This week, I've basically been working on the same things as far as Disney Savings.
I went to target and took advantage of gift card deals buy purchasing 2 bottles of shampoo and 2 bottles of conditioner that I wanted to try, 4 mens Dove deodorant since my husband said he needed deodorant, and q-tips because we needed some anyway. This resulted in $15 worth of gift cards for stocking up on things we need anyway.
I cashed out a $25 Swagbucks gift card. It was actually my first one for the month believe it or not so it was only 2200 points for a Target gift card.
I also cashed in $7 worth of Shopkicks to bring my total gift cards to $47. This left 50 cents to pay after my discount for having a Target Red Card on file at Target.com
To get the right amount of Shopkicks, I did have to drive around town while on errands and do a few walk-ins to get just enough.
So one gift card is ordered and as has been a weekly tradition so far, another arrived in the mail.
Disney Vacation Account Current Balance: $300
Total Paid: $20
Pending:
$10 Proctor and Gamble Gift card
$50 Target Gift Card
$36 in "Side jobs"
Monday, October 26, 2015
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Soda Stream Deal
Even though we already have a soda stream, having four kids we've considered purchasing another. I've been keeping an eye out so when I got an e-mail from Swagbucks stating that they were rewarding purchases from Soda Stream with 30 points, I jumped on it. That's basically like 30% off plus you can get up to $20 of free flavorings if you use the promotional code Fizzy20.
You can also score 25% off the top if you click here.
You can also score 25% off the top if you click here.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Disney Savings Update 10/12-10/18
This week has gone much the same as last week. I have downloaded the Nielsen Mobile App for my phone and am watching my points accrue there. I am continuing to use my Shopkick app and having a ball. My Swagbucks useage has slowed down as its a busy time at work and my focus needs to be there.
The Disney gift card I ordered from Target arrived and I've ordered another one.
Target deals I used this week were purchasing four Dove Deodorants for a $5 gift card. With three of us using it now, it makes sense. We also purchased cleaning supplies and kids vitamins for $5 gift cards each. I'm right on track this week but my gift card deals will be low next week because truthfully we either don't need or have too much of some of the things offered. And that's okay because some weeks it's higher than usual.
I also signed up for a Red Card this week so I will get 5% off of my purchases. Previously I'd just been using a normal card.
I've decide to take my secret shopping up a notch. I generally only do that once every few years but it's really not that hard and could bring in a little every month to put in the account which will add up.
Disney Account Balance: $250
Amount spent so far: 19.50
Pending
50.00 Disney Gift Card
10.00 Proctor and Gamble Card
Currently enough points at various sites for $29 more in Target gift cards.
I'm thinking I could have enough for one ticket by the end of the month if I push hard or at least have enough pending for an adult ticket. We might make our goal if we can put that much back in "free" money every month for six months!
What are you doing to reach your goals this week?
The Disney gift card I ordered from Target arrived and I've ordered another one.
Target deals I used this week were purchasing four Dove Deodorants for a $5 gift card. With three of us using it now, it makes sense. We also purchased cleaning supplies and kids vitamins for $5 gift cards each. I'm right on track this week but my gift card deals will be low next week because truthfully we either don't need or have too much of some of the things offered. And that's okay because some weeks it's higher than usual.
I also signed up for a Red Card this week so I will get 5% off of my purchases. Previously I'd just been using a normal card.
I've decide to take my secret shopping up a notch. I generally only do that once every few years but it's really not that hard and could bring in a little every month to put in the account which will add up.
Disney Account Balance: $250
Amount spent so far: 19.50
Pending
50.00 Disney Gift Card
10.00 Proctor and Gamble Card
Currently enough points at various sites for $29 more in Target gift cards.
I'm thinking I could have enough for one ticket by the end of the month if I push hard or at least have enough pending for an adult ticket. We might make our goal if we can put that much back in "free" money every month for six months!
What are you doing to reach your goals this week?
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Disney Savings Update 10/5-10/11
This week, I've been working hard on our Disney Savings.
We opened our Disney Savings Account this week and deposited $100 that will come in the form of a statement credit for the first purchase on a credit card we just received.
I signed up for Sunshine Rewards and although, I have only used it for a few surveys, I really like it so far. I'll try to post a full review soon.
I signed up for Shop Kick and I've already earned my first $2 gift card.
I am continuing to accrue Swagbucks by checking my Swagbucks inbox, following their checklist and filling in with videos until I meet my daily goals.
We are starting to look at how we will meet the minimum spends on the credit cards. I'm lucky enough to need to pay off the balance of a child's braces and be able to pay that in full so that will go on the credit card. Paying bills on the credit cards is going to be a lot more work than I thought as it appears the autopay option is not available.
Actually in our Account: $200
Amount paid: 19.50 (from Gyft Gift Card after Discount)
Pending:
1 $50 Disney Gift Cards
1 $10 Visa Gift Card
$35 in Target Gift cards from Gift Card Deals at Target last week.
$2 Target Gift Card from Shop Kick.
We opened our Disney Savings Account this week and deposited $100 that will come in the form of a statement credit for the first purchase on a credit card we just received.
I signed up for Sunshine Rewards and although, I have only used it for a few surveys, I really like it so far. I'll try to post a full review soon.
I signed up for Shop Kick and I've already earned my first $2 gift card.
I am continuing to accrue Swagbucks by checking my Swagbucks inbox, following their checklist and filling in with videos until I meet my daily goals.
We are starting to look at how we will meet the minimum spends on the credit cards. I'm lucky enough to need to pay off the balance of a child's braces and be able to pay that in full so that will go on the credit card. Paying bills on the credit cards is going to be a lot more work than I thought as it appears the autopay option is not available.
Actually in our Account: $200
Amount paid: 19.50 (from Gyft Gift Card after Discount)
Pending:
1 $50 Disney Gift Cards
1 $10 Visa Gift Card
$35 in Target Gift cards from Gift Card Deals at Target last week.
$2 Target Gift Card from Shop Kick.
Friday, October 9, 2015
A Review of Gyft
Today, I received notice that I had gotten paid for one of my secret shops which I am using to pay for my "free" Disney Vacation. I wanted to figure out how to spend that on our Disney Trip and the Disney Vacation Account web site does not allow me to make contributions through PayPal. I decided I should find a gift card site.
The gift card sites listed on the rewards sites I use do not take PayPal. So I was on a mission to find some place that I did. I found Gyft. It turns out that Gyft is a really neat little web site. They actually give you a rebate on the gift cards that you purchase that can only be use to purchase more gift cards. For using PayPal or Google Pay you get a 2% rebate and for using BitCoin to pay you will get a 3% rebate.
I paid for a $25 gift card, using my PayPal balance and then I realized they sent me a $5 Gyft gift card. I had also received a 50 cent rebate so even though I really want to do the Disney Trip for free, 22% off was still a really good deal. So I took the plunge and bought another $25 gift card for Target.
Out of the two cards, I only paid 40% of the value of the cards. I received the giftcards in my Gyft Wallet immediately and was able to spend them at Target.com immediately on a $50 Disney Gift Card. The transaction was very uneventful.
Monday, October 5, 2015
AT&T iPhone 6 for Half the Price
Disclaimer: There may be affiliate links in this blog post in which I may get a small amount of compensation for.
As I mentioned yesterday, we are hoping for Plenti points for adding a new line to our AT&T plan. My middle school aged daughter only wanted an iPhone 6 for her birthday. I am not one to spend a lot of money at all. Most would call me cheap.
We've been talking about adding her to our AT&T plan for quite a while because her current cell phone service had limited capabilities and we felt like we might even save money by moving her. When I saw the offer on Plenti for getting 5000 points for adding a line, it got me thinking. I looked up phones and she could have a nice used upgrade from what she already had. When I approached her about it for her birthday, she was firm in only wanting an iPhone 6. I finally told her that if having a current phone would mean that she would no long need an upgrade all the time, I'd get it if I could find one on eBay for $350 or less.
The problem with purchasing one on eBay for $350 was that it because a lot more expensive very quickly. I would need to add insurance in case it did not work when it arrived which would be another $100. Then sometimes they just don't work quite right since they've usually been dropped a lot and then refurbished.
Then I noticed a deal at AT&T. I could trade in any old smart phone that had over a $10 value and get a $200 credit on the phone as long as she signed up for the AT&T Next plan which requires us to make payments on the phone. In addition, we'd get a $100 credit for addding the line and keeping it in good standing for 45 days. If we add the $50 worth of plenti points we'd get, then it is like getting a $650 phone for $300. This phone included the Apple warranty and was new instead of used.
I found an old Samsung S4 Active that I had lying around the house that fit the bill. The offer really seemed too good to be true so I told my daughter to say some prayers as we could only do this if all worked out.
I had the sales agent verify first that he would take my used phone. Then I verified that we qualified for the deal. We did.
So here is a summary of what we got:
$650 iPhone 6
-$200 phone trade in credit for a phone that was not worth $200 and was sitting around unused.
-$100 credit for porting her number in from a different company.
-$50 when plenti points are awarded.
We did have to pay sales tax on the new phone that we would not have had to pay on eBay, so that's something to consider as well. She officially has a much nicer phone than I do.
As I mentioned yesterday, we are hoping for Plenti points for adding a new line to our AT&T plan. My middle school aged daughter only wanted an iPhone 6 for her birthday. I am not one to spend a lot of money at all. Most would call me cheap.
We've been talking about adding her to our AT&T plan for quite a while because her current cell phone service had limited capabilities and we felt like we might even save money by moving her. When I saw the offer on Plenti for getting 5000 points for adding a line, it got me thinking. I looked up phones and she could have a nice used upgrade from what she already had. When I approached her about it for her birthday, she was firm in only wanting an iPhone 6. I finally told her that if having a current phone would mean that she would no long need an upgrade all the time, I'd get it if I could find one on eBay for $350 or less.
The problem with purchasing one on eBay for $350 was that it because a lot more expensive very quickly. I would need to add insurance in case it did not work when it arrived which would be another $100. Then sometimes they just don't work quite right since they've usually been dropped a lot and then refurbished.
Then I noticed a deal at AT&T. I could trade in any old smart phone that had over a $10 value and get a $200 credit on the phone as long as she signed up for the AT&T Next plan which requires us to make payments on the phone. In addition, we'd get a $100 credit for addding the line and keeping it in good standing for 45 days. If we add the $50 worth of plenti points we'd get, then it is like getting a $650 phone for $300. This phone included the Apple warranty and was new instead of used.
I found an old Samsung S4 Active that I had lying around the house that fit the bill. The offer really seemed too good to be true so I told my daughter to say some prayers as we could only do this if all worked out.
I had the sales agent verify first that he would take my used phone. Then I verified that we qualified for the deal. We did.
So here is a summary of what we got:
$650 iPhone 6
-$200 phone trade in credit for a phone that was not worth $200 and was sitting around unused.
-$100 credit for porting her number in from a different company.
-$50 when plenti points are awarded.
We did have to pay sales tax on the new phone that we would not have had to pay on eBay, so that's something to consider as well. She officially has a much nicer phone than I do.
Sunday, October 4, 2015
This Year's Financial Goals: A Disney Vacation for 6 For Close to Free
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| We had such a great time at Disney last year that this year's goal is to go back to Disney World for as close to free as possible for a family of 6. |
I am the mom of four kids and like most mom's I've had to make sacrifices. I've always wanted to take vacations and I kept waiting for the money to be there but it never is. Last summer, I spent most of our savings account on a Disney World vacation. We had so much fun. We want to go back and add Universal Orlando into to the mix as well. However, even though I was very frugal in my planning, it was very expensive.
My goal this year is to have us go back for almost free. I'm going to journal my experiment here.
I keep reading about a lot of families of four going to Disney World for free or cheap just by signing up for credit cards. These deals won't work by themselves for a family of 6 so there's going to have to be another way for us.
Here's my plan and some possible bumps in the road.
1. Apply for credit cards. We have fairly good credit though my husband doesn't have a lot of credit. This part of the plan really pains us because we are big fans of Dave Ramsey so this makes me incredibly nervous. We are going to plan this very carefully with what will be charged on each card and hopefully have a credit card emergency fund. We have approval on 3 of the 4 cards we applied for (2 each). The last is questionable and I may have to come up for a new game plan on that one.
2. Target and other gift card savings. That's right. I'm going to shop mostly the gift card deals at Target. I know there are cheaper places to shop than Target but I'm going to try to be reasonable about which deals we do. Then I'm going to use the "free" Target gift cards to buy Disney Gift Cards.
3. Rewards Programs. I am going to earn gift cards and free gas from Swagbucks and use points from Plenti to pay for gas.
4. Odd Jobs. I do a few jobs like secret shopping that only take 15 min. or so and aren't part of my regular paycheck. I also plan to put that money towards a trip and step up the work here.
5. Disney Vacation Account. I plan to combine any extra money from odd jobs and gift cards I earn or shop for into a Disney Vacation Account. For every $1000 we spend from our Disney Vacation Account, we will get a $20 Disney Gift Card as long as we spend it before the end of 2017.
I started about 5 days ago. This is what we have so far:
Target: $45 in gift cards.
Swagbucks: $25 giftcard from points previously earned cashed out for Target giftcard.
Lowes Visa Gift Card: Bought enough qualifying groceries for the $10 Proctor and Gamble Rebate.
Plenty: We *should* have 5050 points being added from AT&T since we added our daughter to our AT&T account from another company and purchased a phone on the Next plan. It's their current deal and we plan to pay that off in a few months.
Thanks to the Target gift cards, I've already been able to order a $50 Disney gift card on order and the first spend bonuses from the credit cards, I'm counting September's balance as $225. Not bad for one day in September. I'm new to this so who knows if we can keep going at this rate. Still, $225 in "free money" isn't a bad start.
What are your frugal travels ideas and ways to earn "free money"?
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