Radio Winnings - Update!

On Sunday, I posted that I had won a $125 gift certificate to a local nursery. The hubby and I went to check out the nursery but we didn't see anything we loved. I debated just holding on to the gift card and maybe getting a nice Christmas tree later this year but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I should just sell it and use the cash to pay down debt. 

This nursery tends to overprice their items so I'm sure a tree would cost us a bundle! I'm just as happy going to pick out a cheap one. Here's a picture of our cheap tree last year. I thought it looked pretty good :)

So, I'm off to post that the gift card is for sale. I'm hoping to get $100 out of it, but I'll let you guys know!

Radio Winnings!

I've been lucky over the years to win free stuff from time to time on the radio. The items have varied from CD's to concert tickets to amusement park tickets, but normally it's nothing too expensive. It's always a treat though to win something and hear myself on the radio.

Last week I won a $125.00 gift card to a local nursery!

We just moved into our condo and our place could use some plants or something but I wasn't about to spend money on that. Now that we have the free gift card, it feels like this may be a good way to spruce things up a bit without us having to pay for it ourselves.

On the other hand... I've been considering selling the gift card online for a discounted price ($100?) and using those funds to pay down our debt. I'm still on the fence about it. I think the hubby and I will go check out the nursery later today and if nothing jumps out at us, we'll do just that. No sense in buying something we don't really like just to spend the money.

So, there it is, if we don't fall in love with anything, we're going to sell the gift card and use the cash for debt repayment. I'll let you all know what we end up doing! Enjoy the rest of this sunny Sunday afternoon. It's a beautiful one :)

It's that time of year again!

Time to check your credit report. I'm actually a bit late. I was on a 4 month rotation, so I should have checked it in December, but that's okay. Better late, than never!

Here is the website to go to for your free credit report:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

If you've been following along, it's time to get a report from Transunion. I got one from Experian in April and one from Equifax in August. If you haven't been checking your report, it's really a good idea. Even if you only check it once a year. If there's something inaccurate on there, you'd rather catch it sooner than later!

Swagbucks!

I wrote previously about how I was loving Swagbucks, but I wanted to share with you again how great it is. It's so easy to use. You just search on Swagbucks, like you would Yahoo!, or Google and you get points randomly for your searches. You can also get points for polls, games and surveys. Once you've earned enough points, you cash them in for items you want or you can enter into sweepstakes. It's a pretty great idea!

I have been redeeming mine for Amazon gift cards. I just cashed some of those gift cards in this week for a few items I needed. In the past, I've used the gift cards towards gifts for family and friends. It's really a "no strings attached" way to get some free stuff.

If you haven't checked it out, I really would recommend it :)

Happy Hump Day!

Free Credit Report Time!

It's that time of year again! Time to get your free credit report online. If you recall, I started doing this back in April and I planned to check it every 4 months at the free website:

https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

Last time I checked our reports with Experian and this time I plan to go with Equifax. You could also use TransUnion. Here's hoping all looks good! I'll keep you posted if I discover anything out of the ordinary.

I'll be out of debt before...

For some of us, it seems like it's going to take FOREVER to get out of debt. While doing my normal morning routine of getting ready for work, I sprayed a little perfume on myself. I happened to look down at that bottle and noticed it's about 3/4 full. Suddenly it hit me - I'll be out of debt BEFORE I finish that bottle of perfume! What a great concept. A visual reminder of something that will go down as my debt goes down, but there will still be some left long after the debt is paid off.

The thought put a smile on my face :)

It may sound like a small thing but I'm a very visual person and this will help motivate me to look at the bottle each day and remember that. There are many things that are going to happen before I get out of debt... the calendar will change several times over, the seasons will come and go, I'll celebrate another birthday, another anniversary, etc. One thing that won't happen though... I WILL NOT USE UP THAT BOTTLE OF PERFUME BEFORE I PAY OFF MY DEBT!

Good Idea : Find something that you can use as a visual reminder to help motivate you to stay on course.

Free Credit Report Time!

It's that time of year... time to get your free credit report. If you don't already know, you can get one free credit report (from each of the 3 major reporting agencies) every 12 months. This is the website you should go to to get yours: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp

That means you can actually get one every 4 months. I'm trying to start a new habit and plan to get one in April, August and December. This time I went with Experian, but there's also TransUnion and Equifax as well. It's good to just rotate through each of them in the course of a year.

I just download mine and my husband's. Mine looked fine but my husband's had a few things we'll need to look at. If you don't already do this, you really should. It's a great opportunity to catch mistakes, see if anyone has stolen your identity and just check in on the status of your open accounts.

Good Idea : Get your free credit report at least once a year, if not every 4 months!

Question : When was the last time you checked your credit report? Is this something you are already doing?

Discover Rewards

So, as you know we are in the process of packing for our upcoming move. Lately I've been doing lots of reading about getting rid of your "stuff" on Man vs. Debt & on this other cool website talks about doing a 30 day Organize-athon. Motivating stuff for sure!

As I go through our stuff there have been some items I've tossed, some I've set aside to sell and others I plan to donate. I've also been making a little "moving wishlist"of sorts. One of the items on the wishlist is new towels! It's been YEARS since I've replaced our bath towels. They are all worn, faded and tattered. I know buying stuff kind of goes against the websites I mentioned above, but I'm only replacing what we currently have and use on a regular basis. I'm actually getting rid of 10 towels and looking to replace them with only 4, so I will have reduced our towel situation by 6! Winning!

Normally I wouldn't spend the money to replace our towels when we are in debt, so the way I'm going to pay for it is with my Discover card rewards. Discover has this great "cash back" program where they give you 1% of your spending back. This WAS a great reward when I would pay the account in full each month. Unfortunately let's just say that that hasn't happened in a while! In the past year or so, Discover decided to raise the minimum amount you need to credit back to your account to $50. I've been in the $40's for what seems like EVER! I'm currently at $49 and some change but since I'm not going to use the card anymore I know it will never reach $50.

When I received notification that my new statement was available yesterday I decided to log on and check out what my other options were with my cash back. Turns out I can turn $20 into $25 worth of gift cards at Bed, Bath & Beyond (BB&B). Score! I can use these cards to buy some items on my wishlist. So, I've decided to turn $40 into $50 worth of giftcards!

Another great thing about BB&B is that they constantly send out 20% off coupons and they let you use your expired ones! You can use up to 5 coupons during a visit (one for each item). This is a pretty good deal. I'm hoping with the $50 I can get us some new towels and other items from my wishlist.

Good Idea : Turn your credit card rewards in for something you would need to use cash to buy anyway.

99 cent store anyone?

So, we did a first this past weekend... we bought our groceries at the local 99 cent store! I had budgeted $50 for food for the hubby and I for the week. I knew that $50 wouldn't get us too far at our normal grocery store, so I decided to give this place a try. A co-worker mentioned that she lives on a very small income by getting her groceries here. At first, I thought it was kind of a crazy idea - but once I entered the store and saw that I could purchase items that I normally buy for $3-$4 (for only 99 cents) I was sold!

I couldn't believe the items they had there : lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, asparagus, bread, milk, soda, pasta etc! I almost took a picture to show you guys. I was so proud of what we got for $35! I'm certain it would have easily cost us double if not close to triple what we paid if we went to a regular grocery store.

I'm not saying it's for everyone and they don't have the greatest selection, but I'd recommend you check out what they do have. If you can save some money shopping here, it's worth looking into. Happy shopping!

Good Idea : Look for less expensive places to buy groceries... you may be pleasantly surprised!

Question : Where do you shop to cut corners? Have you tried to buy food from a non-traditional grocery store?

Reading Debt Blogs!

I'll admit it... I've become a bit obsessed - with reading debt blogs! Debt is something that is on my mind multiple times a day. I'm anxious to get my new plan/budget going, but I'm holding off until after the wedding. Which is in 17 days, by the way :) Come on, 10-10-10!

So, it looks like the official new budget will start in November. In the meantime, I've been reading blogs and working on the budget through 2011. I found a great list of debt blogs to read and I plan to work my way through them, one by one. Like a boxer before a fight, I want to get myself pumped up, mentally, to take on this challenge!

One that caught my attention mentioned a $100-A-Day-Rule, to prevent impulse buying. Basically, for every $100 that a new item costs, you must wait one day before making the purchase. You can read about the concept in more detail by clicking on the link above.

I really like this idea! Although my new budget doesn't have much wiggle room (read: none, really) for any random $100 purchases, I know it could come up and I plan to implement this new rule.

Good Idea : Implement $100-A-Day-Rule

Question : Do you currently do this? If so, how is it working. If not, do you think you could do this?