Christmas Savings Club - October Edition

Join the Club at Family Balance Sheet

Yeah! My last deposit will be in the bank, next item is to cash out! It only takes a few days to get my money so I will wait until the week before Thanksgiving to transfer the funds. I also have the option to put the money on gift cards and increase my funds. I doubt if I am going to do this since I haven't decided where my money will go and I don't know how long it takes to receive the gifts cards. I'm super excited about the holidays. My plan for Nov and Dec is to hide my one and only credit card so I can get out of the holidays without extra debt. I just need to pay the fee for my doctors visit and I will feel a lot better. I would feel awesome if I could sell the step 2 princess bed I've been trying to sell all month.

This year the day after Thanksgiving is an automatic paid holiday at work. I also have scheduled the week before Christmas off, which I'm sure we will travel so I will have to make sure to budget this in as well this year.This will also mean visiting my husband's family. I'm not sure how to handle this and I might have to rearrange my budget to fit in more presents. I think it should be my husband who buys presents for his own family, since we have separate accounts and I pay for my own family. We will see how that goes, but I'm not showing up without something!

Family Balance Sheet is also having post all October called 31 Days to Find $1000. Here are some ways I plan to get some extra cash my way:

Coupons - I barely use coupons, but this month I will sure take anything I can get to save some dough.
Turn in Cans - pop cans and bottles, wine and beer bottles gain $.05 each which can add up.
Say NO! - say no to my kids when they want something extra, say no to Starbucks, say no to the vending machine, and so on and so on.
Consignment Shops - I have a leather jacket I never wear, also a bunch of kids toys. I find it is easy to get rid of things at the consignment shops then on Craig's list.

Shop Around - My husband only goes grocery shopping at Walmart and it drives me crazy. I am going to look at sales and try to cut down on the grocery bill which I hope will influence him to pay down more debt.

Christmas Savings Club - September 2013 Edition

It is the 25th of the Month again and Family Balance Sheet is having a meeting for the Christmas Savings Club. I started saving for Christmas at the beginning of the year, but it is never to late to save for Christmas. Only 3 months till your family will be opening presents,( that is if you have Christmas on time).

My September transfer is in my online savings account. Only one more transfer and I will be at my goal. I wanted to be done a month early to be ready for any good sales. A few months ago I participated in a wellness program at work and I was able to earn $25 in amazon gift cards. This week started another session to earn $25 more. I just have to track how many steps I take a day and my fitness minutes to meet my goal for the week. This will give me an extra $50 to spend, plus Amazon has free shipping on select items if you spend over $25.

This month Family Balance Sheet also announced the theme for October is "31 Days to Find $1000". I'm going to look at my YNAB software for August and September to see if this is even possible for me. $1,000 is a lot of money and I'm pretty sure this doesn't involve robbing a bank. I have been working really hard this year to cut back but it seems every time I turn around it seems that something new needs to be paid.

Only 13 weeks until December 25th!!

July Christmas Savings Club

Who can say no to that face?

I can't believe I didn't post this on time because I was super excited about it. I found $325 and it barely took any effort. My state has a website where you can find money that is yours that has been lost through moves or whatnot.  I saw an article about how a local school district is getting a huge chunk of change due to people not claiming their money.  I have checked this site before, after my brother in law saw my name in the paper that said I had money floating out there. That time it was from a paycheck I never cashed when I was banking bucks as a high schooler (crazy I know!).  This time I found $300 owed to my husband, we think from a deposit on a cell phone, and I had $25 from a credit card company. I have a crazy name so I spelled it a few ways and mine was under only a partial last name. It really is quite easy and doesn't take time to search. For the $300 we did need to get it notarized and you need to have proof of the address listed from the site. I just did a typed in a search engine my state and treasurer and I was able to see that other states also have online search, so search for every state you have made money or lived in to see if you are owed any cash. Also you can go through the NAUPA site to search.

Check out Family Balance Sheet for the monthly Christmas Saving Club post on the 25th of every month. to November.

So far I have saved $478 out of $629 for Christmas! Plus I have earned interest on this of a few dollars I will be able to buy myself a small snack while shopping!

Christmas Savings Club - June Edition

It's the 25th again and Family Balance Sheet is hosting its monthly Christmas savings club. So far I still need to transfer this months $63 for June to my online savings account, but it is there. I ended up moving some more money to my savings account and it made me hit my goal, which stopped the automatic payments. I am so proud of myself for saving this money and I know I will love myself come Christmas time.  This month Krista at Family Balance Sheet is suggesting ways to earn money if you are short on saving for Christmas:

• Host a yard sale. Or sell some bigger items on Craigslist.
• Have a pantry challenge. Or challenge yourself to reduce your grocery spending by your shortfall.
• Sell your unused gold.
• Pick up extra hours at work.
• Cut your cable TV.

I have tried to have a yard sale but my area has not proven to be a great area. I have sold my trail bike for $50 this month on Craigslist plus this week I hope to sell my old stroller for $25. It helps to post pictures and to be honest about any flaws in your item. For kids clothes and toys I like to take them to Once Upon A Child. They have a decent price and will go through the items quickly. Some consignment stores have you drop the items off and then call you when the have a price, which can waste time and gas. My husband is the one who buys our food, so just cutting down on extra unnecessary food buying or eating out would help me save some money in this area. I don't have any gold, we have cut our cable, but I have picked up hours at work when I can to earn extra money.  I also applied for a new job and was offered the position. It comes with a raise, but now I will be salary, so no OT for me. I also received a bonus at work for working OT on a deadline, which I didn't even know was possible, so things have been going my way.  I also saved some money on vacation by packing lunch when we went to the Jelly Belly Factory Tour. As soon as we drove in to Wisconsin they have a Welcome Center and we were able to eat our lunch and take pictures by the Welcome to Wisconsin sign.  At home we have tried to not turn on the air and to sleep in the cool basement as much as possible. I also make sure to have heavy drapes and keep them closed when we are gone for the day to keep the temperature down in the house. When I am not using electronics I also make sure to unplug them, as they still suck energy even when off.  I take free hand me downs from my sister when ever possible, and make sure to pass on clothes to others who need them. I bypass movies in the theater to request DVDs from the library. One library in my area also has video games to borrow. Making sure to pay your bills on time and also paying off the balance on credit cards will also save big bucks on fees. I also find ways to earn gift cards with apps on my phone or online, see my post about programs available.

My plan is to save $650 by November so I can shop early for Christmas if needed. My son has already started his Christmas list since this is the next holiday he will receive presents. Only 6 months till Christmas!

Don't forget to check Family Balance Sheet for more information on this online club.

Christmas Savings Club - May Edition

My assignment this month for Family Balance Sheet's Christmas Savings Club was to come up with some homemade gifts. I had most of this post started before the 25th and then I got caught up in Memorial Day and end of school stuff, but I'm really excited about this assignment.

Brag Bag from No Time For Flash

For my mom I saw a post for Mother's Day about Grandma's Brag Bag. It gave me an idea to make s special bag for my mom to hold her crochet supplies. I would like to separate it with compartments for different yarns, crochet hooks, and a place for her diet coke.

bike seat cover from Evil Mad Scientist. 

For my dad it would be awesome if I could pull off a bicycle seat cover like the Evil Mad Scientist. I was thinking I could use a tough fabric and then waterproof it so if I didn't find any patterns I liked in vinyl. Instead of a star I'm going to do the shape of our state. They also have a tutorial for a bike frame lunch box, but I can see this for other small gear like a first aide kit.

iPad Booksafe Case from UMPC Portal

For my husband he might like an iBook case. I think I would also add some kind of Velcro to keep it closed.
For my kids, and nephew and nieces I plan on making them all matching t-shirts out of freezer paper, and for my own kids I will make some PJ pants.

So far I am at 55% of my goal for Christmas savings. I can't wait for Christmas this year! I will be so ready.

April Christmas Savings Club

Family Balance Sheet host a monthly link up for saving for Christmas. So far I have saved $289.15 out of my goal of $629. Thank  goodness for automatic withdrawal. I have been so busy with all my kids activities that I haven't been posting to my blog or balancing my checking accounts. I wrote so many checks this last month I had to start a new run of checks. With my Smart Piggy account, I'm also earning interest, which is free money! I did get a teeny raise at work, which is better than zero so that is also good news. I hope to save $5000 to go towards my debt when my no interest ends, but things keep coming up that are not in the budget. I didn't budget two weddings and two graduations that I have been invited to this year. I need to stick to my budget in May and earn some extra cash. I already know of 1 overtime opportunity it May, and I don't mind working overtime if it will be a decent amount.

There is also a Smart Piggy prepaid card that will add 1% to my savings. It would cost $9.95 for the card but it could help me to control my money. The only time I wouldn't use it would be Target, since I have a Target debit card that gives me a 5% savings. I budget for $30 in gas and $20 in spending for myself a week, not that I've been sticking to it, but it's a goal. 1% would be $.50/week and an extra $26/year. I can also load the card from my savings when I hit my goal in Smart Piggy. Loading the card might be hard though since it does take awhile for the payments to post to my savings, I wonder how long it takes to post to the prepay card.

For May, I need to start thinking about some handmade gifts that I can make for friends and family for the holidays. I love Pinterest and have a Gift Board so I'm going to start there.

Christmas Savings Club- Open a Savings Account

familybalancesheet.org

I was kinda nervous to open an online account. I'm a visual person, I like to drive by my bank and be able to go in to see a vault door, where I'm pretty sure they keep my money safe and sound until I'm ready to withdrawal   An online account seems like I'm pretending, or the money is floating like a holograph never in my grasp. But, alas, I did open a SmartPig account. You save for a goal and then at the end you can withdrawal and even can get a bonus percent if you put it on a gift card. I thought this was a good way to save for Christmas,  it will just take some fore thought and organizing to make sure I get the cards and money in time. So I have put $163 in the account for Feb and will have $63 put in every month on the 25th until I reach my goal of $629. I also think I'm going to put the tax refund that we received in a Sallie Mae online account. The SmartPig account is getting 1% APY and Sallie Mae is at .95% APY.

Here are some links I used to help make my decision:
Savings Account.com
Kiplinger
Money Talk News

Thanks to Family Balance Sheet for creating the monthly link up!

Christmas Savings Plan

Family Balance Sheet is hosting a monthly post for Christmas Savings Plan on the 25th, Jan-Nov 2013. I just buy gifts for my side of the family, my immediate family, and for a few friends. My husband is on his own for his family since I got tired of having to go through him to find ideas and sizes etc. We also have split our money to have our own account, to stop the money fight.  I try to help his family when I can in my own way aside from gifts.
For my nieces and nephews we spend $30 on each, and then we don't buy for adults because it has gotten too hard. I usually do spend on my mom and dad, but they always say they don't need anything. Their birthdays and anniversary is also in November so this last year we did go in together to buy my dad a new laptop. For my mom I got her a few boxes of Keurig coffee which I get coupons and buy them from Bed Bath and Beyond.  I think my actual 2012 Christmas total was actually over $675, plus I was not counting eating fast food or any relaxation needed because of the season. This is why I added in the extra expenses $100 category in my chart.My husband did help pay for some of the expenses for my kids, he paid $200 towards the kindle. I want to be better about tracking my spending in 2013 so I can have a better handle on Christmas spending. I though about if I should not participate in the Secret Santa at work. It was only 4 days but I ended up spending $45. When I thought about it I decided to do it again if offered because it was nice getting gifts for those days.
So far I have been good in January about keeping to my budget. I will need to save $57.27 in 11 months or $63 in 10 months if I start shopping earlier. I received some money for my birthday so I was able to set aside $100 for the Christmas fund in January. One other thing that I counted on a lot this year was the rewards programs that I collect points on throughout the year. For the most part of 2012 I was saving the rewards for Christmas.
Next month we will need to have opened a separate account for the Christmas account. I think I will look into an online account. I have never had one and they do make me a little nervous but not having the money available so readily might be what I need to keep saving for the next 9-10 months.

Christmas Spending/Savings

Family Balance Sheet  is putting together a Christmas Savings Club. If you had a hard time keeping to a budget or finding money to spend on Christmas gifts and you would like to think ahead, this may just be the right solution. I don't think you could go wrong in trying this club. It may seem crazy to think this early about Christmas, but before you know it, it will be here again.