Frugal Living: Free Shipping & Finding Coupon Codes

As I mentioned in a previous article, I love to shop online. I’m a big fan of shopping online. In order to make shopping on line feasible, there are two things that are must haves for me: one is free shipping and the other is a discount.

1) Never pay for shipping. You should almost never pay for shipping when you buy online. Honestly, it’s not worth it to shop online if you have to pay shipping costs. Many merchants offer free shipping year round on a minimum order or they offer free shipping codes throughout the year. Check FreeShipping.org or go to the Free Shipping page at ShopATHome.com to find free shipping codes and offers available at thousands of stores online.

Two great sites are available to assist you.When I order online, I pretty much refuse to pay for shipping. It's just not worth it to me to have to pay high shipping prices--even if the online deal is spectacular. On Decembmer 17, 2009 dozens many sites will be participating in Free Shipping Day and they guarantee they will deliver to you by Christmas Eve. To find out which stores are participating, click HERE.

2) Find coupon codes. Coupon codes are all over the internet. You should ve able to find a coupon code for any purchase you want to make. One good site to look at is RetailMeNot.com. You only need to go to their site, search for the store you want to shop at and you will get a list of coupon codes.

Between getting free shipping and coupon codes you should be able to get significant discount on the item purchased.

Frugal Living: Using Cashback Sites To Stretch Your Dollars

The holidays are right around the corner and with it comes a good deal of shopping. Unless money doesn’t matter, there is never a reason to buy anything for full price. Between cashback sites and coupons you can always get a discount. The way cashback sites work are they pay you a rebate-usually between 2% and 6%- to shop a specific retailer through their site. These sites are “must use” if you shop online because they don’t cost anything to use and you may as well get paid to purchase the items you were already going to purchase.

I use several sites and each one has a different rebate percentage. I recommend that you sign up for each of them and then when you’re ready to shop compare who is offering the best rebate with the particular retailer you are planning to shop with. The ones I use most often are:

Ebates. Ebates is the site I’ve used the longest. They pay you $5 upon sign-up and you can cash out when your account reaches $5.01 so only one purchase is required. Payment is sent out on a quarterly basis. The list of retailers is extensive. Sign up at: http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=rW6YfCjMfgU%3D

Cashbaq. Cashbaq also offers a $5 bonus for signing up. Payments are made on the 20th of each month to all members whose accounts have accrued at least $10. Also, Cashbaq offers the deal of the day, which is a bargain deal that’s 50-90% off the retail price after the bargain price and cashback. Sign up at http://www.cashbaq.com/?refer=487680

Mr. Rebates. This site has to be one of the best ways to make money. In addition to giving you a rebate for your purchase, you can also earn 20% of your referred friend's cash-back rebates on every purchase they make through Mr. Rebates (at no cost to them). You get that extra 20% for every purchase your referred friend makes. You just can't lose on a deal like this! Sign up at: http://www.mrrebates.com?refid=266494

Blastoff. This is one of the newest cashback sites. It actually combines cashback with multilevel marketing but without any sign up cost. You get a rebate not only when you shop at merchants through their online mall but you also get paid when the 20 people in your circle shop through the online mall. Click here for sign up.

To make certain that you receive credit for your purchase, you must find the store on the cashback site you’re using and click through to the store from the link provided by the cash back site.

I will teach you to be rich Part II

Can anyone truly teach you to be rich? What does being "rich" really mean? For me it simply mean financial independence. Monday my daughter called me from school and informed me that her glasses broke in half. Without hesitation, I hung up from her and immediately called in to the Ophthalmologist to set her up an appointment. Well, time is more important to me than money so I scheduled my other two children appointments too. My oldest daughter wears contacts and is begging for colored contacts. My son was whining because he couldn't get glasses and my baby daughter had a pair already picked out (and they were not on sale!).

Sure the insurance covered all except $20 of the visit. Sure, I picked up the glasses yesterday and the total was just $117 after they showed me the total of $300 plus dollars. Good thing I have insurance...right? In the past, I would have stressed out over the visit and the amount to pay. Yet, because I have a budget and a larger salary, the visit was a breeze and neither I nor the children were frustrated.

See financial independence is more than the money. Financial independence is the confidence you carry knowing that you can support yourself, your children, family members, the homeless, those in-between, etc. Ramit Sethi's blog I will teach you to be rich is about more than becoming rich. The information he share is about changing your MINDSET which in turn releases stress and frustration. Financial independence is freedom from debt, freedom from lack, freedom from living a mediocre life and freedom from being tied to a meaningless job.

This millionaire journey we're on is more than you becoming a millionaire. There are plenty of stories about those that achieve millionaire status and lose hundreds of millions a few years thereafter. Did you know that within two years of retirement, 78 percent of NFL players are bankrupt or in severe financial distress? Read Chris Chase's article for more information about Why do so many NFL players go bankrupt?

Come on, this is more than about money. The journey is about MINDSET. What does being rich mean to you? (Tina)

I will Teach You to be Rich Part I

I'm beginning to believe that most people in life just want to be spoon fed. I have been a long time follower of Ramit Sethi's blog I will teach you to be rich and have learned quite a bit from his tips. If you're not following the blog, take a moment to go and sign up. He's been writing since 2003 and sharing his quest to become rich.

Last night, I attended his 6-week Boot Camp pre-launch and paid attention to his marketing techniques. For an entire week, he gave us his best information, videos, emails, etc. and finally had a live meeting and told us more FREE information. Yet, free isn't the point. The point is he places a value on information and finally gave us the price for the 6-week Boot Camp. Personally, I like his no nonsense approach. Not only did he just give the price, he politely said he was not going to hard sell us into buying it.

Ramit said, "Either you want it or you don't. If you don't, continue to follow the blog and do nothing." While I followed the live web chat stream, I realized that Ramit appeared to be living in an apartment, he didn't have the "best" camera, we don't even know if he's rich, yet HE'S TEACHING OTHERS HOW TO BE RICH! What's the point? There is someone somewhere that wants your information because they are too lazy to do it for themselves.

They don't even care if you're rich, skinny, fit, healthy, etc. They just want a quick way to improve their lives. Do you really want to be rich? Do you really want to achieve millionaire status? I do and I have for some time been quite diligent at doing those things that will guarantee that I reach financial independence. Just today I ate breakfast here at work (which I must admit, I rarely do) and the cost for an enormous pancake was a whopping $.74! Yes, and I drank water.

In fact, many of the people that eat breakfast and lunch in our cafeteria have purchases that easily reach $7-$10 daily. Now, I must say that you don't have to skip on lunch or your favorite restaurant. Please do not misunderstand me. I do believe that you must put on constraints. If you can not pay all of your bills on time, have credit card debt, no savings and are struggling financially, you should be eating Ramen Noodles for lunch. As Dave Ramsey would say, "rice and beans, beans and rice."

Yes, I said it! I have a lot more to say too. I'm developing a new approach at finances, business and this mission. We can all be millionaires-I BELIEVE IT-yet there must be a strategy. Mindset is FIRST. So, first things first. This journey should feel exciting and a little uncomfortable too. Each day you must first believe and then think about what you can do to achieve financial independence.

Kill the foxes and get moving! We are on a mission to teach you how to become a millionaire as we achieve the status ourselves. We're researching, interviewing and reading everything we can get our hands on. What can you do TODAY to work towards your financial independence? (Tina)

Fear, Don't Live Here Anymore!

I know it’s hard to believe that someone who is an attorney/author/radio show host has fears about much of anything. But I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve let fear punch me in the face, beat me down and even knock me out for the count on more than one occasion.

Take the time I almost dropped out of law school after the first week because I didn’t think I could cut it, or how I almost didn’t write my book Mother To Son because I didn’t believe anyone would listen to someone without a PhD. There are so many things I almost didn’t do because fear began to set in. But after writing my book and seeing the warmth with which it was received, I determined from that time period on that fear would never occupy a permanent place in my head or heart. Nor should it in yours. After all, a wise person once told me that fear is false evidence appeared real. Once you know and really believe this, then you to can begin to make sure fear doesn’t live in your home anymore.

Here are a few things I’ve used over the years to help me overcome fear:

1. Get a cheering squad. Surround yourself with a group of people who can encourage you and root you on in your dreams. Fear can’t occupy the same space as love and confidence.
2. Break down what you want to do into small achieveable steps. Fear sometimes comes from the fact that something seems to big to accomplish. Break it down into smaller steps. As you achieve those smaller steps your confidence will grow and your fear will lessen.
3. Take fear head on. Don’t run. Stand your ground. Ask yourself what’s worst. To live your life trying or to be filled with regret?

In the end, you don’t need to be an attorney or some superstar to punch fear in the face. You just need to be willing to move forward and give your dreams a try.

PRIZE ALERT: Punch Fear In The Face Contest

Want to know the secret to coping in a down economy? If so, you have the opportunity to win a copy of the free e-book How To Stay Up In A Down Economy. To enter:

1. Watch the You Tube video. You can find it on the Millionaire Journey Facebook Fan Page or at

2. Leave a comment on the You Tube page and on the FB Fan page telling how you punched fear in the face or even better, how you think you’ll apply it on the Millionaire Journey.

3. We will pick the best comment from the week and then send the winner the
e-book. We’ll be in touch via email, so be sure to Direct Message us or email us
at 1yearmillionaires@gmail.com so we have a way to contact you.


Come back each day and read how Tina, Lisa and Kim punched fear in the face!

Organization Not Intelligence Makes The Difference

My law school professor use to tell me that in order to succeed I didn’t have to be very smart I just had to be organized. He would say that law school, like life, is more about organization than intelligence. These past two weeks on the Millionaire Journey have proven his words of advice true!

I’m so excited on the Journey that my mind is racing a mile per minute. I have so many thoughts and am doing so many things that it’s easy to become deflated or burnt out if you don’t have a system of organization. Otherwise, it will be too much input and not enough output, and output, after all is the name of the game and the key to success.
Over the last two weeks, I’ve done a lot to get organized and so can you. To stay organized I usually do the following:

1. Get you a clean space to work. It’s hard to work in clutter.
2. Set your goals and determine your priority. Once you know what the priority is then you know what to focus on. So many of us have a multitude of ideas that it’s easy to get sidetracked. To prevent this from happening, make a list of your priorities and rank them in order of importance that you want to accomplish them.
3. Focus. Don’t try to do everything all at once. This is why you’re creating a list of priorities. Work solely on your top priority until it’s complete or else you will never get it done.
4. Create folders for the various ideas you have. When something pops in your mind related to that idea, jot it down and stick it in that folder. But do not start working on it until you’ve completed what you have listed at the top of your list.

At the end of the day, you will find that you will get more accomplished if you stick to the items above. You will stay on task and be more organized; thereby, allowing you to get more accomplished.

(Kim)