Last Day of 2012

31 Dec

Just a friendly reminder: today is the last day you can make a donation in order to deduct it on your 2012 tax return. Here are the steps of how I go about preparing my items to be donated:

1.  Clean Out Closets and Garages.

Make this simple on yourself since this is the last day and we are working with a deadline. Go through your closets and see what you have not worn in quite a while. Also, any items in these rooms either you are not that fond of or just do not feel like they can be repurposed for other needs.  Give the garage a quick swipe of any items to be donated. Under normal circumstances, I personally keep a donation box under the closet below our stairs and when I come across something to donate I throw it in this box. Biannually, I will donate items in the box in order to stay on top of things.

2.  List All Items

Now that you have all of your items gathered, I would get a piece of ruled paper or use Microsoft Excel to list your items. Here are how my columns appear: 1.  Description of item 2. size of item  3.  how many.  In the description column, I write a very detailed description (wo/men’s or childs item with long sleeve (ls) or short sleeve (ss) and name brand of item.) I know it may sound tedious but after donating, one can easily forget items and you will need this detailed information for a later step.

3. Take Pictures

You can either take pictures of each item separately, do it by room or perhaps one big picture in your garage or drive way.  I see these pictures as your insurance of specific items donated. Plus, it allows you to be able to recollect items if the description does not. If you end up with more than one picture, I copy and paste them onto a Powerpoint spreadsheet and print them out to include in my tax binder.

4.  Drop Off

Now you can drop your items off at your local donation place. Be sure to get a donation receipt and sometimes the donation center person will either just give you a signed donation receipt or they will ask for you to fill out your name and address. At this time,  I will quickly write a description of what I am donating i.e. clothes/shoes or home items, baby clothes. Just so they have it on their tangible copy.

5.  Entering Items for Taxes

I use an online program by TurboTax called ItsDeductible, this online program allows you to accurately value your donated items plus it easily imports to Turbotax.  This is why it is so important your descriptions are accurate so you can get the best value for your  donated item. My favorite aspect of this online program is it is FREE!!!! Also, it allows you to track monetary donations versus just tangible items as well. To keep track of each time you donate, I ensure I do each donation by the donation date so all donations do not get lumped together on ItsDeductible.

Here is to deducting as much as possible and may you have a Happy New Year!!!

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The Day After Christmas……

27 Dec

What does the professional saver buy the day after Christmas? Here is what I ended up with…….

  • Sterilite standup container for wrapping paper $7.00
  • Hickory Farms gift box $4.99
  • Photo insert holiday cards $3.50
  • 5 GAP toddler socks FREE
  • H&M 2 pairs of hoop earrings, fingerless gloves, necklace, hair rubber bands .94 for everything
  • My mom found me an edible gingerbread house kit  for $5.00 in California because I almost lost it in North Carolina trying to find one at the after Christmas sales.

How I Save With These Purchases……..

You might be thinking why would I buy perishables the day after Christmas for next year. Let me preface my decision in that I would NEVER give these perishables to family or friends because one it is too risky to hope food will not go bad and second it would be downright embarrassing if it did occur. Here (specific family member) is some moldy cheese, I bought it last year but I figured I would give two gifts in one, penicillin and cheese.  Here is what I do, I take my Hickory Farms items, wrap them in Saran wrap then aluminum foil and put them in the freezer for our traditional wrapping night where my husband and I have our vino and snacks while wrapping the gifts and if there is mold it will only help us from the Ebola viruses our children bring home from school.

Here is how I  save on gingerbread houses for the holidays. This year after Halloween, I bought a Halloween gingerbread village at Target for $2.99, inside this village came five small individual houses great for a Christmas village. I ended up spending $2.00 on candy DOTS and $2.00 on round peppermints plus I got a free box of triscuits for the roofs( next year I will not need to buy these items because I will have candy from the Christmas gingerbread house already.) I still only ended up spending 6.99 but better than a full price 9.99 gingerbread house. I take all the Halloween frosting and candy from the box and put it in a gallon size bag and store it in my pantry for next year’s Halloween gingerbread house, which we will use on the marked down  Christmas gingerbread house (confused yet) that granny bought in Cali.  I will just have to ensure a marked down Halloween village next year to continue the cycle.

Halloween Village $2.99

Halloween Village $2.99

Our family's Christmas village. You might be able to tell some kids decorated then two seconds later put the candy in their mouth by the missing pieces.

Our family’s Christmas village. You might be able to tell one kid decorated then two seconds later put the candy in their mouth by the missing pieces.

Oh, Christmas cards will not be the end of me anymore. Now, I just have to worry about a picture versus the picture, what type of card and what online photo company has the best deals. Saving money is really about simplicity, the more variables you start throwing in the pot, too much has to be taken into an account and this can make people go CRAZY. Don’t get me wrong we can tolerate a little crazy but throwing it into the mix for shits and giggles is no way to have a very MERRY season.  I just buy photo insert cards at Target the day after Christmas (they really do have cute ones) for $3.50 order the 4×6 pictures the week before Christmas because Walgreens or some drugstore always has a 40% off picture deal and voila, I paid no more than $5.00 for Christmas cards not including stamps. Added bonus, those who really love us can keep the picture and frame it or display us on their refrigerator versus a card with our picture embedded.

Lastly, the Sterilite container was on sale and my only big purchase. The items from GAP and H&M were bought with online gift cards, I received through apps and the only money out-of-pocket there was .94.  I still need to get bows since we used our last one this year but I will buy those when Target hits 70% off, which should be by this weekend.  I hope you had a Very Merry Holiday.

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Have you heard of Jingit?

20 Oct

This is a new way to earn FREE money and a great time since the impending holidays are near.  Currently, I have been testing this out for a week in a half and I have earned $9.00 for about 5 minutes of my time everyday. So what is Jingit exactly?

Here is the description pulled from the Jingit website:

“Jingit, you can earn real cash, instantly for watching ads online; or checking in and shopping for select products at your favorite stores; even for giving your feedback to leading brands by taking brief surveys. In return, those brands get your attention!”

Now how to get started:

Simply sign in with your existing Facebook account, then complete the 30 second registration process and start earning. No social security numbers required, and they will not sell or share your personal info.

After you have accumulated $3.00 in your Jingit account. You will be able to order a Jingit Debit card (sponsored by US Bank) in order to spend the money that you earn through Jingit.  Applying for this debit card will not adversely affect your credit score so no worries about bringing your credit number down.

After signing up for Jingit, you will want to download the application for your smartphone so you can start earning on the go and to check in at Wal-Mart for even more points.  I know what you may be thinking, I do not want everyone knowing I am at Wal-Mart and neither would I.  When you sign up for Jingit, be sure to use the drop down menu on Facebook to check ”Only Me” so only you can see your activity on Facebook.  This protects your check-ins from going viral to everyone else in your contacts if you choose to use that method of earning more money. Personally, I have not checked in at Wal-Mart as of yet but for those of you who know me well if this was Target it would probably blow up. :)   

Initially, the application will load ads but the bulk of your money can be made from the Jingit website and the watching of ads there. There have been reports of being able to watch ads every two hours in order to accumulate more monies.  Likewise, this website is NOT going to make you rich by any means but if you are in a tight spot or looking to supplement your holiday spending money then this is a great tool to be used.

Ideas to use this money towards are; birthday party money fund, upgrading a holiday gift for a relative you normally give a little something to, donating food to a shelter or animal shelter (use coupons to make the money go farther plus it will be a tax write off for you as well) and buy a yearly membership to a museum or zoo. I could go on and on but if you give your money a purpose you are more likely to spend  it wisely and have more leftover. :)    

Here are some ad links you can watch to earn more money on Jingit. Be sure to click the Facebook login box in the right hand bottom corner so you get credit for watching the ad and answering the super short survey questions.

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/jingit.aspx?b=smores&utm_source=JHomePage&utm_medium=HomeBanner&utm_campaign=Smores_9.12

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/enhancedrendercontentincludes.aspx?id=120234&ji_pop=true

http://instoresnow.walmart.com/jingit.aspx?b=elmers&utm_source=JHomePage&utm_medium=HomeBanner&utm_campaign=elmers-1st-day

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Sign Up for Whole Foods Newsletter **Possible $50 +rumored exclusive coupon

17 Oct

In my Facebook feed, Whole Foods of Roseville, CA just wrote this post and even though  a specific store posted this information;  I would still sign up for the newsletter for two reasons.

One you could possibly win a $50.00 gift card and two when you sign up for the newsletter you are able to choose your specific store so this is not just available for the Roseville, CA store.

I have noticed some stores have better social media managers then others, which is why do not be surprised if this coupon could possibly be offered in your area if you sign up for this newsletter.

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Carving Pumpkins???

10 Oct

Halloween is 21 days away and even though it may seem far away, it will be here before you know it. Of course, the professional saver does not like to pay full price for many things and pumpkins and Christmas trees are high on the list. Disposable items are hard on this saver’s heart because I see it as wasteful, I realize I could roll up to a Michael’s Craft Store and buy a foam pumpkin and carve it but who am I to deny my kids of getting down and dirty with pumpkin guts.

I wanted to share who has the best prices on pumpkins, this week 10/10 until 10/16.

West Coast

.99 Store = of course .99 stated, ”sizes may vary”, which leads me to believe they are on the small side.

Raley’s 3 for $9.99 = $3.33 each

Trader  Joe’s = $2.99 Best deal!!!

Sprouts/ Sunflower Market = 3 for $10.00 = $3.33

Safeway- no mention in ad

Nugget Markets- no mention in ad

Southeast Coast

Aldi’s = $2.99 Best deal!!!

Target= $ 3.99

Wal-Mart= $3.88

If you know of better deals, please feel FREE to share them in the comments.

Also, I know some might worry their pumpkin will go rotten before they are even able to take a knife to it.

Here is a TIP to preserve your GREAT PUMPKIN, apply a coat of Brite floor cleaner (or any clear floor cleaner) with a damp cloth. It will preserve your pumpkin(s) until you are ready to carve. Likewise, once carved use petroleum jelly around the parts you cut so it will not get mushy or moldy.

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OceanSpray Cranberry Coupon

6 Oct

 

OceanSpray on Facebook is offering a $1.00/1 Ocean Spray Cranberries coupon.

A very rare coupon and a great one if you make your own cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. Also, a frugal alternative for Christmas garland is popcorn and cranberries stringed on fishing line. One of my fondest memories of my mother and I doing when I was five years old.

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High Value Coupon: $2.00 off any Beauty Purchase at CVS

4 Oct

CVS is offering a FREE $2.00 off any beauty purchase coupon since this is a CVS coupon, I am sure you can stack it with a manufacturer’s coupon and walk out with something FREE or close to it.

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