Money Wise Blog

Trying to save money is difficult at the best of times. With rising ongoing costs for living and the still current financial uncertainty surrounding many economies around the world, many are starting to feel the pinch and even some that will be possibly forced to live on the streets.

However there are ways to save money on expenses and help you and your family spend money on other essentials. Today we outline some strategies on how to save money so that you and your family can spend more money on other essential items.

1) Use freebies to help make educated purchasing decisions. Whether you like it or not, businesses are using freebies more and more as an advertising ploy to get more consumers to purchase their products. As a consumer, you should take advantage of these freebies being given out and trial their products. From there you can make good educated decisions on whether these products suit you and your family saving you time and money in the process.

2) Use online coupons to shop. I refuse to pay full retail price for more than 90% of my purchases. Obviously some things like medical supplies are essentials that often can’t be discounted. Search the Internet for coupons before you decide to purchase anything. A fun tip and also one that will save you heaps.

3) Shop once per week or less. The less you shop inevitably means the less you spend. It is recommended that when you shop, that you have a grocery budget, plan your menu and list with your grocery budget in mind but most importantly bring only the right amount of cash that you need so that you won’t impulse purchase.

4) Stick with simple, inexpensive meals. So long as you cover the right food groups, meals do not have to be extravagant. Where possible, cook in bulk so that you have leftovers to take to work and for the children’s lunch. You won’t believe how much money you will save.

5) Drink water instead of soft drink or flavored water. Water is the most inexpensive fluid that you can have. It is good for you and is a fraction of the cost of bottled drinks. And by the way I mean tap water, not bottled water which sometimes cost even more than soft drink and flavored water.

6) Shop at Aldi. What you must realize is that there is very little difference between well known brands and the home brands. Of course the packaging doesn’t look as good but that’s the reason why the brand stuff costs so much more. Once you take away the covering the product is exactly the same and has the same functionality. Once you get that in your mind, you will save hundreds if not thousands on your annual grocery bill.

Follow these simple steps and save money today!

No matter what anybody says, there’s no such thing as easy money. Whilst the majority of society would understand this, there are still people who either in their desperation of trying to get out of a financial bind or who are just too lazy, will continue to believe everything they read on the Internet. You’ve seen the ads, the ones that say millions can be made on the web just by handing over a couple of hundred dollars for some scheme that will run automatically while you sleep. Whilst I don’t deny that has happened, it will not happen for the 99.99999% of the population. Some people just have been blessed with being in the right place at the right time.

However there are persons out in the marketplace trying to scam the everyday person of their hard earned cash through pyramid schemes and other unscrupulous methods. The worst thing about it is that the people who get scammed are the ones that can least afford to. Quite often these are down and out people, living off a pension, possibly uneducated and so for these crooks to target these people is downright disgusting and low.

Today I want to encourage ALL of you that you can make some cash using the Internet. Yes you read right, ALL of you can make money. Now I need to qualify this by saying that some of you will make more than others. You won’t become millionaires and it won’t happen overnight. But with hard work, perseverance and little luck, you can actually make a decent side income or career should you so desire it.

Basically what I am saying is, write a blog. Before you start throwing your computer back at my face, hear me out. There are going to be some who say they cannot type or have bad English writing skills with grammar etc. But you know what? There are people out there who are bound to want to read your blog and your thoughts.

For example, why do you think gossip publications sell so quickly? Why are sites like Perez Hilton ranking near the top? Because people are interested in what other people do! So given that every single person has a personality, in a world over 7 billion, there are people that are going to be interested in your thoughts.

What you need to do is find decide what you are passionate for, maybe it’s sports, gossip, raising kids, how to save money, how to get freebies. Once you determine that, you are well on the way to becoming a blogger.

If you don’t have money, join up with blogger.com to get a free account. Begin by setting the theme for your blog and start writing. The key to this is to write consistently. Daily if possible. You will realize that it gets easier the more your write. Your writing will have more clarity. I personally have started a site that brings all the best freebies on the web and this has been quite profitable.

From here, open an account with Google Adsense which pays you as readers click on the advertisements. The great thing about AdSense is that the ads will align with your blogs themes and messaging. My site blogs on freebies and so only ads that relate to freebies are displayed. This encourages your readers to click on the ads as they are related to what you’re blogging about. Again, do your research on AdSense so you know what is the best way to maximize potential earnings. You have now set up your blog with ads on the side that will supplement your income.

Obviously then becomes the most important key factor: web traffic. I would begin by letting your friends and networks know that you now have a blog. Advertise through your Facebook account. As your friends and networks see your blog, if they like what you’re blogging about, they will naturally start telling their friends and networks. Word of mouth is the biggest referrer. The more people that come to your site, the more money you will make through Google AdSense.

Hopefully this article has given you a basic understanding of how to make some money. Anyone can do it. Give it try today.

If you’re currently trawling around the net, trying to think of ways to make some extra cash, you’ve come to the right article. If you are looking for something simple you can do to earn a little money on the side, you’ll want to check out companies like Inbox Dollars that pay to read emails, take survey, play games and much more.

As with most things on the Net you won’t get rich from reading surveys, but if you are willing to take five minutes every day to read emails from various companies, you can earn a little bit each day.

You earn roughly 2 cents per email read and while is appears to be absolutely miniscule, if you click all the emails they send you, this can add up to over $50 per year. If you were to sign up to more than one paid survey program, you can see how this could add up quite handsomely for you and your family.

You can also earn more by taking paid surveys. Most surveys take about 15-20 minutes. Again, whilst you won’t get rich participating in online surveys, this money does add up over time! If you can spend an hour or so a week taking paid surveys in addition to reading emails, then you can earn several hundred dollars easy throughout the year.

As per always, our hint for security purposes is to set up a separate free email account (to stave off spam and possibly identity theft) and then sign up with one or more of these survey firms. Every day or every other day, take five or ten minutes to look through the emails and slowly start seeing your earnings add up.

Don’t expect that your account will be seeing 4 figures instantly, but if you see a little income in your account, be encouraged and persevere at it. Once you’ve gotten a couple things figured out, feel at ease with those, and are seeing a little bit of income coming in from them, try adding in a few new things. This basically is the belief behind having multiple streams of income. If you do five small things everyday that take you around 12 minutes each and earn you $5 each, that’s about an hour of your time and $25 dollars per day. Over a year, that equates to almost $10,000! This is approximately 20-25% of an average annual income in the US!

If you head over to freebies site FreeStuff4free.com, they have a money freebies section where you can take advantage and sign up for free to several paid survey company programs. It is best to get in quickly as offers for freebies change constantly due to their popularity.

In the midst of a global financial crisis, saving money and becoming thrifty is often hard especially as we have become used to our lifestyles. I would like to propose that a slight tweak to the way you approach life will not only save you cash, but will actually make you feel like a better person. You see, we are a consumerist society, using goods and services so freely we don’t take into account who or what we are affecting with our consumption. So when a financial crisis hits, I believe it might be time to take stock of our lives and reflect on what could be done better not just to help ourselves but to help others and the environment. That’s why I am a strong advocate for free samples and the like. The great thing about free stuff is that it allows for all of the above to occur.

1) It is a money saving measure – By trialling new products and services that are released onto the market or even established products, customers are able to decide for themselves if a product suits their lifestyle. It saves cash as you do not have to purchase a full sized sample if you are unfamiliar with the product. If you have purchased an item and don’t like it, you will more than likely get rid of it leaving you with poor value for money. Trialling free samples avoids this issue.

2) Helps shape and mould your thinking about certain products and goods – Much like the above point, the more freebies you get to test, the better informed you are when you enter the mall or supermarket. You will have established in your thoughts what is good for you, what works, what doesn’t and your preferences around that. You could essentially determine your lifestyle with products and brands that you prefer from a young age.

3) Minimises damage to the environment – Given the delicate nature of climate change arguments, anything that allows your lifestyle to minimise harm to the environment is a decent thing. Again, following from the above 2 points, free samples emphasises that positive outcome.

So aside from the above 3 points, it is worth noting that you will become a much better and aware customer. You will become a savvy and thrifty shopper if you maintain this attitude through a difficult set of financial circumstances. I will always stand behind freebies as a concept and believe more and more, as we head into the future that this will become the established method of companies selling to consumers and also a way for consumers to do their part for the environment and hip pocket.

More about FreeStuff4Free
FreeStuff4Free.com is a website that specialises in finding freebies, free samples and freebies. This site is visually compelling and easier to navigate than text based free sites. The site is updated daily and dead links removed regularly. There are no scams and all freebies are 100% legitimate.

Finding free samples is no problem. In fact there are thousands of companies waiting for you to redeem free offers via coupons or online. Goods from baby products, food products and beauty products are just a few on the list of free samples that you can get. The key is actually finding the sites that offer legitimate free stuff and not sites that are full of affiliate links.

The easiest way to start is doing a key word search on Yahoo. There are millions of sites offering free samples to anyone who asks for them. In fact the key word phrase “free stuff” will deliver over 90 million results! The best key words to use are: free stuff, free samples and freebies. Obviously you won’t be going through every single search result, but it’s good to have a try at a few so you appreciate the market that is out there. Generally the sites on the first 2-3 pages on the search results should be the most accurate and probably the most trustworthy.

As you search for free samples online you will be required to enter an address so that they can mail them to you. This is standard when applying for free samples. Your name, phone number, email address, and household size are commonly asked questions and therefore you should not be alarmed. However, there are some things you should look for and take into consideration when applying for free samples.

Number 1. Should you ever have to provide a credit card number, bank account number, or social security number, the alarm bells should go off and it is advisable for you to skip this freebie. In fact it could possibly be a scam and that’s something you really don’t want to have to deal with. Identity fraud is on the up and you just need to be more wary and careful. If any site for ever requests this information, close it down immediately.

Another thing to keep in mind when requesting free samples is the terms and conditions. Some of these conditions may include receiving promotional material either via email or mail without or a difficult opt out option. Sometimes to demonstrate that there is at least an interest in purchasing the freebie later on, companies ask for credit card numbers even if they don’t charge it. I recommend caution unless it is from a legitimate company that you know about.

So whilst cruising the Net for free stuff is fun, please ensure that you take on these tips to avoid having to deal with unwanted credit card charges because you neglected to read the fine print.

More about FreeStuff4Free
FreeStuff4Free.com is a website that specialises in finding free stuff, free samples and freebies. This site is visually compelling and easier to navigate than text based free sites. The site is updated daily and dead links removed regularly. There are no scams and all freebies are 100% legitimate.

Now we all know that save a lot of money with coupons where do you find them? There are the obvious places that coupons hang out, but you may not be aware of some other places you can get coupons. Keep reading to find out more. The most common place to find money saving coupons is the newspaper. On Sunday especially, the newspaper is full of store coupons and circulars for products you use all the time and new items that you can try for next to nothing. These are the first places

Stores also offer printable coupons online. These coupons have barcodes and can be printed off of your office or home printer and used in the store they pertain to. Most people don’t think about these coupons but they save you lots of money. Haven’t you ever received emails with links to recipes for sites like Bisquick, Cooking Light or Betty Crocker? If you like to cook or rather like to eat, check out these links. You can unsubscribe to these emails whenever you like, but give them a look first. Not only do you find interesting recipes but also offers for coupons. Simply agree to receive new offers and your electronic mailbox will be full of coupons for cake mix, pancake mix, free trial size lotions, hairsprays and other toiletries.

Different online coupons are available on different websites. Try sites like www.coolsavings.com or www.allprintablecoupons.com. You can search by category or brand name to find coupons that fit your needs. Click on the coupons that you want and then print them out. It couldn’t be easier. If you belong to survey sites, you know that you can make extra money by offering your opinion. There are also some survey sites also offer points for taking advantage of their offers through links on their sites. On MyPoints.com, one of these discount links leads to printable grocery coupons. All of the coupons that you redeem at the store earns you credit towards gift card rewards when you reach a certain level of points.

Please do not forget all those magazines you buy. While you are reading the articles and looking at the pictures, take a glance over at the advertising pages. Many advertisers include a coupon along with their ads to entice customers to buy their product. Some types of coupons offered can include, Buy One, Get One Free or up to one dollar or more off of a starter pack for a new mop or an air freshener. If you ignore them, you’ll be throwing money away.

You can also look for displays at the front of your grocery store. Some grocery stores have coupon bins where customers can drop off coupons that they don’t need in case someone else can use them. There could be a coupon worth using in there if you take the time to look. On or offline coupons are a valuable personal finance budgeting asset to the shopper trying to save cash on all of their goods and services. Get in the habit of looking for a coupon deal everywhere so you don’t miss out on good money savings.

Get useful tips in the sphere of make money on the internet – go through the site. The times have come when proper information is truly within one click, use this opportunity.

Do you enjoy checking your mailbox everyday? For me personally, I quite enjoy receiving junk mail, searching through the latest bargains and hot sellers. However for most people, the answer to this question is a resounding no. When the mound of bills has a volume greater than your junk mail, you know you are in strife. However, for some of us who’ve discovered how to get free stuff and other freebies sent to our address, receiving mail has suddenly turned into something of an exciting adventure. Once you learn and begin to apply for freebies, everyday is like Christmas. From free food or supplement samples, to free magazine subscriptions or to the latest cologne to hit the market, getting stuff for free has never been so enjoyable.

Quite feasibly over a 12 month period you could end up with: free t-shirts, fragrances, chocolates, health care items, quality brand health care, toothpastes, lotion and of course the free food that’s offered throughout the year. How do I know? Because I have received all these items and more on a frequent basis.

You may think this is a scam or I’m trying to get you to sign up for something but I’m not! So why are corporations giving away products and other great freebies? Well it’s the age old answer that in this highly aggressive and fast moving consumer culture we live in, companies need to make a point of difference to their loyal customers plus need to lure new customers to their product or service. By giving away free samples, if they have a superior product, brand loyalty is unlikely to keep an individual with a single brand. Giving away freebies tests the consumer’s loyalty to their current product. So basically it’s one big huge mother marketing ploy to get your business. And believe it or not, it works! Research has shown that often after consumers have been confronted by food demonstrators standing in the aisles of supermarkets giving away free samples will often pick up the product and put it in their shopping basket.

So how to do you go about getting free samples? Well one of the ways is to go to the official site of the company and see if there are any current promotions whether it sample giveaways or coupons that save you a lot of money. Another strategy is to find a website that gathers together all the best and legitimate freebies together so you don’t have to spend hours on the Net searching. This is where sites like www.freestuff4free.com become extremely handy. Grabbing the most up to date freebies from around the Net which is updated daily, the searching has been done for you. All you have to do is go to their site and apply for all the free stuff that you’re interested in.

Not only do you get free stuff, you actually save money and reduce waste consumption. Think about it, if you try something in a small sample size that you didn’t spend any money on and you like it, you will purchase it in the future knowing that you’re actually going to use it. If you do not like it, you will not have wasted any money on a full size product that you will use once and never use again. So it’s in both the consumer’s best interest and the company’s best interest to hand our free samples.

So what are you waiting for? Free samples await you!

More about FreeStuff4Free
FreeStuff4Free.com is a website that specialises in finding free stuff, free samples and freebies. This site is visually compelling and easier to navigate than text based free sites. The site is updated daily and dead links removed regularly. There are no scams and all freebies are 100% legitimate.

One of the principal issues when searching for free stuff is deciding which site suits your needs and which are just full of affiliate links and scams. Let’s face it, the word “FREE” is used so often that email account services like Hotmail and Gmail almost always inadvertently put any email with the word “FREE” automatically in the spam folder because it’s been used and abused too often. Therefore to sift through all the legitimate and not so legitimate free stuff sites is a job on its own!

Let’s face it. Everyone wants free stuff, who doesn’t like getting freebies in the mail? And because of the high value of the topic, there are some dubious characters out there who are trying to take advantage of people’s cravings for freebies.

Well this article will give you some of the best free stuff sites available, which have a nice collection of free stuff and are also legitimate.

Walmart.com
One of the leading companies in the world also has some great samples available from time to time. You know it is legit because it’s Walmart. Several well known brands use Walmart’s platform and popularity to launch products and renew their brand in consumer’s minds. Accordingly, free samples on the Walmart website typically don’t last very long!

FreeStuff4Free.com
Probably one of the easiest to navigate and cleanest websites, FreeStuff4Free update their site daily with some great first rate freebies. The use of images makes it simpler for users to navigate and make a decision swiftly if they wish to take advantage of that particular freebie. Join their daily mail out and be in the running to win some awesome monthly prizes including iPod Shuffles and Walmart gift cards.

Shop4Freebies.com
One of the original legitimate freebie websites, Shop4Freebies has a great collection available. The freebies are updated daily and they have a well used forum on which real time freebies can be sought by visitors. To list a freebie you must become a member.

SeriouslyFreeStuff.com
Definitely one of my favourites because I regard it to be the cleanest. Images are sharp and clean and demonstrates the webmaster cares about the service being provided. The slight downside is the quantity of freebies on offer.

JustFreeStuff.com
Another freebie site that has been around for some time, this is a completely text based site so if you’re not into reading then this isn’t for you. However since they have been around for a while the free samples offered on this site are up to date.

So check out each of these sites and see if any of them suit you. Use one or use all in conjunction with each other and become an expert on free stuff.

More about FreeStuff4Free
FreeStuff4Free.com is a website that specialises in finding cheabies, free samples and freebies. This site is visually compelling and easier to navigate than text based free sites. The site is updated daily and dead links removed regularly. There are no scams and all freebies are 100% legitimate.

In the biggest economic recession since the great depression, we have seen some shocking scenes on our screens where families have or are struggling to make ends meet, forfeiting their houses, living on the streets and basically living like homeless people. These scenes are just so unfortunate and should not occur. Some of you may be in the situation or are heading towards that type of scenario. If you are, the first thing to make sure you become prudent with what you have. That may mean forgoing your current lifestyle for a temporary period of time, but it may also teach some valuable life lessons. Learn how to save your money and make your dollar stretch further. One of the easiest ways to save money is on food and groceries. If you’re trying to save money at the grocery store, using coupons is a great place to start.

If you’re not into couponing then you may have some misconceptions about couponing. One of the greatest misconceptions is that you’ll be going through old newspapers cutting out coupons and using a lot of time to save a little money. While that is still true, it really is only a small and minute part of couponing. The Internet now produces large amounts of coupons with dedicated online coupon sites and actual company websites alike offering instant access to their savings. All you do is simply print of the coupon, saving you time and money. This strategy is particularly good if you’re looking to save on restaurants and other eating houses. The Net also removes the limitation that only certain brands can afford to advertise in newspaper inserts and therefore a much larger range is afforded to you.

To maximize the amount of savings and to stretch your dollar further with your coupons, utilise them when the product is already on sale or is about to go on sale. Therefore it becomes critical for you to get a filing system together so you can track when your coupons expire and easily access the coupons that will be most beneficial for that particular period. Bear in mind, by using a coupon on an already reduce item, you are maximizing your dollar and saving more money. You may not think it’s much, but over a year you can literally save thousands.

To save even more money, you might like to order free samples of products that you would like to try before actually purchasing them. There are a number of free stuff sites that gather the latest free samples on a daily basis. Often times, a coupon booklet is inserted with the free product sample so that you remain loyal to them. Take advantage of this to trial the product or service and save money. One site you may want to consider is www.freestuff4free.com.

Coupons have become a multi-million dollar business for corporations and individuals alike. Saving money and being frugal is the new “black”, so it’s time to join in.

More about FreeStuff4Free
FreeStuff4Free.com is a website that specialises in finding freebies, free samples and freebies. This site is visually compelling and easier to navigate than text based free sites. The site is updated daily and dead links removed regularly. There are no scams and all freebies are 100% legitimate.

In these current times where technology is part and parcel of everyday life, doors have opened and opportunities even as recently as a decade ago would be have been considered impossible.

Long gone are the days of corporations dominating the market through monopolies or duopolies and the barriers to entry has lowered dramatically. The traditional method of selling tangible products displayed in windows or shop displays is now a thing of the past. Companies like eBay and Craigslist have demonstrated convincingly that it is possible. Sellers are now individuals selling behind the comfort and safety of a computer screen.

The new giants in the business are all based on the Internet. Google, Yahoo and to a smaller extent Bing (Microsoft) are the new multi-billion dollar corporations.

Therefore this has opened many business opportunities for anybody who has an interest in the Net. One of these opportunities include starting a blog. Short for Web Log, a blog can be used to express your own opinions on any issue you so desire. Essentially you become your own journalist. A blog can be monetized to your advantage as what you write has influence. The more readers, the more influential and therefore the more money people will pay to advertise on your blog.

To get started on writing a blog, check out this site http://www.howtostartablog.org/ for some helpful hints and tips. This is by no means a comprehensive summary on how to do a blog but should at least get you started with some basic knowledge.

It is crucial that you have a topic or focus for your blog. It isn’t wise to have a blog that covers every topic under the sun unless you have employees. You would not be able to target your viewers and get that customer loyalty that is so essential. After you have started your blog and have started generating traffic to your blog, you will need to decide how to monetize your blog, whether it is through Google ads, Google Adsense, using an affiliate network or a combination. My personal advice is to sign up just for Google Adsense and fine-tune that until you are familiar before moving onto affiliate companies which can be slightly more complicated to execute. As the largest corporation in the world, you can expect reliability and service from Google.
An affiliate network is an intermediary between publishers (you) and merchant affiliate programs. It allows website publishers to more easily find and participate in affiliate programs which are suitable for their website.

If you choose to use an affiliate network, make sure it’s reputable. At FreeStuff4free, we have chosen Logical Media because of the subject of our site which is free samples. Logical Media is one of the newest cost-per-action (CPA) affiliate networks. Since CPA affiliate marketing involves almost no selling at all, it is easier to make money compared to other affiliate networks which may only reward you every time you refer a sale. Obviously this fits in perfectly when we are running a freebies site. If we were running a site offering freebies and free samples, it would be contradictory for us to have affiliate links that require a sale to make any sort of commission.
By choosing Logical Media, one of the fastest growing affiliate companies, you will have access to offers that your readers will hopefully take advantage of and in doing so, earn you money. CPA reduces the issue of click fraud and is generally safe.

So if you have a little bit of time on your hands, start a blog. If you enjoy doing it and want to earn a little bit of cash on the side, join an affiliate company. You won’t regret it.

More about FreeStuff4Free
FreeStuff4Free.com is a website that specialises in finding coupons, free samples and freebies. This site is visually compelling and easier to navigate than text based free sites. The site is updated daily and dead links removed regularly. There are no scams and all freebies are 100% legitimate.