My $1k Challenge Recap: 8/16/17

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It's two days into my quest to come up with an extra $1,000 before November, and I'm off to a great start already. I came up with a total of $123.20 to put toward my new laptop in just a couple of hours tonight. Here's what I did to come up with that amount so far: 1. Cashed out a gift card from Cross Media Panel The Cross Media Panel is a Google panel that pays you to install software on your computer, smartphone, and/or tablet. The apps share your web and mobile app usage with Google, who use the information to improve their products and services. In exchange, they pay panelists weekly rewards that can be redeemed for electronic gift cards. The panel software is so unobtrusive that I generally forget I'm a member until I really want something. I had $31.50 when I checked my account today, so I redeemed the highest value gift card I could for my employer. Amount gained: $25 2. Rolled my loose change Every so often I round up all the loose coins in my purse and deposit them in my Moola bottle. That's not just a cutesy name for the bottle--it's a Moola brand milk bottle that I inherited from my great uncle Bob. Amount gained: $80.20 3. Raided my bottle deposits Bottle deposits really aren't much of a thing here in Arizona, but there's a local dairy a few hours away who have some really awesome products that are sold in glass bottles at a handful of stores in my area. Each bottle has a refundable $2 deposit on it, which you get back when you bring your empty bottles back to the store. I set the money aside in one of their jars that I decided to keep, and occasionally use it for small things the kids want to buy. Amount gained: $16 I also did a few things that won't pay off immediately but will help contribute to my laptop fund: -ran nCrave videos on Swagbucks -ran videos on the InboxDollars app for Android -requested a bunch of mystery shopping assignments for the next couple of weeks -completed a survey for Harris Poll -set up the Cross Media Panel on all three device types they support, which will increase my weekly earnings -set up a few store visits to audit products for companies -participated a bit here on myLot It feels good to be off to such a great start! I wasn't expecting to have quite as much loose change as I did. I still have a big jar full of pennies to count and roll, too, but I ran out of wrappers before I could get to them tonight.