Giveaway Winner!

There were zero entries! So I guess I'll get another magazine for me. Yay! Oh well, maybe next time.

Dear Blogger:

You have really been sucking lately.

Just thought I'd express my feelings.

I try to post and I get an error. I try to go to my dashboard and get an error. I try to 'X' out of my screen and you insist upon opening 14,537 more browsers causing me to re boot my computer.

I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I logged in and navigated through without incident... I still haven't clicked 'Publish Post', so we'll see.

Your Loyal, yet frustrated friend,

RBabe

Free Crap # 2

Welcome to another addition of Free Crap!

My mailbox was stuffed with all kinds of freebies yesterday. From free tampons, to energy drinks, (well a coupon for a free one anyway) to Moo cards! It's so exciting opening mail, especially when it's not bills.

Oh hey, it's FREE CHOCOLATE FRIDAY! Who doesn't want free chocolate, I mean, really.

And after the guilt from eating the chocolate has set in, you can get your FREE GUEST PASS TO BALLY'S TOTAL FITNESS. For some reason I don't see that happening, meh.

After that amazing workout, you can use your FREE SAMPLE OF SUCK-UP to absorb that pool of sweat. Eew, I know, I'm really stretchin it here.

Anyhow, Hope you enjoy your weekend.

Don't forget, my imaginary readers, to enter to win a one-year subscription to Seventeen, Elegant Bride, Redbook, Interview or Prevention!

I'm a total sucker for anything Gemini. Really. One great way to make my money disappear is to browse Etsy. Specifically, search etsy for Gemini items... doh! Here's what I got from Vintageday :

I will not buy anything else today.

I will not buy anything else today.

I will not buy anything else today.

I will not buy anything else today.

I will not buy anything else today.

I will not buy anything else today.

... It's not working...

Oh hey, don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Giveaway # 1

In order to persuade more folks (or just even one) to follow my blog, I am doing my very first giveaway! Yay! How to enter:

• Follow my blog (1 entry)
• Leave a comment, which magazine you want or whatever (1 entry)
• Join Swagbucks through my referral link (2 entries)

Fine Print: Drawing & winner will be announced on on Tuesday, August 18th. Entry must be made by 11:59pm Central time on August 17th. Winner must 'claim' their prize within one week or the prize goes to the runner up. To claim your prize you must give me your full name and mailing address, send to kmoore8379 [at] yahoo.com . I will not sell your information (unless it's an offer I can't refuse) or send you hate mail. swear. Also, please allow 4 - 6 weeks for the first issue to arrive.

What am I giving away you ask?

A one-year subscription to one of the following magazines:

Prizes # 1

My first prize redemption from Nature Made Vitamins. I think it was worth 650 points.

On my trip to Kroger last night, they had Nature Made vitamins B1G1, and I had $1/1 coupon. I banked those points this morning and got my power yoga DVD.

Now if I could just start eating healthier...

I struggled today thinking about what sort of entry I would make. My blog is supposed to be about money and such. At the risk of turning this into a bitch fest; I've sat quietly reading other blogs instead of letting my fingers assault my keyboard.

After gaining some much needed serenity, I've decided to bring you this; enjoy:

Let's start at the beginning. (I know what you, my imaginary readers, are thinking. Just hang in there!) I won't go into my first job, or even the second. What I will tell you is I was fresh out of high school and I landed a prestigious position as an office bitch, to put it delicately. But more importantly I still lived at home with only one bill to pay. So my paychecks went to mostly clothes and well, we'll just call that other thing, entertainment. I didn't do my laundry, I just bought more clothes. I look back on that today, and first I think "eew" and second, "what a waste". How is that I was brought up with no clue how to manage money? Maybe it was my good intentioned mother who spent time with us by going to the mall racking up my parents debt. Or maybe it was the lack of responsibility I was taught. Maybe it was my father, the enabler, who paid for a gas card and anything else I wanted. Either way, I can't and won't blame my current situation on my parents.

Ah the current situation. Through various bad decisions, made by yours truly, I have now in my possession a VW Passat. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this car, at 40,000 miles. Today, it has upwards of 83,000. In the past I have traded in car after car after car trying to avoid costly repairs only to find myself upside down on yet another vehicle. Not just upside down, but owing 15 grand on a car worth 5. It's also in need of some serious repairs. I guess not that serious, it's still running... but 2,500 worth of repairs, that’s half its worth.

I am still, at the ripe age of 26, trying to figure out how the hell to balance a checking account. I have income and bills and more bills. All these bills are also direct results of more terrible decision-making. Like moving out on my own, taking a serious pay cut to be "happy" (where I found myself more miserable than ever before) and acquiring all sorts of credit cards. Ok, not just acquiring them, but also maxing them out in a matter of weeks. I'm telling you people; I go off the deep end.

So I find myself hardly making ends meet. I spend hours trying to figure out how the hell to pull this one off. I look at my income and expenses. Ah ha, I've got it! No more Starbucks. Well fuck, that does nothing for my morale. Ok, so I negotiate with myself; I will not drink over priced coffee twice a day, but instead cut back to twice a week. Oh and that eating out stuff, that's just crazy. One meal for me costs about 15 to 20 bucks. I find myself thinking about how many lattes that would be. [My mind wanders, sorry]

So I cut back, no Starbucks in excessive amounts, no eating out (giggle) and I start obsessing about coupons and sales and grocery store ads. Still I find myself barely making ends meet, even after all this "saving".

I started to look into other means. I have 401k. So I called those money grubbing bastards and found out that, yes that is my money, but not really. And car repairs do not fall under a "hardship loan". After trying to get this guy to sympathize with me for 15 minutes, I just break down, cry and hang up. I was pretty sure it was hopeless and I should quit trying.

Then I had this other great idea. A personal loan! Surely I could get one. Wrong again, apparently the bank doesn't look too kindly to having 100% of your credit cards maxed. Who cares if I pay on time, every time. Fuckers.

After another snot fest, I finally give up. I figure I'll just drive this piece of crap until it really falls apart and then I can just bum rides all over town.

After a series of fortunate events, I find myself on the phone with a friend who works at an auto parts store. Who can get me parts at cost and "knows a guy". So with $460 I can get my car fixed. Well, most of it fixed. I find myself scrambling to come up with this money, even looking in the couch. Well payday comes around and I go to pay my ridiculously overpriced insurance and realize it's not due until September. Holy freaking cha-ching Batman! So with that money and the money left after bills I am almost there. Just a little shy. Then I remember that I can get a direct deposit advance and I'm set!

So this weekend, provided my lovely silver Volkswagen doesn't die before or on the way, I will be taking a small road trip to get this beast fixed right up.

So the moral of this excessively long post loaded with run-ons, is...

... Throw a fit and you'll get your way.

Zenni Optical

I set an eye appointment last week and had the nice lady check to see what my insurance covers. So I got a free exam, free lenses and $50 of frames. Wow, I thought this sounds great. So I went; my prescription hasn't changed much but I did want new glasses. The cheapest ones I could find there were $140. That's a little, ok, way outta my budget. So I had her write out my prescription and was on my way.

My friend had told me about Zenni Optical a while back. She said they have glasses starting at $8 and a ton of styles to choose from. I ordered some last week, actually 2 pairs! I'm super excited to get them in. I even ordered a pair of sunglasses, which would have cost a fortune from my eye lady. Anyhow, 2 pairs of glasses and $30 bucks later I feel pretty good about the world again. Just wanted to share this site.

Being blind and broke sucks, so hopefully this will lessen the pain.

Weekends...

I love weekends. Tonight I'm supposed to attend a joint birthday party across town at a Colombian restaurant... we'll see. Hopefully the rain goes away.

Tomorrow, my best friend's youngest is having a birthday party, he's 4 and super cute. I spent approximately $32 and got 2 pairs of shorts, 3 shirts, 2 packages of undies and gift wrap. Gotta love clearance racks.

Then for the rest of the weekend, I will probably sit on my ass and watch the movies I get from Netflix. And somewhere in there, I will make bran muffins from a mix I bought a while back. I'm gonna play with the recipe, maybe mix in yogurt or that one lonely frozen banana... Ooo I also have some frozen pineapple. Oh the possibilities. I'll let you guys (I'm referring to my ONE follower and the imaginary people I think read my blog) know how it all turns out.

Until Monday, Have a Happy Weekend!

PS I have no idea why I used this picture other than it says weekend, and looks vintage-y. I like vintage... have I mentioned that. ok I also like cheese... Ooo cheese bran muffins... um maybe not.

Free Crap # 1

I love free. I don't really care what it is, that's not the point. It's free; I love it.

"Nothing in life is free"

False.

There's plenty of free crap out there, you just have to find it. Recently I have become obsessed with samples. I don't care if they're giving away adult diapers; I want one if it's free. Free Coffee Sample:

Free Tacos from Jack in the Box (August 4th only)

Free Cereal

Can you tell I'm hungry? Geez.

Rewards #1

I am a total sucker for Rewards/Prizes/Free Crap! I love earning points for doing things I would normally do anyway.

Here's a couple reward programs I use:

• Nature Made - Yep, the vitamins. I have a huge stockpile of vitamins that I never take... erm I'm working on that. But not all that money has to go to waste. There are wellness reward codes on each bottle. You can earn 25 to 250 points per bottle, depending on the type of vitamin and quantity. Prize values start at 300 points. They have some pretty cool prizes, not many but cool. Coupons, yoga DVD, lunch kit, etc.
• Wells Fargo - At some point I was on the phone with a banker, changing my address or something. Well they signed me up for their rewards program. I think it may have cost me something up front (no more than 20 bucks) but every time I use my debit/credit card as CREDIT I earn points! I earn 1 point for every $4. To maximize my points, I pay most my bills online with my credit card and make sure I use the credit option for my purchases. Rewards include CASH and gift cards mostly. They also are partnered with several websites who you can earn extra rewards through.

So check your medicine cabinet for those Nature Made Vitamins. And check out your banks website for any reward programs. I think they're well worth it.

Coupons #1

I remember my mother staying up to all hours of the night clipping coupons. She'd sit at our kitchen table just cutting away; trying to save a little here and there. After all, she had quite a few mouths to feed. My friend used to work at CVS. She would tell me about these 'crazy coupon ladies'. She said they'd come in, buy $80 worth of shit and only pay 19 cents. I wondered if my mom was one of those ladies. I doubt it, she doesn't have much snap.

In the past months I have been clipping coupons, waiting for sales and jumping at the opportunity to save 47% off my grocery trip. Like who the fuck wouldn't in these times. Couponing is really an art form. I'm not super serious about it. Hell I can't be, it makes my brain hurt. I figure if I can save something on the things I already buy, then count me in.

Here's a few of my tips (surely stolen from someone else) :

• Only clip coupons for products you currently buy. Buying something just because you have a coupon isn't helping you save.
• Compare store brand products. I've found buying a store brand product is sometimes cheaper than a specific product with a coupon.
• I have store shopping cards that allow me to load coupons directly onto the card. Go to P&G eSavers, CellFire and/or ShortCuts. Most of these sites have the same coupons.
• I also visit product websites. I needed Sweet-N-Low this week (I don't like the generics). So I went to their website and found coupons there. Sometimes contacting them requesting coupons works.
• Check store ads online. I check my store ads online to see what's on sale each week. I make a list of everything on sale that I want, then hunt for coupons.

After saving close to 60% on my grocery bill, I sent my friend a text...

"I'm turning into a crazy coupon lady"

Once Again

... I have redesigned my blog. My main focus will be money, cash, dough, moo-la, you get the point. The lack of, how to save some, how to make it disappear (that's my favorite), and every now and again how I manage to juggle things around just enough to make things work. If anything maybe you could learn what not to do from me. So print out your bank statement, grab a calculator... eh fuck it, drain you bank account and go to JC Penny, they're having a badass sale.