Last day to enter: Coupon Inserts Giveaway!

Just a reminder that today is the last day to enter my giveaway for the coupon inserts.  Two winners will be picked to each receive 8 SmartSource coupon inserts!

You have a great chance at winning, since there are a low number of entries!!!  All you need to do is leave a comment on that post.  Nothing else!

You have until tonight, 2/10/12 at midnight EST, to enter!  The two winners will be picked at random and sent email notification on Saturday.  I'll also post the winners on the blog.

Thanks so much for entering!

Last day to enter: Coupon Inserts Giveaway!

Paying our car loan off early

I mentioned a few weeks ago that right now we're focusing on paying off our car loan early.  At the time, we owed approximately $3,600 on it, at 4.9%, and our payments were set to run through November 2012.

We had been working to pay off our credit card debt for all of last year and are super excited that we managed to pay off over $10,000 of it, which was mostly due to remodeling work that had to be done.

In January, we took another look at our finances, as we do very regularly.  We had $3,600 left on our car loan and $3,600 left of credit card debt.  And both needed to be paid by November.  The difference was that our credit card is at 0% interest until then and the car is at 4.9% interest.

So we took the focus off the credit cards and decided to tackle the car loan first.  So any extra money we have each month will go towards this. 

I had been paying $400 per month, but then added in an extra $20 just to give it a little jump start.  Then when we cancelled our cable, I added in the $40 savings each month to also go towards our car payment, bringing it to $460 a month minimum payment. 

Luckily enough we had more extra cash last month and managed to pay off $900 instead of the $460!!  So our loan balance is now at about $2,700. 

Later this month, we should have a nice sized tax refund and about $2,000 will be going towards paying off our car loan. 

Our tax refund, combined with our regular payment this month, will knock our balance down to about $225 or so!  I would LOVE to come up with that money this month and get it completely paid off, but I don't really see that happening.  So we will just have to wait until next month to pay it off. 

Once the car loan is gone, we'll use the amount we had been paying on it, to go towards our credit card payment.  And then we'll see how fast we can pay that off! It's so exciting to be freeing ourselves from all of this debt and I can't wait to see our future once we're unburdened by it all!

I can hardly believe that a year and a half ago, I was miserable over the state of our finances.  We never had late payments or anything like that.  We just had debt piled up and we thought it would take us forever to pay it off. But we took the plunge and worked so hard to get where we are today.  We did it.  You can too.

Paying our car loan off early

Organizing Project: Before & After

So in 2012, I want to try and get more organized.  I'm already pretty darn organized around here, but there are a few areas that I want to tackle.

One area is my paper clutter.  My day to day paper clutter is under control, it's all the saved papers that I need to file away that are in a chaotic pile on my desk.  Anyway, that project is for another day.

For now, I wanted to tackle my son's bedroom closet.  Specifically a 3-drawer cart that contained (or didn't really contain) my kiddos' coloring books, scrap drawing paper and Play-Doh. 

Notice the chaos in the drawers and all over the floor

And more clutter on top

And even more clutter off to the side

The main problem with this 3-drawer cart is that it eventually got too small for the amount of storage we needed.  So stuff got piled up on top and then it would fall off and cover the floor all around it.  Also, the drawers did not slide easily, so it was a pain to open and close.  So, I think many times, it was easier for my kiddos to just toss their stuff anywhere, instead of in the drawers.

So we found an awesome new 5-drawer organizer.  This one not only has more drawers, but is much wider and allows for all of their stuff to actually fit in!  We love it and so far it has been kept pretty much the way I organized it.  Yay!

Lovely!

No more clutter on the side

Coloring books & crayons

Play-Doh tubs & tools

Notice my use of shoe boxes in several areas.  Sometimes you just need an organizer inside another organizer to contain smaller items or to separate some things.  I love repurposing shoe boxes when I organize... they are free, convenient and of course, it's great for the planet too :)

Don't you just love when you finish a big organizing project?  Sure makes me want to do a happy dance!

Organizing Project: Before & After

New Pampers Gifts to Grow Code - 5 points

Are you collecting Pampers Gifts to Grow codes to redeem for great rewards? If so, here's a new code for you!

TWITL9E8XAGTG12

This code is worth 5 points and is valid through 2/9/2012.

If you're not familiar with the Pampers Gifts to Grow program, here's a quick idea of how it works. Pampers has unique codes on each of their diaper and wipes products. You can also get other codes on Facebook and elsewhere around the net. So even if you're not diapering any children, you can still participate!

Codes are worth a various amount of points and points can be redeemed for great prizes (gift cards, sweepstakes entries, coupons, toys, etc.) with free shipping!

Sign up for the Gifts to Grow program - it's free and you'll get 100 free bonus points just for registering!

New Pampers Gifts to Grow Code - 5 points

Coupon Inserts Giveaway

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be given a big handful of coupon inserts.  I saved a bunch for myself and wanted to give another bunch away.

So how about a coupon insert giveaway!  Yay!  Ok, so it's not the most exciting giveaway, but I certainly don't want these coupons to go to waste.

I'll pick two random commenters to each receive 7 SmartSource inserts from 1/8/12 and 1 other SmartSource insert from 1/12/12.

To enter, simply leave me a comment!

Entries will be accepted until Friday 2/10/12 at 12pm EST.  Saturday, 2/11/12, I will pick two winners who will be notified by email.

Good luck!

Coupon Inserts Giveaway

Savings & Earnings Recap 1/29 - 2/4

How much extra money did you earn this week? How much did you save? Here's my weekly recap of money/gift cards earned, cash saved by using coupons, and freebies received.

It's fun to see your savings/earnings amounts all added up. It clearly shows that it's time well spent when you cut coupons, hunt for sales, and make little bits of money here and there. Here's my recap for the past week, 1/29/12 - 2/4/12. 

Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received
$10.00..... Target gift card (free w/tax software promo)
$24.09..... Mr. Rebates (cash back for shopping!)
$1.43....... PayPal debit card cash back
Total: $35.52

Coupon Savings
$50.73..... Target (coupons + 5% off for using Target card)
$13.20..... Drugstore.com (coupons + $2.20 cash back redeemed)
$8.94....... Friendly's (B1G1 free entree!)
$50.93..... Kohl's (20% off with code:  SMS464)
$8.15....... Walmart (grocery coupons)

Total: $131.95

Freebies
American Baby magazine

Total 2012 Cash/Checks/Gift Cards Received: $247.44
Total 2012 Coupon Savings: $276.24

Find my previous weekly recaps here.

Savings & Earnings Recap 1/29 - 2/4