Do your Research

We have been debt free since July! And let me tell you, the habits formed to get us to this point have been hard to break.  Spending money has been a challenge for us, and we have been sticking to our monthly budget closely. We have been allotting the mortgage money to the car fund.
An envelope that has always been in our budget is a car fund. Having dreams of a car we want to have, has helped us remain focused on this envelope.  Well, we finally had the money saved up for the dream SUV.  We have been doing our research on the SUV for quite a while.  I test drove it on Friday, and negotiated the price to where we were somewhat comfortable.  But to be honest, any number makes us uncomfortable.
Today our mechanic took a look at it and said it has issues, and to pass.  This saved us quite a bit of money and future concerns.
Do your research.  Vehicles are a huge expense, and a purchase that goes down in value. Make sure that you don't get car fever, and do your research before you make the purchase. We sure are glad we did.

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Track your goals

 By now you have set up your goals for 2018.  Creating a monthly and annual budgets will help you achieve those goals.  For me, I also needed to visually see the progress that we were making.

When we were getting out of debt we had a chart with a picture of a dollar bill to represent every 1000 dollars we owed.  As we paid off money, we coloured one of the bills.

The same premise can be used when saving for a goal.  We are trying to save up for a dream, once in a lifetime trip.  To save for this we are doing a few things.

First, we calculated the price of the trip, from air fare, activities, hotels and dining.  This actually got me very excited to make this a reality. I haven't had a focus since July, and this has got me all fired up lol.

The kids and I found a pic of a sun online and cut it out to represent the amount of money we need to achieve the vacation goal.  I then broke the price down into small goals and assigned a dollar amount to each sun image.  Each time we reach a goal, we will colour the sun.

We opened up a bank account for this trip.  We will deposit money into it as we get money from selling things online and our spare change.  

Here's hoping we achieve it and take the trip.  Dreaming will help get us there. 

 

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Please get out of debt!

I have been asked many, many times why paying off our house was so important to us. People told me all the time that I needed to relax and live and enjoy life.  Trust me, we enjoyed life. In the five years it took us to pay off our house, we did a family trip to Disney World and put in a pool.  But guess what? We found other ways to have fun. Fun that cost money went into the monthly budget. And we put every penny extra on our house.  Now, the things we are planning to do amaze us. Friends, the hard work really does pay off.
Today I noticed a few things that validate our beliefs that paying off debt is very important.
BMO Master card sent out a letter today that interest rates are increasing if two months in a row of minimum payments are missed.  You may think that it won't affect you, but making charges on your credit card that you know you can't pay off for a while is a dangerous slippery slope.
Bank of Canada is increasing their interest rates this week, according to an article on Yahoo today.  1/3 of Canadians may not be able to make their monthly minimum  payments and debt reduction. The link is here for a good read.  15 years ago, this was us. I graduated with massive university debt, leased a car, and didn't land the job I went to university for for a few years.
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-debt-survey-third-canadians-131500350.html
On my walk today, 5 minutes from my house, a house had a new sign on the window, Mortgage Foreclosure.  4 streets away there are 2 houses on one street with the same sign.  Mortgage rates are on the rise.
I know that getting out of debt isn't fun. Trust me, I know. It is boring, and there is absolutely no glamour in it.  But I want all of you to know that it is worth it. Don't think of it as overwhelming, it is, that's reality.
Write down all your debts. Make minimum payments on all of them but the smallest. Put all your extra money on it, and knock it out fast and move on to the next debt. This is Dave Ramsey's snowball method.
I repeat, this isn't glamorous. Your friends aren't going to be wanting to hear all your Guess Who's Cheap tricks. 1/3 of Canadians are close to big financial trouble. That's 3 of your 10 friends.  I care about my friends, and I know you do too.
Let's change the stats. Still have fun, take a trip, buy a sweater, JUST STICK IT IN YOUR MONTHLY BUDGET.
PS I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!  AFTER I HIT POST, MY BANK JUST CALLED ME TO OFFER ME A LINE OF CREDIT 

Eat the Fridge

We often have a meal that we call Eat the Fridge.  This meal is essentially eating all the leftovers that we can find, and calling it supper.
This week we are trying to eat the food that we have in the fridge, freezer and in the pantry.  For groceries this week I only bought produce and milk. 
Here is the menu:
Monday: bacon (frozen found in freezer) hashbrowns (found in freezer) eggs fresh, toast (bread in freezer) fruit
Tuesday: turkey soup (freezer) caesar salad
Wednesday: hamburgers, french fries (found in freezer) and caesar salad and carrot sticks (fresh)
Thursday: macaroni and cheese from last week when I made a double batch
Friday: pizza (freezer from pink sticker sale)

I bought carrots and celery this week as my produce. It is all cut up and in Tupperware containers in the fridge to use as snacks and sides. 
I plan to make up a batch of bits and bites tonight as they were a big hit at Christmas. 

Mail In Rebates and Cleaning Supplies Stockpile

MAIL IN REBATES

Today I got a cheque in the mail for $17.24 from purchasing Finish Power Ball Tabs at the end of November. I paid for them using a Sobeys Gift card that I purchased for the bonus air miles when they had their promotion buy $200 in gift cards earn 95 air miles. It gets better...then I earned air miles on this purchase, and now have a cheque for cash! My stockpile also grew through this. You can do it too, read along.

Mail In Rebates are a great way to build up your stock pile. I have not paid for Finish dishwasher tabs or the Jet Dry and cleaning agents in years.  These are the most popular Mail In Rebate Offers.   You can do it too, it just takes some patience.

Most of the time I find the Mail in Rebates in inserts within the local newspaper and at times inside the flyers.  I ask people to save me their inserts, and my father gathers them from his friends. It is important to remember that you can only receive one Mail In Rebate per address.  I use my address, my father's address, and my in-law's address.

Mail In Rebates require you to send in the original cash register receipt. You need to circle the item on your cash register receipt, and write at the top the numbers as they appear on the UPC (THIS IS THE BARCODE).

I purchase my items for Mail In Rebates at stores where I can get the most points.  On days when Shoppers Drug Mart has 20x the points day when you spend $50 I try to use a Mail In Rebate to help get to that total.   Remember if you are at Shoppers Drug Mart and paying, purchase a Shoppers Drug Mart gift card in a separate transaction to receive your Optimum points.

My other favorite store to purchase Mail In Rebate Offers is Sobeys, so I can collect Air miles on the total price. At Sobeys pay with your gift card that you have from buying them during their promotions. Then you get your cash back when your cheque arrives.  I buy my stamps at Costco. They are the cheapest place to purchase them. A cheque is mailed out to you within 4-6 weeks.

For the price of a stamp, Mail In Rebates help build up your stockpile and loyalty points.  Items that I will not use I still do the Mail In Rebate to donate them.  Some examples are I used some of the items to give to a local refugee family, and my daughters' Girl Guides Penny Auction.  Random times I fill up a bag of things that I have gotten for free that I don't use and when people visit I tell my friends to take a few things.

I used coupons for the soft soap 4 years ago, $1 off each bottle. I waited until they were on sale and asked the manager of the store to order me in some cases. I had gathered up coupons for the soap for a month, they had a long expiration date, and I am still using them. They only cost the tax.  If I have A LOT of coupons, more then a dozen for a product, I ask store managers, or stock people if they have them in boxes. This was they don't need to continue to restock. Try to be a respectful couponer.

Mr Clean Magic Erasers are always free in the Smart Source boxes. These come up a few times a year, watch Guess Who's Cheap we always post when they are live.

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Coupons, Where I Find Them

COUPONS

Coupons really can save you a lot of money.  I have heard comments that coupons are more of a pain in the butt then what they are worth.  Honestly, I spend less than two hours a month on my coupons.  I feel that any dollar I save is better in my pocket than in the retailer’s.    I used to save roughly an average of $200 a month with coupons. Now that I have a massive stock pile I am saving about $100 a month in coupons.  What would you do with an extra $100? 

When I get home, I take note of how much money I saved using coupons.  When we were paying off the mortgage that amount was flipped onto the mortgage as an extra payment daily. Now that our mortgage is paid off this money is saved to a vacation fund.  Do this daily, it will become automatic in your habits. This is how you will see the results quickly.

When I go to the grocery store, I walk up and down every aisle to hunt for coupons. I don’t know about you, but I end up needing something in almost every aisle of the grocery store so I don’t count aisle walking as extra work. I do however pretend that it is exercise and counts towards my cardio.

I find coupons all the time in front of products right there on the shelf!  This is the easiest way to start your coupon hunt.  Often at times the coupon holder looks similar to the product and could be missed and presented to the consumer as another subliminal advertisement.   Look closely.

Proper coupon etiquette is to take the amount of coupons that you will need.  If you take 15 and will use them for your family or stockpile go for it.  Just be respectful, and remember to be a Coupon Fairy with the coupons that you will not be using. 

I am going to list a few of my favorite coupon sites for you to get started.

I suggest you create an email account just for coupons.  I suggest creating an email account with your name, and the word coupons. Then only coupons come to your email account are coupon related. Take a piece of paper and track all your passwords, and mailing addresses. Add this paper in a plastic sleeve to your Home Binder.  I have accounts registered for my father's house and my mother's to receive more coupons.  This is my coupon holder, it is from the Dollarama and is really a business card holder. It holds coupons perfectly. One half is for food, the other half is for everything else.

Now that you have an email address just for coupons and a Face Book alias, here is a starting point for coupons. Some of these lists will do a mail out to you and others you will need to print.

1.                 healthyessentials.ca  (currently nothing there)

2.                 gocoupons.ca (currently nothing I use, a few are available)

3.                 pgeveryday.ca (lots of printable ones today!)

4.                 websaver.ca      (have to pay for mailouts, choose print option)

5.                 save.ca (toilet paper mail  out, and Tostitos print, great for Pepsi Promo)

6.                 smartsource.ca

7.                 groupon.com (changes daily)

8.                 walmart.ca

9.                 Flipp App now has coupons instantly

10.            zebracoupons.com   THIS IS MY LEAST FAV, THEY CHARGE FOR THE     COUPONS

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Toiletries Stockpile

You have heard me mention a stockpile a few times.  I have a stockpile for food items, and one for toiletries.  The easiest one that I found to gather up for a minimal cost is the toiletries stockpile.  An added bonus, toiletries don't expire, and can be gathered in large amounts.

Toilet paper coupons are available frequently.  Super Store has a coupon board, and coupons are often found there. Save.ca and the Walmart magazine also often has coupons for toilet paper.  I am not brand loyal to toilet paper.  Coupons can also be used when items are on sale.  My stock up price for toilet paper is under 30 cents per double roll. I keep a shelf in the pantry full of rolls, and always have some packages in the basement.

Tissue is another item that often goes on sale.  50 cents and under is a great stock up price for tissue.  A little known secret, often the Royale Tissue goes on sale a 6 pack 3.99  and there are often coupons for this brand.  Watch for the sales, and stock up! Last year, I had coupons for $2 off a 6 pack of tissues.  This is a coupon that I have seen a few times a year. I bought 3 cases, and feel pretty sure we have a few years of this on hand. It seems excessive, but we have 5 boxes open in our house at any given time. Running out of this item and buying at regular price is at least $1 a box. 

Shaving Cream was free last year!  There was a coupon on the board at Superstore for $2 off and it was onsale inside for 1.99, I just paid the taxes!   It's a good idea when looking at the board to walk through the store and see if the item is on sale, and then go back and get more!  There are often coupons for $1 off at SS and Shoppers Drug Mart. Using conditioner to shave legs is also a great frugal tip! 

Body Wash coupons are found in P and G inserts for Gillette and other inserts for other brands, Irish Spring and Dove are common coupons.  With sales and coupons 50 cents is a stock up price. Body Wash is often on Check Out 51 for Cash Back.

Pads and tampons coupons are often available at Shoppers Drug Mart right in front of the product.  Often these can be scored for 50 cents! 

Shampoo and Conditioner are everywhere!  Look for these and match up with sales.  Almost weekly, there are Check Out 51 offers for shampoo and conditioner. Matching up with sales and coupons, my shampoo and conditioner is $1 and under stock up price.  These cash back offers often run out the first day, so claim it fast!

Body Lotion is often very cheap after Christmas. Look for the Value Boxes that have lotions and marked down to half price after Christmas.  Then I take them out of the boxes and stock up!  Also I have scored with the pink stickers at grocery stores when lotions are changing their packaging.  I find grocery stores the cheapest place for my body lotion.

When I am building up my toiletries stockpile I try to buy my items at Shoppers Drug Mart for Optimum points, No Frills for PC Points, or Sobeys for Air Miles.  I try to hold on to coupons to match up with the flyers and earn points at the same time.  Start small, you've got this, Happy Savings!

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Know Why You Want To Be Out Of Debt

Everyone wants more money and getting out of debt helps with that.  Maybe it's for travel, or to be able to buy the newest fashion trend or maybe it’s to drive a great car.   Once you figure out your why, you need to think about what you will sacrifice to achieve this goal.  I have 'sacrificed' the trendy clothes to achieve this goal. Our clothes are mostly second hand. Guess what, we are ok! And sometimes we even get compliments on our clothes.  I often hear “Don’t tell me you got that at Frenchy’s” (a used clothing store). 

We have also ‘sacrificed’ what we drive. We drive old cars. My husband drives a 2008 Toyota Yaris, and I bought a used 2013 Toyota Corolla a year ago that we saved up to buy and traded in a car towards the price.  Is it my dream car? Nope, but to lease my dream car would be over $40,000 for 4 years and not even own it.  Knowing our WHY, to get out of debt made the other things seem not so important, and eventually we will have the 'things' that we want.

Our why is to give our children a better life then we had. Don't get me wrong, my childhood was amazing. However, my husband and I want to give our children the gift of experiences and the gift of an education. Being debt free was the only way we saw this could be possible.

I wanted to have our house paid off.  Not having a mortgage payment would allow us to put aside money for our children's RESP university tuition and have money to travel.  I want our kids to start life off without a large student loan debt.

Once you know your why, you can determine if the small sacrifices are worth it.   Know that these sacrifices aren't forever.   We still had fun during our 5 year journey to get out of debt. We still took great paid for vacations, we just had an envelope to budget for it. It is worth it!

Make your why specific to ensure it is achievable. Simply saying I want X amount in your bank account isn't good enough.  Grab a pen and your partner and start dreaming!

Once you know your specific why, you are ready to achieve it. Great things will happen!

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