Budget Archives - Page 156 of 158 - Making Sense Of Cents

Would you Couch Surf?

Last Updated: July 13, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 10 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

People will do many things to save money while on vacation. Not eating out, getting an inexpensive hotel, not flying too far away and so on. Vacations can be expensive and something I heard of a couple of months ago was called couch surfing. I heard about it on the radio and the morning talk show host was trying to convince his intern not to do this and then many people called in and called her crazy also.

The website for this is CouchSurfing.

The website touts that this is very safe, and just like with Ebay, couch surfing hosts are verified and rated by others who have used their couches. This can be a very easy way to save money. Also, it’s not always a couch that you get, most people have extra rooms or beds for you to use.

I on the other hand have a hard time trusting someone. I don’t like the thought of leaving my stuff at someone’s house while I am sightseeing.

What do you think? What would you do to save money? Would you sleep on someone else’s couch/floor/room without knowing them? Would it be more about the experience of meeting new people who are locals or about saving money?

Quick Update on Finances/Life

Last Updated: October 16, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 7 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I figured I would do a quick update on my life and finances in order to tie it in with my past posts and help me stay on track.

As you remember from before from this post on how I plan on increasing my income, the BF asked for more hours right after I posted that. Now he completely switched shifts (just as of Monday) after asking for over 2 months so that he could get more hours.

Now he gets a couple more hours a week which will add around $100 to $200 a month (this is on top of the other additional hours), so around $500 a month altogether
And when Christmas comes closer, in November and December he will be bringing in around $1,000 to $1,500 extra each month for those two months due to overtime.

Now that school has started back up, I have found it nearly impossible for me to go to all of the secret shops that I had scheduled. I was frantically trying to get to them all so now I’m just trying to do the shops which are located within 5 miles of my house or work. This will cut my income down from this to around $100-125 a month. Here’s a post with the picture of the check that I received recently for one week.

Our friend also said that they will be moving in with us in September or early October. That’s $300-$400 (haven’t really discussed the exact amount but she knows how much we charged the last person).

And I’m still using Swagbucks of course because it’s too easy. Me and the BF decided we would use this for Christmas for the kids.

So all in all, we will definitely be able to reach our goal of an extra $1,000 a month, and that is without me trying to find a part-time job. I will definitely still be trying to find one, I might just give it more time though.

Also, I’ve been trying to plan my meals out for the week. These pictures look delish and I will make chicken with salsa tonight and chicken Parmesan tomorrow!

Any tips, advice, suggestions on anything? Post any updates in your life also!

An Extra $20,000

Last Updated: April 7, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 11 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

What would you do with an extra $20,000?

I recently read this article which said:

“CNN recently created a video in which they asked New York residents in Central Park a simple question “How would you spend an extra $20,000?”

What can you do with $20,000?

You could buy a Mini Cooper
You can invest it for 30 years and turn it into $265,353 at a 9% rate of return…
You can buy 40,000 donuts which is enough to last you 109 years (without inflation and the cost of your heart surgery).
You can stay at the Burj Al Arab for 3 nights
You can live in Thailand for two years
You could feed 80,000 children in Africa for a day or 220 for about a year.”

Would you buy a car, use it as a down payment on a house, pay off loans, splurge on something, or what?

Would you donate to the government?

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 9 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Ever since Warren Buffet announced that he thought the government should impose higher taxes on the rich, many people are questioning whether or not HE should just write a check to the government and consider it a donation. The original article is here.

This then led to the debate on whether ordinary citizens should donate to the government. I myself believe that I would not donate to the government. I feel that I donate enough and I do not receive a quality return for my taxes. The article also stated that the U.S. receives about $3 million in donations.

Would you donate to the U.S. to help out?

Daily Deal Websites

Last Updated: July 13, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Do you use any daily deal websites? Such as Groupon, LivingSocial, BuyWithMe, and so on?

Are you addicted? I only buy it if I know that it’s close and that I’ll actually use it. However, my mother buys ANYTHING! She recently gave me a big stack that were about to expire and told me to start using them. While this is nice that I get to use all of them, she is insane! You are not actually saving any money, if you wouldn’t have gone to the place in the first place.

Here are some tips so that you aren’t wasting money:

Make sure that it is something that you will use.
Figure out what the WHOLE cost will be. So if you buy a hair certificate, how much will tip be afterwards? You should be tipping on the FULL amount.
If you’re traveling, maybe look into deals in that city, but if you have any doubt that you won’t use it, then don’t buy it.
Verify that the value that you are saving is actually “saved.” My Groupon deal one day that I saw was for a photography session. The session was one hour long, at the studio, and with a not-so-great photography company. Groupon stated the value of this was $1,495! This is obviously over inflated.

Are you addicted to any daily deal sites? Which ones do you like? Have you made any mistakes with the daily deal sites?

Spending Recap

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 5 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Since I got back from my vacation, this is what I’ve spent:

Beer: $13.71 (August 20)
Groceries: $37.28 (on August 21)
Gas: $38.45 for me and $37.69 for him (August 21)
Lion’s Choice: $3.30 (August 21)
Parking Pass for classes: $162.00 (August 22)
Walgreens School supplies: $5.14 (August 22)
Gas bill: $30.34 (August 22)
Sewer bill: $60.45 (August 22)
McDonalds: $3.34 (August 22)
Amazon textbooks: $138.47, $85.67 and $60.99 (August 23)
Arby’s: $3.29
McDonalds: $2.17 (August 25)

How has your spending been so far this week? This has been an expensive week for me. A lot of these were unavoidable though. I wish I could do no-spend days. I need to get my BF on board also….

Fashion on a Budget

Last Updated: July 13, 2017 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

As many of you know, I love clothes. I have been following a great website for quite some time. J’s Everyday Fashion is wonderful! Here is a quote from her website.

“J’s Everyday Fashion is not a personal style blog. You can think of it as a how-to fashion magazine with a personal twist – J uses items from her own closet to illustrate different styling tips or try out new trends to see if they work for the everyday woman! At its core, J’s Everyday Fashion was created to inspire women to have fun with fashion and to address the serious lack of practical style advice in America. Most people can’t afford a personal stylist, and fashion magazines and blogs are full of fantasy fashion that is too expensive and not obtainable for 99% of women.

How to make your budget stretch, with shopping and budgeting tips.

How to use what you already have, with styling features such as the same item worn 10 different ways.

How to achieve the looks you see on celebrities, with outfit posts that show the transformation from inspiration photo to real life.

How to find your own personal style, with outfit posts covering a range of styles, age groups and occasions.”

She always has great ways to transform clothing items and how to wear them differently.

I also love Really Petite. I am not considered “really petite”. I am 5’3″ and I have size 7 shoes, so I am probably considered humongous to the girls on that site, since most of them are under 5’0″ and have size 4-5 feet! I do love the site though because she puts great work outfits together, and these outfits help me when I’m out at the store looking for clothes.

Note: I was not paid to write this post, I just wanted to share my love of these two sites with you guys.

What are your favorite fashion blogs? How do you shop on a budget?