Deposit into Christmas Fund

So its been a month and a half since I have started my New Year's resolution to save all the money I spend on Christmas by using online surveys, rebates, gift cards, spare change, etc. I wanted to see if I can stick to a goal and fulfill it. Plus, it would be nice to have all the money earned without having to dig into our monthly budget. So though I am still collecting points on all my survey sites, I have cashed in one site so far.

So here is the break down so far.

Online survey: $20
Ebates: $8.55
Spare Change: $5.19
Gift cards either left over or from buying in bulk: $24.03

Deposit: 57.77
Goal; $600
Left to earn: $542.23

This means I have almost 10% of my goal reached!!! And I haven't even counted the points I have earned and I didn't cash in yet. Woo Hoo!

Trying new recipes

For Christmas I got a cook book called the $5 Dinner Mom or something like that. And every meal that she has a recipe for also has the amount it cost (all under $5) to feed a family of 4. So lately I have been trying out some of her recipes. Well I have done two so far. And here are my reviews.

The first one was Bacon Wrapped BBQ Apple Chicken.

Sounds amazing right? Well, I think it could be. The sauce didn't penetrate the chicken enough so there was no flavor inside the chicken. If I make it again I will slice the chicken in half to make thinner pieces. And I think instead of putting the bacon in the crock pot I will fry it and add it later. The bacon got soggy and lost all flavor. Now Joel liked it but he tends to like bland food anyways. I wasn't thrilled with the taste.

My next one was Italian Meatball Subs

Turned out really good! Joel was thrilled! Its a favorite of his. It was my first time every making or eating a meatball sub. I was happy with the out come and so was Joel. So its a keeper for sure!

Can't wait to share more with you!

A look back one last time...

 

This year has brought great joy. Spending most of the year in a really hard pregnancy and wondering why doctors kept telling me my baby was small and we need to keep pushing your due date back, to having doctors tell me that I wouldn't make it to July. But for some crazy reason Zachary did not want to come out. So we forced him out. I am not sure why some people say being induced is awful. I would so take that over how my labor was with Nathan. But after 9 hours of labor and delivery Zachary was here 2 weeks before his due date weighing over 9lbs. Small baby, yeah right.

Nathan was an amazing little boy most of the time! He is the greatest big brother any sibling could ask for. My favorite is when Zachary wakes up from his nap Nathan is the first in there to stick his arm through the crib and rub Zachary's head and say "hey there little buddy." LOVE IT! He is a learner and loves to try to do new things. But he is also a perfectionist. I thought he had my personality more but I am learning more and more that he is like his daddy more. A content boy with a perfectionist attitude. But what he does have in my personality is the dramatic side. So as you can see with the first two qualities we are dealing with a very expressive boy!

Joel complete a full year at Target. 2 different bosses and a lot of a new learning experiences. It also seems that his boss is really impressed with how he is doing and his willingness to work hard at his job.

I am so thankful for subbing. Jobs have come. Teachers have requested and having a wonderful friend to watch my boys when Joel can't has helped so much with our finances. I am truly thankful for how the Lord continues to provide.

We know more is to come and we can't wait. We love seeing how God moves in and changes our lives. He is faithful and loving and we are blessed!

New Year's Resolution

So last year I started doing more online surveys. I always did a couple here or there. But this year I did my research and picked up 3 more sites that I know to be legit. Ever since Nathan was born I made it a point to make nap times my rest time as well. Even if I don't sleep, I don't clean or any thing like that. It makes the rest of the day go smoothly. And now with two kids I really rest at nap time (well only when both kids are napping). I don't take naps well so I decided this would be my "taking surveys" time. I spend about an hour at nap time and an hour at bed time to do this. I started in late April last year and I did pretty well. My goal this year is to saved up enough money to pay for all my Christmas shopping this way. Below is a break down of how I did last year (remember I started late April) and my goal for this year. I cashed out as much as I can before then end of this year so I can have a clean slate and show you how I do. Wish me luck! Happy New Year!!! May 2012 be a joyous year for all of you. And may the Lord guide and direct every day.

$380 in surveys and Ebates
over $20 in spare change approx.
Recycle cans $12 approx.
rebates $12
gift card rewards from buying multiples of house hold things (like diapers) $55 approx.
Most of this was started last April
Total last year: $479
Goal for 2012: $600

Life Update and a Merry Christmas

Well the end of the year is quickly coming. This has been one amazingly interesting year. Its had its ups and downs but over all I wouldn't change it. The Lord has been good to us. His provision and care for us cause me to shout for joy daily!

I started this year pregnant!  And I am ending this year with two of the most incredible boys ever! The pregnancy was hard this time around. And Nathan couldn't have been a more amazing little boy for me while I sat on the couch or napped or waddled around. He was patient and kind and sweet the whole time. Then the moment he met Zachary the love that Nathan shows for his little brother only grew daily. There was never a point where Nathan resented having Zachary around. And Zachary loves Nathan so much. It shows daily that these two are going to be the best of friends.

Also subbing has been a blessing. Joel and I are always looking ahead to the future when I can stay at home full time. We see a light at the end of the tunnel but we don't know exactly how close we are. Every time we set a goal it gets set back because of something or other. I would love for it to be by October of next year so I can start home schooling Nathan in preschool. But we will see. Until then, the Lord provides the jobs I need to help us out with finances.

Zachary is seriously the happiest baby you will ever meet. If he is crying its because he is not feeling well. And he doesn't really cry as much as he just cries out for comfort. He may not be the best sleeper (just as he was starting to sleep through the night, a tooth popped through), but you would never know it. Not a cranky baby. He is huge and chunky but a pretty content little guy. He is rolling over one way. And I think he will be sitting soon. All that extra padding on the bottom helps with the balance.

 

The holidays are harder to enjoy this year. Joel got a new boss a few months ago and for some reason he loves doing over night shifts on holidays (something his old boss didn't do). And Joel has to do both Thanksgiving and Christmas overnight shifts. With kids and no family around the holidays just become another day to us and that makes me the most sad of all. I love that Joel is trying something new and working hard to get good at it but changes like these make it hard sometimes. But Nathan and I have been enjoying our time of decorating the tree together, making sugar cookies, introducing Santa, and reading about the birth of Jesus, and also learning HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS. And Nathan responded before the book was done, "That's not nice, he needs to bring Christmas back!" My compassionate boy.

 Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Next year starts a new resolution for me that I can't wait to write about. A first for me because I don't make resolutions!

Weekly Update on Christmas savings...

One of the ways that I like to save for anything is putting aside any extra money that comes our way that is not in our normal budget. This week we sold our old stroller on craiglist. A single stroller just doesn't work for us anymore. We now have a sit and stand stroller so I put our old stroller up on craiglist and sold it this week. I put that money into our Christmas fund for the year.

Some of you might be wondering why I am doing this for the first time and not before. Let me explain. When Joel was a teacher he would get a bonus in December every year. This bonus was enough to pay for all our Christmas shopping. Then last year, I was subbing and doing childcare at the same time. That was like an extra amount of income that allowed me to cover for Christmas. Well, this year the boy I use to watch started preschool. I am still subbing and working hard to sub as much as I can but I also have some things in December and January that I am planning for as well. Like my finger print clearance card is due and there will be two weeks in January, because of winter break, where I will not be getting a paycheck. I am trying to get that money set aside now. Plus, I like this challenge and its like a game to me. And I want to win!

Ok, so this week I sold our stroller and all the extra change I have from grocery shopping to add into our fund.

 

$30 for the stroller
$4.27 in spare change to add to the fund

Total = $34. 27

Old total = 138.31

New total = 172.58

Saving for Christmas

We are a family of four on a tight budget. I coupon, shop sales and clearance, and set a budget for everything. And I always try to come in below the budget amount. I also take online surveys to help bring in extra cash for stuff. So I started late this year as a test run for next year. I want to earn all of our Christmas spending budget by surveys, saving change, rebates, and gift cards. 

Let  me explain how this happened. I follow a blog called Couponing to Disney.  Its all about this mom of 2 and how she saves for their families annual trip to Disney World. I love her blog. She is always posting the best deals. I got a couple of friends to follow her too. But its so inspiring to see how she does this. I thought I want to do this but I want to start small. So how about Christmas. This blogger can save $3000 in a little over a year, I want to save about $500-$600 in a year. So starting January 1st is when I will kick off this huge Saving for Christmas 2012 campaign. I want to show you where I am at this year since I just started in Sept.

Right now, I have $138.31 in various cash flows that I will break down for you in a little bit. This is just from Sept. and Oct. alone.

So here is the break down.
$40 in Paypal cash that I will transfer to our checking account from various survey sights
$20 in Amazon gift cards from another survey sight
$10 in Target gift cards from another survey sight
$35 for carrying a cell phone around and recording my snack intake for 2 weeks from another survey sight.
$5 cash/check from another survey sight.

So right now we are at $110 for surveys in two months

Now we have $7.48 in spare change (I pay in cash and never use the change but save it)
And another $3.60 for recycling cans (we don't drink a lot of soda and we already traded in a couple times this year)
$17. 23 in various gift cards that I can use towards Christmas gifts.

So that totals $138.31 in two months. I may earn a little more before Christmas but it can take anywhere from 2-8 weeks for some things to come in. I do have some rebates that may come in but I may or may not use them this year.

I hope to share this with you every month next year on my progress.