Have you done your taxes?!

Not only is the deadline for taxes approaching quickly, but so is the deadline to get your FASFA filled out for financial aid. Yes, this can be filled out later and you will still be eligible for government loans, if you qualify, but you may miss out on grant money. There is only a limited amount of grant money available for students. Grants are FREE money, that as long as you stay a student in good standing you don't have to pay it back!!! Loans must be paid back. Your school must have this information before they can provide you with ANY financial aid. No FASFA-no financial help for college!

Finish your taxes, get your parents to finish theirs, and go to www.fafsa.ed.gov and fill out your FASFA!

Don't forget that you can e-file your taxes for free! http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html

Don't know where you will be attending yet? That's okay you can send it to multiple schools!!!

Free Money: The Swagbucks Edition

Okay over the next few weeks I'm going to be posting several programs that allow you to earn FREE money! These are mostly programs that allow you to earn points and exchange them for cash, amazon.com gift cards, other gift cards, ipods and more.

Swagbucks is my absolute FAVORITE! I've been using Swagbucks for about 18 months now and I've gotten over $300 in amazon gift cards just for using the internet! I down loaded the Swagbucks toolbar and I use it to get to every site I go to! I think I win points at least once a day for typing in facebook or gmail!

Okay, so how Swagbucks works is that you earn points on random searches, watching videos, using the toolbar, voting in their daily poll, completing surveys, and redeeming bonus codes they issue! How fast or slow you earn points is up to how involved you want to be, but either way you are adding to your free points account!

The best prize, well what I think is best, is the $5 amazon gift cards for 450 swagbucks or sbs.

Let's do a little bit of math. Say you used your toolbar (1sb), checked your survey page (1sb), clicked about 5 times through your No Obligation Special Offers (NOSO) (2sb), voted in the daily poll (1sb), won a search for 11 sb, won a second search for 8sb, and won a third search for 12sb...In ONE day you have 39sb! I'll be honest 40sb is about the minimum I get in one day! It's usually more like 80-150! Today they had 3 bonus codes, I won 3 searches, used the link on their homepage to buy a groupon, filled out a 10 minute survey at the end of the day (with a few hours left to go) I earned 520s! I just cashed it in for $5 amazon gift cards! The best part? I did the survey and everything while I was watching Criminal Minds tonight, so even though it took me 10 mins I felt like I got paid to watch TV!

Last year I earned enough to buy Christmas presents for my entire family! This year my goal is to cover all birthday and Christmas presents...and maybe a blu-ray player for me!

Seriously don't wait go sign up HERE!

Got a question? Let me know in the comments!

Oh the beginnings...

College is great and fun, until you realize how much you have to pay for! You may be able to get a free t-shirt on campus, maybe a few meals too, but wow expenses add up! What is really crazy is that it seems that everyone around you has an unending cash flow to do whatever they want!

There are a lot of free programs online that help you earn Amazon Gift Cards and Cash, and they are FREE! Also there are great deals at stores with free printable coupons online! They are amazing!

This blog will be geared towards what my friends and I buy. It's probably pretty similar to the average college student!

I am on my second master's degree and second university, plus a stint at a community college. I know a lot about surviving college, so hopefully I can help with that. Yes, financial aid is a pain at every university, just in case you were wondering.

I've even taught a few labs and been the "substitute prof" in a few lecture courses, so I can give advice on how to talk to your professors!