FREE Kotex Sample Pack
>> Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Sign up here to receive your FREE Kotex Sample pack. Includes 1 Kotex Ultra Thin Pad with Wings, 1 Kotex Lightday Pantiliner and 2 Kotex Security Tampons.
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FREE Disney Celebration Scrapbook Kit with Smuckers/Jif Purchase
>> Monday, January 5, 2009
Receive a free Disney Celebration Scrapbook kit($18 value) when you submit this form along with proof of purchase of 2 Smuckers and/or Jif products. Offer expires 3/31/09 or while supplies last.
Read more...Menu Plan Monday 1/5/09-1/11/09
Here's what we're having for dinner this week:
Monday: leftovers
Thursday: Breakfast for dinner
Friday: Soup and sandwiches or eat out
Saturday: Spiral sliced ham, mashed potatoes, creamed corn, biscuits
Sunday:leftovers
For more great menu ideas be sure to check out I'm An Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.
2009 Financial Goals
>> Sunday, January 4, 2009
My husband and I took a bit of time recently to discuss our financial goals for this year. This is our first year in our 14 1/2 years of marriage that we started a year with some real financial goals in mind. As I mentioned in a previous post, our new budget is pretty tight. Things will begin to improve in a couple of months when my husband completes his training and is eligible to start earning bonuses. We will also get a bit of relief when the company insurance goes into effect and we can drop our independent health insurance policy. Those two things will make it much easier to save. But we've got to make it through a couple of more months to get there. Saving will be hard the next couple of months but we're going to do our best.
Here are our goals for 2009:
1) Pay off my husband's car. We owe just under $3500 on it. Since my husband is working again, we're going to take part of the severance money he received to eliminate this debt. We will take care of this within the week. With this done, our only debt left will be our mortgage. Yay!
2)Make monthly "car payments" into a car savings account each month. We plan to put $250 a month into a special savings account earmarked for our next car purchase. We want to be able to pay cash for the next car we buy. We already have this account set up but up until this point haven't been able to contribute much to it. With the old car payment gone, this will be much more doable.
3)Build our emergency fund up to six months of living expenses. Honestly, this is going to be a bit of a stretch to accomplish this year. After paying off the car and a few other unexpected expenses that have come up recently we're going to be back at about 3 months of living expenses in our emergency fund. With the income reduction, it's going to be harder to come by this much money for this fund alone but we're going to do our best to accomplish this one.
4) Continue our normal contributions to retirement savings. We're on a pretty good path in this area.
5) Paying extra on our mortgage. I'm going to begin doing this again next month. It will just be a small amount for now.
6)Save $1000 to cover all expenses for next Christmas. As I mentioned in my Preparing for Next Christmas post, I hope to be able to reduce this budget next year.
7)Finally, by the end of the year, we plan to evaluate our savings plan and find a way to begin saving for college expenses.
As you see, we still have some goals to work towards. I have been looking into ways I can contribute to our income while still being able to stay home as a way of making saving money easier for us. We had hoped that we could increase the grocery budget once my husband went back to work but have decided to leave it where it is. We haven't had to make any real sacrifices the last few months with a $60 a week budget and it has forced me to become a better shopper. We need every penny available for savings now so it just made sense to leave this where it is. We will also continue to be very careful with our clothing, entertainment, gift, etc. budgets to make more available for savings.
So what are your financial goals for 2009? Write them down and share them here or with someone else for accountability.
Deals of the Week 12/28/08-1/3/09
>> Saturday, January 3, 2009
Back sharing deals after a week off. I shopped Wal-Mart this week to use some of my expiring coupons. I messed up on the Wacky Mac which just shows after close to a year of couponing you can still make mistakes. I was also back to CVS this week. Here are my deals.
CVS:
I bought:
1 Pantene Shampoo $3.50 (reg. $4.99)
1 Pantene Conditioner$3.50 (reg. $4.99)
1 Crest Weekly Clean Paste $2.50 (reg. $4.49)
1 Schick Quattro Razor $8.99(reg. $9.99)
Subtotal: $18.49
Qs Used:
1 $2 off Schick Quattro
1 FREE Crest Weekly Clean Paste
1 $3.00 off 2 Pantene products
$10 ECBs
Total:$1.50 paid with GC
$0 OOP
Earned $7 ECBs
At Wal-Mart I bought:
1 White Cloud TP $2.00
1 Ruffies Trash Bags $3.97
1 Nestle Syrup $1.66
4 StartKist Tuna Creations $6.52($1.63 each)
2 Wacky Mac Veggie Spirals $2.76($1.38 each)
Subtotal: $16.91
Qs Used:
1 B1G1 Tuna Creations
2 $1 off Tuna Creations
1 $1 off White Cloud TP
1 50 cents off Nestle product
Total OOP: $12.14
I used my Grocery Game List to shop at Kroger and Walgreen's. This was my last week using the Grocery Game list for Walgreen's. I feel I have learned enough about shopping at Walgreen's and have enough resources on the web available that I can do this without the list now. So from now on I'll be able to share the specifics of my Walgreen's shopping trips. I will continue to use the list for Kroger because it often includes unadvertised deals on the list and is a huge time saver for me. I feel that the time is saves me in addition to the money saved is well worth the minimal amount I pay for the service.
At Kroger I paid $41.23(incl. tax) for $68.07 worth of products. A 39% savings.
At Walgreen's I paid $5.81(incl. tax) for $10.14 cents worth of products. A 42% savings.
Weekly Summary:I paid $59.18 for $113.61 worth of products. A savings of 47%
For more great deals be sure to check out The Centsible Sawyers CVS Superstars.
Read more...Menu Plan Monday 12/29/08-01/04/09
>> Monday, December 29, 2008
Wow! We're heading into a whole new year with this menu. Wishing you all a Happy New Year! We'll be ringing in the new year with a low key but festive celebration with the kidlets. Here's what is on the menu this week.
Monday: Pizza
Tuesday: Grilled cheese sandwiches & soup
Wednesday: Appetizers--sweet & sour meatballs, pigs in blankets, chips & salsa, veggies & ranch dip and sparkling grape juice.
Thursday: Hoppin' John & salad
Friday:Black Bean Burritos
Saturday: Steak, baked potatoes, salad
Sunday: leftovers
For more great menu ideas check out Menu Plan Monday at I'm An Organizing Junkie.
Chick-fil-A Breakfast Giveaway
Make any purchase on January 1, 2009 between 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. and get a FREE Chicken Biscuit on your NEXT visit. Go here to read the details and restrictions of this offer.
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Preparing for Next Christmas
>> Friday, December 26, 2008
I know, the gifts aren't even put away yet and you may even have more Christmas celebrations to attend this weekend but it's time to start thinking ahead to next Christmas. This was my first year to have been completely prepared financially for Christmas. The gift purchasing and preparations were so much more enjoyable since I wasn't worried about the money and whether or not I was going to have enough. Last year the money ran out before all the gifts were purchased so I ended up charging part of the gifts. I was determined to not do that again so I set up an online savings account right after Christmas.
I am already thinking about next Christmas and have come up with two goals. The first is saving the same amount of money as I did this year. The second is for at least 50% of my gifts to be homemade. As I prepared for this Christmas, I came across so many wonderful homemade gift ideas but I didn't have the time to make all of them. I did make a few gifts this year but next year I want more of the gifts to be made by me. This is a bit of an experiment for me. I'm hoping it will cost less to do things this way and after next Christmas I will reevaluate the budget and see if I can reduce it.
So what can you do to prepare for next Christmas?
Evaluate- Think about what worked for you this Christmas and what didn't.
-Did you have enough money for your gifts?
-Did you meet your budget or did you even set a budget?
-Did you feel that you were able to manage your time well or did you feel rushed?
-Were you able to enjoy your time with family and friends or were you too stressed out?
Plan-Think about what you would like for your Christmas to be like.
-What is a realistic budget?
-What can you do to manage your time so that you can enjoy the season and not feel rushed?
-Are there traditions that no longer work for you and your family or are there new ones that you would like to begin?
Prepare-Write down your plan for next Christmas.
-Create a workable budget for your family. Think about what you can realistically save each month and set up a savings account dedicated to Christmas savings. I use an online savings account and just transfer the money once a month from my checking account.
-Go ahead a make out your Christmas list for next year. Throughout the year when you come across a gift idea for someone on your list write the idea down.
-Think about how you can best manage your time to create a peaceful and relaxed holiday next year. Maybe you need to start your Christmas shopping earlier. Consider wrapping the gifts as your bring them home so you don't have to spend a huge chunk of time all at once wrapping gifts. Maybe you want to put up fewer decorations and use the time you would have spent on that doing something else.
-If there are new traditions you would like to begin think about how they will impact your time. Do you need to give up something else that you normally do? What will this tradition add to your family's holiday experience?
A little preparation now will enable you to have a more relaxed and enjoyable holiday season next year.
Merry Christmas
>> Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas. I'll see you in a couple of days.
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