Want to earn some extra cash? FCF is hiring!

*Note: The position has been filled! Thanks for applying!

Hello my lovely readers!

I have exciting news. 

(Drumroll please...)

FCF is hiring!

Ta-daaaaaaa!

source

There are some exciting new things going on over here, and one of them is...

I am currently looking for a 

Director of Marketing for FCF!!!

This would be a perfect job for a stay-at-home mom or someone who is looking to make a little side-cash and has extra time in their day. It's super part-time, very flexible, you can work from home, and it has the potential to be pretty lucrative! Sales experience required, creativity a must, you need to be good with people, and marketing/social media/PR experience a BIG plus. 

Click HERE for the job description and compensation info. 

Man, am I excited to work with you! 

We're going to have a lot of fun :)

How to shop at Costco - an insider's view of what's HOT and what's NOT in terms of actually saving you money!

Welcome to any newcomers who saw me on Studio 5 today. Feel free to take a look around (the tabs at the top of the site are a great place to start), and be sure to sign up for our email list so you don't miss out on any of the good stuff. Thanks for stopping in, and welcome to the family!

Today on Studio 5 I did a fun segment all about...

Duh, duh, duuuuuuhn....

COSTCO.

We all know it,

We all love it (well, most of us, anyway...)

BUT...

Is it REALLY saving you money?

That, my friends, is the million dollar question. 

Check out my segment HERE or click to watch the video below and I will answer that question, and many more!

Here are some tips we covered today:
I got a private, behind-the-scenes, I'll-tell-you-but-then-I'll-have-to-kill-you tour of Costco from one of the GM's here in Utah recently. It was fascinating, let me tell you! For the segment today I compiled some of the tips I learned from the tour with my own frugality tips and tricks for how to avoid losing money by shopping there (Gasp! What? Costco isn't perfect?).

Here's what the segment covered:

3 THINGS TO DEFINITELY BUY AT COSTCO:

1. Olive oil. Hands down one of the best deals...like, ever.
2. Dog food. Now, if you have a tiny dog I'm not sure what to tell you. My dog is huge, like 100lbs huge. He eats 50lbs of dog food per month. At $23/bag of 50 lbs of food, that's unmatched anywhere...by almost half! For little dogs, not sure what to tell you. But my Pedigree Adult Crunchy Bites for my dog are the best deal around!
3. Diapers & wipes. Sure, you could save up coupon codes, join some mommy club, quote the ABC's backwards while rubbing your tummy and patting your head and jumping through hoops of fire to get a deal on diapers. Frankly, the $0.01 or $0.03 per diaper it saves me is NOT worth the hassle. As long as you use a Costco coupon (they come around every 2 months or so) the diapers really end up being a good deal...and no burn risk involved. Just stock up. If the coupon says limit 2, buy 2 so it will last you until the next diaper coupon rotates in.
4. (yes, I'm cheating by adding a 4th one...) GAS! The gasoline is not only $0.10+ cheaper than anywhere else, but you get 3% cash back if you use your Costco Amex. Booya.

3 THINGS TO AVOID BUYING AT COSTCO: (sorry Costco people, don't hate me for this one...)

1. Soda. Costco soda may be tempting because of the HUGE boxes, but when you price it out per can, you can almost always find a better deal at your local grocery store when it goes on sale. Plus, pop stays good forever so stock up when it's on sale and hold onto it, rather than buying at Costco.
2. Cereal. Sorry folks, not that good of a deal, even with the Costco coupons. Once again, watch the sales at your local store and you'll get a much better deal.
3. Small canned goods. Am I sounding like a broken record yet? Their small cans (15oz-ish) are a normal price, but not a GOOD price. Watch your local grocers. Case Lot sales, for example, will get cans of veggies down to $0.50/can or less, a much better deal than Costco most times. Don't waste your time or money buying it from Costco. However...the large cans? Great deals! If you don't mind freezing the excess or getting creative and using it for meals all week long, buy the big cans and you'll get more bang for your buck.

The real key here is...

KNOW.

YOUR.

PRICES.

I always try to keep a price notebook on-hand (where I jot down good deals when I see them). You might be familiar with how much canned veggies cost per can, but do you know what they should cost PER OUNCE? Costco pricing is different than a normal grocery store because their quantities are...well...ridiculously huge at times.

Another great Costco tip?...
Take advantage of the pharmacy.
You don't actually have to have a membership to use their pharmacy! It's true! But members get additional discounts. Costco pharmacy prices pretty much slaughter the competition, even Walmart (and especially Walgreens. They are NOT that good of a deal, people!)

One great perk about Costco?...
 The cheap hotdog/drink combo.
$1.50? For a hotdog and drink? Now that's what I'm talking about, people!
And for those Costco hotdog virgins out there, we're not talking a dinky boiled hotdog. It's a true-blue, footlong dog of goodness and wonder.
When Costco first opened in the 70's it was $1.50 for a hotdog and drink. The price has never changed, and will never changed - guaranteed. In fact, Costco was losing so much money on their hotdog combo that they actually built their own hotdog factory and now manufacture their own Kirkland hot dogs to keep the price down! Now that's true love if I've ever seen it...

And, of course...

USE THE COSTCO COUPON BOOK!
For my tips and tricks about that click HERE.

For my thorough rundown on
1. What I normally buy from Costco,
2. What I avoid buying,
3. And other mind-blowing Costco tips and tricks...
CLICK HERE.
Oh, and click HERE for how to get the most out of your membership.

For how I manage my monthly grocery budget the easy way, click HERE.

So there you have it! Thanks for watching, and have a great day :)

How to get the most bang for your buck with daily deal sites...plus how to filter your email. All the deals, but no junk mail!

We all know I love a good deal. HOWEVER...

I hate

hate

hate

haaaaaaaate junk mail.

It's just plain obnoxious.

Here is a simple way to GET all the deals emailed to you, WITHOUT bombarding your inbox every day! This tutorial is specifically for Gmail (...because that's what I use...) but I'm sure with a little hunting you can find similar features through your email provider. You can find this tutorial originally in THIS post, but I thought it was time to give it a little more focus in it's own post. Enjoy!

Take advantage of daily deal sites, without cluttering your inbox

We all want a good deal, but don't want junk mail. Here are some ways to keep this problem under wraps:

• Sign up for everything.  As I mentioned in THIS post, it's my philosophy to sign up for everything. If you aren't on a restaurant's email list, they won't be able to send you freebies for your birthday! Click HERE for my ultimate birthday freebies list, and click HERE for my daily deal list. It's a good starting point for you. Keep in mind there are even sites for things you might not have thought of like appliances. Check out THIS SITE for coupons for sears for my Canadian readers. 

• Create an alternative email account. In my opinion, you should never have to pay for email. There are too many good FREE providers out there! I prefer Gmail (Google basically rules the world, after all). Call it "suziesfreebies@gmail.com" or whatever you want to call it. Use that email for contests, email lists, and anything else you don't want to miss out on, but that you don't want to have to sort through every day. 

• Or, create a filter in your existing account. This means you select emails from certain people or companies that skip your inbox altogether, and get filed and organized into a separate folder. This is the method I have chosen. I have Gmail, and they make it really easy to do this.

Here's how to create a filter:

1. Select the messages you want to keep OUT of your inbox by checking the boxes on the left hand side. 

2. Under "more" you click "filter messages like these".

 3. don't do anything here, just click "Create filter with this search" at the bottom.

 4. click "skip the inbox"

5. Click "apply the label..." then select the label you want. The "label" is the name of the new folder you want. Click "new label" if you need to create a new folder. As you can see, I have TONS of folders so my emails stay really organized and compartmentalized. 

6. Click "also apply to __ matching conversations". This step is important because it will move all the existing emails that are already in your inbox from this sender to the folder, so you don't have to do it manually.

And that's it! From now on any emails from that sender will automatically skip your inbox, but will remain "unread" and will get filed neatly into a separate folder. Genius, right?!

*Note: Over time some vendors somehow get through the filter. I don't know if they change their email address periodically or what, but I've had to filter the same store or restaurant more than once before. But it's just a quick step, not a big deal. Just be aware that it's not fool-proof because if the return address is changed even slightly, it will leak past the filter.

Here's what I do with those emails once they are filtered:

• I try NOT to delete any emails. It may stress you out seeing 2,538 unread "daily deal" emails in that folder, but just ignore it. (You'll see why below.) You may not need that deal right now, but you just never know. Gmail has nothing but free space, no need to delete them just yet! Once they expire or if it's been a few months, sure, clear them out if it makes you feel better. It's just an unnecessary step.

• SEARCH when you need something. If we want to go out to dinner, I go to the "restaurants" folder and either search the most recent emails for good coupons, or I use the search bar. If we feel like mexican, I'll type "mexican" in the search bar under my restaurants folder. It will pull up all the mexican restaurant emails, and I can search that way. If I want a pedicure, I go to my "daily deals" folder and search "pedicure" in the search bar. Shopping? Type "J-Crew" or "Old Navy". See how that works? SO MUCH EASIER than reading through every email. The beauty of the search bar is it doesn't just search the title of the email, it searches the entire email. Gmail search works amazingly well so it really doesn't miss much.

• By avoiding your inbox you'll save money. When my daily deal emails were coming to my inbox every day, I was reading them...every day. I found myself buying stuff that I didn't need. Over time I was letting many of them expire, or I was simply spending unnecessary money! Daily deals are a GREAT deal...but don't buy what you don't need. By using the search tool it's a  more thought out and calculated purchase, rather than an impulse buy.

• Have a plan before buying a deal. Deals are rarely good for only one day, you usually have at least a few days to buy it before it's gone. Talk your spouse. Check your calendar. Talk to a friend. Read reviews. Research the product or company. Do your homework and think through the deal, start to finish, before pulling the trigger. Want to buy a really neat, unique deal that you didn't know you wanted, and have no budget for? Plan ahead! Be willing to count it as your birthday gift, be willing to use your grocery budget for that week, find a way to earn a little extra money to pay for it. No impulse buys, please!

What to do once you buy a deal:

• Save, star, favorite, or file that email away. If you decide to buy a deal, put it somewhere safe. Create a folder for "purchased deals" and move that email to the folder once purchased. You'll want them all in once place so you can revisit them.

• Print out the voucher right away. As soon as the voucher is available to print, PRINT IT! I keep mine in my coupon notebook. If it's out of site, it's out of mind. Keep the voucher somewhere where you'll see it once in a while so you remember to use it before it expires.

• Put the expiration date on your calendar. This is a HUGE tip. If you buy Zumba classes that end on September 1, put the expiration date on your calendar. BUT, also put a few reminders! If it's a 5 week class, you need to remind yourself a few months in advance so you're sure to use all the classes before Sep 1. I use Google Calendar because it syncs to my phone and computers.

• USE THEM! For heaven's sake, DON'T LET YOUR VOUCHERS EXPIRE! This is hard to do, I'm still guilty of this. If you can't use it before it expires, gift it to someone.

• ASK, ASK, ASK. If you forget about a voucher and it's about to expire, call and ask if you can extend your deadline. Many vendors would rather keep you as a customer and will be flexible to a degree. Remember to be assertive and ask, ask, ask (hey, the worst they can say is no).

• Another tip: Watch for flash sales and clearance. They might not include these in an email, so you may have to go to the organic website. But often times they will put deals on clearance or put them on SUPER sale for a few hours. Keep your eyes peeled for these for even more savings!

Now, for all my Canadian friends...I haven't forgotten about you! I know I don't have much for you by way of my daily deal list. Click HERE for a neat site that has the top 50 coupons exclusive to Canada.

So there you go! Sign up for deals, sign up for email lists, buy the SMART way, and enjoy all the savings and fun things you'll be able to do. ENJOY!

Daily Deal photo source HERE.

This post was sponsored by our friends at Markco Media.

Easy envelope budget technique - how to track your spending and stick to a budget each month. Full video how-to!

Well, HOWDY! Have you missed me?

I have certainly been enjoying my Summer Sabbatical as I'm calling it...but I had to take a break from my break to bring you this LIFE CHANGING tip.

I explained in THIS POST that we prefer to spend our money on credit cards because of the security, digital tracking, and perks. Everyone is different, that's just what works for us.

HOWEVER...

When using credit cards you have to exercise a LOT of self-control. 

Weird, right? P.S...We like to use THIS SITE to help us find the right credit card for us.

With my old budgeting system I simply kept a running total throughout the entire month. 

The problem? 

I would spend up my budget 1/2 way through the month and be out of luck. 

No bueno.

I have since adapted my system and it's better than ever. It has - quite literally - saved our financial lives! See how I do it in this video:

Click below to watch the video on Youtube, or click HERE to watch it online.

(Be sure to watch the video first or the following will make absolutely no sense!)

Let's break it down now!...

source

Simple way to budget and track your spending

1. Decide what your budget should be. Click HERE for grocery budget parameters. Click HERE for a full tutorial on how I save 1/2 on my groceries every month without clipping a single coupon.

Grocery budget includes:

Anything you could find at a neighborhood grocery store. 

We're not talking a super Walmart grocery store, here. We're talking a neighborhood Walmart, Smiths, Safeway-type store. They don't have power drills and sheets for your bed, but they have most of the basic items you might need to buy on a day to day basis. Ex:

Food, shampoo, dog food, lotion, baby wipes/diapers, shaving cream, ziplock baggies, basic kitchen utensils & baking items, cleaning supplies, milk, basic cold remedy medicine, etc.

"Other" budget includes:

Money set aside for normal, regular, non-grocery expenses. 

These are "want to have" items most of the time, and not "need to have" items. This does NOT include any form of bill or utility expense, see the next category for that. 

Ex:

Home decor needs, clothing, hair cuts, babysitting money, piano lessons, getting the car cleaned, school pictures, lunch with the girls, pedicure, shoe repair, gifts for birthdays/showers, etc. 

Where do bills and gas go? In our house, that comes from our family budget.

Family budget includes:

Expected, set monthly expenses involving the family, house, and travel, as well as unexpected expenses involving the family. 

These are the "need to have" expenses that keeps the family running, and is NOT food-related.

Ex:

Utilities (gas, electric, cable, internet), medical expenses (co-pays, medical bills, insurance), car expenses (gas, repairs, new tires, registering the car, oil changes), home costs (mortgage payment, homeowners insurance, home repairs, new water heater, new furniture, TV, or other large household expenses, etc.), family entertainment (travel, trips, date night), etc. 

See below (the bank accounts section) for how we separate all these budgets out.

How do you find out how much should be in you "other" budget each month?

1. Pull out your detailed statements from the last 3 months that show every dime you've spent (spread sheet, credit card statement, or whatever you use to track your spending). 
2. Decide what will be covered in YOUR "other" budget.
3. Total up how much you spent on "other" in the first month, then second, then third.
4. Average them out (add the sum of the 3 months then divide by 3).
5. There's your STARTING point....
6. ...now...cut it in half :) If half seems to harsh, cut it down and start there. Make it hurt a little, it's almost guaranteed you are spending more than you should because, well, that's human nature!

Once you decide what your budget it, here's what your envelope will look like (be sure to put the month and year at the top of the envelope - not pictured here). 

Here it is broken down:

 2. The point is that you stay WITHIN your weekly budget. However, life happens. So IF you happen to go over, remember...NO BORROWING BELOW THE LINE! You can only borrow side-to-side.

___________________________________________________________________

3. The last point is to help you stay BELOW budget and get out of the habit of spending every dime of it. If it's the end of the week and you have money left in your budget don't say, 

"sweet! $17? Let's go out to dinner!"

Oh, no, no my friends.

Rather, take the $17 and put it in your SLUSH FUND. 

Slush fund: Separate savings account that is used strictly for fun money. The spending of the fun money should be decided in advance. See lots more info on this account in THIS POST.

Ex: saving up for vacation...a new trampoline...down payment on a new car, etc. Anything that you would LIKE to have, that you don't NEED to have, that it's hard to find the extra money for.

Get our custom envelope printables here:








Additional notes and tips:

• If you have a long month (one with 5 weeks), DON'T give yourself more money, just divide your budget by 5 and be prepared to live a little tighter that month. Have some self-control, people!

• Try cutting your budget down a little to begin with. You probably spend money that you don't need to be spending on little things, that could really serve your family a lot better if you put it in your slush fund and put it toward BIG, long-term things.

• Keep EVERY receipt for the month in your envelope, so if you lose track or need to return something you have everything right there. 

• If you bring home extra money in a month (bonus, extra commissions, extra paycheck that month, etc.) DON'T alter your budget! There is absolutely no need! Put the extra money toward debt, put it in your savings, or put it in your slush fund. Don't go out and buy more groceries with it, that is noooooo fun. Be wise with every dollar you bring in.

• You need to get creative with how you spend money on groceries. Click HERE for a full tutorial on how I save 1/2 every month without clipping a single coupon. Additionally, click HERE for lots of cheap meal ideas, how to not waste food, and more.

• Open 7 bank accounts. "Whaaaaat?! Hold the phone! Put on the breaks! Sound the alarm!...SEVEN accounts? Giiirl, yo' mus be ca-RAY-zay!" Ok, maybe I am. But I will promise you something: by opening multiple accounts, it WILL make your life easier.  Watch the video below, or click HERE to watch it online.

Click HERE for all the details, how-to, why's, and info.

So there you go!
By following those simple steps you will save your family more than you can imagine. Likewise, no matter what you're bringing home paycheck-wise, you will know EXACTLY what you spend each month.
Let me know how this works for you, and have a great weekend!

Frugality Boot Camp photos!

WOW, this is long overdue! But thanks to my (much needed and enjoyed...) summer sabbatical, I'm a bit behind on a lot of things. BUT, like I said, be excited because some REALLY exciting things are happening once summer ends (all too soon)!

We had a blast at my first annual Frugality Boot Camp. I kept the group small this year so I could really get the hang of things, and let me tell you, even with a small group there was BIG energy, BIG life changes, and HUGE amounts of fun! Check out the pics from our day, courtesy of Mal Walker Photography:

(Click the thumbnail below to see the entire album)

Frugality Boot Camp 2012, photos by Mal Walker Photography

Don't you wish you'd been there?? :) Don't worry, we'll be doing another one next year and it will be bigger, cheaper (woo hoo!), and better than ever. Enjoy the photos and have a great day!