The Donut app does something no others do. They offer APY boosts on our savings periodically. Who doesn’t like an increased interest rate on their savings, even if it’s only temporary? These boosts seem to occur roughly once every 4-6 weeks. There were 12 boosts over the last 12 months. Believe it or not, those boosts do end up making a significant difference in your total interest earned. 2021 Donut APY Boosts August Challenge: 10% APY boost for 1 day to start. If you didn’t make any withdrawals the entire month of August, you received a 30% APY boost for one day on August 31st. Holiday 100 ..read more

* I’m not affiliated with Donut App or compensated in any way by Donut for writing this article. It’s been several months since I wrote my original post. The Donut App has made some pretty significant changes since then. So, what’s new? Read on to find out. Donut now offers a base 5% interest in the “Save” plan Previously the “Save” plan with Donut offered 4% APY, but now they’ve bumped it up to 5%. This change took effect on June 28, 2022. This is also the same day our funds were no longer converted to DAI stablecoin, but instead began being converted to USDC stablecoin. This is meant to kee ..read more

It’s been roughly 17 months now since I wrote my original post about UserCrowd. If you haven’t read about it yet, you can check it out HERE. When I wrote that article, I promised I would share how much I earned in a year. Keep reading to find out. How much did I earn in 17 months? So how much money did I make with UserCrowd? Are you ready for this? Drum roll….. I’ve earned a total of $175.80 in the last 17 months with UserCrowd. This was all earned from taking short “tests” that typically take 1-5 minutes to complete. My total was earned from participating in 301 tests. That’s equal to $0.58 ..read more

I can’t believe it’s been 17 months since I wrote about ways to earn a little extra cash with InboxDollars.com. If you haven’t read about it yet, check out the original blog post HERE. Are you wondering how much I was able to earn in this timeframe? How much did I earn? It’s time for me to share with you how much I’ve earned in the last 17 months. Drum roll…. From 2/4/21 to 6/29/22, I’ve earned a total of $201.82. That’s equal to $11.87/month or $142.44/year. It’s not a life-changing sum, but it’s a lot more than $0. That’s how much I’d earn if I didn’t take a few minutes each day to complete ..read more

I’m a big fan of free money. Who isn’t? That’s essentially what you get using the Ibotta app when you’re buying groceries. It’s FREE to download. You’ll also get a free $10 bonus after redeeming your first offer if you use the download link. With inflation causing expenses to increase significantly at the moment, it’s nice to find ways to get some money back. Another one of these apps? You may have heard about some others, especially if you’ve read my previous posts about earning cash back from receipts and shopping. It’s hard not to share them all, especially when there are so many good ones ..read more

You may or may not have read about I bonds recently. The interest rate on I-bonds has gone up considerably with inflation also being high. A current 9.62% interest rate is pretty incredible. Should we all be rushing to buy some now? Let’s take a look at I-bonds in more detail. What is an I bond? I-bonds are one of two types of government savings bonds issued by the US Treasury. There are series EE bonds and series I-bonds. I-bonds are tied specifically to inflation. They will never lose value. Series EE bonds are assigned a specific fixed rate by the US Treasury. How is the interest rate deter ..read more

This year we went to Cozumel for Spring Break, and it didn’t cost us too much more than our credit card rewards. Thank you, Chase Sapphire! That must have cost thousands of dollars for a family of 4 though, right? How could you possibly have that much in credit card rewards? Let me show you. Earning Bonus Rewards with a New Credit Card In the early summer of 2021, we had already planned where we wanted to go for Spring Break in 2022. I began looking at various credit card offers that came with introductory reward bonuses. That was when I came across a special limited time offer of 100,000 bon ..read more

Have you heard the ads or know someone that uses the GetUpside App? I’ve personally heard ads for it many times on the local radio stations. You may want to look into downloading it for yourself. With GetUpside, we can all earn cash back on many purchases we were planning to make anyway. What is GetUpside? GetUpside is an app you can download for free from the app store. Anyone can use it to earn cash back on gas, grocery or restaurant purchases. There are NO fees to use it. How does it work? Using the GetUpside app is simple. They make it very easy for users to earn cash back. Simply open t ..read more

2021 was nice for parents with young children. When Congress passed the America Rescue Plan Act, there was a temporary increase to the federal child tax credit. On top of that, you probably received half of it over the last 6 months of 2021 as monthly payments. I know for some families that made a world of a difference. How do you qualify for the credit? If you’re the parent/guardian of a child 17 years old or younger, it’s likely that you qualify for at least a partial tax credit. In 2021, if your AGI (adjusted gross income) was less than $150,000 for joint filers, $112,500 for head of househ ..read more

Parents know all too well how expensive childcare can be. This is especially true for those with children in daycare or paying for preschool. The federal government tries to help these families with tax deductions and credits. The child and dependent care credit specifically applies to these childcare expenses. This credit is given when you file your federal income taxes. Another way that families can save on childcare expenses is through a dependent care FSA. This is much like a medical flexible spending account, but it’s used to pay for childcare. If your employer offers this, you can set a ..read more