Swagbucks Eggstravaganza = Huge Swagbucks Rewards

To celebrate the beginning of Spring, Swagbucks is offering HUGE SB on Discover offers, so now’s the time to try out some of these products and services! If you're not familiar, Swagbucks is a site where you earn points (called SB) for checking out deals and products from different companies. Then you redeem those SB for gift cards to places like Amazon, PayPal, Starbucks, Walmart, Target, and many more. You can also earn SB for things like shopping online, taking surveys, watching videos, and searching the web!

To take advantage of the Spring Into Deals bonanza and check out over 100 Deals that are now more rewarding than ever, just click here to get started! 
 
Here’s just a few deals you’ll find:  

• Divine Eats = earn 50 SB
• Church’s Chicken = earn 100 SB
• Auntie Anne’s = earn 100 SB
• 60 Seconds Home Life Insurance = earn 100 SB 

We’re also giving you even more SB on our most popular offers for a limited time:  

• Uber: Need extra cash? Earn with Uber & Get $90 in Gift Cards! Sign Up and Earn 3,250 SB. Take your first passenger and earn 5,750 SB (totally considering doing this)
• Puzzle Buzz: Get 2 Free highlights Activity & Coloring Books + Stickers and earn 750 SB
• Just Fab: Get 2 paris of shoes for the price of 1! Take a fun fashion quiz and earn 200 SB. Buy 1 pair of shoes and earn 2,500 SB
• Winc: Discover your unique wine personality! Sign Up & earn –2,500 SB on your first order. + Earn an additional 2,000 SB when you stay subscribed for 2 months. 
• eStories: Find your next favorite Audiobook and earn 2,000 SB (I actually just signed up for this since I walk so much and love to listen to audiobooks)
• DegustaboxReceive delicious food straight to your door and earn 1,000 SB
• Foodstirs:Introducing Foodstirs' simply delicious Darling Daisy Cookie backing kit. Purchase a 3 month subscription NOW with code SB50 and earn 4,000 SB

 
 Check out all these great offers plus many many more! But hurry, this limited time offer is only good through April 16th. As a special bonus, if you sign up through my links this month and earn 300 SB before May 1st, you'll get a bonus $3 (300 SB) added to your account at the beginning of next month!

Swagbucks Easter Sales Event: Spring Into Deals

Spring has sprung and at Swagbucks, the deals are in full bloom. They're giving back BIG Cash Back on your favorite merchants. If you haven't heard of Swagbucks, when you shop there you get cash back in the form of SB points for every dollar you spend. Then you redeem those points for gift cards to places like Amazon, PayPal, Starbucks, Walmart, Target, and more! Sign up here to get started

The weekend is upon us and the weather is warming up, so now’s the perfect time to do a little shopping! Need to update your wardrobe for the new season? Check out all the great Cash Back deals you can earn at:

JCPenney – 15% Cash Back 
Nike – 20% Cash Back
Macy’s – 12% Cash Back
Gap – 8% Cash Back

Looking to do some spring cleaning and organizing? Check out great deals at these retailers:

Home Depot = 3% Cash Back
Target = 4% Cash Back
Walmart = Up to 8% Cash Back
Lowe’s = 3% Cash Back


Plus, if you've signed up through my links at some point this month (or do it now), you'll get a $2 (200 SB) bonus added to your account when you get your shopping SB! 

You can earn SB in all sorts of ways, including discovering deals and trying new products/services, watching videos, taking surveys, or just searching the web!

Hurry though, because this deal ends on the 16th!

Educate Yourself to Success

Education is everything in this day and age. People are measured by how educated they are. It isn’t always fair, some people are more capable than others by nature. Yet, it gives a fair reflection of the work people have put into life. If you properly harness education you can reach the heights you want, ensuring you get to where you want to be in life. If can help in all areas. Your career for one, you could learn more about a hobby, or perhaps learn a language or follow a passion. Education can give you the tools to succeed in many different ways. This article can show you how.

For a start, education can further your chosen career. You may have gone into some kind of job straight after school and now lack the qualifications to progress, or perhaps you need a certain degree to get further in what you do. The options are out there. For example, a nurse could study an RNBSN Online Degree to further their career. There are always options. Sure, you may need to study part time. You will need to go to class after work, something which is tough as you could be quite tired. If you are committed you will see it through. Try asking your supervisor or relative superior what degrees or courses could further your your advancement in your chosen profession. You could even leave your job if you had the savings or someone there to support you. It would mean you could gain the degree or complete the course at a quicker rate and then get into the job you want.

Source

They say the key to happiness is doing what you love for a career. This can become a reality if you get the right education to back yourself up. If you love working with children then getting a teaching degree or postgraduate qualification means you can work with them everyday. Or perhaps you like helping people, in which you can move to social care. Like numbers? Accounting. The options are endless, it just means you have to go back to school.

You would prefer something more passion related. For example if you love writing and want to become a writer, then you could study journalism. Or if you had your heart set on writing a book you could look at studying creative writing. This can fuel a passion would could see you succeed. Want to set up your own business? Consider entrepreneurship courses and degrees. Do you have a flair for a foreign language? Look at learning it. You could then use it to get a job in translation of some kind.

As seen, education can be the route to any kind of success. You just need to free up the time to do so. Getting the time right means you won’t rush your study and get bad grades. Remember, you are paying for it, so find the time beforehand and you can make a real success out of your education.

Is It Time To Buy Your First Family Home?

There tends to come a time in every parent's life when they start thinking about buying a house. Having somewhere for you and your kids to live and call your own is something of a dream for most people. The question is, how do you know when it’s the right time to buy a family home? Well, in this piece, I’ve listed a few little questions you should ask yourself to determine if the time is right:

(Picture source: http://bit.ly/2o91RGH)

Do You Have A Regular & Secure Source Of Income?

Owning a house is a big financial responsibility. As such, you need to have a regular source of income if you wish to do so. You’ve got bills to pay, house taxes, not to mention the costs of things is something goes wrong in your home. When you rent a property, any problems are dealt with by the landlord, so you don’t have to worry about them. But, as a homeowner, all the responsibility is on your shoulders. As such, you and your family need a regular & secure source of income to help handle all the additional costs of owning a home. If you don’t, then now is not the time to buy your first family home. Someone in your family has to find a full-time job that pays well, and then you’re ready for homeownership.

Do You Have A Good Credit Score?

Speak to anyone with an ounce of financial knowledge, and they’ll tell you your credit score is very important in the grand scheme of your life. Especially when you’re thinking about buying a house. Family homes aren’t cheap, and you’ll most likely need to apply for a mortgage to afford one. But, applying for a mortgage is hard if your credit score is underwhelming. Ideally, you want a good credit score that can enable you to borrow as much money as you need. So, work on getting your score in check. If things are really bad, then a credit repair company might come in handy. Otherwise, just focus on good financial behavior such as repaying any debts, paying your bills on time, and being responsible with your credit card use. If you have a bad credit score, then it’s not time to buy your first family home. Instead, it’s time to fix your score, then buy one when your score is good.

Do You Need More Space?

A lot of families are perfectly capable of living in rented apartments as they have no need for lots of space. However, if you have a few children and are in desperate need of more space, then upgrading to a house is definitely a good idea. Renting a house is always worse than renting an apartment as it’s just not worth it. You’re far better off buying and actually owning the property yourself. So, if your answer is yes, you do need more space, then the time is right to buy your first family home.

If you answered ‘yes’ to all the questions, then you’re definitely in a good position to buy your first family home.

Chicago Day Four: Museum of Science and Industry and Dylan's Candy Bar

Welcome to the pictures of the McLoughlin Family Trip to Chicago 2017! This is the trip where my husband had training all week in Elk Grove Village so the kids and I stayed by the O'Hare airport and took the train downtown daily! Today started with making sure my kids got into the free LEGO monthly minibuild, which is always a frantic time since it's hard to get into these days. So after doing that and dropping off my husband, it was time to head to Des Plaines for some Weight Watchers weigh-in and run action.

This is for my mom, who flips out over White After Labor Day. I'm not in love with the white pants but I ALWAYS buy black, so I got red and white this time. White gets dirty easy, as I knew they would, so forget that. I'm over these pants already.

Our station: Rosemont.