Having fun saving money!

 

I’m having a super fun time saving money.  But let’s be honest.  Sometimes it takes money to even SAVE money.  When my friends and I first joined the coupon craze, I was spending sooooo much money to keep saving money.  It soon became ridiculous.  So I managed to work out a plan that worked for our family.  I’ve learned so much through couponing.  I still carry a coupon binder and I still work deals.  I just don’t make the 15 minute drive to go to a town where I could get MORE deals and spend MORE money on those deals.  Works for me!

Now that I’ve gone back to work, I have a “little” extra money to do some of the fun money saving things that just last year I would have had to pass on.  This post is all about the money I’ve spent and SAVED since Christmas and beyond.

Amazon Mom:  OH MY GOODNESS!  I <3 Amazon.  I really, really do.  I (heart) Amazon so much that I may do all of my Christmas shopping through them next year!  I guess it was 1 week before Christmas they started their 70% off toy sale.  With Amazon Mom, I get free shipping on all my orders!  How cool is that?  I got in on the free trial that lasts (for me) until March 2011.  If I make a $25.00 purchase from the baby store, then they extend it another month.  I have my eye on a couple of baby/pet gates that we need desperately.

Roku:  I had to spend money to get this wonderful little machine, but it is so worth it!  We do not have cable and for the most part, our family is happy with it.  DH gets bored with it so very quickly.  We do subscribe to Netflix and thanks to the kids’ gaming systems, we can watch it on 3 televisions in our house or on the computers.  We could not, however watch it on our bedroom T.V., which is an ancient T.V. and we do not have a wireless Blue Ray player.  So Roku to the rescue.  It streams Netflix and lots more to our T.V. It came with a free trial month to HuluPlus, which is great.  It also came with a $5.00 credit to…..AMAZON video on demand. Amazon again!  Who knew there was such a thing a Amazon VOD?  Not me and I thought I was an expert at finding things to watch on the computer, LOL! I also received another $5.00 credit to Amazon VOD, but I cannot remember how we received it.

Kodak Gallery:  Money Saving Mom, (who is just too darn smart!) sent out her daily, information packed email recently that said 5x7 photo book $1.99, shipped.  I just happened to still have $2.00 in my checking account so I quickly uploaded all my Christmas pics and put a book together.  I had to add a few pages (3 extra, I think) so my total was $3.89.  I can’t wait to get it in the mail!

JC Penny:  Someone gave me a code to get $10.00 off my $25.00 purchase online.  I have to say, this was probably not a great deal simply because I had to put so much time into it.  Unfortunately, the jcpenny.com website has a huge flaw, in my opinion.  You can find items you want, all at unbelievably low prices, pick out the size, the color, etc. and only after you add it to your cart do you find that it’s not available.  I spent one hour trying to find something for DH and DS 15.  I was so frustrated after that hour that I gave up.  Then just before bedtime, I was still considering one of the items that I wanted for myself and the things I had in my cart for DS 10 and DS 9 and decided to give it another try.  Long story short, almost $70.00 worth of items for $20.05.  I still can’t believe it, LOL!  Shipping was free because I chose to pick it up in store.

One of my favorite freebies sites is www.heyitsfree.com .  I get an email from them daily with a very nice summary of the day’s freebies.  Earlier in the week I received my first issue of Forbes magazine.  Today I received my first issue of the Wall Street Journal.  Thanks to “Hey, it’s Free” I signed up yesterday for a free subscription to Newsweek.

I still have money that I received as Christmas gifts and I plan to spend it this weekend.  I have the buying bug….bad! Bath and Body Works has their classics on sale for $3.00.  I just LOVE their body sprays. After this weekend I’m going to restrict my spending.  I just gotta.  You know I made my New Year's Resolutions and one of those was to pay those pesky bills!!!

Until next time,

Kim