Saving my online earnings at Mypoints-making and keeping resolutions update.

Mypoints (Join MyPoints NOW!)
is a site where you earn gift cards based on your participation. You can earn points from bonus mails (5 points per mail), signing up for offers from MyPoint partners, buying from hundreds of well-known stores online, searching the web using their toolbar and more. If you are an active online shopper you can earn a lot of gift cards on this site. If you are like me and mainly use the free features like the toolbar and the e-mails you can still earn a decent amount of gift cards throughout the year and it is so simple. I even earned points by doing my taxes!


I cashed out my last Mypoints gift card in December. So I started with a low balance at Mypoints in 2009 (I cannot remember the exact number of points I had).


As of April 6, 2009 I have 2501 points- enough to get a $10 gift card with some left over. To get a $25 gift card I need about 3500 points (most $25 gift cards are between 3250-3750 points).


My daughter's 4th birthday is coming up but I am not redeeming anything yet. I am very proud of myself. Last year I would have redeemed for gift cards as soon as I had the minimum amount of points. I would have spent them on myself for something like a night out to eat. This year I am saving them for birthdays and Christmas or for general household needs and/or home improvements- Lord knows we have plenty of home improvements that need to be done.

One exception is that I might be buying myself a steam cleaner from Amazon.com.

Saving my online earnings at Gather-making and keeping resolutions update.

Well, we are almost done with February and I am happy to say that so far I have been successful! This is an update on one of my favorite sites, Gather. Gather is a social site for grownups that caters to everyone.
This is a site for the serious or casual writer who is looking to share their work or get feedback. It's for the artist- the photographer, painter, the videographer and everything in between. It's for the mom or dad who wants to interact with other parents. It's for people who like to play games. It's for the people who love a good deal, want to find the best coupons and bargains and enjoy freebies. It's for people who want to find others like them.
Gather is a place to publish in writing, in pictures and in video. You create a profile page where people can write you a message, where you can share what's on your mind and tell everyone about yourself (all of this is optional). You can make friends, start and join groups, comment and more. Gather rewards your activity with points which can be redeemed for various gift cards and/or Paypal payments. For many people, the friendships and fun you have on Gather can outweigh the benefit of the points.

At Gather I have earned 1,399 points (since December 15, 2008. I have redeemed $130 in gift cards and donations since June 2008). I can cash out for a few different $10 gift cards (Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, CVS and others) there for 625 points. I need 1,565 to get to the next cashout level, $25- under 500 points to go. When I reach that level I have the option of getting Paypal and even more gift cards for stores like Target, Home Depot, Amazon.com, Macy's and others. You can also redeem your points at 3,125 ($50) and 6,250 ($100- though you can only do Paypal at this level).

I actually have decided that it would be best for me to opt for Paypal because I signed up for the Paypal debit card with the % cashback when you shop, which means getting even more out of my free money. I haven't read all of the details about the debit card and what purchases are eligible but I think all purchases made get the cashback. Then, if I want to earn more on my purchases I can use sites like MyPoints, Big Crumbs, Swagbucks and others to get even MORE cash (or points) out of my purchases.


Pretty cool, huh?

Poor, Party of 5 (about me)

I am a 26 year old mom of 3 kids that range in age from 7-under 1.  I love to talk about their lives and the stuff that we like to do.  We live with their father, my boyfriend. We are not married...I don't really have an excuse for that but things work the way they are.  We have a sign on the molding above our dining room entrance that says, "We may not have it all together but together we have it all."  And it is SO true!

We are a party of 5 on a crappy income. Hence the POOR.

I have been spending a few years trying to figure out how to supplement our income and have a goal of making enough money to never have to feel the need to go back to work. Even better would be to figure out a way for us both to stay at home full time.

I do it all, try it all, or so it seems. I blog, do GPT sites, surveys.  It also seems that with my cluttered mind I can never stick to just one thing and end up never doing really well with anything I do.  I try though, and the more time that passes the more I realize how much we NEED to do this in addition to WANTING to do it.  

Maybe my ideas will help out others. Maybe your ideas will help us! We'd love to hear them!

Read on to see how we manage.