Making Cents Of It All

It has been so busy the last few weeks. All good stuff but busy. The most important thing that happened is OD got  engaged . We are so happy for them. Since that means there is a wedding in the future, lets look at some ways I saved money recently.  We celebrated Easter early with OD and her BF. We always do an egg hunt. They were finding them for days after we left. We went to an event at the college YD will be attending this August while we were in Maryland. We slept at OD's apartment (thanks). We brought Long Island bagels with us and had them for breakfast both days. We packed cold cuts and made sandwiches for lunch while driving both ways. We had lunch at the college(it was included). We did treat OD to take out while we were there for dinner. It was short but we sure packed a lot in.  Hubby and I made Ruby a welcome to the family present. We used items that we already had, so it cost $0 to make. I did add a bag of treats that I bought with a cou...

The laundry area is done. I love the way it came out. It has so much more storage and is better organized. Hubby and I went to the local curtain store when they were having a sale. We ended up paying $7.95 for each curtain. We got two. The color is called chocolate which is perfect for me. They are a little long so I will need to hem them at some point. The kids were away for several days. My son went to visit OD in Baltimore. YD went to Florida for a long weekend with my sister. YD won a ticket to Playlist Live(that is where they were) for next year. She was so happy. She has gone the last 3 years and loves it. She gets to see friends that she has made.  Everyone had a great time. Including Hubby and me.  We ate out twice while the kids were away. We went to Cheesecake Factory and used a gift card the first night. My leftovers were my lunch the next day. Saturday we were talking about what to make for dinner. I suggested Hubby's favorite burger place. He was sol...

So remember the  drum set  Hubby got free a couple of weeks ago. Well the guy called him the other day and said he came a cross the Iron Cobra double foot pedal. Did he want it for free? Hubby ran out the day. It retails for $200-$400 brand new. That was a great freebie. Youngest daughter went to the dentist and got some free samples. We get 2 cleanings a year per person included in our insurance so might as well go. We are already paying for it.  I got 2 more books from Kelloggs Family Rewards. I am giving all of them away with a gift for a new baby. We love to read and I always give a book with a new baby gift.  We always loved Clifford so I ordered a bunch of them. If you are a member, you should check it out. I earn gift cards several times a year. My parents and sister linked their grocery cards to my account so I get points quickly. They are always doing special promos with purchases. Even if I can't use them, I can usually find someone...

My sister keeps getting Staples rewards and gave a $10 voucher to YD. I went with her to get her a few items that were on sale. Unfortunately I wasn't paying attention and the 2 packs of page tags were overcharged. So I pad $2.18 when it should have been under a $1. I realized out in the car before I left so I went back into the crazy madhouse of a store. I found a manager immediately and he said it would take a few minutes to do a refund or he could give me a $5 off any purchase voucher. I just took the voucher since it was easier. I will get something with it when everything there calms down. Maybe a Christmas gift. So all of the above minus one pack of page flags were free.  I had a $5 voucher to Kohls. YD was going to look for something she wanted so she happily used it.  I had ordered some free books from Kelloggs Family Rewards and 2 of them showed up. I am giving them to OD to give to her boyfriend's sister (got all that). She is pregnant and due at the...

           Do you know who Dave Ramsey is? I found out about him about five years ago. My oldest daughter was in college and we were starting to pile up student loan debt. My husband and I were not liking it one bit.  We had worked hard to pay off our car loans early. We had learned our lesson with credit cards but we didn't think that we could put 3 kids through college without going deep into debt.We were wrong.             I started reading different financial books and came across The Total Money Makeover . I borrowed if from the library and after the first night of reading it I was hooked. There were stories of other families, couples and singles that had a lot more debt than us and still managed to get out of debt.The book explains how to make a zero based budget and Dave's 7 baby steps. We started making a zero based budget right away. We had budgeted before but never like this. It really opene...