Reader Jennifer sent in this email and it got me thinking. Often times I skip out on parties because quite frankly my budget rarely allows for a $20 kitchen tool, a $100 purse, or candles that I can buy used at a garage sale or thrift store. I might be a party pooper it seems, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic too, here is Jennifer’s email…
Hey Julia,
I was thinking today about all the things I get invite to (candle parties, pampered chef, etc.) and wondering what your readers would say. I have so many friends in this line of work and it seems someone is always hosting a “party”. I have a hard time with these (being a frugal shopper and all). I actually rarely actually go and there if I do go there is a seldom chance I will even buy something. However, I always cringe when I have to decline a friends invite but seriously, my pocket book just doesn’t allow me to make these purchases. I got to wondering, is it ever “wise” (frugally speaking) to buy from these vendors? Am I ever missing any great deals or can I do better shopping other places with discounts and sites like ShopAtHome? Just a thought I had today and would love to hear what other’s (you) 
say.
thanks,
Jennifer
So what do you think? What have you done in the past? I know my cupboards are lined full of my favorite pampered chef products, hundreds of dollars worth all for just pennies on the dollar at garage sales.
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I’ve been warned that they have a VERY limited amount of openings today, so don’t wait to get signed up for the join the Synovate Panel again. This will fill up within hours so don’t wait too long if you’re interested in signing up.
Synovate is among one of the most popular testing panels because they give out FREE products to test! They’re often full size products too. You earn points for your reviews which you can also redeem for cash or prizes through
Synovate.
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Here is a sample of what you’d do… - Help companies improve everyday services, products, and household items
- Be the first to test new consumer goods
- Help design new products before they appear on store shelves nationwide
Being a Panel member is easy, fun and provides many rewards. Rewards are easy to earn by simply spending some time each month answering questions about your likes and dislikes.
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Join the Nielsen Consumer Panel and you could earn CASH & PRIZES! I wouldn’t suggest you plan on survey companies like this bringing in a part time income, but it surely can bring in some extra spending money and it can make a dent in your Christmas gift budget.
Panel members that are accepted with Nielsen Homescan will be sent a small hand-held scanner. You’re asked to scan all the bar codes of everything you purchase. Weekly they ask you to send them the information from your scanner and in turn you’ll earn points which you can redeem for prizes.
They call the Nielsen Homescan Consumer Panel a “mini-USA”, meaning that you are a part of a select group representing the average purchases of Americans nationwide. The point of it all is make sure we’re getting the products we want! Manufacturers and retailers will look at the information you send to them to decide what products to make and sell to consumers all across the country.
Please note: TFF Readers have submitted mixed reviews, some rave about this company and their success with the program while others have found it to be too time consuming.
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Right now if you sign up for an Electric Orange checking account you can earn $50! We did this several years ago when they ran the promotion – you can’t beat free money! Here’s what you need to do:
- Sign up for a FREE checking account through this link (no minimum balance required and NO fees!)
- Open Electric Orange and make a total of 3 Card purchases or Person2Person Payments (or any combo of the two) within 45 days of account opening. What I recommend is make a couple cheap purchases. I think we bought 3 packs of gum (3 separate transactions).
- Your $50 bonus will automatically be deposited into your account on day 50. That’s a good rate for less than an hours work!
If you like the account, you can continue to use it after the fact. The good thing is, you don’t have to. Once you get your $50 you can pull it out (or you can leave it in and use it).
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support The Frugal Find. Thank you! Disclosure policy.
Surveys.com has opened up again and is now accepting applications! If you’re interested in making some money taking online surveys, this is a great opportunity – but act fast – they’re only accepting applications for a limited time. This is one of the more popular survey companies among TFF readers, we often hear great things about how quickly the earnings add up.
Here’s a little bit of information about Surveys.com…
Surveys.com is an Online Research Community operated by GfK. GfK is a top-ten market research company, uniting some of the most renowned US and European research firms into a single global organization.
In addition to cash rewards, most surveys offer rewards that range from 375 to 750 points. You also get 25 points for any survey you don’t qualify for.
The reward points can be exchanged anytime by selecting from a huge variety of prizes. All you need to do is provide a few details about yourself (it takes just a couple minutes) and periodically you’ll be asked to answer a questionnaire that will be sent to your email account. For each questionnaire that you participate in, you will earn points good towards a large selection of rewards. The more surveys you participate in, the more points you’ll earn!
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support The Frugal Find. Thank you! Disclosure policy.
Many of you enjoy making a little extra money on the side with different survey sites. It looks like they’re trying to recruit lots of people in the new year, so if you were looking for some opportunities, now is the time!
Springboard America (Female sign up link) – Join Springboard America today and make your opinion count! Earn Survey Dollars redeemable for checks or charity. Get entered into their $1000 Sweepstakes for joining.
Springboard America (Male sign up link)
Join Nielsen Home Scan Consumer Panel. Earn valuable points, which are redeemable for electronics, household items, jewelry, toy, gift cards, and more. NO Land Line Required.
Join Valued Opinions and get rewarded for giving your opinions. Plus, you will have a chance to win a $500 Amazon gift card just for registering.
Share your opinions and get rewarded. Membership is free and sign-up is easy.
Earn cash rewards for sharing your opinion about baby products and services. They’ll even start you off with $5!
SurveySpot, created by Survey Sampling International, allows members to be a key factor in market research. FREE members are rewarded for participating in interesting research studies for major companies.
Complete online surveys and earn cash from GlobalTestMarket.
Take Surveys, Earn Rewards, It’s Easy & Free! Click here to sign up.
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support The Frugal Find. Thank you! Disclosure policy.
This offer was available over the weekend but filled up very quickly. They’ve opened up again today and are accepting a new participants to join the Synovate Panel again. This will fill up within hours so don’t wait too long if you’re interested in signing up.
Synovate is among one of the most popular testing panels because they give out FREE products to test! They’re often full size products too. You earn points for your reviews which you can also redeem for cash or prizes through
Synovate.
.
Here is a sample of what you’d do… - Help companies improve everyday services, products, and household items
- Be the first to test new consumer goods
- Help design new products before they appear on store shelves nationwide
Being a Panel member is easy, fun and provides many rewards. Rewards are easy to earn by simply spending some time each month answering questions about your likes and dislikes.
.
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support The Frugal Find. Thank you! Disclosure policy.
We know you’re savvy and full of unique and creative ways to do, make, eat, and play for less. Your comments are a never-ending source of encouragement and inspiration! That’s why we want YOU to share your talents here on The Frugal Find. We’re looking for readers (and bloggers) to guest post here from time to time.
Do you have a frugal living topic that you’ve just been dying to tell someone about? We’d love to hear from you!
- Your article must be original and not previously published elsewhere.
- Higher consideration will be given for those with high quality photos.
- Upon submitting your guest post, we will respond ONLY if we are interested in moving forward.
- Please make sure your article is easy to read with bullet points and short paragraphs when possible.
- Please use spell check and proofread before submitting your post, if extensive editing is needed it’s likely we’ll move on to the next submission.
- Write about a topic that you’re passionate about – it truly shows in the content.
There are 2 options the “guest post” or “contributing author”.
Guest Post: You’re likely a blogger trying to grow your blog, at the end of the article you’ll get a thanks and a link back to your blog. Here at The Frugal Find we average anywhere from 600,000 to 1 million pageviews a month which could mean lots of traffic to your blog and possibly new (and let me just add – AMAZING) readers!
Contributing Author: Our contributing Authors are paid for the content they write. We offer $5 – $10 per article depending on the topic/content/length of the post. Note that these are not 500 word posts, we try to be fair and pay an amount consistent with the submission. You can choose to be paid via Paypal, an Amazon gift card, or a Starbucks gift card.
Submitting Your Article:
Please email your article (typed directly into the email not in a word document) to thefrugalfind@gmail.com with “GUEST POST” and your article topic in the subject line. Please also include the following…
- Your Name
- Your Blog URL (if applicable)
- Images (if applicable)
- Short “About Me” Info
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support The Frugal Find. Thank you! Disclosure policy.
Surveys.com has just started accepting applications today. If you’re interested in making some money taking online surveys, this is a great opportunity – but act fast – they’re only accepting applications for a limited time.
Here’s a little bit of information about Surveys.com…
Surveys.com is an Online Research Community operated by GfK. GfK is a top-ten market research company, uniting some of the most renowned US and European research firms into a single global organization.
In addition to cash rewards, most surveys offer rewards that range from 375 to 750 points. You also get 25 points for any survey you don’t qualify for.
The reward points can be exchanged anytime by selecting from a huge variety of prizes. They can be as simple as a single MP3 digital music track or $25 dinning certificate, all the way up to major rewards like a Panasonic 12 Amp Canister Vacuum with HEPA or a Maytag Ice2O Series 27 cu. ft. French Door Refrigerator.
Obviously, the more time and effort you put into Surveys.com, the more you can get out of it.
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support The Frugal Find. Thank you! Disclosure policy.
I’ve heard from many readers that My Survey is another great survey company to work with. They have just opened up for new applicants, head on over to get started! MySurvey.com is a group of consumers from throughout the United States who influence future products and services by volunteering to participate in consumer research. By sharing your opinions about products and services, you are rewarded with Reward Points to redeem for cash and merchandise.
You earn 15 to 35 points per pre-screening surverys and up to 1,000 points for full surveys. The exchange rate is 1,000 points = $10 cash. So with just one survey you can earn $10! They payout at $10 and checks arrive within 4 weeks of requesting them.
Current TFF Readers/MySurvey Member’s Experience:
I’ve been doing surveys for this company for about 1 1/2 years. It doesn’t pay out an incredible amount, but the surveys generally are no longer than 20 minutes, and even if you screen out you get some credit. This year I’ve made $40–which I’ve gotten in Amazon gift cards. I’ve sampled shampoo, dishwasher soap (a 3-month supply), and mayonnaise. So I think for the effort I’ve put in, it pays reasonably well. I would recommend it. – Mary
I love MySurvey! I’ve been with them since May of this year and have already cashed in enough points for $60! I’m less than 100 points (less than 1 survey usually!) away from another $15! I average about $15 a month through them, and it doesn’t take much more than a couple hours a month to complete the surveys! I think getting the gift cards is probably a better way to spend the points, but I hate getting locked into one store…I prefer the cash! (Between MySurvey and Swagbucks, I’ve cashed in close to $150 since May!) – Hillary
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support The Frugal Find. Thank you! Disclosure policy.
Here’s a new survey opportunity! We’ve all heard of JD Power and Associates awards (I think of car commercials when I hear the name). Right now you can sign up for the JD Power Panel and earn rewards for filling out their surveys.
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support The Frugal Find. Thank you! Disclosure policy.
Right now if you sign up for InboxDollars through this link, you’ll get a $5 signup bonus. Also, if you sign up for the MyView survey program through InboxDollars, you’ll earn another $4 in your account!
About Inbox Dollars:
InboxDollars is a free online rewards club that lets you earn cash by reading emails, watching videos, searching the web and participating in other special offers. InboxDollars has been operating since 2000 and has paid out more than $15 million to members. Unlike other online rewards clubs that operate with virtual currencies or points, with InboxDollars you earn and receive your payout in cash. Earn $5.00 just for signing up with InboxDollars and request your first check when you reach $30.00 in earnings.
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support The Frugal Find. Thank you! Disclosure policy.
Here is another survey company, you won’t get rich but a few dollars here and there from home is always helpful. With Toluna you earn points worth $1 to $5 each time you qualify for and complete a survey! You can also earn for the polls and opinion topics you create. Each time you participate in or complete a survey you’ll be entered into a monthly $4500 prize draw! Also just for signing up you’ll get an entry in this month’s $4500 drawing!
Head on over and sign up for Toluna - a few bucks here and there sure do add up!
- Earn points worth $1 to $5 each time you qualify for and complete a survey! You’ll also earn for the polls and opinion topics you create! Each time you participate in or complete a survey you’ll be entered into a monthly $4500 prize draw!
- Create your own polls and opinion topics to host on Toluna, or export them to your own blog or website!
- Voice your opinion by participating in other community members’ polls and opinion topics! There’s no catch! Your membership is free, and all information you provide is strictly confidential and will never be used to advertise or to sell you anything.
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support The Frugal Find. Thank you! Disclosure policy.
Synovate is accepting new participants to join the Synovate Panel again, this filled up within hours the other day. I’m surprised to see they’ve opened it again so quickly – but lucky for you guys!
Synovate is among one of the most popular testing panels because they give out FREE products to test! They’re often full size products too. You earn points for your reviews which you can also redeem for cash or prizes through
Synovate. Here is a sample of what you’d do…
- Help companies improve everyday services, products, and household items
- Be the first to test new consumer goods
- Help design new products before they appear on store shelves nationwide
Being a Panel member is easy, fun and provides many rewards. Rewards are easy to earn by simply spending some time each month answering questions about your likes and dislikes.
This post may contain affiliate links. When you use them, you support The Frugal Find. Thank you! Disclosure policy.
