One of the many ways I make money online is with Pinecone Research. Pinecone Research is the number one survey site to me. They are legitimate, pay quickly, and the surveys are always interesting. You can take a survey to let them know what you think about the product and sometimes you will receive a product to test in the mail. That is always my favorite part! I have been doing Pinecone Research surveys for years, and have always been paid quickly and for every paid survey invitation I get.

You may be wondering: How do I sign up for Pinecone Research? You have to find a Pinecone Banner, and fill out the information to be considered. Only one person is allowed per household, but the surveys all pay the same amount: $3. Plus, you are entered into a bi-weekly drawing to win cash prizes. If you do any survey sites, this would be the best! Give it a shot; what do you have to lose?

A few weeks ago, I decided I was going to try The Grocery Game because I heard so many people raving about it. I did the $1 trial for four weeks. Basically how it works is you pick stores in your area, you’ll get “Teri’s List” which tells you the items on sale and which coupons to use to get the product the cheapest, and you maximize your savings. You want to be saving pretty much every coupon that you can find and organizing them so you save the most money. Remember, it’s only $1 for four weeks. After the four weeks are over, it is $10 for eight weeks for one store, and $5 for eight weeks for every additional store. I chose Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, and Rite Aid for my lists. If I had decided to continue playing The Grocery Game, I would have been charged $25 every eight weeks for the four store lists. At the end of my four week trial, I decided not to continue playing through TheGroceryGame.com. Why?

Many of the items on the list were not necessities, junk food, or other items that aren’t must- haves. We try to eat very healthful foods in our household, and there just weren’t enough organic and healthy foods on the list. Sure, I can get Oreo cookies for free, but we don’t eat them any way, so what’s the point in buying them? Also, if you are a family that eats a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables like you should, those items are going to be a little more expensive and you’ll have to wait until it goes on sale to buy it anyway. I just felt like there was too much junk on the list.

I don’t feel that I really saved enough money to justify the time it took. I know that there are people out there that are probably pretty hardcore about playing the grocery game, but the amount of time that it takes to truly play the game is not worth it to me. Plus, you need to be stockpiling coupons, and let’s face it, you’ve got to search for the coupon, cut it out, organize them, and then remember to use them! I just don’t have the patience for it. I know it does work very well for some people.

I do think the message board is a vast amount of knowledge on freebies, deals, and other “hot tips”. Back around Christmas time, I visited Teri’s Message Board to get some “hot tips” for Christmas shopping. I ended up buying around $60 worth of Victoria’s Secret items for $10. It was pretty crazy. I really did enjoy that, and I saved a bunch of money and had 4 Christmas gifts for different people in my family. Definitely check out the message boards when you have the time.

All in all, The Grocery Game didn’t work out for me. I’m absolutely not going to say that it is a bad idea, I just think that a lot of it could be done by yourself, saving you even more money. $10 for 8 weeks can add up. I just am not willing to spend the time and money on playing the grocery game. I’ll just continue to shop for deals, stockpile when I get a good price, and use coupons like I have been. Heck, at least that way I’m guaranteed to save at least $65 a year by doing it myself!