Money Matters

Making Extra Money

by Christy on June 1, 2010


I am sure that most of us have had a time in our life where we needed to make some extra money. This has definitely been the case for our family. Our financial situation is different today than it was years ago. We had a period where a company my husband used to work for, wasn’t doing well, we went months without receiving a steady paycheck. This can be very stressful!

I have always been a stay at home mom (17 years now), but I have also tried to bring in some extra money for our family. I am going to share with you the different things I have done, to bring in extra money for our family. Some worked great, and others not so well. Hopefully, if you are in need of a little extra money, either to supplement your income, or to pay for things you want, this will give you a starting point for some ideas. I will be sharing the things that I am familiar with and have experience in, but I would love to hear from all of you too.

So, here are the things that I have done to earn extra money for our family:

Ebay – Ebay is what saved our family during those lean times. I will be sharing in detail the items that I have sold that have been great moneymakers for me, particularly Gymboree clothing and Target clearance toys. You can see $740 in profit I made at Christmastime last year by selling items on Ebay.

Blogging – This one is a surprise for me! When I started my blog I had no idea that it would be a way to make money. The great part is, it is something that I enjoy, I am able to share my love for coupons, deals and frugal living. I get to help others, and our family is blessed in return.

At Home Parties – I have been a consultant for several of the at-home party companies, like Pampered Chef, Stampin’ Up! and Discovery Toys. If you are disciplined and outgoing, this can be a great way to make a little extra money. I usually just spent my earnings on new product, so it didn’t always work out to be a money maker for me. The starter kits are usually a great deal, so it is something to think about.

Promos – If you look around for promos that companies are offering, you can actually make a little money. Examples of this are the banking deals: Key Bank is offering a FREE iPod iTouch for opening a checking account, and Chase was offering $100 for opening a checking account (Chase deal is expired now). I know the iPod isn’t cash, but you can sell it on Ebay to earn money.

Reward Sites – Sites like Swagbucks, Mypoints and Ebates, can help to supplment your income. You can redeem your points for gift cards and then you can use those to buy groceries or other items you need. You may not make a ton of money, but the potential is there! I have done really well with Swagbucks and Mypoints, I have earned hundreds of dollars in gift cards from both of those sites.

Hobbies – My mom and I used to do craft shows. I would make floral arrangements and to decorative painting, my mom would sell sewn items. We had a ton of fun together. We actually had some really good shows a couple of times. We also had some really lame ones too. I also had the opportunity to make some money being on a design team for a scrapbook company, I was paid cash for the layouts that I had published. It really is possible to make some extra money with your hobby.

Seasonal or Temporary Work – I started working at a flower shop in high school. I now have to opportunity to help out at the flower shop on holidays and during school dances, this brings in a little extra money at times. I have also delivered phone books to earn some extra money.

Talents – I mentioned above that I used to work at a flower shop. In the past I had the chance to do quite a few wedding flowers. I was able to do this out of my own home, so it didn’t effect my family. If you play the piano, you could teach lessons out of your home. There are lots of ways to make money with the talents you have.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be explaining more about all of these items in detail, hopefully,  you can get some ideas of things that may work for you. I am no expert at making money, but I can share what has and hasn’t worked for me.  If you have something that you do that brings in some extra money, please share! If you would be interested in writing a guest post, that would be great too, just shoot me an email at thriftyandthriving@gmail.com.

Leave me a comment if there is one of these particular categories you want me to explain in detail first.

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Chase Bank: Get $100 Bonus of Opening a Checking Account

by Christy on May 24, 2010

Here is another great bank offer for you! This one is even easier than the Key Bank FREE iPod Touch deal. When you open a Chase checking account by May 28th, and use the printable coupon found HERE, you can get a $100 cash bonus. Just print the coupon and take it with you into the bank. If you would prefer to apply online, you can do so HERE.

Here are the requirements:

  • You will need to make a $100 deposit
  • Keep the checking account open for 6 months

Then do either of the following (within 60 days):

  • Set up direct Deposit OR
  • Make 5 debit card purchases

Sounds like an easy $100 to me!   This offer is only available to new Chase checking customers.   The $100 should be credited to your account 10 days after you meet the requirements.   Remember, this deal expires May 28th, so you will need to act quickly.

Thanks Money Saving Mom!

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Disney on a Budget – Additions to my Gift Card Envelope

by Christy on May 21, 2010


I mentioned that an additional way we are save money for our Disneyworld vacation, is by saving all the gift cards we earn for FREE. I have the following additions to add to the envelope:

$30 worth of  Target gift cards
$25 American Express gift card
$50 Chevron gift card (won this in an auction)
(I already added the AT&T MC in the photo)
Gift Card Totals for our trip = $250!!

This is a great way to save money for almost anything! Save all those Target gift cards you earn from promotional offers all year long, and by the time Christmas rolls around, you should have a nice pile of gift cards that you can use for Christmas shopping. Is there a camera or a larger ticket item you want to purchase? Saving the gift cards you earn can help you purchase those items too.

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A Couple of Money Articles I Enjoyed Reading this Week

by Christy on May 18, 2010

Photo credit: ERIC ALBRECHT

I thought I would share with you a couple of money articles that I read this week that I absolutely loved.  First, is a story about a teen who bought a home with her 4-H winnings, that she had saved since she was 4 years old. It’s refreshing to see a money savvy teen.  I think it’s just amazing that she was able to pay cash for a house at such a young age.   What an inspiration!   I also find it amazing that you can actually buy a 4 bedroom home for only $40,000. I think I need to move to Ohio!

The second article is 11 Budget-Planning Mistakes to Avoid. I agree with everything Ann-Marie Murphy said in her article. I highly recommend the you read the article, and if you haven’t started budgeting, then get started TODAY!! It’s amazing how much your finances can change just by being aware of what they are.

Have you read anything interesting lately? If so, leave a link, I would love to check it out.

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Money Mistakes I Made Last Month

by Christy on May 7, 2010

I am sharing with you some of the money mistakes I made last month. One of these items is something that happens on a regular basis (library fines), and I want to change that. Nobody likes to throw money away. I am posting these to get you thinking. What mistakes do you make that result in you throwing money away each month, and how can you fix it. Please share!

Library Fines – I had some books/movies that I returned late last month, resulting in $3.10 worth of fines. $3.10 doesn’t sound like a lot, but if I had that same amount in fines every month, it would total $37.20 for the year. Do you know how many groceries and items you can get for $37.20. All of these items HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE only cost me around $20.00, so you can imagine how much you can buy with $37.20.

MY GOAL: Get those library books in on time! (I am off to a bad start, because I already have a movie that was due 2 days ago)

I didn’t call on a Catalina that didn’t print – I did a deal at Safeway, I bought the correct items, but my $10 Catalina didn’t print. I had planned on calling the Catalina company, to have it sent to me, but I never did. It seemed like a hassle whenever I thought about it, and I just let it go. Now I can’t find the receipt. That’s $10 I threw away.

MY GOAL: To get over it! Sometimes when I make a mistake I let it bother me for far too long. I am going to forget about it and move on!

I haven’t done my taxes yet – Did I just admit that? We were out of town when they were due, so I filed for an extension. I have them almost complete, I was just waiting for 2 bits of information I needed to get from my husband (he gave them to me over a month ago). We don’t owe any money, so I won’t have to pay any interest, but we are getting some money back. Money that I could have put into our savings account and be earning interest on it. I should have done them in February like I normally do, I just kept putting them off.

MY GOAL: Get my taxes filed by next Monday.

I am sure I have had more money mistakes from last month, but I am going to stop there before I get really depressed at the amount of money I have thrown away. I can’t be alone! Let me know about a money mistake you made last month, big or small.

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5 Simple Things We Do that Save Us Money

by Christy on March 19, 2010

1.  We Don’t Buy Paper Towels
I don’t think we have bought a roll of paper towels in over 10 years. We simply use our kitchen rags or sponges to wipe up any spills. We used crumpled up newspapers to clean glass and mirrors. It works perfect, and doesn’t leave any streaks. Plus, I am sure most of us have stacks of newspapers lying around.

2. We Mostly Drink Water
We don’t buy juice or pop all that often. Water is so much cheaper and better for you too. We usually save pop for special occasions like birthday parties. I will buy juice on occasion, but not nearly as much as my teenage son wishes I would. Two of our children prefer water over the other drinks anyway.

3. We Use our Library – ALOT!!!
The library is a HUGE money saver that almost anyone can take advantage of. You can get books, CD’s, magazines and movies all for FREE! I think most libraries allow you to put items “on hold” online and then pick them up when they come in. Here is a tip: Our library puts upcoming books and movies in their system months before they come out. This allows us to put the popular books on hold before they are published and we can often get them the day they are released. No need to rush out and buy a book the day it is released – put it on hold a couple months before. I use Amazon.com
as a resource to see what new books and movies will be coming out.

4. We Cut our Own Hair
My husband does most of the hair cutting in our family. We bought a nice pair of clippers, and my husband says it super easy to cut the boys hair. I’m not saying we don’t ever have our hair cut by professionals, but it is super easy to maintain the boys hair cuts at home (we have 5 boys including my husband, so that is a lot of savings) I find it easy to trim up mine and my daughters hair too.

5. We go with Basic Cable (usually)
I had to throw that “usually” in there, because when we moved  we signed up with a deal that gave us more than the basic channels, but it turned out to be cheaper than just the basic cable when you factored in the cash back we received. Once our year is up, we will probably just switch back to the basic cable. We are not big TV watchers anyway, just need our Survivor and we’re happy campers. By the way, I am loving the whole Heroes vs. Villains theme this season.  I will admit I am loving  HGTV.  Give the basic cable a try!  You will save money and probably spend less time watching TV.

I would love to hear something you do that saves you money. I could always use some more money saving idea, so share your tips.

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More on Budgets

by Christy on December 31, 2008

Ok, apparantly lots of people like (or don’t like) budgets, and want to hear more. I have had
a couple people ask me what to do if your expenses exceed your budget. We have been there, and the best advice I can give is to cut things out. There are some things that you may feel are a necessity, but they aren’t.

Here are some items that you could cut out or reduce:

Cell Phones – We lived without them before, and we can do it now if necessary.
Home Phone – If everyone has a cell phone, you can use those instead of home phones.
Cable – Who really needs all those channels anyway?
Eating Out – It is much cheaper to eat at home. If you plan your meals in advance, there is less chance you will pick up take out on the way home.
Movie Rentals – Use the library or Redbox ($1 a night).
Clothing – Every store has a clearance rack, shop those instead of all the new stuff. Seriously, finding good deals are fun!
Groceries – OK, you can’t actually cut groceries totally out of your budget, but you can lower your grocery budget. I am kind of wierd this way, but I like to see how little I can spend each week. It’s kind of like a game for me. There was a time after we had our first child, that things were really tight. We moved from having 2 incomes to only one. We actually lived on a grocery budget of only $25 a week. It can be done! Shop the sales, use coupons, and you will be surprised how much you can save. I think this is the one area where you can easily cut money. It can be fun, give it a try!

You can also get creative and add more money to your budget. There was a time when my husband was employed with a start-up company. Things got tight for the company, so the paychecks weren’t always there. I decided to start selling things on Ebay. I picked something I knew a lot about, something easy to ship, and easy for me to get. I chose to sell Gymboree clothing (new). There were tons of Gymboree stores where we lived (Utah), so it made it very easy to put outfits together. It was the best of both worlds for me, I got to shop and get paid! I would buy outfits at 60-70% off and sell them on Ebay. This really helped us live through those tough times. I still sell items on Ebay, it’s a great way for me to make extra money. When Target has their huge 75% off toy clearance, I buy items I know will sell well (Lego’s, Playmobil, Leap Frog items), I save them and sell them all in November (just before Christmas). This gives me all the money I need to pay for Christmas. Get resourceful! You can look around your house, I am sure there are items you can get rid of.

Here are some ways you can make extra money:

Ebay – http://www.ebay.com/ Really, people will buy anything!
Etsy – http://www.esty.com/ Are you creative? You can sell your handmade wares here. Look around, the site is amazing. It’s neat to see what people have come up with. Don’t spend! Just look!
Craigslist – http://seattle.craigslist.org/ You can sell items here for FREE!
Babysit – You can do this in your own home & make extra money.

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Do You Have a Budget?

by Christy on December 30, 2008

With the new year starting, now is a great time to look at your budget and make any necessary changes. Do you have a budget? If not, now is the perfect time to make one. We have a budget set up, and we go over it about 3 times a year, because things change. There are always new things that come up or items that finally get paid off. Examples would be: new medical bills, cars that have been paid off, new insurance needs because of teenager drivers (YIKES! that last one is us for sure). A budget is a big help to let you know exactly how much money you have to spend for certain items. For instance, once you have hit the limit on your grocery budget for the month, you know there is no more to spend.

Here is an example of our monthly budget, these are NOT our actual numbers , I am just giving you an idea. Let’s say after taxes our take home pay was $4800 a month. With our budget, we pretty much account for every penny, and then stick to the budget we have set.

Mortgage 1800.00
Tithing 600.00
Power 250.00
Phone/internet 100.00
Garbage 30.00
Water 30.00
Cell Phones 75.00
Auto Insurance 100.00
Life Insurance 60.00
Cable 30.00
Medical Bills 100.00
Newspaper 12.00
Gasoline 200.00
Student Loans 300.00
Grocery/Clothing/HBA/Gifts 600.00

Savings 200.00
401K 300.00

There are some items in the budget that are fixed (cable, newspaper, life insurance, etc). Then there are items that change some from month to month, an example of this would be our power bill, it is a lot less in the summer than it is in the winter. Another example would be gasoline, because the amount of driving I do varies. I keep a spiral notebook with all of the numbers in our budget. When I pay a bill I write the amount down, under that budget category If there is any money leftover at the end of the month, that goes into a “misc./leftover” category. That amount can then be used for items that either cost a little more that I thought they would (surprise doctor visit), or rolled over into the next month for any surprises that happen that month. Here is an example of what the gasoline and power would look like:

Gasoline
$200.00 (beginning balance)
-33.00 Dec 6
-50.00 Dec 12
-47.00 Dec 24
-50.00 Dec 31
= 20.00 leftover

Power
$250.oo
-242.oo
=8.00

Misc/Leftover
20.00 (from gas)
8.00 (from power)
= 28.00

Let’s say the Doctor bills we had for this month were $15 more than I budgeted, I would just take $15 out of the misc category and use it for the medical category. So, the Misc category would now look like this:

Misc
20.00
8.00
-15.00
= 13.00

If you noticed, I lump all of my groceries/clothing/Heath and Beauty Aids & Gifts together. The reason why I do this, is because if there is a great deal on groceries one month, I will stock up on those items, and spend less on clothing & HBA. We have a nice stock pile on clothing and HBA, so I could go without buying those items if needed. January is a HUGE month for clearance clothing, Christmas items and toys. I will use a lot more of this categories budget for those items then I will for food that month. It works for me to have flexibility for buying these items, but still have a budget total for the items as a whole.

When looking at your budget, you can probably find things you can cut if necessary. For instance, we do not have an expensive cable bill. Our actual bill is about $13, because we chose one that doesn’t have all those fancy channels.

I hope this all makes sense to you. If you have any questions, let me know.

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