair is business and profit, I guess.

Lesson:  Organization = Saving.

Today’s Coupons and Ads

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If you have not picked up a copy of today’s Sunday newspaper, it’s not too late.  Today’s edition carries lots of great grocery coupons.  Also, the Target ad is full of sales on movies.  T he most sought after movies are on sale.  That doesn’t happen too often throughout the year, at least no at once like this.  Usually, it’s one really great movie a week.  This time, it’s quite a few.  In my copy, there’s also a WalMart circular (doesn’t happen too often) and an Ulta ad with a coupon.

It’s a good weekend for saving.

 

My Toddler is a Champion

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My Toddler is a champion.  He’s a trooper.

The first year and a half was all about him.  I was always on his schedule and I actually did not mind.  Keeping up with his schedule made life so much easier.  As long as he was fed, slept well and was bathed, he was happy which meant that I was happy.  I will never forget the first time that we went out to eat and he started to eat by himself.  Sure, he ate with his fingers, but he ate by himself.  It was an absolute bittersweet moment.  I felt a twinge at my heart because this was the start of him needing me less.  My eyes actually swelled up with a few tears.  At the same time, I realized that I was going to be able to start eating my meals while they were still warm.  Oh Happy Day!

Now that my Toddler doesn’t depend on me to for everything, I have started to think about me first sometimes.  There’s things that I want to do too and I figure out how to them with child in tow.  I usually plan far in advance.  It’s rare that we ever do anything at the last moment simply because it doesn’t work out, ever.  When I need to run errands, I make sure I put together a list and a route the day before.  This way, we can get these errands accomplished efficiently.

Last night were the Twilight: Breaking Dawn I DVD release midnight release parties at Target.  I’m not a Twi-hard, but I have arrived at a place of appreciation for the love story that happens to involve vampires.  Since arriving at this place, I have decided that I don’t want to just read about how great everything is on Twitter, I want to be apart of the numbers.  I had known about the event for weeks and had begun to prepare accordingly.  I knew that my Toddler would have to take a nap before we left simply because we were going to be there past midnight.  I knew that we would be waiting around for hours, so I needed to be sure to pack some entertainment for him as well as some snacks.  Check and check.  Overall, my Toddler hung in there.

Throughout the evening, we received compliment after compliment on his behavior.  I thanked everyone for their kind words and showed my gratitude to my Toddler by high-5′ing and just letting him know with my own words.  At around 10:30pm, he did have a bad moment which lasted about half an hour.  Some whining coupled with frustration ensued. I was not surprised and did my best to keep him calm.  The Twilight: Breaking Dawn II clip was going to show at 11pm and we were in the first group who was going to see it, so all I could do was distract and deflect.

Once we got past that hurdle and were herded to the next station where we were picking up the actual DVDs, I grabbed a shopping cart, laid our coats in it and set him inside where he forgot whatever it was that was bothering him earlier.  The hour passed and just as he started to get restless again, the line started moving.  I picked up my DVD and rushed to the register, we paid (I even got a $5 discount – Target you rock for giving us coupons in our DVD tickets!).  We made our way home, he played with his trucks for a while and then feel asleep.  I’m already watching Breaking Dawn for the second time tonight.

Yup, my Toddler is a Champion.

Ahhh, Super Bowl Sunday

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Today may as well be one more American Holiday that most look forward.  Whether it’s the food, the commercials, or the actual game, Super Bowl Sunday has a way of bringing people together.  For those who don’t like the Game, they get together and do their thing.  Those of use who do enjoy this day in Sports, we get together with our friends and family to eat, be merry and watch the final two teams go head to head against each other for one of the highest honors in the NFL, to be able to say “I’m going to Disneyland.”

I’m not a NFL fan all season long simply because I don’t have a team to root for.  I grew up watching MLB with my Dad so I bleed Dodgers Blue, but NFL, not so much.  I wait until the end of the season to watch the Playoffs.  In some cases, when who will go to the Playoffs is determined by some important end of the season games, I watch too.  NFL for me is just a way to fill January when there is nothing else going on in Sports because I’m not an NBA fan at all either.

There’s something about the Playoffs.  I love watching the teams play with a new found intensity.  It’s all about the competition and the will to win.  That’s what makes it exciting.  I love watching Players play like there’s no tomorrow.  It’s all about the competition.  I wouldn’t want to be any of the Players wives, watching my husband get knocked down, trampled over, and possibly hurt, but there’s just something about the air of intensity.

Good luck to both teams today, but I expect the Patriots to come out on top.  This is not just another game, this is a rematch.  Today is redemption for 2007.  If the Patriots don’t win, that’s just one more reason why I’m not an NFL fan, lack of consistency.

When Toddlers Get Restless ….

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I have noticed that my Toddler has more energy.  I have also noticed that he’s more able to push furniture around, throw toys further and make more demands.  I do not blame it on the Terrible Two’s, I think it’s just apart of growing up.

Where we live is already pretty child proof which makes this stage he’s in a lot simpler.  With no accidents on record, figuring out how to keep him entertained is priority #1. Whether it’s a short attention span or just that much energy,  when nothing seems to work, going outside usually does the trick.

Parents, don’t ever underestimate the power of spending time with your Child outside.  Somehow, getting fresh air with them turns an overwhelming situation into sunshine and rainbows.  Mine loves to run free in the leaves.  He also likes to help walk the dog and to feed the ducks.  A good lap around the park seems to wear him down enough and he forgets whatever it was that was previously bothering him.  So, next time your child makes you want to climb the wall, take them for a walk around the block.  It’s good for you and great for them.

Working from Home Does Not Necessarily = Riches

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Working from home is great for a number of reasons.  Most people who work from home do so because there is something specific they are trying to accomplish.  Whether it’s starting a full out business to watching their kids, there is a new sector in the Labor market.

Working from home does not guarantee overnight riches.  Most people who fail at making any money at all from home, fail simply because they gave up too soon.  To successfully work from home, a person must be more committed than they would be working a 9-5 job.  Being creative, organized, determined and persistent helps too.

For those who work from home online, making money comes with its challenges.  Check back to learn how to overcome those challenges.