Money Maker!

I know, I know. You're probably tired of hearing ways I find to make an extra dollar here and there. To be honest, it's a hobby for me now. I really enjoy (maybe even LOVE) grocery shopping now because of the couponing. I'm super excited about the $10 Amazon gift cards I've earned from searching the internet. And now I'm happy about the $2.89 cash I just earned from looking at websites (starting two days ago) basically.

I just joined a website called "YouData." You basically create an account, give them your pay pal linked email address (for the money deposit which you receive every Friday) and confirm your account via email and a text message. Then you log on to your "current offers" to view ads. Companies pay to have you look at these ads, but they are really websites that come up in a new window. So far everything I have come across is family appropriate, and I glance at it for a few seconds and close the window. That's it. You don't sign up for anything. You just open the link, look around for a second, and close it. That one little transaction has earned you between $.05-$.018. You get close to 10 of those in a batch, and so far I've had available batches every other day.

So for about 15 mins total this week (including set up account time) I've earned almost $3. Hey, why not? That's 3 McDonald's ice cream cones!

Weekend Getaway

This is us in front of the main entrance.  The resort is Swiss inspired, from the buildings to the employee uniforms and everything in between.


We ended up braving the cold for a game of putt putt among the 6 on-site craters.  That is one right behind Buck (fenced in to the right).

They even had life sized Chess!  This is the board, but of course I don't know how to play so that's as far as we got.

After some intense shopping at the Park City outlets we took a road trip through some of the more rural areas Buck served in.  This is after we ate in Downtown Kamas at a place that fed Buck for free on his mission.  He has a picture just like this from his mission.

This is a house Buck did service at every week.  It was for a Swiss lady that needed large rocks dug out of her yard.  I just thought it was so strange she decided to paint murals onto two of her front windows.  It was great learning so much about his mission, and spending so much time together.

Tourist in Your Own Town

Buck has had a crazy busy semester, and just finished the 2nd round of exams. He decided to surprise me with a weekend get-away starting today! We are heading just down the street to Midway, UT. We will be staying in the award winning Zermott Resort. We will also be traveling to Park City for a mission tour (Buck served a large part of his mission there) and shopping. I'm excited to visit these places considering I wouldn't typically choose them as "vacation destinations." Trust me, I will fill you in on the nitty gritty when we return. Have a good weekend!

SwagBucks

Hooray! I just cashed in on my first $5 Amazon gift card. So in reality it took me a little over a week to get. I worked pretty hard at it, so I'm thinking a better timeline is $5 gift cards every two weeks. I do get points for those that sign up through my link, so that helped a lot as well. It's still money I wouldn't have had before, right? I am thinking about getting as many as I can and saving them for Christmas gifts. At this rate I should have at least $70 in Amazon gift cards on my own by Christmas, and after I get Buck to join in we should have quite a bit more. Start thinking about what you want from Amazon this year haha!

Google, what?

Do you find yourself searching online A LOT?  I do.  On any given day you can find me reading up on everything from Blue Whales to cute new crafts on Martha Stewart to dispelling the mysteries of LOST.  I love reading, and I love learning.

So today in my couponing email account I got an email for one of the newsletters I subscribe to.  It said that if you use "swagbucks.com" as your search engine (instead of google.com, yahoo.com, etc.) then you can earn and redeem points.  The lady writing the article said she uses her points towards $5 Amazon gift cards (45 points each), but there are tons of things you can get.  They even have Target gift cards!  So I decided to test it out and see just how easy it is.  I just joined this afternoon and I already have 6 points.  You don't get points every time you use it, it's just random.  According to the article, it takes about a week's worth of normal searching to get the 45 points.  Getting gift cards for things I already do?  I'm in!

If you're interested, you can join here.  You can set the website as your home page, and even add it to your tool bar (like google) so you remember to use it often.  And yes, you get points for referring people, so you should totally click on my link.  I'll let you know how it all checks out.

Cupcakes and Ice Cream and Candy, Oh My!

This week I set a goal of skipping sweets all together.  I decided after Valentines Day and all of the Birthday's at work I had more than my fair share.  Plus I do not think I've ever gone an entire week without dessert in my life.  For someone that has done Weight Watchers since I was maybe 14, I'd say that's pretty sad.  So here I am...day 2 and dreaming of cupcakes.  I decided to take my cravings out on the blog.  You wouldn't believe what looking for pictures of cupcakes can do to you!

It doesn't help that Albertson's had some amazing deals (I love couponing) on Betty Crocker supplies so my pantry is bursting with cake mixes, frosting, and cookies.  Having grocery stores basically pay you (or at least close to it) to shop there is a dream come true!

On an unrelated note, I am so happy to have my husband back!  He's been here in body, but that's about it lately.  He has been super busy with school (Accounting Junior Core at BYU), plus he took an extra assignment to handle the finances for an entry to BYU's Business Plan Competition.  It's for a company that will be making foldable longboards.  It's an intense competition, and everything was due today so...Welcome Home Buck!  Stay tuned to hear WHEN they win.

12 Temples in 12 Months

Buck and I set a goal with our neighbors, the Tiners, to visit the 12 temples in Utah this year.  We made our way to Logan this weekend.  Amazingly it rained the whole time...very strange weather for Utah.  I'll take rain over snow anytime!

We got there for the 12:30 session only to find out that was the designated Spanish Session.  Oh our luck!  We still went to it, but enjoyed the luxury and a headset.  It reminded me of when we lived in Boston after we got married and attended the local ward.  Because there were so many Spanish speaking members, I had to wear a head set in Relief Society.  My heart goes out to anyone that has to do that in the Temple or at Church.  What a headache...literally!