Time Flies

I can’t believe I’ve gone a whole month without adding to my blog. Shame on me! Even more unbelievable is that half the year is gone!! Where did it go?

In June I was sick with the dreaded cough/sore throat thing that lingers on. Everyone I talked to either had it or knew someone who had. They always said the same thing – it last for weeks and is worse at night. I still cough now, but I think it is more out of habit than real sickness.

June also brought a lot of activity with the end-of-term wrap up plus lots of birthdays. Last week I was out every night. Too bad the weather finally decided to turn wintry cold and wet. That made the nights out even more unbearable – coming home to a cold house and being too late at night to start a fire. I would just jump in bed and turn the electric blanket on.

It is the start of the two-week school holidays here in New Zealand. Yippee! Except now I have to figure out how to entertain my girls for two whole weeks. Right now they are with their dad and he plans to have them several times this week as he is on vacation. If the weather continues to be wet and miserable I anticipate a lot of indoor activities and some very strained nerves. But here’s hoping my girls decide to play nicely and be little angels for two weeks. Ah yes, I’m in dreamland again!

This week I am definitely staying home as my car is at the mechanics undergoing serious “head” repairs. I only hope it isn’t as bad as they think once they open her up. I can’t really afford to fix the old girl, but I love my car and can afford even less to replace her right now. So I am crossing my fingers for a good outcome, meanwhile I am on the look-out for ways to make some extra cash.

I have already put a lot of things on TradeMe and will do a tidy up around the house to find any more “junk” that I can turn into someone else’s “treasure.” I think online auctions are the best invention. I always use them to compare prices and get bargains. It’s a great way to do a spring clean without the hassles of a garage sale. Sometimes I am amazed at what sells and what doesn’t, but it is so easy to just click relist when the auction ends without a buyer.

I’ve discovered a new way to supposedly earn some money – affiliate programs. My friend told me about the great deals at the Fishpond website so I had a look and found the affiliate link. So now I have signed up and have put a link here on my blog page. So click on it to get great bargains on books, movies and music and I’ll get a little kickback as well if you buy anything. I will find other affiliate programs and put links on here, so come back often to see what is new. You’ve got nothing to lose as you still get the same price for your products while helping me pay for my car repairs!

I’ve been wondering how the companies can afford to offer these kickbacks. What is the real cost for these products? I was a Tupperware dealer for many years and often when I told people about it, especially men, they would claim it was a multi-level marketing company. But it isn’t as all the dealers get the product at the same price and you don’t have people working “below” you unless you are a manager. You don’t need to recruit people, who recruit more people, who recruit more people, in order to earn any money. A dealer receives a one-time gift for each new recruit; there is no on-going payback.

Pyramid schemes never made sense to me. If the company is willing to pay out so much money to the higher levels based on how the lower levels sell, then what is the actual cost of the product? No wonder the products sold in that way are so expensive. It isn’t because of quality it is simply because too many people have their fingers in the pie.

I think everyone would be better off if they simply offered the product to the general public at a “normal” price as determined by supply and demand. Making something more expensive doesn’t mean its better; it simply means fewer people can have it. And in the end it is the low-income people that lose out.

I don’t know if promoting other websites on my blog will earn me any money, but it isn’t costing me any money to do it. I am of the mindset that you don’t have to spend money to earn money. I have always strived to work smarter, not harder. That doesn’t mean I don’t like hard work, but why should I work hard if I can avoid it.

When I investigated Mystery Shopping four years ago I found lots of websites, mainly American ones, advertising “Secret Shopper” jobs but the catch was you had to pay for the list of companies that wanted shoppers. So once again there was another scheme going on. The websites were selling information which should be free and could be if the individual did enough research. Paying for the list didn’t guarantee that the individual would get any mystery shops.

That’s why I avoided those websites. I only signed up with a company that didn’t ask for any money. I simply filled out a form online, chatted on the phone to someone, and next thing I knew it I was an employee. To date I have never even met the people I work for! I think that shows the power of the internet – that I could work for a company for over 4 years and never even meet any of the other employees. So I believe there are legitimate ways to make money online, but sometimes it takes a little digging to find the right ones.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress with earning money through affiliate programs, just keep on clicking!