BrokeFamily.com

Useful Reward Programs I Love

Robin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:13:00 +0000

When it comes to spending time and money I don’t have a lot of either. For a rewards program to stick out to me there has to be immediate benefits to my joining. Here are three programs that I have been involved with for a while now and have seen the benefits.

Starbucks.com I know your saying…BrokeMom why are you spending your money at Starbucks. Well I enjoy coffee and it is the one little thing that I do for myself. How the program works is you put money on a gift card at the store and register the card on their website. I load $5 a week on the card which allows me to get of my favorite coffees. Once you buy 5 coffees through the card you receive free upgrades including free syrup. My favorite coffee in case anyone wants to buy me one is a Grande Iced Coffee with Vanilla Syrup and Skim Milk. Before I joined the rewards program this would cost me $2.97 but now that I have joined I get the syrup for free a .40 cent savings every time I go. After I buy 30 coffees I will start to not only receive free syrup but I will get a free coffee after buying 15!
Huggies rewards program enjoytheriderewards.com anyone who buys diapers can participate in this program. When you buy packages of Huggies products there are codes inside. When you enter them they tell you how many points you win plus there is a tool bar where it shows what you have accumulated. Right now I have 187 points and I am aiming towards a pack of diapers for 300 points.
Earth Fare Every Wednesday you receive in your inbox a free coupon for something. Last week it was for a box of granola and a pound of Organic coffee, a $13.99 value for free. They are always offering something one week it was a box of blueberry’s another it was all the fixin’s for pizza. They don’t abuse your email address either I only receive the one email a week or as long as you live close they are really worth the trip. It’s great to get quality products for a low or free prices, makes me feel like a good mommy.

Here are the three big ones that I participate in. If you find more let me know I always enjoy getting free stuff or at least a big discount. I will post more as I find them(as long as they are worth it).

Sunday Couponing Adventures

Robin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:50:00 +0000

Sunday was a fun day couponing! I went to four stores Earth Fare, Publix, CVS and Rite Aid. Here are pictures of my hunting…

Total Cash spent: $51.55

Total Saved: $83.47

What have I got to show for it:

$20 rite aid gift card

$16 Single Check Rebates

$25.98 Extra Care Bucks

$50 towards $100 coupon book

$61.98 a total of $10.43 Profit and coupon book

Couponing vs. Part Time Job

Robin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:47:01 +0000

Recently BrokeDad and I discussed one of us getting a part time job. While we hate to be away from family time, it might be necessary to get ahead. We both already work long hours at our primary job and were having a hard time cutting out extra time for a part time job.

I started thinking about how much time I spend couponing and the savings that I incur. I feel that if either of us were to work outside of the home extra I would have little time to put into couponing. Here is a little formula I worked out to decide if we needed to get part time work just yet.

I will be using our savings from the month of February as an example. For lack of math skills sake we are going to input the salary at $10/hr before tax.

Our savings for the month of February was $562.44. I average 1 hr Wednesday night preparing my list and organizing coupons. 1 hr on Saturday’s shopping at grocery stores (because of my list it takes me minimal time to run through the store) 1.5 hours on Saturday night preparing for Drugstore couponing. 2 hours Sunday morning shopping at drugstores. My total hours spent couponing per week is around 5.5. A total of 22 hours per month.

562.44/22= $25.56 For my effort of 22 hours worth of work I saved $25.56 per hour.

Say I got a part time job working a total of 22 hours a month. I would earn before taxes $220.00.

By couponing the same amount of time I am saving twice as much as I would earn plus I can be at home nights and weekends when time with BrokeBaby matters most.

How long does it take to create a habit?

Robin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:06:08 +0000

I know resolution time was in January but there are a few things I would personally like to work on for our family and myself. Apparently it takes 21 days to create a new habit that has some chance of sticking.

Here is my list of things I am going to commit to doing everyday for the next 21 days:

Some form of exercise – I have many resources at my disposal. Jazzercise, walking at lunch, walking after dinner, wii fit and wii active. Even if it is just 15 minutes, I need to start moving.
Sorting Mail – We have a problem of putting it in random places throughout the house and when I find it we have either missed a bill or find an expired coupon that we could have used. My goal is when I pick it up from the mailbox to immediately find a home. Whether it’s a coupon that needs to be filed or a bill that needs to be entered into online banking.
Have lunches and coffee made the night before – This can be a huge headache in the morning and can lead to eating out which wastes money.

So there is my list. It looks relatively easy but this Mom has a lot going on. Hopefully after 21 days they will be ingrained in my brain.

BrokeFamily is Back!

Robin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:47:09 +0000

Sorry for the long absence but well Brokefamily has been a little busy.

It all started in December when I got H1N1 that turned into Bronchitis and then Pneumonia.

Luckily enough there were no hospital visits and Brokebaby did not get sick. It was brutal and I was out of work for two weeks. Luckily I did have some sick time but not enough. My workplace was patient with my recovery but I was still out 30 hours of unpaid leave right around the holidays.

It took us around 2 months to recover and we accrued some more credit card debt. Now we are refocused and healthy and ready to get back on track.

Our mission statement with this blog has always been to watch us achieve our personal American Dream and hopefully add to yours.

We have learned many steps along the way and secrets to making it in this economy. We hope that you enjoy the posts whether they are informative, interesting or just plain funny.

How a BrokeFamily combats the flu?

Robin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:16:52 +0000

Since the regular flu season is in full swing as well as this H1N1 Craziness we have researched the little things we can do to stay safe and healthy. Here are a couple of things we are doing:

· BrokeDad and I are sanitizing our hands in the car before we head into Daycare. I wash my hands before I leave work since all I do is play with money all day.

· Changing BrokeBaby’s clothes when he comes home.

· Limiting BrokeBaby to stores and restaurants, especially now that things are seeming to get worse.

· We are all getting our shots next Tuesday, it won’t ward off the H1N1 but it should help with the main flu virus.

· We are upping BrokeBaby’s fruit intake, oranges and kiwi’s have a high concentration of Vitamin C.

· Us adults of course are taking our Vitamin C supplement.

These are only little things but hopefully we will be able to ward off any major illnesses this season. We have to try our best because we are needed at work and don’t have a lot of sick time. Here’s to hoping everyone has a safe and healthy flu season and if you have any ideas on how we can ward off the flu please let us know.

Two Great deals to partake in this week.

Robin — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:57:35 +0000

Target has a great deal on Purina One Dog Food. Their 8 lb bags are on sale for $9.49. They have a store coupon for $2 off plus you can find a $3 off coupon in the 9/13 red plum insert. Using both of these coupons you can get Premium dog food for .50 cents a pound. Brokedog will be so pleased, she has put on a little bit of weight now that Brokebaby feeds her.

Second great deal is Huggies at Rite-Aid. If you buy three jumbo packs at $11 each you get a $10 single check rebate. Here is where the deal gets good and complicated. Go to riteaid.com and click on Video Values. Sign up for it and watch the huggies one so you can print $2 off Huggies. Print 3 of them. If you watch 20 videos you can print a $5 0ff $20 coupon. Also, go to coupons.com and print 3 of the huggies either $2 or $3 off coupons. In the end with all of the coupons and the rebate you will pay $1 per pack.

You Know You Are Tired When…

Robin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:58:16 +0000

5. You drive to Jazzercise at 5:30am and you are still yawning thirty minutes into the set. All of the other women are smiling and jumping around (I need to figure out what they are drinking)

4. When reading Dr. Seuss at 8pm you actually understand what he is saying?

3. You’re playing on the floor with BrokeBaby and he gives you a hard look, giggles and starts to run away. How he knows that he has a good 5 second head start I have no idea.

2. You answer a survey on baby website and it asks from 1-7 how “I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since before I was pregnant .” You think about calling tech support and asking if there can be a 10 added to make the question fair.

1. So it’s lunch time you look at your lunch bag. It’s empty; you brought your lunch bag with a bottle of vitamin’s in it! Yummy!

Kudos’s to Chick-fil-a!

Robin — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:48:08 +0000

We all know that you never get anything for free, really free that is.

Well yesterday we wore our favorite team shirts and got our Free Chicken Sandwich. Here is where Chick-fil-a topped all of the other freebie deals lately.

It was a full chicken sandwich, nice and warm and ready for us to devour. While we are grateful for other freebie offers some have been less than great.

Take Zaxby’s for example their free milkshake offer just a week ago. It was in the smallest cup we have ever seen, Broke Baby finished his before we got home! However we did find a use for the little plastic cups, Bath Toys!

Another example is KFC, they offered free chicken and couldn’t deliver, we had to wait two months for our coupons to come in. Yes we did go and get those free meals but if you promise something you need to deliver.

Thanks to Chick-fil-a we had a great labor day dinner for $3.46 (we had to buy waffle fries and a Dr. Pepper of course)

Make sure you stop by Moe’s tonight before 6pm. It’s $2 burrito night. While it’s not free it is still good eatin’.

Two Sites That Will Save You Time When Couponing.

Robin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:11:45 +0000

Here are two new to us web sites that have helped us save a lot of money the past few months.

http://www.iheartpublix.com

http://www.southernsavers.com

I like that on southernsavers.com you can see all of the drugstores plus grocery stores like krogers and bi-lo. They go through the weekly ad about a day before and tell you where the coupons are and also find printable ones. They do a really good job at matching up bogo’s with coupons to get the best possible deal.

iheartpublix.com is also a good one in that it goes through the ad a few days in advance. The author also discusses promotions that Publix is offering and the best possible scenarios.

When it comes to drugstores I have started leaning towards southernsavers.com to find the best deals. While they don’t get the ad as early as iheartcvs.com. Etc. They have tended to put a little more thought into the best money saving strategies. They have also listed several more coupons that they have found.