blogging

Amazon New HQ2–Good or Bad?

/ Amanda Hodson / Leave a comment

Hello readers!

Unless you live in a very closed off bubble, everyone has heard of Amazon, and many are Prime Subscribers. Over the past year, Amazon has been on a massive search around the country to expand their headquarters. Amazon announced that the two lucky winning cities to host are Arlington, VA and Queens, NY, meanwhile, Nashville, Tennessee will host a smaller campus.

There has been a range of feedback of enthusiasm to criticism from both the public arena as well as private citizens. During my studies in marketing, one of the largest factors in business success is location, location, location. Did I mention location?

I live right outside of DC, specifically Tysons Corner, aka NOVA (Northern Virginia) so I can only credibly speak of the new Arlington location. NOVA is known for great, but very competitive employment opportunities, real estate (albeit resulting in a hugely expensive area to reside) and of course all of the tourist and historical attractions that come in correlation to our nations capitol. All of the benefits of living in the area, along with travelers enjoying the attractions, however, brings one major inconvenience and headache: traffic.

Now that Amazon is coming to Arlington, the increase in traffic congestion is at least one of the front runners of concerns. My personal reaction: what is a little more traffic when we are all used to it? Our very own Governor, Ralph Northam is enthusiastic about the business opportunities Amazon’s empire can bring: jobs, education and more. Watch his reaction here.

Aside from traffic, other concerns brought forth is the cost to tax payers; remember how I mentioned the enormous cost it is to live in NOVA? Well this business deal can bring a high cost in operating expenses, resulting in potential hikes to tax payers.

I’m personally cautiously optimistic about the location being in my neck of the woods; I don’t want a hike in money taken out of my paycheck to pay for this, but the benefits outweigh the traffic that I’m already used to.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

As always please subscribe, and let me know what blogging content you’d like from me.

    

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Rebate Apps are the new Savings Account Interest

/ Amanda Hodson / Leave a comment

Hello readers!

Over the last few years, I’ve really developed an interest in saving as much money as possible, through any moral or legal means, after all I don’t want to do anything that is immoral, illegal or fatning 😜.

I began searching online for different ways to save money, especially through coupons; with this research I learned about rebate apps such as Ibotta, Saving Star, Checkout 51, Ebates, etc. I was very happy and surprised to learn that you can use all rebate apps together to gain the most savings, in addition to using coupons on the same products for the same shopping trip. As my mother said, rebate apps are a new form of interest on your shopping trips. Let me explain.

I was shopping at CVS and took advantage of a promotion on L’oreal hair products. I not only had manufacturer coupons to use, but there was a promotion in store wherein if you purchased three L’oreal hair dye products, you received $8 in extra care rewards (store credit toward future purchases). I was able to combine these savings methods, in addition to redeeming an Ibotta credit for $3; $2 rebate for one box of hair dye and $1 for root cover up (shameless plug for my YouTube channel, but I explain this exact shopping trip here. I highly recommend downloading the Ibotta app to your smart phone, it really does add up over time. I have earned over $160 in cash, just simply from taking a few minutes from each shopping trip and redeeming qualifying purchases. Use my referral code to get started on your earnings: gaotcgw!

I really like Saving Star because if you link up your grocery cards from Giant, CVS and Harris Teeter, and each week you look at the offers available for rebate redemption, all you have to do is select the product and then the linked accounts will do the work for you. There are a few retailers where you have to manually scan your receipt into the app to redeem for your purchases, don’t worry though, its very specific instructions in the app of what to do! I’ve only been using this app for a couple of months and have already earned back almost $20!

Checkout 51 is very similar to Ibotta, you do need to manually scan your receipts and select the items you want to redeem. It’s well worth it, I’ve already redeemed $25 since using this app.

Ebates you can use both in app for actual in store purchases but also on the website for your online purchases. Ebates is a very simple concept; if you are going to purchase an item, simply search for the retailer to see if they are offering a sale/cash back. I have used Ebates in store a few times now at Bed Bath and Beyond, the percentages are often small, but every little bit adds up! Simply link a credit card and each time you pay, you will be eligible for cash back and sales when promotions are available. Use my referral code to get started: https://www.ebates.com/r/AMANDA67032?eeid=28187.

If you are a skeptic, trust me, these apps really are great. Yes, like anything, it does take some work, but I’d rather be earning back a much as possible on purchases I’m going to be making anyways. Rebate apps won’t make you rich overnight, but every little bit will add up much faster than you’ll realize. Seriously, I had hit a slump when I was only able to redeem $0.25 here and there for items I was going to get, and the next thing I knew, I had $12 in my account…it adds up fast!

I hope this helps to anyone interested, might as well take advantage of cash back opportunities in this crazy digital age we live in.

If you haven’t already, please subscribe so you get awesome info right to your inbox 🙂

Thanks for reading!

xo, Amanda

Everyone Loves Money!

/ Amanda Hodson / Leave a comment
Hello everyone!
Money. It’s something that everyone loves and needs to have, but many of us feel that we may not be earning as much as we are worth. Many of us are putting in long hours, yet still struggle to pay the bills. It shouldn’t be this difficult, right?
I know that I get a lot of anxiety of how I will be able to earn and save enough money not only to support myself and a family, but enough to be able to retire before I’m 80. My dad put it in a great way: money is like energy, the more you have, the more you can do. I’m not saying you need to go and be pulling in six figure paychecks each year, though that would be nice! However,  in order to be able to make basic bill payments, and still have enough left over for anything to reward yourself for your hard work, you may need to bring in money outside of your day job.
I have been researching many different ways to produce additional income, mainly through venues I enjoy and feel passionate about.
One of the ways that I allow myself to afford things outside of bills is to coupon. I have blogged about this many times before, check out my previous posts for more info! 
So what are some ways that you can make side money that either is a few extra dollars per month, or for very dedicated people putting in the work…. a full income? 
Affiliate marketing. For those who aren’t familiar, affiliate marketing is working with brands/stores and advertising their business/product. If a sale results from the advertisement that you posted, you will receive an already agreed upon commission. How many times do you go onto to social media and see people posting about a specific product, and then have the hashtag #sp or #ad. These indicates that the individual or business posting about a particular product or service is being paid to advertise. This happens a lot with athletes; I will see them talking about a protein powder, mattress set, shoes, anything and then, as required, putting in the hashtag indicating it is a paid advertisement. 
Blogging. For someone like me who is building their audience, blogging through a free site such as google and getting their site monetized through Google Adsense is a perfect way to get started. It took a lot of research to figure out exactly how to do this, but it was worth it. What I did was set up my blog, and then applied to have it monetized. After review I was accepted, and now I have ads that run along side my blog. Simple!
YouTube. A very simple way to earn money online, is simply to search YouTube. Of course, everyone has to be careful about scams, because no on wants to fall into one of those. I have personally researched about click bank. For those interested, click bank is about setting up your site, and then marketing a product and providing the link to that product. For example, I have signed up through Amazon to become an Amazon Associate, I can advertise about a product, post a link, and then if someone click on the link and makes a purchase, I can make a commission.
So, a product that you can find on Amazon that my family LOVES is Nu Go Slim Crunchy Peanut Butter Protein bars. They are Vegan and Gluten Free for those with dietary restrictions. They are high in protein, 17g, only have 3g of sugar and have 7 grams of fiber, no Maltitol or Artificial Sweeteners. They are delicious! You can buy them here!
A new way that I have learned about making money, is through Facebook market place. From the research I have done thus far, all you need to do is post about the product you are selling, take pictures, and add in necessary info and wait for your customers. I’ve started doing this, and I must say that I like it a lot. There appear to be no commission fees taken, which means more money as the seller. Here is my personal link to my items that I am selling through the Facebook market place. Please take a look here, if you see anything of interest, I look forward to conducting business! 
That’s all I have for now. Thanks for reading!
Xo,
Amanda

Limited Income….Love Coupons!

/ Amanda Hodson / Leave a comment

Hello everyone! It has been a while since I last blogged, my apologies! A brand new hobby that I’m proud to say I’ve become addicted to is couponing, which will explain my title. I am in my late 20s, on a limited budget and live in a very expensive zip code at home helping a family member with health issues. How do I do it over and above a straight job?  I COUPON to save money, and I’m proud of it. Let me explain how I saved around $100 on groceries and gas this week. Yes, $100 saved.

My family does the majority of our grocery store shopping at Giant for two reasons, its our closest grocery location with great deals, and also gas points at participating Shell stations. For every dollar you spend at Giant, you earn a point, get 100 points, you earn $0.10 off per gallon of gas, 200 points, $0.20 and so on…reach 1000 points, $1.00 off each gallon. Certain items have deals each week, if you buy 5 of the participating items (shampoo), you then earn an automatic $0.50 per gallon, along with all of the other points earned based on the dollar amount you spent for that particular grocery shopping trip. For example, you spend $50 on groceries, and also purchase the participating products for gas that day ($0.50 additional gas points) then you earned a total of 1000 points, or a $1.00 off per gallon. Make sense? It is a bit confusing at the beginning, but it becomes pretty routine and easy once you get the hang of it. Now people have pointed out to me that I’m still spending that money on these items, in order to redeem my gas points, so isn’t it a waste? I say no. My logic is, if I’m going to use the item anyways and it won’t expire  (non perishable items) or pantry goods that have a long expiration date, it really in the end evens out because you are saving at the pump, the same dollar amount you spent at the grocery store.

My most recent triple saver was one I am especially proud of. It was on shampoo. I had a manufacturer coupon for $2 off two bottles of a specific brand of shampoo. The store had a promotion of not only 2/$6 but also, if you buy 5 of them, then you earn $0.50 additional gas points. Bam! I was able to combine all 3 promotions. I ended up saving $20 on gas with previous points earned.

Let me just say this, I’m not a crazy coupon hoarder, I don’t just take items out of the store I don’t need just because I can get them for crazy cheap, or free, I use all of my items. I also don’t store 25 bottles of laundry detergent, I store 20…..kidding! But in all seriousness, I use commonsense when it comes to deals, and have not built any additional storage places in my house, so I have keep in mind the amount of room we have to keep everything.

Last bit I will say on this, as you can tell, I am really passionate about saving money. Go onto different coupon apps, they are a money saver….Ibotta is a major one I use, it ranges from $0.25 off of bread, to $3 off detergent, every penny adds up! I also go to coupons.com and print out deals. Check with your local stores policy, many times they will allow you to stack coupons. Good luck!

 

Happy New Year!

/ Amanda Hodson / Leave a comment

To all of my followers, Happy 2016! 2015 was a great year for me, from my professional aspirations, to beginning my own personal website/blog to everything in between. I read articles all the time about how to make money online, or just spare side income and how to use digital media in it’s fullest potential. I have a major entrepreneurial fire in my blood, and understand that before in order to get started in the “being your own boss” world, you must have your day job in the very beginning. I love my day job. I work with a  wonderful family owned business; a very creative job that involves imagination, teamwork and fun; I work in a locally owned florist.

Keeping with the entrepreneurial theme, I was reading an article in a magazine, “Women’s World” and always love reading the ways to make extra cash. Some only pay a few bucks here and there, but that eventually adds up after consistent work. I always look to see moral, legal and fun ways to make more money. After all, the bills need to be paid, and a little pampering is always fun.

I would love to get some more ideas on how to make more side money, and to see how other bloggers do it. Leave a comment and share with me your passions and successes (or trial and errors!)

Petite Complete Fashion–BTS

/ Amanda Hodson / Leave a comment

So here I decided to go into a little more bts detail on why I decided to do this website and attached blog.

During my second half of high school, so when I was a junior, I was involved in Internet Marketing, which at the time, was a newer concept. There was a brand new type of class that was being offered, Entrepreneurship. Of course being an entrepreneur is no new concept, however the idea of offering the class in a high school setting was very fresh and a novice idea. While I was not enrolled in the Entrepreneur class, my Internet Marketing teacher and classroom were right next to each other in connecting classrooms so there were many times I had an exposure to Entrepreneurship class.

I have since carried a torch for wanting to be my own boss. No, as of this website launch, I am not a successful, very well known one….yet! And I’m not saying that this will happen to me, but that is my goal, and everyone has to start from somewhere.

I thought to myself for months how could I put together a website about something that I related to, something that I was passionate about, and something that was MINE; thus Petite Complete Fashion came about. I have always been short, petite, vertically challenged, whatever you want to call it. I have very often had issues finding clothing that fits my bottom half without being torn up just a few months later. More retail clothing businesses have become much better about designing pants and jeans for people who do have petite legs. Obviously I cannot change my height, and to be 100% honest, I am very happy being petite, (I don’t have far to fall when I trip 🙂 )

This site has given me a chance to create something of my own, and the start to being my own boss. I am putting this site together all on my own (with the help of software of course.)  In the end, this site is something that every entrepreneur strives to have: passion and success.

So thank you to each and everyone for visiting my site and blog and help me continue my journey!!!!