Lowe's Discount for Military Veterans

Here in rural Virginia jobs are scarce. With both me and my husband out of work we have been brainstorming ideas on how to save money and capitalize on our ruralness (we have approximately 5.5 acres). This has led us to thoughts on expanding our garden and looking into building a greenhouse (on the back burned due to cost). What we decided to do this year is build a chicken coop and produce our own farm fresh eggs.

After much research into the types of coops, how many chickens per square footage of coop, and the free-range options we decided on raising free-range chickens and attaching our coop to an existing outbuilding on our property. This is a three-fold savings: 1) less materials needed since we are using one side of an existing building and do not need a fenced area for the chickens, 2) less money needed since we are using some materials from buildings no longer on the property (metal roof is from an old garage) and less feed needed with free-range chickens, and 3) not needing to buy eggs and the ability to sell excess locally. Hubby also looked into the rewards for his accumulated American Express points and was able to secure $200 in Home Depot gift cards.

Now, remember I said we are in a rural area. This means the nearest Home Depot is one hour away. So, when DH needed some additional materials he opted to check into our local Lowe's (20 minutes distance) and inquired about a 10% discount. DH was getting these discount cards regularly and they just stopped. When he inquired he was asked if he was a military veteran. DH was in the military almost 30 years ago (did I just age him?). This means you do not have to be active military or war veteran. You do have to have an honorable discharge.

Lowe's does not advertise this discount, but if you go into your local Lowe's and show either a military ID or a DD-214 your name will be entered into their system and you will get a 10% discount any time you shop that store. You will need to do this for each Lowe's store you shop.

Here is the link for the official media release regarding the Lowe's military discount. Print it out to bring with you. Be sure to read the full release and note the second to last paragraph.

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Living on a Dime - Affiliate Program

Find sites that offer useful information and check out their affiliate information. I signed up for the Living on a Dime free newsletter prior to becoming an affiliate.

Living on a Dime pays 50% commission on every purchase made through their affiliate link. ClickBank is their affiliate program processor. First sign up with ClickBank and then go back and grab a graphic and get the code. That is it! Simple, right? Oh, and become an affiliate for ClickBank, too.

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Get Rewarded by Reading Email

I am a member of all of these programs. Basically, you sign up and they send you emails daily. For Inbox Dollars, Send Earnings, and Snap Dollars you click on the link in the email and follow the directions. For Hits4Pay you open the email and go to their site where they keep all your clicks in an inbox.

Inbox Dollars and Send Earnings are run by the same company and each pay 2¢ per email, pay $5 per referral plus a percentage thereafter, and have a $30 minimum pay out.

Snap Dollars pays 1-3¢ per email. A majority of mine have been 1¢. Additionally, you can earn $5 per referral plus a percentage thereafter, and it has a $40 minimum pay out. You will not get rich quick doing this but could earn a little extra cash.

Hits4Pay offers a $10 sign up bonus, 2¢ per email (you must view site for 30 seconds to be credited), and pays out at $25.

Know of another great paid to read email site? Share in a comment and be sure to include a link to your site. Did you write a post on your blog about a get paid to read email site? Include a link back to this post then click on the "Links to this post" below and add your post information.

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Get Rewarded by Taking Surveys

Survey sites vary greatly. Some are definitely better than others. And you have to decide how much time you want to devote to taking surveys. I had one survey from Zoom Panel lead to a $75 focus group opportunity. This was paid in the form of a gift certificate to the site of my choice. I chose Amazon.com, of course!

• Dollar Surveys - pays immediately per survey, just enter your paypal email address. take several a day. surveys pay anywhere from 25¢ to $1. I am not too fond of this one.

• Ipsos i-Say Panel - earn rewards for taking surveys. after you earn 50 or more points and redeem for merchandise or gift certificates from your favorite store.

• MyView - earn rewards and redeem for stuff. I have not had much luck with this yet, but they send many survey requests.

• Opinion Outpost - earn points to redeem for cash. must have a minimum of 50 points (you can earn that with one qualified survey). pays by check. sends survey requests daily. I have not requested a pay out yet, but do have 60 points currently.

• Panda Research - sends many requests. I did not like this one, but others have had luck with this.

• Squishy Cash - I am not quite sure why people seem to like this one. it looks like you have to click on links and purchase things to make anything, but there may be more to explore here.

• Zoom Panel - earn anywhere from 5 to 75 points or more for taking surveys. when you reach 1000 points you can redeem them for movies, books, an more. or save them until you accumulate enough points for the next level. qualify for a focus group and earn even more. I am 15 points away from reaching 1000 points and have been a member since November 2008.

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Work At Home Information

With today's economy, how many are tired of hearing that? I know I am. Unfortunately, so many things are contingent upon how the economy is shaping up, or down as is the case today. For those of you lucky to have employment, blogging may be a hobby with hopes of generating additional income. Or maybe you are looking to supplement your income in other ways. And if you are of the thousands being displaced, and I know all about that, you may be looking for a more non-traditional way to earn a living. Who knows, maybe that 9-5 job really was just a step along the way; a new and better opportunity could be just around that next search.

Since November I have been among the unemployed. I have searched and listened and looked. There are many opportunities to make money, but there are many vying for those opportunities. When I figure out how to stand out I will be sure to share. For now there are many great sites available to help you along your way. I have listed several of the best in a hub and invite you to go check them out.

Check out my HubPages site on Best Work At Home Job Boards. Here I list some of my favorite job boards and forums, how to detect scams, and some tips to deciding if working from home is for you. Remember, not everyone is cut out for working from home, but when it is your only option you have to try to make it work.

Good luck!

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Hubpages - Like a Blog But Not

Sure, you may be thinking, "I thought that is what I was doing with all this affiliate information". And you would be right, and wrong. There are other places on the vastness of the world wide web that will pay you to write or, at the very least, give you another venue by which to showcase your talents and knowledge. Or, just ramble on about things of little matter, but do not quite fit the model of your blog.

Let us start with Hubpages. I found Hubpages thought Amazon's Mechanical Turk program. Yes, there I go with Amazon again. Well, I will talk about the Mechanical Turk program at a later date. Let us stay focused. Hubpages is a neat community of writers called hubbers. And they create pages called, you guess it, hubs. This is great if you want to share a story, or a how-to, or just about anything you can think of to write. They even have a place to request hubs. You could request one or fulfill a request. Simple, right? It is. Hubpages gives you a few tools to get started: text boxes, picture placement made simple, RSS feeds for your blog or a blog on the topic you are writing. You can link to an eBay store or items. Check it out. I have created three hubs and am working on a fourth. And the people I have met are great, too! Here is one of my hubs: Worst Date EVER

After you sign up click on my account at the top of the page. On the right side you will find a link for affiliate listings. Here you will add your affiliate ids for Google Adsense, eBay, Amazon, Kontera, & Google Analytics. This is how you make money through hubpages! Be sure to promote your hubs on your blog and wherever else appropriate.

photo courtesy of Hubpages.com.

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Create a Storefront With Amazon.com

That is right. Become an Amazon Associate and have access to every item listed on Amazon.com. No, you do not get to "sell" the item and keep the profits. You do get to showcase products suited to your site and make commissions off of any sales made through your associate link.

This program is great in that Amazon.com is so widely known and trusted. Create banners and links, widgets, and a storefront. Check out my store by clicking on the shopping cart.

Additionally, whenever you are signed into Amazon.com you will see a bar, called a Site Stripe, on the top of the screen. This site stripe makes it so simple to link to any item you happen upon. Quickly update your page with the newest and hottest products and catch the attention of all those who stop by for a visit.

Remember, do not click on your own links and make purchases as this is against the program's policy and is considered fraud. Click here to learn more about Amazon's Associate Program.

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Commission Junction & Linkshare

Commission Junction and Linkshare require you to apply before you can access their multitude of affiliates. And upon approval you have to apply with those companies you wish to promote. Many of these companies will review your site and will require you to have a certain amount of posts and to have been active for a determined timeframe before allowing you to become their affiliate. But do not get discourages, there are many companies to choose from on these two sites.

• Commission Junction
• Linkshare

Look on my sidebars for some examples of companies offered. Payment varies among the companies, the campaigns, and could change depending on how much traffic you generate.

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More Than Just Affiliate Links

These are companies that offer the opportunity to earn by referring others to their services (affiliates) and through advertising on your site. The advertisements can pay per click, per lead, or per sale. Be sure to read the rules and payment policies.

• MySavings Media - some ads include MyHealthyInfo & free ez cards
  
• Logical Media - Check out the ad from Gevalia

MySavings and Logical Media are the easiest to use. Just apply to be an affiliate. Upon approval you will have access to all of their active campaigns with various ways of promotion. Choose what best suites your site for the greatest earning potential.

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