Maintaining Normality

nor·mal·i·ty

nôrˈmalədē/

noun

noun: normalcy

1. the condition of being normal; the state of being usual, typical, or expected.
2. 
   

Saving all of our money has definitely not been easy.

It's actually been pretty difficult, because we are so used to living our life however we want- eating out 3-4 times per week, spending Friday nights out with friends (spending money), and spending my few days off going crazy and splurging hardcore.

We've been well-behaved, though.

Since we have started this saving money thing we have been eating out 0-1 times per week. We only do it because we need to maintain normality.

And when we do it eat out, we make sure it's either at my work (I get an employee discount, and the food is amazing) or we make sure we have a coupon (my birthday helped a lot with this).

P.S. This means no alcohol with dinner on these nights. Because it's a waste of money.

When we hangout with friends we are doing things that are FREE - movie night, game night, free events, etc.

And, lucky for us, we bought events really far in in advance- so we have some things that come up that seem free since we paid for them 6+ months ago.

For example, we spent our Friday night in Orlando seeing Orlando City Lions play their last friendly match before their season starts. We bought our season tickets about 8 months ago- so it seems completely free, not to mention this will take up most of Jordan's weekends until we leave for our trip. AND, we will be selling the tickets for the dates we are gone. It will seem like extra cash in our pocket!

My point is this, even when you are on a budget you need to maintain normality. 

It's no different than a "diet." If you focus too much on the things you can't have, instead of the things you can have- you're bound to fall off the bandwagon, and fall.

Even if I do have a day of weakness where I didn't plan well and need to buy my lunch out- I make a wise decision, and I try not to get discouraged.

Instead, I just make sure to somehow make up that few dollars through one of my nifty extra cash sites.

If you missed that post you can see it here (:

We need to continue living our normal lives, but making slight changes to better ourselves.

We have decided to continue budgeting tightly until my student loans are paid off, and we are at least 50% done paying off Jordan's car.

We now know that we CAN budget, and we CAN watch our spending, and even still be happy!

If you're in need of any saving tips please let me know. I have an entire excel sheet laid out through March (right before our trip) tracking all of our checks and balances so that I could estimate how much money we would save before the trip!

Xoxo,

     B <3

How to Make Extra Cash

I'm sure you've all been on Facebook before and noticed all of the sponsored posts by bloggers/authors advertising ways to make extra cash.

Well, as it turns out, some of them work really, really great!

Jordan and I have really been trying to earn as much extra cash as we can for our trip.

I've decided to pull a list together of how we've been earning extra cash.

And trust me when I say this -- IT IS EASY.

It definitely takes some time, though.

1. Ebay/OfferUp/Facebook Yard Sales.

We have gone through our closet, our spare rooms, and all of our extra stuff that we have lying around, and we have found so many items (new and used) that we will never use. We have been selling our own stuff that doesn't mean much. We usually donate (regularly) to a wonderful local thrift store. However, for this short period of time we have been selling our stuff that we don't need- and we've made about $200 off of the stuff! Not to mention we finally sold our wrecked motorcycle for $400. It's almost Spring time anyway, might as well clean out your closets and benefit a bit!

2. Cash Rewards.

This is an application that is definitely available for iPhones and Android Phones. I know this, because we have tried with both of the phone. This is probably my favorite way to earn cash! You literally spin a "cash wheel" which you get coins for. It is 100% FREE (my favorite), and you can either cash out using gift cards OR you can get cash for a percentage! Together, Jordan and I have already earned $26.42 as of today. However, if you decide for the cash option you can't pull the cash until you reach $50.00 which is really acceptable. We love this application! You can invite friends and earn extra cash if you have an Android phone. This application makes money on advertisements. Note: 600 coins = $1.00. So it definitely takes some serious time to earn the larger amounts of money- but it's super easy and takes little to zero effort. Easy, easy money! Click here to join me (: 

3. Swagbucks!

Jordan isn't really participating in this way of earning extra cash, but I am well on my way to earning some decent money. This site has an application which can be used on all devices I believe. You earn cash by watching videos, answering surveys, and shopping. Additionally, there is a daily poll which earns you a penny for each day that you answer a question. Hint: We play videos on our computer while it is muted in the background, while we do whatever we really want to do. This way we are earning the cash but not really being sucked into watching the videos- yet still earning money. So far I have made $17.38 using two different accounts (one is used much more frequently than the other). The only catch is that with you can only get giftcards, no actual cash. But hey, I'm good with that.

Interested in this? Here is the link: Click Here

4. Shopkick.

I know that a few of you received an invitation to join Shopkick from me. It probably looked like a scam- but really, it isn't. Using Shopkick you can get cash for walking into stores and scanning advertised items. Just for opening your application each day you will receive 1-3 Shopkick points! With Shopkick 500 points = $2.00 in rewards With this application, you again, have to use your points for gift cards- but that's okay, because we all need to visit Walmart at least occasionally. So far, Jordan and I together have 3,073 points ($12.29). Granted, we can't use this as frequently as the other applications since you need to be in the store. However, I still think it is definitely worth it!

Interested? Phone Application Only. Here is the link: Click Here

5. Applications.

Walmart has an application and you can use Savings Catcher to scan you receipt and get any cash back (I have earned $2.97). You use this cash back to receive a Walmart gift card- easy and free!
Target has Cartwheel, it's a place that offers coupons and deals for items in the store. You can't earn true cash from this, however, if you love Target, you need this application in your life! I'm sure there are many other applications and sites that are helpful. Feel free to share any extra knowledge with me- I'd love to continue checking out additional options. Besides, I am looking for extra ways to earn money. Especially if they can be done from home, or on a regular basis with good earning results.

Thank you all for reading- I hope this helps you. Let me know if you have any questions!

::Budgeting::

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

For those of you who know me on a personal level, this probably won't be too shocking to you. But to those of you know either don't know me at all, or know me from afar, you may be more surprised.

I'VE NEVER BEEN ON A BUDGET BEFORE.

Like never.

I began working when I was 14 and I spent the money to go a trip to Hawaii. By the time I was 17 my goal was to buy a car, so I just saved enough to get a car. But since then, I haven't needed to budget.

Which is totally great. And totally regrettable.

You should see my closet. I don't mean this in a bragging manner - I'm out of control.

Last year I threw away 60 pair of underwear that were older, etc. I still have an entire drawer full. I have literally never ran out, and probably wouldn't for months.

I own at least 40 pairs of shoes. I have 20+ pairs of jeans (I LIVE IN FLORIDA), and nearly 40 pairs of shorts. Not to mention the purses, ohhhhh the purses. 

It's completely out of control.

I've always felt that I should be able to buy what I want when I want, and that's always been that. And so, that's how I've lived. Don't worry, my hubby is guilty too.

Each year we spend all of our available time off of work in Ohio, visiting family for the holidays. We usually take a couple of weekend trips to the beach, but beyond that we don't really do real vacations. We live in "paradise" and haven't needed to buy anything crazy (other than household things like a recent hot water heater). 

But now, since we've decided to officially go on this trip we are budgeting. No, we really are.

The word still makes me feel uncomfortable. We've been doing this for about 40 days now.

And successfully so, I must say. 

However, I wish I could go back in time and start this from the beginning. Because, believe it or not, I'm really enjoying the organization behind the budgeting. I have set up a beautiful excel sheet that is extremely specific to our life, and I update it every single day. Not to mention, we would be able to go on many more adventures/trips.

Not to mention I have found so many easy ways of making extra cash to help save. 

No worries, I will be letting you all in on our secrets in my next post. I'll start calculating everything now to let you know exactly how much extra cash we have made in the past 40 days!

WINNER

A huge thank you to everyone who donated to our GoFundMe Campaign, or who purchased Scentsy from me.

We are appreciative from the bottom of our hearts!

Our campaign is still live- and we plan on keeping it up until the middle of March. 

Click here to be directed to that page.

Congratulations to Lauren Konopinski!

Again, thank you to everyone who participated in the event!