Boomertowne review – proceed with caution
I’ve reviewed Boomertowne in the past, and talked about how it used to be a legitimate place to earn gift cards. Even after June 1, when they made some changes, I still thought they were pretty good. Now I would like to change my opinion.
They currently owe my husband and I over $500 in gift cards, and nothing has been sent for orders placed after May 9. Apparently communications are starting to break down (checking the Discussion Forums on the Boomertowne web site is one indication). There are reports that some people have gotten a gift card here and there, but the overwhelming majority of people are wondering if the site is going to tank.
So for now, I would not recommend this site. Hopefully they will get things back on track, but the lack of communication is, in my opinion, a very bad sign.
If you’re a member of Boomertowne, when was the last time you received a gift card?
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The Money Case
If you’re looking for a free tool to help you at your first attempt at making a budget, I would recommend taking some time to check out The Money Case. After taking a couple of minutes to put your initial information in, you are given a breakdown of your budget by percentages. After taking the time to input your actual expenditures, you are able to compare them to your budget. Good stuff!
This software is very visual, with graphs that make it easy to see where your money is going. I currently use Microsoft Money, and most of the time the graphs aren’t accurate – this software does a better job.
If I could change anything about this program, I would like the ability to enter monthly income (as opposed to yearly). Although my husband’s salary remains constant throughout the year, mine changes monthly. Therefore, the accuracy of the percentages is off for our budget.
I would highly recommend this program for anyone just starting out with a budget, as well as anyone considering going from a double income family to a single income family. Being able to look at percentages can really help one to see where extraneous expenses can be cut, and whether or not it is realistic to be able to afford to live on one income.
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Thoughts on Boomertowne changes
**UPDATE: I no longer recommend Boomertowne – they have not cashed in on gift cards since the early part of May, and are not communicating with their users. Please see this post for more information.
At the end of January, I wrote a brief review about a site called Boomertowne. I still visit this site daily, but a couple of things have changed since that post, so I thought I would write an update.
What has changed?
1. An individual can earn up to 1500 points a day. Depending on how focused I am, this can take me anywhere from 30 minutes to about an hour.
2. If you sign up now, it takes twice as long to earn prizes (older members have a different points system). A $25 gift card is 25,000 points for new members. You have to figure out if it is worth your time. As a new member, that would take about 17 days. If you can earn your 1500 daily points in 30 minutes, that is a little less than $3/hour for your effort.
3. Once you earn a total of 100,000 points, you become a Gold member and get an additional 10% in points for the activities you complete. For example, I get an additional 150 points for every day that I earn 1500 points. Once you earn a total of 300,000 points, you become a Platinum member and get an additional 25% in points your activities.
4. They do have an affiliate program now. If you are interested, leave a comment with your e-mail address and I will send you a link for signing up. It only benefits me (I get extra points), but I would appreciate it!
This site is legitimate. I have received multiple Best Buy, Target, and Visa gift cards from them. I am saving the Best Buy and Target gift cards for Christmas gifts. We’ve used a couple of the $50 Visa gift cards for landscaping and toys. I am currently working on getting a Wii (more on that in another post!). With any luck it will arrive before the bad weather hits!
Do you have any sites that you visit daily to earn some extra cash?
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Boomertowne review
**UPDATE: Boomertowne is dead. They did not cash in any gift cards since the early part of May 2008, and stopped communicating with their users. Please see this post for more information.
Boomertowne.com is one of the few legitimate sites that I have found that really gives an opportunity to make money (in the form of gift cards). Here’s a breakdown of the site:
You earn points for participating in the Boomertowne community. You can participate via chat rooms, forums, making a profile, playing games, and rating quotes or jokes (just to name a few).
You can earn up to 1,000 points a day, and can have separate accounts for each individual in a household (the limit is 4 people per mailing address). We currently have 2 accounts (myself and my husband), and I think that this is plenty. It takes me about 30 minutes a day to get 600-650 points for my account, and I do this while either watching tv or chatting on the phone. I have found that using the Safari browser loads the pages quickly when compared to Firefox or Internet Explorer.
There are a variety of prizes available, but I tend to gravitate towards gift cards or cash. There are $25 gift cards available for Target or Best Buy for 10,000 points. A $50 Visa gift card is 20,100 points. There are more expensive Visa gift cards, but currently there is no discount for saving up points for a higher valued gift card.
So far, we have redeemed our points for a $25 Target card, 2 $25 Best Buy gift cards, and a $50 Visa gift card – the site says it can take 6-8 weeks for delivery. In my experience, it has taken 2-3 weeks for the first two gift cards, and I am currently waiting on the others, which I ordered about a week ago.
I would recommend checking out this site. There is no affiliate program, and I have not been spammed with any e-mail besides the weekly newsletter, which I signed up for. We are saving the Best Buy gift cards for a second Guitar Hero guitar. I used the Target gift card for diapers and wipes, and plan on using the Visa gift card for a new phone. In this case, the gift cards earned are some money saved!
If you do check out this site, please let me know what you think!
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