Earn money for free! My top favorite free money and survey sites! These are safe easy ways to earn giftcards or cash!

    Living frugally and on a budget can be hard!
With this looming large in my thrifty mind, I carefully researched and found several sites and programs which allow me to gain points which transfer into cash, cash, or rewards. Each of these sites gives me useful rewards for things I normally would be spending otherwise earned money!

  These  quick and easy points are so exciting and  handy for redeeming in the form of Amazon, Restaurant.com or Groupon, Ebay to name a few ! I have definitely earned enough this year to cover many of my personal expenses, so I'm pleased!
  Without further ado, let me share links to all these great sites with you so you can start earning points and cash to spend!

SWAGBUCKS: 
    As you may already know, this program is super fun to use! You earn points merely by searching through their toolbar. This is my favorite site for earning money because I love seeing the ''swagbucks'' when I randomly win them just by searching! Use their toolbar for every website you visit, including your regulars such as your email or the weather! You'll never know how much you can earn until you try it! My only regret is that I wasn't consistent with earning through Swagbucks during the first year I had it!

   I am just now exploring more options on earning with this great site. They include: watching movies (movie trailers, cooking shows, fashion tips and more!), visiting websites, answering surveys, and of course shopping through Swagbucks!
 Just think- all your online purchases could be giving you about 8% cashback through Swagbucks points!!! Don't wait to sign up for this site.

And keep in touch- if you win the 1,000 hourly Swagbucks I'd love to hear about it!

INBOX DOLLARS:
   My second favourite site, this allows you to turn actual cash just by clicking ''confirm paid email'' on sponsored emails which arrive in your inbox daily. This takes less than 2 seconds, and is very rewarding to me.
Once you reach $30.00, you can request a payment, which is mailed as a check to you! Very easy site to understand. I also gain quite a bit of cash from doing these surveys and you can also watch movies and play games for cash. And like with Swagbucks, you can shop through this program for discounts and cash back!
You really need to sign up for at least one of these programs!


MY POINTS: your daily rewards program
(This link will lead you to my facebook post with my referral link!)
   For shoppers, this is just as good as Swagbucks! They give over 8% cash back on purchases, and they have absolute ton of online stores to shop through...including unusual health food sites like Vitacost.com!
They also let you earn points through surveys and searches and a bunch more things! Also, just like with inbox dollars, you can gain points just by clicking on emails! You need a program like this! Why would you shop online without a program like this? Why would you spend money online (as we have done for years-how I wish we knew about this before!) without a rewards program?

TOLUNA
This doesn't give me a referral link, so if you want me to gain points for referring you, please comment below with your email address and I will send you a sign-up link! I will keep your email private; meaning I will definitely delete your comment ASAP!
This site offers rewards for surveys. I really love their surveys and have been able to participate in many of them!



VIP voice surveys:
   They don't give me a referral link; I have to send you a link through your email. If you care enough about me to want me to get extra points for referring you, just comment with your first name and email address and I will send you a link! I will also promptly delete your comment from the public's eyes!

   This is for those who are willing to do surveys only. You get points to spend on bidding or sweeps for a variety of products including Restaurant.com coupons.
I have gained 30,475 points since I signed up in April 2014. I haven't used my points yet. Example: In bids, A Home Theatre Speaker System is currently going for 82,615 points with 5 days left. I have decide to save up my points for something big!
My favourite part of VIP was that they send you survey links to your inbox and thus I have qualified over 6 times to take part in a week-long food and beverage survey which paid $25.00 each time! Thus, I have an online Visa card with $130.00 free money to spend!


SLICE THE PIE:
Music lovers, you are going to love this one!
Get paid cash simply for listening to tracks from budding musical artists which match up with your musical interests and quickly typing up a short review on the music you just heard! Each review pays between .11-.20! (11 cents- 20 cents). Once you reach the gold level, you get 20 cents per review! Of course, this works best for those of you who are speedy thinkers and typers! And it is great to multi-task while doing this.



For more similar deals, visit my blog post below:
PAPERBACK SWAP

The best way to wash your hair: safe, frugal and effective!

Dear readers both ladies and gentlemen:

After you have read the previous notes on the poisons in your typical shampoos and conditioners, you may be looking for a healthy alternative. There are plenty of homemade natural and organic products for sale, but since those tend to be pricey, I am glad I can offer you a frugal method which you can use daily without harming your budget! Simply: 

Baking soda and vinegar- healthy hair, healthy bodies!

I switched over to using strictly baking soda and vinegar over a year ago now, and haven't touched shampoo or conditioner since! Although each person is different, I have had satisfactory results with this method. There are a few benefits to using these items in for your hair

1) None of the poisons or harmful ingredients listed in the previous post

2) Cheaper than most shampoos and conditioners, especially cheaper than all-natural ones!

3) Gentle on all types of skin, scalp; will not harm your eyesight if you get some in your eyes. 

4) Both ingredients known to heal dry skin, sunburns.

5) Extremely speedy to use: cleans quickly and effectively and rinses out in no time at all!

6) You've seen it written on dozens of shampoo ads; people are always searching for products to

  deep-clean their scalp and to restore health and shine to their hair: here it is! The two most cleansing ingredients. 

So, let's get started! I originally heard about this method long before I actually tried it. The only reason why I waited so long was because the original post said you needed a small spray bottle in which to mix the baking soda and water...and I didn't have one. So it took me a little while to realize I could come up with my own ways of doing the preparation! Below, I have many pictures to illustrate the variety of ways you can have a quick and easy cleansing shower!

All you will need is a tablespoon of baking soda, and a tablespoon of your choice of vinegar: white distilled or apple cider. Although both kinds are suitable, I have heard that apple cider enhances the color of dark-haired folk. So I now usually use white vinegar.

The photo below explains all that a beginner may use for a washing: 

*A tablespoon measuring spoon

*A 1 cup measuring cup

*A plastic cup (photo shows 3 for varieties' sake)

*Box of baking soda

*Jug of vinegar

(see end of post for instructions)

Or, for a more manly look:
 your preparation might look more like this:

Or perhaps you prefer a dark green measuring cup:

Okay, enough of that :)

Here's what you need to do: 

Ready: 

1. Measure 1 TB of baking soda, dump it into your choice of cup or small plastic container for mixing.  Leave measuring spoon in there. Set in a corner of the shower where it won't too filled with water from the shower.

2. Grasp a jug of lidded vinegar and place it in the shower as well. 

3. Place your empty 1-cup measuring cup in shower too.

Set: 

4. Moisten your hair, then add 1 cup warm water to the baking soda in the container; turn off shower and mix baking soda and water with spoon. 

Action!

5. Slowly pour on your scalp and hair while rubbing and scrubbing or massaging it in with the other hand. (Vary your energy from wash to wash; you only need to do a major scrubbing every two weeks, otherwise: massage it in)

6. Let it soak into your scalp/hair for 5 minutes. (Again, although this is idea, it is not necessary every wash.)

7. Simply rinse it out! Comes out like a dream, in less than 1 minute! 

Ideally, you will want to finish with a vinegar rinse. 

8. While still in the shower, turn off the water. Pick up your cup and measure 1 Tablespoon of your choice of either white or apple cider vinegar into the mixing cup; add 1 cup water. No need to mix. 

9. Slowly pour mixture onto your scalp and comb through your hair with your fingers! You will be pleased at how slick this makes your hair...it's amazing how the tangles disappear! Add more vinegar and water if your hair is super-tangley. 

10. Option 1:  Leave it in. However, apple cider vinegar leaves a slight residue of smell....not the best thing if you're attending a wedding or the like. Also, if you are planning on doing up your hair while it's wet, if you don't rinse out the vinegar it will smell pretty strong when you let your hair down at the end of the day....kind of fermented. ;)

Option 2: Rinse briefly.This is accomplished in a minute or less....compare that to how long it takes to rinse out commercial conditioners!

Option 3: What I generally do is to rinse it out completely. Takes a couple minutes.

Vary from time to time!

I want you to encourage you to try this. If it looks complicated, that's my fault for writing out the instructions to long. In reality, it's simple, Read the instructions above a few times and then write out your own condensed ideas. By the way: I don't use measuring cup for water measuring, since I know by sight by now. Besides, it's rather flexible. For myself, I use 2 Tablespoons of baking soda to 2 Cups of water ever other wash, too. It's all about variation, and finding your best method. 

Lastly, be patient! You may not love your hair until you have consistently used this method for over a few months! But I can say assuredly, I have used it over a year: And I'm sticking with it! 

This is important! This is health for the future. Ladies: Do not ruin your health as future mothers by using poisons on your body....keep your body safe for your future as mothers!!!

Who will join me in using simple baking soda and vinegar? 

I've seen some really beautiful results on other ladies who are using it! (links to come in a future post)

I wish I had some incredible ''before and after'' pictures of myself.... but I DO still have plenty of hair. :)
2013 UPDATE: And it's getting easier and easier to keep my hair clean and lovely! :) Yay! Now 5 of my 7 sisters are using it as well. It REALLY works. Never has my hair felt so clean.... :) 

Ladies....I encourage you to join this ''club'' of people switching to better things for their bodies! And encourage your brothers to do so as well. It's important. And actually, I think it will be easiest for the boys to switch since they don't have a love for sweet-smelling shampoos anyhow! ;) But it's obviously ESPECIALLY important for the ladies to not use reg. chemical-laden shampoos.