Monday, October 31, 2011

Financial Friday: October 2011 Cutbacks, Week 4 Results & Conclusions

Last month, I mentioned Brian and I were doing some October cutbacks. The main thing we wanted to focus on was eating out for meals. We don't do it often and spend several hundred dollars each month, but we did want to pay closer attention in October. Then maybe for the holidays, we can let loose a little bit.

So far, Week 1 was bad, Week 2 was good, Week 3 was horrible, and Week 4 was pretty good.  I wish I would have done better over all.  Oh well, at least we tried.

Here are our Week 4 Results & Conclusions:
Electric – 
* We turned off our A/C while we weren't at home and at night when the temperature was cooler.  I've done lots of crock pot cooking which uses less electricity. *

Laundry – 1 load
* Since I did 3 loads last week, I only did 1 this week.  It's amazing how much more free time I have limiting my laundry time. *

Groceries – $10.55
* I went 6 days with only needing milk.  Then Brian said he needed chips and lunch meat for his lunches at work.  So we went ahead and purchased those on Sunday. *

Dining – $12.28
* Not bad for us this week. *

Extra Income – $5.00
* Sold 1 thing on Craigslist. And I have a couple more interested in other things, but haven't sold them yet. *

Here are our Monthly Totals:
Laundry - MET

Groceries - $14.04 over (stupid coke!) Spent $134.04 BUT I saved over $100 on those items. There were several items that were rock bottom price that I couldn’t pass up, $.25 bread at Aldi, $.40/box General Mills granola bars at Walgreens, $.75 Progresso Soup at CVS, etc. I also needed several, more expensive items that rarely have coupons like olive oil, milk, cheese, turkey bacon, chicken breast patties, sausage (for Brian’s breakfast biscuits), etc.

Dining - $43.88 over (I have no excuse...)

Extra Income - $42.80 under (but still not bad)

Conclusions:
1) Our goals were too ambitious, especially the dining category. Brian and I hardly see each other during the week, so when the weekend comes, we want to get OUT of the house and enjoy each other’s company. We enjoy going out to eat and chatting about the future.

2) We dirty a lot of clothes. My husband is a coach, and dirties 2 sets of clothes a day PLUS his coaching uniform on game days. I really don’t see how we can cut down on our laundry. I am going to have to accept I will need to do 3-4 loads per week.

3) October is a HARD month to cut back expenses. My birthday is in October, and my husband is always trying to plan something, but the last 2 years we have been cutting back. Next year, we might cut back in a different month. Any suggestions?

4) Meal planning works for us. I have a spreadsheet of our meals for each week. I revisit that spreadsheet at least once a day to know what’s coming up, what to prepare for, and to make sure I have all the ingredients on hand. I also have this on Google Calendar, so hubby knows what to get hungry for ☺

5) We want to get to the point where our extra income goal each week/month pays for our groceries and dining…but we are kinda running out of things to sell online ☺

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Sunday, October 30, 2011

Amazon: Tide Detergent (50 oz) ONLY $3.99 + FREE Shipping

Tide Detergent is expensive!  Lucky for us, Amazon is offering a pretty sweet deal on a 50 oz bottle of Tide. The Tide with Bleach Alternative Clean Breeze Scent with Actilift (50 oz) is ONLY $5.99. PLUS there is a $2.00 coupon you can "clip" to use on your order. (Note: The coupon discount doesn't show up until the very last confirmation page).
AND - the bottle ships for FREE.  Hurry before this deal is gone!

Here's what my total looked like:

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Friday, October 28, 2011

Swagbucks: It's Fry-Dee!!

I am now up to $265 worth of Amazon giftcards AND $60 in iTunes giftcards!! And with those giftcards, I have been able to purchase cables/cords, books, movies, music, A LARGE DOG CRATE, etc. - all for FREE! I even purchased a walter filter for my fridge for FREE! What do you use your Swagbucks on?

What are Swagbucks?? Well...you can earn points ("swagbucks") by searching the web through their Swagbucks site. Then you can redeem those points for free stuff like giftcards, cash, other items.  **NEW:  Giftcard offers like CVS, Home Depot, Chili's, Fandango.  Details HERE**

Every Friday is Mega Swagbucks day! You can earn MORE swagbucks by searching on Fridays. I usually get a FREE Amazon giftcard about twice a month by doing this!!

If you have not started using Swagbucks, I would highly suggest you start now. It is SO well worth the effort. You are probably on the internet searching everyday anyways, so why not win some free stuff while you're at it!

Now...with all those Amazon.com Giftcards, go BUY something and NOT pay for it!! hehe

Don't forget to read my post on 10 Ways to Maximize Your SwagBucks.

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Staples: 15% off Printable Coupon

Go HERE to print a coupon good for 15% off at Staples.  Coupon good thru 10/29/11.

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123Inkjets.com: 40% Cash Back (Today Only!) + 10% off Coupon Code

You know...you can save money on things other than groceries, right? If you have a printer, you might want to consider getting in on this deal.

123Inkjets is offering 40% cash back when you make your purchase through ShopAtHome (regularly 20% cash back). 123Inkjets offers 40% to 80% off the retail price found at your local discount office supply super-stores. ALSO - enter code "GHOST123" to score 10% off your order. Shipping is a flat rate of $4.95 or score FREE shipping on orders $55.00 or more.

So 10% off + 40% cash back - that's a 50% savings...on prices already significantly lower than your local office supply store.

Go to ShopAtHome and sign in/up.
Look for the WILD Deals link on the right hand side. 123Inkjets should appear - click on the link and get to shoppin'!

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