A few Apps to Save you money

Yesterday we talked about Cash Back Apps with Caddle.  Thank you to all of those that signed up from me.   In case you missed it https://caddle.ca/signup/referral/57f933eb86129

Another great place I get deals is from Groupon.  If you haven't joined up from Groupon yet, here is my referral code

https://www.groupon.com/visitor_referral/h/df0fa8a6-b2c8-4be9-a70a-e644e50d2b72

This time of year until the end of February is when I find the best Groupon deals. 

I love Groupon. Before I make a purchase for a restaurant, activity or hotel I search Groupon first. The best part of a budget, is that there is money for fun, it just has to be planned. 

Our favorite restaurant in Halifax offers a Groupon twice a year for an incredible discount.  I am all over this, for a night out after Valentine's Day.

Subscribe to Groupon emails for your area.  When you register you get a code to use for money off of your first purchase (sadly, not applicable for all deals) and also you receive discount codes from time to time.  I have registered for Groupon on more than one email to receive the discount.

Groupon is already a great deal, but there is MORE!!!!!

When you receive your code, and email offer that you like, log in to airmilesshops.ca  and search Groupon or Ebates.ca (Ebates link is at the bottom) This will help you collect air miles on your purchase. Now you will receive AIRMILES or cash back and the amazing deal.

In the Spring I was searching out a hotel room for Niagara Falls.  I found a hotel that I liked and a price I was comfortable paying.   Just before I clicked to buy I logged in New York as my home city by accident.   The same offer for the hotel I was just about to purchase was much cheaper in American dollars.   I bought it, even with paying the exchange rate I saved $120 Canadian from my original price I was willing to pay!  My air miles were also awarded.

Ebates

Meghan Savings thought you would be interested in checking out Ebates.ca!

Check out Ebates.ca! It's a great website that actually pays you Cash Back every time you shop online and it's free to join! Ebates.ca works with over 750 stores that ship to Canada including Indigo.ca, Amazon.ca, eBay, Sears, Old Navy, Forever21 and Groupon.

Why wait? Click here to sign up today:

https://www.ebates.ca/referrer?referrerid=dmI00Ysp2yY%3D

Checkout 51- There is a Cash Back App that I use weekly, CheckOut 51.  You can download the app on your phone.   You can have more than one account per household, which helps for the really good deals! There are limits on how many offers you can claim. Multiple accounts allow you to claim multiple times. If you are claiming on multiple accounts you need to purchase your items on separate transactions.

The concept is simple.  Once a week (Thursday morning) you will get an update of new fresh offers. Scroll it and make notes of the offers. Check and try to match coupons to the offers. There are offers for things from toiletries to produce, to cleaning supplies.  The best part of it is, they send you a cheque once you have hit a credit of $20.  Now, some people like to save it and cash out when the number is high, and a certain time of year.  I am a natural born pessimist, always believing when things are too good to be true, they may not be real or last.  THIS IS REAL, but cash out every $20 credit. They mail you a cheque and deposit into your bank account, and voila, that simple.

Some offers are really good, and I upload the receipt when I get to the car as offers are limited in quantity.

At the bottom of the App you will see a green camera and it says Upload Receipt.  Click.

From there step by step directions help you to line up the camera to your receipt and claim your offers.

This is a great app for those that don't like to use coupons, or as a way to make extra cash. Put the $20 on your mortgage at each cash out.

Join Guess Who's Cheap on Facebook, and on Amazon A Penny Saved is a Mortgage Paid, and A Guide to Collecting Air Miles in Canada

 https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_7?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+penny+saved+is+a+mortgage+paid&sprefix=a+penny%2Caps%2C206&crid=R06CXF8JG0RF

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Create a Budget

Everyone has different categories in their budget. A great place to start is to go through your credit card bills and debit transactions and average out how much money you have spent in 3 months on each category.  Don’t worry, it takes a few months to work out the kinks of a budget, don’t give up.   Write down every source of income you have, salary, child tax benefits, and Kijiji or online sales.

You may feel that it is restrictive to be on a budget. We actually felt that way when we started too. Very quickly though we felt like it gave us permission to spend money.  When we started to get out of debt it was 10 years ago, and I was on a maternity leave and my husband was just starting his massage business and was self employed. We never would have spent money on ourselves, but the budget gave us permission to spend money on a movie rental. Yes, that’s how long we have been doing this when there was still a Blockbuster lol.  

We have an envelope for the following categories:

1.                   Date Night

2.                   Kid Activities

3.                   Power Bill

4.                   Frenchies/Clothes

5.                   Car (gas, repairs and if you have a payment or save for new car)

6.                   Groceries

7.                   Lottery

8.                   Miscellaneous

9.                   Insurance (pay annually for a discount, but continue to save monthly)

10.               Cell Phone

11.               Internet

12.               Toiletries

13.               Mortgage

14.               Entertainment

15.               Property Taxes (this needs to be paid 2x a year)

16.               Gifts

17.               RESP/RRSP/TFSA

At the start of each month we put cash in each envelope.  That's the money for the category.  When it's gone, it's gone. All the money that was left over and not put in envelopes we used to put on the mortgage as an extra payment.  You can use the extra to pay down other debt, or as a float the first few months when working out your budget. 

You can put your receipts in the envelope or jar if you want to.  If you are using an envelope you can write on the envelopes the amount and date you spent the money.

At the end of the month there are a few things you can do if money is left over.  You can allow the money to carry over and build up in the category. For example, the Power Bill is due every other month, this one builds up.

Groceries envelope, at month end you may realize you have some extra money to do build your stock pile. A stock pile is the extra food you have in your home.

Clothing, Gas and Date Night envelopes we don't let build up.

For a challenge we had an empty envelope purposely for month end. The last day of the month we would dump any left over money into it to be the fun money. This was how we afforded a get-away in a neighouring city for a night, or a movie dinner date.  After a while it became a challenge for us, and all money left over went on the mortgage.  Sometimes we skipped a date night and had an at home date. Then the money that was left in the date envelope was slapped on the mortgage. 

If you are saving for something special, say a vacation or a new purse, have an envelope. We used to keep our money in jars, but it got bulky and took up a lot of space. Jars are a good visual to be able to actually see the money, and how fast it is being spent. 

We have a page in our Home Economy Binder with each category of our budget written down.  We used to track what we thought we would spend, and the actual money spent in each category. It helped us to tweak out the budget.

If you are looking for an app try Dave Ramsey EveryDollar.  It is free and user friendly. I am old fashion and like pen and paper.

Here is a link to an online resource that we used when we were just starting out. http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/resources/interactive_budget_worksheet.html

You may remember Gail Vax Oxlade from the show Till Debt Do Us Part that aired on the Slice Network.

YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS BUT TRY IT A MONTH AND YOU WILL SEE...Doing the envelope system makes us feel like we have more money.  It gives permission for us to spend money while keeping an eye on the prize. When we first started we used jars, so we could physically see the money, this is an option and may work for you.

Give yourself a few months to work out the kinks.  Don’t beat yourself up about it, you are making progress!

 Join Guess Who's Cheap on Facebook, and on Amazon A Penny Saved is a Mortgage Paid, and A Guide to Collecting Air Miles in Canada

 
 https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_7?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+penny+saved+is+a+mortgage+paid&sprefix=a+penny%2Caps%2C206&crid=R06CXF8JG0RF

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Gift Card Organizing

We try to use gift cards whenever possible.  All year long we take advantage of promotions that offer perks with gift card purchases.  Often we earn Air Miles on gift card purchases, and during Christmas stores often give a freebie with a gift card purchase.
 
Keep your receipts!  I used to staple receipts to the gift card after I bought them. It worked well, and I would put them all in a bag.  It worked well, but boy it got messy!  The receipts would sometimes become separated and all of them would have to be taken out to find particular gift cards.
 Today I picked up a plastic folder at the Dollarama for $2.30.  I used a permanent marker, and a pen and began to get organized.
On each receipt I wrote a number in pen, and the corresponding number on the actual gift card in marker.  One section of the folder will be used to store all receipts.  KEEPING RECEIPTS IS IMPORTANT! Sometimes there are problems with a gift card, and having the receipt fixes the problem fast. Just this month I had a $400 gift card not work, with the receipt and a wonderful store employee it was fixed fast. That would have been a costly mistake.

After all the receipts and gift cards were labelled, I sorted them by stores. Each section of the folder was labelled and the corresponding gift card was filed. It was a great time for me to take an inventory of the gift cards that I have.  Even though we watch our money closely, I was pleasantly surprised by one of the gift cards that I found. 

After a gift card gets used, I will destroy the receipt. This will help with the organization.  When I use partial amounts of a gift card, I wrap the last receipt around the gift card. Then I know the balance.  When I remember, I use a permanent marker and write the balance on the card.  If I really had my act together I would carry a marker in my purse, but I don't have my act quite together lol. 

Baby steps to getting on financial track, you got this! 

Join Guess Who's Cheap on Facebook, and on Amazon A Penny Saved is a Mortgage Paid, and A Guide to Collecting Air Miles in Canada

 https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_7?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=a+penny+saved+is+a+mortgage+paid&sprefix=a+penny%2Caps%2C206&crid=R06CXF8JG0RF

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Freebies!

By now you know how much I love to save money.  I am quite proud of being frugal and cheap. Using coupons and stockpiling items has really helped our family save money. I use the things in our stockpile to throw in our family's Christmas presents. I have been able to donate toilet paper and paper towel each season to my daughters' girl guide troops. We have donated items to local women's shelters, and animal shelters.  Making donations to these places may have been a challenge for us if it had not been for the stock pile of items.  Many agencies are often in need of items, not just monetary donations.  Through using coupons and shopping sales, this is a great way for people to make donations at no charge, or very small amount.
Last week I ordered a new baby kit from Enfamil on Swagbucks. http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Donats

 It earned me 50 Swagbucks too!  I got 4 free product coupons in the mail! Two of them were for baby formula, one was a baby bottle and one was for baby bottle nipples.  I picked up the items at Shoppers Drug Mart, earning Optimum points on the free items in the process. I didn't even realize that yesterday was a bonus day for points, I earned $10 worth of points doing this! I then brought them to work to be donated to our local Food Bank.  I was able to donate $48 worth of items at no cost to me, and I am sure that they will be appreciated.  You can do things like this too!
Join Guess Who's Cheap on Facebook and on Amazon A Guide to Collecting Air Miles in Canada and my new book! A Penny Saved is a Mortgage Paid


 https://www.amazon.ca/Guide-Collecting-Air-Miles-Canada-ebook/dp/B07169ZK5R/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513084270&sr=8-1&keywords=a+guide+to+collecting+air+miles+in+canada

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Flyers Night

FLYERS

Flyers Night and I don't mean a hockey game!

Flyer Time! Tuesday evening there is a little red plastic bag on my doorstep that excites me.  I love the flyers! The people that deliver the flyers know I love flyers, they beep the horn when they drop off the flyers. I make a mug of green tea and get ready for 20 minutes of home budget work. 

When I first started to watch my prices, I would write down when I got home from the store how much I paid for an item, and record the size of the item.  I would then figure out cost per unit…how much the item costs per ml, L, g and kg.  It gets a bit tricky as some items are priced per pound, be aware.  I am not the math person, and my husband gets calls from me time to time at the store asking him to figure this out fast! It can get over whelming at the store to do this when you are in the moment. 

** Look closely on the shelf on the item tag with the price, the cost per unit is there. I have always thought it was on regular price, but my friend that owns a store told me it is often done on sale items too! When I started getting hard core about pricing, it must not have been included on sale items, and I started the habit. I now will stop!  Just be conscious about cost per unit, you will save! 

I first sort the flyers by the grocery stores that I prefer.  No Frills in my town is my favorite grocery store and I start there. The owner is present, and is very helpful.  There is also the PC Plus program, and they Price Match.

I have small note paper that fits inside my coupon folder.   I make my own notepads. I write the store name as a heading, write the price of the item, and the name of the item.  If I have a coupon for the item I circle the item on my list.