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Tip of the Day Tuesday: Want to get out of debt? Start with a budget!

January 12, 2010 by

I truly believe that one of the reasons people get into debt so easily is because they don’t have a budget. When you have no idea where your money is going, it’s easy to become “removed” from it and much easier to continue spending without really thinking about it.

If you’re new to budgeting, here are a few tips to get you started:

Find out where your money is going

Spend a few weeks or even a month tracking EVERY penny you spend (yes, that’s right EVERY penny…even that change you spend here and there at the vending machines at work should be included). This will help put you back in touch with your finances and will help you understand where your are spending your money. Many times, it is pretty shocking to realize how much you have been spending and what you have been spending it on.

Create a budget

I think one of the biggest mistakes people make when they are creating a budget is that they don’t account for all of the categories where they actually spend, which inevitably leads to breaking your budget.

People typically remember the “big” things when creating their budget like: mortgage/rent, car payments, utility bills, groceries, and eating out, but often forget the “little” things like gifts, hair cuts, clothing, entertainment money, and auto or home repairs. I have heard people say that they don’t “need” some of those things, but sooner or later, you will have to buy a birthday gift or a baby gift or a Christmas gift. Unless you cut your own hair, at some point, you will need a hair cut. Unless you sew your own clothing, you’ll probably want or need something new sometime. And…inevitably, something will go wrong with your home or car eventually. It’s better to be prepared for these things ahead of time than to be scrambling trying to find the money when the need actually arises because chances are at that point, you won’t have the money.

There are some great free tools online to help you create a budget. Here are a few:

*Basic Budgeting Worksheet from BetterBudgeting.com

*Quickie budget and Monthly Cash Flow Planning from DaveRamsey.com (I personally use his “Gazelle budget program” for planning our budget. You can access a “lite” version or sign up for a free trial here.)

Once you’ve created your budget, stick to it!

Creating a budget isn’t the “hard” part. The hard part comes in actually sticking to the budget you’ve created. For our family, one of the best moves we have made was going to a cash envelope system. Research shows that the average person spends 12-18% more when they are using “plastic” to pay for things. From personal experience, I can tell you that this is true. When you’re using plastic rather than cash you have a tendency again to remove yourself from what you’re actually spending.

When our family switched to a cash envelope system, it was surprising that we actually had money left at the end of the month most of the time. Suddenly expenses that had seemed “important” in the past really weren’t as important when we were spending real money to pay for them.

When people are first starting out using the envelope system, I often have them ask which categories we use. We actually have quite a few envelopes, and it took some trial and error to get to the point where we are at now, but I like to know exactly where our money is going and this is what worked out best for us. Here are the categories we use:

*Allowance (this is money my daughter can earn for completing weekly jobs)
*Auto repairs/maintenance (this is for things like oil changes and minor things that come up…if there is money left at the end of the month, it goes into our “sinking fund”)
*Blow money (this is money that my husband and I each get to spend on anything we want, no questions asked)
*Clothing (any money left goes into our “sinking fund’)
*Eating out/restaurants
*Entertainment
*Gifts (anything left goes into our “sinking fund”)
*Hair care
*Home repairs/maintenance (this is for things like replacing light bulbs, AC vents, etc…if there is money left at the end of the month, it goes into our “sinking fund”)
*Groceries
*Miscellaneous (this is for paper goods, diapers, etc. I look at this as my “CVS” and “Walgreens” filler money)
*Prescriptions and over the counter medications
*Toiletries (this is for those little “extras” that come up ~ toothpaste, toilet paper, contact solution, etc.)

If you’re wondering what a “sinking fund” is, it’s basically money that you save for an expense that you know is going to come up. For us, we have sinking funds for things like auto registration/repairs, Christmas, clothing, escrow/property taxes/home owner’s association fees, and home repairs.

We do not pay for our gas using cash. We use our debit cards for this for convenience (it’s no fun to drag two small kids into the gas station and wait in line to pay cash and then drag them back out and get them strapped back into the car).

We do not carry our envelopes with us all of the time. We keep them locked up and only pull cash out when we know that we’re going somewhere and will need it. If we don’t have enough cash for something, we either go home and get more (it’s amazing, though, how you start to re-evaluate whether you really “need” something when you’re making that extra trip) or we don’t buy it.

If you’re looking to make some really trendy envelopes for yourself, there’s a really awesome template and tutorial here.

Revisit your budget

At the end of a budgeting period (we budget from the 15th to the 14th of each month rather than from the start of a month because that’s what worked out best with the way we get paid), make sure that you revisit your budget, especially in the beginning, so you can figure out what works and doesn’t work!

Have you blogged about your budgeting plan or do you have other tips to share? Be sure to link up below!

 

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Tip of the Day Tuesday: Four Free Rewards Programs You Don’t Want to Miss!

January 5, 2010 by

If you’re on a quest to fund a “100% Cash Christmas” you should take advantage of these free rewards programs if you aren’t already and earn points that can be used toward gift cards or merchandise. You’re probably using these products already, anyway!


Disney Movie Rewards ~ When you buy a Disney movie, there is a small flier inside the box with a code on it. Enter the codes here and earn points that can be redeemed for prizes! Each month, you also get a newsletter with a free bonus code. I ordered a Cars scooter for my son’s birthday with some of the points that I earned!

If you haven’t joined yet, click here to join. Enter the code CELEBRATE (through 1/31/10) and get 50 bonus points in your account! Make sure you check the boxes of Disney movies you currently own and look for codes that you can enter, too!


Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards ~ Enter rewards codes from participating products (diapers, Pull-Ups, and wipes) and earn points for completing activities such as polls and videos on the site. Use your points to participate in sweepstakes, play instant win games, or shop for merchandise.

I won 3 $25 pre-paid Visa gift cards and a $25 Gap gift card last year through the instant win games, so if you haven’t signed up yet, you’ve got nothing to lose! You can sign up here.

Here are a few codes to get you started:

5 point codes:
BXZWTNJFSLHCPGB
BCSTDHJZXTKPPGB

1 point codes:
BGDZBQLXKNNCPGB
BGCJJZSTLNNSPGB

My Coke Rewards ~ If you drink Coke products, save your bottle caps or the codes on your boxes and enter them here to earn points! The points can be redeemed for gift cards, merchandise or more Coke products!

Pampers

Pampers Gifts to Grow ~ Enter points from participating products (diapers and wipes) and redeem them for merchandise.

Enter this code for 10 bonus points: WELCOME2GTG2010

If you have not yet joined the Pampers rewards program, you can do so and enter your codes here. You will also be entered to win a year’s supply of diapers! Right now, they also have a promotion where you earn 50 bonus points when you enter and 3 diaper codes through 2/5/10.

Check out this post here for additional codes worth 140 points!

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Tip of the Day Tuesday: The coupon question

November 3, 2009 by

There are a few questions that I have had lately regarding coupons that I thought I would answer as a part of today’s “tip of the day Tuesday.”

Often my scenarios involve buying multiple items using multiple coupons, so one question I get a lot is – Where do you get all of your coupons?

The “key” to really being able to stockpile and save is having multiple coupons so that when there are big sales, you can buy multiple items. The way that I get multiple coupons is either from eBay or a coupon clipping site.

The coupon clipping site that I use most often is The Coupon Clippers. She posts the insert coupons for the new week on Saturday mornings and if there are “hot” coupons, you have to get them quick. The average cost for “standard” coupons is .08-.12 each and the average cost for “hot” coupons (some examples include the $2.50 Electrasol coupons or the $4 Gillette razor coupons) is $.30-40/each. She also charges a shipping and handling fee of .50 and you have to have a minimum purchase of $3. If there is a variety of insert coupons that I want multiples of, this is the route that I use. She usually has limits on the “hot” coupons you can purchase (usually 10 per order and there is a waiting period before you can order more).

I buy on eBay if there are multiples of just one coupon that I want because I know I won’t meet the minimum purchase requirements for The Coupon Clippers and/or it’s a less expensive route to take.

Sometimes timing is everything, too. For example, in the 10/25 insert, some areas received a special extra insert with Target coupons. There was a Target coupon for $1 off Huggies wipes. From experience, I know that the wipes often go on sale for $1.99, and I also knew that there was a .50/1 Huggies wipes manufacturer’s coupon in the paper recently, so with both coupons, it would make the wipes only .49! I bought 20 of each right away and paid a total of $4.74 for all of those coupons, including shipping. The Target wipes coupons are now going for an average of $10-12 each for a lot of 20. The manufacturer’s coupons for the wipes are hard to even find on eBay and are going for about $2 for a lot of 20. So, sometimes timing is everything. Now, I will be able to get 20 tubs of wipes for $14.54 out of pocket (including what I paid for the coupons), which is .73/tub.

A word of caution: If you are buying in eBay, be SURE that you check the seller’s feedback first! Go with a seller that has a high feedback score and has completed lots of transactions. Many of them will have a store where they are listing multiple coupons that they have available. Sometimes you can find other coupons you need and most sellers will combine shipping if you win more than one item. I prefer “Buy it Now” auctions and auctions with free shipping. Be sure to also check the shipping costs. Some sellers will charge $1-1.50 for shipping on coupons! If you do order coupons through eBay, did you know that you can go through Ebates and get 3% cash back? (plus a $5 bonus if you are signing up for the first time!)

Here are some eBay sellers that I have had good experiences with: danicab, tarastreasures83, coupondad2nine, and blackhawk-pilots-wife

What about buying multiple papers?

I know that this works for some people and for people who do buy multiples, the cheapest route I have heard of is the 99 Cent Store, if you have one in your area. This just doesn’t work for me because I usually only want a few of the insert coupons and I end up feeling like I’m becoming loaded down with paper and inserts that go to waste.

How do you organize your coupons?
I have started filing my inserts by date. I write the date on the outside of the insert (it also appears along the “spine” of the insert) and I have a hanging file folder for each month where I file them. Most “deal match-ups” will list the insert where different coupons came from, so it’s easy for me to go straight to the insert and clip the coupons I need.

I have an accordian style holder that is divided by store and when I go out to do my shopping trips for the week, I organize my coupons for each trip in there. Also, if I buy multiples of a coupon from a coupon clipping service or on eBay, it’s usually for a sale that I already know about, so I go ahead and file them in the appropriate store section.

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Tip of the Day Tuesday: Buying meat on a budget

October 13, 2009 by

One of the most common questions I get asked by people who read my blog is – where’s the meat? If you read my Menu Planning Monday posts, you’ll see that we really do eat meat, but if you see my Saturday shopping posts, there isn’t meat pictured a lot, so I can understand the confusion!

The answer is ~ I stockpile meat, too! Last year for Christmas, I told my husband that all I wanted was a second freezer for my garage, and Santa came through. So, we have a freezer that is basically full of meat and I ONLY but meat when I get an awesome deal on it, so if there is a great deal on meat one week, I might put the bulk of my $40 for that week toward meat and the basics (milk, bread).

Here are a few tips for saving on meat:

*Look for markdowns – Every grocery store I have ever been to has a section for marked down meat. Sometimes they do these markdowns early in the morning and other stores will do them late at night. Over time, I have managed to figure out when my stores do these markdowns which kind of gives me “first dibs” at the newly marked down items. From my experience, marked down meat is typically 30-50% off the original price. For example, on Saturday, I found a package of pork chops that had been marked down to $3 and a package of round steak that had been marked down to $4.

*Use your OYNO catalinas – When I post the grocery deals and match-ups, I typically also post any good catalina deals that are going on. I use the “OYNO” catalinas to help offset the cost of things like meat because there aren’t coupons for those items very often. For example, with the meat I bought on Saturday, I had two $1 off meat catalina coupons that I used, so I ended up paying $5 for meat for two meals this week. Sometimes there are also wine tag coupons for meat and every now and then, I get personalized customer loyalty card coupons for a certain dollar amount off of a meat purchase.

*Look for good sales and stock up when meat is on sale – I pretty much only buy meat if I can find a good deal. Here are some examples of what I consider good stock up prices for meat:

Beef:
Beef roasts – $.99/lb (yes, you can really get it for that cheap on sale – I’ve got several roasts in my freezer right now to prove it)

Beef round steak – $.99/lb

Ground beef – we ONLY use the 93/7 lean beef, so $1.99/lb is a “stock up” price on this for me

Chicken:
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts – $.99-$1.69/lb (it’s hard to find it for $.99/lb these days although it does happen every now and then…so, I consider $1.69 to be my “stock up” price when I’m getting low) – I know that “bone in” chicken or whole chickens are much cheaper but this is much more convenient for me, so I’m willing to pay more

Pork:
Pork chops (again I buy boneless) – $1.39/lb

Pork spare ribs – $.77/lb

Pork roasts – $.99/lb

Turkey:
Ground turkey – $1.99/lb (again we buy the 93/7)

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Tip of the Day Tuesday: Coupons you need for upcoming deals!

September 29, 2009 by

There have been a lot of great printables lately, but they go fast once people learn that there is an upcoming deal where you can use them. Here are some “hot” coupons you’ll want to stock up on for upcoming deals:

For CVS the week of 10/4:

$1/1 Colgate 360 ActiFlex toothbrush printable here – this will be free after ECBs ($2.99, get a $2 ECB)
(if you can’t print it here, check out smartsource.com)

$1/1 Tone Bodywash or bar soap printable here – this will be free after ECBs at CVS ($1.88, get a $1 ECB)

$1/1 Revlon color cosmetic product from the 9-13-09 SS insert – Revlon nail polish will be free after ECBs at CVS ($3.99, get a $3 ECB) and the limit is 6!

If you combine six of these with the other two freebies above with a $5/25 coupon this week, it will be an awesome moneymaker!

For Walgreens the week of 10/4:

$1/2 Campbell’s soups printable here – these will be 2/$1 with an in ad coupon making them free!

For Walgreens the week of 10/11:

Huggies will be 2/$18 – you will get a $4 RR when you buy 2!
$2/1 Huggies diapers printable here or here

$2/1 Huggies Pull-Ups printable here

Other great coupons:
$1/1 Pillsbury Crescent rolls – IE printable here and Firefox printable here

$1/1 Pillsbury Crescent rolls (this is a different coupon from the one above!) – IE printable here and Firefox printable here (thanks Hip2Save!)

Kim reported that there will be an upcoming catalina deal at Safeway/Randalls stores which will hopefully tie in nicely with these:

Between 10/5 and 11/1, buy any Pillsbury refrigerated baked goods:
Buy 3, get $2 OYNO
Buy 4, get $2.50 OYNO
Buy 5, get $3 OYNO

(There is also a loadable at Cellfire.com and Shortcuts.com)

$3/1 Neutrogena cosmetics printable here – these have been BOGO free several times recently which makes for free (or close to free) make-up!

$1/1 Purex 3-in-1 Complete printable here – have you checked out the new Purex 3-in-1 Complete? It has detergent, softener, and anti-static all in one. This is a new product, so there have been lots of great deals on it lately!

Don’t miss out on other hot coupons – get a heads up by checking out the Sunday coupon previews (they are usually posted on Wednesdays for the upcoming week):

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