Year: 2013

Swagcode alert! The end of “Five for Five.”

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card129It’s the final day of the “Five for Five” Swagbucks promotion. You’ve got until 2 p.m. Pacific to head over to Swagbucks and enter the code PunnyAnimal.

The case-sensitive code is available in all countries where Swagbucks is played.

Not sure exactly what I’m talking about? All will be revealed if you read “Swagcode alert! (And four more to come.)” Feel free to click on the link in that article to join the program.

(Note: If you do, I will receive a referral bonus. If you don’t want to do it that way, then just go to www.swagbucks.com and sign up for a new account.)

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Giveaway: “How I Make Money Blogging.”

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https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?cl=132158&c=ib&aff=219310We’re heading toward September and you know what that means: Christmas shopping!

Or at least the stores seem to think so, given how early they sneak the red-and-green into the inventory. Can’t we have Halloween first?

Some of us shop year-round and then have to fill in with only a few items come the Black Friday madness.  Some realize around mid-December that they haven’t even started.

It all takes money — and one way to earn money is through blogging. Stop laughing. Some people actually do bring in a little extra cash, or a lot. Crystal Stemberger is one of those people. I’m giving away a copy of her e-book, “How I Make Money Blogging: The Beginner’s Guide to Building a Money-Making Blog,” in case you want to be one of those people, too. (There’s a discount code for those who want to buy the book outright; see below.)

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2 reasons to get a colonoscopy.

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thEarly this afternoon I had my camera-up-the-windward-passage exam. After having given up seedy foods for a week (including, alas, popcorn) and having spent a day and a half doing the not-fun (but not unbearable) prep, I am good for another five years.

I also have 11 little thumbnail photos of my colon’s various twists and turns. In color. Thanks, doc.

The release paperwork also instructed that for the next 12 hours I should not “perform any activity that requires you to be mentally alert with normal reflexes.” I figured that clears me for blogging.

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The opposite of obligation.

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imagesEver seen the Pixar film “Up”? In the how-Carl-and-Ellie-met montage is a moment when the two of them sit side by side, reading and holding hands.

That was DF and me on Sunday, reading and hand-holding in adjoining easy chairs. For him it was “Mozart in the Jungle” and for me it was one of the “Anne of Green Gables” books. (I’d never read the series as a kid and recently I found several titles in the recycle bin.)

It was so nice to see DF rooted for a while. Usually he’s in constant motion: cooking, working in the yard or garden, hanging out laundry, tidying up. Even when he sits still he’s often working: paying bills, balancing his checkbook, dealing with his father’s estate. Yet there he was, reading a non-work-related book and smiling.

And me? The day before I’d written a post for Surviving and Thriving and finished my Monday post for MSN Money. Thus I felt temporarily free to follow the adventures of Anne Shirley, even though unread personal finance books are currently stacked eyebrow-high on the desk.

For the first time in who knows when, we were observing a Sabbath. I don’t mean that in a strictly religious sense, but as a day of rest. A chance to recharge. A dozen hours of peace. The opposite of obligation.

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Swagcode alert! (Three-fifths of the way done.)

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Good morning, everyone. (It’s way too early to be a great morning, i.e., it’s still 5 a.m. in Alaska.) You’ve got just under an hour to snare five Swagbucks. From now until 7 a.m. Pacific, go to the Swagbucks site and enter the code Shop4School. This case-sensitive code is good in all Swagbucks-playin’ countries except … Read more

9 cheap (and non-toxic!) “convenience” foods.

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groceriesNobody ever went broke underestimating consumers’ willingness to pay a premium for convenience. Spending extra to get on the plane before everyone else.

Picking up milk and bread at the 7-Eleven to dodge the supermarket hordes. Ordering takeout because they’re too tired to cook. Buying a one-ounce “toddler pack” of Cheerios to carry in the diaper bag.

Really? That grab-and-go pack of cereal works out to as much as $27.50 a pound! Fill up your own container, already.

Convenience food does have its place, especially if a $5.99 rotisserie chicken keeps you from ordering $40 worth of Thai food. (Or if ordering a strategic pizza allows you to spend time with family and/or taking better care of yourself.)

But if you keep certain frugal convenience foods on hand, you won’t have to resort to takeout as often (if ever).

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Swagcode alert! (The second of five.)

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card129You’ve got about two hours to earn five easy Swagbucks points. From now until 2 p.m. Pacific, go to the Swagbucks site and enter the code SchoolStarts.

This case-sensitive code is good in all countries where Swagbucks is offered.

Not sure what I’m talking about? You can get the basics by reading “Swagcode alert! (And four more to come.).” Feel free to click on the link in that article to join the program. (Note: If you do, I will receive a referral bonus. If you don’t want to do that, then just go to www.swagbucks.com and sign up that way.)

Short form: Swagbucks is a simple-to-use rewards site that lets you cash in for products, gift cards or even PayPal payments.

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A little piece of SaveUp ’13, just for you.

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65293My trip to the SaveUp ’13 conference has come and gone, and quickly. I left Anchorage on the evening of Wednesday, July 31 and arrived at the Orlando World Center Marriott late Thursday morning.

There followed a whirlwind of sessions and discussions about coupons, SEO, plug-ins, apps, readership, blogging tips and the like. Food, too — really good food. I just don’t make things like wild mushroom risotto or miniature pineapple cakes often enough.

And oh, the fresh pineapple, melons and other fruits available at every meal – most Alaskans never get their fill of strawberries, but I sure came close.

The fun was fleeting, though. An airport shuttle picked me up at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Two less-than-comfortable flights later and DF was bundling me and my bag into his aging Subaru.

Speaking of bags: That’s this week’s giveaway. 

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Herding trolls.

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thYesterday was a Suzy Homemaker* day for me: I made deviled eggs, a batch of soft oat rolls and some oatmeal cookies, then invited my niece and her kids over for a round of Café Awesome. After that we went out to glean feral raspberries.

During the day I also put up the first of those Swagbucks “Five for Five” promotional posts and wrote and scheduled the other four. I arranged for a couple of interviews, did some research for next week’s articles, rounded up and washed jam jars, and made a huge batch of raspberry-rhubarb jam.

(Note to self: Nine cups of rhubarb means lots of chopping. Find an easier recipe.)

However, I also made the mistake of visiting the comments section of “How to make a quick $50,” that day’s MSN Money post. Suffice it to say that the process sucked far too much time out of my day.

DF sympathized when he got home: “Herding trolls again?

 

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