8 Weird Ways You Can Save Money

Hey guys!
Sorry I disappeared for awhile. Things have been so hectic at my place. My family and I are in the process of getting a new house! So things have been stressful and crazy around here lately. Nothings set in stone yet, but we're getting closer to finding out if we get to move in July! I am so excited to get into a bigger house, my family is outgrowing our current one big time!

So, I thought it would be a pretty fitting post to write about some ways we save money in our household. We've been doing a lot of this lately, so we can have some money saved before the big move. We were originally saving to go on a trip to Nashville this summer, but plans changed and we will now be turning our Nashville funds into our home repair funds. The house we are moving into needs some new floors, and could use a fresh coat of paint in the rooms. We decided we would much rather put our savings towards our new home instead of a vacation, darn (haha)!

Today, I'm going to share some weird, but fun, ways we save money in our house. Below, you can find a list of 8 of our favorites!

1. Save your $1 bills!
Okay, this one is our favorite to do. My hubby and I usually do this when we are planning a trip to the casino for a special occasion. Every time you break bigger bills and get one dollar bills in change, you put all the dollar bills away in a jar or box, whichever you prefer. We make it a race to see who can save up the most dollar bills before we go. It doesn't seem so bad to save money when you make it fun.

2. Save your change!
This is kind of like saving your dollar bills, Everytime we go to the store, we never use change to pay. We always round up to the nearest bill, so that we get change back. And in return, put that change into our change jar. This really adds up fast.

3. Make your own products.
A lot of people save money by making their own homemade household products. There are several pins on pintrest that will show you exactly how to do this. One way that's really popular, is using essential oils to make cleaning products. I love making my own products, because I can control what goes in them.

4. Coupon!
Yes, I admit, I am the crazy coupon lady. There are so many sites and companies that provide coupons for almost anything you can imagine. Do your research online, and you're bound to find a coupon for anything on you current shopping list. All the cents saved adds up!

5. Price match at Wal-mart.
So, I love price matching! If you shop at Wal-mart, you need to do your research before buying anything! My favorite time of using price match is when I bought my lap top. Because I found a website that had my lap top on sale for $120, Wal-mart had to price match the same one they had for $381! That was a great deal, and lots of money saved!

6. Open a spare bank acct.
Another idea, is to open up a bank acct that you use JUST FOR SAVING. Don't ever touch anything in there, unless an emergency of course. Plan to take a certain amount out of each of your checks, and place it right into that bank acct. Even $20 a week can add up pretty fast! We do this for our Christmas fund each year. It really helps at the end of the year.

7. Don't buy new.
Second hand stores are becoming more popular these days. You can really find some great stuff when you shop around. I rarely buy my kids brand new clothes. They outgrow them so fast, and they are very rough on their clothes. I've found some basically brand new clothes a secondhand stores. Plus, when your children outgrow them, a lot of places will buy clothes back from you! It's pretty much a win win situation!

8. Save on your utility bills!
Figuring out ways to cut down on bills, is the best way to keep money in your pockets. Try simple things like using the ceiling fans and opening windows on nice days, instead of running your AC. If it's colder out, dress in layers instead of running the heat as high. Hang your clothes to dry outside instead of running the dryer. Simple things like this can really help your utility bills be reduced.


Try a couple of these things, or all of them, and come back and let me know what your favorite tip is! Until then, make sure you follow me on social media, and subscribe to The Quarter Jar, so you never miss a money saving post!

With Love,

YouGov: What is YouGov all about?

YouGov Survey Site

Have you ever heard of YouGov? I seriously LOVE this site! Read on for some more information and how you can sign up to become part of the YouGov community!

   Good afternoon everyone. It's Friday!! We made it through another week! How was everyone's week? I had a pretty laid back week. I only had one daycare kiddo this week, and only for two days. The rest of my days, I spent writing and doing more online research to build more income. My kids are home from school today, which makes it a little bit harder to get anything done. ;)

   Today, I wanted to focus on a certain site that I've really enjoyed my time with called, YouGov. This isn't a site that has numerous surveys available, but more targeted research surveys. I've been a member with them for a couple years now. They offer you 500-1500 points per survey you take. You then redeem your points for different gift cards they have available. When there is a survey that meets your profile, they will send you an email with a link that will take you to your survey. You will always qualify for every survey they send you, which I love! There's nothing more frustrating than filling out a lot of survey and them disqualifying you because you don't meet the client's targeted profile. Points are really easy to rack up with YouGov. I get around one to two surveys from them a day. Here's a couple surveys I've done in the passed few days, and my point balance I'm already back up to. You can start cashing out at 20,000 points, but I'm saving for a big one! I can receive a $100 gift card to Amazon for 100,000 points. There's some couch covers I'm saving up for. :)

    Aside from taking paid surveys, you can answer polls and read up on current event news. A lot of the surveys YouGov sends you are about current politics that are happening. They will ask your opinion of different situations going on around the world. There is no wrong answer, only your true, honest opinion is needed.

    YouGov has a great referral program as well.You can receive points for each person who signs up under your direct referral link.

   Head on over to their website and sign up today. You will love it! Of course, if you have any questions about anything, please feel free to contact me. I'm always here to help! :) I hope you all have a great weekend! Until next time! Follow me on social media, and don't forget to subscribe to The Quarter Jar.

With Love,

Jess

Founder, The Quarter Jar

This post may contain affiliate links, all opinions are 100% my own.

Is Freelance Writing for you?

Hey y'all! Who survived Monday? I barely made it, but I'm here. Monday's after a holiday weekend are the worst! It always takes my family even longer to bounce back to normal schedule after a holiday weekend. We had a lot of fun with all of our Easter festivities. We went to my moms for an Easter egg hunt, went out to eat with my family at Village Inn, then went to my hubby's aunts for another Easter egg hunt and dinner. I'd say it was a pretty successful Easter this year. But...now it's back to work and school for everyone.

As I sat watching the morning news, letting my coffee soak into my soul, I was deciding what I wanted to share with you guys today... Freelance writing won. Did you know that you don't need to have a professional degree to make money from writing online? There is actually a very long list of different sites that will pay you to write articles, ghost blog, or guest post. There are many different sites that have job boards with many clients looking for someone to write for them. They will usually have a description on what the client wants from you, how long the article needs to be, and how much they will pay you. 

I started with Textbroker.com. Now, I can't say that I am too pleased with them at the moment. Y'all might have better luck than me, but I've had some issues with my W-9, which you need to submit to collect your payment. Text Broker pays your through your PayPal acct. We're in the process of getting it figured out, and hopefully everything will go smoothly after that. Other than that issue, I've made some pretty good money through them. I was a member for about a week before I had already made $50. I only did about one writing assignment a day, just because I wanted to test the waters before I went all in and put in a bunch of time and effort. I wanted to make sure I'd really get paid for my time and work. So far, I have not received any money into my acct yet. I will definitely make sure to update with a good or bad review when I find out. :)  

When you sign up for Text Broker, they will have you submit a short sample piece, I believe around 150 words or so. They will provide you with a topic to write about. After you submit your application, they will review it and then rate you with a star between 1-5. Your star level will determine what jobs you can qualify for. The higher the star level, the more money you'll make. If you don't quite make the 5 star level off the bat don't worry, you'll always have a chance to move up levels. Every time you complete 5 articles, Text Broker staff will review your articles and let you know any suggestions they have to help you raise up to a higher level and they will rerate your star level as they feel your 5 articles were worth.

Another site I use is Fiverr.com. Fiverr lets you create gigs for different ways to earn money. You can do anything from different kinds of writing gigs to graphic designs. Most people post their gigs at $5, but you can definitely post them for higher. Fiverr does take $1 out of each gig you sell, so you really get paid $4 per gig. Just remember, know your worth. If you're looking to get some practice because you're not really at the quality you want to be yet, go for the $5 gigs. Just don't sell yourself short, charge what you know you are worth!

Those are the two main ones I used, but there are many more. I'll provide you with a few links below to get you started. As always, if you have ANY questions regarding these sites, please feel free to contact me. I'm always happy to help. :) Follow me on social media, and subscribe to The Quarter Jar, so you never miss a money making/saving opportunity.

Freelance Writing Sites for Beginners:

1. Hirewriters.com
2. thecontentauthority.com
3. blogmutt.com
4. fiverr.com
5. textbroker.com

UPDATE:

I just wanted to update everyone on TextBroker.com. I have finally gotten my W-9 situation figured out with them, and have received my payment. So I can officially vouch for this site and say that they are actually legit! :) I have been writing with them some more, and receiving all the payments I request.

We're Ready For The Bunny!

Hey ya'll!

We had so much fun decorating Easter eggs yesterday! The kid's eggs turned out too cute to not share with you! Took some pics with my phone, so don't mind the horrible quality! ;)

Zachary's Eggs. He did Star Wars theme.

Avrie's Eggs. She did Frozen theme.

Kayden's eggs. He did Ninja Turtle theme.

We had a blast!! Hope everyone has a great Easter!

With Love,

Jess

Founder, The Quarter Jar

Don't miss a post, follow me on social media and subscribe to The Quarter Jar.

Happy Easter Weekend!

Yay! It's Friday!! We survived another week!

Even though working from home makes you feel like every day is the weekend for me, I'm still always excited for Friday's arrival. Our family lives for the weekend. Daddy's home from work on the weekends and we always try to fill our weekend's with fun, family activities. Since this weekend is a Holiday weekend, we're filling it with lots of crafts and family fun!

We celebrated Easter with my daycare kiddos yesterday, and everyone had a blast! One of the benefits of working from home is that I have a lot of spare time to be able to put fun activities together for my children and my daycare children. This Easter, we did an egg hunt and decorated cookies. I also put together baskets for each of the kids. It was a great time!

To continue our Easter celebration, today we're going to boil eggs and color them. Zachary picked out Star Wars decorations, Avrie picked out Frozen themed, and Kayden picked out Ninja Turtles (of course!). Can't wait to see how they all turn out. I love that my kiddos inherited my crafty side! :)

I really hope you all have a great Easter weekend filled with lots of family and fun!

Happy Easter!
-Jess
Founder of The Quarter Jar

Inbox Dollars Review

INBOX DOLLARS SURVEY SITE

My honest opinion of Inbox Dollars and how to navigate around their site to get your maximum money making experience.

So you're looking to make some extra cash, and not sure where to start. You've come to the right place! When I first started my journey in making money online, Inbox Dollars was one of the first sites I came across. I've currently been a member for about 4 years now, and I've really enjoyed my time with them. I have received MANY checks from them. It helps that they reward you with $5 just for signing up with them! To request a check you must reach a balance of $30 in your account.

There are so many different ways to get the cash flowing into your account with this site, you just need to know what you're doing. I love it because the tasks are so easy to complete and I always get credited for the work I've completed. You get paid to read emails, give your opinion in surveys, watch videos, complete offers, searching the internet, the list goes on and on. But lets not get ahead of ourselves, I will get into more detailed info on each below.

I would recommend that if you plan on becoming a member of survey sites that you might want to create a new email just for these types of sites. To get paid for offers you must sign up for other companies newsletters and promotions and what not, so if you dislike tons of emails in your inbox, a good idea would be to have a separate email account for your survey sites. Just make sure you are checking this email every day, several times a day because they will send you targeted surveys to your email.

Now, lets get to nitty gritty details of each way you can fill your account with some decent money! Below you will find different sections of the site explained in detail. Go sign up and get your free $5, then come back to follow my guidelines.

EMAILS

At Inbox Dollars you get rewarded just for reading your emails they send you and clicking a confirmation button at the end of the email. There's an account setting that will let you chose how many emails you would like to receive each day. My advice is to pick unlimited, why turn down money? Duh! The number they send you each days varies.

OFFERS

Now there are some pros and cons to this part of their site. A lot of the offers are free, and those are the ones you want to stick with. There are paid offers, which means you buy a product and Inbox Dollars will pay you a set amount back. I personally have only participated in the free offers. Offers vary from signing up for a newsletter to signing up for coupon sites. They pay you a pretty decent amount for doing these tasks.

SURVEYS

The most money making part of this site, taking paid surveys. You literally get paid just for stating your opinion on various topics. You will be presented with qualifying surveys and then if you match the profile needed for the survey, you will get to complete it and then be paid. Sometimes surveys will take a little while before being credited to your acct. You just have to be patient, it's usually no longer than 48 hours. Surveys will pay you anywhere from $0.25 to $5.00 per survey.

GAMES

I don't normally participate in this section. But you can play different games to make money based on points you earn or buy.

SEARCH AND EARN

When you search the web using the search bar on Inbox Dollars you will get rewarded. You must perform 4 searches and then your prize will pop up. You will either be rewarded with cash or sweepstakes (you'll find out what this is later!). If you search 4 days out of the week, you will get a bonus at the end of the week.

VIDEOS

Another way to earn on Inbox Dollars is by watching videos. You will need to click on the video tab and see if there are any available videos to view. Sometimes there will be lots, and others there will be none available. It's sort of a hit and miss type of thing. I've found the best luck finding videos in the morning hours. Some companies will only pay for the videos to be viewed a certain amount of times, so you will wanna be the other Inbox Dollar's members. Early bird gets the worm! ;)

REFERRING FRIENDS

Inbox Dollars has a great referral program. When you refer your friends and they sign up using your unique link, you will earn 10% of what they earn. How easy right? You get paid for someone else's work!

SWEEPSTAKES

I've never personally won anything off of this. But when you don't qualify for surveys you will get a chance at Billy's Spin & Win. You get a chance of winning money or sweepstakes. I've won 5 cents here and there, but mostly just sweeps. You can redeem your sweeps for chances at different prizes. You "purchase" entries using your sweeps. The highest amount is $250 deposited into your inbox dollars account.

And there ya go! That pretty much covers it all. Head on over to Inbox Dollars and sign up today! Also make sure to follow Inbox Dollars on social media because they will post WinIt codes for you to enter and win money! If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me! Good luck and happy surverying!

With Love,

Jess, The Quarter Jar

I want to keep in touch!!

Make sure to subscribe to my blog so you never miss a money making opportunity! Also I would love for you to follow me on social media! You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

10 Legit Sites That Will Pay You For Your Opinion

Make Money From Home

Focusing on the survey side of online money making. Find links and descriptions below.

Maybe you just had a baby or maybe you had one 4 years ago and you just don’t feel comfortable using day cares for your children, or maybe your a college student who is looking to make a little cash to help pay for your books or groceries. Whatever the reason, I’m here to help you make some extra money to put in your pockets!


I’m a stay at home mommy of three very wonderful kiddos. I’ve been home with my kids basically since they were born. I’ve had a few outside the home jobs, but always found my way back home with them. I really enjoy being able to enjoy every minute I can with my children, but the truth is, our household of 5 could not survive on just my boyfriend’s income. I was right where you are now, looking for ways to make some decent income online. So I reached out online and did lots of research on ways to make money from home. To my surprise, I came across a lot of great companies that I’ve worked with for years now. I’m here to share them with you now!


There are many different ways you can make money online. You can check out my other posts for some more money making ideas, but today we’re going to start where I started my at home career, with survey sites. Did you know that companies will actually pay you money just for giving your honest opinion? How easy, right? Unfortunately, there are a lot of scam companies out there in the world of work from home job sites. Have no fear, that’s where I come in to save the day! I have put together a list of legitimate survey companies that I personally use. While these have worked for me, you will need to do your own research and make sure they will work for you.


Now, you won’t get rich quick and if you want to make a decent amount of money from these sites, you will need to donate a lot of your time and effort. You will want to make sure you check your email every day, several times a day, so you won’t miss any money making opportunities. A lot of sites will send you emails with targeted surveys just for you.

Okay, okay, I’ll stop rambling and get to the good stuff, the site links! Below you will find a list of the survey sites I personally use and love! I don’t want to overwhelm you, so we’ll start with a list of my 10 favorite survey companies..


1. Inbox Dollars: My absolute favorite. This was the first survey site I ever signed up with, and I’ve been working with them for about 3 years now. They give you $5 in your acct just for signing up! To find out more detailed information about this site, check out the post I made all about it here.


2. Valued Opinions: This one is a pretty good site to use. They send you targeted surveys to your email, and you get anywhere between $1.50-$2.00 per survey. You can cash out when you hit $22.00. There are many different gift cards to choose from.


3. Cash Crate: I’ve received a few checks from this site. You can request payment when you reach $20 in your acct. I believe they give you $1 for signing up too.


4.Legerweb: These surveys are a little less frequent. They will send you targeted surveys to your email.


5. Tellwut: I get a lot of emails from this site with targeted surveys for me. So I've had some pretty good success with it.


6. Springborad America: Another targeted survey site.


7. Pinecone Research: The best survey site around! They are really hard to get into, and they are hiring now! If you ever see an advertisement for them, be sure to sign up. But you will also need to make sure you don’t miss surveys or they will deactivate your acct. They pay $3 per survey!


8. YouGov: I love this site. They don’t pay you cash, but they will pay you in your choice from many different gift cards. They send you targeted surveys to your email. My points have built up very fast from this site. To find out more detailed information, check out my post I made all about it here.


9.SurveySavvy: This one is another one that sends you targeted surveys, they are usually pretty decently priced.


10. MySoapBox: This is one is pretty easy to reach your cash out goal. I’ve enjoyed my time working with them.



Good luck, and please feel free to contact me if you have ANY questions regarding these sites and how to use them. I am always updating with new ways to earn money from home, so please feel free to subscribe and follow me on social media! Happy surveying! :)


With Love,
Jess, The Quarter Jar

*This post may include affiliate links. All opinions are 100% my own.