Christmas is done, y’all! I’m so pleased to announce I’m done with all my shopping! Tim & I decided not to exchange gifts this year because we’re doing the big gift of going to Disney over Christmas. Through deals we’ve been posting on the blog and a nifty free app on my phone to help me track what I’ve bought and what I’ve spent, I’ve managed to knock out all the gifts with months to spare. I’ll be real with y’all. I’ll probably buy Miss Bongo more stuff. Especially with the deals we’ll see on Black Friday- but I can always hold some of it for her birthday. My goal is to be reasonable, while still accept that something may pop up that she “needs”.
I’ve been killing it with secret shopping lately. My favorite shops are the product trials. I get to buy something new, give it a shot and I get reimbursed AND paid to eat it! That’s a double dip, because the free products help stretch my grocery budget that much farther. Sometimes the things I buy aren’t something I’d get again, but hey, at least then I know we don’t like them and I didn’t spend anything out of pocket!
We’ve been doing a fantastic job eating in. Our grocery budget has actually dropped lately, despite the fact we’re eating in almost exclusively. While the pantry has had a good clean out, apparently I had way more meat frozen than I realized! Other than the occasional steak when my grocery store runs a super deal, I haven’t purchased meat in roughly forever, which allows us to save on our grocery budget line. Our dining out budget has dropped drastically. I really am losing the desire to eat out. That’ll be blown to shreds during our Christmas trip when we will eat out exclusively, but hey. Right now the budget is loving it.
2020 West Coast Trip Goal: $5000
September 30th- October 6th
$58.50 Secret Shopping
$25- Swagbucks * Amazon
$20- Dabbl
$5- Bing *Amazon
$5.14- Misc
$0.04- Found on the ground
*Amazon GCs go to buy gifts or pay for household items, freeing up budget money
Total earned this week: $113.68
Fund Total from last post: $1978.36
Current Fund Total: $2092.04
Only $2907.96 to go!
Woo hoo, breaking through another $1000 mark!
Couponing To Somewhere Week 19: I have Hope
Who do you secret shop with?