Happy Friday all! Here is to another wonderful and frugal week. I have been trying for while now to meet some money goals and I had to admit to myself that I was really half assing it. I think though that I have made a turn around in the past few months and I am now gazelle intense…as Dave Ramsey would say.
Sadly and also happily even though my income and savings is way up I have a trip to Vegas on the horizon for my 20th anniversary and I know I will be spending lots of money. The trip has been set for while and is mostly paid for. The only thing we haven’t already paid for is entertainment and food. Oh and renting a car for a day or two to drive to my hometown of Phoenix to see friends. I am determined that all the extra money I have earned or saved will not ALL go to vacation fun. Fingers crossed we can find ways to do vegas on the cheap so I can come home and get cranking on my goals.
To that end we start my frugal wins this week with vacations wins…
- We managed to wrangle airfare for 2 to Vegas from Columbus (non-stop) for about $400 with taxes and extras. We chose a budget airline and a not so favorable arrival and departure times but all other flights were about $150 more at least. Also opened an airline credit card for the flights and these points plus the promo points will translate into 1-2 free flights to Florida next year.
- Scored free dinner for our first night in Vegas and half price buffet meals at our resort for the whole week. We called the resort to book tickets to their Sunday luau at $50 per person. They comped the tickets in exchange for going on a resort tour and listening to their pitch for timeshares. We also get a half price couples massage in their spa (which we had planned to pay full price for) and we get half price at their restaurant buffet the whole week. Spending two hours letting them “try” and sell us a timeshare shaves about $300-400 minimum off our planned expenditures.
- I started shopping and delivering groceries locally with Shipt!! Extra income! I have earned over $250 in two weeks time and I have had fun doing it. I love grocery shopping so doing it for others is a no brainer, plus there are tips.
- Been finding amazing deals and coupons too. I now grocery shop online too avoid spending extra money and use digital coupons. Also teaching my husband how to find deals including computer and gaming deals on Amazon prime day.
- I have been making lots more money with my part time reselling business as well. I mostly look for books at Goodwill that I can resell on Amazon and I have been fortunate. I am making about $5-8 profit per book but I have sold three books this month with a $30 profit. And again, it is something I already love and do. Now spending time at the thrift store is a business pursuit as well as a fun one. Oh and much of my shopping is done “at the bins” or the Goodwill Outlet where all the unsold stuff from surrounding stores go before it ultimately gets thrown out. So…saving resources too.
- I am also dabbling in reselling clothes and other small items either on ebay or through the Facebook marketplace. My biggest success this month was a pair of nursing shoes for $5 at the Salvation Army that I sold for $40 profit on Poshmark.
I really don’t know why it took me so long to get fired up but I am now and I am hoping I don’t lose momentum when we go on vacation!
