Today I brought an equal amount of scrap metal to both TT&E and Raleigh Scrap Metal as a challenge. I wanted to see who would pay me more money!

One of the things I do for extra money is pick up metal being throwing away. I store it at home until I have a bunch, and then I bring it to metal recycling. I don’t make much money. However, I figure it’s better for it to be recycled than thrown away. I have heard that in Raleigh, TT&E pays the most money for metal.

I am going to point out a couple of things: I have to drive by Raleigh Scrap to get to TT&E. I’ve gone to TT&E a couple of times. The main gate guy acts like he doesn’t speak English very well. This is annoying; everyone else in the place appears to speak English just fine. It’s just the gate guy who pretends he doesn’t know English. This makes TT&E very confusing for me. While waiting in line, I asked a guy if I was in the correct line (because of the gate guy), and he confirmed then I was in the correct line. Then when I got to the metal people, one of them tried to tell me I should have gone elsewhere. I have the manager’s cell number as the first time I went to the place, they were even worse. Raleigh Scrap is much easier. I really wanted Raleigh Scrap to win this challenge.

I tried to bring an equivalent amount of metal to both TT&E and Raleigh Scrap Metal:

Each company got half of the above. This study occurred on August 14, 2020, in the morning. I got to Raleigh Scrap at 9:43 a.m., and TT&E at 9:55 a.m.

My first stop was Raleigh Scrap Metal Recycling.

They were really easy to get through. The guys who worked there were cutting up and telling stories to each other, so the atmosphere was convivial.

I earned $5.00. They used an ATM machine and rounded down (they rounded to the nearest dollar), so my $5.46 was rounded down to $5.00:

My next stop was TT&E.

TT&E was really confusing. The gate guy does not help at all. He told me to wait behind the white truck.
What he means is you have to go in and make an intimidating U-Turn and wait at the stop sign you just went through.

They did pay better, though: $6.92.

TT&E does not do rounding like Raleigh Scrap Metal. You just bring your slip to a cashier. They pay you what is on the slip.So it was $5.46 at Raleigh Scrap Metal (rounded down to $5.00) vs $6.95 at TT&E. This is a big difference.
TT&E paid more for drop cable and steel, while Raleigh Scrap paid more for the fans.

I am not sure if the weight was the same as I did not weigh it. If TT&E buys your metal, it may be better to go there. They are sometimes picky, however, and don’t always take everything. Raleigh Scrap Metal is not as picky. They will buy almost anything, so if TT&E turns you away, I should go to Raleigh Scrap on the way home.

I am now going to use my $12 in earnings to buy some stock shares on Robinhood!

If your headlights look like mine above, then for around $10 or less and in less than an hour, you can make your headlights look much better.

The product I used was “Turtle Wax headlight lens restorer kit.”

The directions were pretty easy to follow, and I can see lots of improvement.

I guess the only note I can add on this: you get a lot of extra product. I’d recommend watching a YouTube  video before beginning. If you hold off doing the sealing wipe (Step 3), you should have enough product to restore the headlights on two cars.

I went through steps one and two on two separate vehicles, then did step 3 as quickly as I could on both vehicles. I am not sure if this limits how effective this product will be. I see a big improvement in the headlights. Even if this improvement is temporary, it’s worth $10 to me.

Let me know if you have used this or a similar product.

I do not get any perks if you go with this thrifty idea. If you enjoy Wendy’s Frosty’s, you can land a free frosty with every Wendy’s purchase. It’s a jr. size frosty, but do you don’t need more that. They will often give you a small frosty instead of a jr. The price of the key tag is $2. If you have last year’s key tag, you will get a free frosty for the purchase on the new key tag. These go on sale normally around November, and you can buy them until they are sold out. A friend was able to buy one in February because there were still some left.

I would recommend everyone get ones of these if you like Wendy’s and Frosty’s. If you combine Bumped (and sometimes) DOSH, you can stack your savings. For around $4 you can get a Wendy’s double stack, spicy chicken nuggets, fries, a drink, and a frosty. Add in Bumped and you get $0.12 of Wendy’s stock, and then with Dosh and you can get an additional $0.12 back.

If you sign up for DOSH with my link, I get $5 and you get $5!

I have used DOSH for a while. They have a lot of local restaurants, and sometimes gas stations in their app. If you go out to eat frequently, you will randomly get money back on food you are buying anyway. The best deals for me I have seen is a 3% back on Wendy’s, and a 3% back on Exxon. These deals come and go. The deals will not always stay the same. You can randomly get 5% back by eating Mexican or Thai food.

You might as well give it a try, You save yourself a couple of dollars, and make an additional $5 by signing up!

I get a bonus if you sign up with my link, so please sign up with my link!

I like Swagbucks. You get 2 points for each receipt you upload, 1 point for a daily poll and additional points for shopping, and surveys. Through Swagbucks, you can get points in a variety of ways.

Pros: They allow for me to stack my receipts so that is the main way I use them.They also pay me for watching videos. I will leave my system running and get 20 points for that day.

Negative: For the surveys you only get 1 point if you don’t qualify for a survey. I very rarely qualify. You can currently get 2 points per receipt, but the receipt interface is a little clunky.

Rewards: Current there is an Amazon $25 gift card on sale for 2200 points, and a $25 Paypal gift for 2500 points. This makes each point worth about 2 cents.

I recommend Swagbucks for the receipt stacking alone. Add in a daily poll for fun. You have nothing to lose. It won’t make you rich, but you will probably earn enough points to redeem some reward cards at least once a year.

I am not including my referral link, because I will not be using the Miles app. At first it sounded great. You get miles (or points) for allowing the app to track where you go. Then you can use these points to get things.

I installed the app, and started looking at what you could get from installing this app. However, I found nothing worth keeping this app on my phone for. Additionally, since the app is a GPS app, it uses significant battery life.

Every reward is like a food delivery or first time use of service option. Miles offered $5 off $50 at Target. However, it is only for qualifying purchases, and not for clothing. I would nearly always be able to get a better deal searching around.  I also felt like this app was double dipping. Miles is making money off selling information about where you go, and then making money on sign-up referrals. I am uninstalling it now!

If you signup with my link, I will get $0.25!

I have been running 1Q for a while. I used to like it more. It has been a while since I have received a question I was able to respond to quickly enough. When you are able to respond to the question fast enough you get paid $0.25 a question. If there are 2 questions you will get $0.50. They pay with Paypal, and the money is there in a day or two.

My only negative is that there are not enough questions. Sign up, and you may get a quarter!

If you sign up with my link, I will get a kickback.

GetUpside is a way to say additional money at the gas station. It often stacks with my previous posts for saving money at the gas station.

What I like about the app: GetUpside acts like a gas buddy app. It will show you any gas stations in your area that it will allow you to save money at. It will also stack with gas station memberships (more on this below). You can cash out once you have $15. If you want to cash out before this, it costs $1 from your rewards. They will pay out to Paypal, or mail a check.

The app is a little clunky. You have to confirm before you buy the gas where you are buying the gas. You then have 4 hours to upload a receipt.

Some negatives: Most gas stations just allow you to stack. However some will not, and you won’t know until you submit your receipt. You will most likely still get a reward, but it might be less. The only station where I have seen this is Shell. I still use it at Shell, but I would suggest going to Exxon or BP first.

Overall opinion: Why not stack some more savings on your gas purchase? I don’t want to buy gas anyway (environmentally unfriendly and expensive), so I want to save as much as I can.

I save a little money on my Fundrise account if you use my link. Fundrise is an EREIT. EREIT is an equity real estate investment trust. I have been investing in Fundrise for a couple of months. I am making a little under 10%. Fundrise expects around 8% returns.

The minimum starting investment is $500. This is a good starting amount. Once you are invested in Fundrise you can sell your investment in under 90 days. Once you pass 90 days but up to 3 years you will be charged 3% to sell; from 3 to 4 years the charge is 2%; and from 4 to 5 years the selling charge is 1%. After 5 years there is no charge for selling. Also IMPORTANT: You may not be able to sell your Fundrise account immediately. Fundrise will not break other investments to cash you out. This means if there is a big stock market crash, investors won’t pull their funds out immediately. If you want to add any additional money to your investment later, the minimum is $100.

Some negatives: There are 3 plans I got to choose from. There may be fewer offerings, depending on your initial investment amount. I got to choose from Supplemental Income, Balanced, or Long-Term Growth. You are not able to choose manually which EREITS you buy. You just get a list of percentages of where you money is going when you purchase.

I like the interface of Fundrise, even though it’s a little limited. I like the sell rules. I suggest adding it to your alternative investment ideas.

I get points if you join with my link. So please, join with my link. I have been using MyPoints for a while. The best thing is you get points just for checking your email. I filter all their emails into a directory, and check it randomly during the week. I normally get 20 to 30 points a week by doing this. If you log-in daily you can get a point from the daily poll.  I use MyPoints as a gateway for purchases from HomeDepot.

Some negatives: MyPoints does not give as high returns on points as some competing places. For example I don’t use MyPoints for Puritan Pride, or Walmart. They also don’t have a browser app, so you have to manually search and click through. I have gone through a long survey and not received any points.  It can also take some time for them to give points for purchases.

Overall: You are not going to get rich from MyPoints. However, adding this 30 second daily moneymaker is worthwhile. Buying through places like HomeDepot is also decent. I enjoy MyPoints.