Nanny Adventures

This is the second article in my series for the ADCAN newsletter on money.

Lately Wall Street has everyone in a panic.  There are a few things that we can do as nannies to hang on to our money.  First step, continue putting money into a savings account, CDs and IRAs. I know that last time I suggested putting your money into WAMU’s online bank because it had a higher interest rate than ING Direct, and now they have been bought by JPMorgan Chase. The good news is that they still have great terms which are currently at 3%.  No matter the name on the bank, as long as they are FDIC insured and you have less than $100,000 in there your money is safe.  The bottom line is you need to save money and get something in return for saving.

This leads me to something called the CVS/Walgreen’s and Rite-Aid Deals of the Week.  Each store has their own cash back program for purchases. I have been following this blog, Deal Seeking Mom  and she posts the weekly deals at each of the stores and how to get the most for your money.   You need to get the Sunday paper for the coupons and read up on how to save/earn money from her blog; but you can save money by following it!   Her site has links to other blogs that have scenarios on saving money too.  My friend has been playing the CVS game for a few weeks now and has been saving a lot of money so far.  I think she saved $13 in one trip and earned $10 in CVS bucks.  Sure, it takes some time to set things up and price out what you are doing, but saving money in this tight   economy is worth it. You can also go to http://www.pennypinchingdiva.com see how to start the CVS Bucks game. Shynea explains more about the CVS game and how she has saved $1258.99 and only spent $103.44 in 2008. On the right side of her blog it says CVS 101, go there and read the links to before your first purchase.

The next thing which you can do to save money is to enter online contests on various blogs.  I have been doing this for a few weeks now and love learning about all the “mommy” bloggers out there and their reviews of products and giveaways. There is a site you can go to which giveaways are listed on with links to the original blog it is called Prizey . You have multiple ways of entering the giveaways by posting a comment, posting on your personal blog, subscribing to their blog via RSS or email and others. Enter any and all of them for free gifts for others for the holidays, for charity drives, or for yourself. The items are all quality products from what I have seen so far. 

To get started, get yourself a gmail or another free email account to use for blogging comments and entering the contest giveaways.  Then go to blogger.com and sign up for a free blog.  It is simple and start “blogging” about the giveaways you enter.   I have started my own called “Nanny Finds The Giveaways”   I am going to be posting about all the cool stuff I find so you can enter as well.

Good luck and let me know what great deals you find!