I'm so glad we did it!

We just got our paychecks. The first paychecks AFTER adjusting our withholdings. Yay!! It was well worth the 2 minutes it took us to adjust those withholdings. The adjustments may well pay for our addition!!

Scrip Programs

Ever heard of them? They are a fabulous program available to non-profits. Essentially it is a program whereby you can buy gift cards to major retailers (and some local ones). You pay the face value of the gift card and the non-profit gets a percentage. For example, I buy my groceries at Copps grocery store. Through the scrip program at my son's school, I can buy a $100 Copps gift card for $100. It's worth exactly what I pay for it. But, the school gets 4% back for a purchase of a Copps gift card. Thus, the school gets $4 of every $100 I purchase in Copps cards. Different retailers have different percentages.

It's a fabulous fundraiser as you are only buying what you'd spend anyway. No buying useless junk. Our school does it every week. I think they make quite good money.

I despise traditional fundraisers, but love this program. To start your own scrip program for a non-profit, check out this link http://www.glscrip.com/index.aspx?gclid=CPWWkMeK9pgCFSIeDQod2XZEcw You can also check out all the retailers. They include Walmart, Lands End, Sears, etc. Lots of gas stations, grocery stores, retailers, restaurants, etc.

Our school gives us an added bonus. Any percentage they receive from your scrip purchase, they give us half of it as a tuition credit. Last year I made $100 towards my son's tuition.

The other advantage to scrip for me is that it promotes the use of cash or a cash equivalent for me. Basically, I don't put gas or groceries on the credit card anymore. I win all around!

I did it!

I actually updated my withholdings. Yay! And Lance did his too. We didn't claim 5, we did 4 instead. We want to see what the end of the year holds before we adjust higher. I'm paranoid that we'll end up paying in a ton of money if I go to 5 deductions.

We met with our financial planner the other night. Although I'm not sure why. With the market the way it is, we have no money left! Fortunately we're relatively young and have plenty of time to pull through this recession. We're busy plugging away money into our Roth IRAs in the hopes that we'll benefit when the market finally turns around.

The boys college funds and UTMA accounts are a joke. There is nothing left to them. They are invested very aggressively though since the boys are so little. Again, we're still putting money into them in the hopes that it will really turn around before they need to go to college.

Grrrrrrrrrr. Watch limits on sales.

Darn it. Darn it. Darn it.

I do this every time I go to the grocery store. I find a good deal (which I've previously located in the flyer and dutifully written on my shopping list) and decide to stock up. I congratulate myself all the way home. Until I look at my receipt. Ugh. I realize that there was a limit on the sale item and I didn't get the sale price on all the items I bought.

This happened to me today. In my flyer, Ritz crackers are on sale for 2/$5.00. I have two coupons for $2 off when you buy 2. So, I buy 4 boxes of Ritz crackers for $10-$4=$6. Good deal for me! Except that I missed the wording in the flyer which says the limit is 2 boxes. So, I only got the money off of the first two boxes I purchased. Basically I spent an extra $0.98 because of the limits.

I've had this happen before to me. I've done it on macaroni and cheese before at this store.

Lesson learned. Before stocking up on an item, double check to make sure there are no limits.

Being Smart With Money

I have a confession. We are one of "those" people who get huge tax refunds. I'm embarassed to admit that we've not updated our deductions since we got married. That's right, we only have taxes withheld as if we are a family of 2, not 5. Dumb!! We're giving the government (state and federal) an interest free loan. If we had gotten that money over 12 months, we would have had nearly $400 extra per month!!! See what I mean?

It is my goal for this week to get both my husband's and my withholdings updated. No more excuses.

So, if you don't see me back for a week or two, you'll know why. I'm too ashamed to come back and post that I haven't done it. :)

Have I Taken Frugality Too Far?

I'm cheap. I'm not offended by the word. I embrace it. But sometimes, even I wonder if I go a little too far.

Best example, parking when I teach. I teach a course at a university. Parking is horrible. You will NOT find a spot at a meter on the street. You could waste an entire tank of gas driving around looking for one.

Nearest parking costs $5 for the less than 2 hours I'm there. You can park at meters in the parking garage. It will cost you around $2.50 if you've got the change. Better, but not fabulous.

I've discovered that there is a lot about 4 blocks away (about 3/4 mile) that is normally parking by permit only. However, at the time I arrive in the evening, the gates are up and you can go in and park!! I think they do this because it is at the end of the traditional work day and they simply open up the gates so that you can exit via any gate. Well, it's also an entry!! I've parked for free for a couple weeks now saving me around $10-$20 depending upon where I'd have to park otherwise.

But, it's been below zero degrees for several weeks. That stinks. But not enough for me to consider paying to park. Last week though, it rained. Hard. That did make me think about whether or not my frugality was worth it all. Fortunately I had an umbrella. Ultimately I decided that it WAS worth the effort to continue walking despite the bad weather.

Back again, back again!

Sorry! I've been super busy and then had a sick family. I'll try to catch up with my February budget.