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!