Sunday, March 29, 2009

Saved by Bizzuka!

Hey Ladies and Gents!!
Great news! Bizzuka, my web design company was able to keep my current blog, so I am not going anywhere! For all of my followers, you will not have to move after the site goes live TOMORROW!! I am so excited and nervous!! It's awesome. It has been a very tough few months, working to get it all together, but it is finally here! I cannot wait. I wonder if I will be able to sleep tonight! I hope that every one of you will be able to attend the Launch Party. It is going to be absolutely fabulous. There are going to be TONS of people there including The Chamber of Commerce, Chick-Fil-A, KATC-TV3, LEDA, SBDC, Business First, BNI, and several other organizations. You never know who will pop up at this event!! Incase you haven't marked your calender, it will be held on Tuesday, March 31st at 6:30p.m. at Tsunami. Be there or be square!

This week was a pretty good week as far as budgeting goes. There weren't that many great deals in the grocery store, but I was able to stockpile a few good deals. Food Club 8oz shredded cheese was on sale for $.99 at Super One Foods, plus I had a Food Club coupons for $2.50 off any 3 Food Club items. This brought the price of the cheese down to $.16 per pack, so I stockpiled as much as they would allow, which I think was 6 packs. I also had a rain check for frozen strawberries, so I used that as well.

Today, after the Sunday paper came out, I got on eBay and bought 20-$.35 off Birdseye steamer coupons so that I can use them in conjunction with the 10 for $10 sale at Albertson's. This will make the final price of the Steamers $. 65 each. So, I plan on buying 20. I also bought 20-$.55 off Welch's squeezable jelly coupon because these are on clearance right now in one of our local stores, so I also plan on stockpiling 20 of them this week....if I can get them all.

As for entertainment this weekend, we attended the Chick-Fil-A birthday party at the Mall of Acadiana. They were giving away FREE cake, drinks, chicken sandwiches, fries, and cow paraphernalia. The kids really enjoyed it. They liked the giant cows walking around everywhere and they were happy to get a meal at a restaurant! Most of our meal was free, so I was happy too. The Easter Bunny was at the mall so they talked to him as well. Then we went to Barne's and Noble and let the kids play. When we left the mall we realized that the new library is OPEN!!! So we actually spent the rest of the day there, which was great because we all got movies and books for the rest of the weekend.

The new library is amazing. If you haven't been, you must check it out. The architecture is beautiful. The meeting rooms and auditorium are amazing. They even have a Cafe...but I would have to say that the kid section was the biggest hit!! It is huge and designed to look like a camp. There are giant trees coming up from the floor to the ceiling and little reading nooks for the kids to crawl in. There is also a story time room with a hole that kids can actually crawl through to get in. It is so nice and organized that it looks like a Barnes and Noble. I love it. I actually booked the conference room for some dates in the future...just in case we decide to do some things there. I know you will enjoy it!

Have a great week and ENJOY THE NEW SITE!!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

The Last of the Mohicans

Yes ladies and gents, this will be the last blog post before the launch of the all new and improved TheBudgetQueen.com. My blog will be moving, so after the launch you will be able to access my blog, as well as an archive of all of my previous blogs on the new site. I can't wait for you to see it, it is going to be great! I hope that all of you are able to make it to the Launch Party, Tuesday, March 31st at 5:30-7pm at Tsunami. It is going to be a blast!

This week has been a very busy week prepping for the new site. The one thing that I did learn this week is how difficult it can be to stay on track with your budget when you are so busy, over tired, and over worked. I have worked before, but not like this. Running your own business, you can easily put in 80 hours instead of 40, so balance is very difficult. Organization is the key to success. Not just physically, but with time as well. You have to have a schedule that allows balance in every sector of your life, including your finances. If you don't carve out the time needed each day or each week to work out the details of your plan, then it will not work. This week I was so tired that I just kept away from the stores, simply because when I'm tired I am more likely to overspend just to get the shopping over with. So, I waited until I had the time to make a menu plan, a list, and went to the store. I'm sure I saved myself a lot by doing this.

This weekend we had a Japanese Potluck Party at my house. A few months ago, I was talking to a very dear friend of mine about how we used to give lots of dinner parties when I was still working. Well, once I began staying home with my children, those parties went out the window. Then we came up with the perfect solution. We now do a potluck dinner party hosted by a different couple each month. We choose a theme, like mexican, japanese, etc...and we each bring an appropriate dish. We send out a free e-vite to the whole group from evite.com, this way each person can post the dish they plan on bringing. It's a lot of fun and no one feels like they are spending a lot of money to have a good time.

This weekend I also did my drug store deals at Walgreen's! They had a coupon in the paper for Walgreen's brand double zipper bags 20-50ct for $.99 a piece, which is great. I still had my $10 off Register Rewards coupon from the Huggies diaper deal 2 weeks ago, so I was able to rack up on some real steals. After I got my limit on the zipper bags I had to find more stuff to use my $10 RR, so I started searching for clearance and I hit the jack pot! I found Aim kids toothpaste for $.37, so I bought them all. I know that my kids will use them eventually. I also bought 2 teeth whitening kits for $.50 each and some Crayola Explosion kits for only $2.39 (down from $10). I was quite a happy camper. There were tons of other things on clearance too, like Tom's of Maine Natural toothpaste for just over $1, down from $5+, deoderant, men's shaving products, pet food, Disney coloring pads, etc. Just look for all of the orange tags going up around Walgreen's and try to match them with your coupons. Enjoy!

Have a great week! See you all at the launch!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Life Without Coffee

I know I've said it before, but it's been a crazy week! I have been busting my hiney on all of the details for the new site. It is awesome to say the least! The new site will officially launch on March 31st. You are all invited to TheBudgetQueen.com launch party. I will be sending out invitations soon, so keep checking your in-boxes and mail boxes.

Due to the size of this beast, I have been steady working all week long. I have only been out to shop for groceries, in addition to a quick stop for some clothes. I was very pleased with my grocery experience this week. I shopped at Super 1 Foods because of all of the fantastic sales and spent $48 for the week, including stockpiling 3 value size packs of pork chops and 2 family size packs of chicken breast. I only used about 4 coupons, one Super 1 coupon for $.50 off waffles, one Super 1 coupon for $2.50 off any 3 Food Club items, and 2 $1 off Mentos gum coupons.

As for the clothes, I recently set aside some money for some new clothes for myself, so I went to Ross Dress for Less to check out all of the great deals. I found a dress and a pair of jeans both for around $15 and that was it for me! Instead, I found a plethora of new spring outfits for the kids all starting at $6.99 an outfit. That's for a FULL outfit, shirt, shorts, and all! So, I spend my clothing fund on my kids. Oh well, they needed it, better luck next time for me.

Today, my husband took the kids out so that I could work. I sent him out with coupons and a list of free things happening in town. First, they went to Home Depot to the kid's workshop and built a race track for FREE. Then, they went to the Zoo and enjoyed our annual membership that I bought by using the 50/50 Friday gift certificates. I paid $25 for a $50 membership, so we get to go all year for FREE! Then they came home to eat lunch and take a nap and then off to the book store. My kids love the book store because of the kid section. The baby plays with trains and the older two read books. They had a great time.

Ok, so I guess you are wondering about the coffee. Well, as some of you may know, I am Catholic and it is lent. So guess what I gave up for lent! Yes, coffee. I have gotten the wildest responses from "What were you thinking?" to "At a time like this?" To tell you the truth, despite the amount of time that has past, I still crave coffee. It was the ultimate sacrifice for me because I am working a lot of long hours on the new site and am truly exhausted some days. So, although I am surviving without it, it has been really hard. If you have any tips on how to get energy without coffee, please let me know!

I hope you all have a great week and I see you at my class on Wednesday, March 11, 6;30pm at the Carencro library! HAPPY SAVING!!

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Cash in the Closet

For those of you who have been following The Budget Queen System or have had a private consultation with me, you know that 2 of the steps towards reaching your financial goals are creating an emergency savings and paying down your debt. Well, as I was cleaning out my closet for the first time in probably 5 years, I ended up with several bags of clothes, shoes, and purses that I was able to sell to a local consignment shop. I was absolutely ecstatic about this. But, I had lots more items that couldn't be sold on consignment here in town. I was torn about giving up these items because I felt like they worth something. I knew that I needed to get rid of them because they were cluttering up my life, but I didn't want to just give them away for nothing. I needed to find a way to get some money for them.

At the same time, I was working with a client who was trying to build her savings and pay down debt, but didn't have a lot of extra money to do this. I was looking for an easy way for her to make some extra money, but hadn't figured out anything that wouldn't impede on her already hectic lifestyle. Then, I read an article in which eBay stated that the average American household has about $3,000 worth of items that could be sold. Eureka! I had revelation. We could all make money to pay down our debts just by cleaning our houses! Wouldn't an extra $3,000 to pay off a credit card or student loan be great? So, now I am on a mission to spring clean my home and make some extra cash and you can do it too!!

To make money on your items you need to start cleaning! Start anywhere. For every item you come accross, ask yourself if you use it. If you don't, then sell it! Even if you can't sell it you can always donate it. The closet is a great place to start because you can sell clothes to consignment stores and start getting money right away. There are several in town. For children's clothes there are quite a few in town such as Baby Basics, Once Upon a Child, and Polk a Dots and Paisleys. For teens/misses there is Platos Closet. For childrens to adults there is Upscale Resale.

For other items there are several options for getting a return on your junk. First, you could have a garage sale. This is great because you can make some quick cash right away to put towards your goal. Second, you can sell your items on eBay.com or Craigslist.org. This takes a little longer and you generally have to do 1 item at a time, but it may be better for certain items that wouldn't sell as well at a garage sell, like valuable collectables. Lastly, you can give your stuff to Goodwill or Salvation Army and get a receipt for your taxes. When you file your taxes the costs of your items will be deducted and help you to either pay less or get money back from your return. Your tax refund can then be put in your savings or used to pay down debts.

I hope this helps all of you to get ahead on your goals. Good luck with your spring cleaning!