Category Archives: Goals

Saving on Saturday 08/06/2016

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This month we are approaching our grocery budget a little bit different. First, our summer is coming to an end. Next week is our final “slow” week of the summer followed by our beach trip. So after looking at our supplies and realizing that we are to back to school days and crazy nights. So the decision was made to go ahead and get things ready for our crazy busy life. We headed to Aldi on Wednesday night to buy some staples and make sure we had can goods. Next it was Costco on Thursday. Fortunately, Costco had an awesome sale on convenience foods and lots of things that make our lunches easy to pack in the mornings.  Zach and I also went to Walmart and grabbed 40 lunchables which were on sale for $1 each. These are awesome for the kids at the beach and also for a special lunch treat.   On Friday, I stopped at CVS to grab the laundry detergent that was on sale. This is a ton of shopping this week but I am vey happy with feeling confident for the first couple of month of fall.

Next is actually getting some things in the freezer for grab and go dinners. Matt picked up 80# of ground beef that we ordered from Zaycon on Friday afternoon.  This is some of the freshest meat we have ever received the date stamped on all the packages is July 23rd, so 2 weeks ago this was a live animal.  We decided to simple put in the freezer 20 pounds or 10 packages to use for things that call for raw meat.  Next we spent five hours, fry up and packaging the rest in one pound containers. These are also for pulling out for taco meat, spaghetti sauce, hamburger helper, sloppy joes, chili and stews or crock pot recipes that call for a pound of ground beef. I estimate this should last us six to nine months. This morning I made a large batch of French toast. The kids and I enjoyed some for breakfast and the rest was frozen to stick in the toaster for a quick easy breakfast.

We have a very full pantry and freezers. I plan to reduce our grocery budget to $100 in September and $300 in October. I may be able to keep it low for the rest of the year depending on how things work out with sales and how much the kids decide to eat.

Ways I Am Earning Money

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I have been using all three of these for several months now so I am confident that they are legit. You will notice up front I am not making an income but extra money is extra money.

  1. IBOTTA- this is an app on my iPhone. I actually have been using for over a year now. I earn extra slow on it because I don’t look at it until after my trips to the store, if I purchased something on the list great if not so what. I earned approximately $20 in the last year but no money spent so a great extra.  To use you simply download the app and every time you shop you pick your store and see what rebates are available. To claim a rebate you first either watch a short video or answer a question, then you must scan the bar code of the items and barcode on receipt. I have to submit a picture of my Costco receipts but not difficult at all.
  2. MPlaces- another app on my IPHONE. This is like a GPS. The idea is that you “check into” all the places you visit in a day. You can complete 25 daily check in each day and you also receive “prizes” for the check-ins completed the day before. I use this app at stoplights. I will occasionally pull in a parking lot to complete several additional check-ins if needed. I compare this to “Pokémon Go” except I am receiving actual money for this. Just to give you an idea, I try to achieve my 25 check in daily mainly at stoplights and typically earn 500 points a day. I cash out at 12500 for a $5 gift card and start again. I usually watch a couple of short videos as part of the “prizes” so this increases my points as well. Matt has linked his tweeter account and received 10 extra points for tweeting each check in but I don’t have a tweeter account so that does not work for me.  Currently, I am earning about $5 a month again not a windfall but it is easy and does not require extra money
  3. Swagbucks- This one is easy to do but difficult to explain. I am going to give some step by step instructions and examples of how I complete. If you have a question ask I love to help people earn extra money.  First this is an app but I usually complete on the computer.   You can find a bit of everything and many different ways to earn swagbucks. I typically take surveys and watch videos. Here is a referral link that will take you directly to swagbucks.  This link will not hurt or cost  you anything to use but it does link you to my account and I get 1 SwagBuck for each 10 you earn. I want to stress that I am not taking anything from you but am being rewarded for getting you signed up. Ways to earn include:
    1. Everyday I go to the left side of the page and complete the daily survey(1), daily crave (1) and Daily Offers (NOSO) which is 2. The key to Daily offers is to hit the skip button until you get to the end. I NEVER fill in any  information.
    2. At some point during the day, I will open the SwagTV app on my IPAD and run the movie trailers. They will usually just run without me having to touch. You can earn a total of 10 swagbucks this way.
    3. Watching videos- Click the watch button on the right side. I usually start with NCrave videos which again is a button on the right side. Find the auto run ones because they will run without you interacting. A couple of tips I have learned is that you can not run two of the same type of videos at the same time, however you are allowed to watch an NCRAVE in one window and a regular video in a second window.
    4. Surveys- These can be found under Answer. I usually set a time limit for myself and if I have not qualified for a survey within 20 or 30 minutes I simple stop.
    5. Purchases online- If I am planning to make an online purchase I will go through shop first to see if it will qualify. I did purchase my new freezer this way and had no trouble using my Home Depot account with it. I am planning to make reservations this way as well.
    6. Subscriptions- I will state upfront that I only purchase things that I would normally buy and only if making money. Today I purchased the Birch Box subscription which is under discovery. I paid $9.99 out of our grocery budget and received 1500 SB ($15) these credit instantly.
    7. Searching the internet- You can be rewarded for searching using the bar at the top of the screen. This is very random and never certain so I use if I remember.

At the top of your swagbuck screen you will see several items one is your daily goal. This changes daily, by reaching your goal,  you receive the extra SB, for example today my goal is 90 to receive 8SB and 106 to receive 10.  These extra SB are awarded separately once a month between the 1st and 15th. I usually stop after reaching one or both of my goals for the day. If I qualify for one survey and reach my goal, I stop. This way I don’t spend more than an hour a day on swagbucks. Under the smiley face are your record and is pretty self explanatory.  They usually issue 1 or 2 extra swag codes a day but I usually miss because I am at work.  So how much am I earning. I try to earn 100 SB a day but this is about 60% of the time. I am earning approximately $50 a month with this. This money goes straight to my Disney trip.

 

Any questions? Let me know if you have any success!

 

 

 

 

July in Review

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Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. This is post number 15. I have been working hard the last two weeks to catch up and already have some plans for the next weeks so on to better things next month.

2.Weight Loss– 175#. BLAH!

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. Nope. I am hoping to finish reading through the Bible this month and start something new.

Personal goals are a failure for the second month straight.  Not much more to say in regards to that.

Financial- 

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Fail

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $550. Fail . We spent $818 in Groceries this month. I am hoping for improvements in the next 2 months but if not I will again increase the budget!

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month- Fail! We spent $424 this month including a new battery.

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- Fail. I am meeting bare minimal payments on everything but really was hoping to begin to get control and reduce this number.

So if you read this review you can see that we have not righted our ship yet in fact most days I think we are headed in the wrong direction. My plan PRAY!

Five Things Friday

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  1. Today is the fifth Friday of July which also means I receive my third paycheck for July. I am paid every two weeks but budget based on two checks a month. This third check will cover our trip to the beach and our grocery overages for the past couple of weeks.
  2. Tomorrow night we are planning a “girls night in” as Zach is spending the night with Amanda. Matt will be working.
  3. Tonight is the end of one of the two “quiet” weeks of the summer. Piano and cheerleading were all the activities for the week. Next week is back to busy with a trip planned to Emerald Point and the girls have sign language camp all day Friday.
  4. My best friend used the same analog yesterday to explain MPLACES as I have been thinking all along. It is like Pokémon Go, as I am always trying to “check in” places at stoplights but in two months I have earned $15 in gift cards.  MPLACES is an app on my phone, ask me more if you are interested.
  5. I have officially booked our next trip to Disney. The goal of this trip is to pay for all or as much as possible by using apps and other found money. This money will not come from our regular budget at all and does not including saving on any bills or the differences in budgeted amounts vs. amount spent.

Grocery Budget Buster

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I will be the first to admit that I don’t grocery shop like most people but I do shop in a way that over a period of a year, saves money and feeds us well.  I did excellent in the month of June of keeping cost low and even decided to reduce our monthly budget. I knew that sometime this summer, I would need to restock on meat and some other items, even last Sunday I had high hope of holding down our spending for the month. We had been to Costco twice and spent a total of $497 . But as of today that is not possible.

Last Friday, Matt texted that we were out of toilet paper so I stopped by the CVS, where I thought our preferred brand was on sale. It was on sale but not what I thought so I just grabbed one package.  The sale I was thinking about started on Sunday. Sunday night Lily and I headed back to CVS to grab the toilet paper of course and a couple of other deals. I was disappointed that I had to get a couple of rainchecks which threw off my savings. My goal is always 60% but with buying the needed toilet paper and also some additional sunscreen I ended up spending $27.25 and saving 48% or $24.71.  I did start this trip without any ECB and ended with $2 so not a complete fail.

Next, the one store in our area that doubles coupons started a super sale, which doubles coupons up to $2. I looked over the list and realized that many of items we need were available so last night we headed out. I was also able to grab drinks that we will be taking with us for our beach trip.  I did hit my 60% mark, spending $77.97 and saving 140 or 64%. I used three rainchecks that included 10 packs of hot dogs, flour and sugar, all items that I did not have coupons on but were a great deal with the rain check.

Finally, we are still following our monthly plan with lots of different items on the weekend. We decided to have Hamburger Helper on Monday since both girls had cheerleading. Matt and I realized that we were using our last pack of ground beef.  Typically we purchase between 30 and 50 pounds at a time and fry and place in one pound bags which make meals really quick and easy to fix. Zaycon Foods is where I always purchase chicken breast and I have been pleased with the ground beef in the past. I got an email this morning with a pick up for ground beef next week and an additional 12% off code. We decided to go ahead and purchase 80 pounds of ground beef. We plan to fry up 50 pounds and just freeze the other 30 pounds to use as raw meat. Total cost for 80 pounds of ground beef $215.38 or $2.69 a pound which is the cheapest I have seen this year.

Currently I have spent $818.07 so a total budget fail but it should allow us to eat well through the rest of the year. My goal will be to lower the grocery budget to $400 for both August and September to keep us on track for the year.

Monday Musing 1/25/20016

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  • We have 5 weeks before Zach and Kendall start back to school and 4 before Lily begins her adventure in a Charter School. The next three weeks are what we consider slower because the girls have cheer on Monday and Thursday. They will also have piano once a week.
  • I was able to make a deposit on our next Disney trip this week using money that we have earned from Swagbucks. Matt and I are both using this site to earn extra money. I am so excited. The goal of this trip is to totally pay for it with money not included in our regular budget!
  • Our garden has not produced like we had hope but one of the biggest reason is the heat. Currently in NC, we are experiencing Day 26 of the summer with highs in the 90s. A typical summer is 29 days of 90 degree temperatures.
  • Matt has assembled the new water barrel to start collecting any rain water. Hopefully we will be able to water the garden on a regular bases without increasing our water bill.
  • I did plant 3 additional tomato plants and a dill plant this weekend with hopes of increasing our harvest.
  • We have really enjoyed our 2 trips to Emerald Point, a water park, this summer. We hope to go a couple more times but plan on spending only 4 or 5 hours at the park instead of 8.
  • The plan for August is to re-stock the pantry so our spending may be really close to budget.

5 Things Friday

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  1. We have survived our busiest week of the Summer!  Vacation Bible School everyday in addition to swim and piano. Matt is also working tonight and tomorrow so things are different to say the least.  One of the causalities of this week is this is only my 5 or 6th blog post for the month. I am hoping to get several post out this weekend to play catch up.
  2. I had two specific yes! answers to pray today. I am so thankful and excited!
  3. Our garden tomatoes are starting to come in, slowly but surely, I have made 2 batches of spaghetti and a couple of cans of tomato sauce.
  4. We purchased a new kitchen table and finally got it assembled yesterday!  It will seat 7 regular and up to 12 with the expandable end!
  5. Today is payday so I need to sit down and work on the budget today. I am excited that both our gas and grocery budget is below for the month. In addition we have only eaten out once this month!

June in Review

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June was a difficult month both financial and emotional. Things did not at all go as planned with my mother accident and hospitalization. Today, I feel like our summer has official started so I hope to enjoy some down time and get things in proper order for the upcoming months.

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. This is post number 12. I started out strong but things change. Next month should be better!

2.Weight Loss– 175#.  I am proud to say that I have been able to exercise at least 3 times a week this month but the scale is still not my friend.

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. Nope. I am hoping to finish reading through the Bible this month and start something new.

Personal goals are a failure this month. Not much more to say in regards to that.

Financial- 

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Fail

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $700. Goal Met. We spent $356 in Groceries this month. I am so excited to see this number and I hope to have a repeat for the next 2 months. I will say that my cabinets are starting to look a little bare but with veggies and stuff coming in our freezers are full!

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month- Goal Met! Still have $54 to spare.

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- Fail. I am meeting bare minimal payments on everything but really was hoping to begin to get control and reduce this number.

As you can tell we are struggling. My goal for July is to use the third paycheck of the month to get us back on track. We have been doing some belt tightening in June and plan to continue in July but also enjoy our summer!

 

Prepping for the Summer!

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June 9th- 5th grade graduation was the most important thing on the schedule, however this did not occur until 1pm so there were a few more things to accomplish today. Today is the last full day of school and my last day off while school is in session. We have big plans for the summer including using our season passes for the water park and enjoying the pool as much as possible.  I am also really trying to get a good handle on our finances and eliminate/reduce significantly our spending.  Finally, we are schedule to pick up 120# of chicken breast next Tuesday, an hour prior to the beginning of our first swim meet.

Given that information,  my plan for today was to  prepping as much stuff for the summer and next week as possible. We made a trip to both Food Lion and Aldi this morning to gather needed ingredients for our chicken. I am planning a separate post with the specific details of what we are doing differently this time when we pick up the chicken. I did cook 36 cups of rice.  I separated most of this into 3 cup portions to use with the chicken next week. I also made a double batch of taco rice, of which one meal is for the beach, which  went in the freezer but the rest is fast easy meals. I made a huge batch of egg salad and started 6 mini loaves of bread for some real good sandwiches. Our garden is starting to produce so I was able to cook up 3 containers of carrot, squash and onions to use in casseroles this winter. In addition I was able to freeze another bag of dill and basil.

I am pleased with the progress today and hope next week will not be as hetic and busy as I am afraid!

May in Review

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May did not bring the expected income boast that we were counting on but it did teach us a valuable lesson to not count on things but on God. We are continuing to move along and have now put in place some money saving belt tightening measure that hopefully will keep us on steady ground for the summer. The lost of our stand up freezer which contained most of our vegetables will have a financial impact during the next  several months as well.

 

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. This is post number 17, life is crazy and I need to make a plan.

2.Weight Loss– 175#.  Struggling with time for this still. I am starting to get some regular exercise and decided to try a supplement as well. But the scale still is not moving in the direction I want as quickly as I want.

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. Goal Met.  Working on improving this. I realize that once the summer starts I have to make time to do this no matter what!

Personal goals are a failure this month. Not much more to say in regards to that.

Financial- 

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Fail

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $700. Fail – Total spending for the month is $879.00. Which is a decrease from last month. I did purchase 120# of chicken this month so hopefully we will be heading to much lower grocery bills for both June and July.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month- Goal Met! Still have $19 to spare.

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- Fail. I am meeting bare minimal payments on everything but really was hoping to begin to get control and reduce this number.

As you can tell we are struggling. I am not sure what the summer holds but I have placed a plan to reduce spending in all categories but at the same time. We are not in a financial crises and we are still enjoying many things in life. I am going to end with the statement that God is in control and his plans are always much better than my plans so I am trusting regardless of what the numbers say.