Goodbye Bargains

Today I spent the morning going to garage sales. Oh, how I love garage sales.

From household items, to clothes to furniture, there's nothing like a good garage sale to get those bargain juices flowing.

Today, I got so many good things -- some to sell, some to keep -- but all great deals. It was bittersweet though, because as I left my house, I could feel the crispness in the air and suddenly knew that the end of the season is near. Soon all our doors will be shut, our yards will be covered snow. And I'll spend the winter going through withdrawals, biding my time until garage sale season starts once again.

In the meantime, I guess I'll have to pass my days getting familiar with our local thrift stores. My hiatus from the mall will end, and I'll venture inside once again to...dare I say...pay retail. Nah...I'm sure I'll come across some good sales and clearance racks in my travels.

Until then, I'm left to dream of my summer days. But right now I'm going to bask in my finds of the day.

Swagbucks

Here at the Cheap Moms Club, I'm all about easy. I usually don't go for the online survey sites or other shopping incentive programs because they end up taking up too much of my time for too little in return. But I was just tipped off to a site that pays me for the things I already do.

Swagbucks is a site that lets you earn points in many ways -- shopping online, referring friends, searching for hidden codes. But the easiest way is to just use their search engine. I just signed up a couple of days ago and I've already earned 11 points. Just to put it in perspective, at 40 points you can get a $25 Restaurant.com gift card. At 45 points, you can earn yourself $5 at Amazon. Granted, its not winning the lottery, but since I'm on my computer anyway, it a little extra something -- and as you know, all those little somethings can add up when you let them.

Try it out if you get a chance.