Just got back from Phoenix, where they’re already drinking cold beverages. Here in Anchorage it was 1 degree when we got up.
Depending on where you live you might be sipping a fancy lemonade or wrapping your frozen fingers around a mug of cocoa or coffee.
The choice is personal, but if you win this week’s giveaway the beverage won’t cost you anything. That is, if you like Starbucks — which a lot of you do, if previous giveaways are any indication.
Yep, holiday posts two days in a row and it’s not even Black Friday. Before you regard me as part of the problem, let me say that:
I always preach intentional spending during the holidays, and
I regularly suggest ways to spend intentionally, such as using cash-back shopping sites, buying early and paying with discounted gift cards.
Today I’m talking about a fourth intentional-spending category: rewards programs. In this case, that’s shopping through the Swagbucks rewards website.
Right now Swagbucks is offering heightened rewards for buying décor, gifts, special foods, airline tickets and other holiday-related items. A few examples of points (SBs) per dollar spent:
Every time I give away a Starbucks card the response is enormous. Not being a coffee drinker, I don’t see the attraction. Then again, as a frugalist I guess that if someone wanted to give me $10 worth of hot chocolate or tea I might get riled up as well.
Now that the weather is cooling – or downright cold – in most of the country I figured it’s time to buy someone a drink. Will that someone be you?
I feel so loved: A chapter from “Your Playbook For Tough Times” is the featured topic on this week’s Wise Bread Tweetchat – which regular readers know always includes prizes.
And this week’s prizes are pretty rich – much richer than I had originally posted. (See below.)
“Doing a financial fire drill” is the subject of the one-hour event, which takes place at noon PDT on Thursday, Sept. 15. (As in “tomorrow.”) We’ll be talking about how to do an extreme budget makeover in advance of anything going wrong.
Think of it this way: Relatively few homes or schools burn down each year. Knowing what to do if that should happen is still a good idea.
And if you need another incentive to participate? Wise Bread has that covered, too.
Today is Sept. 1. Thought about your holiday shopping yet?
Yes, it’s early – we’ve still got about 16 weeks to buy and wrap – but the smart money is on early planning.
A cash-back shopping site called Dollar Dig stands ready to help you out – both by saving you money on purchases and by sponsoring a giveaway of Amazon gift cards. Five winners will be chosen, for one $50 and four $25 cards.
Regular readers of my site know that I’m a diehard cash-back user. Not ordering through one of these sites is like begging to pay more than you must.
You’ll get a $5 bonus when you sign up at Dollar Dig. Once you’ve earned an additional $20 in rebates you can request a withdrawal.
How do you get those rebates? By buying stuff you were going to buy anyway – and by starting your shopping tour at DollarDig.com. Here’s why.
I’ve written before about why online surveys can be worth the time. Making money by sharing your opinion sounds pretty good – especially compared to the times you shared your opinion and then had friends stop inviting you to parties.
In my upcoming book I note that while you won’t earn a full-time wage doing this, you’ll at least bring in some extra money and/or gift cards, and maybe even get some new products to test.
For example, I was paid to cook a taco dinner, try a new shampoo, use a new kind of mop, eat a new variety of chocolate chip cookie and join a focus group about doughnuts that earned me $60 for less than three hours’ worth of work (but which, unfortunately, left me obsessing about crullers).
I just got back from voting in the primary election, a civic duty made pleasant by the beauty of the weather: blue skies after many days of rain, big puffy clouds and a slight breeze that stirred the faint but unmistakable fragrance of decaying vegetation.
Yes, summer is on the wane. Wildflowers and gardens alike are dying back – hence the smell of plant life sinking gradually to earth. Birch leaves are falling like golden rain in my BFF’s back yard. Most of the fireweed has spawned out, although a few defiant pinky-lavender blossoms still show up here and there.
The sun’s angle and intensity have both changed noticeably. As I noted in the linked article, “August sun compared to June sun is like a social kiss: close enough to get its point across but far enough away to feel like display rather than true affection.”
I’d like to introduce you to an interesting website called A Gai Shan Life, run by the pseudonymous Revanche (love that name). She’s been producing AGSL for 10 years.
Ten. Years. An entire decade. Do you know how many bloggers quit after a year, or even sooner than that? (Hint: Lots of them.)
As she puts it, her site is “a senior in dog years, starts fifth grade in kid years, or could retire as a centenarian in blog years.”
The blog defies easy description. It’s a thoughtful mix of topics, including but not limited to lifestyle, personal finance, working world, chronic-illness and, more recently, parenthood.
Revanche has a serious health condition and has spent the past 10 years finishing her education, supporting her parents and brother, paying off her family’s debts, starting her own career, getting married and having a child. Somehow she has also managed to keep a blog afloat.
You should go read her. And just in case you need more incentive than my recommendation, how about this: Her 10th blogoversary giveaway features a chance to win some pretty swell prizes.
Solstice isn’t until June 20, but I think it’s hot enough in some places to count as summer. Cold drinks are a fine antidote to heat and humidity, and Starbucks cards are always popular as giveaways. QED.
In addition, this is a fairly easy prize for me to mail from out of town. Yep, I’m on the road again — but this time in Alaska.
Specifically, I’m attending the 24th annual Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez (that’s pronounced val-DEEZ, incidentally). For the next week I’ll be attending classes and staged readings, including a full-length work by my BFF Linda B, “The Cooter Creek Passion Play.”
Holy cow — a month has gone by without a giveaway! Work plus travel plus seasonal ennui can do a number on even the best of intentions.
Although I have a handful of books begging to be re-homed, I don’t have it in me today to do the careful write-ups they deserve. (Tomorrow’s not looking good, either.)
Thus I’m taking the path of least resistance and proffering an Amazon gift card. Easy for me to send. Easy for you to spend. I’d call that a win-win.