I exceeded my Christmas Savings Goal!

If you remember, here , I stated that I was going to play with Shopkick and hoped to have $25 a month to buy gift cards to save for Christmas.

WELL.... I got my gift card yesterday for $35. And still have points leftover to start February off! So if you have not downloaded this app! Run, get it now! If you sign up today they will start you off with 50 kicks and they are running some high bonuses and instant surprises this week for Super Bowl.

So what reward are you working towards?

Looked it over and have questions? Meet me in the comments or email me, I would be happy to answer to the best of my ability.

End of the Month Shout Out!!

As I look back over the first month of 2012 and analyze how my goals for the blog are going, I am ecstatic! I have posted daily since I got going Jan 9 (even if it was to Call in slacker!). I have gotten as of this writing 2693 page views. I know that is nothing to bigger blogs but considering that 2018 of those came in the last 22 days, I think I am on track. And have increased my followers by 500% ( once again when you start with nothing, every little bit makes a big difference. So I want to take a second today to say Thanks! For all the great help I have received this month!

The sites that have sent the most traffic my way!

Life as Mom



Tatertots and Jello

Beyond the Picket Fence

Thanks for hosting the Linky parties that helped me share my little section of the blogosphere and to all your great followers for stopping by to take a peek!

What were the three most looked at stories?

Tips and Hints Tuesday-Dry Skin Tips

Start Saving now for next Christmas

Planned Leftovers-3unique meals from one ham

And I want to say thanks also to Sara at Samie designs for setting up the little blogging sister program that gave me my sister blogger Karen of Homemade Glamour !

Karen thanks to you for featuring some of my posts, offering helpful suggestions and Pinning away!



I am so grateful and looking forward with great enthusiasm to the coming months !

Plans for the Blog

I started the blog in May and have done very little with it, but one of my goals is to get this blog up and running.  I have played with it alot since the beginning of 2012 and though I still HATE the look, I am working on it and learning as I go...

One of my goals is to start posting regularly, so to accomplish this goal, I am trying to dedicate each day to a specific topic so here is what is to come:

Menu Planning Mondays
Tips and Hints on Tuesdays
Wacky Wednesday (where I will post whatever is on my mind!)
Thoughts for Thursday (In other words, still not sure what will fall on this day either :( )
Frugally Crafty Fridays ( I will share my favorite frugal crafts that I do or like)
Savings Saturdays - things that we do around here to save money
Kids in the Kitchen Sundays

So stay around and watch as we grow!

Start saving now for next Christmas or Birthdays or just get some free money

I read an article in our local newspaper recently about shopping apps.  Many of them I had already heard of but one really intrigued me. 



December 9th I signed up for Shopkick and LOVE IT!!!  If you haven't tried this yet, you have got to check it out right now!  You get 50 kicks if you sign up here.  Start saving your kicks and with as little as 500 points you can get a Best Buy or Target gift card.  You could save up your kicks for a Coach purse, XBOX 360 or even a cruise, many rewards are available and they add new ones often.

So in the last month I have accumulated enough kicks to earn over $20 worth of gift cards.  I had to try it out and see how it worked so I was shopping in Target and opened the app and just downloaded my gift card and used it at the register, how cool is that!  Instant gratification. 

I know, you are saying well how do I earn Kicks and how much will it cost me?

      You can earn kicks by just walking in to certain stores and malls, you can scan product barcodes at the store, you can register your Visa and get kicks for certain purchases or you can simply open the app and look for the stars that signify instant rewards

How is this saving me money for next Christmas?

     So my thoughts are that if can earn at least a $25 gift card each month, that is at least an extra $300 into my Christmas budget.  All I have to do is play with my phone, like I am not doing that anyway.  The app is available for iphone and android.  So click here and get your 50 kicks to start saving today.

Is there anything else that this app can do? 

     There are also special sales, featured products and coupons within the stores in the app.  So if you are in the store, before you check out, all you have to do is click on the app and see what there is.  Target has coupons on theirs, and before Christmas I was shopping at RUE21 and checked and there was a 20% off your purchase that I was able to use immediately.  No more having to print emails and carry around coupons (then not remembering where you put them, or is that just me?) just in case you end up in that store.

Have you ever been in a strange city or even a different part of town and didn't know where to go for lunch or a store?  When I open this app, it pulls up all the businesses that are close to me ( wherever you may be).  I have learned so many new stores that are within a few miles of my house or work that I didn't even know were there.  You can then click on the store/restaraunt and see if they are running any specials or have coupons, then click on the map for directions or click call to call the store with any questions. 

What is more to say I absolutely LOVE this App, it is free, click here and try it for yourself...you have nothing to lose, just free money to gain.

Goal Setting for 2012

As I  look back at the last 12 months, I realize that my attempts at budgeting have failed miserably and we are now in worse financial shape.  I took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, set up a budget (didn't stick to it), set up my emergency fund (spent that too) and have turned my debt snowball into a debt boulder all while we lived in a relatively shopper friendly place.  Now I live in the land of no double coupons and sky high grocery prices with no stockpile (yup, wiped that out too).  So I am setting some goals for myself for the new year and sharing them with the world for accountability.

What went wrong in 2011 - Just a few highlights

1.  Eating out WAY TOO MUCH
2.  Poor planning made for very expensive shopping trips
3.  Not being organized in my life ( bills not paid on time - paying late fees etc.) 
4.  Not planning for expenses like car repairs, Christmas, birthdays, back to school and such.


New Goals for 2012

1.  Eat at home more!!!!
      Now I AM realistic!  I know we will not go from eating out 2-3 times a week to eating home all year,
      but I have been diligently working these last 12 days setting up a 12 month menu that includes at least
      350 meals.  We will see how it goes, I have the first few months planned and a lot of recipes selected. 
     Follow me each week and I will post our menus and some recipes, I will also try to add the shopping list
     if I get it completed.  I will also update on how we did the previous week.  One of the largest complaints
     that I hear from my family is that it seems like we eat the same foods over and over again.  So my goal is
     to have 350 different recipes to try.  To see some of the foods we will be trying, check out my
     Pinterest Board .
 
2.  Better planning for shopping to include buying in bulk, staples and myo mixes, shopping list and
      couponing.  Follow along to see my tips, hints and some cool ideas. 

3.  Work on my ORGANIZATION !!  I will share tips, ideas and hints.  I will also follow up with what
     worked and what challenges I faced. 

4.  Get back to budgeting and stick to it!

Meet me in the comments and let me know what your goals are.  I would love to share how we are doing together!