This morning I decided to actually use my credit card to try and offset some of these day to day expenses. I went to my Citi Thank You rewards account and noticed I had 22,220 points just sitting there doing nothing so I cashed them in for two $100 dollar gift cards to Walmart:
Walmart is not my favorite store but we can get things like toiletries and groceries there. I can also use these at their Murphy gas stations and save 10 cents per gallon with gift cards. They have a promotion for 90 days in case you haven't heard about it : Murphy
I'm hoping to get these gift cards the first week of August, the goal is to offset day to day spending and send more money back to the credit cards.
Have a good weekend!
HS
17 comments:
I did not know about the Murphy thing at Walmart - not a lover of them either, but with the $.11 hike on gas yesterday, methinks I have to do something.
Have you tried Food Town? I know, I was HEB all the way, but I just hold my nose and get fresh veggies and fruit and most other items = toiletries, etc at a MUCH better price than even Walmart. They carry the name brands.
Are you going to track your no-spends like a lot of bloggers?
I haven't been to Food Town because we don't have one close to us, the Walmart is 2 miles from the house but my favorite is HEB which is 3 miles from us.
I'm trying to think of ways to track the no spend days... what do I document?? lol
HS
Thanks for the runkeeper heads up. I'm going to check it out. I just don't have anywhere to put my phone when I "run". Ideas?
Of course, glad you asked:
http://www.amazon.com/Quality-LG-Optimus-Resistant-VanGoddy/dp/B004THZFZ0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1311354375&sr=8-4
Regarding no-spends: You can either do a challenge of sorts like a seven day No-Spend Challenge. You're not allowed to stock up before the challenge you just go. And then every day you blog about whether or not you were successful.
Regarding grocery-shopping: Making a list and having a budget is a good start but it's pointless if you blow the budget. There are lots of ways to do this properly but to keep it super simple make the list in two columns: REALLY Need vs Need. Use the calculator on the phone and shop the REALLY Need first keeping track with your calculator. Once you hit your budget, you're done.
BTW your wife being at home often could save you lots of money if she got into couponing. Lots of websites make it SUPER easy.
Your not allow to stock up? that's setting me up for failure LOL.. normally we don't spend a lot during the week when we're both working but the weekends kill us!
HS
Couponing?? my wife is a bit of a 'blonde' just the other day she texted me from the doctor's office asking what our zip code was...
HS
Good for you! It will be nice to use the Walmart gift cards to give your debt payoff a boost!
This is where tracking your spending can help. Keep track of all your groceries for the next month or so. It'll allow you to have a realistic idea of how much you need to budget.
IMO, $70 per week isn't unreasonable for a couple (especially I dual income couple w/out kids). H and I spend about $100 a week .. but we budget for it and know what we're going to spend.
There are whole blogs dedicated to couponing and telling you what coupons to clip, and what stores are having the sales. I've heard great things about thegrocerygame.com. And there are other blogs that talk about ways to earn gift cards for what you are already doing. For example, a lot of grocery stores will offer gift cards if you switch a prescription to their pharmacy from another pharmacy. You can do this like every 3 months and find different offers.
My finance and I use gift cards from our Air Miles to help us keep our entertainment budget in check - i wish their were grocery options too. Great idea!
This is a great idea! Just be sure to stick with the budget you create, regardless of how you're paying. If you count those gift cards as $200 of your own money, you might be able to make them last longer. I've found it's far too easy to just throw caution to the wind while using gift cards because they're "free money." Instead of repeating these previous mistakes, I now budget for gift cards on a separate spreadsheet (I'm a huge Excel nerd), and I make sure to combine them with clearance sales, coupons, etc. to get the most bang for my buck!
dont' love walmart - but hey - free money is free money - definitely would learn to get over it like you guys are!
Love Walmart for things like laundry soap and so forth. Hate the crowd. Good idea about using the thank you points.
Funny you mentioned people, we have 2 Walmart's close to us about 3-4 miles apart... one is normal and the other one is very very country LOL yup you can find some interesting people there.
HS
Great idea to get the gift cards for something you can use like this, to ease the stress of your budget!
I'm new to trying to save on groceries to cut back on my debt and add to my savings. It is so hard. Couponing does work but it takes time to organize. Do you have a Target credit card? I signed up for one and get 5% discount for each use. They use to give 10% off. You can also sign up for coupon text messages from Target. Each week you will receive a text to link and you can have the cashier scan this directly from your smart phone.
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