Lots of free items this week

I was worried the weeks after Christmas would be deal less but once again I was wrong. I picked up all of the following items for basically nothing.

On the left my purchases from Menards this week (sale ends 1/18). The candle was marked down to $1.39 I used the $1 off Glade coupon and paid the rest with a gift card. The De-icer, hex set, and 2 outdoor cords were all free after rebate. The two Crayola paint sets were $1.99 after rebate.

The flame less candle in the middle is from Wal-mart. They have them marked down to $4.97 and I was able to use the $5 off coupon and walked out with it for free.

On the right you’ll see the last two trips to CVS. I had $4 in ECB’s expiring and decided to use them on more free soap. In total I purchased six CVS soaps ($8.97), used (2) $3/2 CVS product coupon found at I heart CVS.com. I also bought the shampoo for $2.99 and used a $1 off coupon (earning $2 ecbs). I lost some ECB’s in the transaction but paid nothing out of pocket So all together I purchased $57.62 of merchandise for $4.45 that’s a 92% savings.

Most the items will be 2009 Christmas presents. Not bad for a deal less week.

My first scarf

I made my first scarf!
I tried to knit Matt a new scarf for the winter but I have the patience of a six year old and it was taking way too long. I was able to crotchet this scarf in under an hour.


I found the pattern from Laughing Purple goldfish designs a blog dedicated to using recycled and reclaimed materials, my kind of crafter. It took an hour to crotchet the scarf and another two to look over all her amazing projects. I've never used four yarns at once in a project before and was a little nervous about how it would turn out, but I really like it.

Because the scarf is for Matt I took the provided pattern and changed it to fit his needs. I added about 20 double crotchets and two extra rows so it's extra long and thick.

I used four different yarns and I think it looks best with 3 different colors max - I used one blue and three gray rolls.

Find the orginal pattern at Laughing Purple Goldfish Designs
final row - dc into every stitch to end, fasten off

More Instant Win Chances

~ Visit the Combos: Instant win every day until 5/31/09 for your chance to win:

4 Grand Prizes: One of four Gaming Man Zone Prize: Grilling Zone, Gaming Zone, Home Theater Zone, Tailgate Zone.

Instant Win Prizes
4 First Prizes: Sirius Starmate radio with docking station and 6 month subscription
2 Second Prizes: Craftsman 32-piece General repair tool set
98 Third Prizes: EA Sports NASCAR '09 or EA Sports NCAA '09 (48 each)
100 Fourth Prizes: $50 Sunoco Gas card
2,500 Fifth Prizes: Coupon redeemable for 1 free bag of Combos.
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Nature's Bounty Instant win ends March 31st.

3 First prizes: Wii Fit
6 Second przes: $100 American express gift card
90 Third Prizes: $25 American Express gift card
1,000 Fourth prizes: Natures Bounty Recyclable tote bag
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9 Methods for Mastering your Money in 2009

Did one of your 2009 goals have something to do with money?

Probably, and if you're having problems getting started stop by Get Rich Slowly to read The 9 methods for mastering your money in 2009 by blog author, JD.

I was quite pleased after reading his article because I realized we're actually doing or have done all of his steps. Even if they aren't 100% complete (our emergency fund) at least we're working towards mastering our money this year.

How do your finances stack up with JD's 9 methods?

Change your view of change

Yesterday Matt and I cashed in with our change.

We took back our novelty coke bank and put $613.35
into our savings account.

Who knew change could add up like that?
We'll be putting this "extra" money towards a summer trip. We have yet to decide where we'll be going, but it's sure to be on a budget.

Expired Coupons 1/09

Just a reminder it's time to send our expired coupons to military families overseas.
This month I'm sending mine to :

417th BSB ACS
ATTN: Coupon Exchange
CMR 449
APO AE 09031
Lakenheath, U.K.


Read up on how you can help out our military families by sending your expired coupons overseas from the original post

My 2009 Goals

Did you know the number one New Years resolution last year was to get out of debt or save money? It’s New Years Day, have you made any resolutions yet? I have.

Sometimes I get ahead of myself and try to do it all in a year by setting 50 resolutions; usually this ends up with me getting nothing accomplished and giving up about half way through January. One thing working on our debt reduction in 2008 has taught me is that sometimes you’ll have a bad day or month and that’s ok. In the end if you are going to succeed you have to realize that and get over it. I’ve set some goals this year with the realization that there will be times I won’t reach them; at the end of 2009 it’s not about walking 10,000 steps every day it’s about setting healthy habits and reaching that goal more days than I miss.

So here are my 2009 goals

Financial
As evident from our Budget we have some big savings goals for 2009

~ Reduce our monthly spending by 5% ($250) Making our total expenses column 60% of our income
~ Save $4,000 for a car
~ Save $5,000 in an emergency fund
~ Save $12,500 for our retirement
We were going to set this goal for $10,000 but I would like to push us a little more. I have no doubt we can hit 10K, but trying for the 12.5 mark will be a fun challenge.

*If we hit all of these savings goals we’ll have put a total of $21,500 away in 2009.


Personal
~ Read 50 Books in 2009
~ Reduce our material possessions by 30%


Health
I have an overall goal of getting healthier and hopefully losing some weight in the process. Rather than setting a broad goal of “losing weight” I’ve set three obtainable goals.
~ Walk an average of 10,000 steps a day
~ Exercise 3 times a week
~ Use Sparkpeople.com at least five times a week


So there they are my goals for 2009. It looks like a lot but reaching each of them will only require small changes in our lifestyle hopefully making it easier.

What are your goals this year?