More Luck Than Cents

Are you an avid reader? I am. I usually have a couple of books going at any given time. One or more by my bed, one by the chair in the living room that I usually sit in, and–dare I admit it–one in the bathroom. It’s probably a good thing there’s another bathroom in the house.

The downside to all that reading is the number of books you accumulate. I know there are some of you out there thinking, “that’s a perk, woman, what are you saying?” When I lived alone, I totally agreed. You could never have too many books . . . until you started accumulating people and their belongings (including their books), and suddenly space is more valuable than that paperback you read once and sort of liked. Then one day you have to move, and you remember why you liked the library so much: they take those heavy suckers back when you’re done with them.

So books are awesome, yes, but sometimes you don’t want to keep every one you read. Plus, you want more. The library is a good resource, but it can’t keep up with you (or you can’t keep up with how often you have to return the books). So you need another supplier. What’s a reader to do?

Check out PaperBackSwap.com (referral link), an online book club and swapping service. Here’s how it works: you sign up and list books–any books, not just paperbacks. You get a few credits to start off if you list several books (I think ten, but don’t quote me). Then you get one credit for each book you send to another member. You pay for shipping on books you send; when you request a book from someone, the other person pays shipping.

It’s really a win-win situation. Instead of having books around gathering dust (or worse, taking up a landfill), you can send them out into the world to someone who actually wants them. In return, you can get something new to read; when you’re done, you can keep it or send it out into the world again. PaperBackSwap.com is currently boasting over four million books to trade, so there’s a good chance you’ll find something you like.

Wow. Between some bouts of stomach bug, an awesome visit from the hubby, and school getting into full swing, it’s been almost two months since I sat down and blogged. I’m still kind of new at this, so it didn’t occur to me to have some back-up posts in reserve for times like this. Lesson learned, for sure.

Anyway, coming up over the next few days: more fun repurposing wicker, some budget talk, a way to get practically free books, and even a book review. Stay tuned!

A few days ago I talked about making money with YouData. Today, I’d like to tell you about another way people can pay for my–and your–opinions: online survey companies. Generally, you sign up, get emails from the company, and attempt to take the survey. I say attempt because you have to qualify for the survey in order to get paid for it, and you don’t always qualify.

Different companies have different ways to reward you. Sometimes you accumulate points that can be turned in for prizes; sometimes you get cash directly for each survey you complete. Surveyhead pays you a certain amount (usually from $.25 to $3.00) for completing a survey. You have to reach $25 before you can cash out. “Cashing out” is done in the form of Paypal or gift cards for Amazon.com or a few other retailers. You also have the option of donating your earnings to a large variety of charities that you’ve probably heard of–the American Cancer Society, the Humane Society, and many more.

My favorite thing about Surveyhead is a fairly unique feature: for each survey, they tell you how likely it is that you’ll qualify. That way, you know which surveys to spend your time on first. You can always try the surveys that you probably won’t qualify for, of course. But if you’re on limited time, it’s good to know you can choose to click on the more likely surveys first.

Some tips that apply to any survey company, not just Surveyhead:

• You’re opening yourself up to a lot of email, both from the company and from third parties. Either get a separate email account for doing surveys and other online opportunities, or learn to make good use of email filters. My favorite free email service is Gmail. They have great filtering capabilities and very good spam control.
• You’ll probably need a Paypal account for survey companies that pay in actual dollars.
• Having a program like Roboform will make your life much easier. It stores data and automatically fills forms for you. (And you will have a lot of forms to fill out if you take surveys.) It will also store passwords (and password-protects them). There’s a free version and a paid version; I’d go with the free one until you know for sure if it’s something you’re going to use.
• Before signing up, check out survey companies on SurveyPolice.com or other websites that rate the survey companies. Not all survey companies are made the same. Some are legitimate; others are scams. Use some common sense and do your research.

You aren’t going to make a living off doing internet surveys. On the other hand, you can get some spare change. For me, surveys are a way to fill out my gift-giving budget. When I earn some extra cash or a gift card, I throw it in the gift fund. Then when birthdays and Christmas roll around, I don’t have to try to make my everyday budget stretch to cover the added expense. It’s sort of like saving whatever change you have in your pocket at the end of the day: it may not be much, but it will add up over time.

This is exciting: Over at Ultimate Money Blog you can win a Keeper Menstrual Cup by leaving a comment explaining why you’d like to be the winner. The number of winners seems to be based on the number of entries they get.

Let me tell you, if you want to be frugal and environmentally friendly–and you’re a woman who’s still experiencing her monthly cycle–menstrual cups are awesome. Usually made of latex or silicone, these little cups work a lot like tampons. However, they’re safer (no risk of toxic shock syndrome), they’re reusable for years, and they don’t contribute to environmental waste because you’re not throwing them away. They’re also better for your body because you’re not having the chemicals that are in tampons and pads in such close contact with your skin.

I’ve had a Diva Cup for years now and love it. The Keeper is another excellent brand, and I’d be excited to win one. If you’d like to win one, head on over to the contest and tell them why you’d like to win.

I have to admit it. Uggs look comfy. I’m not a huge fan of anything that takes more than half a second to get off my feet, but the idea of sinking my toes into soft wool is very appealing. So when I heard about the Free Uggs Giveaway, I was excited. Especially since entering is as simple as putting this button into a post in your journal:

Then you go to the Ugg Website and sign up, and you’re in the drawing! Very cool. If you’d like some Uggs, make sure you sign up, too!

From time to time I’m going to post about ways I’ve found to make some extra cash around the internet.  Not a lot of extra cash, but it can add up over time.  Whenever I post a link to a program where I get something for referring you, I’ll put (referral link) after the link so that you know upfront that I’m getting something out of you joining whichever program I’m talking about.  Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like when I’m benefiting from someone’s actions, they ought to know about it.

One method that I really like for making a bit of spare change is YouData (referral link).  They’re a site that pays you “for your attention”.  What that means is that you can get paid for viewing ads.  Here’s how it works:

• Sign up for your own “MeFile,” which is what they call your account.  You can fill out as much or as little information on the profiles they give you as you want.  You’ll need a PayPal account when you sign up so that you can receive your payments.
• Decide if you’re going to view ads on the website or by downloading their little widget onto your desktop.  Either way works.
• View the ads.  So far, I’ve gotten paid once to view the ad, then a second time to click on it.  Clicking brings up the website of the advertiser.
• Payments per ad aren’t that much.  Most of them have been around ten cents each–five cents to view, five cents to click.  How much you can make in a pay period (which is one week) depends on the number of ads available and the number you’re willing to view/click.
• Once a week, you’ll get however much money you made deposited in your PayPal account.

One reason I like YouData is that you don’t have to reach a magic “payout” amount.  Whatever is in your account is paid to you once a week.  I also like the overall attitude of the site.  It seems very honest and forthright; they don’t try to convince you that you’re going to earn a fortune from them, and they stress that you give out only as much or as little information about yourself as you’re willing to give.  I’m more than happy to recommend them based on my experiences with them.  Let me know what you think of them if you sign up!

I love wicker.  It has a natural, organic feel to it much like unpainted wood does.  Unfortunately, it has two downsides:

• It can be quite expensive, especially when you’re talking about larger pieces (although not usually as pricey as wood, thank goodness).

• It comes in many colors, some of which aren’t the ones you want right at that moment.  The ones you aren’t looking for will inevitably be the ones available and/or on sale.  For example:

Wicker basket with lid

I found this lovely thing at Target on clearance.  Now, here’s the thing.  I needed a storage solution that was about this size for all that stuff that you want to store by the front door but don’t want out in plain sight.  Since it was going in my living room, which is filled with dark wood, I didn’t really want the light wicker.  But clearance is clearance, so I grabbed it.  This picture is pretty much a spoiler on what I did with it, but I forgot to take a picture before I got started spray painting.

By the time I got it out to the car, I’m pretty sure I’d figured out why it was on clearance.  The thing smelled strongly of burnt plastic.  Whatever chemicals they’d used to treat the wicker strands were off-gassing with vigor.  That was okay, though, because I already had a plan for the basket:

Spray paint!

Krylon Fusion for Plastic says that it’ll bond to wicker as well as plastic, so I decided to try it.  They weren’t lying.  I chose Espresso with the Satin finish because it looked like it had the dark brown/hint of red that my furniture has.  And it does blend beautifully, so it was a good choice.  Go me!  (On a side note: don’t work for Krylon, don’t get paid by Krylon, etc. etc.  They just happened to be the only choice in Walmart that had the word “wicker” on it.  That said, I’m quite happy with the end result.)

Some tips I’ve discovered about spray painting wicker:

• You’d probably be better off priming it first.  Even if the spray paint can says it’s not necessary, wicker is a thirsty material.  I, in my usual brilliant way, totally forgot to prime.  Feel free to learn from my experience.  And my three cans of spray paint.
• Wicker is 3-D in ways that wood usually isn’t.  Because the strands are woven around each other, they (obviously) don’t lie flat.  This means that you’re going to have to spray paint from different directions.  Depending on the shape of your wicker object, you might spray from the top down, then flip it upside down and spray from the new top down.  You could also do it left to right, then right to left.
• The last bullet point assumes that you want full coverage.  I did.  Remember the off-gassing?  My plan was to coat the wicker with paint, thus replacing the off-gas smell with the lovely odor of paint…which, I will grant you, isn’t that lovely.  On the other hand, it fades once the paint dries.  Unlike the off-gassing, which stayed after three days of sitting out in the sun before I had time to spray paint it.
• You don’t have to have full coverage to get a lovely effect, though.  By only spraying the wicker in one direction, you can get an interesting dappled effect, or with a little more paint you can get a more distressed/weathered effect.  Either way, you can end up with some unique and attractive designs.  Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of this, too, but take my word for it.

I let the paint dry in between coats just to make sure it soaked in really well.  I found that once the paint had absorbed some, there were spots that I’d thought were completely coated which ended up needing another coat due to how thirsty the wicker was.

Then I brought my lovely storage container into my living room, set it by the front door, and filled it with the kinds of things you need when going out the front door.  The dog’s leash, for example.  She’s already decided that any time we open the basket, she gets a walk.  It’s kind of cute.

Walkies

You can actually see a bit of the dappling along the top of the lid where I had to go back and touch it up some.  As I said, thirsty stuff!

And finally, for a better picture of the final result:

Storage!

Oh, remember how I said that one problem with wicker was the cost?  Tune in real soon for an idea to solve that problem, too.

Here it is, shiny and new, with no posts.  Okay, technically one post: this one.  In the near future, I hope to have some chronicles of my adventures (and misadventures) with inexpensive home decorating and organizing, with attempts at living on–and under–a budget, and with my attempts at “going green”.  But for the moment, I have this notion that my first post should be a kind of “getting to know you” thing.  So, here’s what you’d already know about me if you already knew me:

• I’m a wife.  Newly married two months ago (as of the date this post was made) to an over-the-road truck driver.  He’s not home as much as I’d like, but I can’t complain when I know he’s out working for us.  He’s the sweetest guy ever.  I’m really lucky to have him.
• I’m a mother.  I adopted my son when he was 12, after having custody of him for a year and a half.  He’ll be a senior this year, which I still can’t believe.  He has mental health and learning issues that have made school difficult for him.  I’m so proud of him for hanging in there!
• I’m a teacher.  I teach middle school.  It depends on what day you ask whether I love or hate my job–well, I always love the kids and the teaching.  It’s the stacks of essays I have to grade that sometimes wear me out.  Oh, and the crazy legislation.  Can’t forget that even if we want to!
• I’m working on becoming a homemaker.  As opposed to a housekeeper, that is–keeping your home clean and various people fed is fine; in fact, it’s good and necessary.  But I believe that there’s more to creating a home than just doing what any employee could do.  There are the special touches to the decor that make the space yours.  There’s the atmosphere that you build in your relationships with the people in your home.  The values you hold as a standard for your whole family.  Those are some of the things that make a home.

I see this blog as a chronicle of my adventures in being all of the above: wife, mother, teacher, homemaker.  I love doing little projects around the house and love showing them off even more, so expect to see a lot of those.  You’ll see a lot about my work toward reducing our budget and our debt, as well, since those subjects are near and dear-ish to my heart.  (Being out of debt would be even more dear to my heart, but we’re not there yet.)  I spend a lot of time reading blogs that share my interests in budgeting, homemaking, green living, design… Well, you can check out the “Blogs I Read” links in the sidebar to see what I’m talking about.  I’m sure I’ll be sharing links to other bloggers’ cool ideas as I come across them.

In short, I see this as an eclectic kind of blog, but hopefully one that will bring some enjoyment to others as well as to me.  Should you happen to run across this post, even months down the line, feel free to drop me a reply and let me know you’re reading.  If you feel like it, you can even introduce yourself and let me know what I’d already know about you if I already knew  you!