How to Bring Money In

Photo courtesy of nikkinoguer

Here at Mommy Making Money, most of the time I’m sharing strategies for saving money. Today I wanted to share some of the ways I bring in money. Even though it may not seem like a significant amount to some of you, I bring in some money each month to make a contribution to our family budget. You’ll know after reading here for while that I can do a lot with a small amount of money, so every little bit helps.

In January, I was able to contribute $189.90 to our monthly income with the following:

• Gift Cards: When Safeway offered a $30 Gift Card when you brought a new/transferred prescription to their pharmacy, I picked up a few extra weekly ads at the store. Due to a rash of illnesses over the month, I filled three Rxs there, netting three gift cards worth $90.
• Rebates: Compared to last year, I’ve really cut down on the number of rebates I do. I’m no longer submitting rebates for anything under $5.00; it’s just not worth my time. In January, I received a check from Caregiver’s Marketplace for my Huggies Pull-ups receipts and this Olay rebate, for a total of $28.
• Returns (mostly clothing): And I need to point out that these were not Christmas gifts that I was returning! Do you have bags around the house with clothes that need to be returned? By finally getting those bags to the car and making the time to do the returns, I got $71.90 back.

In addition, we received a check for $389 from our mortgage company for overpayment to our escrow account over 2008. Extra income for the month of January was $579–now it’s starting to feel significant! Every dollar is extra money to put towards our financial goals for the year.

Now that we’re into February, I’m already on track to make a similar contribution to the budget. Besides a few more rebates and another gift card, I’ve also received my first payment from Ebates. Look for my review of Ebates next Wednesday (I like to test out a program before I share it with you, as I did with Swagbucks). I’ll plan on reviewing the February extra income for you at the end of this month.