Easy college savings

Probably most of you have come across this already, but I have a very frugal friend I was chatting with the other day who had never heard of this, so figured I'd share it, just in case...

Upromise.com is a program that helps you to save money for college by giving you rewards for buying certain products or from certain merchants. You link your shopping cards (like your CVS Rewards card) and/or credit cards to your account with them, and they credit your account for you when you buy the listed stuff. Now I've been doing this for a few years, and I haven't made millions, but I have made a little money for each child by doing absolutely nothing. I don't take the time to research what products they give money for, and I don't buy through their site (for which you do get extra rewards), but I just let the program keep track of me and put the nickels and dimes into my accounts.

Oh, you can also invite family members or friends to link to your kids' accounts (think grandma :)) to have the funds add up even quicker.

Additionally, you can set up a 529 Educational Savings Account for your child with the money you get from this program, through them, which has some great tax advantages.

Truly, a program worth the few minutes of set up time. Check it out :)

Spending Plan?

"The Need for a Spending Plan

If you were going to build a house, you would need a house plan. This plan would tell you the size of the house, and how big each room would be. It would tell you where the windows would go and how high to make the ceilings. You would see where to put in the plumbing for the bathrooms and kitchen. Obviously, you wouldn't be able to know all of these things without the house plan.

Obviously, plans are necessary in order to reach a goal. When a person decides to run for a public office, he or she makes out a plan that includes where to get the necessary financing and how much will be needed for advertising, marketing, and other office expenses. Teachers must have a plan for what they will teach each day, each week, and each month. They are required to plan out when to give tests and to measure their students' progress throughout the year.

In the Bible, whenever God was instructing His people to do something, He always gave them a detailed plan, i.e., building the tabernacle, the ark, or the temple. God gave detailed laws that the Israelites were to follow while living in the Promised Land. The Bible is full of examples of the importance of planning.

Proverbs 21:5 tells us that, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty.” Luke 14:28-30 says, “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'”

If plans are so important, why do so many of us think we can manage our finances without one? In a recent survey of Crown.org visitors, we asked how many used a plan for managing their finances. Less than half of the respondents reported using a spending plan.Many people hear the word “budget” and respond negatively. They think of a budget as being restrictive, too limiting, and too legalistic. Yet, in truth, a budget can be very freeing; it can bring peace and break the bonds of being a slave to our money.

A budget is simply a plan – a plan for how to spend the money we have. As Christians, we recognize that everything we have is a gift from God. We are not the owners; we are simply the managers of what He has entrusted to us. Knowing this fact should give us a better perspective on how we handle money. A budget is a great way to make sure we are handling money in the best way.

Without a spending plan, it is impossible to know where your money goes each month and whether you will have available funds for the things you need. The “not knowing” can create feelings of anxiety and fear. Financial problems can cause stress in marriages and other relationships.

When you create a spending plan, you can have the peace of mind in knowing that your bills can be paid, you have funds available for emergencies, and you know what you can spend for the things you need and want.

The Lord blesses us with resources (or money) so that we can use it wisely to fulfill His purposes in our lives and further His kingdom. Without a plan for how to manage our finances, we may never reach our goals and experience true financial freedom.

To learn more about starting a Spending Plan, click here. "

From Crown Financial Ministries.... They just have amazing resources for helping you to get not only your money in order, but how you think about money, in order too. Good stuff!

Coupon let down

Well, bad gamble on the papers - only one coupon bundle this week, and no super exciting deals at CVS or Price Chopper. I did grab some CVS diapers - marked down to $6 for the jumbo packs, and then $5 extra bucks back when you spend $15. So, that was good, but not exciting. Oh well. Thankfully we have enough in the "pantry" to make do for the week, and actually have some veggies from the garden, so just milk and bread to buy. No problems...

Dollar Tree papers

Well, I splurged and grabbed two of the local newspapers today at the Dollar Tree. I figure they normally would cost $2 anywhere else, so I'm still okay. I'm hoping that they are coupon rich, because I am dollar stretched this week. As soon as I'm done doing a little work online I'll be spreading out the sales flyers and trying to match coupons with sales. CVS and Price Chopper are usually pretty good with that. Here's hoping :).

Money for Kids' Reading

Very cool program being run by TDBanknorth, in our town anyway. When kids read 10 books this summer, TDBanknorth will deposit $10 into a savings account for them! I'm excited about this one. Our daughters' saving accounts are growing much slower than I'd like, and this is a fun jumpstart, plus a great incentive for them to stay away from the tv and into a book.

Free stuff

I found a great website that has all sorts of free stuff offers. You know me and free - whoo hoo!!

Free Stuff

Our Garden

We're doing a smallish garden again this year for a few reasons: teaching our kiddos about gardening and the science of it, trying to instill a love of nature and how God put it all together, and trying to save some money and eat some healthy produce. We were all excited today to be able to pick our first veggie - a small tomato, but a harvest nonetheless :).

Teaching kids about money

My husband and I have walked a hard financial journey. We bottomed out a few years back, and took some to recover financially. We still don't have strong savings, and with the one real breadwinner piece, it's hard to really get ahead. I wish that when we were both working part time we had done better at planning for our financial futures.

I want my girls to make wiser financial choices in their futures, and I know, like anything else, training will be easier when they are younger. We've done some training. They get $1 a week in a "paycheck" for completing their assigned chores, plus the possibility of a little extra for extras sometimes. When they get paid, they have envelopes to put 10% in savings and 10% for tithe. We talk about money stuff, in a good way, around them.

I am excited that in our homeschool co-op in the fall, a few of the moms will be presenting a class for the kids up over 3rd grade on money management. It's something I think I'd like to sit in on. Never too late to learn....

Tag Sale

Today we hit a great little tag sale at a church fundraiser - all the kids' toys and such were ten cents. The kids had a blast filling up bags and I looked like a hero for $2.50. My kind of sale :)

A Full Cup

Hey there - just wanted to share a website that I mentioned in passing previously, but hadn't elaborated on.. www.afullcup.com . It's a community of sorts of folks who really like to save money, and it has lots of coupons and other links on it to help us to do so. Really helpful stuff, even though the Target coupons are currently not usable (problem at Target regarding other counterfeit coupons, not this site). Lots of good stuff :)

Frustrated at Target

I was all excited this morning, because I had a great deal lined up at Target for Pamper's diapers and wipes, using manufacturer's coupons and Target's web coupons, on top of a sale. I found out about it on http://www.moneysavingmom.com/, which linked me to http://www.afullcup.com/ , where I printed the coupons. Anyway, I got there and at the checkout found out that they are not accepting any of their web coupons anymore, because of some counterfeit ones that are circulating around. Stinky!!! I would have gotten two packs of diapers, good ones, and two packs of wipes for next to nothing! One cheater spoils it for the rest of us!

See New York without spending lots

I was reading a magazine the other day and they mentioned a program I remember hearing about a long time ago, but it had slipped into the dusty corners of my mind... The Empire Passport Discount Program. When you purchase this season pass you can get unlimited day use vehicle entry into most all of the NY State parks, rec facilities, DEC preserves, boat launches, arboretums, and park preserves. It's $59 for unlimited use - each time a carful. I believe AAA members can get discounts on top of that too. A cool way to see lots without spending lots.

Snowball Effect

I was just browsing along online, and found Dave Ramsey's website. I'm sure many of you have already visited there (http://www.daveramsey.com/), but it's chock full of helpful money tidbits and tools. He mentions in specific a debt management tool called the debt snowball effect (I've linked the article here: http://www.daveramsey.com/the_truth_about/debt_reduction_3606.html.cfm ) that basically teaches you to pay your smallest debt back first, so you can build momentum and be encouraged. This is a little different than what I've always heard about paying highest interest first, but psychologically, it makes sense. Anyway, check it out. Some good food for thought!

CVS

Checking out the Money Saving Mom website again and see that CVS has some very happy July extra bucks things going, plus some great weekly specials. Can I fit that into my crazy post vacation to do list??