Tip for Craigslist Buyers

This weekend I have been working on getting rid of some used furniture on Craigslist. One of the listings was for some chairs left over from my husband's office remodel.

I received three responses to my ad about the chairs. The first was an offer to buy two of the six chairs. The second email read simply, 'are the chairs still available?'. The third response said this:

Hi I would like to pay for and pick up your chairs if you still have them. I am located in [your city] and can bring cash over at your convenience.

Please let me know. I look forward to hearing from you.

Guess which email I answered first?

This buyer did several things that I'm going to remember to do the next time I'm buying on Craigslist:

• She let me know she was interested in buying, not just looking. (Of course she could have always rejected the chairs once she got here if she found they weren't in good shape.)
• She told me she was in my city, which let me know she could be here quickly.
• She told me she was a cash buyer.

The rest of my correspondence with her was equally professional. Thirty minutes later the chairs were gone. She wanted the chairs and she acted fast. I'm taking notes!

I also wrote two articles at eHow based on my Craigslist experiences this weekend:

How to Sell Used Furniture on Craigslist
How to Stay Safe When Conducting Craigslist Business


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Carnival of Snowflaking

The Carnival of Snowflaking is up at Moolanomy. This carnival is smaller than some but the entries are all quality ones. I was honored to have my post on Ebates Reward Equals Extra Credit Card Payment was included as an Editor's Pick. Thanks so much to Moolanomy for hosting.

Coincidentally, I wrote an eHow article today on Snowflaking Your Way Out of Debt.

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Mr. Rebates $7.50 Signup Bonus

Two years ago I signed up for Mr. Rebates, a site that gives you cash back for your online shopping. I bought a couple of things, blogged about it, and promptly forgot about it.

Yesterday, I logged onto my Mr. Rebates account and was pleasantly surprised by four things:

1) Mr. Rebates has increased the signup bonus to $7.50 (it used to be $2.50).
2) You now only need to have $10 in your account to request a payment (the old amount was $25).
3) Mr. Rebates now has an option to be paid via Paypal or check.
4) Several people who had signed up using my referral link two years ago had made occasional purchases through Mr. Rebates and I had over $20 in referral commissions sitting in my account. Now that is truly passive income!

I'd say Mr. Rebates has made some serious improvements to their program!

Mr. Rebates offers cash back for online shopping at hundreds of online stores, including Dell, Office Depot, and Old Navy. You will also earn cash back on your purchases through eBay.

And, as I discovered yesterday, Mr. Rebates has an awesome referral program. When someone you refer signs up for Mr. Rebates, you'll get 20% of their cash back amounts as a commission and it doesn't affect their earnings at all. Like I said, I had just a few people who signed up using one of my links do some shopping through Mr. Rebates and I had money sitting in my account waiting for me.

Here's what I wrote in a Mr. Rebates review over two years ago:

I made a $45 purchase from 1-800-Flowers for some Mother's Day flowers I sent to my grandmother. I qualified for a 8% or $3.60 reward. I also used a coupon code I found at Mr. Rebates to get 15% off my order but the reward I received was applied before the coupon. That's kind of cool.

If you do online shopping and would like to give Mr. Rebates a try, I encourage you to sign up and explore for yourself. They'll give you $7.50 just to sign up and it's all free.

Let me know if you have any questions about Mr. Rebates or online cash back sites in general. I'd love to answer them.

Mr. Rebates Signup Link

This post has been submitted to Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer. and Frugal Fridays at Biblical Womanhood. Please visit those blogs for dozens of other great tips!

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Make Money Online Writing for eHow

You may have noticed several posts over the last week or so that reference articles that I wrote on eHow. And, unless you're reading this blog in a reader, you may have noticed the growing list of eHow articles in my sidebar.

eHow is a great site of "how to" articles covering every topic you can imagine. Honestly. Take a look at the variety in my articles and know that I've just scratched the surface.

Anyone can write for eHow and, if you're a US citizen, you can sign up for the Writer's Compensation Plan and earn some money doing it. The way it works is that eHow shares ad revenue with it's writers so compensation is based on how often your articles are viewed and how the ads on your articles' pages perform.

eHow is not a scam and it's not a get rich quick scheme. What it is an opportunity to make money online and to have some fun doing it. I've found the articles really easy and fun to write and the community of people there are great too. I've basically only been writing for a week or so and I'm already starting to see some dollars trickle in.

I plan to blog about eHow more in the coming weeks, but for now I just wanted to call your attention to it and to let you know that if you already have a blog, I think writing for eHow is a no brainer.

I encourage you to take a look at eHow (signing up is free) and try writing an article or two. That's what I did back at the first of June and then I logged back in a month later and saw that those two articles, which took me just minutes to write, had started to earn some money. One was even just a basic recipe. I was hooked.

Let me know if you have any questions about eHow in the comments section of this post or by emailing me. I'd love to answer them for you.  

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Money Hacks Carnival

The Money Hacks carnival is up at the Money Hackers Network. My article about using Ebates to save on contacts is included.

Stop by for other money saving and financial articles.
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Big Crumbs: Crumb Saver vs. Crumb Earner

If you're one of those signing up for Big Crumbs and you're getting stuck at the Crumb Saver vs. Crumb Earner choice, I wrote an eHow article on How to Choose Between Being a Crumb Saver or Crumb Earner. I hope it's helpful!

Related Posts:

How to Save Money with Big Crumbs
How to Make Money with Big Crumbs
Works for Me Wednesday: Big Crumbs

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JCPenney $5 Flat Rate Shipping + 4% Ebates Rebate = Staying Home on a Rainy Day

Last week I bought two valances on sale at JCPenney that I liked so much I decided I needed two more. The sale, however, was ending today. And that was a big deal considering the sale amounted to 50% off.

I decided to hop online to see if the valances were offered at JCPenney.com and if they were on sale. Score on both points. And that's when I noticed that JCPenney.com was offering $5 flat rate shipping on orders up to $150.

The only thing that remained to find was out was if I could get a rebate for shopping online. Enter Ebates, which offers a 4% rebate at JCPenney.com.

I am one happy shopper, enjoying a rare, rainy summer day at home, knowing that JCPenney will be delivering those valances to my door this week for not much more than it would have cost in gas to get there and back.

Related posts:

Five Great Ebates Features You May Not Know About
Using Ebates to Save Money on Contacts
Ebates Reward Equals Extra Credit Card Payment
How to Save Money With Ebates

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Works for Me Wednesday: Big Crumbs

There are many rebate/reward sites for online shopping but I recently came across a new one that has me exited: Big Crumbs.

Big Crumbs works like a lot of other sites. You enter online retailer through the Big Crumbs site and earn cash back for your purchases. There are some great differences, however:

• Big Crumbs boasts some of the highest cash-back percentages among rebate or cash back programs.
• Big Crumbs pays you through your Paypal account every month and there's no minimum payment amount.
• Big Crumbs offers a referral program that doesn't just pay you a one-time bonus, but gives you a percentage of your referrals' purchases every month. You can also earn money when the referrals of your referrals shop. (Are you seeing the potential here?)

Some other important things to know:

• Big Crumbs is free.
• Sign-up is easy.
• There are currently over 260 retailers and the list is growing. You'll see names you know like Target, The Gap, Old Navy, and Best Buy. And eBay is included!
• There are even benefits for eBay sellers.

Big Crumbs is a great program for anyone who wants to save money on online purchases or earn money for referring friends and family. And if you'd like to really maximize the referral program and turn it into a work from home income opportunity Big Crumbs has tool to help you do that as well.

If you're like me, you probably want to read more before you get started. Here are links with more info:

Big Crumbs Home Page
How Big Crumbs Works
Big Crumbs Retailers

Or if you're ready to sign up and give it a try you can do that here:

Sign Up for Big Crumbs

Either way I hope you'll check it out and let me know if you have questions! And visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for more WFMW ideas.


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How to Find a Great Job Using the Internet

Today I wrote on article on eHow about How to Find a Great Job Using the Internet. I was inspired to write the article, but it's exactly the system I used to find the perfect part-time job for me.

In the eHow article I go step by step through what I did, but essentially it boils down to three things:

1. Spend some time deciding exactly the kind of job you want.
2. Research job boards and perform searches for the kind of job you're looking for. Save the searches and/or have them emailed to you on a regular basis.
3. Look for job openings on the websites of employers you'd like to work for. Bookmark the websites and return to them regularly.
4. Apply for jobs that interest you and keep repeating the steps until you have a good fit.

About a year ago I found a part-time job with a consulting company that paid well and offered great flexibility of schedule. The duties were tailor-made for me and, although I couldn't have known this at the time, my boss and co-workers are great. I eventually found my job through CareerBuilder and it was following the steps above that lead me to it.

If you're looking for a new job, I wish you tons of luck. And if you're a stay-at-home parent looking to return to the workforce, I especially wish you all the best. It's sometimes intimidating to take those first steps, but it can be exciting too.

Related articles:

How To Find a Great Job Using the Internet
Using ING to Save Your Paychecks

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