Image Map

Saturday, March 12, 2016

Tips for Saving Money!


 I know I may be a Hillbilly Princess, but when it comes to saving money, I am a Queen! I love to save money, and although it seems hard for so many people it comes so easy to me! It is possible to save money on any income, I personally bring home less than $300 a week! and I manage to save money like you would not believe.

I always tell my husband I could totally write a book, I am always budgeting my money and making a plan. Ive even had friends come and ask me about how to help them budget their money and save money. So I decided to write about what I know...MONEY!

Now of course money saving will be harder for a say a single parent with a bunch of kids to feed. Seeing as how I don't have kids (but 4 dogs count as kids right?, jk i know its totally nowhere near the same thing) But saving any little bit is better than not saving any. So even if you cant save as much, any little bit will help you wonders.



Loose Change is a great way to start your saving skills. Now you wont save a ton with loose change but any little bit is extra money! This is probably to me the easiest way to save money!! I always have a change stash somewhere. I keep a change jar at work on my desk. I do this because I wont be tempted to sit and count my change out at work. It keeps from me having access to it when I'm home and tempted to dig into it. I used a basic mason jar that I spray painted and decorated. 

 I know its hard to not spend change when you are at the store and your change is only 6 cents. I always just give a dollar bill, because I know that the change that I receive will be saved, so I know I'm contributing to my savings. However if you do not like the thought of giving a dollar for every 13 cents you owe, I have another EASY TIP!

EXTRA TIP:  The 50 Cent Rule!  No its not an actual thing (to my knowledge). Anyways I go by a simple 50 cent rule sometimes if I don't feel like giving up my few dollars for a measly few cents. I keep 50 cents in my wallet for such occasions. If my change total is less then 50 cents I use the 2 quarters, if it is more, I use a dollar and get extra change back to save. 






Fixing a budget is one of the most important Tips that I could stress! I budget my money so not only am I saving back what I need for bills, but I also budget out what I need to save into my savings. I am the kind of person I save more then I spend. I know that theory is hard for some people but that's how I do it. For example (and this is strictly an example and not real calculations) Let's say I make $300 a week. I budget my money where me and my husband both put bill money back from both of our checks. So after his part of the bill money hypothetically lets say I put $100 a week for bills. That leaves $200 left. I take $100 and put it back in savings. That leaves me $100 to live on for the week which is more then enough. I spend about $30-50 on groceries, because its just the two of us so we don't spend a ton. $10 a week on gas. That leaves about 40-60 left for me to live on for the week for any other necessities. As long as I try to find the best deals, that's more then enough for me. I'm not a big spender. Now for most people saving 1/3 of their check and keeping it seems crazy. But i refrain from any impulse buys and try to look at the bigger picture.




I always make a plan. Its easier to save when you have a plan. I have a set amount of money I take every week out of my check and put into savings. I only dip into it in cases of emergencies. But it is always great to have your eye on the prize! Pick something specific you are saving up for. If you can think of the end result and what you will get out of it in the end it makes it easier to save. You can imagine what you will soon have and it will help you stay dedicated. Whether it is saving for a house, a car, retirement, renovations, or whatever else. When you feel like you are about to spend instead of save, stop and think of the plan! Think of what it is your saving for and how much you spending will put you back. It also never hurts to imagine the big piles of cash you could have! (p.s. this is not my stash of cash; I WISH)



Just like with the loose change, another small difference you wont even notice is loose $1 bills! I have a container, a small metal tin, that is ideal for laying out dollar bills in. Every time I get a single 1 dollar bill, or even 3..I drop them in the tin. I keep it in a different room hidden so its not as easily accessible. Putting back dollar bills doesn't make or break you as much as saving large amounts because you wont miss that extra $2. Your savings will add up quick putting back one dollar bills here and there. If you are feeling extremely savvy you can try this with $5. Your savings will add up faster that way, however it is slightly harder to part with a 5 then it is a $1 bill.



My final tip is to hide your money. Not necessarily from other people (however that is also wise to do) but just from your easy accessibility. I leave my change at work for example. And I keep my savings put up out of my easy reach where I have to make an effort to get it. If you are as lazy as me it will make you think twice about borrowing out of it when you are on the verge of spending. If you choose to save in the bank my suggestion would be to go to a different bank, and don't get a debit card so you will have access to your savings. Then any time you want to dip into your savings you will have to get out and go all the way to a different bank and it makes it harder for you to dip into it. You can fix your check where a portion of it will automatically go into the other bank. So you wont have to worry about handling it before giving it up which makes the temptation even harder. 


So basically, Save all your loose change. Budget your money to save some also. Plan out what you are saving for and how you plan to reach your goal. Save back loose bills, whether it be whenever you get a loose 1 or a loose 5. And finally hide your money, not only from everyone else but also from yourself. These tips will bring you a step closer to being money savvy and a money saving Queen like myself!! 









Monday, January 5, 2015

New year; new projects!!!!

As a new year has been thrust upon us so has so many new ideas...yayyyy!!!! As for the last place we had a hold up so it will probably be a good long while. Many things have happened that would take nearly too long to explain but I just keep rolling with the punches. 
   I have received many emails with questions about where I've been and asking about my most popular post the candy bar wrapper template. The answer to your questions are sorry I've been super busy and stillllll don't have a computer cause I have these things called bills *no sarcasm intended* and as for the candy bar wrappers due to the crashing of my PC over a year ago I no longer have the templates. I'm sorry!! but you could always go back to my original post and save the picture of the template and edit right on top of it. I'd leave a link to make it easier to find but since I'm on an iPad I haven't figured out how to add links from here yet. 
     
      Hopefully I will be back on track soon. I recently done a few updates to the blog and hopefully will get the opportunity to do a few more and get into doing the things I enjoy like cooking, crafting, renovating, and just letting my creative side back out. For 2 years now I've been all work and no play but now I think it's time for some me time doing things I enjoy doing, blogging and crafting! So I hope to be back soon!! 

In the mean time, my inspirational quotes I'm loving for 2015! All about bettering yourself and your life!!

http://creatinganewmenow.tumblr.com/post/42275076224




http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/600x/9d/71/30/9d71302bf8a29c851bc53b425d287b3a.jpg




http://www.createandconnectproject.com/monday-inspiration/



New Year, New Projects! 

Monday, June 9, 2014

A new front door!!

Sooo this is a blog post from my phone. So it will not be detailed or extravagant in any way...as I type this my dog is laying on my lap chewing on basically anything he can get his paws on and the hubs is gone fishing, so this is a last minute spur of the moment post...on with it!!!

Knock, knock, knockin on heavens dooorrrrr!!! I just wanna sing when I think about my door!

 Introducing, my brand new front door!! I know compared to the nice door the rest of the house looks skank. Haha! This is my not so lovely mobile home. The door we had on it before had a busted out window, so basically anyone could reach their hand in and unlock the door (which if you know anything about mobile homes in the south, it's not a good thing) so before we went into depth working on the inside we wanted to be sure what we done was not going to be tampered with, so step one, a door! Got this one from lowes, it's just your cheap basic exterior door. Bout $126 plus tax. I am super excited about a door. It's one step closer to where we need to be. We also ripped all the walls off and tore out all the old insulation because it is an old mobile home it will need all new wiring and the insulation was horrid.

Gonna add a deadbolt later to the door. We used a basic house door to Make the small mobile home seem more like a house and because of that we had to cut out the frame wider to fit the larger house door. And by we I mean my husband and awesome handyman/stepdad. Hehe! 
They would kill me if they knew I took this pic lol....men at work, what I like to see! 

Why an ugly yellow trailer?...well dont worry, it won't be yellow-brown forever. We are thinking of maybe a vinyl siding in the future..but we will see when time comes and we get to it.

🏠
So I know it don't seem like much but we have done a few other things to it that I didn't record but I will try to keep track as we go along, I know this is boring..it's not a tutorial or anything but I was just so excited to have a door I just wanted to show it off and share my excitement! More to come soon guys!!! Stay tuned...

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Demolition Time!

       As many of you already know I have been blabbing on forever about the fixer upper I have and have yet to get started on it. (The husband and I are some serious hardcore procrastinators).  But we are going to get it done, hopefully all done and moved in by October if everything works out like we are hoping....

But today we decided since we both had a day off together on the same day *believe it or not* that we would go and work on it a little to try and get it started. So the husband started with demolition and the two of us took shovels and worked on the outdoor area to prepare it for some of the changes to come (which may or may not include building add-ons).

No, I did not take pics because let me warn you now, it is a big hot mess that would give you all strokes. I might take some and keep them to show after we complete the place, but as of right now its not worthy enough to show to ANYBODY. But as we impove it I will definitely give you guys updates as we go along (and pics)....its at its worst stage right now, so time to improve!! :)

Thanks guys for stickin with me, miss u guys and I promise to update as soon as we start really getting stuff done. Bye guys!



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...