Amazon New HQ2--Good or Bad?

Hello readers!

Unless you live in a very closed off bubble, everyone has heard of Amazon, and many are Prime Subscribers. Over the past year, Amazon has been on a massive search around the country to expand their headquarters. Amazon announced that the two lucky winning cities to host are Arlington, VA and Queens, NY, meanwhile, Nashville, Tennessee will host a smaller campus.

There has been a range of feedback of enthusiasm to criticism from both the public arena as well as private citizens. During my studies in marketing, one of the largest factors in business success is location, location, location. Did I mention location?

I live right outside of DC, specifically Tysons Corner, aka NOVA (Northern Virginia) so I can only credibly speak of the new Arlington location. NOVA is known for great, but very competitive employment opportunities, real estate (albeit resulting in a hugely expensive area to reside) and of course all of the tourist and historical attractions that come in correlation to our nations capitol. All of the benefits of living in the area, along with travelers enjoying the attractions, however, brings one major inconvenience and headache: traffic.

Now that Amazon is coming to Arlington, the increase in traffic congestion is at least one of the front runners of concerns. My personal reaction: what is a little more traffic when we are all used to it? Our very own Governor, Ralph Northam is enthusiastic about the business opportunities Amazon's empire can bring: jobs, education and more. Watch his reaction here.

Aside from traffic, other concerns brought forth is the cost to tax payers; remember how I mentioned the enormous cost it is to live in NOVA? Well this business deal can bring a high cost in operating expenses, resulting in potential hikes to tax payers.

I'm personally cautiously optimistic about the location being in my neck of the woods; I don't want a hike in money taken out of my paycheck to pay for this, but the benefits outweigh the traffic that I'm already used to.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

As always please subscribe, and let me know what blogging content you'd like from me.



    

Rebate Apps are the new Savings Account Interest

Hello readers!

Over the last few years, I’ve really developed an interest in saving as much money as possible, through any moral or legal means, after all I don’t want to do anything that is immoral, illegal or fatning 😜.

I began searching online for different ways to save money, especially through coupons; with this research I learned about rebate apps such as Ibotta, Saving Star, Checkout 51, Ebates, etc. I was very happy and surprised to learn that you can use all rebate apps together to gain the most savings, in addition to using coupons on the same products for the same shopping trip. As my mother said, rebate apps are a new form of interest on your shopping trips. Let me explain.

I was shopping at CVS and took advantage of a promotion on L'oreal hair products. I not only had manufacturer coupons to use, but there was a promotion in store wherein if you purchased three L'oreal hair dye products, you received $8 in extra care rewards (store credit toward future purchases). I was able to combine these savings methods, in addition to redeeming an Ibotta credit for $3; $2 rebate for one box of hair dye and $1 for root cover up (shameless plug for my YouTube channel, but I explain this exact shopping trip here. I highly recommend downloading the Ibotta app to your smart phone, it really does add up over time. I have earned over $160 in cash, just simply from taking a few minutes from each shopping trip and redeeming qualifying purchases. Use my referral code to get started on your earnings: gaotcgw!

I really like Saving Star because if you link up your grocery cards from Giant, CVS and Harris Teeter, and each week you look at the offers available for rebate redemption, all you have to do is select the product and then the linked accounts will do the work for you. There are a few retailers where you have to manually scan your receipt into the app to redeem for your purchases, don't worry though, its very specific instructions in the app of what to do! I've only been using this app for a couple of months and have already earned back almost $20!

Checkout 51 is very similar to Ibotta, you do need to manually scan your receipts and select the items you want to redeem. It's well worth it, I've already redeemed $25 since using this app.

Ebates you can use both in app for actual in store purchases but also on the website for your online purchases. Ebates is a very simple concept; if you are going to purchase an item, simply search for the retailer to see if they are offering a sale/cash back. I have used Ebates in store a few times now at Bed Bath and Beyond, the percentages are often small, but every little bit adds up! Simply link a credit card and each time you pay, you will be eligible for cash back and sales when promotions are available. Use my referral code to get started: https://www.ebates.com/r/AMANDA67032?eeid=28187.

If you are a skeptic, trust me, these apps really are great. Yes, like anything, it does take some work, but I'd rather be earning back a much as possible on purchases I'm going to be making anyways. Rebate apps won't make you rich overnight, but every little bit will add up much faster than you'll realize. Seriously, I had hit a slump when I was only able to redeem $0.25 here and there for items I was going to get, and the next thing I knew, I had $12 in my account...it adds up fast!


I hope this helps to anyone interested, might as well take advantage of cash back opportunities in this crazy digital age we live in.

If you haven't already, please subscribe so you get awesome info right to your inbox :)

Thanks for reading!

xo, Amanda

Everyone Loves Money!

Hello everyone!

Money. It's something that everyone loves and needs to have, but many of us feel that we may not be earning as much as we are worth. Many of us are putting in long hours, yet still struggle to pay the bills. It shouldn't be this difficult, right?

I know that I get a lot of anxiety of how I will be able to earn and save enough money not only to support myself and a family, but enough to be able to retire before I'm 80. My dad put it in a great way: money is like energy, the more you have, the more you can do. I'm not saying you need to go and be pulling in six figure paychecks each year, though that would be nice! However,  in order to be able to make basic bill payments, and still have enough left over for anything to reward yourself for your hard work, you may need to bring in money outside of your day job.

I have been researching many different ways to produce additional income, mainly through venues I enjoy and feel passionate about.

One of the ways that I allow myself to afford things outside of bills is to coupon. I have blogged about this many times before, check out my previous posts for more info! 

So what are some ways that you can make side money that either is a few extra dollars per month, or for very dedicated people putting in the work.... a full income? 

Affiliate marketing. For those who aren't familiar, affiliate marketing is working with brands/stores and advertising their business/product. If a sale results from the advertisement that you posted, you will receive an already agreed upon commission. How many times do you go onto to social media and see people posting about a specific product, and then have the hashtag #sp or #ad. These indicates that the individual or business posting about a particular product or service is being paid to advertise. This happens a lot with athletes; I will see them talking about a protein powder, mattress set, shoes, anything and then, as required, putting in the hashtag indicating it is a paid advertisement. 

Blogging. For someone like me who is building their audience, blogging through a free site such as google and getting their site monetized through Google Adsense is a perfect way to get started. It took a lot of research to figure out exactly how to do this, but it was worth it. What I did was set up my blog, and then applied to have it monetized. After review I was accepted, and now I have ads that run along side my blog. Simple!

YouTube. A very simple way to earn money online, is simply to search YouTube. Of course, everyone has to be careful about scams, because no on wants to fall into one of those. I have personally researched about click bank. For those interested, click bank is about setting up your site, and then marketing a product and providing the link to that product. For example, I have signed up through Amazon to become an Amazon Associate, I can advertise about a product, post a link, and then if someone click on the link and makes a purchase, I can make a commission.

So, a product that you can find on Amazon that my family LOVES is Nu Go Slim Crunchy Peanut Butter Protein bars. They are Vegan and Gluten Free for those with dietary restrictions. They are high in protein, 17g, only have 3g of sugar and have 7 grams of fiber, no Maltitol or Artificial Sweeteners. They are delicious! You can buy them here!

A new way that I have learned about making money, is through Facebook market place. From the research I have done thus far, all you need to do is post about the product you are selling, take pictures, and add in necessary info and wait for your customers. I've started doing this, and I must say that I like it a lot. There appear to be no commission fees taken, which means more money as the seller. Here is my personal link to my items that I am selling through the Facebook market place. Please take a look here, if you see anything of interest, I look forward to conducting business! 

That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading!

Xo,

Amanda