Financial goals for 2010!

My financial goals for 2010 are pretty simple.

Spend less.

Since my stockpiles of pharmacy goods like toiletries are pretty full I am going to try to only buy stuff at Walgreens, RiteAid and CVS if it will be free after rebates and/or coupons. I think this is a good way to cut back on spending and have already implemented this strategy.

I am going to try to only shop once a week. I am already trying to go out and shop at as many stores in one trip as possible. Not only does this save money and time but it also saves on gas.

Only spending on what is needed. This can be hard for anyone. But really, a need is something that you have to have to function and live. Heat, running water, electricity, food, clothing (not a new wardrobe everytime fashions change, lol!), a car, a place to live and phone service are all things you need to live. I think some wants are ok, if they help maintain your mental health or save you more money than if you didn't buy it. Is on demand cable really a need? No. But it saves us money because we don't leave our house for entertainment that often and it facilitates us spending more time at home as a family. Is our internet service a need? No. But it saves us money because I can follow money saving blogs and research prices and products, find deals and play free games on facebook, etc. Plus, I would have no social life if it weren't for all my internet friends! Are all my cleanig wipes and products a need? No. But I do need to have a sanitary and clean house and I am not superwoman and it is conveniant. Using these products saves time that allows me to have a clean and sanitary home AND have more free time for myself and my family. Ok, I probably could use rags more and less paper towels....I'll try : )

No surfing online stores unless we NEED something or are shopping for presents for birthdays, Christmas, etc and it is going to save us money by getting it online.

If we have a want, we have to really think about how spending money on it is going to take away from us paying down the debt we have and how much our debt is stressing us out. That usually makes the want go away pretty quick.

NO CREDIT CARD SPENDING.

This is the first year since we have both had credit cards that we are going to make it through an entire year without using them. If we budget our money properly and keep our savings at a reasonable amount we shouldn't need to use them at all.

More saving.

My hubby got a very nice Christmas bonus that allowed him to get some things he wanted and still leave us with some money in the bank. We have never had an emergency fund. Ever. My goal is to keep at least $1,500 in the bank for the entire year. Of course, it is there for a reason and if we have to spend any of it, I want to replace the money we spent as quickly as possible. I know this amount is nothing close to what you're supposed to have but for us and our limited financial resources it's a good place to start.

I'm also trying to really wait for things to be on sale and have coupons for them before I buy it. This is where it really helps to separate wants from needs. Most things don't have to be purchased right now and you can wait on until a deal comes along. Some things you have to buy full retail because you run out like milk or it just never goes on sale. Luckily, there are only a few things for us that we have to consistently pay full retail like our Welch's fruit snacks or my son's Welch's grape jam because that is what we like and we just have to have it.

Pay down credit cards.

This is just as important as saving money in the bank. Because we have so much debt to pay down our savings goal for the year is pretty small. But, as the gap between our credit limit and our card balance increases we will be saving money from the finance charges getting smaller. We are going to pay more on the cards with the bigger balances and pay at least five dollars over the minimum on the cards with the smaller balances. Our goal is to get all of our credit cards paid down to 50% of the limit.

Waste less.

This is probably the area where I need to make the most improvement when it comes to buying food. We have had periods in our life together where we were very strapped for cash and didn't always have a lot of food. We were never starving but we both feel better when there is an abundance of food in the house. I'm going to try to be more realistic about how much food we are going to be able to consume before it expires. I also want to try to freeze more leftovers if they will not be eaten before they go bad.

I am very concerned with food safety. I have probably thrown away perfectly good food. One thing I have done to help me throw away less food is writing the date on dairy and meat with a Sharpie when I open it. That way I know I am not throwing away perfectly good food and because I know when I will have to throw it away I can keep an eye on my calender and try to use it all before it goes in the trash.


Notice that I say I am going to TRY to do all these things. I think it's important to have goals and do your best to reach them but we all know that mistakes are made or unexpected things come up to throw us off the path towards our goals. Tomorrow is only a day away and it's never too late to make a change. Sometimes making mistakes or taking a detour from our goals is part of the path we are supposed to be on and are there to teach us a lesson we need to learn.

I hope you are all looking forward to the new year and saving more and spending less!

Happy New Year!

CVS Free Listerine and money makers-Revlon lipstick, Nivea body wash + Glade!

Buy $12 of select Glade products get $4 extra bucks

2 Glade essential oil candle holders 2/$6-2 $1.50/1 coupons ($3)=$3

2 Glade essential oil candle refill bonus packs 2/$6-$6(used 2 buy 1 candle holder get 1 refill free)=FREE

1 Glade essential oil candle refill bonus pack-$3 (used buy 2 refills get 1 free)=FREE

Total=$3 got $4 EB=$1 Profit!

1 Nivea body wash $5.99-$2/1 coupon (available at coupons.com)=$3.99 got $5 EB=$1.01 Profit!

1 Listerine $3.99-$1/1=$2.99 got $3 EB=$0.01 Profit!

3 Revlon lipsticks $6.99 ($20.97)-3 $2/1 coupons ($6)=$14.97 got $15 EB=$0.03 Profit!

Total Profit-$2.05

And free stuff!

Almost credit card free Christmas shopping!!

So far we have only used our credit cards for $30.00 worth of Christmas gifts! How are all of you doing staying away from using your credit cards this year for your Christmas/Hanukkah shopping?

Next year we are hoping to not use any credit cards for the entire year!!!

Happy Holidays everyone! Hope you are working those sales, refunds and coupons!

Where the heck have I been?

I know you are all wondering why I haven't been blogging much about all of the wonderful subjects I cover in this blog.

Please read this blog post from my other blog to understand why I have been MIA.

http://queenbuv3.blogspot.com/2009/12/ptsd.html

Most extreme frugal footwear of the year award goes to.....

The owner of these worn out shoes.

He is a hard working, self-sacrificing, father of two and devoted hubby.......

.....to me.

I am proud of his frugalness but VERY happy to see these go. As much as I like to save a buck, I have been ENCOURAGING, some might say nagging, him to buy new shoes for a year. In fact, over six months ago I bought him "new" pair of shoes off ebay to replace these. They were mint condition, barely used shoes. It took him months to tell me that they were not comfortable and that is why he wasn't wearing them. So I have been telling him to go buy some new shoes. He hadn't until yesterday. This is the same man that will tell me to buy something if I or the kids need it and acts like I am being ridiculous for even discussing it with him. He tells me to just buy whatever it is we need.

He even called me from the mall yesterday saying he had found his dream shoes but couldn't justify the $39.99 price tag. He wears these shoes EVERY DAY. If you do the math, a pair of shoes that cost $39.99 only cost my hubby 0.10 cents a day!!! I think he is worth it : )

He also bought himself a pair of lined jeans for the winter, on sale of course. Now if I can ENCOURAGE him to replace more examples of his extreme frugality in his wardrobe......

Goodbye baby poop yellow and hello clean bright white paint!

We finally painted over the yucky paint in Olivia's room last weekend.

BEFORE

AFTER

Needless to say, Olivia has been spending much more time in her room since we painted it.

08/31 Garden update

Here are my tomato plants about a week ago.
I had quite a few red ones.....that were all rotting on the vine.




I ripped every single plant out and put them in a trash bag. The blight was so bad this year. Maybe we will have a drier summer next year.

Here is my garden now, minus the tomato plants.

The green and yellow beans are on their second round of blossoms.

Many of my squash plants had leaves that looked like this so I cut all of the affected ones off.

The squash plants have been producing only teeny tiny squashes in the past week. But I'm not seeing all that mold or fungus or whatever it was.

My cukes are the super stars of my garden this year. I am up to my eyeballs in cukes!!!!

My method of staking the cuke plants and guiding the vines so the cukes grow off the ground has been a complete success and I highly recommend it!

My pepper plants are producing finally!!

I'm hoping to pick this and the other big pepper I have growing this week : )

I plan on doing a harvest update and flower update post this week. Hope all of your gardens are still producing and healthy!

08/26 Super cheap king size candy bars at Rite Aid!!

Sorry, no pictures of my huge pile of candy, too busy. King size candy bars are buy one get one free at Rite Aid this week. One is $1.49 and there is a coupon from this Sunday's paper for $1/2 Snickers, Milky Way, Twix or Three Musketeers which makes each candy bar $0.24 after sale and coupon! Plus, there is a coupon from this Sunday's paper $0.55/1 any Reese's and after sale and coupons makes each King size Reese's peanut butter cups $0.19 each.

***Attention coupon bloggers (you know who you are)****

If I see you suddenly post this deal on your blog without giving me credit I will call you on it!! None of you have done a post on this yet so it will be real easy to see who is stealing my ideas. Stop taking credit for my ideas and making money off of them with your monetized and product promoting blogs!!

If the thievery doesn't stop I will make a separate blog for non-idea stealing followers and bloggers that is invitation only for my deal ideas.

08/12 Day of firsts in harvesting and blanching!

I harvested my first cukes and squashes today! Not impressive in size but hopefully they will be impressive in taste.

Above-harvest #2

Below-2 days later harvest #3 of yellow beans.

I don't want my family to get sick of yellow beans so I decided it was time to try blanching and freezing. It was not as difficult as I thought. I love this free Ziploc pump (coupon) and bag system. The pump is easy to use and can be washed in the dishwasher. If the pump holds up and the veggies survive freezing I will do a full review at some point.

How is your harvesting and preserving going?

Why do I bother?

I've been coming up with lot of original coupon/sales matchup deals lately and posting them. The day or two after these big coupon bloggers post these ideas and don't give me credit. They give other people credit when they are posting about someone else's original deal ideas but not me. Very irritating. I always give credit to the person I got the idea from and put a link to their blog. People are so greedy and selfish. It makes me want to stop posting about my deal ideas and freebies. These are also the same people that seem to shop EVERY DAY and clearly have a shopping addiction. Very sad.

08/09 FREE stuff at Walgreens + Walmart + MONEY MAKER at Wags!!

Walgreens

Transaction #1

6 8 pk. Bic pens $3-3 $1/2 coupons ($3)=FREE

1 Colgate toothpaste $2.99-$1/1 coupon=$1.99 got $3 RR $1.01 PROFIT

1 Listerine +1 Reach floss+ 1 Reach toothbrush twin pk $9-$3/3 coupon=$6 got $6 RR=FREE
2 Band-Aid boxes $5.98-2 $1/1 coupons ($2)=$3.98 got $4 RR $0.02 PROFIT

Total spent-$11.97-$7 RR (from last week RR sales)=$4.97

RR earned and unused=$13

coupons used=$9

Transaction #2

2 Walgreens children's activity books (found in pharmacy) used as fillers to use RR=$1.98

1 Listerine+1 Reach floss + Reach toothbrush twin pk $9-$3/3 coupon=$6 got $6 RR=FREE

Total spent-$7.98-$4 RR-$3 RR (from transaction #1)=$1.67 (including tax)

RR earned and unused=$6

Coupons used=$3

Transaction #3

2 Band-Aid boxes $5.98-2 $1/1 coupons ($2)=$3.98 got $4 RR $0.02 PROFIT

1 Colgate $2.99-$1/1 coupon=$1.99 got $3 RR $1.01 PROFIT

2 pop toys (not pictured) used as fillers to use RR=$1

Total spent-$6.97-$6 RR (from transaction #1)=$1.41 (including tax)

RR used=$6

RR earned and unused=$7

Coupons used=$3

Transaction #4

1 Listerine+1 Reach floss+ 1 Reach toothbrush twin pk $9-$3/3=$6 got $6 RR=FREE

1 Plackers flossers clearance (used as filler to use RR)=$0.75

1 3 pk pens clearance (used as filler to use RR)=$0.49

Total spent-$7.24-$3 RR-$4 RR (from transaction #3)=$0.88 (including tax)

RR used $7

RR earned and unused=$6

coupons used=$3

Transaction #5

1 Colgate $2.99-$1/1 coupon=$1.99 got $3 RR $1.01 PROFIT

2 Band-Aid boxes $5.98-2 $1/1 ($2) coupons=$3.98 got $4 RR $0.02 PROFIT

1 nail polish (used as filler to use RR)=$0.99

Total spent-$6.96-$6 RR (from transaction #2)=$1.40 (including tax)

RR used=$6

RR earned and unused=$7

Coupons used-$3

Total spent at Walgreens-$10.33

Total RR earned and unused (from transaction #4 + #5)=$13

$2.67 PROFIT!!

**The Walgreens children's activity books have coupons in the front. Each has a $2/1 Neosporin and they are on sale for $3.99 and if you buy 2 you get $4 RR back. Sooo if you buy 2 Neosporin for $3.99 a piece and use 2 $2/1 coupons it will cost $3.98 and you will get a $4 RR so $0.02 profit!**

Walmart

4 Glade soy candles free after I used 4 FREE coupons that just came out this week!

08/08 Garden update

This lovely image of blight in my garden snapped me out of my gardening naivete very quickly in the past week. I started seeing leaves in even more advanced stages of blight about 2 weeks ago but didn't realize the magnitude of what I was looking at. I saw a post from a fellow blogger about 2 weeks ago with horrific photos of her completely rotten tomato plants and realized that the same thing was beginning to happen to mine. I have been gardening by the seat of my pants this summer with no real knowledge of the all the things that could kill my veggies. I now know that there are more than bugs and slugs that can wipe out an entire crop. I will be doing my homework this winter so that I will be able to garden organically at a higher level next year.

There are no zukes for me. I was given seeds that were labeled zukes but all I have is summer squash. Anybody got good summer squash recipes?

This is the reason I staked almost all my plants. We have had terrible storms and winds this summer. I also think that keeping my plants off the ground helps prevent rot and keep them away from slugs and other ground dwelling predators.

The big one.

The yellow beans and green beans.

We have already had a dinner with yellow beans this week!

The green beans are coming along.

Here are my stripped down tomato plants. I have stripped about half of the branches off in the past week to keep the blight at bay. These things are the size of small trees! Should I cut back the tops?

I have pulled off about 4 rotten tomatoes so far. Hoping to actually get a couple that ripen and are edible.

The peppers.

The big one #2. #1 fell victim to some bugs and had to be picked off and chucked.

This is 2 different cuke plants that I have criss crossed between the stakes.

The big one. My first cucumber has bit the dust. This is the biggest one now.

The other cukes.

The cukes have been growing across the tops of the squashes and attaching themselves to the squash stakes. I think next year I will alternate rows of squash with cukes to save room.

This one is strictly vertical.

These cuke plants are producing spiky punk rock looking cukes.

Hope you are all doing well with your gardens!