How I Make/Save Money with my Phone

Aren't cell phones amazing?! They are basically tiny little computers that fit in our skinny jeans and save us money!

I thought it might be a good idea to share a couple of my favorite apps that are super simple and have saved, even earned, me money.

My favorite money making app is Shopkick.

All you do is open the app when you walk in certain stores such as Target (where we all shop), JcPenny, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and more. When you open the app you typically get anywhere from 30 to 100 kicks (sometimes even 200). In some stores you can scan certain products to get you additional kicks. Many times these range from 10 to 100 kicks per scan. Once you have accumulated enough kicks you can cash them in for gift cards. Using Target as an example: you can cash in as few as 500 kicks for a $2 gift card or 6250 kicks for a $25 gift card.

I have earned a total of 14,500 kicks which is equal to over $50 in gift cards. I have cashed in enough of my kicks to equal $35 worth of gift cards at JcPenny and currently have 5,750 kicks I can use whenever I want. The gift cards are codes that pop up almost instantly on your phone when you redeem them. You show the cashier the code which they enter as a gift card and ta-dah, free stuff!

How cool is that?

I'll do a follow up post to discuss a couple of the other apps I use to save money. What are your favorite money saving apps? Tell me in the comments below.

Enjoy and happy Shopkicking!

The Best Gift I Ever Got

I know most of you are probably thinking that my engagement/wedding ring was my favorite gift, right?! Wrong. Though, that would be a close second. 

Love this ring!

The best gift I ever got, was from my husband, and it was lasik eye surgery. Those of you cursed with bad eyes can probably relate to this, while I'm sure those of you blessed with perfect vision would disagree and think I'm a dum-dum. 

I was gonna post a photo of my eye but that just seemed a little creepy...it is Halloween though....

Just think about it though, imagine waking up every morning and having to put on glasses so that you can see the alarm clock that is a foot away from your head. Or when you don't have your contacts in while showering and you're wondering if that's a fake mouse or a real mouse, but you're practically blind, so you jump out of the shower to put your glasses on to check (it was fake by the way, my family is HILL-ARIOUS). How about when you rub your sleepy eyes a little too much and that damn contact rips or falls straight out of your head. Maybe you enjoy getting up in the morning and having your eyes feel like they're on fire when you shove that little piece of contact plastic onto them. Or when you're crying like a baby and your tears form a barrier between your eyes and the contact and you are convinced that you might actually be going blind. How about all those times you want to jump into a pool or the ocean but can't because you didn't bring extra contacts if you happen to lose one? So instead you float around with your head above water, screeching at anyone that tries to splash you. 

Get the picture? 

Anyways, last year (2012), Seth surprised me by emailing me an appointment confirmation for lasik eye surgery on my birthday and I got the surgery done last October. That's right, one year ago, I went under the laser for about 10 minutes or so. Before I left the doctors my vision was already better and only a couple hours later we sat at home and watched a movie and I could actually see! Amazing! Every morning I would wake up and reach for my glasses, and get excited when I realized they were no longer setting there, because I didn't need them. 

Today I go for my one year checkup to make sure everything is going well (which I can already tell it is) and I celebrate a little more my gift of sight. 

So, thank you to my sweet husband, who gave me the gift I have wanted since 6th grade, when I donned my first pair of nerd glasses. And thank you for my gorgeous rings which I also love dearly but would have been willing to trade for new eyes as long as it meant I got to keep you too:) (P.S. Don't be jealous that my vision is better than yours now:)

Enjoy your vision people, it's amazing!