Thursday, May 27, 2010

Free Birthday Stuff!

Did you know that there are a bunch of restaurants that give you free or discounted meals on your birthday?  I have signed up for a lot of different restaurant mailing lists, and it really does pay off!

All you have to do is sign up for the Birthday Club (each restaurant has a different name for the mailing list, you'll have to do some snooping on their websites to know for sure) and print off the email coupon they send you when it's your birthday.

  • Red Robin's gives a free Gourmet Burger Meal within a week (or two?) of your birthday.
  • Dairy Queen offers buy one get one deal on blizzards.
  • Sawmill offers $25 off of your dinner bill, as long as 4 or more entree's are purchased.
  • Boston Pizza gives a free dessert or gourmet pasta within one week of your birthday. 
  • Baskin Robins - Free Birthday Ice Cream (http://www.baskinrobbins.ca/birthdayclub )
If you know of any more, let me know!  I'd love to add more to my list!

Selling Household Items

My little son Jayden is turning 3 this year and has been begging for a bike.  Well, bikes aren't exactly cheap, especially since he doesn't want a "baby bike", he wants a "real bike"!

In order to make a bit more cash to buy him a bike, I started looking through some closets and boxes of mine to see what I had stashed away.  Would you believe I still had some unopened wedding presents from 3.5 years ago??  Wow.  Well, I sold those, and a few other things I found around my house.  I found pretty candles that I never burn, kitchen accessories that I haven't ever used, and even a foot spa that I used maybe 3 or 4 times.  I sold each of those things and came out with $25.

I looked around the second hand stores and kept watching on kijiji, and finally, I found a bike for $12!  How great is that?!  I got the bike and I had enough left over to buy a new tire tube for the one flat tire it had.  Perfect!

I still need to get him a helmet, but I'm not too worried yet, he's still so young that I don't think he'll be riding on or even near the road until next summer.  For now, he just likes to look at his bike and sit on it proudly.

Today I sorted through the kids toys and found that we seriously have way too many!  Instead of selling them though, I will be giving some away for free to families who have much less than we do.  I could sell them for a few bucks and still make someone happy, but I'd rather make myself way happier by being generous.

Are you spring cleaning?  If you find things that you haven't used (or even seen) in awhile, sell them!  Making a few bucks here and there can really add up.  It may not be very much cash, but I got a great little bike second hand.  I'm sure that bike will get used WAY more than that foot spa ever did.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Save money on internet service charges!

Today I decided to do something I've not had the nerve to do before.  I asked for a better deal than what I was currently getting on our internet!

Now, Dave Ramsey talks about this in his Financial Peace University seminar, but I am a little nervous to ask for a better deal.  After all, I knew what the costs would  be when I signed up.  What right do I have to ask for a better deal?  Dave says that I not only have a right, but I have an obligation to find a better deal so I can save more money!

Shaw is currently our internet service provider, and though we haven't had any complaints, I noticed that Telus currently has an introductory offer of monthly internet service for $10!  I currently pay $46 each month for my internet, and saving a bunch of money is always something I am interested in, so the offer from Telus looked great.

I called Shaw and explained that I was just looking for ways to save money and found the offer from Telus in my search.  I mentioned that I knew Shaw was offering a similar introductory rate and asked if I could get that new rate even though I'd been with Shaw for years already.

After transferring through a couple of different people, I talked to a representative who said, "I can't give you the introductory offer, but what I can do is offer you a $23 a month rate for 6 months.  After the 6 months, your rate will go back up to $46. Would that be okay?"

I happily accepted his offer and was thrilled to be saving 50% of my internet bill ($23) each month!

Try it, it should work for you too!

-Beki

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Save Money on Steaks!

For the last couple of months, I have only bought beef that is ground in order to save some cash on our meat budget.  I was snooping around in the meet department at Costco, when I noticed that the large eye of round roasts were not that expensive.

I bought the roast, took it home, and sliced it into 3/4 inch steaks.  I got 12 decent sized steaks out of it and I used the ends for stir-fry meat!  Now, it's important to note that these aren't the most tender steaks you've ever had, but if you marinade them for a few hours prior to BBQing, they are quite tasty!  The stir fry meat was pretty tough as well, but still tasty and filling.  For the price, I won't complain!

Comparison Summary

$16.09 for a eye of round roast

6 meals of steak + 2 packs of stir fry meat = 8 meals

If you add in the cost of potatoes and veggies, you are looking at between $2 and $3 per plate for a steak dinner!  Not bad, and certainly worth the extra time it took to marinade the meat!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

The Starting Point

My husband, Steve, and I have always tried to get ahead in our finances, but came to the conclusion sometime in 2009, that we would need to make more money in order to achieve that goal. We thought we were using every last penny we earned on necessary items, and once all our needs were met, there was just nothing left to save!

In January 2010, Steve and I decided to have a fresh start to our finances, and this time, to really take control. We took a course by Dave Ramsey offered at our church called Financial Peace University, and began our journey.

Dave Ramsey lays out 7 steps to Financial Peace:

  1. Save $1000.00 for an emergency fund.
  2. Pay off all debt using the Debt Snowball.
  3. Set aside 3 to 6 months of expenses in your savings account.
  4. Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement.
  5. College funding for children.
  6. Pay off home early.
  7. Build wealth and give! Invest in mutual funds and real estate.

By February of 2010, we had hashed out a budget plan which seemed to REALLY cut out pretty much anything except our bare necessities. By April, we were trimming that budget even more to make more room for saving.

We were able to easily pass through the first two steps, as we did not have to deal with a lot of debt, and now we are working on step 3.

I want to share with you a few thoughts we have and have had along our journey to financial peace. I have found many money-saving ideas, and ways to trim the budget. Please feel free to share your thrifty ideas with us as we continue to strive for Financial Peace!