Short-Term Goals: Paycheck Management Edition

Since I finished my latest set of short-term goals, I decided to get right back up on the organization horse and make a new list. It was so refreshing knowing I’ve actually taken steps to organize my finances. Although the first list took me a while, I know that having a list helped. The list kept me from forgetting what goals I wanted to complete. Crossing each item off was truly a motivation to keep going. Progress is especially sweet when it’s measurable.

• Decide how to divide each paycheck before bills (percentages)
• Distribute my July paychecks accordingly
• Update my starter budget
• Determine how much leftover money I have per paycheck (approximate)

As before, I will cross off my goals as they are completed. Maybe someday, I’ll get around to defining and posting some long-term goals.

Update: Short-term goals

As I was moving towards a focus on PF (both personally and as a topic on this blog), I made a list of some of my short-term goals. Then, a month later, I updated the list. Although I have been working towards completing each of these goals, I’ve neglected the list itself for a few months. I’m happy to show off my progress.

Short-term goals

Close one checking account (from previous school, unused)

Invest the money from that account Invested for the first time

Do FAFSA

Post about ING (link)

Organize statements Well, they’re not perfectly organized the way I want them, but it’s an improvement.

Looks like that list is finished! Wow, what a great feeling! Of course, there’s more I want to do to get organized, especially now that I have a paycheck coming in. I’ve been tinkering with MS Money, and it’s mostly set up. My budget needs some tweaking yet.

Frugal frustrations: packing tape again

Back in June I complained about my frugal failure with store-brand packing tape.  The tape had left sticky residue all over my nonporous, painted metal filing cabinet.

I’ve got another complaint.  I had to mail some books requested from me through PaperBackSwap.  I used the infamous aforementioned tape since I still had some left.  While the sticky was fine for my mailing purposes, the cutting of the tape was not.  The blade was so resistant to cutting the tape that the plastic tape holder began to bend as I tried to rip my piece of tape.  It was quite a struggle to wrap up my books since I had to use several pieces of tape.  No more will I buy this tape.

I’m all for using store or generic brands.  But if I give them a try and they fail to match up to my needs, I’m going to use the national brand.

What I have learned about couponing, pt. 3

Previous posts in this series:

Part 1
Part 2

I hope some of the revelations I’ve had about making coupons more effective have been helpful to you! I may not be very active in couponing these days, but I can still pass on what I’ve learned.

1. You don’t have to buy the number specified on a “# for $X” deal. My grocery store frequently frequently advertises its “10 for $10″ deal. I know that I used to think you had to buy that number of items to get the price. Not too long ago, I was shopping with my BF and he too thought that you had to buy 10 to get the $1/item price. The good news is that in most cases, you don’t have to buy that many. Seriously. If I wanted to buy one, I’d get it for a dollar. If I had a $1/off coupon for that item…yes, that’s right, I’d get it for FREE! (my favorite!!) This also applies for 2 for $5, 3 for $4, or whatever the deal may be. Now, for the disclaimer: Sometimes the fine print does say that you have to buy the number specified to get the price, but that will vary from store to store. Just ask if you’re not sure! As I said, at my grocery store, you’re free to buy whatever number you want and can still get the deal.
2. You can use 2 coupons on BOGO free deals. Say what? Let’s say a pharmacy (like CVS or Walgreens) is having a buy-one-get-one-free sale on toilet paper. The tp is $5.99 a pack, and this week, it’s BOGO free. Obviously, you can get two packs of the tp for $5.99 total. Furthermore, let’s say you have two coupons for this brand and type of tp. The coupon is for $2 off one pack. Now, this is the part that blew my mind when I initially learned of its magical existence: you can use both of your $2-off-one coupons, even though one item is priced “free”. You would then get two packs for $1.99 (after taking $2 off two packs). It really gets exciting when you have two coupons that, when added together, equal the cost of the item. That is, if you bought the aforementioned tp and used two $3-off-one coupons, you could get two packs for FREE!
3. Rebates can work! Let me background this one: When I was growing up, I would read all the signs in the stores as my mom shopped. Sometimes, at office supply stores, I’d see a sign saying you could get an item for FREE. When I pointed it out to my mom, though, she said that it wasn’t free; you had to pay for it and then send in a form to get your money back, which didn’t always work. This lead me to believe that rebate offers were untrustworthy and should be ignored. Once I began couponing and researching about it, I noticed everyone talking about rebates. Apparently, they can work! Now, my personal experience with them is too detailed to outline here, but I can say that the Walgreens EasySaver program is reliable and can be worth a look. Overall, my experience with rebates in general has been excellent–so far. I know that occasionally you can get burned, but if you’re buying something you need anyways, it’s not as much of a risk. How do coupons factor in here? Well, at Walgreens, if you use a manufacturer’s coupon, you still get the full amount of the rebate. That is, if Walgreens is offering a $5 rebate on $5 aspirin and you have a $2-off coupon for that aspirin, you can still get $5 back from Walgreens, thus actually making money from the rebate.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my series on couponing. If you don’t use coupons now, the good news is that you don’t have to throw yourself into it to make these tips work. If you’re already getting the Sunday paper and you want to try these tips, pull out the grocery/drugstore ads and the coupon inserts, and see if anything you already buy is on sale. Or, do as I do, and save time: check out the many blogs run by those hardcore couponers who share weekly deals and exactly how to make them work. Without them, I’d still have the same misconceptions about the usefulness of coupons.

Why I opened a savings account with ING Direct internet banking

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while. A few months ago, I signed up for an Orange Savings account through ING Direct. It is an internet-only bank account with a (relatively) high interest rate, especially given the fact that there’s no minimum balance. Read more about ING here.

I’ve closed my previous savings account because the interest rate wasn’t worth peanuts, and you had to maintain a minimum balance that was too high for me at that small of an interest rate. These problems are not an issue with ING Direct.  It’s exciting to see my balance actually accumulate interest (and more than a few pennies at a time, as in my previous savings account)!

If you’d like to try ING Direct’s Orange Savings account or their Electric Orange checking account, click on any of the links below under the appropriate heading. If there’s no active link, contact me and I’ll put some more up. You will get $25 free if you open an account with $250 or more and I will get $10 for the referral. If you do choose to open an account, I thank you in advance for using my referral links (and for reading my blog! ).

Anyone who has experience with any of ING’s services is welcome to comment!

Orange Savings

Link 1

Link 2

Electric Orange (checking)

Link 1

Link 2

Budget remix

This summer, some of my goals were to organize my accounts and to create a new budget for myself. Since I changed households, I’ve had to make some major adjustments to my routine. I no longer am in charge of the household shopping, but I also no longer have to pay rent (for now). Clearly, this calls for a budget revamping.

Another change is my paycheck. Last year, I was getting a monthly check from my department for my graduate assistantship. This year, I won’t have an assistantship, but I do have a part-time job, on a 2-week pay cycle. However, last year, my rent ate up ALL of my paycheck, and I paid the rest of my expenses from loans. Now, thankfully, I am able to put some money away to grow an emergency fund.

I’m still figuring out the details, like what percentage I want to put into savings, what percentage I can donate, and how much I should have in my emergency fund. The uncertainty about what to do does hold me back a little, but at the same time, self-education and knowing I’m trying to do the financially smart thing keep me going!

What I have learned about couponing, pt. 2

As I mentioned before, couponing may at first seem impractical, but do some research and you will soon find that it can save you money and doesn’t have to be complicated.

However, my main point here during this post series is to share with you some simple realizations I had about coupons as I learned more about how to maximize their effectiveness.

1. You can combine coupons with store sales. I’m sure this is obvious even to non-couponers, but it’s an important point to remember when trying to get the most for your money.
2. You can use coupons on clearance items. The tricky part about this one is finding something that is on clearance that still has a non-expired coupon. This is because many items on clearance are not the newest products in-store (e.g. holiday candy), and coupons tend to be for either new items (Save $1 when you try our new, improved breath mint!) or “old reliables” (Cheerios). (Speaking of holiday candy, although it almost always goes on clearance after the holiday is over, the coupons are almost sure to expire on the day of the holiday.)
3. Catalinas (the coupons that print out of the machine by the receipt machine) with a store’s logo on them do not have to be used at that store. However, the Catalina (or other coupon featuring a store logo) must say “Manufacturer’s Coupon” at the top. To contrast, Target coupons are often found in the Sunday inserts, and they feature the Target logo. Since these say “Store Coupon” at the top, they are not eligible anywhere but at Target. But they can be used for #4:
4. Store coupons can be combined with manufacturer’s coupons. Some stores such as Walgreens and Target issue store coupons which can be collected from various sources. (Walgreens’ coupons are found in the weekly ad and in the EasySaver booklets; Target coupons can be printed online and found in the Sunday inserts.) This means that if Walgreens includes a coupon for $0.99 lip balm in their weekly ad and you have a $1 off coupon for that same lip balm, you can get it for free!

I’m sure this information is obvious to many people, whether serious couponers or not. Not all of it was obvious to me, though, so I thought sharing it with readers just might help someone out there. I didn’t know about #3 until recently. And #4 and #1 can be combined (store sale + store coupon + manufacturer’s coupon) to get things for very cheap or free.

Stay tuned for the rest of my list in an upcoming post!

Mailbag excitement

Part of the reason I look forward to getting my mail each day is the possibility of receiving some of the freebies I’ve requested. As for this week, not only did I get some toiletries I’ll end up using, but I got something I have been keeping an eye out for: a pedometer.

I’ve been needing a pedometer since I’ve started exercising more, but now I have one for free from the Tylenol Arthritis Keep Moving offer. It also came with an exercise DVD. Request yours here. The tampons, pad and pantyliner were part of the Kotex sample pack which you can request here. A $1 off coupon was also included, plus an invitation to take a survey. The survey gives you another coupon to print out when you’ve completed it! The little blue bottle is an Old Spice Body Wash sample from Walmart, with a $1 off coupon. Finally, I got a bilingual Pond’s sample and coupon. An impressive haul, especially when I get something I’ve been needing!

Recently, even when the mail carrier brings me bills and unwanted advertisements, I can usually count on receiving a sample, coupon, or the latest issue from one of my free magazine subscriptions.

What I have learned about couponing, pt. 1

When I first started couponing, I wondered, “How practical can clipping coupons be?” I already knew that it didn’t make sense to buy something simply because you had a coupon for it. That’s what the ads want you to do. “Try it out, it’s ok, you have our coupon, so it’s cheaper!” Also, buying a newspaper and printing internet coupons seemed like an impractical (and possibly money-wasting) way to acquire a slip of paper that could save me a measly 40¢ the one time in two months that I’d buy peanut butter, for example. And that was only if I remembered to bring the coupon to the store and actually hand it over at checkout.

After reading much on the subject (see my blogroll for recommended reading!), I realized that it was possible to make couponing a worthwhile activity that actually saves money. The biggest thrill (as I’m sure many couponers will agree) was that you could get things for FREE! (and fairly often at that, especially from CVS!)

Recently, I sat down with a pen and paper and outlined exactly what it was that changed my mind about couponing. As I began following the recommendations and shopping scenarios posted by others, I learned several ways that couponing is actually simpler than you may think! Over the next few days, I will share these realizations with you, hopefully so that you can make couponing work for you.

Free subscription to Pink

Freebizmag.com is offering a free subscription to Pink, thanks to Fandango.  (Since this site is one of those free business magazines sites, you’ll have to fill out a mini-survey about what job industry you work in, but it’s pretty painless.)

If you’ve never heard of Pink before, it’s a magazine for women and careers. Browsing around the magazine’s site shows that Pink promises not only advice for success in the workplace but also financial advice. Should be a useful read for any woman looking to take more control of their professional image or finances.

I’ll be looking forward to reading it for the first time, but if you’ve browsed through this mag before, leave a comment to let me know what you think. Enjoy!