PC vs MAC

Well, as you can probably tell from my lack of posts, my laptop has finally bit the dust. I guess I can't complain too much, I've had it over three years now. And I have to admit, it has been a very good laptop, especially with all the "trauma" it's been through. One day, I was putting some things in the back of my van and when I closed the back, my laptop happened to be a little too close to the edge. When I turned it on, half my screen looked like a big black oil spill.

I've been looking around online trying to get a ballpark price on a new notebook. Wow...expensive. Not to mention, I just read a news article the other day about the prices of electronics getting ready to skyrocket. Everybody recommends that if you're in the market for new electronics, you might want to go ahead and buy now since the prices will be going up, up, up.

It has never been a question as to what type of computer I would use. I have always had a PC. But now, I am intrigued with a Mac. The commercials are hilarious and everybody I've talked to that use them say they are great. Unfortunately, they are about 3 times as expensive, too. I would like to know if there is anybody out there that can sell me on a Mac by sharing their own "crossover" experience from a PC to a Mac. Please help...I'm torn. I need to know is the Mac worth the price or just settle for what I can get with a PC. What do you think?

Revolution Money Exchange

With the April 15th tax deadline looming over everyone's shoulder, this is one deadline that I'll be certain to make. Revolution MoneyExhange is offering new accountholders $25.00 for opening an account by April 15, 2008. Revolution MoneyExchange is another tool to make purchases and accept payments online without breaching your financial information.

Revolution MoneyExchange also has a "refer a friend program" which will pay you $10 for each member you refer up to $500.00 in a calendar year. So what are you waiting for? Come sign up today and receive your free $25.00 and while you're at it, refer your friends and make more free money.

Digging4Dollars - Finally Open

Finally, at last...thought it would never happen. Well, it finally did. Digging4Dollars is finally up and running with a ton of offers already added and plenty more to come. I have applied to every affiliate known to man and slowly but surely they are approving me.

Please visit Digging4Dollars and sign up if you already haven't. Once you're there, start doing those offers. I set up a contest to start tomorrow...not a very big one, but I need people to join and I think this will help. There is also a $3.00 sign on bonus.

Hopefully, everyone on my Money Blog Roll will come check it out and pass on the word. Thanks to everyone who helped get this started.

Cheap eBooks for Everyone

This is the perfect site for the best how-to eBooks...Cheap eBooks for Everyone. It has everything from family vacations to parenting teenagers. The best thing about eBooks is you don't have to wait for something to arrive at your door. It's right there at your computer. Some of the eBooks even have Resell Rights, so they're yours to sell at whatever price you choose. Stop by for a visit and if one of the eBooks catches your attention, make a purchase. And oh yeah, let her know Sheryl sent ya.

Digging4Dollars - Under Construction

Back in November, we decided to start our GPT, Digging4Dollars. We were so gung ho about the idea and talked day and night about our idea. Unfortunately, life and everything else took priority and Digging4Dollars was still just floating around out there. I've decided to go ahead and open it up even though there are no offers posted yet. On the home screen, it says April 1, 2008 will be our official start date, but I doubt the offers will be up and running yet.

Please, please take into consideration that what you see is our first basic attempt and we will be tweaking it along the way. It's really hard to learn how to change things around in ShiftCode when I haven't had the time. I've decided to make the time and make it work.

Go ahead and sign up so you can be the first in line for referrals and we will be getting offers posted soon. Thanks for your patience and I hope this turns out great. And by the way, I will be taking any suggestions from any of you "pro" GPT site owners that have learned along the way...especially when it comes to affiliates.

Getting More for your Money

Back in January, I made a commitment to open a high yield savings account. At the time, the rates were great...a little over 5%. Even though they are down now, it still beats what my standard brick and mortar bank is offering.

The first change I made was with my PayPal account. I changed it to a Money Market account and my PayPal is currently earning 3.13% APY. I usually don't move any money from PayPal since it is close to my savings APY and I use this money frequently online.

My local bank, SunTrust, is only offering 0.23% APY. We have two accounts: One to pay bills and one to use for daily expenses with a check card. I'm slowly preparing to move this account completely to my new Charles Schwab account so it can actually earn some money while waiting to pay the bills.

When I opened an account with Charles Schwab, I was totally amazed. I got the standard email from the "New Client Concierge" letting me know how important I was and that help was just a phone call away. So I decided to give it try and see just how important I am. She actually answered the phone and was ready to assist me. I did have a slight problem (I mailed checks to them with the wrong account #). She had it corrected by the time I disconnected the line. Very professional customer service. Right now, I'm only using this account for GPT checks and my flex account reimbursement, but eventually, this is where I want to do my banking. This checking account is currently earning 3.01% APY.

I also opened an E*trade Complete Savings account. It was the highest APY without a minimum balance. Every paycheck, I take $100 and transfer to this account. The biggest test for this account is "how long does it take to transfer to and from my other accounts. So far, incoming is about one day and outbound transfers, about two days. This account is currently earning 3.45% APY.

At work, we have a local credit union that we do automatic deposits from our check. The APY is around 1%, so whenever I accumulate a substantial amount, I withdraw and transfer to E*trade.

Eventually, I would like to have two accounts...a high yield checking and savings, without a minimum balance. Once I get to that comfort level of knowing how easy it is to pay my bills, make deposits and actually access my money, I will finally close my SunTrust account. It was kind of bittersweet...I earned more interest in one month with E*trade with only a couple hundred dollars than I did all year with SunTrust with thousands of dollars. I hope this helps you decide to make the choice to move to a high yield account.

Yodlee Yoda Lay He Hoo

Last month, I stumbled across some Personal Financial Management programs and decided I would test them out. Finally, a whole month has passed and I've decided on just one. It worked out great that the day I started was the first day of my new bank statement which means I actually have an entire month's worth of data. I chose three programs to test, Mint.com, Wesabe, and Yodlee's MoneyCenter. Each one of them had benefits over the other, and also a few disappointments. My main reasons for choosing these three to test are (1) they're free, (2) they link to financial institutions without having to import data, and (3) there are no advertisements.

So far, the most functional program is Yodlee's MoneyCenter. I can link to any account that I have online access, except one credit card and they are working on getting it added. I love being able to see all my bank accounts, all my credit cards, my bills, and even my PayPal account on one page. They are grouped by types so I see available cash in one section and my debt in another. One nice feature is the Financial Calendar that shows what bills are due. It makes a big difference seeing your bills in a calendar format versus a list. It gives me a better sense of how much I need to pay when we get paid, or should I say how much money I will have left from my paycheck. The biggest drawback with Yodlee is it is not visually appealing. I know most people don't like all the bells and whistles and the pretty graphics, but I feel if it's possible to make it pretty, then "why not" make it pretty. I guess it's my little way of not feeling so down and out about my debt. Hopefully, Yodlee will work on adding some nice graphics.

The most visually appealing program is Mint.com. I absolutely love the layout, especially the Accounts page. Each account has its own trademark displayed...very professional I think. I love the Spending Trends, it has a very detailed breakdown including how many visits you made to a particular merchant. Made me realize just how often we visit McDonald's. Another great feature is my budget. It is displayed on the Summary page with a bar graph showing how close you are to going over. I bet you can guess that mine is always close to being over. Unfortunately, there are a few drawbacks though...I can't add my mortgage account, a few credit cards and my monthly bills. Another problem I see with Mint.com is the program doesn't allow you to create your own categories, but you can add labels. There are also a few bugs, like duplicate transactions, to be worked out before this program can be useful. Hopefully, Mint.com will make some changes and offer an updated version.

I also tested Wesabe, but unfortunately I never could get the Desktop Launcher to work correctly. Maybe it will work for someone else. I did import my bank data to test it and it had a few neat features, especially the automatic suggestions from other users. But it just didn't help me accomplish what I set out to do this month. Maybe another time.

So for right now, until something bigger and better comes along (oh yeah, and prettier), I will be using Yodlee's MoneyCenter to access all my financial accounts. Now, if I can just find a program that will do all of this and be able to actually use it, like transferring money from one account to the other. That would be the ultimate.

Managing Your Money

Last year, I signed up for a personal financial program called Mvelopes. The concept of budgeting money in envelopes before the expense instead of after the fact was logical. In fact, my mother has used this same concept for years, but with an actual binder, envelopes and an accounting ledger...oh, and real cash. Mvelopes allows you to sync your accounts online to provide you with real-time account information. I tried Mvelopes for about three months and decided that I really do not like to pay a monthly service fee for something I could do for free. I told myself and the support staff at Mvelopes that I would probably try it again in the future.

Today, I thought about Mvelopes again since I've been diligently attempting to manage my finances. Then I wondered if there were any "free" personal financial tools out there. I found a handful and decided that I would test each one. The only problem is that I like all of them, but each one has an issue that relates to me. Here is what I think about the two that I liked the best but I would recommend you try them out yourself to find just the right fit for your financial situation.


Wesabe...Get to Know Your Money
After taking the tour, I signed up and had all my accounts linked in less than 10 minutes. I had to manually upload my accounts because the automated Desktop Uploader would not work for my institutions. The process was still easy...you download your statement information and manually upload. Once everything was uploaded, it put the data in a format similar to a checkbook register. My favorite thing about Wesabe is the tips that you receive based on tags that you add for each transaction...very insightful. The layout is user-friendly and it looks good, too.

Mint...Refreshing Money Management
This tool seemed to be the easiest to upload. All my accounts except for one department store credit card were able to sync online. Every financial account that I own is now on one screen with reports, graphs, and alerts. I know exactly how much money I have in my checking & savings, and how much credit is available on each credit card. There are so many features to check out that I am still finding links that are useful to me.

I will post again on the other online programs over the next few days, but here they are if you want to go ahead and check them out. Some are better than others and some are just basic finance trackers which sometimes can be exactly what you need.

fnCentral...the Free Personal Finance Manager for the Web

Geezeo...Educated Financial Decisions

Yodlee MoneyCenter

WhatBills?

Foonance

expensr...Where Did All my Money Go?

All Work and No Goals Make for a Broke Girl

I've been reviewing several personal financial sites lately and I just realized that I don't have any goals. Sure I have goals floating around in my mind about everyday life, but what am I doing for my financial stability? How can I expect to achieve anything if I first haven't set a goal...even if it is small and short-term.

First things first...I opened my bank statement today and headed straight to the "Interest Earned" section. Well, Lordy be, I don't think I will be reaching any goals, not even the smallest inkling of a goal, with the whopping $0.14 I earned for the month of December. That incident caused the "creation" of my first financial goal...to earn more interest than the cost of a piece of peppermint on my hard earned dollars.

Goal #1 - Earn a higher interest rate ~ Accomplished ~
I opened a high yielding online checking account last night to get started. Instead of earning an APR of .21%, my new online checking account is earning 3.92% APR. There were higher yielding accounts available, but the bill pay feature is very important to me and this one seemed to be the best. This will be my first comparison test.

Goal #2 - Pay myself first (10%)
For some reason, this has got to be the hardest financial step of all. It is hard for me to understand "why am I paying myself, when I can't even pay my bills." To accomplish this, I set up an automatic payroll draft straight into my credit union. Once I get the higher yielding account situated, I will have the 10% drafted there instead of the low yielding credit union. I think it's about 1% APR. Currently, I am "paying myself" .7%. Still a long way from 10%, but I will make it. I have to get to a point where I don't miss the money from my paycheck.

Goal #3 - Snowball my credit card debt
I downloaded Dan's Super Snowball Plan and have put it in action. I haven't yet made it to the point of paying off one card and then using that amount towards another credit card. But I'm getting there.


Goal #4 - Minimize my spending
I should have listed this goal as the hardest since I don't think of money as a total amount but more like an instant visual. If I budget $100 to spend on eating out, as long as I don't spend $100 at one sitting, I think I'm doing great. But after they all add up, I have spent well over that $100, probably enough to feed a third world country for a week. Eating out is definitely my biggest weakness. One month, we spent over $800 eating out in one month surpassing my grocery spending by $500.

I know this is only a start, but that's what it takes. You got to start somewhere and I'm definitely starting small, but I'm dreaming big and eventually I will set my goals a little higher. I feel that the goals I have set are at least attainable...and eventually surpassable. (Is that a word?)

Back in Business

You never realize just how dependent we really are on technology until something breaks. I have been "without laptop" for a few weeks now and I have been totally lost. When I got the news today that my laptop was ready, I was all excited about getting back to my blog and GPT sites only to realize "I'm totally lost" with lost being the keyword. I lost my documents, my favorites, and everything else that I've forgotten about over the past few weeks. I spent most of the day trying to remember what was on here to begin with and the rest of the day getting my GPT's back in order. The biggest lesson I learned from all of this is "backup" your documents. Some things I didn't have a problem retrieving because I email a lot of documents so they were still there on my email, so I only lost recently added information. The other problem I am having is trying to remember the cool, I mean, important programs I had downloaded.

I'm slowly making progress. I am going to be spending this weekend trying to get my GPT up and running which I am having so much trouble. It seems like I had all this gumption thinking about it and as soon as I do something about it, everything else around me starts falling apart. I am making that one of my goals this month, to diligently work on the site until it's ready.

My other goal is to do an overhaul of this blog. The famous Uncle Ken at The Money Blog did a review of Finding Money Online last month and he has some valid points when it comes to my weaknesses. First, I would like to thank Uncle Ken for choosing Finding Money Online to do his first Blog Review...I feel honored. Second, I am thankful that he posted the good and the bad so I know exactly what needs to be done. What's the purpose in doing a review if it's not an accurate intepretation of what you're gonna get. So with review in hand and New Year's Resolutions on paper, I am dedicated to turning Finding Money Online into a blog people look forward to reading.

Don't Let the Monkeys Enforce Murphy's Law

Never, I repeat, never say out loud...What else can go wrong? I don't know if it is fate that likes to play tricks on us or just plain old Murphy's Law, but it seems like if one thing seems to be going good, then something else is going to come along and throw a monkey in my wrench...or is that a wrench in my monkey?

First things first...I started this blog with all good intentions to let everyone know what I'm doing to make money online. Well, it seems that as fast as I can make it, one more thing in life requires money.

It all started when I decided to pay off some debt. I did get one credit card paid off, but unfortunately, Christmas rolled around and I used it for a little Black Friday shopping. The plan is to pay the balance each month, or at least half. Anyway, I thought to myself, man, this debt payoff is moving pretty smooth and based on my scientific calculations...er, actually Dan's Super Snowball Calculator, I should have all my credit cards and personal loans paid off in only 9 months. Well, I did not take into consideration those little WTM's (Wrench Toting Monkeys) that seem to pop up out of no where.

Just to give you an idea, these are my latest little WTM's:

Brake job and 2 tires (to replace the badly worn, daily self-flattening rear tires) $200.00

Daily laundry drop off service for the past 2 weeks (I think my washing machine slung a rod!) $200

• NSF charges for not paying attention to my newly started checkbook register $175

Still searching for happiness...priceless.

I will go back to the drawing board tonight, make a stronger commitment with that checkbook register, and scientifically recalculate that snowball plan and get back on track.

ClearCheckbook.com

I've come to realize that I spend half of my time making money and the other half spending it, and the whole time wondering "where did my money go." So I thought I would sit down and try to figure out my finances and see where the money is disappearing to...but wait, I don't even keep a checkbook register much less maintain a budget.

I have always played roulette when it came to my bank account assuming as long as I logged in and checked my balance, I would be fine. Well, I'm here to tell you that you don't win at that game very long relying on luck. So after 10 years of daily checking online just to find out my balance, I've decided to start being responsible for my finances. I'm not one to keep up with an actual checkbook (I hate physically writing anything) and if I can't do it online, then I usually don't do it at all. So I went straight to Google and searched for an online checkbook register. The title for their first listing, ClearCheckbook.com caught my attention...Totally Free Online. Hey, "Free" and "Online", what more could I ask for. I looked around for about one whole minute, created an account, imported my statement from the bank and...voila! I had an actual checkbook register in less than five minutes.

After I got everything up and running, I started checking out their features. My favorites are the Google widget and the AIMbot. You can put a widget on your iGoogle page that gives you an overview of your account as well as quick links to your ClearCheckbook.com account. The AIMbot is awesome. You can send an IM requesting your balance and even add transactions straight from AIM. You can also send the same requests by sending the AIMbot a text from your cellphone. How cool is that?

The creator of ClearCheckbook.com, Brandon O'Brien, developed the program primarily for his own personal use, but decided to share it with the online community. The idea behind making ClearCheckbook.com available was to give high school students and young adults an easier way to track their spending at the same time teaching them basic checkbook fundamentals. This is exactly the type of program I was looking for...easy, free & online.

If you're looking for an alternative to a paper checkbook register, you should give ClearCheckbook.com a try and guess what, no advertisements to clutter your checkbook register. If you like the program and it works for you, please consider giving a donation. He maintains the program at no charge to you and he doesn't run advertisements anywhere on the site.

Survey Says!

Have you ever received those emails..."You're invited to take a survey and we'll pay you $5 for your time" only to click the link, complete about 10 pages worth then to find out that you didn't qualify? Didn't qualify? Then why in the world did you send me the invitation in the first place?

When I started doing GPT's, along the way I accumulated a few survey sites. It was exciting to get those first few emails taunting me with the $5 PayPal rewards. I diligently clicked those links only to find out that I didn't qualify. After a few weeks of rejection...the self-esteem can only take so much...I stopped clicking and started deleting them whenever I received then. Last month, I saw one that caught my eye...$100 for a 30 minute phone survey. I thought, "well, if I don't "qualify" no big deal, but what if I do. That's $100 for nothing. So I set up my appointment and they called, right on time I might add. It felt like it was about an hour's worth of talking but I listened to the questions, answered honestly as possible and the whole time I was thinking "any minute she's going to tell me I didn't qualify." Before I knew it, the survey was over. That was a Tuesday. Thursday afternoon there was a $100 check in my mailbox. I couldn't believe it. First of all, I qualified...second of all, I actually got paid!

From that point forward, I have clicked every survey invitation that I get and lo and behold, I qualified...most of the time. Here are a few of my favorites, so try them out if you're not already a member. If you are and you haven't "qualified" in a while, maybe now is the time.

MyView $31.00
I like MyView the best because their surveys pay straight to PayPal and they range from $2 to $5 (maybe more, but that's what I have received). The only drawback is it can take anywhere from 2-6 weeks to actually receive the money in PayPal. They also do product testing which is always fun around my house.

Lightspeed 1175 Points
Payouts start around 500 points. They offer surveys for the whole family, too. My 9 year old daughter received an invitation for a home survey. She received $10 in the mail and once she completes the 2 week survey, she will receive an additional $50.

E-Poll Surveys 1100 Points
$5 Gift cards start at 3500 points or you can donate to charity at 2500 points.

Synovate Global Opinion Panel 2320 Points
Prizes start at 5000 points. Most of these surveys seem pretty easy to qualify for.

Vindale Research $2.00
This is a mix of surveys and GPT. Most of them are trials, but they do have some surveys. Unfortunately, their minimum payout is $50.00.

BTB Award...Be the Blog

I am so excited. Other than making money online, my next favorite thing is receiving awards...especially when they are from my favorite bloggers. Thanks Ken at The Money Blog...you're the best.

So I suppose I get to pass this award on to a few of my other favorite bloggers. My first blogger choice is fairly new to me, Tony's Daily Blog . I hope he lives life to the fullest and continues to write it about it. Tony, I have enjoyed every second of reading your blog. Good luck to you and your family.

My next choice is a newcomer blog, Stepping Away from the Past. She has a great passion for leading people straight to the top. Her blog is fairly new but deserves to be seen. I am certain that she will be sitting on top one day.

Getting Noticed...at Least by the Search Engines

How do you get your new blog noticed by the search engines? You have a new blog and it is your pride and joy. You look at your postings and you feel very, very proud of yourself. So you should - you have made the first steps into the world of pro-blogging. The problem is that none of the search engines even know that you exist. For a hobby blogger, this is not a problem, but you want to make some money out of your blog. You have to be noticed by Google and the rest. So how do you do it?

The first thing to do is submit your site to the main engines. The Google page is here, and this is the one that you need for Yahoo. Now I have no idea how long this will take, but the engines will send their spiders out to crawl your site eventually. Eventually is obviously too long to wait, so give your new blog a boost by visiting sites that are related to yours and leaving comments in their comment boxes. Make sure that you don't post as anonymous - leave your name, e-mail and the your blog's URL in the spaces provided. If you can write HTML then you can do something with your actual comment. You can embed a link to your URL in the text that you leave in the box. This trick is called Googlewhoring, so be careful how you use it. If you are too blatant, the person who owns the blog may decide to delete your comment. However, assuming that you can get your comment in, and that it stays there, it will be picked up by those magical spiders that spend all day every day just crawling the web and looking for links. That is to say that it will be picked up by some of the spiders, but not all of them. The problem is that Google tries to bully bloggers into using no-follow tags in their coding. All the Blogger templates come with these bits of code as standard and getting rid of them is a pain, so most bloggers don't bother. What the code does is to tell the spiders not to count those links. If you use Firefox as your browser then you can download the SearchStatus tool which sits in your browser and tells you the Google Page Ranking of the site you are visiting, and if it has the no-follow tags enabled.

Luckily for you, the Yahoo spiders do seem to ignore the no-follow tags when they are counting links for the Yahoo Back Links totals, but Google almost certainly does not include them in their Page Ranking system. The problem that you still have is that remarks left in a comment box do not count as highly as a link that comes directly from the blog itself. So, after you have left comments all over the place, now is the time to look for a blog that will give you a link via a blog posting. If you have some decent postings already up at your blog then one of them might just link to that, but to be on the safe side, why not send an e-mail to the blog's owner? Explain who you are and what you are trying to do. Tell him or her how much you like their blog, and then ask if they will introduce your blog to their readers. The big pro-bloggers won't be interested, so don't waste your time, but the smaller money bloggers tend to be an approachable bunch, especially if you have already posted something nice about their blog. Finally, does your great Aunt Agnes have a page devoted to her cats? It may only get three visitors a week, but if she has had it for a while, then the search engines will have it indexed. You can check that by taking a line of her text, put it in quotation marks, and then stick it into Google. If the engine recognizes the text, then your aunt's page is indexed. Beg her for a link to your new blog.

How long will it take before your blog gets indexed? If you do things properly, then anywhere between 24 and 72 hours. Create some content on your new blog. Submit the blog to the search engines. Then go off and leave a few comments around the place. Finally ask people to link to you. It will work and you will get indexed yourself.

About the author:
Ken Bell has been blogging at The Exile since 2005. In 2007 he started The Money Blog, and he has his own site at http://www.ask-ken.info/. This article has been taken from Uncle Ken's Article Directory.

Stay Tuned for What's New

Okay, I'm really excited and scared at the same time. We are trying to set up a GPT and I sure hope things go smooth. I am so, so, so counting on the blogging community to help make this work. I have faith in everyone.

As soon as everything is set up, I will add a post promoting our new GPT...so "Stay Tuned". Oh yeah, wish me luck, too.

Happy Blogging Wish

Wow!!! Thanks, Irene from Diary of a Wannabe WAHM. I needed that today. I have been falling down on the job with updating my blog...but thanks to my "Happy Blogging Wish" and a friendly reminder from my bestest blogger, Spring, I will get back to blogging daily.

Okay, my Happy Blogging Wishes go out to Springers Reviews (of course), Stepping Away From the Past, and Pamm's Quest. I love visiting their sites just to see what they are up to.

Money in the Bank...PayPal to be Exact

I just realized that I haven't updated my earnings in quite some time. I have decided to promote the sites that I have met minimum payout and that I have received payment. This is what I have received in September, October & November:

Almighty Incentives
Total Earned: $13.19
Total Rec'd: $7.05

Cash Crate
Total Earned: $38.25
Total Rec'd: $32.92

Fat Wallet
Total Rec'd: $25.19

Freebies Junction
Total Earned: $239.30
Total Rec'd: $219.87

Monster Pays Cash
Total Earned: $0.80
Total Rec'd: $0.25

Mora Traffic
Total Earned: $10.94
Total Rec'd: $5.63

Quick Rewards
Total Earned: $24.41
Total Rec'd: $24.41

Race 4 Offers
Total Earned: $5.04
Total Rec'd: $1.00

Raining Riches
Total Earned: $24.01
Total Rec'd: $23.56

WAHM Bucks
Total Earned: $19.73
Total Rec'd: $16.98

Heaven's Serenade

My best friend has a special request for everyone. Check out Emily Jane Clark, the new, up and coming next star of Nashville. She is competing in a contest for CMT. Check her out now on http://www.madness.cmt.com/. You can listen to her song and vote for her while you're there. She is listed on the right side, 8th group down.

She has been trying to break into country music since she was 16 and she's currently working on her graduate studies at the University of Louisville in Speech Therapy. Randy Lanham, a close friend of her cousin from high school, wrote the song, Heaven's Serenade, that she sings in the video. Randy is a songwriter and muscian in Nashville and plays the guitar and other instruments for several music labels (and has played on tour with Garth Brooks, Travis Tritt, Willie Nelson - spent some time in jail thanks to Willie -, and several others).

Let's all help Emily Jane make it straight to the top. Please stop by http://www.madness.cmt.com/, enjoy the music and take time to vote. Oh yeah, and feel free to post the link to get the word out...let me know if you do!

Thinking Back...It Only Takes a Click

Thinking back about how I got started in Get Paid To (GPT) Sites, it made me realize how Google really can lead your direction in life. I went to http://www.google.com/ and typed the words "need money now".

CashCrate $36.89


The first google hit was Free Money - I need it - Now. That was my very first click into making money online. After reading over this website, I saw a description on Cash Crate. I remember thinking...well, the name is catchy, at least.

So I signed up with Cash Crate. That was August 30th and by the end of the month, I had made the $10 minimum payout. I couldn't believe it! I had actually made money online for free. I visited around the Cash Crate site, even registered for the forum. One topic on the Cash Crate forum that intrigued me the most was the "I Got Paid" topic. People actually received checks for completing offers through Cash Crate.

The best part about Cash Crate is referral earnings. I only have three referrals, but hopefully someone who hasn't heard of Cash Crate will come across my blog and sign up, just like I did over at Free Money - I need it - Now.

I'm Totally Fabulous...My Very First

Tammy from Mom Knows Everything thinks I'm totally fabulous. What Tammy doesn't know is that she is a daily inspiration for me. I enjoy reading her blog, and I love her layout...the cutest, I think. So I was very honored to receive an award from her.

Now to pass on this award to five totally fabulous blogs, I would like to present this "Totally Fabulous" award to some of my favorite bloggers.

• (1) Natalie at Poor Money Makin' for her great tips and suggestions
• (2) Jackie at Our Debt Free Mission for her frugal breakdowns
• (3) Dana at Busy, Busy Mom for her courage to start her own GPT
• (4) Ken at The Money Blog for his outspoken character and wit
• (5) Irene at Diary of a Wannabe WAHM for her unique ideas

I hope that this award offers encouragement to each one of you to continue the hard work that you do. You do make a difference. To all of you, I consider you a totally fabulous new friend. Keep up the good work!

My GPT Links...Their Own Little World

I have moved my GPT Links to their own page. There seemed to be so many that it was taking up a lot of space on my side bar. I hope by doing this that the links will still get visitors. You can check out the page by visiting my link under "Finding Money...On The Side" on the sidebar or visiting Sheryl's GPT Site Page.

I want to thank all my visitors who have checked out my page and signed up through my link. I try to make an extra effort to visit my friends' blogs daily and sign up for any that I don't have.

Secret to Success...Referrals

I have learned very quickly that the secret to success in making that darn minimum payout requires two things: (1) getting offers to approve and (2) referrals. Some of the GPT sites will sell you referrals who have not linked through anyone else. I think that is a good idea, but for me I really didn't want to spend the money until I knew that the GPT would actually pay. Eventually, I may decide to purchase referrals, but I would rather wait and see what happens.

When I first realized that someone had signed up through my referral link, I was excited. Now that they're actually earning money, I'm ecstatic. In one day, I earned $15.oo from referrals alone. It made me stop and think about all the GPT sites that I had signed up for. Every single site was through an individual's link, so that means that they are earning more money because of me as well. I really like the fact that I can help someone by doing something that is also benefiting me.

I think if we all work together and join GPT sites through our fellow blogger's links, that everyone will reap the rewards. This is a challenge to all GPT bloggers out there, or anyone who wants to get started in Get Paid To (GPT) sites, to find a blog that you enjoy and link a GPT that you are not already a member. Not only will you earn money along the way, you make some fantastic friends that will bend over backward to help you.

Precious Time for Free Money

I have just recently joined Bux.to and it only takes 2-3 minutes a day. I learned about this from The Money Blog. When you check out Bux.to, please don't get discouraged with the low earnings or the $10 minimum payout requirement. The site only pays $.01 per click, but the trick to this program is referrals. If you can get a good downline of referrals, this program is basically a free $15 to $20 a month.

Currently, I only have 5 ads available to click so that is 2 and a half minutes a day of my time. Eventually, more ads become available which only adds more money to your monthly balance. Just think if everyone out there did this, we could make more money a month by only working 2 to 3 minutes a day. I know that's not a lot of money, but what is 2 minutes a day to you. The best part about it is I do the clicks while I'm checking my email, so technically I am already using those minutes doing something else. If you only had 5 ads available and you had 20 referrals who only had 5 ads that equals $31.50 a month for only 2 and half minutes a day. Just think, what if every one had 10 available ads? That's $60.00 a month for 5 minutes a day.

You Gotta Know the Shortcuts

When I first found out about GPT sites, I thought "hey, what can you lose...it's free money." But the time it takes to complete the offers can sometimes be overwhelming and not to mention you spend all this time entering information and you're still not sure if you did it properly or, for that matter, enough. I always have two questions that linger in my mind while I'm doing GPT sites...(1) How far do I have to go to make sure this offer completes? and (2) How come I don't find out about those darn "promo codes" or "contests" until after the fact?

I thought about tracking each offer that I complete for a week and see which ones approve and how far I would have to go into it. Lo and behold, someone beat me to the punch. Poor Money Makin' has all the details on all, and I mean all, the advertisers. Her GPT shortcuts tell you exactly what information has to be entered before the offer approves. The shortcuts are very specific for each advertiser and lists all the steps that you need to take to have an offer successfully approve.

She also has a calendar showing all the specials and promos going on at all the GPT sites. She's even posted her Google calendar with the latest up-to-date information. Tonight, when I found her page, my questions were answered. Her blog post was the "time-saver" of the night.

Stop by and visit Poor Money Makin' and see for yourself...and let her know that Sheryl sent you. The time that you save following her suggestions will pay for itself. And while you're there, how about earning a little extra by checking out the calendar and actually knowing "when" to complete the offers. I never knew it made such a difference.

Quick Rewards Network

I have found a great GPT that has no minimum payout. It's called Quick Rewards Network and you can earn quick points, tokens, and cash. They offer surveys, paid emails, and offers to earn cash. The great part about Quick Rewards is that everything is sent straight to your email. First you get paid for clicking the email, then if you complete the offer, you earn cash. You also earn 5% of everything your referral earns.

I tested the program on one offer. The offer completed the same date. I requested a payout since there was no minimum and I received payment via PayPal within 12 hours. I will definitely be working this site. There's a lot to be earned here, so come join today.

GPT...Is Free Money for Everyone?

Known throughout the "earn money online" community as GPT, Get Paid To sites are becoming quite popular, as well as addictive.

The GPT sites offer their members a percentage of their advertisers payments by having the members either visit an advertiser's site, sign up for the advertiser's product or service, or make a purchase through a specific link. You become a member by signing up directly at the GPT site or through a current member as a referral. Each member who has other members sign up through their referral link, earn a percentage of that member's earnings. This does not affect the earnings of the new member, just that the member who referred them earns a percentage of what they earn.

Most GPT sites have a minimum payout before they will relinquish the member's earnings. Some range from $1.00 to $30.00, but most of the GPT sites have a $20.00 minimum. Usually, GPT sites pay their members either by check or through PayPal, while other sites pay through gift cards or products.

The benefit to joining a GPT site is, of course, free money...and who in the world doesn't want free money. On the other hand, you do have to work for the money, at least in the beginning until you build a downline of referrals. By working for it, I mean spending time at your computer, entering your personal information into advertiser's sites, reading emails, visiting sites, etc. There are offers that require you to sign up for a t