The holidays will be here before you know it, here are a few simple ways to earn cash for little pleasures and goodies for yourself and your family. 

You won’t get rich with these money-generating ideas, but you can take the results to the bank (even if it’s only your piggy bank):
    • Sell photos to stock photo websites. Stock photography sites offer generic photos of landscapes, animals, and other nonspecific subjects to designers and publishers. Go through your travel photos or your pictures of Fluffy, Fido and great scenery, then check out sites like istockphoto.com and shutterstock.com.

• Sell your books. Go through your bookshelves. Are you hanging on to your old college textbooks? Be realistic when setting prices, are you really going to read A Tale of Two Cities ever again? You can sell books online or try a local second-hand bookshop. If you have enough books you can have a garage sale–get your bookaholic friends involved and set up your own book space in the yard.  

• Sign up for consumer focus groups. Corporations and nonprofits doing market research need opinions from regular people. Make yourself available for focus groups, and you could earn $50 to $100 or so for an hour or two of sharing your thoughts and reactions to ideas. And don’t forget those online survey’s,  MyPoints.com is one of the best, your points add up quickly and you are never added to odd lists.

Are you an online shopper or a hold out? If you are a mall shopper you will notice a few empty stores. While I have no plans to give up mall shopping, I do like the convenience of shopping online, especially comparison shopping. To add to the lure of online shopping, there are coupon sites that give you coupon codes for $$’s off purchases at certain online stores. One such site is Sherpa Coupons, they have compiled this shoppers online information :

• 63 percent of online shoppers are female; mothers are the fastest-growing demographic group.
• Americans spent more than $115 billion online in 2008; some forecasters say online shopping will hit almost $330 billion in 2010, or about 13 percent of total retail sales.
• U.S. consumers aren’t the world’s most prolific online shoppers. South Koreans are, with 99 percent of Internet users in that country making online purchases. Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan run a close second, with the United States at No. 8.
• The most popular online product? Books, followed by clothing, videos and games, airline tickets, and electronic equipment.
• 60 percent of consumers confine their shopping to a single site. The most popular shopping site is Amazon.com.

Sherpa not only gives coupon code information about online shopping; it has a blog and a free weekly coupon newsletter that gives you the 411 on shopping. The site also offers coupons that can be downloaded. I realize that some people are hesitant about using computer printed coupons, for the most part they are trouble-free. I have used them for a couple of stores and have used several for TGI Friday’s without a hitch. However, you should keep in mind that no all stores and restaurants will accept computer printed coupons. You may want to call before you head out with your coupon.

Visit the Sherpa Coupons site. Don’t forget visit its blog and sign up for its newsletter.

When shopping online, check out Sherpa or your favorite coupon code site before you hit the purchase icon, you may save anywhere from five to twenty percent off the final cost. Remember to search as many coupon code sites as possible as the savings vary.  Just type “coupon code” to start saving dollars.

The past year has been financially difficult for many. There is no better time to make plans, O.K., call them resolutions if you must. But do make plans/resolutions to get fiscally fit, not just physically fit. Also, if you busy getting pumped up about saving money and getting out of debt you may forget to nosh.

• Save 10 percent. Put aside 10 percent of your income for long-term investments and retirement savings before paying any bills. Even if you are retired you should continue to add to your porfolio.

• Track your expenses. Record every dollar you spend, for at least one week. You will get a clearer idea of where the money goes and what you can cut back on.

• Stay home. Resist the temptation to eat out. Cook more meals at home. Instead of going to the movies, rent a video, read a book, or a play a game with your whole family.

• Do not rely on credit cards. Credit card debt can eat up your savings and your future. Start reducing your debt, and don’t buy anything on credit if you don’t have the money to pay the bill off promptly.

• Pay down your mortgage. You can save a lot of money on your mortgage by paying just $50 to $100 more a month. Is is a wise idea? It appears that the answer is more gray than black or white. See what AARP and CBS Money Watch have to say.

• Energize your house. Look for ways to make your house more energy efficient. You will save on heating and cooling costs and also help the environment.  Good advice for homeowners and anyone who rents and pays separate utilities. See Consumer Reports magazine  and 12 ways to cut cooling costs from Bankrate.com

I saw “5dollardinners” in the October issue of Woman’s Day magazine. The URL intrigued me so I looked at the site and happy that I did. There is much to be gained from making 5dollardinners.com a favorite destination. There are “how-to-do’s”, meal planning, recipes, heads up information, coupons, and more. Plus a $5 dinner challenge. Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom asks are you willing to accept the $5 dinner challenge?

For more information from site visit 5dollardinners also stop by Woman’s Day magazine.

Of course, you are always welcome and invited to  visit my A Better Cook site for recipes, magazines online, coupon sites and sales on Watkins herbs and spices.

 If your teen is heading for college this year be sure to check out a college book rental site called Chegg. These people rent books to students. They rent your books online, they can track your books as well.

The site promises quick purchase turn around. They return the books to Chegg for free. They can even sell books to them.  So what is the down side? Well… your kid cannot use highlight markers in these books.

As always read the fine print should be read before signing up for or agreeing to the policy, etc. However, this seems to be a win-win situation. I can remember the high cost of my books many years ago, no one let me in on the “buy used books” secret, so I paid full price. This is an inexpensive way to get the books your child needs. Bank the allocated book money.  

When your son or daughter gets the college/university book list, check out Chegg first.  Oh yes, they even plant a tree for ‘each’ book you rent.

 If you are familiar with the name Oriental Trading, but never bought anything from them because they have cheap stuff, well that’s the whole idea. This company has really fun stuff for cookouts and beach parties. How about pretty paper laterns for your backyard? Or fun hats for everyone to wear if it is a theme party.

These items are inexpensive enough to buy in quanity and not to regret if they die in the rain. Check out Oriental Trading for novelty items and such.

I have also cruised the pages of Century Novelty but never made a purchase. Here is the URL to their site: Century Novelty

While signing on to get my mail from AOL, I decided to stop by the home page first. I noticed a blurb telling readers about secret coupon codes for $$’s off at some of the top stores. Oh yum! I don’t know how long this has been going on, but am delighted to find this source now. See AOL announcement below:

Coupons, Deals and Savings - AOL Shopping
Online coupon codes that save you cash! Go shopping at your favorite stores for less with coupons from AOL Shopping. Shopping AOL Coupons

I have not yet tried this, but certainly plan to.

Freebies, cheapies and helpful advice

Some fun for your little ones. Would you like free audio stories and fairytales for your child? Stop by Story Nory to see their list of stories and more. For more information visit http://storynory.com/  

If you are a scrapper, you will enjoy making digital scrapbook pages. It does not matter if you are to digi scrapping, this site has a tutorial guide. Learn how at http://yourpix.com/createphotos/scrapbookideas.jsp

Get a free bottle of Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce for poultry, fish, beef and pork. You will have to sign up for a free newsletter to get the coupon. But if you are enjoy reading recipes, etc. it’s a win-win offer. For more information visit. http://countrybobs.com/

If you are looking for ways to be more frugal check out Mary Ann Romans blog at Families.com http://frugal.families.com/blog/

As with any offer, always read the fine print before you hit the send key.