Do You Use SwagBucks?

      You all must know by now that I really like shopping on amazon, when I have money that is.  One of the ways I generate a few bucks is with Swagbucks.  I just keep saving up those points and buying Amazon gift cards until I have enough for whatever is on my wish list, or already in my shopping cart. 

              
       First I'll start out telling you that I've done all kinds of things to try to earn a few dollars here and there online.  I've done many surveys and in fact still do a few of them if they seem worthwhile.  I also do a few reviews and make a little there.  That's just it, none of these things really make a lot of money, and one has to consider if your time is worth the dollar or two you might make. 
   Which is why I like Swagbucks since I don't do much to earn the bucks.  I've been doing Swagbucks for a couple of years and I'm actually making a bit more now.  That's only because at first I was a bit leery of it and still used google for my search engine.  I don't even notice that I'm using it now except when it tells me I've won more bucks.  There are a lot of things on Swagbucks, surveys, games, that kind of thing, but I don't really have time for all that.  I have their toolbar installed right at the top, and every time I look for something or do research I use the Swagbucks search engine and earn bucks.

      If you look at the very bottom of my blog page you will see my Swagbucks button/search engine and it shows how many bucks I have right now.   It's a bit high right now, for me anyway.  Some people get their points up into the thousands.  I do not possess that kind of patience, nope, not at all.  What I do is as soon as I have just over 450 points I try to find a moment to go to the website and buy my Amazon five dollar gift card.  Those five dollars cards applied to my Amazon account do add up though.  I buy things all the time on Amazon, and the money just comes out of my amazon gift card account.  I know some people use it just to buy their cookbooks, or kitchen utensils, things like that.  I just recently used my bucks to buy special vacuum bags for my shop vac. 
 
      So your asking, how do I keep earning these bucks that are transformed into five dollar bills, all while sitting on my back end?  Swag bucks is a search engine,  kind of like google.  You download their toolbar, and when you need to do some research then you type in whatever it is and click on search and win.  On Fridays you'll make more points.   There are a lot of gift cards and prizes you can buy on Swagbucks, but I have determined that I'm happiest with money.  I also have determined that buying the five dollar Amazon gift card is a better value for me than pay pal, or even the higher limit Amazon card.  So, every time I get that 450, I have enough for five buckaroos.  If your looking at my points at the bottom of the page then you know I have almost enough to get two five dollar gift cards for Amazon.  Just be careful to buy the right one, don't get the ca card since that's for amazon Canada. 

     Oh, by the way, I'm not getting paid to say any of this, I just wanted to share one of my little dollar makers.  I have signed up to become an affiliate but I'm waiting on that. 
   So, if you do a lot of looking up things on the Internet, and you want to make a few bucks while doing that, then click on the link in this post, or at the bottom of the page, or go to Swagbucks, (just google it, ha).

Swagbucks  This is my personal link

sorry, no pictures for this article.  My camera broke and I'm using a less useful model. 

Wait, I found one you might like, at my expense too.  You know when this happened to me, I looked at it and saw that letter Y near by, and thought, how true, Y? 

A Few Tidbits on My Blog E-Mails, and a Few Others

   I'm sure you all have seen how horrible the posts arrive in your mailbox.  When they are written, they are formatted for the actual blog.  Then, somehow when they drift through email land, they arrive looking a bit stretched out and unruly.

    I don't know that there is anything I can do about that, if there is let me know.  I'm really sure that if I made it look nice for the email, then it would look horrible on the blog. 

    One item to note, the post arriving in your email has no advertising, no blog buttons, or links.
I haven't added any new links lately, I will as I do more blog posts, or if I come across something that I think is great. 

     We are still trying to figure out where to start on this damage to our house.  All the specifics will drive us nuts first though.  Buy a new tub while the bathroom is empty, or keep the old tub.  Putting in a tub is not easy work.  Especially when they weigh a ton. Plus, if we do put in a tub, then we will have to tile the wall around it.  You know how that goes, one job creates a million more. 

   I did find a way to organize my clothes.  13 gallon kitchen trash bags.  All the clothes from my closet fit into five of those.  I do have a dresser for my foldable clothes, and a tiny little bureau for underclothes and other things like that.  I think I could probably thin it down a bit more but I don't really want to get rid of good clothing.  I don't want to be spending money on anything new either.  My goal is to make some of my clothing, and I've got a lot of ideas.  I admit, I did get a shirt from the thrift store a couple weeks back.  I wasn't even looking at the clothing, barely anyway.  As my daughter walked up to pay for her purchases, the shirt was just right there in front of us.  We both noticed it, the size was right, and besides, she was paying.  I mean, $2.99 for a shirt isn't too bad.  Better than Macy's clearance racks.

   So, don't forget to check out your local thrift stores.  If you sew then it opens up an entire new area to look through for repurposing your clothing.  We found designer jeans with the most expensive pair at $20.  Considering that they are well over $100 new it was a good deal.  A brand new Goodwill Store not too far away just opened and hopefully it will come in handy. 

   Happy deal hunting this weekend, or beach bumming, or honey dooing. 

Many of our armed forces will be deploying in the next few weeks so I'd like to wish them well. 

 

Easy To Make Frozen Hash Browns

      I used to love those frozen hash browns from the store.  It seemed to make breakfast a bit easier.  But the truth is, comparing the cost to a bag of potatoes,  it loses.  That's why I needed to know how to prepare these and keep those handy bags of shredded potatoes for a busy day. 
     Hash browns can have so many different meanings depending on who you talk to and where they are from.  Our family likes them any which way, whether they are diced, shredded, or filled with corned beef.  I decided for plain simple shredded hash browns for my freezer.  I do it a bit backwards and will explain that, but not sure if I can explain why.

First I peel my potatoes, or not, it's really up to you.  If they are perfect fresh potatoes there really is no need to peel them.  I then feed them into my food processor to grate them.  They can be grated using a hand grater, although that will take a little bit longer. 

When they are grated they should look like this.      

I then dump them into a bowl of cold water since shredded hash browns can turn brown very quickly.  I don't like when they do that.





Then using a slotted spoon, or drain them in a colander, put them into a pot of boiling water.  Boil them for about three minutes, no more than five or you will have mush.  Or rather, mashed potatoes for your next meal.  Pull them out, placing them into a bowl of cold water, or a colander and rinsing with cold water. (Did you notice how I put the proper way and the lazier way?)  Yeah, I use the rinsing method.  Either way, I let them sit in the colander for a short time to drain, shaking them a little to get them somewhat dry. 

  I then load them onto my trays as flat as possible kind of pushing them together to get rectangular flat shapes.  You can choose to keep them looser, and you can also use waxed paper on your tray. They don't seem to stick to my tray.  Then I load both my trays onto the shelf closest to the ice dispenser/bin so they will freeze as quick as possible.  When they are frozen I break them in half or quarters and put them into a gallon size freezer bag. 

When it's time to cook them, I preheat my cast iron or stainless frying pan for a minute or two.  I then add my expeller pressed coconut oil and sometimes I add in a few onions.  I then throw the amount I want into the pan and spice it up.  Salt and pepper is an easy one, but sometimes I like a bit of dill.  I let them fry until brown and then flip them over and brown the other side.  With a couple of eggs on the side and bacon or sausage it makes a great brunch.                                                                                                            

Now I'll explain what I do differently from some of the other recipes.  They cook the potatoes first, then they shred them.  I'll be trying that sometime soon.  I'm sure it makes it easier so you aren't trying to drain or scoop out a bunch of shredded potatoes.  It does make sense totally, but if you've ever seen me make potato salad you would understand why I do it this way.  

Another thing, is some people prefer to cook the potatoes all the way, which is fine.  Some prefer to blanch, or heat through enough to stop those enzymes from turning the potatoes brown, which is what I do.  It's just a personal choice and either way you will have a handy food for breakfast or breakfast for dinner.