Simply Savvy Mom

Savvy Gift Card Buying

2010-01-22T15:07:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days ... it's been a crazy week. Here's a quick one about a website I just discovered called Plastic Jungle. I received a couple of gift cards as gifts for stores I don't really shop at and I was thinking that there had to be a place where you could exchange or sell your gift cards, and sure enough there is! It will give me $38 for $50 in gift cards, but you can also buy discounted gift cards that others have sold. I don't think I'll every pay full price for a gift card again!

Simply Shopping on Amazon.com

2010-01-17T15:27:00.000-08:00

Before I get started, I wanted to let you know that I took off the E-mail Subscription Box on my blog page because I tried it with my e-mail address and I didn't get a notification when I posted a couple of days ago. I think the only way to get a notification of when I update my blog is to become a "Follower" at the bottom of my page. At least I think that will work! As tech savvy as I like to think I am, this whole blogging thing is pretty new to me, so bear with me as I learn!

Amazon.com has always been one of my favorite websites. They have perfected the online shopping experience ... kind of like how I feel about shopping at SuperTarget (my favorite "real" store). I have found that for books, toys, DVDs, CDs and electronics they usually have the best prices, even without offering cash back on Ebates or using coupon codes. And of course they offer the free super saver shipping with a $25 purchases.

It took me some time to decide to buy the Prime membership, which is where you pay $79 a year to get free 2-day shipping on any item sold by Amazon, with no minimum purchase. Amazon Prime I have a STRONG dislike for paying for shipping, and even though it technically is a bargain for 2-day shipping I never paid for regular shipping on Amazon so I didn't think it was a big deal. Over Christmas they offered a free 30-day trial for Amazon Prime and I fell in love with it! I ordered everything I could think of from them. When it came time to either pay up or cancel, I decided to keep it. I thought of everything I could buy on Amazon that I normally buy in a store, and knew I would more than make up for the $79 by not paying sales tax at a local store. (They are still offering the 30-day free trial if you click on the link above.) Here are some of the items I've bought so far:

Bulk paper towels and toilet paper. I always dreaded buying these items at Sam's or Target, because they take up so much room in your cart and then your car. I bought them on Amazon, and with their Subscribe and Save program you save 15% off their price, plus no tax, plus free 2-day shipping. With Subscribe and Save, you sign up to have the item delivered at a regular interval, like every month, 3 months or 6 months. I will admit that without the extra 15% off the prices seemed higher than the store. Viva Big Roll White Paper Towel, 70-Count Rolls (Pack of 24), Kleenex Cottonelle Double Roll, 308 Sheets, 24 Packs (Pack of 2) [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging]
Birthday gifts. I have been stocking up on great after Christmas deals on toys. Amazon Toy Outlet
Towels and sheets. I needed extras for guests over Christmas ... ordered online and here in two days!
Entertainment for the kids. Books, DVDs, games, CDs, accessories for Wii and DSi ...

And if you are wondering what to do with all those shipping boxes, Pryority Mail at 105th and Memorial in Tulsa will take them. I'm sure that other shipping stores near you will too. More about Amazon and some of their other great deals in future posts ...

Savvy Meal Planning

2010-01-13T19:14:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, when my son Jackson was three and my daughter Madeline was one, I started to look for some ways to make meal planning easier. I knew that I wanted to make a commitment that we would eat dinner together as a family most nights of the week and that I wanted to make the meals instead of convenience food or eating out. However, I struggled with planning what we would eat every week before I went grocery shopping ... to be honest, it made my head hurt! I had heard some friends mention that they plan a month of meals at a time to make it easier, so I decided to try that.

First, I listed in Excel all the dinner ideas I could think of. Then I divided them up into categories by type of meat: chicken, beef, turkey, pork, and seafood. The next step was to put together a calendar and plop the meals into it. I rotated my different categories and added one "eating out" and one "easy meal" night a week (so you only need about 22-23 different meal ideas per month).

Now, depending on how tech savvy you want to be, you have several choices on where to go from here. Obviously, the low-tech version would be to get a paper calendar (yikes!) and start filling in meals. But then you would have to write it every month. That's what copy and paste are for! If you want a basic way to put it on your computer, you could use a calendar template in Microsoft Word. To do this, select File, then New in Word. On the right side a menu should open up with the option of "Templates on Office Online". Select this and it will take you to a Microsoft web page with lots of Word templates. You'll then see the Calendar selection with an option of "2010 Calendars." Click on that and then download. There are lots of cool templates on this website if you ever have time to look through them. (If you want you can also go directly to the templates by clicking here http://office.microsoft.com/.)

I wanted something very automated (as I always do), so I started doing some research online for software programs. The best option I found is called Living Cookbook 2008. It is a recipe database/meal planning software. I put all my recipes in this software, and then used their calendar to insert meals for each day. Then when I'm cooking, I put my laptop in the kitchen, pull up the calendar in the software and click on the meal of the day. It then takes me straight to the recipe ... pretty cool! When the next month comes up, I use their copy and paste feature to easily move the meals to the next month and then make little tweaks as needed. Note: this software costs money, and takes some time to figure out. I don't recommend purchasing it unless you are really committed to spend some time getting your system set up. However, it will definitely save you a lot of time in the long run. I have been using it for 4+ years now and it's been an awesome tool!

A few disclaimers here: I am not so compulsive that I follow my meal plan exactly every day. When I go grocery shopping, I buy the ingredients to make all the meals that week, so I'm prepared. But I'm flexible enough to know that situations are going to change and if so, I can go with the flow. If a meal doesn't get eaten that week, I put the meat in the freezer for the next month. I use my calendar as a guide so I'm never caught without food for a meal, but I also have to put very little thought into it.

Some other ideas that I have been told about by friends are to have theme nights (instead of types of meat like I do). Examples would be Mexican, Italian, Crock Pot, etc. Also, there are websites that will plan your meals and give you a grocery list of everything you need to buy (http://e-mealz.com/). This would be a good way to get started if you are struggling with coming up with meal ideas. I would also guess that the Iphone has some applications that will do all this for you ... I just haven't really looked into these other options because I have a good system set up already.

Savvy Online Shopping Basics

2010-01-10T14:01:00.000-08:00

To say that I love online shopping is an understatement. Everyone who knows me well knows I am always looking for the best deals on the internet. And I order everything and anything online ... nothing is too large or too small.

One Saturday I got home from running errands and Jim and the kids were gone. I called him to see where they were and he told me at Best Buy to buy a new TV for his music/exercise room. I almost had a heart attack! Stop and exit the store immediately. Do not buy anything. You can save so much online with almost everything, as the items are usually discounted from in-store prices, then add coupons, free shipping, no tax and it's too good to pass up.

There are three websites I am going to tell you about today that are essential for every online shopping experience.

Ebates. When you shop through ebates, you get cash back every time you shop. There are no strings attached and no costs; you go to their website and click on the store you want to shop at. They take you to that store's website, you shop, and you get anywhere from 1-12%+ of the total purchase amount in your account. Then every quarter they send you a check. I have been a member since 2004 and have received cash back of over $820! The stores that participate in this are stores I know you have shopped at: Shutterfly, Gap, Nordstrom, Old Navy, Land's End, Endless, and the list goes on. They have coupons for stores too. To sign up, click here http://www.ebates.com/. You'll get $5 for signing up and making a qualified purchase.
RetailMeNot. This is my favorite website for online coupon codes. I like them because they are the most inclusive I have found, and people rate whether the coupon worked for them or not, so you don't waste your time. http://www.retailmenot.com/
CouponConnector. Another great site for online coupons, but what I really love about them is they put the actual e-mail on their website. Now you don't have to subscribe to a bunch of different store e-mail newsletters and clog up your inbox. Stores often e-mail coupons to their subscribers with in-store coupons as well as online ones, so next time you go shopping, check on this site and print out coupons from whatever store you plan on going to. http://www.couponconnector.com/

I know what you're thinking ... this is too much to remember every time I shop online. It's simply getting into the habit of remembering before you click on the Checkout button ... check if the store is on Ebates and if it has a coupon code on RetailMeNot or CouponConnector. I promise that 90% of the time you will save money.

This morning I ordered hay and bedding for our guinea pig Harriett from Petco. They were having an internet sale, so the online prices were cheaper than in-store prices. I found a 10% off plus free shipping coupon on RetailMeNot and Petco gives 6% cash back on Ebates. Plus, I was in my pajamas drinking my coffee. Perfection!

Simply Saving Money on Your Taxes

2010-01-09T12:39:00.000-08:00

Since it's the start of tax season, I'm going to start off with a tax preparation tip. You can use this whether you have someone prepare your taxes or do them yourself with tax software (I use TurboTax).

For years I donated used goods to various charities and never itemized or placed a value on them to report on my taxes. I figured it would be too time consuming and wouldn't really add up to that much. I was SO wrong! This year I discovered a website called www.itsdeductible.com. It links to TurboTax but you don't have to use TurboTax to use it. Now when I have items that I am donating, here is what I do:

I grab my laptop and sign in to ItsDeductible.
Enter the date of donation and charity.
As I'm putting the items in bags or boxes, I enter them into the software. It has the values of thousands of items, so all you have to do is enter in the quantities and decide if the quality is medium or high. If it doesn't have the item, you can enter the value yourself, which is pretty easy to do based on the ones they do have.
When you donate and get your blank receipt from the charity, simply file it away with your tax info or print out the itemized list of donations and attach it.
When you are ready to do your taxes, if you use TurboTax you can easily import the information from ItsDeductible. If someone prepares your taxes for you just hand them the receipt and list.

For 2009 it valued my donated items at over $2,300! The program also takes your highest tax bracket and multiplies that by the value to show you how much you save on your taxes. For example, if you donate $1,000 and your highest tax bracket is 28%, you save $280 on your taxes ... just for doing what you were going to do anyway (donate old items and clothes) and taking a little extra time to enter it on your computer.

You can also enter mileage driven for charities. I discovered that every time I drive my kids on a field trip or drive to their school for the sole purpose of volunteering, the mileage is deductible because I am providing a service for their school. I enter it in ItsDeductible, and it does all the calculations for me. Easy money, baby!

Disclaimer: I am not a tax attorney or CPA. This is only describing a program where you can track deductions. For advice on what you can and cannot deduct, please contact your tax advisor.

Introduction

2010-01-09T11:40:00.000-08:00

I am not a normal mom. Things like doing crafts and scrapbooking will quickly send me close to a panic attack, but I can spend hours in Excel working on a spreadsheet to plan out the cheapest way to go on vacation. I have almost every aspect of my family's life planned out on my computer in Excel, Outlook, Quicken, Iphone applications, and other various software programs I have discovered over the years. I happily do our taxes (and my mom's) and my husband's expense accounts. When I quit my job 5 years ago (as a human resources compensation analyst) I thought that I would no longer need technology like I did in my "out-of home" job. I could not have been more wrong ... I need it more!

Anything in the daily grind of my life that I find inefficient or inconvenient I try to find a way to simplify, mostly through technology. My goals are always to save money and time. I rarely sacrifice one for the other. And many times when I share these ideas with my friends, they tell me that I should put them online in a blog. So here I am, giving it a try! I would love to hear any feedback on whether any of these ideas are helpful or anything else you'd like to see.