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Shared Oct 10, 2012 comment

Addicted to Adrenaline

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 10, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I’m honored to be guest posting today on a site I love — (in)courage. If you’ve not subscribed to that site, I highly recommend it! It’s one of my favorite sites on the internet.

Anyway, I’m over there sharing candidly about being Addicted to Adrenaline. Here’s a snippet of my post:

This past summer, we went to Arkansas for our annual vacation at the lake with all of my extended family. As is customary, the guys went and rented jet skis one afternoon.

Being the generous-hearted person I am (read: the person who would rather read a book in the cool cabin than risk life and limb doing water sports. Ahem.), I offered to stay back at the cabin with our children while my husband went out to have fun on the jet ski.

About two hours later, my sister knocked on the cabin door and said that my mom was going to watch our children so I could go down and enjoy the jet ski with my husband. While I would certainly have rather stayed put, I knew my husband would love for me to go careening around on the jet ski with him. So I took our children over to my parent’s cabin to spend time with Grandma and I headed down to the boat dock where I was told I was supposed to meet up with my husband.

There weren’t any jet skis in sight, but I figured they’d be back soon. So I sat down on the dock and waited. And waited. And waited.

Read the full post over on (in)courage.

Shared Oct 9, 2012 comment

31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas: Become a Mystery Shopper (Day 8)

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 9, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Welcome to October’s series on 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas. In this series, I’m highlighting simple and legitimate ways you can earn extra cash in the next three months for those of you who could use a little extra cash to help you pay for Christmas — or just for your living expenses if you’re in a tight spot right now.

If you’ve found a great way to make extra cash before Christmas that doesn’t require an outlay of cash upfront, please email me your tip. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!

You’ve probably seen the signs or ads promise you can make hundreds of dollars every month by shopping and going out to eat. And you’ve probably though it was too good to be true.

Well, those advertisements are likely a little over-the-top and just designed to get you to sign up for some overpriced list which you can find yourself with a little searching online. But mystery shopping is a very legitimate source of income and in many areas, the jobs are plentiful and the pay is decent.

Reader DB Landes says:

I do mystery shopping to get free groceries/take out and earn a bit of extra cash. You won’t get rich quick but by doing shopping I already do I get around $10-$25 extra every month by working for Market Force, plus I get reimbursed for what I eat/buy. -DB

What Skills Do You Need to Have to Become a Mystery Shopper?

A good mystery shopper is someone who is attentive to detail and thorough in everything they do. In addition, it is very important that you keep accurate records and follow instructions carefully. Many shops will require you to look for very specific things, keep track of the time, and ask specific questions — all without seeming suspicious or giving yourself away as a mystery shopper.

How Do You Get Started Working as a Mystery Shopper?

When I first began mystery shopping, I signed up for all of the mystery shopping companies I could find. I opened up a separate email account which was dedicated to mystery shopping emails and used that when I signed up. It took me hours to sign up with all of the companies and it was quite time-consuming, but the effort paid off as I ended up landing dozens of great mystery shopping jobs over the next two years.

Reader Cassie emailed in and suggested:

If your readers are interested in mystery shopping, they should check out the MSPA’s website (Mystery Shopper Provider’s Association) which acts as sort of a BBB for mystery shopping. The MSPA has a list of legitimate mystery shopping companies here that require no money out of pocket to shop for them.

IMPORTANT NOTE: You should never pay to sign up with a mystery shopping company. They may ask for a fairly extensive application process to make sure that you are thorough, detailed, and qualified. They will ask for your social security number and other personal information (always make sure the site is secure and the company is legit before giving out personal information).

But a legitimate mystery shopping company should never ask for money upfront. If they do, run far, far away and don’t turn back. They are a scam company and you do not want to get mixed up with the likes of them!

Erin emailed me about her experiences with mystery shopping:

I heard about the idea of “mystery shopping” a few years ago, when my husband was in between coming home from a tour in Afghanistan, finding a temporary job, and returning to Active Duty Military. We needed a little extra cash, and this seemed to work well with my schedule.

At that time, I only had my son, but I’ve continued to do these shops with my second child. There are some very simple shops that pay $5 and $10, all the way up to more complex shops that pay out up to $200!

I also have taken on jobs that have compensated me for meals that my family and I have eaten. I get paid very quickly and I have never had any problems with any of the sites I’ve used. A few of them are:

Mystery Shoppers Provider Association
ICCDS
Beyond Hello
Kern Scheduling
National Shopping Service
Trend Source

Again, these are all real businesses. I have done jobs for every single one of these companies and have been paid for all of my work. -Erin

How Do You Find Out About Job Opportunities?

If you’ll thoroughly fill out all the applications and have patience, you’ll likely begin to see quite a number of job opportunities sent to you. Many times, these jobs are filled on a first-come, first-served basis, so you’ll want to check your email for job openings a few times each day and be quick to respond to any which you are interested in. Some companies also have online job listings that you can apply for.

It typically takes a few months to build up a rapport with the companies. Don’t be discouraged if you get passed over for some of the better job opportunities in the beginning.

If you are patient and prove yourself, you’ll likely start to be offered better jobs. In fact, sometimes the company will start offering the job directly to you versus opening it up to others since they know you have done a great job in the past!

What Types of Jobs Are Available?

When I was mystery shopping, I did fast food shops, casual dining, high-end restaurants, gas stations, beauty supply stores, pet stores, and even a bowling alley, to name a few.

I found restaurant shops to be my favorite as they usually not only reimbursed for a meal for myself and my husband, but they also usually paid at least an extra $10 for the work involved. It was very worth it to me to get a nice free dinner date with my husband plus some cash, all for about 30 minutes of extra work!

How Much Will You Get Paid?

Most mystery shopping jobs pay between $7-$15 and include some sort of reimbursement as well. This is usually for an average of an hour’s worth of work, give or take. Once you’ve established yourself with a company, you may be offered jobs that pay $20 to $25 per hour, or more. These jobs are typically not offered to newbies.

Mystery shopping is a lot of work — especially in the beginning when you are first learning the ropes! If you stick with it, though, it can be a fun and rewarding experience that can also help supplement your income — or pay for some of your Christmas expenses!

Have you been a mystery shopper before? If so, I’d love to hear your tips and advice for someone who is considering dipping their toes into the world of mystery shopping.

Shared Oct 9, 2012 comment

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Frappe

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 9, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I’ve never been a big fan of Frappes as I prefer my coffee hot. However, I saw this recipe for a Pumpkin Pie Frappe and knew I had to try it.

It didn’t disappoint. I changed a few things — as is to be expected of me! 🙂 I swapped whole milk for the coconut milk, raw sugar for the Stevia, and just threw in a lot of ice instead of actually freezing the coffee.

The end result was delicious — as pronounced by every family member at dinner tonight when I served it as a special treat. 🙂

Shared Oct 9, 2012 comment

Reader tip: Earn gift cards with Crowdtap

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 9, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Here’s another way to earn free gift cards, submitted by reader Ilyssa:

I had an idea to offer for your 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas series. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with, or have joined, Crowdtap yet. It’s a newer website that allows you to complete actions (very unique actions) to earn points. Your points can be redeemed for Amazon gift cards. I’ve only been a member for 5 months and I’ve already earned $75 in Amazon gift cards.

The actions are pretty fun actually. First, you can answer “Quick Hits” that are quick questions like, “What is your favorite fall accessory?” The Quick Hits range in point value from 10-50 points each. They also give you challenges which are worth 1,000 points to 40,000 points.

Recently, I’ve been challenged to make an AT&T themed pumpkin (1,000 points), have an Old Navy party where Crowdtap provided me with free coupons for 4 cardigans, skirts, and scarves (10,000 points), tweet about Woolite (1,000 points), share things on my Facebook wall (800 points) and the list goes on.

The Old Navy party has been my favorite action so far. I got to invite 3 friends to shop with me at Old Navy. Crowdtap provided us each with a coupon for a cardigan, skirt and scarf. We took tons of pictures and truly had a wonderful time.

I’ve had a great time on the site. I find the creative challenges fun and interesting. It’s really easy to join. And you can earn gift cards quick. A $10 Amazon gift card is only 20,000 points.

If you haven’t joined yet, it’s totally worth your time. Here’s my referral link, if you’re interested. They give 100 points for each person you refer. -Ilyssa

Shared Oct 9, 2012 comment

Ask the readers: How do you stay on a tight budget during the first trimester of pregnancy?

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 9, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Today’s question is from Katie:

I would love some insight on the following question: How do you stay inside a tight food budget during pregnancy — especially during the first trimester of morning sickness and random cravings? I’ll make a meal plan, go shopping, and two days later everything on the plan makes me queasy. I can squeeze some money out of the budget for snacks, but not for a new snack every day. Worse, my biggest cravings are for pricier foods like roasted nuts and fish and tons of whole fruit. -Katie

Do you have a question you’d like to ask Money Saving Mom® readers? Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

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Shared Oct 9, 2012 comment

Do It Yourself: Homemade Wooden Snap Blocks

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 9, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

ICanTeachMyChild.com shows you how to make homemade wooden snap blocks.

Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared Oct 8, 2012 comment

31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas: Bing Rewards (Day 7)

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 8, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Bing Rewards is a way to earn credits for searching online and participating in daily offers. By spending just a few minutes per day, you can easily earn a $5 Amazon gift card every month.

Here’s what Jennifer says about Bing Rewards:

My husband and I use Bing Rewards to save up for things like free Redbox codes, Amazon gift cards, Xbox Live passes, etc. It works very much like Swagbucks. You make a free account and for every 2 searches using Bing, you earn points. Points are redeemable for a whole list of prizes. There are other daily deals and specials to earn extra points. Plus, the more lifetime points you earn the more privileges you get. Imagine giving each each of your kids a few Redbox codes in their Christmas stockings for the movie of their choice on family movie nights! -Jennifer

1. How Do You Sign Up?

Click here and sign up for an account. It appears like a Facebook account is required and the sign-up process takes less than a minute to complete.

Once you’ve signed up, go to the Bing Dashboard and you’ll have a few different offers you can complete and ways to fill out your profile in order to earn some credits from the get-go. I was able to earn 25 credits just by completing these things.

2. How Do You Earn Credit?

Every day, log into your Bing Rewards account and do 30 quick searches. You’ll earn a credit for every two searches you do. You can also check your Bing Rewards dashboard to see if there is a daily offer to complete to earn you 1-2 more credits.

I like Bing Rewards because it has a cap on how many points you can earn a day, which is nice because it’s quick, easy, and done, and then you don’t have to dwell on it. I’ve been doing it for 3 months now. You get 1 point per 2 searches, so it’s not a gambling game like Swagbucks. I just click on “related searches” on the side until I hit my goal. -From an email written by Cat who blogs at Cartwheels and Windmills

3. How Much Credit Can You Earn Per Month?

You can earn 15 credits per day by searching (30 searches = 15 credits). Plus, you should be able to complete one or two daily offers each day to net you another 1-2 credits. This totals 480 credits in a typical month if you log in every day and earn 16 points. This gives you enough to almost earn a free $5 Amazon gift card in one month.

If you achieve Gold status (which you can achieve pretty easily by being an active member of Bing Rewards for two months), an Amazon gift card is only 475 credits — which makes it totally doable to earn one $5 Amazon gift card each month!

4. What Can You Get With Your Credit?

You can purchase Amazon gift cards, Starbucks gift cards, Groupon credit, Skype credit, Redbox rentals, and more! Plus, they also offer you the opportunity to donate your credits through DonorsChoose. Here’s what Cat says:

One of my favorite rewards is a DonorsChoose.org $5 gift card. DonorsChoose is a site where teachers can submit projects they would like funded for their classrooms and people or foundations can donate to them. My sister is a teacher in a low-income elementary school and has posted a few projects to DonorsChoose. I told her I would alternate my Amazon gift cards with DonorsChoose ones–that was until Bing price dropped the DonorsChoose reward to 99 points! So instead of giving my sister’s class $5 for the project, they got $25. I’m throwing all my points at that until the promotion ends on 11/1.

5. Do You Have to Have Referrals To Really Make Bing Rewards Worth It?

Actually, no. In fact, you can only earn credits for the first 5 friends you refer. So this makes it fair for everyone — and those who have a larger social network won’t necessarily have any advantage over those who don’t have a big social media following.

Note: If you sign up, can you leave your referral link in the comments so that others can sign up under you? Update your comment to let us know when you’ve gotten five referrals. We want to help each other out as much as possible!

Have you used Bing Rewards before? If so, I’d love to hear about your experiences!

Shared Oct 8, 2012 comment

10 Goals For This Week

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 8, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

So I really, really bombed my goals last week. I started the week with high hopes and then those high hopes were quickly dashed by lots of unexpected interruptions, more pressing life things, and just plain tiredness.

I was kind of embarrassed to even post this update, but I figured maybe seeing so few things crossed off my list would encourage some of you who may be feeling like last week was a blur, too! So here goes…

Last week’s goals:

Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals

1. Read 3 chapters of The Stolen Necklace aloud to Kathrynne. Read 3 chapters of Still More Stories From Grandma’s Attic aloud to Kaitlynn. Read 10 picture books to Silas. Read at least 3 chapters of A Way Through the Sea aloud to the kids.

2. Write a love note to Jesse.

3. ~~Have a playdate with friends.~~

Personal Goals

4. Finish reading Whose Voice the Waters Heard, Greater, Fully Alive, The Promise of a Mother’s Prayers, ~~Return~~, and Now, Discover Your Strengths.

5. Finish listening to Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard.

6. Exercise at least five times.

Homemaking Goals

7. Finish 25 more rows of the scarf I’m working on knitting.

~~8. Make at least two new recipes.~~

~~9. Have a garage sale.~~

Business Goals

10. Write three posts for other sites.

Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals

1. Read 3 chapters of The Stolen Necklace aloud to Kathrynne. Read 3 chapters of Still More Stories From Grandma’s Attic aloud to Kaitlynn. Read 10 picture books to Silas. Read at least 3 chapters of A Way Through the Sea aloud to the kids.

2. Write a love note to Jesse.

Personal Goals

3. Finish reading Whose Voice the Waters Heard, Greater, Fully Alive, The Promise of a Mother’s Prayers, and Now, Discover Your Strengths.

4. Finish listening to Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard.

5. Exercise at least five times. Start Couch to 10 K.

6. Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night (I figured out some of my tiredness is a result of just plain not getting enough sleep — so I’m aiming to do what I can to resolve that issue this week!)

Homemaking Goals

7. Finish 25 more rows of the scarf I’m working on knitting.

8. Make at least two new recipes.

9. Host a baby shower.

Business Goals

10. Write three posts for other sites.

How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives!

You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.

Shared Oct 8, 2012 comment

This week’s menu

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 8, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Breakfasts

Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets, Cereal, Toast, Eggs, and/or Fruit

Lunches

Lunch at Cracker Barrel
Snack-y lunch, fresh carrot/orange juice
Mac & cheese, veggies, fruit
Cheese Quesadillas, oranges, carrot sticks
Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies, fruit, veggies
Leftovers x 2

Snacks

Fruit/Veggies
Cheese/Crackers
Pumpkin Recipes
Hard-boiled eggs

Freezer Cooking

Pumpkin Recipes
Healthful Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

Dinners

Dinner with extended family
Taco Soup, Bread Machine Buttery Rolls, fruit, veggies
Lasagna, green salad, fruit salad, muffins (leftovers from my birthday dinner that my mom made & sent home with us)
Steak, Twice-Baked Potatoes, steamed veggies, fruit
Breakfast for dinner: Pumpkin Pancakes, scrambled eggs, fruit
Meatballs, steamed veggies, Pumpkin Crescent Rolls, mashed potatoes
Dinner with extended family

What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.

Shared Oct 8, 2012 comment

7-Layer Pumpkin Magic Bars

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 8, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I was really hopeful about this recipe. I mean, I love pumpkin and I love Magic Bars. So combining the two should work well, right?

Well, actually not, in my opinion. It just tasted off. Like a flavor collision gone wrong. They were also a little too gooey (notice dripping bar in the photos?).

It might just be me, though. So if you try the recipe for 7-Layer Pumpkin Magic Bars, let us know what you think!

By the way, I know I said I was only doing a week of pumpkin recipes, but I found five more recipes I really wanted to try. So you’ll just have to bear with two weeks of pumpkin recipes. 🙂 If you don’t like pumpkin, don’t worry, We’ll be spotlighting apple recipes a little later this month!

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

Click here to download!

Shared Oct 8, 2012 comment

Reader tip: Figure out what you’re good at & then create a job based upon it!

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 8, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Here’s an email I got from Patricia:

I am enjoying your series on how to make money to use for Christmas. I wanted to share about a job I have that “fell in my lap” because of my skills.

The job is working five hours a week as a children’s assistant. I was hired because of my volunteerism with my church. Our Children’s Director needed a “helper” because she was responsible for our After-School Center, our Infant and Toddler Child Care, and our Children’s Church. She couldn’t leave the church to run to the store to buy supplies! So I was hired as a “go-for”.

I go to Walmart to buy drinks, snacks or supplies we don’t order from a catalog. I took this job about eight years ago and am paid $15.00/hour. It is very flexible — I can work the five hours anytime I want and if I want to take off, I just work 10 hours the week before. I do all kinds of things around the church — bulletin boards, children’s worship bags, setting up for Sunday School (all supplies), and also some stuff no one else wants to do — like clean out cabinets and preview curriculum.

I want to encourage your readers who are looking for ways to earn more income to think of what they do best and find a way to sell it to someone as a job. You may even sell it to someone who never thought of paying for it before — like my church!

You may be a great cook: could you sell cakes or pies to a local restaurant? You may love crafts: could you put some on consignment? Do you have skills you could market, like I did? (You would not believe how many teachers have asked me to come do their bulletin boards for pay!).

Also. check into church childcare centers. Ours is always hiring. And if you work for a childcare center, you often get childcare free or less expensive than normal rates.

Lots of ideas are out there! Sometimes, it just takes the right person being in the right place. -Patricia

photo courtesy of Big Stock

Shared Oct 8, 2012 comment

The Frugal Benefits of a Smile

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 8, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Heather of Creative Family Moments

We rarely go out for dinners or paid attractions, but when we do it’s because we have a coupon, deal, or special event. And when we do, I smile.

Not only at friends and people I know, though. I smile at everyone. Not like a “creeper” as my teenage daughter would say. Just a simple genuine smile that says, “Thanks for helping me.”

If we’ve never been to the particular venue (which is often the case when using coupons/deals), I always let the waitress or owner know that it’s our first time, cite the deal, and ask for their opinion on the best way to experience the place. In rare instances, I get a shrug. Most often, I get to hear what makes their place unique and find out their specialty. To me, this is part of the fun of going out.

I never really analyzed my behavior, until we celebrated the first day of school. I had a coupon for one large pizza at a location within biking distance. For a family of five, this isn’t much food but I promised the family we could eat more once we got home. It was a special treat, after all.

However, when the pizza was served to us, my husband pointed out that they gave us a much bigger pizza than a large. “It’s your first time!” the waiter explained with a smile.

Hubby sat deep in thought while the kids enjoyed their slices. “Do you realize that this always happens to you?” he asked. I turned to him. “What do you mean?”

He started citing instance after instance. Free appetizers, free desserts, free tours, free rides, amazingly attentive service, etc. “Businesses seem to go out of their way to make sure you get to experience the best of what they have to offer,” he concluded.

Thinking about it, I realized he was right! When I let businesses know how genuinely excited I am to experience their venue, most of the time (not all) I’m rewarded with a better experience than I initially imagined.

I didn’t realize the kids were listening until a few weeks later. We took the family out to a local burger joint after church (with coupons). My eldest daughter came to the table holding a giant basket of fries, much larger than the few fries each the rest of us had on our plates. She grinned. “I told the lady up front that you guys had been here before but that this was my first time.”

It was true. And they just made sure my soon-to-drive daughter will be a loyal customer for years to come. So remember to smile!

Heather blogs at Creative Family Moments. With plenty of embarrassing moments and funny kid quotes along the way, she hopes to inspire others to live a life of celebration as well!

photo source

Shared Oct 6, 2012 comment

Turning Scraps Into Cash

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 6, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Jan of The Nerdy Farm Wife.

A few months ago, my husband lost his job… a mere two days after I was laid off from my place of part-time employment. These two unfortunate events happened shortly after an eleven day power outage played havoc on our normal routine and budget, and wiped out our large supply of mostly home-raised foods stored in our chest freezer.

Talk about a scary time!

Being a man of action and not one to sit around and bemoan our losses, my husband immediately started the process of starting up his own masonry company and began securing small jobs that would payout within a few weeks. In the meantime though, we needed a source of quick cash in order to put enough food on the table to make it until income started trickling in again.

Fortunately, my brother just happened to be making his yearly run to the local scrap metal recycle center and dropped by to see if my husband wanted to ride along. We had vaguely paid attention to the fact that my brother collected soft drink cans every time there was a family function and had even laughed about the fact that he would rummage through the trash for them and how excited his four little girls would get when it was time for “beer can hunting walks with Daddy.”

Laughter quickly turned to admiration, however, once his 135 pounds of collected cans, combined with some ancient copper pipes, a few old radiators and an assorted pile of what could only be described as “junk”, ended up netting him almost $800.00, every bit of it paid out in cold, hard cash.

Inspired, we started scouring the house for items that we could take to the scrap yard, too! Our old stove had been sitting beside our shed, awaiting a trip to the landfill, which is where we normally took appliances once they were beyond repair. Into the truck it went along with our recently broken hot water heater, a badly bent aluminum badminton net frame, unusable scaffolding from my husband’s first home building business, a busted step-ladder, the frames from some ripped window screens and quite a few other odds and ends.

Our load, which was smaller and far less planned out than my brother’s, netted us $185.00. Not a bad pay rate for about five hours spent scouring the house and shed, loading the truck, driving to the scrap dealer, having everything inspected and weighed, getting paid and then driving back home with grocery money in hand!

To find a scrap metal dealer near you, try checking your phone book under “Scrap Metal Dealers.” What they accept will vary, but ours will take items such as: cast iron, motor blocks, air conditioner window units, radiators, broken appliances, copper pipes and wire, transmissions, anything aluminum, and car batteries.

So, check around your house for metal items that you no longer use. You just might find you’ve been sitting on an almost instant cash source!

Jan lives on a seven-acre hobby farm with her family and spends her days chasing chickens, homeschooling the kids, and experimenting with herbs & local plants to make jams, soaps and home remedies. She blogs about these things and more at The Nerdy Farm Wife.

Shared Oct 5, 2012 comment

31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas: Become a Virtual Call Center Agent (Day 5)

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 5, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Welcome to October’s series on 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas. In this series, I’m highlighting simple and legitimate ways you can earn extra cash in the next three months for those of you who could use a little extra cash to help you pay for Christmas — or just for your living expenses if you’re in a tight spot right now.

If you’ve found a great way to make extra cash before Christmas that doesn’t require an outlay of cash upfront, please email me your tip. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!

The following is a guest post by Alaina Forbes from Telecommuting Mommies:

The holidays are a great time to get hired as a seasonal worker working as a virtual call center agent. Often times, there can be an opportunity to stay on with these companies after the holiday season, or at least return the following holiday season.

What Is a Virtual Call Center Agent?

Working as a virtual call center agent requires answering incoming phone calls that are routed to your home phone. Many of the virtual call center companies assign you to one specific client in order for you to become comfortable with that specific script and product.

Calls are mostly customer service based calls and may include helping people with their accounts or orders. Clients range from pizza delivery stores to credit card companies.

Some clients are more sales focused, and a few virtual call center companies also conduct outgoing calls. Read as much as possible about the company and the job description before applying and then choose one that you know you will feel comfortable doing.

What Equipment is Required to Be a Virtual Call Center Agent?

To get a job as a virtual call center agent, you must own your own computer and each company has specific technical requirements that your computer must meet. In most cases, as long as your computer is not ancient and you have a decent amount of memory, you won’t have too much of a problem meeting these requirements.

Almost all companies also require that you have high speed internet and a land line phone. Cell phones are not usually acceptable, and a headset is usually required in order to type and talk at the same time. You’ll want to check out the individual requirements on each company’s website before applying to be sure that you can meet them.

Are You An Employee or an Independent Contractor?

A handful of companies, including Teletech and Alpine Access, will hire you as an employee, but many take you on as an independent contractor. These two options lead to a lot of variables between companies.

How Many Hours a Week Do You Have to Work?

Being an independent contractor typically means less commitment as far as how much you are expected to work. Most allow you to log on and schedule yourself for shifts with only a very minimum number of hours required to stay on – sometimes as little as a shift a month.

Because of this, they usually have a lot of contractors employed in order to ensure they are always staffed, and this can make getting enough shifts more difficult depending on how much you want to work. Independent contractors are usually allowed to work for more than one virtual call center, so you may need to sign up for multiple companies in order to get steady work.

Conversely, companies that hire you as an employee will usually have a non-compete agreement and will not allow you to work with another virtual call center while employed with them. They may require you to commit to certain shifts each day of the week and work a minimum number of hours depending on if you are part-time or full-time.

This guarantees you plenty of work but may not have the flexibility some people — moms especially — may need. Evaluate what you really want out of this before applying. Can you commit to working full-time? Or do you just want some extra pocket money?

How Much Will You Get Paid Per Hour?

Another variable between companies is how the pay is calculated. Some call centers pay by the hour. These are usually the ones that hire you as an employee.

It is not uncommon, however, for some to pay by the minute of talk time – so if you happen to get a slow shift you may not make as much money as you were hoping. During the holidays this is usually not a problem, and most companies that pay by the minute make an attempt to not overschedule in order to keep everyone busy. You just want to be fully aware of all of these variables before you accept a position.

What Companies Are Hiring Virtual Call Center Agents Right Now?

VIP Desk is currently hiring for a number of positions with November training classes. They are filling both part-time and full-time home-based concierge positions, as well as what they call “brand ambassador” seasonal positions.

Convergys is filling multiple positions for both full-time and part-time customer service agents for multiple clients.

Teletech is hiring for their part time customer service and season customer service positions.

LiveOps is hiring for their emergency roadside assistance call center team.

Transcom, West, Alpine Access and Working Solutions are all currently accepting applications.

Another option is applying directly with some of the companies who are now hiring their own virtual call center agents including 1-800-Flowers and U-Haul.

Have you worked as a virtual call center agent before? If so, tell us about your experiences!

Alaina shares her twelve years of work from home experience at her blog Telecommuting Mommies. She also opens up her personal life as a homeschooling, blogging, work at home Mom of four at The Maestro Mom. Follow her on Twitter at TelecommuterMom.

Shared Oct 5, 2012 comment

Frugal Photo Friday: Kids and Bath & Beauty

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 5, 2012 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Welcome to Frugal Photo Friday! This month, I am partnering with Rebekah from SimplyRebekah.com. Each Friday we are sharing pictures of simple ways that we save money. This week’s themes are kids and bath & beauty.

We love the library! In fact, my kids would go there every day if we could!

We invest $25 per year to get the Gold Card to our local library so that we can have unlimited holds (they usually cost $0.25 per hold) and this is probably one of the best $25 we spend all year. Thanks to our local library, we have all sorts of adventures through books, make precious memories while cuddled up sharing a book together, and learn many new things each week — all for practically free!

{You can see the chapter books we’ve read aloud this year so far here. We also go through dozens of picture books each month, plus the girls and I check out lots of books to read independently.}

Cooking together is a such a fun way to get things done, while enjoying being together at the same time. Plus, I’ve found that it can double as math practice for youngsters: we count the cups and teaspoons of ingredients as we put them in and talk about simple addition and subtraction.

{Pictured: Making Homemade Pumpkin Spice Lattes with Silas.}

Who says you have to buy expensive toys to have fun? Our kids love playing with boxes, creating with paper, and pretending their playset in the backyard is their spy team headquarters. A little imagination and creativity can provide hours of free fun!

{Pictured: The Paper Doll Chains we made for our Early American History study recently.}

Kaitlynn made a picnic for us to enjoy outside on the deck while we worked on our homeschool lessons one day this week (she even put a fresh flower she’d picked on each of our trays!). Free Vitamin D, fresh air, and memories all while getting lunch and lessons in = score! 🙂

Um, I’ve got pretty much nothing on the bath & beauty part as that’s not really my cup ‘o tea. Unless you count the fact that I don’t use shaving cream or that I only have six mix and match outfits. 🙂

Head over to SimplyRebekah to see the savings that Rebekah is sharing today.

Now it is your turn to share the simple ways that you save. Share your link below or on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #FrugalPhotoFriday. All of the link-up details and themes for each week can be found here.

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