I'm a nanny now

For those of you who've missed me, I know- it's been a while since I've posted and I'm sorry. Here's what's been going on with me...

I split with my daughter's father and moved in with my brother out in the country; where there is no internet! Sure, I can go to the library for the hour they're open after my girl goes to sleep- but honestly that doesn't give me much time to do anything!

Luckily, I got this great job as a nanny for two boys ages 5 and 8. They're great kids and I get to bring my baby to work with me everyday. I couldn't imagine it working out any better!

The only problem is that I'm not making lots of money from this job. Don't get me wrong they pay well- but there's not a lot left over after all the necesseties are taken care of.

Start Finance: Sponsored Post

I don't have a lot of money. I work really hard as often as I can just to get by. It's part of being young, it's part of being a single mom and for most of us it's just a part of life. I don't have a 9-5 job with a weekly pay check. That'd be nice, but then I wouldn't be able to play such a big role in my daughter's up bringing. Guess who gives people like me home loans?

You guessed it! Practically no one! Just because I don't have as much credit history and money as others doesn't mean I don't need money! Of course I need money! It's too bad I don't live in Australia, because if I did I could use this great company called startfinance.com.au to help me with a home loans.

Maybe I should just move there?

Check out this funny ad posted on you tube. It's a home loans company with a sense of humor!

Library!

I moved a few weeks ago so I haven't been able to keep up with my blogging. And guess what? I have no internet connection where I live! Now, I can tell you that not having web access really, and I mean really puts a damper on my online work. Luckily, I've found a few ways to overcome this obstacle.

Since I do most of my work as a freelance writer I simply do my writing at home, sans the net. I'll go to the library, right up the street from my house, gather any research info I might need and head home. It's great that most libraries have wireless internet access nowadays- so at least I'm not totally cut off!

I live way out in the country now so I'd have to get highspeed via the dish company, which is hugely expensive! So, for now- I'll just borrow it :).

Top 3 Sites On The Net For Finding Work And Making Money

I rarely get on the web for "pure enjoyment" anymore. I have specific goals that I want to accomplish and they all in some way involve making money. Don't get me wrong, I fully enjoy my work and everything I do to make money online, but you'll never catch me goofing around on bored.com, there's always money to be earned!

There are only 3 sites that I check on a regular basis, aside from my e-mail. These sites have proven to be very useful in the hunt for legitimate and free work online. BECAUSE YOU SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO PAY FOR A JOB!

http://www.writersrow.com/deborahng/freelancewritingjobs.html- This blog is specifically for freelance writers. If you're a freelance writer looking for a job this is the place to go! She updates constantly with opportunities for writers of every sort- even bloggers!

www.craigslist.com If you haven't checked out craigslist for work, you're really missing out. Whether it's writing you want to do, painting, singing, marketing, anything- just look for it on craigslist! You'll find blogging jobs here and much, much more. Be sure to check in cities all over the country, writing jobs are often "work from home" so it usually doesn't matter where you live.

Finally there's http://paidopps.blogspot.com/ I check this site every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. I discovered Tori, the author while searching on associatedcontent.com one day. She had some great ways to make money online and I've been an avid reader ever since. Tori will only provide you with 100% free ways to make money online and don't worry about being scammed, she calls out all scammers right on her blog- just check out what she said about review stream and treasure trooper!

Proud To Be A Blogger...

Blogging has really taken off in the past year or so. Many of us are trying to make a little extra money from it, some of us are making a living from it and still other just do it for fun. Either way, blogging is fun and wouldn't it be nice if it could be a full time paying position?

I think the key to running a successful blog is most certainly patience. Traffic doesn't come over night and traffic doesn't come with out work! There are a plethora of sites out there that tell you how to increase your blogs traffic, google page rank and alexa rating. Still, people often expect to submit their site to a search engine then automatically be on the first page of a search. It just doesn't happen. Individuals who run successful blogs:
1) Blog on a regular basis, if not every day
2) Stick to the topic of their blog
3) Understand how to write content for the web and make it enjoyable to read
4) Stick with it!

Those of you out there who've been blogging for months even years on end know what it's like to be a real blogger. In order to get your blog to the top of the list you've got to be an obsessive blogger. There are a lot of us out there, we blog because we love it and what else is there to say?

Get Cash For Your Broken Laptop!

Before you start searching the web for way to properly dispose of your old or broken latop consider selling it. There are a lot of companies who do business by purchasing old or broken laptops, refurbishing them and reselling. They're the ones who are making big profits off of your laptop.

I had a Dell Inspiron 1100 for my freshman year in college. I had loads of problems with the power cord in this model. It was a three prong plug and it was constantly breaking! My then fiance decided he was going to fix it by replacing the plug jack with a more "standard" model. That way I wouldn't have to worry about replacing the expensive plug every 3 months. As you can imagine, his venture in laptop hardware support failed miserably and I was left with no way to turn my laptop on.

The Dell has been out of commission for well over a year now, and being in the tight spot for money I am; I decided to see if anyone out there would buy it. Obviously I found a few places otherwise I wouldn't be writing this post. One site offered me $80 for it and the other about $100. These sites pay for the shipping fees so you don't have to worry about getting screwed out of that money. I've included the links below, so if you have a crappy, old or even broken laptop don't throw it away, get your money's worth!

http://www.1hideout.com/selllaptop.asp

http://laptoprepair.com/sell.htm

Where To Sell Jewelry

If you're try to get a good price for your old or unwanted jewelry, you may quickly discover that it won't sell for as much as you may have hoped. It seems that the prized possesions we once paid hundreds and even thousands of dollars for are know going on ebay for often less than half of their original sales price.

Today I went to a local jewelry shop in my town. I brought all the jewelry I wished to sell and let the owner take a look at it. Most of it was passed down to me after my grandmother died, however some of it was given to me over the years. I ended up selling a 14 carat gold charm braclette, with some charms included for $350. That seems like a pretty darn good deal to me!

I'm still left with a few key peices, that the jewlery store owner said they couldn't afford to buy. A .25 carat diamond engament ring, a silver gemstone bracellet, and a few random item like jade pendants. I plan to put the ring up for sale on craigslist. There are no listing fees and it's all local buyer so I feel like that's my best bet. I'm unsure of where to sell the rest right now, but I'll let you know how much I make!

Spring Cleaning

Spring is almost here and that means everyone will be spring cleaning, including yourself! Every year you do spring cleaning, and every year doesn't it seem like you threw away just as much junk as last year? Maybe it's because the kids have grown out of things, or maybe it's because you'd had a bad night and ordered everything off of the HSN, who knows? So, how can you turn this rejuvenating time of year into extra money in your pocket?

Sell it! This is an ideal time to put your old and unwanted "treasures" up for sale on ebay or craigslist, depending on what you want to sell. This is also a great time of year for a yard sale. The problem for some people is knowing where the best place to sell their items is. You're going to have to do a bit of research, start out by looking at the finished auctions on ebay. There you'll be able to look up items similar to your own, look at how many of them had bids on them, the number of bids and how much they sold for. If the finished auctions don't look promising to you, then post an ad for it on craigslist.com. On craigslist, you can put your item up for sale, for free, there are no listing fees whatsoever. Just include a simple description or picture, price, and the pick up arrangements and someone in your area may buy it! Finally if you have a lot of stuff to get rid of, have a yard sale. It may be a good idea to try and get your other neighbors involved too. Big yard sales attract a lot of people, and one mans trash truly is another man's treasure.

As I mentioned before, just about everyone participates in the spring cleaning ritual. You could easily make some extra money by offering up your cleaning services to people in your neighborhood. You could make some flyer's on your computer with a spring cleaning checklist, include how much you charge for each task or the whole works and your phone number. Keep a calender or small date book with your phone, so you never over book yourself.

If cleaning is really not your thing, then consider offering you gardening services. When the weather gets warm, people want a nice yard with flowers to come home to everyday. Not everyone has time to plant and take care of a garden though. You could make up a flyer for simple lawn care services as well. Include the tasks you're willing to perform, like weeding, planting, watering, mowing, ect and what you charge for each task and the works. If you've got a green thumb or just love being outside this could be the start of a lucrative home based business!

Save, Even If It's Only $5 A Month

If you're a single mother the words money and finance probably give you goosebumps. In the United States today most families just can't make it on a single income, yet day after day single parents make it happen. They make it happen by living paycheck to paycheck and pulling off the occasional miracle. That doesn't leave much for rainy days or college tuition for that matter.

If you think you can't afford to save money you should look at your savings differently. What if you could only afford to put $10 a month aside or into a savings account? That would only leave you with $120 at the end of the year, so why bother, right? Wrong! Every little bit counts.

Eventually watching your savings account slowly add up with become an obsession!

Practice Makes Perfect...

The only way to be a better investor is to practice. Many of us don’t feel secure enough in our own money managing abilities to jump into the stock market head first. Good thing there are plenty of resources out there for people like you! Fine tune your skills by managing a virtual portfolio. By practicing with fake money, you can learn from your mistakes, without mistakes costing you! I wish I’d discovered virtual investing before I made my first investment, it would have saved me a bit of money!!!

http://www.investingexperience.com/

http://www.themint.org/about/index.php

http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/7-16-2006-102539.asp

http://www.moneyinstructor.com/investing.asp

Add To Your Income

Are you looking for a way to add to your income? Making a little extra money each month to put towards paying off debt or investing would mean a great deal for your future! There are plenty of easy ways to make money online. If you spend week nights at home, watching t.v. or just hanging out, you might consider looking into these options.

www.helium.com is a fun site to make a bit of money with. Are you ever in the mood to just vent your opinion? Do it at helium! Other users will rate your article and you'll earn a little bit of money off of it! You'll see your earnings grow each month, depending on how well your article is rated. Give it a try, naturally it's totally free and you can't write on a variety of subjects!

www.associatedcontent.com is a great site, that I've made a lot of money from. That's because I enjoy writing! Write 400+ word articles on anything you want, submit them to AC and receive an offer between $3-$40 for your work. If you like to write, this site is for you!

www.shutterpoint.com, are you crazy about your digital camera? Always taking pictures? Perhaps you should consider selling some of those photos!

Last, but certainly not least there's www.chacha.com. In order to work for chacha you have to be invited. You can check out my previous posts on chacha to see what it's all about. It just so happens that I have 8 invites available to give out! If you're interested in working for chacha then e-mail me here Triciadnt@yahoo.com, be sure to include "Work For ChaCha" in the subject line.

All of these money making opportunities can be done in your spare time, like evenings after you get home from work. If you're interested in adding anywhere from $1 to $500+ to your monthly income (depending on how many sites you work with and how much effort you put into it). These are some great ways to do it!

How's It Going At ChaCha?

It's going great at ChaCha! If you haven't checked out ChaCha yet, it really is time! www.chacha.com is the future of online searching. Instead of sorting through 100's of pages of information yourself, a real person does it for you in minutes! You'll find the best information, and perhaps even have a great conversation while they're looking for you.

I love being a guide for ChaCha. It's really a lot of fun to help people get the information they need. I'm now able to distribute ChaCha tool bars. However, I have a limited number. If you're interested in downloading a ChaCha tool bar, which is totally customizable complete with "search with guide", then shoot me an e-mail. Be sure to put ChaCha Tool Bar in the subject line so I know what the e-mail is about. You'll be the first in line for the online searching evolution!

The Few, The Proud, The Elite

That's right, I received an invitation to become a guide for Chacha.com. For those of you who do not know about chacha.com, it's an amazing new way to search the web. You can find things on chacha that you simply cannot find elsewhere. The good thing about chacha for me is that I can make extra money by working for them!

I am however, having some problems. For instance, I cannot download the "guide application". Which is certainly required to do any work! I cannot even start to learn how to operate their system until I can download that guide application, so I'm stuck. Hopefully, I'll get some help with this soon!

How To Read An Annual Report

A company's annual report hold valuable information for the prospective investor. If, said investor can manage to understand what they see in the annual report! Seriously, with confusing terms and huge calculations it seems as if these annual reports are meant to confuse the individual investor. Leaving you crying in the kitchen floor screaming for your broker. It's okay, pick yourself up! Here's how to read and annual report.

* Income Statement - How sucessful has the company been at making money?

In the income statement you'll see where the company makes it's money, by doing or selling whatever it is they do or sell. You'll see that a portion of the revenue is put towards paying their own expenses. What they're left with, their profit, is the "bottom line" on the income statement.

* Cash Flow Statement - How are hey paying for operations and growth?

Here's the company's money, the "bottom line" from the Income Statement becomes the "Cash Flow from Operations" here. You'll see the amount of money that came into the company. Cash Flow from Financing, here you can tell the company's health. Has the company created new stocks to sell? This lessens the value of stocks, that's bad for the shareholder! Are they buying back shares? That can mean the company is paying off debt. That's good for the shareholder! Cash Flow to Investing: we want to see a company grow, to expand their earnings. We want the company to be able to pay for this growth with earnings from Operations, without having to raise money by selling new stocks.

* Balance Sheet - What the company owns and owes (debt)

How much will the company pay or owe to Stock and Bond Investors?

Are you more of a visual learner? Click here to see how it all works!

Free $25 For Investing

If you're a member of mypoints.com you can get 550 points and a free $25 through Sharebuilder! I received this offer in my inbox for the second time. I took advantage of this oppourtunity a few months ago by opening a custodial account for my daughter. I made my first investment and about 4 weeks later received $25 in my inbox. We all know investing is the smartest way to save your money, so there's really nothing to loose here! If you don't have a mypoints account, go sign up now- it's free!. You have to open a new sharebuilder account, if you already have one open- no big deal, open another. You can make it for something specific, like a college fund or individual account. Use the promotional code mypoints25; there's nothing better than free money!

Free Stock Newsletter

About.com is an information website. You can get expert information on nearly any subject! Ken Little is a stock and investing guru over at about.com. He's written 8 books on the subject of stocks and investing. His many years of experience in the field equal invaluable knowledge for the new or experience investor. You can sign up for a free newsletter from Ken Little. You'll revieve updated articles every week in your inbox. He'll explain the basics of stocks. It's like have a tutor for money managing! Click here to sign up for Mr. Little's free weekly newsletter!

Is your website filling your piggy bank? It can! You can earn extra income through your website with affiliate advertising through LinkShare.com.

You can choose to show your readers ads from services and companies that you know, trust and respect. It's free to sign up and easy to use. Click the join programs tab and select from hundreds of well known companies. After you're approved simply click the create links tab, you'll be able to select from textual, banners, graphic and other sorts of advertising. Choose the one that's best for your site or blog. Whenever someone uses your link to make a purchase you will earn a certain percentage of the sale.

Get More Out Of MyPoints

Mypoints is a shopping rewards program. Here’s how it works:
Step 1: You open a free account with www.mypoints.com; this is not a referal link.

Step 2: Earn points by receiving e-mails, referring friends and family, taking surveys and shopping at 100’s of well known and trusted online stores that you already use!

Step 3: Redeem your points for gift cards to a variety of well known stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Old Navy and much more. You can redeem your points for gift cards in a variety of categories, so you’ll certainly find a store that you love.

The great thing about Mypoints is that you don’t have to spend a lot of money for your points to really add up! I’ve honestly made very few small purchases online since I started using Mypoints, yet I have enough points to get a $50 gift card to Target. They have plenty of free ways to earn points, which is where the majority of my points come from. I get promotional e-mails from Mypoints everyday, all I do is read an e-mail and I get 5 points! They also have pages full of “easy offers” that require no credit card to earn points as well.

Different stores offer different point values, anywhere from 2 to 10 points per dollar. Overstock.com currently offers a whopping 10 points per dollar. Overstock.com is like a discount warehouse online offering 75% off or more RETAIL SALE. You can find great brand name electronics, apparel, bedding, furniture, entertainment, and the list goes on. Before I buy anything, I check Overstock.com to see if they have what I need. I know I’ll get it at a great price and I’ll get 10 points per dollar via Mypoints.com.

Right now I’m in the market for a digital camera, and Overstock.com is exactly the place to get it. I’m sure I’ll end up spending at least $200, that’s 2,000 points right there! I’d be well on my way to getting a free $25 gift card to Overstock.com.

Some people like to cash in their points every chance they get, for a $10 gift card to Wal-Mart, or something of the sort. That’s great, but it seems to me that there’s a much better way of doing it. With a little bit of planning, you can continually regenerate your points so you can cash them in for bigger amounts without spending as much!

Unlike those “some people” that I mentioned before; I’m the kind of girl who likes to save her points for bigger purchases or bigger rewards. As I mentioned earlier, I’m in the market for a digital camera, so if I buy that digital camera off of Overstock.com, via Mypoints.com, and receive my 2,000 to add on to what I already have I’ll be able to redeem my points for a $100 giftcard to Overstock.com or any other retailer of my choice. Then if I use my $100 giftcard via MyPoints.com on Overstock.com, I’ll have yet another 1,000 to go towards another gift card.

If you take the time to think about your purchases and do a little bit of planning you can really stretch your dollar! It’s especially important if you’re planning a big purchase like a new laptop, TV or other expensive item. Take the time to compare stores on Mypoints keep in mind price, shipping, and potential points earned. It’s always nice to get a little (or big) something extra out of your money!

Textbookx.com

The College Board, a nonprofit organization did a study during the year of 2003-2004. It found that the average college student at a 4 year public university spend over $800 each year on books and school supplies! While prices will vary by location it’s safe to say that college students are shelling out a lot of money just in books!

The best way to save your money is to buy textbooks used if at all possible. You can find Over 900,000 new and used books! Free shipping on retail orders over $49. at textbookx.com. You can buy the books you need at discount prices. There’s just no reason to pay full price for college textbooks!

The semester is over and you have absolutely no use for that textbook that you spent $60 on? Get some of your money back; Sell Your Textbooks Here! on textbookx.com.

You’ll more than cut your textbook expenses in half by buying and selling on textbookx.com. You can also pick up extra cash by selling your old DVDs and video games, come on, you beat that game 50 times- get a new one!

How To Save Money- Everywhere

Typically I talk about online investing, but this blog is also about personal finances in general. There are so many easy ways to cut your spending without making much of a sacrifice! I know clipping coupons and keeping them organized can be a major pain, but it’s a great way to save money. Good thing there are sites like coupons.com! You can print out as many coupons as you want and I believe they have 100 on there at all times. These are really useful coupons, you could save a ton of money on your grocery bills! Did I mention that it’s really easy to use and free?

Do you like to eat out? Join restaurants.com! It’s free, of course because you know I’ll never pay to save! You can buy dining certificates to your favorite restaurants at discount prices. I see a lot of $25 dining certificates for $10, or $10 dining certificate for just $3. Go ahead and see if there are participating restaurants in your area.

If you’re really interested in saving on your dining tab, visit the website of your favorite restaurants. Sign up for their newsletter, if they have one. You’ll receive special offers and coupons right in your e-mail.