Budgeting

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser Walmart Family Mobile. All opinions are mine alone. #DataAndAMovie  #CollectiveBias

Debt is a serious problem for most Americans. We live in a society where everyone wants the coolest gadgets, a nice car, and an even nicer home. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Unfortunately, the good life is hard to achieve, nor does it come cheap. 

While nearly everyone has debt, that doesn’t make it any easier to live with. And it was this reason my family set out four years ago to rid ourselves of all of our unnecessary consumer debt. We knew that the best way to live the good life was to simply spend less and earn more. But what was not so obvious to us initially is that we also needed to be able to live well while spending less.

Going into our debt-free journey we knew that redefining our new budgeted lifestyle would entail limiting our overall budget, way back! We started with a weekly allotted food budget of just $60.00. We no longer eat out. We packed lunches. We downsized our furnishings. We went from being a two-car household to a shared vehicle family. I even started working from my home office to cut my work-related overhead business costs.

While we intentionally scaled back nearly every aspect of our lives, one area my family decided not to compromise on was on our family movie nights. You see, we are a very close-knit family. We love seeing the latest and greatest of what Hollywood has to offer from the comfort of our homes. We are also a very tech-savvy, gadget-loving clan. We just couldn’t continue to pay a premium price to do so. A complete revamp of our family home entertainment was in order. 

The day we returned our cable boxes was a very dark, gloomy day for us. This was our fun stuff, our daily entertainment. We knew we had to come up with a plan to revamp our entertainment fix. Our saving grace during this time? By cutting cable and home phone service we would save us $4,200.00 annually!

We quickly found out there are a lot of at-home streaming options available, and many of our favorite shows could be viewed online with only basic internet service. I mean, how awesome is that? We contacted several different internet providers, and were able to negotiate an affordable monthly package. We had their highest internet package installed the same week for half the price we were previously paying!

Also, since we had already owned a gaming system, viewing popular streaming services was a breeze. We subscribed to several affordable subscription streaming services and were able to pick right back up with many of our families favorite cable programs the same week. An added bonus? We allocate grocery apps rebate savings to pay for our services, making our family streaming free!

As a family, we also switched our cellular provider. We no longer wanted to be tethered to a cellular contract. We opted for pre-paid service because while working from home I can speak to my husband online, leaving us in need of only one single family line for my husband who works outside our home. The question remained, which service would we choose? After checking out several local options, we chose the Walmart Family Mobile Services. 

So, why this plan? The Walmart Family Mobile provided us the option of affordable cell phone plan without being locked into a long-term contract. Plus, there’s no credit check required and no annual contract to sign. 

Switching to Family Mobile was an easy process for us. First, we picked up a Starter Kit in-store. As a side note, Walmart also helps families with the cost of activation. The Starter Kits are cheaper than before and now on rollback for just $19.88 (regularly $25.00)! This offer lasts until July 7th. 

My favorite part of our Walmart Family Mobile plan is that this quality cellular service comes with unlimited talk, text, data (10GB 4G LTE), plus a free new release movie feature (a $7.00 value) on VUDU every month for only $49.88. Keep in mind, you will be required to purchase one month of the plan to lock-in these features. 

Disclaimer: All prices for phones and plans included in this post are accurate as of the date of posting; however, these prices are subject to change. Please refer to here or your local Walmart for current pricing

Another great budget-savvy reason to join Walmart Family Mobile? Walmart Family Mobile offers great selection of budget-friendly phone options. We opted for the Cool Pad Rogue, currently priced at $19.88 (on Rollback from $39.83). Keep in mind that Walmart Family Mobile does not have contracts so you have to pay full price for their phones, this initial price is totally worth the up-front cost from what we will save each and every month!

And do you know who was most excited about this new Walmart Family Mobile Plan? My husband! He chose the Android Cool Pad Rogue, which is currently priced at only $19.88 (on Rollback from $39.83). As a gamer, my husband goes through quite a bit of data, so a limited plan would not work for our family. Thankfully with the larger data bucket of 10GB of 4G LTE data my husband can checkout his favorite free game Harthstone to his content!

As for me, I also use the bucket of data to look up recipes on Pinterest, listen to my favorite Pandora stations, check out families movies with the littles online, and even to help save money while grocery shopping in-store at Walmart with several grocery rebate apps! 

The Walmart Family Mobile is perfect for families like ours that need affordable cell phone service without long-term contracts. And with unlimited talk, text, and data for up to 5 lines on each account my family will always be able to affordably stay in touch. I’m glad my family switched to this solid service at such an affordable price. Being able to stay tech-savvy on a budget rocks in my book! 

As a family we think it’s important to get involved in our families media lives. But helping our family become both savvy savers and critical media consumers can be easier said than done. Our sure-fire way to stay involved with our families media picks by hosting a family movie night each week.  Luckily, our Walmart Family Mobile Plan comes with one free new Vudu release each month, and so we build this into our monthly family movie schedule! What’s really nice is that we can watch our free Vudu movie not just on our phones, but on our Playstation 4 and Smart TV. 

Here are a few tips for affordable family movie nights :

• Schedule it. Make it a regular date and time and don’t break it. Make it a family-only time to unwind and spend quality time together. 
• Take turns choosing the movie. If you’ve got little kids, pre-select a group of films for them to choose from. Enforce a “no complaining” rule for whatever film is chosen.
• Prep for your movie. My family knows that family movies in our home means one thing, crock pot freezer meals! But what’s really fun? I match themes to movies, such as making Crockpot Tagine Chicken the night we watched Casablanca! 
• Location, location, location. We host film nights in our den. We put away all toys, bring out the bean bag chairs for Moroccan-style lounging. 
• Snacks please. In our den you will find a theater candy machine full of gluten-free treats including cereal, trail mix, dried fruits, and acai berry candies! No need to go to head the lobby around here! 
• Talk about it. After the credits roll on our Vudu movies, we always make time to chat about what what we watched. We discuss everything from book-to-film adaptations, animation variations, and Hollywood history.
• Make it educational. Often after movie nights we visiting our local public library to follow up on interests piqued by the movie.
• Make it a life lesson. Talking with kids about how movie characters handled fictional situations can be a subtle way to reinforce your family’s values or get kids to open up about their lives. Lessons learned, friends!

Last evening we had a fun watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Mind you, I had to go back and watch some parts again due to giggles and laughing from my family during the movie. Luckily, with Vudu you get 2-day rentals with each code redemption so I was able to re-watch my movie while curled up in bed. Luxury at it’s finest, my friends!

It goes without saying that the Vudu credit is just one more awesome reason that our family loves the Walmart Family Mobile. I encourage you all to check the Walmart Family Mobile at your local Walmart Supercenter to see if this mobile plan could save your family hundreds of dollars a month too! 

So, friends have you ever considered giving Walmart Family Mobile a shot? If you’re a current subscriber, what do you think about it? I’d love to hear about it!

Here’s to saving!

Hello again, savvy savers! For today’s October No-Spend Daily Challenge, as part of the #31DayLWSZ Challenge, I want to discuss my experience this past weeks savings victories, challenges, and learning curves for week three of the challenge. 

So, thus far this month I was able to save a total of $738.46, and some of the ways I did this were by:

• Pantry Organization
• Utilizing On Hand Food Options To Help Make Weekly Menu Ideas Sheets
• Learning Home to “Dine Out At Home”
• Working on a personal #Choose30 Challenge to be more positive daily.
• Rain-Check Shopping for next months needed coupon staples and groceries from this last weekend.
• I clean off my Counter-tops to use as workstation areas for donating, sorting, and prepping donations.
• I listed and sold items via eBay, Craiglist, Facebook Local Groups, and Craftsy patterns. 
• Had an in-home spa day and saved $32.00! 
• Upcycled several new home projects. 
• Our family ate from our crock-pot for a week! 

I did have a few set backs this week though. My husband needed to take the entire $80.00 cushion I set aside for this months produce and incidentals budget for an impromptu school robotics club he is the sponsor of, as well as the funds needed for an oil change (for his car that was suppose to have previously been taken care of). Mind you I was a little taken back to find my home stripped of cash, sodas, and my pre-purchased Halloween candy (candy and sodas to help supplement our family and his 14 students going with him on this trip). My saving grace? Three hours after he left for his day-trip, I received not one, but four ETSY shop orders (that I already had the materials on hand for, score!), which not only reimbursed my budget, but paid for the missing household staples, and set my savings goal ahead by $27.00!

So, all’s well that ends well here is the Roberts household. 

As well here are a few ways I have been able to accomplish my no-spend goals this past week: 

1. I woke up at 6:25 daily, walked my fur babies, showered, & dressed to my shoes. (Thanks, Flylady!)
2. Worked on my daily Motivated Moms Planner.
3. I read three review books. 
4. I finished today’s Day 1-7 No-Spend Challenges!
5. I enjoyed a free Chik-fil-a- frozen latte!
6. I cooked from my pantry, eleven times.
7. I walked for three miles every other day!
8. I finished all of my daily blog posts on time!
9. Read my daily devotional.
10. I cleaned out my coupon cabinet, paper files for my ETSY business, and recycled numerous bins of random scraps of fabric around my craft room, too! 

My tally of last weeks savings are:

• I was able to procure 16 new rain-checks savings $54.00 in savings.
• I completed 2 surveys online via Ipsos-iSay, and earned a $1.00 towards my next Amazon gift code.
• I eat at home thirteen times, saving our family $77.93. 
• I recycled, upcycled, and composted one bins of deluge, and saved $1.20, the cost of 6 trash bags. 
• I enjoyed a free Chik-fil-a frozen latte, for free, a savings of $2.99!
• I received $32.98 worth of product review items, which can be placed in my home gift closet!
• My family drank water for one, and saved $7.30, the cost of a five 2-liters of soda.
• We made DIY fireplace starters, savings $12.98 over commercial pricing. 
• We used earned gift card dollars at Sam’s Club to buy gas, saving us $20.04.
• We made DIY hand sanitizer bottles, saving our family $7.98.
• We made DIY wet dog food, saving out family $19.98 over a case of pet food cans. 

So, overall my family saved $138.38

This months savings goal remaining: +$49.62 for this month. 

All-in-all, I am pleased with this past weeks progress and will be thinking of new and better ways to save come the next three weeks ahead! Mind you this progress is in part due to my families use of earned and gifted survey cards; I’ve read a lot of people state that they will not be using them on the challenge, but for me and mine, we love them. I legitimize these cards as ALL were earned from taking surveys, using savings apps, or by wining contest, paid affiliate campaigns, and giveaways. Free money is just that, free. 

I’m excited to note that these funds will be able to be allocated for last-minute holiday gifts, holiday donations, and Angle Tree presents this holiday season. As well, a fourth of the funds from this challenge went towards my yearly savings goal for acquiring a rental property/tax sale in the year and a half to come.  I am proud of myself, and so proud of you all as well.

If you were able to follow along with this past weeks #31DayLWSZ challenge, I’d love to hear about it!

Here’s to Saving,

Hello again, savvy savers! Today, I wanted to share with about one of my favorite sites on the internet, Freecycle.org!

I love Freecycle. When I say I love Freecycle, I mean it, truly! Freecycle.org is a website, run through Yahoo, that connects people looking to get rid of household items, with people who need certain items; this method helps keep belongings out of landfills, and puts it in the hands of those who truly need, or want, the items! One great bit of advice I give friends is that if they are looking for furniture, craft materials, building materials, toys, clothing, uniforms, or some other needs, try Freecycle first! I thought I’d share some tips on Freecycle etiquette that I’ve picked up in my time using five freecycle groups in three cities here in my area.

Here’s how to start using Freecyle in your own home:

1. Start a Freeycle.org account; sign-up for an account, find the group closest to your town, and once your account is approved by a group moderator, make sure that the organizations emails are secured as safe-senders in your email accounts.
2. Post an offer. With any free site, its always best to start terms off with your best foot forward, and this case its by posting an offer to give away a free item you can part with; with Spring cleaning on the near horizon this should not be a hard endeavor! Be sure to start your ad with the following ISO (in Search Of), INO (In Need Of), or VES (Very Eagerly Seeking), followed by a colon, and then the desired item in question.
3. Be considerate and realistic. Be sure to ask for things you truly need; asking for outrageous, egregious, or expensive items will cause your account to be suspected, or possibly deleted by group administrators.
4. Ask for an item. Once you have given an item away, or made arrangement to do so; once you receive your item, always be sure to post a group note stating it has been taken, and while on the site post your first request!
5. If someone offers you an item, be prompt in making arrangements to pick the item up, and after doing so always remember to shoot the sender a thank you email, as well as to return to the site and list the item as haven been received!
6. Keep up with Freecycle.org emails. Be sure to check back often, and if you are able to do so, offer items to wanted ads, and never be too proud to ask for items from others!
7. You will never receive a blessing with a closed hand, or mind! Be sure to think of your fellow group members before throwing out household items, as you would be surprised in what others may be in need of.

With all of this stated, I wanted to give you all an example of one set of items I received recently. There is a lady in my local group. She and I have exchanged items several times, and as she knows that I coupon and upcycle furniture, she often writes me to take things off her hands. This past weekend she wrote and offered me a pair of perfectly fine, white rocking chairs! Why was she getting rid of them? She felt that my husband and I, as a young couple, should have a place to sit and converse with one another! Is that not amazing? In addition to this, over the past year I have received antique mason jars, fabric, buttons, end tables, trunks, and other fun items!

I highly recommend this site, and hope you will use it soon!

Here’s to saving,

Hello again, savvy savers! Many of us already know that Craigslist is a great place to buy and sell stuff. But did you know that you can also find a ton of free stuff on Craigslist? I’m going to walk you through how you can find the best stuff on Craigslist and get it all for free.

To see if there are any deals in your area:

• Go to Craigslist.org
• Under the homepage, create an account.
• Then go back to your home page, and select your Country.
• Then select your State.
• Then select the city or areas closet to where you live.
• Under the middle “For Sale” column, you will see a hyperlink for Free, and then select this link.
• Read over the description of the free stuff. There may be pictures of the free stuff as well.
• If you’d like to get the Craigslist stuff for free, you’ll need to contact the person who is giving it away. They may want you to call or email so follow whatever directions they want you to do.
• If the description doesn’t state how to contact the person giving away the free stuff, click on the email address near the top of the page to email them
• Browse away! 

A few tips once you have found a great Free Item:

1. When you have found an item you are interested, click the reply button and type a message.
2. Always be sure to keep your initial messages short and direct; ask only if the item is available, and then say thank you.
3. Once the giver has responded stating that the item is available, be sure to set up a time to meet for item pick-up.
4. Always select pick-up locations that are in public, during daytime hours, and try to take someone with you, safety first!
5. The most important part of this process, be sure to arrive ahead of time, and do not stand a giver up. It’s poor Craigslist etiquette!

I would also advise checking nearby groups, too! I have been able to find items such as a free piano, not in my city, but within an hours drive, and even with the cost of a U-Haul for three hours, it far outweighed the initial cost of the item; this one haul alone I saved $2,400.00 over the appraisal price of the item! Also, be sure to favorite/add the free site link to your favorite web browser tool bar, so you can check daily to snag any awesome deals in your area! 

Here’s to saving,

Hello again, savvy savers! I hope you are all well rested, and ready for a new No-spend Challenge! So, for today we will tackle selling on Facebook.

So, why Facebook? Well, it’s super simple to sell your unwanted stuff on Facebook local Buy, Sell, or Trade groups. So, today I am challenging you to look for Facebook sale groups in your area to post, sell, and profit from your household items, clothing, sporting goods, and baby items.

You might consider the following great benefits to selling locally on Facebook:

• On Facebook, you set your price and there’s no one taking a cut of your sale price or charging you to host your listing.
  You can set your own preferred method of payment.
  You also have the opportunity to become part of a community where people are looking for bargains as much as others are looking to declutter their homes.

So, if you decide to start selling, here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Search for your state or region and the word “sell” or “buy” to find local buy/sell/trade groups.
2. If there are none, you can always start one and get the word out in your community!
3. You may find that many of the groups are closed, so you’ll have to ask permission to join, and others only accept certain types of listings.
4. Many have strict listing requirements and limits on how many items you can try to sell per day in order to stave off spammers and scam artists.
5. Be sure to check out each group/administration rules prior to joining.
6. Once you are a local group member, list your own items for sale, and set your own prices.

Once you have items listed for sale, here are some pointers to keep in mind when negotiating locally:

• Be sure to note whether you’re willing to ship something, or—in the case of furniture or large electronics or appliances—whether you’d rather the buyer come pick it up.
• Be specific in your pricing and listings; do not use vague terminology, such as “make me an offer.”
• Be prompt in answering questions, commenting on posts, as well as taking down notices for sold items.
• Always check your “other” folder in Facebook messenger; those whom you are not friends with, will have messages posted to this folder, so be sure to check it often to not miss out on any awesome offers of sale!
• Every 24 hours you can “bump” a listing, an action which will automatically move a listing to the top of the groups wall by typing “bump” in the comment section under your listing; this can be done once per item, per group, per 24-hour period.
• Be courteous. Allow users to ask questions, and then try and sell to the first inquiry before continuing down your list.
  Don’t be afraid of offers or hagglers. Know your items worth, not it’s sentimental value. In order to make a sale, you must be willing to negotiate on price; this doesn’t mean accepting insulting, low-ball offers, but reasonable offers.
• When scheduling a pick-up time, schedule your drop offs in a well lit, public place, and bring a friend or family member with you. Also, if selling multiple items, have your buyers come in 15 minute increments to avoid wasting gas and time waiting on buyers who may be no-shows!
• Have fun! This goes without saying you should have fun, even when selling goods!

So today, I challenge you to start selling your items on Facebook using these steps:

• Set a small goal, say $100.00 in value, or ten items to sell.
• Find a local Facebook Group.
• Join your group.
• Prep your items for sale; make sure items are clean, ready for pick-up, sorted, and photographed.
• Be patient! Sales take time.

So, for today’s challenge I did the following:

• Overall, I set a goal to sell $100.00 on Facebook.
• I listed ten clothing items, several new with tags (NWT).
• I have also already made arrangement for pick-up, and so my items are now listed as pending pick-up (PPU).
• I made sure to set my Facebook setting to notify me of all new messages, so that I can quickly check messages on my pc, laptop, iPad, and iPhone quickly. I am a third done selling, and have thus far potentially earned $78.00! 
• I feel that I am quickly going to make my selling goal! 
• I also cross listed items into several other local groups, and a local vintage group, too!

As well today I was also able to accomplish:

1. As part of my #Choose30 Daily Challenge, I woke up at 7:25, walked my fur babies, showered, & dressed to my shoes. (Thanks, Flylady!)
2. Worked on my daily Motivated Moms Planner.
3. I finished a day’s worth of clerking assignments ahead of schedule!
4. I cooked from my pantry for each meal.
5. Read my daily devotional.
6. I waked two miles.

Yesterday I saved:

• I eat at home this evening for dinner, saving our family $6.95. 
• I recycled, upcycled, and composted one bins of deluge, and saved $0.25, the cost of 1 trash bag. 
• I cooked three meals from my home pantry, saving $6.81 in the process.
• My family drank water today, and saved $0.69, the cost of a 2-liter of soda.
• I also did not watch cable tv, and saved $3.68 by doing so.
• I lost a half day’s worth of electricity costs, and saved $3.00! 
• I earned a $200.00 tax receipt from donating goods to local charities. 

Total amount I saved my family: $21.38

This months savings goal remaining: +$21.38

Here’s to saving,

Good morning, savvy savers! Can you believe we are almost half-way finished with this No-Spend Month! WooHoo! So, today will be the final day of this months No-Spend Challenge Cleaning projects! 

Today I want to focus on one of the most neglected areas in my home, and perhaps yours, my couponed stockpile. Yes, the cave of Frugal Wonders! My stockpile, housed in my homes basement, though it’s well lit, houses many built-in shelving features, the area still seems to always be in need of rearranging, sorting, and cleaning! The one saving grace of this area, the exhilarating feeling I get each time I am able to gaze over my shelves, from the shampoo to the paper products, and then proceed to “shop from my home!”  

My stockpile, though hard earned, is an immense blessing to my home. And as they say, to whom much is given, much is asked, and this rule equally applies to my stockpile! My stockpile saves my family thousands of dollars a year, but I must honestly admit is the most neglected area in my home. But no more! So today, I challenge you all to clean up your stockpile! 

Here are a few tips to get you started:

1. Rotate your stockpile. “Rotating your stockpile” means rotating your stockpile per season. You will need to place goods in order of expiration date, my seasonal usage, as well as keeping climate into consideration; you may need to start storing it in one location for summer and another location for winter, in terms of baking tools, cans, chemicals, etc.. 
2. Long Term Storage: If you plan to store any item for longer than a week or two, you need to know its long-term storage requirements. Some items will only last months or longer if stored in a cool, dry place. Some items must be stored in a refrigerated or frozen environment in order to last longer. Make lists, and create sub-areas in your stockpile; examples are canned goods, cosmetics, paper products, etc.
3. Take Note of Patterns: Start a list of your product usage, this will allow you to see what you need, will use in a years time, and what should be donated accordingly. Unused goods are cash wasted.
4. Last Forever Items: Nothing lasts forever. Even goods such as bottled water, start to have an altered taste after a decade, so keep this in mind.
5. Canned and Preserved Goods: Keep inventory and note the dates of home-preserved items; a rule of thumbs is to keep items no longer than eighteen month. 
6. Pests: Pests love your stockpile, almost as much as you do! Be sure to check goods monthly, especially in Summer, and any goods that look altered, chuck immediately! 
7. Dehumidifier: Humidity can alter and mold many goods, so consider running a dehumidifier twice weekly. When able purchase an energy saving dehumidifier with accumulated survey gift cards for free, then deduct part of the cost off your tax return; the deductible amount will pay for the power used to dehumidify your stockpile space!

So, all-in-all, not bad for a mornings work! Keep in mind, this project took me a little less than three hours, during which time I was able to clean out three shelves of goods, and the best part… I assembled sixteen boxes worth of goods which are being donated today to a local women’s shelter and homeless pantry! This project took three hours, I was able to clean out three shelves of goods, and the best part… I assembled sixteen boxes worth of goods which are being donated today to a local women’s shelter and homeless pantry! Also, if you chose to donate goods to a registered non-for-profit with a 501 (c3) tax status, you can claim your goods at half the current market pricing value (so be sure to price goods, save receipts, and use price point guides as you prep items for donation), and the tax receipt you receive can ultimately reimburse you for all of the good, gas, ink, and paper expenses for your coupons thus far this year! Woohoo! 

As well today I was also able to accomplish:

1. As part of my #Choose30 Daily Challenge, I woke up at 7:25, walked my fur babies, showered, & dressed to my shoes. (Thanks, Flylady!)
2. Worked on my daily Motivated Moms Planner, before heading out this morning.
3. Read my daily devotional.

Yesterday I saved:

• I received a $200.00 tax receipt for donating goods to charity.
• I also did not watch cable tv, and saved $3.68 by doing so.
• Ate from my weekly menu, three times, and saved $8.91.

Total amount I saved my family: $212.59

This months savings goal remaining: $0.00! ($1,079.75 saved thus far)

So, how is your week looking? What are you saving this week, I’d love to hear about it!

Here’s to saving,