On My Way to A Free Vay-kay
It’s been a while since I reported my progress on my idea to manifest a free vacation. I’ve been making steady progress toward my goal of turning $125 into $1500!
I’ve taken different avenues to get there. The seed money, $125, was from my first Google Adsense check. From there, I used $50 to start a Prosper account and fund a loan. I received a $25 bonus for doing so. I took a gamble and thought others might sign up with me, which would have given me more bonus money. But, sadly, I was apparently the last person on Earth who wasn’t already a member! The loan I funded is performing so far. But, I won’t see the original $50 investment for quite some time. In no way am I willing to put off my vacation that long. So, that took me down to $100 from $125.
From there, though, things started to pick up. I signed each of us up for Money Exchange and got $25 each for doing so–with no investment! But, silly me–I put in my new address when signing up, which was not recognized by the system. I contacted customer service and straightened it out. But, I’m forced to wait a few more days for my $25 to arrive. So far, Money Exchange brought me to a total of $150.
Then, I signed us both up for Lending Club, which contributed another $100! I got $25 for signing up myself, another $25 from Michael’s account, and a $50 referral bonus! That gives us a total of $250. You can sign up here.
In addition, I signed up for Sharebuilder.com with multiple individual accounts with promotional codes to receive sign-up bonuses. Each time, I’d invest $50 in a stock. I’m cashing out some of them after my promotional code is qualified (they send you an email to let you know). Other investments that are performing well will be left there until the end of this challenge. Since Sharebuilder charges $4 each time you invest with the Basic account and $9.95 for each real-time trade when you sell, I’m trying to make back some of those fees with appreciating stocks. The reason behind doing this with Sharebuilder is the $50 promotional bonuses that will come 4 weeks after my first trade on each account. Actually, one bonus was only $25. But, the rest have been $50.
I also signed up for two new Chase checking accounts (one for each of us) to take advantage of the $125 bonus they’re offering now. The only catch is, your account has to receive direct deposit with regular deposits once a month or more. I’m doing what a reader suggested and directly depositing $1 now and then from Paypal. Let’s hope that’s enough. I won’t know for sure until the bonus is paid (or isn’t) in 4-6 weeks.
My gains so far on these sign-up incentives hasn’t been very impressive. But, that’s because most of them take a month or two to pay out bonuses. If all bonuses are rewarded as they are promised, I’m looking at approximately $380.42 in total so far. It could end up being a little less or a little more depending how my stocks do in Sharebuilder.
I also discovered a $75 bonus for new checking accounts at Bank of America–with no direct deposit requirements! So, I’ll do that for both Michael and me very soon and get another $150. The good news is that I won’t even have to visit a branch–it can be done online!
I’m also going to be opening more individual accounts at Sharebuilder for more promotional bonuses. Some people have been able to open 16 individual accounts. But, I’ve been warned to spread them out–not open them all at once, or else my promotional codes may be rejected. The codes I’ve used so far with good results are as follows:
FANDF25 …………for $25
50CITIZENS ……..for $50
50SBTV …………..for $50
SHARE50 …………for $50
This past Saturday, we had our first ever garage sale! I think we’re hooked! Just for the junk that was left at our old residence (House 2)–the things we didn’t want to move with us–we received $380! Plus, we had a really fun day! The weather was perfect, albeit a little chilly at 8 o’clock in the morning. Once it warmed up, though, we were able to just relax and work on our tans. We invited some friends to bring their junk to sell in our driveway, too. We made cheezy hot dogs and just had a blast making fun of visiting with everyone! I thought it was a lot of fun haggling with people. It allowed me to flex my negotiating skills face to face! Michael just did the cooking (See, we do have role reversal going on, don’t we?) and guarded his grill from the multitudes of shoppers who wanted to buy it. It wasn’t for sale, of course. 
The garage sale proceeds are added to the pot. It’s true what they say–one woman’s junk is another woman’s treasure! That was all stuff I would have thrown away or donated to Goodwill for a much smaller tax deduction.
So, there you have it…. Taking into account the bonuses I’m expecting, I’ve gone from $125 to about $760.42! Once I reach the $1500 mark, we’re taking a vacation using no out-of-pocket money!
Correction: I forgot to include the bonuses we’re expecting from Sharebuilder. I’ve gone from $125 to about $935.42!!! Woo-hoo!!!
Trisha's Coffee Fund11 Comments
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This is actually a cute exercise you’re doing here. Coming up with the money, using creative means.
Any ideas on where you’re going to strike next?
Clifford - Thanks! I was lamenting the fact that we haven’t been on a big vacation in a while (we love to travel) because our funds are tied in knots…. Then, the thought came to me–SO WHAT??!? I’ll make it happen anyway!
My next steps are creating more Sharebuilder accounts and opening BoA checking accounts for each of us. If it’s true that I’ll be able to open 16 accounts with Sharebuilder, we may surpass our goal! In addition, we have several unwanted things around the house that I could sell on eBay or Amazon. I’m still keeping my mind open to other ideas.
This is going well enough that I might make this a regular exercise! We may be able to make several trips this way!
Nice work Trisha! I think I may follow suit shortly- I’ve got all kinds of crap I can sell on Ebay…
Thanks, Steph! Keep me posted on how your sales go!
My gf and I have done the ebay thing and garage sales since our last years in college. Everytime we move out and everytime we move into a new place we did our “Home Clearance” and got rid of everything that has no value to us anymore.
Ebay is great for small packable items, but thier fees are pretty outrageous now a days, especially when you include what they take from Paypal payments as well. It is still a great marketplace, but I would almost try Amazon first.
Another idea for you is to search Slickdeals.net for more promotions. My gf got together $30 in free gift cards for Sears for taking a survey. Her brother did the same thing for $100 for Omaha Steaks. When they both recieved the free cards, they turned around and sold them for close to thier value ($98 for the Omaha Steaks). American Express had a deal on free airline tickets just for signing up for a credit card.
Anyway happy hunting.
Hey, MJ! Thanks for the link! And, good tip about eBay. I wonder how they can justify the high fees. Seems like they’re probably going to lose sellers. I’ll try Amazon first.
Ebay is pricey now a days (I blame it on the fact that they are a publicly traded company, investors always want more profits), but it is still pretty hard to not want to utilize thier customer base. Amazon can rival it I have been told. PCWorld.com posted several articles for people switching from Ebay to something else, you might try there first.
We break things down into stuff that will do well on Ebay (small stuff, or easily shippable) and stuff that does well in garage sales (like furniture and such). Believe it or not clothes do well on Ebay. Group more than one piece of clothing together or like styles and you can typically get rid of more stuff and make more money on the lot than you can do individually. We recently tried the whole craigslist thing, but not had much success. Craigslist is free to list though so I am going to keep trying.
By the way, I like your blog, enjoy hearing about selling houses in the Midwest. I grew up in OKC and moved to Kansas City in the early 90’s. I think it is interesting to hear about successfully flipping properties around here. Has the effects of the housing market caused any troubles in your current business?
Wow — great job!!!
We have a “fab vaca fund” that is funded through all our loose change. It is not as proactive as this, but we have saved $550 (in the bank) and have a huge thing of change at home — I am so excited to cash it in
Alison - Oh, good! Well, maybe you could benefit by just doing some easy things like signing up for Money Exchange. It doesn’t cost anything. And, if you both sign up, you could make an easy $50. But, change jars are an excellent way to accumulate and forget it.
HI Trisha,
I am a new visitor. Found your webiste from Shaun’s and from Steve’s references, I decided to check it out. I am drawn to your down to earth attitude, writing style and your honesty. I have only read a few postings so far but am tempted to start from the beginning and go through them to learn and to be entertained. I did that at Steve’s blog and spent over 2 weeks reading his entire blog. I almost felt guilty learning landlording lessons at his expenses (that’s what I am at the moment - a landlord to 2 properties that are still in the red).
For your tiime and energy on seeking free money, how about just asking for it from readers who appreciate you sharing your experiences so openly? I am on record for wanting to contribute $25 to your vacation piggybank. Let me know how I can do it (I’m not saavy with paypals, etc. But can send a check the old fashion way.
Good luck!
-Christina
Hi, Christina! I apologize for taking so long to get back to you! You are SO KIND for wanting to contribute to my vacation piggybank. I put the “coffee fund” widget back on my blog (some readers were uncomfortable with it, so I removed it before). Some things I’ve tried haven’t worked out as well as I hoped with this free vacation, but only because I am sort of winging it here! Hopefully, the knowledge I’m gaining can help others to do better than I have. Stay tuned–I’m going to be writing more on this topic to hopefully guide others in the process. And, thanks so much for reading!
Feel free to email me or comment when you have specific questions about landlording that I might be able to answer. I might even write a post about something you need to know.