Shortcuts for coupons? ecoupons are the way to go!

Hey guys, so today's blog is on a site I've discovered called shortcuts.com. This site is an ecoupon site that will make saving money at the grocery store much easier! As long as you shop at a store that is listed, all you have to do is register your store loyalty card and then just click on the coupons you want to add to your card. Then when you go to the store and use your store loyalty card, since your coupons are already loaded on your card you see the savings when you checkout! Simple!

Ok here is my review:

PRO 1: Many different stores to pick from - Shortcuts partners with many stores so you can be sure that your particular store is one they work with. If it isn't, you can email the site and ask that they get started on getting your particular store added! 

PRO 2: No membership fees - As a freebie lover, I HATE to have to pay a membership fee to save money! This site is great because they don't charge any fees! You just register your store card and then add your coupons!

PRO 3: Ecoupons aren't the only way to save - They even let you have the choice of printing out your coupons if you'd rather do that than attach them to your card!

PRO 4: Site is pretty user friendly - I've seen my fair share of coupon sites and I've got to say this one is pretty easy to navigate. Everything is clearly marked and/or labeled for finding quickly!

PRO 5: You can do cash back online shopping - If shopping online is your thing and maybe you don't belong to any rebates sites, you can go through shortcuts and get cash back on your online shopping!

Ok so I know it's not the longest list of pros, but my list of cons is a short one too. But we all know that even the best of sites still have something wrong, and this site is no exception!

CON 1: The site seems to be geared more to northern states - As I used to live in the Northeast this was never a problem, however since moving to FL I haven't been able to find 1/2 the stores I shop at regularly that I can enter the store cards for! Best believe though I have already submitted my request to shortcuts to add those stores for me!

So there you have it! This site in my book is definitely worth the time to check it out! Even if you just start there for your online shopping it can get you a good bit of money back on your purchase! The site again is shortcuts.com! So check them out! Have a good week and see you all back here next Wednesday!

BAD site: Hits4pay

Hey guys! Since I've started this blog of my experiences with different sites, I realized I've really only posted a few of the good ones. I haven't shared any of my reviews for a bad site. So I've decided to do a bad site today.

Today's bad site is called hits4pay. I will not put any referrals for this site up as I posted in my description I will ONLY promote the legitimate sites. In my opinion this site is NOT legitimate, NOR is it worth your time to try and find out if it's legitimate.

Here's my review:

PRO 1: Paid to "read" emails - You get an email every so often from them saying you've got paid emails. You sign in and click on the email, it makes you sit on the email for at least 30 secs while it credits your account.

PRO 2: $5.00 sign up bonus - When you sign up they give you $5.00 for joining, but believe me, you're gonna need it if you want to see any money from them!

Sorry guys, but these are the ONLY 2 pros I could come up with! I sat and racked my brain ALL DAY to try and come up with something else that was positive about this site, but NOTHING! So, on to the cons:

CON 1: Low pay for reading emails - After you get a paid email, you sit on the page for at least 30 secs while it credits your account. After that it posts a little message on the top of the screen that says you've been credited with $0.02 for reading your email! That's CRAZY, it takes at least 30 minutes to check all of the ones they give you before you've only got, if you're lucky $0.20 in your account!

CON 2: High minimum payouts - In order to request payment you have to have at least $25.00 in your account! Even with the $5.00 joining bonus, at $0.02 per email you would need to read 1,000 emails before you could cash out! 

CON 3: No other ways to earn - It seems to me like all these rewards sites these days offer plenty of ways to earn money and they have 1 way that they give the most for or are the best at.... hits4pay ONLY pays for reading emails, they don't pay for any other kinds of offers, ALTHOUGH they sure do advertise them!

CON 4: SPAM - I can't tell you how many spam mails I got from them after signing up trying to show me how to build up my referral base. The thing is they want to charge you for the "secret" and they keep spamming you EVEN AFTER canceling your account! 

CON 5: If you don't stay active they can cancel your account - Now this is the same with most rewards sites, but in the time I had the account, I found that if I let my account go a few days before checking I would have a bunch of emails to do all in 1 day and I was then done again for a few more days. Well I forgot to sign in after 1 week because I went away and while I was gone they cancelled my account and I lost all the money I had accrued in the account! I'm sorry but most inactive accounts are 30 days or more, this was 1 week! A bit over kill if you ask me!

CON 6: After a while you get less and less emails - When I first started I would sign in and have 6-10 emails every day or so when I signed in. After a little while I noticed that I would have to wait to sign in so that I would be lucky to have 10 emails! I'm sorry but how are you expected to read 1,000 emails so you can cash out if you barely only get 10 a week? If they had kept up my 10 a week rate it would have taken me nearly 2 years to get my 1st $25.00 from them! Now that seems like a bit too long if you ask me!

Ok guys, so that's my review of hits4pay and as you can see the site doesn't have very much good going for it. But it sure has a lot bad with it! So in my opinion, DON'T sign up, and if you've already got an account with them, just cancel it! You're NOT going to see any money from them for a VERY long time, IF EVER! 

Want another way to make your money go further? Try plink!

Hey there guys and gals! I hope that you all have had a great week and are enjoying the tips I've given so far in my past blogs!

So today's review is of a site called plink, it's a site that rewards you for using your designated shopping card at designated stores. They give you points and when you get enough you can get gift cards to make your money go further! It's kind of like a rebate, if you're trying to figure out how to describe it. Here is a referral code to get you started if you're looking to dive right in:  https://www.plink.com/index.cfm/main/homepage/refer/167178/aid/1264

PRO 1: Rewarded for shopping - If you're the type that likes to get rewards for shopping, this is definitely the site for you! As stated above, you get points for using your designated card at designated stores. 

PRO 2: Very simple site - The site is a basic design, and it's very easy to navigate. 

PRO 3: Several rewards - Ok, you will also see this in my cons list when I get to it, but for the pro aspect the rewards that are available there are 12 different types of rewards to use your points on, but they are promising to add more soon. 

PRO 4: You can shop online or in store - Many of the rebate sites that exist will only give you credit for shopping when you start on their site and go to the merchant's site from your reward site. This is true for plink as well when it comes to online rewards, however they also offer the option of registering a card and then using it at the stores and/or restaurants you tell them you want to earn from. Then when you go to that store and use the designated card, you get the points! It's really a nice feature and in my opinion, it's what sets plink apart from the rest of the sites!

PRO 5: New scan a picture of receipt get points option - plink has just released a new promotion that they run (mostly for limited times and on VERY specific items) but they will send you an email about it before the promotion and then all you do is buy the item being promoted and take a picture of your receipt and email it to them, they give you the points! It's that easy!

Now on to the cons, because every site even the best sites will have some cons:

CON 1: Only 12 rewards - As this is in the pros as a pro because 12 different rewards is a good START, it is also a con when you are an avid rewards site person such as myself! I like my sites to offer at least 25 different options for rewards before I jump on the band wagon. However the reason I do promote this site and use it myself, is because they actually have rewards that I use. Sometimes you see when sites only have a few rewards it's because they are only affiliated with those few sites. However plink has a few but some are amazon, walmart and american eagle just to name a few.

CON 2: You have to register a credit or debit card - Now for a lot of people I know, this is a BIG draw back to any online site, when you have to share your credit card info it's a scary thing! BUT let me set your mind at ease. I've been a member of plink now for over a year and I have not seen any charges on my credit card that I have not put on. The reason you have to register your credit or debit card is because that is how they allow you to use your card in designated stores and get the points for doing so.

CON 3: They put a limit to how many points you can earn from each store - This can be a big draw back for a lot of people as well, if you spent the money, then you should be able to get the reward. This is true, but to me it is understandable as to why they have this limit. Since plink is not affiliated with the places they are offering points and/or rewards, they aren't getting a big kickback from those sites. How can they give us a kickback if they aren't getting the kickback. For this reason I understand the limit, BUT it still doesn't make it any easier to accept. 

So there you have my review, I hope to see you guys next week for another review. Again if you are interested in signing up for plink and giving them a try, here is a referral code to get you started: https://www.plink.com/index.cfm/main/homepage/refer/167178/aid/1264

Answer 3 LITTLE questions, get BIG rewards!

We've all sat at our computers doing "surveys" in the hopes of getting paid the amount they advertise, only to answer so many questions and then get this stupid message "Sorry, you don't meet the needs of our client. But don't worry there are many other exciting survey opportunities for you." How frustrating is that to you? I know I HATE it! I feel cheated, I've answered most if not all of their questions only to be told that my answers aren't good enough? 

So, I've scoured the internet to find a survey site that I DO qualify for, and guess what, I've found that site! 

Instantcashsweepstakes or ICS is a fun survey site where you are given a series of 3 question surveys. After you answer all 3 questions you are rewarded for your time! Simple as that! There's NO "sorry you don't meet our needs" or being turned down at all for a survey, every survey that pops up on your screen is able to be answered by you!

So let me run down all there is to know about ICS and if it sounds like your cup of tea, click the referral link and join! http://instantcashsweepstakes.com/invitations/ref_link/458265 ;

You have nothing to lose, EXCEPT your frustations with being rejected for that "high paying" survey!

So here's all the pros and cons for ICS (because as with even the best sites there are some cons)

PRO 1: Low cashout limits - many survey sites require you to earn a lot of points or cash before you can get paid. ICS has a cashout minimum of ONLY $2.00! You just can't beat a minimum that low!

PRO 2: Come back every 3 hours - many survey sites only let you do surveys once a day, after that you can't access anymore. ICS allows you to sign in every 3 hours and answer your surveys. After you've answered all the surveys you're allowed for the time being it even tells you "Enough Already! You're Frying Your Brain!" There is even a counter that will tell you when you can come back for more surveys, and if you want you can check the box for an email reminder that it's been 3 hours!

PRO 3: No getting turned down for a survey - As I said before you will not answer questions and then not be rewarded like some survey sites. If you answer all 3 questions you get rewarded! Simple as that!

PRO 4: Other kinds of rewards - ICS will not just reward you for answering surveys, every 24 hours they have a $50.00 lottery AND every 4 hours they have a $2.00 lottery! You don't have to pay to enter these lotteries, you use tickets and coins to enter which you get also while answering your surverys! So it's a win-win all around!

PRO 5: You can write your own surveys - If you feel like writing a survey about anything on your mind, go ahead, ICS will even reward you with lottery tickets to do it! How awesome is that?

Ok so now the cons, sorry but there are just a few

CON 1: It can take a while to see a significant amount - ICS will pay you for honest answers and because of that they will ask you a lot of questions repeatedly. As long as you answer the questions the same every time, you will be labeled as trustworthy and you will start to get more surveys. However if you don't answer these questions the same every time, you will not be given more surveys and you will not see much money from ICS for a while. So try and answer truthfully, even though some of the surveys seem dumb and/or a waste of time, believe me they are worth it in the end!

CON 2: Paypal is the only way to get your money - Granted this is not really a con so much as a small inconvenience unless you do a lot of online shopping and/or selling. I personally had to set up a paypal account just to do ICS, but after talking to a lot of people, I've found most people already have a paypal account. OH and your paypal account has to be verified in order to receive funds. 

Well folks there you have it, a fun survey site that will NOT turn you down for a survey! AND will reward you for your time! 

IF this sounds like your cup of tea, click the referral and sign up and start earning real money for doing surveys! http://instantcashsweepstakes.com/invitations/ref_link/458265

Hope you like ICS as much as I do!