2013~Easy Money Savings Challenge~get your spreadsheets here to keep track!

bag of money

Want one of these at the end of the year? Join us!

Welcome to the 52 week money savings challenge with a downloadable spreadsheet!

Are you trying to save money in 2013? I am! I think in 2012 I had what they call “frugality fatigue.” I know I had coupon burnout too. But now I’m rested, refreshed, looking at our family budget, and ready to get back into it.

There was a picture of a budget spreadsheet floating around Facebook, wish I knew who to credit it to. It’s a very simple but smart plan. So I put it into a spreadsheet for all of us to use. All you have to do is either download it and save it to your computer, or you can click “make a copy” and keep your own version in Google Docs if you use it. I think on Facebook it was called the ’52 week money challenge’ or something like that.

Look at the bottom, there are 3 tabs. There are 3 options to pick from when deciding what to save. One starts out low and grows, the next version is that in reverse. The third version is using Friday’s date as your savings amount–that’s for those that either don’t need/want to save as much money, or you’re struggling a bit so the amounts are lower. Someone on our Facebook wall had suggested a version that doubles every week-1-2-4-8-16 and so on. But by the end of March, you’re up to $500, so I nixed that one. If anyone has any other suggestions, I’m happy to edit the spreadsheet to add another tab.

2013 easy savings challenge

Author’s note: This has been a very popular post and too many people were making edits to the google doc online and messing up the formulas and totals. So I’m sorry that there is no longer an online version, as my choices are either “read only” or everyone can edit. You can save that copy to your computer, and if you want it online, upload it to google docs.

Let me know if you have any trouble or if it’s not working.

{getting back into couponing} day 4-browsing sales ads and gathering printable coupons

extreme couponing, bandwagonWelcome to another day of getting back into couponing–our step by step plan to get us back in the habit of clipping coupons and saving money. Below you can see what we’re doing each day if you need to catch up.

Today, this is what I’m doing–browsing sales ads and gathering printable coupons.

I usually get my ads in my mail on Wednesday, but when they are late I almost always have them by Friday. This also is a good day for me to do this, because after I put the boys to bed, or if I let them stay up and watch a movie, I will have time to get it done.

I’m browsing the ads to see at first glance what appeals to me, and circling it. Any catalina offers that look decent, sales and so on. I also am crossing off items in the ad that I know I DO NOT need. Yesterday I did my pantry and my freezer so I have a good idea of which items I don’t need. The big X over the item in my ad will serve as a reminder while I’m shopping that I do not need to buy that unless it’s free.

My next step is to hit the printable sites and print what I want and clip them. If I do this right after I browse the ads, then I sorta have an idea in my head of what is on sale. For example, I browsed and saw lots of General Mills deals, so I know to click and print the GM coupons if I see them.

And that’s it, that’s all I’m doing today. Saturday and Sunday will be some bigger tasks, so get caught up on these days’ tasks if you haven’t already. There are 5 inserts coming this Sunday!

If you look at the list of categories directly under the blog header/banner, you see where it says “COUPONS.” That will take you to all the various printable coupon sites-Coupons.com, SmartSource, RedPlum, Catalina/CouponNetwork, Cellfire and SavingStar.


Coupons.com~newly released or reset~$1.00 off any one (1) SheaMoisture Baby product

Link

$1.00 off any one (1) SheaMoisture Baby product

Active Date: January 4, 2013

Expiration Date: March 31, 2014

new printable coupons alert~$1.00 off any one Orbit or 5 Gum Grab & Go Pack

Link

$1.00 off any one Orbit or 5 Gum Grab & Go Pack

Active Date: January 4, 2013

Expiration Date: January 31, 2014