Instacart vs Shipt: Pros and Cons of Each

 This is a a list of Pros and Cons for Instacart and Shipt. This goes into details of the apps so I would suggest reading more about each before this article. Read about Instacart here and Shipt here.

PROS

*app is very helpful in walking you through all the steps *communication is through the app only *you can take multiple pictures of the receipt *has you take a picture in the app for proof of delivery

*scheduling feature is nice to plan out your day *orders stay in your area and don't bring you far away *it is easier to choose replacements *prepaid orders at Target are very simple and fast *offers a lot of bonuses *tip not tied to order, people tend to tip higher *higher base pay *amount shown initially is before tip so you know the true amount in case they don't tip at all

CONS

*hard to tell where the order will take you so it can take you far away *you don't know if you're going to get any orders so you can spend a lot of time waiting around *base pay is low *tip is tied to amount of order, people end up tipping less and tip can be lowered because of items not in stock *amount shown initially includes tip which makes it seem higher *tolls not reimbursed

*communication is done outside app in your messaging app *doesn't have you take a picture in the app for proof of delivery *app often has trouble updating and you have to close and reopen it

*Note: I am unsure if Shipt reimburses for toll roads. Instacart says you should just avoid them but that is impossible to do in the Bay Area when you have to cross bridges with tolls! But tolls are a tax write off so make sure you keep track of when you do pay a toll as well as all your miles for taxes!

A Guide to Shopping for Shipt and Instacart in California

 You may have read my posts either on shopping for Instacart or for Shipt. If you haven't, I recommend reading both of those first. This post is to talk about the best way to use both of them, specifically if you live in California. Why only in California? Well California has a new law in effect that guarantees a certain amount of earnings for app based workers. Some other states or areas may have similar laws, but I will only speak to California specifically since that is where I live.

First, what is the guarantee? The guarantee is that you earn 120% minimum wage in your city per hour worked plus $0.30 per engaged mile. California minimum wage is $14.00 an hour so 120% is $16.80 an hour. This is all BEFORE tips. But when exactly do these guarantees start? That is different for each company because of the way their apps are set up.

The guarantee starts the moment you accept a batch and ends the moment you mark as delivered. So you are guaranteed for the time and mileage to the store, shopping at the store, and driving to the delivery spot but not driving back (unless you have already accepted another batch). So for Instacart, I recommend not driving after your delivery and waiting there until you get another one so you can count all those miles.

The guarantee starts from the moment you swipe "Heading to Store" and ends the moment you mark it as delivered. This means it is very important to remember to swipe "Heading to Store" the moment you can so you are paid for that time and mileage. Now, this can get tricky because of the scheduling on Shipt. For example, I once had an order that I delivered and then I had over an hour until my next one. I turned on Instacart (I'll talk about this in a moment) and started heading toward the store that was next on my Shipt orders. Should I have already swiped "Headed to Store" even though there was still a lot of time? I feel I should definitely be paid for the time and mileage between the dropping off and heading to the store but I understand it isn't fair to charge them while waiting to do the next order. Or is it? Luckily I got an Instacart order then so it didn't really matter but there was still some miles unaccounted for in either app. I'm not sure how well they regulate this and there aren't really any instructions so I guess use your best judgement.

This is all calculated at the end of the week. They add up all the hours and miles to come up with the weekly guarantee for what you worked and if you made less than that (before tips) they will pay the difference. If you made more than the guarantee (before tips), you get just that.

Now, how can you use this to your advantage while using both apps? I like to set up my schedule on Shipt and accept as many deliveries in that time as I can. Make sure you plan well on Shipt: shop for multiple orders at the same store at the same time, pick up small orders from other stores on your way, plan the best route to pick and drop things off that saves the most amount of time. This isn't really about the guaranteed earnings because if you're doing it correctly, you should be making much more than the guarantee. This is about doing as many as possible which leaves more time for Instacart, which is where you can really use the guarantee.

If you have an empty hour or more on Shipt, turn on Instacart. You can even turn it on at the beginning of your shift and leave it on as you may be able to shop for both Shipt and Instacart at the same time. I haven't tried this but it is possible if you are really good at planning. But, make sure you have enough time to do an Instacart batch. Because you will be doing Instacart in such short bursts, only one or two between your multiple Shift orders, most likely the base earnings will not be the guarantee. 

It also might depend on your area. Maybe Instacart is more popular so you do mostly Instacart with a sprinkling of Shipt. Either way, do both at the same time. With the ability to plan ahead on Shipt, you can make it work pretty easily. I've noticed that the base amount for Instacart is much lower than Shipt. I've also noticed people seem to tip greater amounts on Shipt. This means you will get a greater adjustment for the guaranteed earnings on Instacart but the potential to earn more on Shipt which I why I prefer to do Shipt mainly and Instacart to fill in the gaps. But that may be different in your area. Test out which works better for you. Have fun shopping!

Sign up with Instacart through my link here or use code CLANA99F3C at sign up. Sign up with Shipt here and use my Shopper ID: 100062822 at sign up.

Make Good Money Shopping for Shipt: A Shipt Shopper Review

 Recently I wrote about my experience shopping for Instacart (you can read about it here). Well this past week I tried out shopping for Shipt, and it was a GREAT experience. There are things that I prefer about Shipt and things that I prefer about Instacart but overall, I like the way Shipt is formatted better. Ultimately, to make the most out of your time, I actually advise doing both at the same time but I'll make another post about that specifically. 

As with Instacart, Shipt is a service where customers send in an order to a store and the shoppers do the shopping for them and deliver the items to the customer's house. With Instacart, you log on and then you receive notices about available batches, as they're called, near you. But with Shipt, you put in the schedule you want to work ahead of time and receive notifications for batches during those times in your specified area. This could be days before or during the time. I generally receive most of the notices in the morning as I put my schedule starting at noon. This works out nicely because you can plan not only your day, but you can plan out how the route.

What do I mean by plan your route? Well for example, I may have an order to deliver between 1-2pm from Target and another order to deliver from 2-3pm from Party City. Well the Party City in my town is right across the street from Target. So I will go do the shopping for the Target order, then stop by Party City to pick up that order (as long as it's not balloons because that takes up a lot of space!). Then I deliver the Target order and then the Party City order. I've even planned it out once where I did this but the delivery for Party City passed Best Buy which I had an order for so I picked that up on the way to the Party City delivery then delivered that one. Being able to do this saves a lot of time which leaves you open to do more shopping which is how you make the good money.

Now, there were some times where I would have an hour or more before my next Shipt delivery and nothing coming in. This is where I think doing both Shipt and Instacart works out well. Turn on Instacart during that time and chances are you will get something to fill the time. Most things take about an hour unless the delivery is quite a ways away. 

With Shipt alone, I averaged $18.44 an hour. But when combined with Instacart, I averaged $23 an hour. 

Pros:

• Flexible hours. You decide when you want to work.
• Pretty good pay and you are able to stay in your area
• You get exercise! 

Cons:

• Sometimes orders are gone before you can accept them
• It can be difficult to deliver to people in apartments and/or busy streets with no parking
• The app isn't as clear as Instacart sometimes and has trouble updating often

I highly recommend this as a side gig or even a main gig. Depending on how things go with my work, I may switch over to doing deliveries permanently as I enjoy it a lot and now see the potential for high earnings. Sign up to be a Shipt shopper here and use my Shopper ID: 100062822 at sign up. Sign up for Instacart here. Read a list of pros and cons of each here.

Something else I learned, if you live in California, there is now a guaranteed earnings for anyone working these types of platforms (Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Shipt, Door Dash, Grub Hub, etc). This helped in the earnings amount, especially during the short Instacart deliveries. If you want to learn more about the guaranteed earning in California and how to utilize it to your advantage, read this post here.

Make Good Money Shopping and Delivering Groceries Through Instacart: An Instacart Shopper Review

 The pandemic has hit both my husband and my work really hard. My husband had been driving for Lyft and Uber (read about it here), which was not safe to do during a pandemic, and my work in after school theatre programs had been (understandably) virtually non-existent. We had relied on the expanded unemployment to get us through the first bit of the pandemic, but that has ended now. My hours are still very limited but I like to remain open to be able to do whatever is needed at my work and since the virus is still very much spreading, my husband didn't want to go back to rideshare driving. So we thought we would try out working for delivery companies. Most of the food pick up places didn't need any more drivers but Instacart, shopping for and delivering groceries, was available and today I tried it out for the first time and really enjoyed it!

I'm sure most of you know or understand the concept of Instacart: customers send in their order and those orders are sent out to available shoppers/drivers to pick up the items and deliver to the customer. It only took a few seconds after I logged in to get my first order. It was a little bit of a drive but seemed a nice pay. All in all from accepting the order to delivering the order, it took an hour and 20 minutes but it was $22 profit. Pretty much immediately after delivering that one, another one came up. This was much closer and I was able to complete it more quickly (I learned a lot during the first shopping experience, more on that later). That one was $18 and I finished in about half an hour. Pretty good! 

Then it was a little slow. Some orders came in but either didn't seem worth it or another shopper snagged it up before me. Then I was quick to try and take the next one, though that may have been a bit of a mistake. It was only for $8 and it was pretty far away, though closer to where I live. 

I only was on for 2 hrs and 48 minutes and made $46. Not bad! That averages over $15/hr* (see update at bottom). I definitely learned things that I think will help improve that amount.

Pros:

• Flexible hours. You decide when you want to work and when you want to stop.
• Pretty good pay and you don't get pulled far away from your area like driving for rideshare
• You get exercise! Driving all day is bad on your body but with this, you're mostly walking around which is really nice.
• App is super easy to use and very helpful in making sure you get all the right items.

Cons:

• Sometimes you don't have long to decide to accept an order so you might take one that's not really worth it
• It can be difficult to deliver to people in apartments and/or busy streets with no parking

Tips:

• Don't use self checkout unless it's only a few items. It's a huge hassle with a lot of items and isn't worth a shorter line
• You don't need to ask the customer about replacements. The app will help you through that.
• Make sure you look at the distance before accepting. Driving far away for a small amount is not worth it.

Note: You can sometimes have multiple orders in what they call a "batch". These are different customers' orders at the same store. I haven't had one of these yet, so I'm not sure how well that goes.

I highly recommend this as a side gig or even a main gig. It was a lot of fun, almost like a scavenger hunt to find the right items! Sign up with my link here or use code CLANA99F3C at sign up. Have fun shopping! 

Update: I highly recommend doing Shipt in addition to Instacart. Read about driving for Shipt here. Read a list of pros and cons of each here. I also found out that if you live in California, there is now a guaranteed earnings for anyone working these types of platforms (Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Shipt, Door Dash, Grub Hub, etc). So there were some adjustments to my pay for this and I ended up making $71.62 which ends up being closer to $24 an hour! Read more about the California rules and how to use it to your advantage here.

Get $20 for Signing Up With Stash

A while back, I wrote about getting a free stock for singing up with Robinhood (see the post here). But there's another simple investor app that will also give you stock for signing up and it is called Stash. Stash will give you $20 worth of stock or $20 to invest in other ways.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Click on this Stash Invest $20 Referral Bonus Link.
2. Sign up for your new Stash Invest account and complete registration.
3. Connect your bank account and fund at least $5 to your new Stash Invest account (either invest or bank account).
4. The $20 bonus will be credited to your new Stash Invest account within 3 business days.

Please note, the bonus funds cannot be withdrawn from your Stash Invest account for a period of 90 days from the date received. Stash also does have a monthly fee to have an account. The first month is waived but after that, there will be a fee. Because of this, I don't think keeping a Stash account is the best because there are other free apps that do exactly what they do. So, when signing up, choose the cheapest account and then after 3 months, close it and it still will have been profitable.

To close your Stash account, here's what you need to do:

1. Log into your account via the Stash website. 
2. In the upper-right corner you’ll see your name. Click on this link and you’ll get a new page with a vertical menu on the left-hand side.
3. About mid-way through the list of selections is a Subscription link. Click on this and you’ll get another page with details on your current subscription. 
4. In the Your plan menu there is a Manage link. Click on this link and scroll to the bottom of the new page. 
5. You’ll see a Close my Stash for good link. Click on this and you’ll be able to cancel your subscription.

Write for BuzzFeed and Get $$$$

 I wish I had heard about this earlier, but late is better than never! BuzzFeed has a summer writing challenge where if you write a post or make a quiz between June 15 and Sept 15 and it reaches a certain number of views, you could be awarded cash! I tried my hand at making a quiz, and it was really fun! Check it out:

What Hogwarts House Does Your Pet Belong To?

If you want to try your hand at making some money, check out the rules here. Have fun!

Mercari: My New Favorite Site/App

 Recently I've been getting into knitting. I had bought some yarn a while back for a specific person to make something out of and when I tried out a new stitch than I had been doing, I realized I did not have enough yarn to complete the project. I had bought the yarn on Amazon so I went to order some more but they were out of stock! I did a general search and found out that all the stores that carried it were sold out. So I did what I usually do in these circumstances, turn to Ebay.

Ebay is great when you are trying to find something that is no longer being sold in stores. If it is a newer product, you can even find brand new unopened packages. I did find some of the yarn I needed but it was very expensive, like four times the amount I paid on Amazon. I figured before I bought that, I would do a little more searching. And so I cam across Mercari.

Mercari is basically another Ebay. Individual people sell things on their website and app. It doesn't look like there are auctions (actually something I don't usually use on Ebay anymore) but you can barter with the sellers on price.

I found someone selling the yarn in bulk, 4 rolls of it. I only needed 2 more but the price at this bulk level was much more reasonable. I figured I could either save the yarn for another project or resell the ones myself that I don't end up using. Problem solved.

Of course AFTER I made the purchase online I received an email from Mercari saying "Get $20 off your first purchase on our app". Well that caught my eye. Of course the finer details were of a purchase of $50 or more but that is still too good of a deal to pass up. If you make sure your purchase is exactly $50, that is almost 50% off.

So I thought about something higher priced that we were wanting. It dawned on me. For a while now, my husband and I were wanting to get some more joycons for the Nintendo Switch but given it wasn't a NECESSITY and that the prices are ridiculously high, we hadn't made the purchase. So I thought I'd give it a try to see what there was. Lo and behold, there was the exact colors we wanted (green & pink) that said brand new unopened box. And the price? $67. These sell for $80 retail, sometimes as high as $90 for those colors. We jumped at it. All in all with taxes, shipping, and coupon we paid $53. A STEAL.

That enough is reason to sign up for Mercari and at least make one purchase. But then I saw that they offered $5 in credit after you make your first seller listing. Easy. I already have things listed on Ebay so I just recreated one of those. Boom $5 credit. Found another thing we wanted at a cheaper price than retail.

But wait, there's more! They also have a referral program. Refer someone and get $10 credit after they make their first purchase (and $40 after they make $100 in sales, but that's a bit too ambitious). I love doing this trick when you have a partner that you can kind of rig referral programs for. I referred my husband and we found something else cheap that we needed. Now this one does take some waiting because just making a purchase doesn't do the job. We had to wait for the item to arrive and rate the seller to close out the sale for the credit to be applied. But still. It's a deal.

Anyway, I will definitely still be using Ebay but I love having an alternative to go to. Plus, it seems like maybe they will send out other deals as well. 

But try it for yourself! Sign up with this link and get $10 off your first purchase!

Carmen's Blackberry Holiday Pie

 This year it was just my husband and I for both Thanksgiving and Christmas (thanks Covid) so that meant that we got to chose (and had to prepare) all the food. One of the most important things for both holidays is dessert! We had to have a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and while I love baking, I do usually get a premade crust to simplify things. Well those tend to come in packs of two but we couldn't have two pies for two people so I thought I'd save the other crust for Christmas.

So what kind of pie should we have for Christmas. Since my husband insisted on the pumpkin for Thanksgiving, it was my turn to chose. Berry pies are my favorite and I was really craving blackberry pie. But that just seemed too summery. I wanted to make it more holiday feeling. I knew I wanted to incorporate orange, because that's my husband's favorite flavor and seemed very Christmasy, and spices. So I looked online for something.

I found two recipes that I liked so I decided to blend the two: one using the filling recipe (with some alterations) and one using its streusel topping recipe. The result was delicious and very seasonal so I thought I'd create a new recipe for future use and for others to enjoy. So here you go! 

(I know this isn't really about saving or making money and I also did that thing that I hate where people do a blog entry before a recipe but oh well!)

Carmen's Blackberry Holiday Pie

Ingredients:

For Filling

• 6 cups blackberries fresh or frozen (if frozen, thawed and drained)
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons cane or granulated sugar depending on the sweetness of your fruit
• 2 teaspoons fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon orange zest

For Streusel Topping

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange peel
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 1 cup sliced almonds

Instructions

1. Buy or make a pie crust (use your favorite recipe if making one yourself)
2. Preheat oven to 400°F (at high altitude) or 375°F (at sea level)
3. In a large bowl, blackberries, 3/4 cup sugar, orange juice, zest, and vanilla extract. Mix gently several times and set aside for 10 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix. 
5. After the 10 minutes have passed, add cornstarch mixture to the fruit and combine until no more white is seen.
6. Take the shell from the refrigerator and pour the fruit mixture into the pie. Make sure to spatula the sides of the bowl, as this is where precious juices and thickening agents like to hide.
7. Place pie on the center rack and bake for 30 minutes. (High Altitude Only - reduce temperature from 400° to 375° after 15 minutes.)
8. Meanwhile, make the streusel topping. Blend flour, sugar, crystallized ginger, orange peel, and salt in processor.
9. Add butter; using on/off turns, blend until coarse crumbs form. 
10. Blend in milk (mixture will resemble moist coarse crumbs). Transfer mixture to medium bowl.
11. Stir in almonds. Refrigerate until ready for use.
12. After 30 minutes total, remove pie from oven and add streusel to the top. Turn the oven down to 375°, place a pie shield around edges to prevent over browning, slide a pan one rack below, and rotate the pie 180°. Continue baking for another 30-35 minutes, or until the top is golden and the juices are slow to bubble. 
13. Once pie has finished baking, transfer to a wire rack. Let cool for at least three hours or overnight. Slice and enjoy!

 

Get $150 and Plant Some Trees

There's an easy way to get $150 and help the environment by just doing your normal spending. That's by opening up an Aspiration Spend account and making $1,000 of purchases with their debit card within the first 60 days of opening the account. I'd say for most people, it is really easy to do that with just their normal purchases.

The Aspiration Spend & Save Account is a cash management account offered by Aspiration Financial who is working towards building the world's most sustainable, ethical, & socially conscious financial firm. There are no monthly fees and enjoy fee-free withdrawals at over 55,000 Allpoint network ATMs. That’s over 3 times as many ATMs as those owned by Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo combined. And the really cool part? If you round up your purchases to the nearest whole dollar, they will plant a tree with the extra change. And know that your deposits won't fund fossil fuel projects like pipelines, oil drilling and coal mines.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up today! When you join Aspiration with this link, they’ll plant 25 trees, and when you spend $250, we’ll each get $50 Cash! Together, we can Do Well and Do Good! (The other $100 will come after making $1,000 in purchases within the first 60 days which may take up to 120 days to appear in your account)

Get a Free Stock

The stock market. Not something I really envisioned myself investing in. But with apps, it has gotten a lot easier for people to invest themselves with little money. You can put in just a little bit and make a small profit. But some of these apps, like Robinhood, also give you a free stock just for signing up. So even if you don't invest, that's free money right there.

Most likely you'll get a stock valued at $10 or less (still free money) but you do have a chance of getting one worth much more than that. And guess what?! . . . I did! My free stock was for Visa, which at the time I received it was worth over $200. I decided to keep it in to see if it would raise (it has since gone down) but that is still money that I can get at any time more than I had before.

So try it out yourself and see what you get!

Get Rewarded for Watching Movies

 

Have you heard of Cheeze-It Snap'd & Stream? Cheeze-Its has teamed up with Amazon to launch Snap’d & Stream, a rewards program that gives snack and binge-watchers cool rewards just for watching television. If we are already doing this for free, why not enjoy some incentives? 

Each month, there is a list of movies or TV shows to watch through Amazon Prime. Enroll in the program for the month, watch the specified number of hours of those programs, and then receive a $5 credit toward Cheeze-It products and $5 Prime Video credit. 

I tried it for the first time in August and it was a lot of fun and helped my husband and I select some movies since we are watching a lot of things right now being stuck inside and having a hard time choosing what to watch next. 

So what are you waiting for? Check it out here!

Open Up a Shop . . . Online

 One thing that has been made relatively easy in the last decade or so is selling things online. I've talked about selling things that you have lying around on eBay and Amazon before but this is about creating things to be sold online. This might not necessarily be easy (though it can be) but hopefully it is something you find fun! Not only do these marketplaces have large names that you can reach more buyers because of their awareness, but if you do happen to make enough money off of it, taxes are made easy.

1. Open a Shop on Etsy

I'm sure you've probably heard of Etsy before. It is a marketplace for hand made items. Most people think you have to be very crafty to sell on Etsy but there are so many items you can sell, it's not just for knitters. You can create digital designs, print photos, woodworking, jewelry design, really anything that you make yourself.

I created a shop a while ago to sell clocks made out of old records. I recently changed my shop because I don't have the storage space for that right now. I will be selling skirts that are made out of old ties. I am in the process of creating my first items but it is on hold because I am currently making masks because of the pandemic. Check out my shop here!

Fees & Profit Amount:

You set the price

$0.20 per listing

5% of total cost (once sold)

Find more info on selling here

2. Self Publish a Book on Amazon

Ever wanted to write a book? Well you can sell it on Amazon without having to find a publisher! What is really great about it is, you don't have to pay anything to get it set up. KDP prints your book on demand and subtracts your printing costs from your royalties. That means you don't have to pay any costs upfront or carry any inventory. You determine the cost of your book so you control how much you make per book.

I created a few books for now that are journals, which is super easy to create but I want to start writing a few children's books which has always been a dream of mine. Check out my books here!

Fees & Profit Amount:

You set the price

Costs vary but here's the formula: Fixed cost + (page count x per page cost) = printing cost

To estimate your printing cost, use their calculator

Find more info on selling here

3. Design Fabric and Wallpaper on Spoonflower

You've probably heard of both Etsy and Amazon but maybe not Spoonflower. Spoonflower is a website where you can buy and create your own designs of fabric and wallpaper. You can create them just for your own use or you can sell the designs and get a commission from Spoonflower on each purchase of your design. 

You do have to proof each one which is a cost of $12-$35, depending on number of designs, to get started selling. But within the first day of having mine listed, I made $7 back! While it may be a large upfront cost, it's something you only have to make once and can profit off of for no extra work for years to come! I found I've really enjoyed creating designs and just do it for fun in my spare time. Check out my designs here.

Fees & Profit Amount:

Earn 10% of sales on your designs

Proof cost: 1-5 designs start at $12.00, 6-15 designs start at $20.00, 16-30 designs start at $35.00

Find more info on designing and selling here

How to Get Toilet Paper and Cleaning Supplies Delivered to You During Covid-19

Hi everyone. So at the time of writing this, we are going through a global pandemic, Covid-19. We are supposed to stay home as much as possible and certain supplies like toilet paper and cleaning supplies are hard to find. Well I found a solution for both finding these products and staying at home, it is called Grove.

Grove Collaborative is an online shipment service that offers a variety of all-natural, non-toxic household, beauty, health, and personal care products. And they have toilet paper!







If you use this link, you will get a free 5 piece gift set and $10 after your first purchase. Here's what comes with the gift set:

Free Mrs. Meyer's Hand Soap
Free Mrs. Meyer's Dish Soap
Free Mrs. Meyer's Multi-Surface Spray
Free Grove Walnut Scrubber Sponges
Free Free Shipping with 60 Day VIP Trial

$30 minimum purchase. New customers only.

As you can see it will come with a 60 day VIP trial, which gets you the free shipping and other free bonus items. So unless you want to continue after 60 days and pay the $19.99 annual fee, you will need to cancel it before then.

You will also need to spend $30 to get the items, but this is where you can stock up on your toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning supplies. Some of their items are priced a little more than I would normally pay in the store for it, but with the free gifts and free shipping, I think it is definitely worth it. Also, it is the simplest option right now since you can't just go to the store and easily find these things.

So what are you waiting for? Try it out today!

Earn Money by Spotting Jobs

I have a new obsession.  I recently came across an app, called JobSpotter that gives you points, which can be redeemed for Amazon gift cards, for uploading job listings at location sites.  You get different values of points for different requirements and I thought this would be a simple thing to just do as I'm doing errands and notice signs but it's actually encouraged me to go for walks finding job listings, so it's even encouraged exercise.  Win win!!

Each point is worth one cent, which isn't much but when you consider its super simple and barely takes any time, it's definitely worth it.  I spent about a half hour walking around a downtown area and made about $5 worth of points.  Not bad.

Most places are worth between 5 and 10 points but you get bonuses for being the first to spot a place, more details about the position, or smaller "mom and pop" locations versus chains.

So what are you waiting for?  Download it today!

Budget Breakdown of An Almost 30-Year-Old Who Makes Not Enough to Brag About and Is Pretty Good With Money

Recently an article by CNBC has been making the rounds on social media for its ridiculousness as a sort of suggestion for all of us millennials who are struggling with money because we just aren't that smart with it.  It focuses on one 25 year old who makes $100k.  First problem.  Most of us are barely making half of what he does.  Yes he lives in a big city, but that is still much more than most, especially at the ripe old age of 25.  Even at 30 or 35, six figures is still a far away dream that can never be reached.

But putting aside how much money he has to spend, people are questioning about the amounts that he supposedly spends.  Some seem extraordinarily high and others laughably low.  See their chart below:



Now most people thought the laughably low amounts were rent (there's no way you can find a place in Boston for that little), cell phone, internet, and house cleaner.  Now if you actually read the article, you see that he has 4 roommates so most of those expenses are split between 4 people.  And he's on his family's cell phone plan (lucky) which is why that's so low.  Of course the biggest thing is, who has $615 to donate EVERY MONTH?  I guess if you live with 4 other people and make 100k you could.  But also, like, he doesn't have any entertainment?  And you're saying he doesn't have student loans he has to repay?  Hmmmmm

Now I'm fine with all of this.  My problem is that it is unrealistic for most people so not really helpful to see what a normal budget should be like.  He makes much more than most of us and it is a bit crazy to expect everyone to live with 4 other people.  And if you are like me and are in a committed relationship, you'd like to have some sort of semblance of a private home for you.  Is that too much to ask for in life?

So it got me thinking, though I'm sort of a stickler for spending money, I don't really "budget".  I honestly had no idea how much we spend monthly on a lot of things.  I keep a record of how much comes in and how much goes out so I know if we can make a large expense or not, but fortunately my husband and I make enough that we don't have to save up for essentials.  We can live comfortably in our somewhat minimal lifestyle.  So I wanted to see how we fell compared to this person.  Here's my breakdown (keep in mind it is for 2 people in the San Francisco Bay Area):

Typical Monthly Spending: $3,209

Breakdown:

Our largest expense is rent. And it's actually going up $100 next month.  It has consistently been raised at least $50 every 6 months.  For perspective, we have a tiny one bedroom apartment, and it is still one of the best deals in our area.

Our smallest expense is health insurance.  You can't even see it on the chart since it's only $2 a month thanks to Covered California.  We bank on the fact that we won't have to go to the hospital much since we are young and healthy and without kids.

Our utilities only average about $50 a month.  The good thing about a tiny apartment, we only have to pay for gas and electric and it doesn't take much energy for the small space!

Our cell phone (for 2 people mind you) is only $80 a month with MetroPCS (read my review here).  That's with unlimited everything.  Seriously people, why are you paying hundreds for your cell phone?

Our transportation costs may be a little higher than most since my husband drives for Lyft.  The good thing is we get a lot of that as a tax deductible expense and we actually make money off of the mileage because we have Priuses.  Read about driving for rideshare companies here.

Most of our other expenses I would imagine are pretty normal.  But I'm curious how others stack up.  What's your spending breakdown like?