Living Social & Groupon Deals

Several weeks ago, I did a post on Giving on a Budget. With the holidays fast approaching, I wanted to remind you of a couple of tips!

One great way to save year-round and on gifts is to sign up for deals websites like Living Social and Groupon.

These sites offer daily deals that save you 50% or more on local and national deals at restaurants, retailers, spas, dentists, travel offers and more.

Simply register for a free account and select your location. When you purchase a deal, you will receive a voucher usually within 24 hours. Each voucher has its own expiration date so read the fine print carefully. You can print vouchers as many time as you wish, but you may only use the voucher once. Follow the instructions on the voucher to redeem. Sometimes you may only be able to purchase one voucher, sometimes you can purchase multiple to give as gifts.

My husband and I have used several Living Social and Groupon vouchers to save money on date nights and to give gifts. Thanks to Groupon, I was able to take my two nephews and my niece to Build-A-Bear last year. They each stuffed and dressed a bear for half the cost!

Here are some great deals available on Living Social today:

National Deal: MyPublisher 20-page Hardcover Photobook ONLY$10

National Deal: Ecomom.com $40 worth for ONLY $20

Local Deal: McAlister’s Deli $20 of food for ONLY $10

(DP)

Operation Christmas Child Boxes Complete!

Tomorrow I turn in my Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes. It’s been so much fun working on these and thinking about the children that will receive them. I pray that both children will come to understand the love that God has for them!

I am especially excited about participating this year because I paid for shipping online…which means I can track the boxes and see where they end up. How awesome is that?!

Before I closed up and labeled my boxes, I took one last picture to share with you. I’ve been talking about how it is possible to save money while giving and so I wanted to share my final count. Keep in mind, there is not just one right way to save! I included items my mom gave me, ordered free samples, got paid for surveys, used coupons to get freebies and used coupons to stretch other parts of the budget to allow for some out of pocket spending.  

Here is what I ended up with:

DailyFeats.com // Rewards for Doing Good

Wow, check out this new site I just learned about today!

It is DailyFeats.com, a site that rewards you for doing good things. You simply create a free account then click on all the “Feats” you accomplish in a day. Feats may be as simple as going to bed on time or as heartwarming as reading to a child. Each feat is worth a different number of points. These points rack up to earn you money saving coupons at local retailers and restaurants (you can search by location). Or you can purchase Premium Rewards which are gift cards to places like Starbucks, Best Buy, Home Depot and more. You also have the option to donate your points to charity.

There are other interesting aspects of the site I still need to explore. There are challenges to complete certain feats that work toward a common goal…I think you get bonus points for those. You also can interact with others on the site by creating teams and encouraging each others’ feats. When you check in a feat, you have the option to share what you did with the rest of the DailyFeats community. Often, the website will show you others’ posts as well. This is site that promotes and encourages positive living. I like it!

I have only just started using this site and already I have more than 275 points. A $10 gift card to Starbucks or Best Buy is 5000 points. It won’t take long to rack up enough points to get one! The only restriction I see so far is that you can only purchase one starred premium reward per 30 days. So keep that in mind before you start clicking away for points!

Note: I always like to warn you of the time wasters. And this can definitely eat up time. I suggest setting aside 20 minutes up front to look through all the feats and find the ones you do daily or weekly. You can click on “Plan It” under the feat to select it for future use. Then each day when you login on the main page, you will see all your planned feats listed together. This will save you time rather than typing in or searching for all the things you do.

Remember that time is more important than money. While this can be a quick and easy way to earn gift cards, it doesn’t have to take over! Have fun doing good! J

OCC // Deals & Update

This week there are a few deals that may help you pack your Operation Christmas Child shoe box. But first, I wanted to share something really exciting that happened to me today…

I scanned my CVS card at the magic coupon machine (every CVS has a coupon machine near the entrance…scan your card and you could get Extra Care Bucks or some really great coupons!). Today I got a coupon that stated: “Pick up a Med D brochure at the Pharmacy and get a $5 gift card.”

Could it really be that simple? Get a brochure AND 5 bucks?! So I walked over the pharmacy to ask. At first the guy said, “Well it’s for Medicare part D and you aren’t a senior citizen…” I handed him the coupon and nicely pointed out the words “pick up” and it didn’t say “enroll”. And so he gave it to me! How great is that?! I love CVS.

So now I have $5 extra I can spend on Operation Christmas Child stuff! J I love how God always supplies the resources to do His work. (By the way – I prayed for favor before I went shopping today. Prayer works!)

If you are also wanting to pack a shoe box or give extra this holiday season, be sure to check my previous posts to get ideas about saving money while giving. And remember to always keep things in perspective! J

Now for the deals:

Operation Christmas Child Update

This week I scanned the sales and coupon match-ups but I didn’t find anything significant to note on here. Hopefully by now you are all getting a good idea of how you can save money AND be able to give to a cause like Operation Christmas Child.

One idea I did not mention was to work with other people who are participating in the cause. My mom’s church is also collecting for Operation Christmas Child. However, instead of asking people to bring in already filled boxes, they ask for donations of items and volunteers will assemble the boxes using those donations. This can work really well if you have people shopping those rock-bottom deals all through the year.

My mom had several bags of OCC items. She is awesome at stocking up on those deals! Many of the things she said her church had plenty of already. So she sent them home with me. I’m excited! I can put what she gave me with the free items I’ve collected and possibly fill TWO boxes instead of one.

Mom gave me tons of school supplies:
pens, crayons, markers, notebooks and more.

The only other cost I have to consider is shipping for each box. At $7 a piece, $14 is not that much and definitely not something I am worried about. But, I like to challenge myself to find creative ways to cover extra costs, no matter how small.  Here are some of the ways I plan to pay for shipping:

OCC // HOT Deals!!

On Sunday I posted some advertized sales and coupon match-ups for items appropriate to pack in an Operation Christmas Child shoe box. But today, I found even better deals to share with you!

I had noticed on one of my favorite couponing sites that WalMart had a bunch of freebie deals going this week. So I decided to give it a try. Here is what I bought for only $8.20!!

Obviously not all these things are Operation Christmas Child items. We needed the trash bags, the sunscreen was on clearance (plus I had a coupon) and the Old Spice body wash will be donated to another cause. The rest of the items I can divide up between an OCC shoe box (or two?) and donating to either a local charity or the Free Box sitting in our church lobby (I’ll explain that in another post).

Here is how YOU can score similar deals at WalMart this week:

OCC // Weekly Deals: October 9 - 15

Yesterday I posted about Operation Christmas Child and how it is one of my favorite ways to give during the holiday season. I realize that for many this time of year is very hard, for many reasons, but one being finances. It is sometimes difficult to find room in the budget for gifts for family, so the idea of giving to other organizations and causes can be daunting. But it doesn’t have to be!

I’ve already written a couple of posts about Giving on aBudget, so be sure to check it out. I will also be posting each week a list of deals at select stores that can help pack an Operation Christmas Child shoe box for cheap.  I hope it helps you…but I will also be looking for more ideas FROM you! So please be sure to post in the comments any deals or ideas you have. J

OCC National Collection Week starts November 14, so we have a few weeks to get the best deals. Start out by setting aside a certain amount you can afford to spend on the project. Here are some things to keep in mind:

Giving on a Budget - Part Two

Earlier in the week I posted Part One of this series. If you missed it, click HERE.
These are some more ideas for giving when you are on a tight budget:

Giving on a Budget - Part One

My husband and I love being able to give. On a tight budget, I sometimes feel so limited. We always budget for tithing because it is part of our love and honor toward God. Then after all our necessities have been budgeted, we set aside gift money for family birthdays and special occasions like father’s/mother’s day and Christmas. I also like to include gifts for close friends when possible.

Sometimes there just isn’t enough room in the budget for a gift category, so I’ve learned to get creative. Turns out we don’t need to spend much money to be able to give!

Since Christmas is about 3 months away, I wanted to share some ways I’ve beat the budget. I will be posting this in two parts, so be sure to check back for more ideas.