Friday, March 22, 2013

Making Money on Bing

Get rewarded while surfing the internet!

 
I use Bing as a search engine to look up show-times, research travel sites or other misc. things and earn point while doing it. I signed up for Bing rewards through my Live account and starting surfing.

You get automatic points for "signing-up," referring friends, and every day there is a spotlight topic that you can click on to automatically earn 1 point. Mind you, you top out every day at 16 points (about 30 searches); however, with referring friends and do some other requests from Bing, you can earn 100 points at a time. At around 400 points, you can start to redeem your points for a promotional code for some of the following:

  • Red Envelope $15
  • ProFlowers $15
  • Starbucks $5
  • Amazon.com $5
  • Groupon $5
  • Xbox points
  • Redbox Rentals
  • Donations to different Charities

I've redeemed my points mainly at Amazon.com and have use them on purchasing textbooks. At least for Amazon.com you can put in the promotional code and let the points sit on your account until you are ready to use them.
 
Honestly, even if you don't use Bing......try it out, get your points and have a fatter wallet around Christmas time by earning free stuff while surfing the net. Who knows, you may even like it.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Megabus - $1 each way from Reno to San Fran

So, I was listening to a travel article on my Pulse news app on my phone and ran across Budget your Vacation: 4 Tips to Save Money and found out that as along and you book 30-45 days in advance; you can book a trip to......
San Francisco from Reno for $1 each way
(along with a $0.50 reservation charge).

Mind you, that this $1 trip is really only during the normal Monday through Friday workweek; however, the weekends range from $16-18 each way. If you come back on the early 8:30am bus on Sunday, then you will most likely only spend about $2.

BUT STILL!! Imagine the international flights that you can go on for way less than leaving from RNO airport. For instance, I looked up taking a trip to Puerto Rico from Reno and the cost ran about $550. From SFO airport, the same trip was only $350. And you wouldn't have to pay for parking, tolls, and gas on top of airfare, etc.

 
Once on the site, you will choose your state and then city from which you are leaving. Then, you will see the options of where you can travel to with Megabus. In the Reno area, I could also leave from Sparks and there are two options of trips:
  1. Sacramento - 2hrs 40mins
  2. San Francisco - 4hrs 10mins
The buses go straight to their destination without making pit stops so there is a restroom on the bus along with:
  • FREE wifi
  • Reclining seats
  • Double Decker (2 stories of seats to choose from)
  • Handicap accessible (moderately impaired -- probably because of the stairs to the bus)
  • Seatbelts
  • and of course, Professional Drivers

Hope this helps with cheap travels for summer!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Leftover chili bake

Ok, so I had a ton of rice left over from make a stir fry, veggie korma and another meal. I didn't flavor the rice so I could use it multiple meals and i didn't want to throw it out. So after grabbing things from my pantry......I turned the remaining rice into a chili bake.

Ingredients (but feel free to add more. I just used some of what i had to save on groceries):
- plain rice (2 maybe to 3 cooked cups)
- kidney beans (16oz can rinsed ans strained)
- corn (16oz can)
- tomato sauce (16oz can)
- sprinkled in some chili powder, garlic, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt & pepper, cumin, minced onion, cilantro and chives (Any and all spices i thought would be good in a chili and what I had on hand. I was out of bay leaves and some others.)

I sauteed the beans and corn in butter while adding the spices one at a time. Then, I added the tomato sauce and little simmer just for a couple of minutes before adding rice to the mix. I sprayed the casserole dish with nonstick spray and then spread it out.

I shredded about 1-1.5 cups of pepper jack cheese and sprinkled it on top. Then bake at 400° for 25-30mins uncovered OR if the mixture is hot enough from the fry pan, just broil the dish on high until the cheese browns.

Enjoy

Monday, March 4, 2013

FREE STARBUCKS

Did you know that for every empty bag of Starbucks coffee, you can exchange it for a tall brewed coffee at any Starbucks store? Neat!
I'm on a student budget. So its nice to have this as an option when somebody says, "hey, let's meet for coffee and catch up." LOL
**BTW, the offer for the exchange is good up until 30 days after the Best Buy date stamped on the bag.