Shop At Home

Eva' heard of it?!? 

I hadn't either until A Thrifty Mom introduced me to it and now I use it every time (that I think about it) that I shop online!  It's amazingness!  Serious Awesomeness!
ShopAtHome.com is one of the largest websites offering free online coupons, grocery coupons, cash back rewards, free samples, restaurant coupons and contests. The site is unique from other online deal sites because it gives cash back to shoppers for purchases made through ShopAtHome.com.

I mean, who couldn't use a little cash back?  And then they have coupon codes, deals, specials, giveaways, etc!  It's seriously a place you could get lost in! 

So far, I've used this at Lillian Vernon, Home Depot, CB2, Dell, and Target!  And racked up almost $30!

Go ahead and check it out here!  You are going to love it!
And get to shopping!


*This is not a sponsored post, just something I thought I'd share with you!

Ways to Save $$$ - Take One

Again, not feeling like myself today and I'm unsure what to write about...

I was going to write about all my great times in San Francisco since I'm only running a couple weeks late on that, but I am still sharing a computer with Mr K and I fell asleep when I got home last night!  Oops!

So... here are 15 ways to save money on the easy!  And of course, my take on them! 

1. Cook at home often
     We try to do this as much as possible.  Even if it means we are eating grilled cheese and soup, or just plain ol' pasta and sauce!  It does help!  And then leftovers can be either eaten for lunch or dinner the next day! 

2. Make your own coffee
    I definitely fail on this!  I was doing really well with it and so was Mr. K.  Then I don't know what happened... I guess we just got lazy.  Lazy is not one of the ways to save money on the easy so I guess we'll need to get back in the coffee prep mode!

 

3. Brown bag lunch at least a few days a week
     This works if you get all the stuff you need at the grocery!  heh.  And I'm so bad at this because real food at lunch is so much better than a microwave meal!

4.Make a list before going shopping
     We usually do this... however, we usually do not stick strictly to the list.  I do find though that when we do stick strictly to the list we don't spend as much.  Funny how that works, eh?  You'd think I'd catch on.  Plus, you can find templates all over the place - AND even ones ready for pre-planned meals!

5. Go grocery shopping while you are in a hurry
     Does this really help?  Anyone tried it?  I would think I would buy more!

6. Buy in bulk whenever possible
     Sams Club - Yes Please!  I do find though with 2 people, bulk can equal waste so just be careful in what you choose to buy in bulk and also make sure you have the space to keep it. 

7. Buy generic products whenever possible
     I try to buy generic as often as possible, but there are certain items that Mr. K refuses to buy in the generic form.  Ketchup is one in particular.  I can't think of others right now, but the list goes on!

8. Pay your bills on time and avoid late fee
     Set them up with automatic payments!  So long as the $$$ is in your account, you'll never have to worry about this again!

9. If you have to buy books, check if you can buy them used
     Big fan of Half Price Books - ever been there?  I like that you can usually find a ton of books in there for a great price.  Only downfall to them - they offer to buy back the books you just bought from them at like 1/10th the price you bought it from them for!  Even if it's the next day. :(

10. Price check before you buy anything expensive
     Shop around is right!  And check to see if stores to price matching!  You never know... they might and if you prefer to buy from one store over another but their price is higher, they might just match it for you! 

11. Bottle your own water
     I'm a total failure at this!  I do recycle my bottles, but I should work on getting my own water bottle.  It would save $5 a shopping trip!

12. Keep your car as long as possible
     My car we will probably be keeping for my husband when his dies, but we are keeping his as long as possible.  Actually,  he's fixing his brakes right now.  He asked a friend to help him do it which took the cost down from probably somewhere between $250-$400 to $135.  I just hope they do it right! 

Pretty soon this is what Mr. K's car will look like!  heh!

13. Do regular scheduled maintenance on your vehicles
     When it's time to do it, do it!  You won't regret it!  Your car will run better for longer and if you are going to be keeping it forever like Mr. K and I then you'll need it to run for as long as possible! 

14. If you watch a lot of DVDs, get an online DVD store membership
     Netflix is our go-to.  We also enjoy redbox. 

15. Keep distance from lavish, high-roller friends
     This one cracks me up!  :)  I don't think we have any lavish high-roller friends, but we do have those who stump us with how they do what they do!!!  Do you have those too?  I feel like we work really hard and never are able to do anything or go anywhere or buy anything... Oh well, Cest 'la vie. 

I actually like some of these and am going to do my best to see what kind of $$$ I can save in the next month by implementing most of them!  Hmmm....

And hopefully you'll get to see sunny San Francisco tomorrow!  :)

-- Specials --

Just a few specials I've come across today:

15% off everything and 20% off purchases of $100 or more at Kohls.com from 11am-4pm EST today. 

Use codes FIVEHR20EST for 20% and FIVEHR15EST for 15%

Enjoy 20% off every time you shop at White House Black Market from Nov 10th-Nov 14th, 2010

Use code 9421

Get 10% off at Urban Outfitters using code GIFTED

Does not apply to electronics, furniture, bikes, print shop or gift cards

Expires 12/23/10

$20 off $75 or more, $30 off $100, or $50 off $150 at Ann Taylor Loft

Use code SAVEMORE

Expires 11/14/10

If I find more, I'll add to it. 

I thought I'd put these up so that you can still spoil yourself while you are spoiling everyone else for the holidays! :)

Enjoy!

-- Hoping for Some Smooth Sale-ing --

My sister came down this weekend to help me with our community garage sale!  Well initially she came down to help me then it worked out that I actually have to work a half day today and give lessons so really, she's on her own.  We also used her as a chauffeur yesterday!  ha ha. 

But we were up until past 12:30 last night with marking and organizing and whatnot!  I'm hoping this thing isn't a bust!  Plus it's supposed to rain. "T-storms go away, come again another day, little Abby wants to have a good selling day!"  I don't know if I've ever shown a picture of my house before, but our garage is in the back...

(Please don't judge that the last picture I have of my house is snowy! Now I'm going to go home and take a picture of it now because my plants look so good....I'm so proud of all my bargains from last year!!!)

See... you can't see a garage.  So we have to have signs that say HUGE SALE IN BACK!!!  I'm hoping they'll walk around!!!  And I'm hoping they don't step in dog doo on the way!  lol. 

(photo)

Last weekend I went home to my mom's house to meet with the church musical coordinator and (that's another story...maybe tomorrow) while I was up there, I went through their house for anything and everything they could get rid of.  I wouldn't say they are collectors or pack rats or anything like that, but they had four kids for goodness sakes and there was just a lot of stuff that needed to be gone through.  I also went through my Grandparent's basement specifically for items for the garage sale but also to help them actually get it out of their house!!!  The only deal is...ANYTHING THAT DOESN'T SELL IS GOING TO GOODWILL!!! 

The whole idea is to make a couple of bucks for the wedding if you are catching my drift!  So wish us luck and I hope it goes well because our garage sure is stocked full of SH***....  :)  Sorry kids.  But you know what they say, One person's trash is another person's treasure! 

Happy Hunting!

-- Saving Money for a Wedding --

Saving money is hard. Period.

Cutting things out is hard too! It's like you every time you turn around, there's something new. It's really hard to save when you are constantly spending.

Here's a list of things that I'm doing to try to save some extra money for the wedding.

1. We pay all the bills and anything extra goes right into savings. I still need to pay off the photographer.

2. I put at least $75 from every pay check into savings automatically. This is basically included into the "bills." If I can do more, I do.

3. We sell slightly used items on ebay and save whatever the profit. All the extra money, obviously goes into savings. Are you catching on? :)

4. I've picked up skating classes all over the city of Indianapolis to try to save a little extra cash. ALL skating money goes directly into savings! It's not much, but it will be a chunk when it's all said and done.

(This is not me in the picture, but this is what I do 4x a week -- She's teaching fishies/swizzles)

5. We asked for all cash for Christmas -- this one did not turn out so good. People think cash for Christmas is impersonal so they buy you gifts anyways.

I initially started an orange savings account because it was free at ingdirect.com. Then I finally opened a chase.com savings account because the access was easier so when I needed to make a payment to someone I could just transfer the money immediately online and use my checking account to send the money! There are many saving account options out there...just make sure you find the one that is right for you.

These are just a few simple ways to get a little extra cash to make your dream wedding come true. Do you have any other suggestions on how to save money for your wedding?