Just A Few More Entrepreneurial Ideas

  Yesterday, I had discussed a few ways to make money while staying at home. The problem is, not everyone likes to stay at home all the time! So today, I'm giving you guys a small list of entrepreneurial ideas that don't require you to stay home.

  I live in a city where learning a trade is a huge asset, and getting the education to qualify for these types of jobs is available to most people. Unforunately, not everyone has the ability to go to college or university, which means these doors are closed to the people who don't possess the skills to even apply for these jobs.

Some of these jobs require little to no education or experience, you probably won't have to go through special licensing or anything crazy like that. Really, they're jobs that you CAN do.


Recycling Pickup.
  So, I know of a few people in the city who charge to pick up large items like washers, dryers, scrap metal, etc. However, I don't know of a lot of people who are willing to pick up things like electronics, old televisions, computers, broken laptops, and cell phones that are no longer able to be used. You can charge per item, per weight, travel distance, or have one lump standard fee. The options are endless. Since people don't have a lot of time to pack up all of their old electronics and take it to be recycled, there IS a market available for someone to do electronic pick ups. It's definately my number 1 for lowest cost startups, since all you really need are some business cards, some flyers, and a vehicle to pick up the items.

Mobile Consulting.

  Are you super good at fixing people's cell phones? Do you have all of the materials you need in order to fix broken or cracked screens and software? Do you think you could make money on it? Well, you sure can. Make yourself mobile by packing a case full of everything you'd need to fix people's cell phones on site. THIS IS AN UNTOUCHED MARKET PEOPLE! Advertise that you are willing to travel to their house to fix their cell phones at a cost of X amount. If you can fix a cell phone, and have a vehicle, then you should definately get into the mobile repair business.

I mean, we call a plumber when our toilet or pipes break and he comes to us. Same with an electrician. Cable company (if it's a problem with the reciever box thing.). Why not get someone to come to my house to fix my cell phone?

Traveling Salon.

  This is a market that isn't really untouched, but there's just not enough out there. Some people can't go to the salon. Either they're just too busy to, or they're physically unable to. If you have the degree, and you have a car and everything you need to start renting a chair at a salon...why not work for yourself and go mobile! Charge by the hour, by the hair length, add in distance, advertise and get a client base. You can do it! Go for it!


Bicycle Repair and Maintenance.

In the spring, summer and fall, you can see people all the time riding their bikes to and from work and for fun. Why not start a mobile bicycle repair and maintenance service for the people who just don't have time to bring their bikes in to the shop? Charge by the bike, the time it takes you to fix it/clean it, whatever you want! An added bonus is if you make your shop mobile, whether it's an attachement onto a bicycle (bonus points for being green!), or out of the trunk of your car! Get the supplies, and make a business.

Professional Organizer.

Have people ever told you that you're the most organized person in the world? Why not market that in order to help other people get or stay organized? There are so many people out there who would be super organized if they could, but they don't know how. You can organize schedules, or do start small and organize closets. It's all up to you!




There's a whole world filled with oppertunities out there just waiting for someone to cash in on and claim. I'm going to end this post with one of my favorite entrepreneurial quotes that's both inspiring and motivating.

“The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” –Nolan Bushnell, entrepreneur.


  

Online Jobs: A New Way to Make a Pay In Your Jammies

 I have the privilege to be able to be a stay at home parent (not on social assistance), with an awesome husband that works a great full time job. But like most people....I also like shopping and having a little extra money to do special things with my family.

I'm writing this today in hopes that people who are unemployed, or unable to work for whatever reason see this and go "yeah, I could do all of these."

Since these aren't jobs that a regular job advisor would suggest to you, I'm really just opening doors for everyone and anyone who is stuck and thinks they're out of options.

We all know about the regular sites, you can see my blog post about Swagbucks and Viewpoints here, and about the other ways of having your own at home business (babysitting and whatnot).  However, recently I've found a few more sites that also help out financially. These ones are similar to Swagbucks, in the way that you have to do things like surveys, offers, etc. in order to earn points to put towards gift cards.

With gift card sites, you really do have to be careful. If you're going to get an amazon gift card, you have to make sure it's a Canadian amazon gift card. Whatever you order from the US is going to be more expensive due to shipping and handling. Here are some awesome gift card sites similar to Swagbucks, that offer Canadian gift cards:

• www.gifthulk.com. 
• http://www.instagc.com

I've personally signed up for these sites, and can honestly say that they are legit sites that pay out. 

Those are the gift card survey sites. That doesn't mean that they can't pay you CASH in your bank

account though. If you're signed up for Paypal, you absolutely have the option to use your points for a

paypal gift card, and then transfer the money into your bank account!

For more of a "job" approach, there's a lot of different things that you can do. If you have a variety of skills, from writing to IT, and think that you would make a great assistant for someone, maybe you should consider being a Virtual Assistant! 

Virtual Assistanting or Freelancing is something quite new (even to me), and is on the rise. There's a such a demand for people looking for virtual assistants. So what is a virtual assistant?

A virtual assistant is a freelance assistant. Businesses or Individuals look for these people to help out since they’re not only temporary, but cost effective. You have the opportunity to set up your own home office, and work from home. Now, just like any other job, you have to apply for it, but more or less it’s referred to “bidding.” You’ll be competing with people from around the world, so make sure you take a strategic approach. Emphasize on your skills just like you would on a resume and make yourself stand out from the rest of the applicants.

Of course, being a Virtual Assistant can take a bit of getting used to, and it could take a little bit to get started. Your workflow and pay will go up and down as jobs come and go…but don’t give up! Keep at it and be persistent! The better you get, the more likely you are to have bigger better jobs in the future as you’ll have good references backing you! Just remember, each employer has the opportunity to leave feedback on your VA profile for everyone else to see, so make sure you leave good a good, successful impression on each employer!

With so many websites offering opportunities to VA’s, here’s 5 that I’ve found to be credible and top rated:

1.     Guru.com

2.     oDesk

3.     TaskRabbit

4.     Freelancer.com

5.     PeoplePerHour.com

Now, this next one might seem a little bit crazy to some people, but it’s actually a really great way to make a few bucks here and there.

Grant Writing. That’s right, you can be the middle man between someone who needs a grant and a funder. This is something that you’ll have to do research for, and develop on your own. Obviously writing skills are super important, so if you’re not a good writer, have bad grammar, etc. I don’t suggest you start helping companies by writing their grant requests.

Grant writing is great because you get to write about a lot of different subjects, while also being able to help out businesses, or non-profit organizations.

Maybe you’re really good at computer stuff (html and developing websites)? Well, you might consider being a Website Consultant. This could be as simple as going around small businesses and offering your services to them for a fee, or putting an advert on various websites directing business to your own website.

Another great business, if you’re great at computer stuff, is aiding small businesses by increasing their social networking.  This could include creating a facebook page (and mediating it), a twitter, instagram, etc. Put at advert on kijiji or craigslist advertising that you’re willing and able to create stronger social media impressions for small businesses. Most owners just don’t have the time to do it themselves, so a lot of them don’t really think about it. It’s a great way to get their business out there, and you’ll be able to make some money by doing it!





** If you have any questions or concerns regarding this post, you can always e-mail me or leave a comment. I’ll get back to you right away!

If you liked this post, feel free to like my facebook page: A Homemaker's Haven  

What To Do When You Don't Know What Else To Do.

I've been in a weird spot recently, where I honestly didn't know what to do with myself. I didn't FEEL like doing much of anything, and after all the basics were done (school drop off, cleaning, e-mail checking, etc.), I didn't really know what to do.

I've been a Swagbucks Influencer for a while now, and I got this e-mail with exciting news from Swagbucks!!!

If you're already familiar with Swagbucks, you know the Reward Store is where you turn those Swag Bucks into awesome gift cards. They just announced exciting news to make it even better:

- Starting March 2nd, you will be able to redeem 2,200 Swag Bucks for one $25 Gift Card OF YOUR CHOICE once a month. This gift card discount only excludes PayPal and Gas Cards.

- We are introducing a new $3 Amazon Gift Card which is only 300 SB.

- To accommodate these benefits, we will no longer offer $5 Amazon Gift Cards for 450 SB. They are not going away though, as they will be priced the same as our other $5 Gift Cards at 500 SB. Currently, you are only able to redeem five $5 Amazon gift cards a month. By making these changes we can now remove this limit.

Some additional benefits include:

1. Greater Savings - If you previously redeemed five $5 Amazon Gift Cards, you were spending 2250 SB. Now you can get the same $25 worth of Amazon Gift Cards for 2200 SB, a 20% higher discount!

2. More Choices - Right now, the only gift card we currently discount is Amazon. This introduction offers you a discount on over 100 gift card choices of your favorite brands, stores, retailers, and restaurants - brands like CVS, Walmart, Visa, Target, Starbucks, Ebay, Best Buy and more!

3. Faster Redemptions - The $3 Amazon Gift Card allows you to get an Amazon Gift Card 33% faster than is currently possible. To expand the options for speedier gift card redemptions, we also plan on offering more low denomination Gift Cards of other brands in the coming months.


Let's just say, I'm going to be doing a whole lot more Swagbucks this month. With so many ways to earn, there's really no time to be bored. Check out my other blog posts regarding ways to earn with Swagbucks to find out fun ways that you can earn Swagbucks on your downtime! 

The Potato Doughnuts

Some of the finished product

  My grandmother and our family have been using this potato doughnut reciepe from her 3rd Edition Barbour Cookbook for YEARS. Probably as long as I can remember. They stay super moist because of the potatoes, and the deep fat frying gives the outside this chewy almost crust. We haven't made them in a good 5 or 6 years, but as soon as I made them yesterday I basically flashed back from when my siblings and I would help my grandmother make them in a neat little assembly line. She used to double the recipe, I used a single recipe yesterday and yielded a good batch for a family with two young kids.


  If your kids are like mine, they LOVE Tim Bits, keep the doughnut holes that you cut out to make your own homestyle Tim Bits and let the kiddos put sprinkles and whatnot on top!

Here's the no fail recipe for potato doughnuts.

4 medium sized potatoes (I used 3 large) 

Butter the size of a small egg (I used a HEAPING a tablespoon)

1 1/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

3/4 cup of milk 

4 rounded tsps baking powder

This is only half of what we made yesterday

 Enough flour to make a non sticky dough. The recipe didn't have an exact flour amount.

Pinch of Nutmeg, Pinch of salt.

Boil potatoes, and mash until there's no lumps. Add (in this order): butter, sugar, milk, eggs, stir until creamy. Add nutmeg, salt, baking powder and stir again until it's all combined. Gradually add flour until you form a dough that sticks together. Transfer onto table dusted with flour, and knead more flour in until you get a non-sticky dough ball. Roll out and cut out using a doughnut cutter (I used a dessert bowl and a shot glass!).


 Pan fry, or use deep fat fryer to cook until a little darker than golden brown, but not TOO much darker. Decorate however you want!

I attempted to make a cream cheese frosting for a cake last week, but ran out of icing sugar (my grandmother actually ran out of icing sugar.....since we were at her house when I was making the cake!), so I put it all in a margerine container and saved it, we ended up using this as a glaze for our doughnuts and they turned out SOOOOO GOOOOODDDDDD. 

They're golden brown in that T-Fal deep fat fryer (bought at Canadian Tire)

What's In The Redplum?!

Sometime either late last night or extremely early this morning, I recieved my Redplum along with my big ol bag of flyers. Here's what's in it:

-Some Burger King coupons for Free Sandwiches with the purchase of a meal, and a page of lots more meal coupons

-Save 1.00 on Palmolive

-1.00 off any 2 singles or 1 value pack of Pure Protein

-3.00 off any Ester-C product

-1.00 off any 2 singles or 1 value pack of Balance Bar

-1.50 off any disney or starwars kids gummy vitamins

-1.50 off any Natures Bounty product

-1.50 off any Hair &Nails or Hair, Skin & Nails product

-5.00 off any Osteo Bi-Flex product

-Save 50 cents on a Graves Product (selected variety, there's a list of what qualifies)

-BOGO Free Bag of Pedigree Vitality dry dog food.

-Free copy of Zoomer magazine (mail to redeem)

-Free copy of Saltscapes magazine (mail to redeem)



That's what you can redeem in your Redplum, there's some really great deals on this week too!!

Giant Tiger and No Frills are having their 88 sales....on the front page of the Giant Tiger flyer I noticed that Palmolive dish soap was on for 1.88....so it'll be 88 cents with your coupon!

At Target:

you can get Select Olay complete moisturizers for 8.49, there's a Smartsource coupon in the coupon portal to save 2.00......6.49

Pantene sale price 3.99, Smartsource coupon for 2.00 off......1.99


Shoutout to Shopper's 2 Day Sale (Sunday and Monday):

Gain detergent or Fleecy dryer sheets: 3.99
Coca-Cola or Pepsi 6X710 bottles: 1.97
2 for 4$ Ruffles or Doritos
Vim cleaning cleanser, Dawn and Ivory dish soap 1.99 each.
21.99 Pamper's super boxed diapers
2.77 Fructis or L'Oreal kids hair products
5.99 each Aveeno lotion or Olay Facial cleansers (the reason I didn't put a coupon is because it could be varied type and the flyer did not specify which Olay Cleanser....there ARE lots of Olay coupons on the coupon portal, so make sure you print them out!!)
5.99 Bic, Shick Quattro, or Gillette disposable razors


Keep in mind that Walmart and Target both pricematch, Target does Canada-wide and online pricematching. If you find a lower price for an item, let me know and I'll add it! 

E-mailing for Coupons! Guest Post by Justine Wright

I love to do alot of coupon trading, that is how i get alot of the same coupon, and I just trade ones I no I will never use, but another way I like to get high vaule coupons is to email companies that will send you coupons, when i emailed places I just wrote something short like, hey, i really love your products and I would love to keep buying, I was just wondering if you could send me some coupons if so here is my address (write address here) (if there was no wheres to write and address ) thank you so much!
so here is a list of compaines you can email:

smuckers-i always get booklets from them. http://www.smuckers.ca/Contact-Us-Form
Vlasic Pickles http://pinnaclefoodscorp.com/index.php/company/contact-us
Chapman’s ( Once per year) http://www.chapmans.ca/ContactUs
Cloverleaf http://www.cloverleaf.ca/en/contact/
Becel https://secure.becel.ca/en/contactus.aspx?currentworld=
All you Need is Cheese (magazine + cheese coupons) http://www.dairygoodness.ca/contact-us
Uncle Bens http://www.unclebens.ca/en-ca/Errors/Error404.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/About/ContactUs.aspx
Blue Dragon http://www.bluedragon.ca/contact
Driscolls Strawberries: tell them you are from canada. $1.00 coupon http://www.driscolls.com/contact-us
El Monterey Mexican food http://www.elmonterey.com/contactus/
Tetley Tea http://www.tetley.ca/en/about-us/contact
Melitta Coffee http://www.melitta.ca/contact
Duncan Hines http://www.duncanhines.ca/contact-us/
Johnson & Johnson ( free baby sample pack FPC & 2x$1 off coupon ) https://www.ccc-consumercarecenter.com/universal-contact-us/ca-jnjcanada-ucu/www.jnjcanada.com
Relvon http://www.revlon.ca/Revlon-Home/Revlon-General/Contact.aspx
Crayola .50 to $2.00 coupon http://www2.crayola.com/canwehelp/contact/ask.cfm
Pampers Diapers https://www.pampers.ca/registration
Heinz Baby http://www.heinzbaby.com/en_ca/
Milupa (free spoon + sample of baby cereal) http://www.milupa.ca/en/index.html
Kruger 1 x $1.50 off coupon valid on Cashmere, SpongeTowels,White Swan , Purex TP or Scotties http://www.krugerproducts.ca/english/contact.php
MOO (10 pack free business cards) http://ca.moo.com/partner/sample/

Newspaper Coupon Insert Schedule for 2015

Bookmark this post ya'll! Pretty soon the newspaper insert's will be here!! Smartsource coupon insert: January 10, 2015
January 31, 2015
February 7, 2015
March 7, 2015
March 28, 2015
April 4, 2015
April 18, 2015
May 16, 2015
June 6, 2015
June 20, 2015
July 25, 2015
August 22, 2015
September 12, 2015
October 3, 2015
November 7, 2015
December 6, 2015 Redplum Coupon Insert: January 10, 2015
February 7, 2015
March 7, 2015
April 4, 2015
May 2, 2015
June 6, 2015
July 4, 2015
August 8, 2015
September 5, 2015
October 3, 2015
November 14, 2015 PG Bransdaver: TBD.

A Post About My Health Journey.

Maybe it's just a New Year's resolution, but recently I got fed up with everything and started my family on this healthy eating-exercising thing. I've come to terms with a few things....like having a water retention problem is rediculously rediculous and while it SHOULD be easy to manage, I have the worst time in the world managing....and how good Vanilla Protein powder is in coffee (it's one thing I can't give up...). I mean, vanilla coffee is good on it's own, and I feel good thinking that I'm drinking a "healthy" Timmy-ho's double double.

My mother had a big weight problem when I was growing up, she struggled a ton with it and at her heaviest she also got diagnosed with MS, making it that much harder on everyone since over the course of 5 years she went from being independant to being completely dependant on other people to help her do things like use the bathroom. I don't know if there's a whole lot of research of weight problems being genetic, but after...ahem....puberty...I started having a huge problem with weight management (I suppose being pregnant twice didn't help....).

I don't want to eat right and exercise to specifically lose weight. I want to eat right and exercise to get healthy. If I lose a few l b's along the way, GREAT. If I don't.....I'll probably call my doctor and yell at her because there'll be something extremely wrong with me.

Also, I don't know if anyone's ever had those Arizona green tea with ginseng and honey drinks....but you can make your own at home with the tea bags (they sell green tea with ginseng and honey), a juice container, and a few sugar cubes (I like the cubes because I can monitor how much I put in.) for taste (not a huge fan of green tea.....never have been, trying to get used to it. My great-grandfather apparently was a tea taster for Red Rose back in the day, so I grew up drinking it just like my mother and grandmother.). 3 Teabags for 1 container (2L), and it'll last you a good few days depending on how much you drink it.


I also never thought I'd be doing so much research about Kale. Not that there's anything wrong with Kale, but I'm still wondering what's the deal with Kale....it just seems like there's a whole big world of greens out there, what's the difference between kale and regular mixed greens!? WHY IS KALE SO HOT RIGHT NOW?!

Cabbage is just the worst. I don't mind eating it, but there's some "detox" or "weight loss" reciepes that are like "eat this cabbage soup every day for a week and lose a guaranteed 10lbs." Of course you're going to lose weight with cabbage and nothing else....cabbage soup is awful.

So today, I'm putting a new board on the Thrifty Gal pinterest. Health and Fitness. You'll soon be able to check out all my awesome health related pins to find easy exercises, yum yum recipes (good for kids too!), and maybe even an inspirational quote or two. 

The holidays are over!!!

It sounds kind of funny, but to me the Holidays are Over. Finally. I look forward to it every year...that time right before New Year's and right after Christmas where I can take down my decorations (yeah, I do it that early), and get my house to look as normal as possible with the additional amount of toy's and other things....

I've never been a big fan of the Holidays. I've experienced a lot of let downs in my life that I've never fully got over (when you've been lied to and let down as a kid, the hurt stays for a very very long time), so the Holidays are just another time where I remember the hurts that I had to go through to get me here. Of course, that doesn't stop me from plastering on an almost fake happiness and putting on an act for my family!

Obviously I love seeing the happiness on my kids when they're opening up presents from Santa, and I love spending time with my family....the whole thing is just really exhausting though.

I need pajama days until New Years. I don't want to go out anywhere. I want to get everything done that I hadn't got a chance to do for the week of Christmas. The Holidays are the main reason why I haven't been posting, or scouring for coupons, etc. It's not an excuse....I know that. I explained to at least 10 people about what I do online, and my blog, and the influencer programs that I'm a part of...I don't know if they get it or not, I just answer the questions as they are! I hope that they do get it though....different generations I guess.


"How many minutes until you're done?"

That was my oldest, Bean, asking about when I was going to be done "working"...you can tell I booted him off of the computer for this post (insert giggle here.).

It's really doubtful anyone can fully understand the amount of hard work that I actually put into this entire blog thing. I wasn't really expecting it to grow to as many people as it did....same with the Facebook group. I'm really kicking myself for my past choices that COULD have bettered the blog or got it out there more, and I chose not to participate because I wasn't completely confident in what I was doing (I was confident in what I was doing, but I wasn't fully confident about giving other people the confidence that THEY could do it....your fails are my fails!).

So today, I've decided to overhaul this blog. Make some changes for sure. In the New Year I'm going to be trying to give you guys the best and most effective advice I can possibly give, and if you guys don't understand you can ALWAYS e-mail me (I check my e-mails all the time!!)! That's my personal new year's resolution. 

Coupon Binder Organization! Guest post by Justine Wright!

Coupon Organiztaion Binder Method.

I use to just throw whatever coupons I had in the back zipper pocket of my purse, causing me to dig through all these random coupons trying to find that one I needed, knowing that I had it but I just didnt no where it went, It just got to the point where I needed a new and better system than that, so I sat down and started thinking, and well I had a random binder from the dollar store, and my boyfriend had all these baseball card holders for his hockey cards, so I put 2 and 2 together and thought of a binder for my coupons!!
So now I'm sharing with all of you how I made my binder!
1. BINDER- I have a three ring binder from the dollar store, depending how many coupons you have and how big of a binder you need, going to walmart or staples for one that zippers is also a great idea! I dont no how many times my 1 yr old has tiped mine upside down and droped all of my coupons on the floor!! (my fault for leaving it in her reach!)
2.DIVIDERS, I also found these at the dollar store for a buck!! you will need these so you can divide each section to make things alot easier to find, right now mine are dived as :
Food
Baby
Bathroom
Cleaning
Smells
Randoms
Target coupons
Trades (the coupons i wont use and i trade them for ones I will use)
Now when I get more of a coupon collection I will divied them differently, for an example
Baking items
Canned goods
Beverages
Fozen foods
Meats
Shaving needs
Shampoos/soaps
But you can organize them however you feel is best for you.

3. PENICAL CASE- A 3 holed penical case! Now I dont have this in my binder yet but I am going to get one!! I am always looking for scissors, penicals/pens, calculator! having a penical case snaped into your binder with all the things you need in it to do your couponing is a great idea!

4. BASEBALL/HOCKEY CARD HOLDERS!- Again found at the dollar store for a buck! you can also find them at places like target, or walmart. It is an amazing way to keep your coupns organized, you can see the coupons clearly, some you may have to fold them to fit, you can stuff them pretty good as well! I always put whatever coupon expires first in the front to make sure I dont use any that expires last.

5. I also like to put a list at the front of my binder of all the sites you can print/mail coupons from, as I tend to forget atleast one website and that can cause me to miss out on a very good coupon!

This method may not be for everyone, but I love how easy it is to find my coupons, how easy it is to carry around with me (because well you never no what you will find on sale that was not in the flyers!) and I can just look at the divider find what section I need, and pull out the coupon! Also love the space you have in a binder for all the coupons you can possibly have!

Justine Wright

New Years Resolution.

It’s almost that time of year again, the time to make up new fun resolutions that may or may not get done in the New Year.  Why not resolve to save money? There are so many resources you can use to save money, and they can all be a bit confusing.  You might be thinking that because you’re on a set income, the Social Assistance program or are a single parent, you can’t afford to do things like stock up. You might think you don’t have time to spend hours slumping over a table clipping out coupons, and while coupons might help save hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars a year, they’re hard to manage and quite time consuming. There are other ways that you can save money!

When you lower your grocery bill, you can use that extra money to put towards other things that are in need of attention. Things like cash-back apps, and price matching can save you a ton of money on your grocery bill. Apps like Checkout 51, Zweet, Snap , Cartsmart and now Save.ca offer cash back rebates that you can get if you buy items on their offer’s list. After you have at least $20, you can request for them to send you a cheque and then you can cash the cheque and then BAM! Extra money in your pockets!

If you do shopping online, websites like Swagbucks, Viewpoints, InstaGC, and Gifthulk will offer you points that you earn by doing surveys, tasks, polls, and even inviting your friends to join.  After a certain amount of points, you can “cash out” and receive e-gift certificates that you can use on a variety of websites like Amazon, the Gap, Old Navy, and sometimes even Babies R Us.

Price matching varies from store to store, but Target has the best price matching policy that I can find. You can price match Canada-wide, meaning if that can of soup is cheaper in B.C. you can show the cashier your flyer (online of course), and they’ll honor it.  If you find the Burt’s Bees lip balm cheaper to buy on Amazon.ca, just show them and they’ll price match. Yes, they even price match from Amazon.

Before you turn down couponing completely, just remember that couponing has changed a lot through the years. Most coupons you can pick and choose to print from places like save.ca, smartsource, websaver.ca, and gocoupons. This ensures that you can get a variety of coupons to choose from and you’re not wasting ink on coupons that you’ll never use. Print Smartsource coupons by scrolling to the bottom and printing them out from the Thrify NBer's coupon portal now!

This year make a resolution we can all make the resolution to save money! 

Target Tidbits: how you can save money at Target.

Everyone knows the Target coupon policy of their coupons plus an Internet coupon can get you maximum savings. But if you're not a Couponer, saving money at Target can seem impossible unless you're buying everything on sale. Here's a couple price matching facts about Target that anyone can use without using coupons to save a ton of money at target.

Price match. Not only does Target price match, but they will allow you to use your smart device to price match CANADA WIDE. This means that if you find a lower price for that can of juice at a grocery store in British Columbia, you can show them the advertised price in the grocery stores flyer, and they'll honor it and adjust the price accordingly. Even though this might take a little bit of extra time, it'll save you so much money!

Amazon.ca. Did you know that Target price matches from sources like Amazon.ca? Neither did I until I called and questioned them. I scoured the Target store policy, and couldn't find anything about price matching using Amazon.ca, but as long as the source is Canadian, target seems to honour it! As we all know, Amazon.ca can have some of THE cheapest sales around. So if you're looking to make a purchase on something ex. Burts bees lip balm, check Amazon.ca first for the lowest price, and then show the cashier the page it's on. If you bring up the Amazon.com page, it will not be honoured, so make sure you're on the canadian Amazon.

That frozen doll that your daughter wanted for Christmas? Chances are somewhere in Canada those dolls are on sale, including Amazon.ca. If you spend the extra 10-15 minutes checking around, you're going to save money and get the best possible deal. 

Day 6 of 30!!

I honestly can't believe it's day 6 already!!!

My grandmother taught me how to knit, crochet, sew, cook, etc. from a very young age. She learned how to do those things young, so she taught me over the course of winters and rainy days. She always believed that just because you have little or no money, you shouldn't have to go without. If you learn to knit or crochet, your kids can lose all the mittens they want and you have the ability to whip them up a pair the night before. If you learn to cook with cookbooks made from the 30's era recession, your meal cost will be lower. If you stock up on groceries (buy more than you have to for the MONTH.), if you run into a financial problem say....around Christmas....you won't be going without food.

The same woman taught me how to properly store and freeze breastmilk, how to make a proper pie crust, and helped me raise my child for the first 2 years of his life. I'm very thankful for my grandmother.

My dad moved us a couple provinces away when I was going into grade 3, and over the course of 10 years, I somehow managed to lose all of the skills that my grandmother had taught me...and by the time I got back, being a preteen, I wasn't too interested in learning this "crap that I'll never use." When I got pregnant with my first child 5 year's later (18 ya'll.), it was pretty aparent that I had to learn those skills again. So I learned to knit (not crochet), re-learned to sew, and figured out how I standed in the kitchen (pretty good...no complaints from my kiddos.).


When it came time for me to figure out how to crochet a couple years ago, I was TOOOOOTALLLY lost. So I went out and did what anyone else in my situation would do....I bought a book! Not just any book though....I bought the Complete Idiots Guide to Knitting and Crocheting!! I love this book!!! Everything is SUPER easy to understand, there are tons of diagrams, great for beginners and I learned tons about how to make my knitting better (like the proper use of cables.).

There are people out there that will tell you that knitting and crocheting is an expensive hobby, because (if you're selling it...), you factor in the cost of yarn and the amount of time you spent on say....an afghan, you'll be losing money because you'll be selling it for a lower price. They're right, if you buy the super expensive yarn from Michaels, not on sale with no coupons, your project can get pretty expensive. But it's all about when and where to shop. If you go to Michaels, they'll often have sale coupons in their flyer's that can give you anywhere from 40-50% off, they always have the coupon that let's you save on X item that's not on sale, etc. So if you shop smart, you'll have no problem!

Today's Fun Freebie is a 3 BOOK DEALLLL!!! 3 FREE knitting books! One for stitches (learning), one for learning how to make socks, and one for learning how to make scarves!!!