The Great Grocery Challenge Week Three

It's time for another grocery challenge update!  This week has been super busy with happy and sad news so my mind has been occupied with things besides blogging. Such is life!

Employee Discount amount= $9.72

Paper Coupons= $18.92

Ibotta Credit: $8.25 plus 1.50 in bonus for a total of $9.75 that I transferred to my PayPal. I'm going to use this towards my Christmas shopping. I just started so I won't accumulate a ton by the end of the year but every little bit helps. So far I have a total of $21.00 and that's just in two weeks!

TOTAL= $38.39  Now that's a nice amount for really very little work. I also stocked up on some items that I won't be needing now for awhile. Sometimes people find it hard to stock up during good deals because they look only at the weekly budget but you really have to take a longer range approach. Now I don't stock up TONS....like you see some people doing where they have to rotate their stock, watch expiration dates etc. However if there's a good deal and it will "keep me" in something for 3-6 months (or even weeks) I go for it,

I'll give you an example. It's not even the most profitable one I've ever done but its one from this week.

Excedrin is a product we use on a fairly regular basis. I know some of you don't and that's fine, I'm simply using it as an example (insert whatever product you use regularly).

This is $ 9.74 at Walmart for the 100 count bottle but they happened to have some bonus bottles where you get 25 extra tablets PLUS I had $2.50 cents off coupons that were good for this week only. Now who really wants to spend $7.24 on a bottle of Excedrin? No one really BUT if you know it is something you are going to use you might as well "fork over" the money when you can get a good deal (25% more in each bottle plus the $2.50 coupon). I had two....I bought two....quite a hefty investment but guess what? I don't have to worry about buying it again for a LONG time.

You have to invest money to make money or in couponing you have to invest money to SAVE money. It's a mind set that I've had to work on. You also have to balance it. I don't need to buy four or six or ten bottles of Excedrin....even if they don't expire....you know WHY? Because by the time I run out of these two bottles there will be another good deal. I don't have to take up valuable shelf space. I just have to be aware of my families needs and buy accordingly.

Here are a couple smaller and more short term items.

Clorox Bleach Spray. I use it a lot in my kitchen/counter tops etc. I had a 75 cents off coupon that was going to expire. That made it a good enough deal to buy even though currently I am not "out" of it.  Same with Resolve stain spray for laundry. I had a dollar off that was going to expire. I still have a half full bottle but I used the coupon and bought another. This isn't a great stock up deal but still worth it.  Let me also say there were coupons getting ready to expire that I decided not to use on some other items. I left them on the shelves for others to snag if they needed them.

Overall I think my grocery challenge is going very well.  I'm saving between $30-40 dollars a week. That adds up!!

Paying Down Debt

The economy is NOT taking a turn for the better, I'm four years from retirement, and I have debt I want/need to pay down. So what's a girl to do.....come up with a plan of course...lol.  I put my debt reduction plan on hold for the summer because I had so many trips planned. And let's face it....life goes on...I can't pay down debt and NEVER live....BUT what I did do was make sure I had the cash up front to pay for my little excursions. I am so proud of the fact that I did not add to the debt over the summer! And I had a great time. Yes, yes, I know, I could have used the money to pay down debt but I made a choice....to LIVE and have ADVENTURES this summer and I don't regret the choice in the least!

How did I pay for four trips? I started taking out CASH for groceries and what ever amount I didn't end up using and I was frugral...I took that money and socked it away in an envelopes marked for each vacation. I did the same thing with my spending money for the week....which is just 20 dollars but no stops for teas and coffee...that added 20 to the savings each week. Next we keep out a weekly expenses amount of money...for gas, etc Whatever was left each week went into the savings also! It has helped a lot that my husband has been working some overtime too!

Now that summer is almost over...I will continue the same plan....finding little bits of money to stash away. I discovered that in the debt reduction world this is called snowflaking. Taking those little amounts and applying them toward debt. Applying it weekly is great because on credit card debt the sooner you do it.... it decreases the amount of time you are paying interest on the money. Second of all it takes it out of your "hands" so you aren't tempted to use it for something else. If not weekly then every two weeks is a good place to start.

In my personal plan I will divide money betwen three things: Christmas savings, debt reduction, and starting my vacation fund over again! Yes I could pay down debt quicker by putting it all toward debt but the other two items are part of life too and I need to save for them.  In addtion, this debt reduction is going to take some time but in the meantime I have to live life. The plan is to pay off one credit card first (highest interest and lowest balance) then use what I was paying on that to add to the second credit card bill. It will take time but I am excited to have a plan. Plus I have first hand experience that tells me a little here and there adds up to big bucks...I mean I did pay for four trips that way!!

Another debt reduction term (snowballing) means that whenever you get a big windfall (tax refund or bonus etc) you apply all of that toward debt. I seldom get a "snowball" that's why my main plan right now is snowflaking,.  When tax time comes around ...IF I get a refund I plan to pay at least some part of it toward debt reduction!

I'll keep you posted on my snowflaking and if it makes a difference. I read somewhere that for every dollar extra you pay on your credit card debt...you save 2 dollars...Oh yes and of course debt reduction means we are operating on a cash only basis. We have been for about six months....it's hard but doable.