52 Week Savings Challenge {Week 9}

52 Week Savings Challenge Week 9, Welcome back! If you are just joining us, visit 52 Week Savings Challenge Week 1 to catch up with us and get started.

Yay! We are on our 9th week already Wow! Time sure does fly on by. This weeks challenge is to deposit $9.00 into your savings fund. Making your total month to date $45.00! I think from this point on is where the excitement is going to come in and you’re really going to see your money grow.

Need to find $9.00? Here are a few ways to get your money back.

1.) Have date night– during the day. This was you can hit up lunch specials at your favorite restaurant and save.

2.) Challenge yourself to make 1-2 meals from leftovers that you already have in your fridge. If you don’t have leftovers, cook a meal that can be stretched into 2-3 meals for the week. Example would be, Chili one night, Chili Macaroni the next time and Chili Dogs the following night.

3.) Avoid your coffee and snack for the day. Instead bring coffee and snack from home.

4.) Carpool with a friend this week Oh and Remember to grab some more printable coupons before you head to the store to save even more.

We’ve got 43 more weeks to go on the.. 52 Week Savings Challenge. Next week we’ll be adding $10.00 toward our savings fund.

Want to see what’s ahead? Go here to get the 52 Week Savings Challenge Printable Form.

Did you miss week 8? Get caught up by reviewing the post: 52 Week Savings Challenge – Week 8

Comment below and share how you are doing with the 52 Week Savings Challenge?

5 Ways to Avoid Paying the Overweight Baggage Charges

Every time I travel, I always want to avoid paying the overweight baggage charges. These fees are outrageous and can really put a damper on your vacation.

http://www.stockfreeimages.com/Leloft1911

This is how my packing usually goes. I get out my suitcase and I start going over in my mind, the outfits I’ll need for the trip. Once I get my suitcase packed, I try to figure out a way to weigh it. So I get out my bathroom scale, step on it while holding my suitcase. Then I step off, step back on and weigh myself and then subtract the difference.

There have been times when my scale was wrong, causing me to pay the Overweight Baggage Charges! Oh! Those fees are so frustrating because it would have been cheaper to have checked another bag. After making that mistake I vowed never to do so again!

Here are 5 Ways to Avoid Paying the Overweight Baggage Charges:

1.) Check online with your carrier to find the weight limits

2.) Get a handy Luggage Scale. These work perfect because you can take them with you and ensure you are within weight limits when you return. I know I always have more stuff coming back than I do going forward.

3.) Purchase Lightweight Luggage. Especially if you travel a lot.

4.) Pack a Duffle Bag . I can’t tell you how many times, I’ve been over on weight and opened my suitcase, pulled out the duffle bag and packed a few items in it and used it as a carry-on. This also works wonders if you are withing weight limits when you depart, but over when you return. It’s also a great way to save from having to pay for 2 bags when you depart, especially if you know you’ll be returning with lots of souvenirs.

5.) If you really wanted to check another bag, but didn’t want to have to carry it on. This one is a bit sneaky, But since you can save I wanted to mention it. It probably won’t last long either with all of the airport fee constantly changing too. If you have assigned seating and multiple destinations on your flight, wait to be one of the last people to board. Overhead Cargo, get filled up really quickly and if you are late boarder you’ll likely have to check your bag. Most of the flights I’ve been on the flight attendant will ask me if I want to check my carry-on bag until I reach my destination. I’ll say yes, because not only did I not to have lug my bag myself, I also didn’t have to pay to check it. If you decide to use this last tip — use it with caution and be prepared to have to lug your luggage if need be.

What are some of the ways you avoid paying the overweight baggage charges?

Love these tips? Check out our other Travel savings tips!

52 Week Savings Challenge {Week 8}

52 Week Savings Challenge Week 8, Welcome back! If you are just joining us, visit 52 Week Savings Challenge Week 1 to catch up with us and get started.

52 week savings challenge

8 Weeks already Wow! Time to deposit $8.00 into your savings fund. Making your total month to date $36.00

Need to find $8.00? I’ve been racking my brain of what you can do to save $8.00 this week.

Here’s some suggestions.

1.) Have a recipe that calls for shredded chicken breast? Instead, buy a whole chicken and shred it yourself. This will be more time consuming but will save you a few dollars.

2.) Check your tire air pressure. Proper air pressure will improve your gas mileage and save you money in the long run. Don’t have one? Consider getting a Digital Tire Gauge for easy reading.

3.) Need a baby gift? Get a baby sling, just pay the cost of shipping.

Plus… Don’t forget to grab some more printable coupons and save even more.

44 more weeks to go on the.. 52 week Savings Challenge

Comment below and share how you would save $8 in this weeks 52 Week Savings Challenge?

Join us Next week when we’ll be adding $9.00 toward our savings fund.

Want to see what’s ahead? Go here to get the 52 Week Savings Challenge Printable Form.

Did you miss week 7? Get caught up by reviewing the post: Week 7 – 52 Week Savings Challenge

52 Week Savings Challenge {Week 7}

52 Week Savings Challenge Week 7, Welcome back! If you are just joining us, visit 52 Week Savings Challenge Week 1 to catch up with us and get started.

52 week savings challenge

For Week 7! You’ll need to deposit $7.00 into your savings fund. Making your total month to date $28.00

Need to find $7.00? Here are a few ways to get your money back.

1.) Grab some more printable coupons and save even more.

2.) Planning on going to the movies? Consider going to a matinee instead. Or if you’ve got date night planned and have a Costco Card, get your tickets at Costco.

3.) Shop around for gas, with gas prices constantly going up, us an app like GasBuddy to find the lowest gas prices near you.

4.) If you haven’t filed your taxes yet, you can file your federal income tax for free using Turbo Tax.

45 more weeks to go on the.. 52 Week Savings Challenge!

Comment below and share how you would save $7 in this weeks 52 Week Savings Challenge?

Next week we’ll be adding $8.00 toward our savings fund.

Want to see what’s ahead? Go here to get the 52 Week Savings Challenge Printable Form.

Did you miss week 6? Get caught up by reviewing the post: Week 6 52 Week Savings Challenge

Simple Budget

Having a simple budget works wonders for me. I personally dislike the budgeting forms that require you to budget out every single penny towards items such as clothing, future medical and so forth because that doesn’t happen each month. I’ll budget for it when I need it. If I did it every month we would have no money left to do anything with.

Have you ever noticed that all financial gurus have one thing in common that they recommend? Guess which one thing. A Budget! Budgeting is key to keeping your finances under control and it’s by far one of the most hideous thing to do, especially when you start getting into tracking every possible events I listed earlier. If I did budgeted that way every month we would have no money left to do anything with. Therefore, I follow a simple budget and let me show you how I do it.

What I do first is pay all of the bills currently due:

Paycheck +$2000
Less Tithe – 200
Less Mortgage -700 (Half of the mortgage)
Less Power – 200
Less Insurance – 200
Less Cable – 125
Less Baseball Registration -100

Total Remaining $475.00

This $475 has to get me through the next paycheck. I have to buy groceries, gas and etc. As you can see I personally don’t have the funds to save 10% to go toward my savings from the top of my paycheck. So what I do instead is I take 10% off the remaining amount left and I budget from there, which makes it simple.

$475 Remaining
Less $48.00 for Savings
Less $100 for Gas
Less $150 for Food
Less $40 for Date Night
Less $40.00 for Kids Shoes (Kids need new shoes this week)
Less $25.00 for Dr. Appointment (There is a doctors appointment this week)
Less $50.00 for Blow Money

Now $48.00 may not seem like a lot to put in savings, but it does add up overtime.

I’ll create and place this amount in my envelopes. *You can use my free printable cash envelope template

That leaves $22.00 left… I’ll use this extra amount and pay it towards one of my credit cards.

Balance is $0 (You must assign every dollar you have towards something)

The final thing I do is strive to spend less than the amount you budgeted for and if you can do that, apply the saved amount towards something else.

This is what works for me. I’d love to hear what works for you and what your tips are on a simple budget simple budget.

52 Week Savings Challenge {Week 6}

52 Week Savings Challenge Week 6, Welcome back! If you are just joining us, visit 52 Week Savings Challenge Week 1 to catch up with us and get started.

52 week savings challenge

Wow! Week 6! It’s time to deposit $6.00 into your savings fund. Making your total month to date $21.00

Need to find $6.00? Here are a few ways to get your money back.

Grab printable coupons and save when you head to the store.

Make a frugal meal for the week, such as my Chicken and Potato Soup. This is an inexpensive recipe, that will give you plenty for leftovers!

46 more weeks to go on the..

Comment below and share how you would save $6 in this weeks 52 Week Savings Challenge? Plus shout out your saving total? Are you at $21 or more? Also do you have a picture of your savings? If so, email me a picture and I’ll share it with the readers!

Next week we’ll be adding $7.00 toward our savings fund.

Want to see what’s ahead? Go here to get the 52 Week Savings Challenge Printable Form.

Did you miss week 5? Get caught up by reviewing the post: Week 5 – 52 Week Savings Challenge

Financial Problems – My Husband and I Just Don’t Agree

Financial Problems occur in many households including mine. My husband and I just don’t agree when it comes to dealing with our finances. (With the exception that we want to be debt free.)

Lately our financial problems have been paying off some lingering debt.

http://www.stockfreeimages.com by drager

Dave Ramsey says to get aggressive with your debt and sell everything! I love that theory, but I’m also not taking it literally. My husband has a motorcycle that he can sell. We’ve had it listed but no buyers yet. My husband is impatient and he wants to drop the price to get rid of it faster. I told him not to do that. He disagrees with me, which leads to us arguing because we just don’t see eye to eye.

His reasoning is that this will keep our motivation and we’ll no longer have to pay for registration and insurance on the item.

My reasoning on this is the fact that selling this item, won’t take us out of debt. Yes it will put us closer to becoming debt free, but since it won’t zero out our balance why rush? We have time to be patient and wait for the right buyer to come along and pay us our asking price. As of right now, we’ve solely relied on Craigslist to find a buyer.

I pointed out that we don’t have a plan of action to get this bike sold. We can’t just market it on Craigslist, we need to start looking at other opportunities to find a buyer.

He pointed out that we’ll have to pay for advertising and costs associated with marketing it elsewhere.

I justify that the advertising costs won’t be as much as what he want’s to lower the bike for.

See our dilemma? Comment and tell me what your thoughts on how to solve our current financial problems?

Check out our post: Manage Your Money by Setting Your Personal Money Goals

Financial Problems

5 Tips on How Can I Get Money and Payoff that Holiday Debt

How can I get money is often a question I get asked. It’s one that comes up often during this time of year, especially now that those credit cards bills are coming in from the holidays.

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

So if you’re asking How can I get money to pay extra towards my bills? The answer is a pretty simple, yet a hard one. You’ve got to make money to get money and doing that is hard.

Here are 5 tips to help you find ways to get money;

Do you have a bunch of stuff? Make money with Yard Sales. You can also sell items online. Just go through your personal belonging and sell items you don’t need.
Can you sacrifice your time? If so, make money with taking on a 2nd Job. Some ideas would be to deliver pizza, take on a paper route, babysit and so on.
Do you have a hobby? Such as: Sewing, Carpentry, Mechanical Graphic Designs? Make money with your favorite pastime and turn it into a source of income.
Are you a brainy-act? Math-wizard? Use your knowledge and make money with tutoring!
Do you love being on the computer? Make money with surveys. It’s hideous work but filling out surveys can generate some extra income and is easy to do while your watching tv.

Here are some you may be interested in:

Cash Crate

E-Poll

Send Earnings

Need more ideas? Check out our some of our saving series post.

These are just 5 tips to get started. What are your suggestions my readers when they ask the question: How can I get money to pay off that extra debt?

52 Week Savings Challenge – Week 5

52 Week Savings Challenge Week 5, Welcome back! If you are just joining us, visit 52 Week Savings Challenge Week 1 to catch up with us and get started.

52 week savings challenge

This week’s challenge is to deposit $5.00 into your savings fund. Making your month to date total $15.00!

Are you staying motivation to get these deposits done? Or are you getting a little bored with the challenge? However you are feeling don’t give up! Stick with it.

You can change it around if you like… Here’s a few ideas:

1.) Using Random.Org, Choose a number from 5-52. Whatever number comes up let’s say it was 34, put $34.00 into your savings instead and just cross that one off the printable list. This way you can make a game out of it.

2.) Start at the end and go backwards the next 5 weeks.

Need to find $5.00?

Make a meatless dinner! Check out my Black Bean Soup Recipe.

If money is tight and you need to pull in some extra income, here are some ideas to help.

1.) Grab some printable coupons and take them with you while you grocery shop.

2.) Consider taking surveys. Here are some companies that currently have openings:

3.) File your federal tax refund for free! That’ll save you $20-25 dollars and you can use that towards your savings challenge.

47 more weeks to go on the
52 Week Savings Challenge
Comment below and share how you would save $5 in this weeks 52 Week Savings Challenge? Plus shout out your saving total? Are you at $15 or more?

Next week we’ll be adding $6.00 toward our savings fund.

Want to see what’s ahead? Go here to get the 52 Week Savings Challenge Printable Form.

Did you miss week 4? Get caught up by reviewing the post: Week 4 – 52 Week Savings Challenge.

52 Week Savings Challenge – Week 4

52 Week Savings Challenge Week 4, Welcome back! If you are just joining us, visit 52 Week Savings Challenge Week 1 to catch up with us and get started.

52 week savings challenge

It’s been a month! Wahoo! This week’s challenge is to deposit $4.00 into your savings fund. Making your month to date total $10.00!

Here is a summary all the ways you can save to get the $4.00

Rent a book or borrow a magazine instead of buying one.
Avoid taking money out from the ATM.
Make a meal from leftovers.
Bring your lunch to work this week.
Drink Water if you eat out this week.
Save whatever change you get back from your cash.
Skip Coffee for a day.
Skip the Candy/Snack Food purchases.
Before checkout look through your cart and put back on item
If eating out, share a meal with a friend.

Plus – Earn your money back!! Heading to the store? Grab some printable coupons and take them with you.

It’s tax season time too! Right now you can file your federal tax refund for free! That’ll save you $20-25 dollars and you can use that towards your savings challenge.

48 more weeks to go on the 52 Week Savings Challenge

Comment below and tell me if you participated in this weeks 52 Week Savings Challenge? What’s your saving total? Are you at $10?

Next week we’ll be adding $5.00 toward our savings fund.

Want to see what’s ahead? Go here to get the 52 Week Savings Challenge Printable Form.

Did you miss week 3? Get caught up by reviewing the post: Week 3 – 52 Week Savings Challenge

< Newer
1
2
3
4
5
…
7
Older >

Financial Problems

MomsLifeboat ~ Las Vegas, NV Our Policies

MomsLifeboat ~ Las Vegas, NV
Our Policies