April Savings Report

This month has flown by! We did go on our San Diego trip and I'll report on that later. First I want to write down what I was able to save this month.

• I was able to set aside $25 from last month's grocery budget to spend on groceries for our trip. I also put aside $40 from this month's budget, giving me $65 to spend. That was definitely a big help!
• I reduced the amount of my grocery budget by $10 this month, bringing it down to $470 for our family of 5. I was able to do it! That is $10 extra in my savings fund.
• I cashed in my coins from March: $31.82. That's a little bit high because I found a piggy bank with a bunch of coins in there. : ) I got a gift card to Amazon for that amount, used it to buy diapers and wipes, and then put the cash from my envelope into my savings jar. I rounded it up to $32.
• I came in $10 under budget in groceries in March and added that to my savings fund.
• My rebate check for $3 came from Rite Aid.
• I found a dollar in my pocket. : )

That adds $56 to my savings fund, which brings my total up to $503.05 saved since February 1, 2011! Only $100 more to go!

We seemed to have some extra expenses this month: the girls needed new church shoes and some new clothes for the trip, my newspaper subscription was paid, which I wasn't planning on, our housecleaners cashed the checks for March and April in the same month...anyway, I don't have any extra money to funnel into next month's grocery fund. : ( Oh well. But it feels really good to come in right on target for our budget, though. In fact, we didn't have to take any money from our vacation fund to cover the cost of gas for our trip or our meals on the road. That is such a blessing!

Speaking of blessings, I have been amazed at the blessings that come from being a good steward over the money and goodness that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with. He is aware of us, even when the things we want/need seem insignificant. As an example, last week I was at the store and really wanted to buy some strawberries. They were a little bit expensive but I was just craving those sweet juicy fruits! I decided that if I had enough money when we got back from the trip, then I could buy some strawberries.

The next day, my parents came over and my dad brought me some strawberries that he had gotten earlier in the day. I was speechless. Those strawberries didn't mean that much to my dad (he was just being thoughtful). But he couldn't have known what they meant to me. : ) Have you had any experiences like that as you've tried to save your money?

March Savings

Husband and I switched our money management over to Mint.com this month. It's nice to be able to see everything updated so quickly! We also decided that it would be best for our budget to deposit the cash that I have set aside when I use the credit card so that our numbers are a little more accurate. I deposited what I had on Monday and will get cash out on April 1st, so we'll see how it works.

This is what I was able to save this month:

• I signed up for Offermatic at the beginning of the month and they sent me two great offers: one for $15 off a $30 purchase on Amazon (hello diapers!) and another for $10 off a $20 purchase at Target. I took advantage of both of those offers, adding $25 to my vacation fund!
• My mom paid me back for the birthday cake I picked up for my grandmother's birthday last month. I decided that I'd add it to the fund since I already took it out of my grocery budget. That adds $16 to my fund.
• I got a $20 check from Toluna for completing surveys.
• $20 in cash from what I took out of last month's budget overage.

That's a grand total of: $81.00! Nice!

I did cash in my coins this month, but I decided that since I already made my bank deposit this month, I would add it in to next month's savings deposit.

So...that brings my amount saved up to $447.05. That's 3/4 of the way there!

How is your vacation savings going?

Deposit to European Tour Fund

I received my July rebate check from Rite Aid this week for $12.99. That's a big boost from the past few rebate checks I've received!

This week's deposit:

• $12.99 from Rite Aid Single Check Rebates

That brings my total up to $268.47 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Deposit to European Tour Fund

Last week was my first time with no deposits to report! : ( But we are back on track this week since I received my Big Fat Check from Ebates.

Have you been using Ebates? I never make a purchase online unless I check Ebates first to make sure I can't get some cash back. Even if it's a few cents, all those pennies and nickels eventually add up! There are no fees to join and you only need to earn $5.01 in a quarter to receive your check. Click here if you'd like to sign up for Ebates.

This week's deposit:

• $10.67 from Ebates

That brings my total up to $255.48 saved since May 1st! One quarter of the way to my $1000 goal!

Deposit to the European Tour Fund

I cashed in several gift cards in July. I'm still using my version of the cash envelope system, so I just deducted each gift card amount from my "cash". Now I'm transferring that money out of my grocery fund and into my European Tour Fund!

This week's deposit:

• $10.80 from Visa giftcard I received from Rite Aid SCR
• $20.54 from Target giftcard that I found in my wallet. Nice!
• $20.51 from Amazon giftcards I cashed in to buy my wipes. Most of that was from money earned doing surveys for Valued Opinions.

That brings my total up to $244.81 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Deposit to the European Tour Fund

Two rebates this week. One is from Rite Aid. The other is from Gerber (remember this?). Here's this week's deposit:

• $2.00 June rebate check from Rite Aid
• $2.50 rebate check from Gerber "Try Me Free"

That brings my total up to $192.96 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Deposit to European Tour Fund

This week I received a check from Kraft for the rebate they had in the Back to School coupon book. (You could submit a rebate for 2009 and 2010.) My check was for $20, which brings my total up to $188.46 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Deposit to European Tour Fund

I received three checks for completing surveys this week. All three were from Pinecone Research, which I love because they always pay promptly and I sometimes get to try out some cool stuff.

• $9.00 in checks from completing Pinecone Research surveys

That brings my total up to saved $168.46 since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Deposit to European Tour Fund

This week I'm depositing the extra money I saved from June's grocery budget. I cashed in some Swagbucks for $25 in Amazon giftcards and used those to order some diapers early in the month. I took that $25 in "cash" out of my weekly envelope so I wouldn't spend it.

I also got a $35 pre-paid Visa from Rite Aid for one of the rebates from April (I think). I used that on some of my purchases and took out that "cash" from my envelope, too.

So here's my deposit for today:

• $25.00 from Amazon giftcards/Swagbucks
• $24.20 from money spent on pre-paid Visa

That brings my total up to $159.46 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Deposit to European Tour Fund: My first $100!!!

I have two items to deposit this week:

• I received my May rebate check from Rite Aid for $2.00.
• I also got some money for my birthday (June 17th). I thought about how much of my birthday money to set aside for my European Tour Fund and I decided on $31.00 (since I just turned 31!).

These deposits bring my total up to $110.26. I've reached my first hundred dollars in my fund!

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Deposit to European Tour Fund

This week I received a check for a class-action settlement that I was a part of. I chose the cash settlement as opposed to the discount on future bookings (this was a settlement against Expedia). My share? $2.42...and it's going straight into my fund.

That brings my new total up to $77.26 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Deposit to European Tour Fund

Another deposit to the European Tour Fund:

I received my April rebate check from Rite Aid for $6.50 and I received a cash out from Opinion Outpost for doing surveys for $11.70, which brings my new total up to $74.84 saved since May 1st.

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

Deposit to European Tour Fund

I got a Big Fat Check in the mail this week from Ebates. I do all my online shopping through their site (if I can). I then get a check every 3 months with my savings from the previous quarter. This month I got $6.64.

The total in my European Tour Fund is now $56.64. Every little bit helps!

For more of my European Tour Deposits, click here.

If you want to save money for your own special fund by shopping through Ebates, click here to sign up.

Saving money for my European Tour!

I'm not a rock star, but I am planning on going to Europe next year. Two of my friends are living there with their little families and we want to go visit them in their new homelands. There are four of us girls who are going to get together and we decided to take a cruise. All four of us are married, but I'm the only one who won't be bringing my little ones along. (I need a break!)

As I checked out some potential cruises, I realized that we were going to have to save some money for this trip. Inspired by Couponing to Disney, I decided to take the money I save from coupons, rebates, surveys, and any other hair-brained schemes for money-making I can come up with and put it towards my European vacation fund. My goal is to save $1000 by the time we leave next May.

I'll track my progress for you. Maybe you'll want to start some sort of fund for yourself...

I'm starting the fund off with $50 in checks I received from rebate checks and surveys. And we're off!