With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I have the perfect giveaway – Ghirardelli Chocolate Bars! Who doesn’t like a little chocolate in their life? A simple, sweet indulgence that’s easy on your pocket book, and in moderation, very good for your heart.

Did you know that chocolate has health benefits? Not only does chocolate boost your endorphins, making you feel good, its antioxidants protect you from free radicals. Chocolate can also lower your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The great thing about the Ghirardelli bars is that you can break them off in bite-size pieces; perfect for moments of indulgence, yet small enough to keep your diet in check.

I’m giving away a total of 6 beautiful 3.5oz packages which include their new Gourmet Milk ‘Sea Salt Escape’, ‘Creamy Devotion’ and my personal favorite ‘Coconut Rendezvous’. The lucky winner will receive two bars of each flavor! All you got to do is one of the following to be entered: Like Me on Facebook, Follow Me on Twitter, Like the Blog post or Tweet about the give-away using the Rafflecopter widget you see below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

When the responsibility of finding the best way to manage the household finances is in your hands, it can be a life-long learning process. As a couple or a family, everyone will have their strengths and weaknesses. It’s easy for you and your partner to fall into a routine of assuming the roles that you are most comfortable with to help manage the daily needs of running a household. But it’s important that, as a team, you both remain vigilant to changes and opportunities, both big and small.

While major events like buying a house, purchasing a car, going to college, or visiting a hospital might seem to have the greatest impact on household finances, it’s really the day-to-day details that count. The ability to make good decisions about spending and saving consistently is what will lead to better results for you and your family.

There are plenty of opportunities to needlessly throw away money every day. The plethora of bills and expenses can be daunting, and you may find yourself spending without thinking. However, it is truly worth the effort of reviewing your monthly costs and seeking out better deals and more opportunities to save.

It’s easy to get complacent with your roles in the household. However, you might be missing out on plenty of savings that will be vital in the long-run. That’s why it never hurts to have someone else be your second pair of eyes once in a while when looking over your monthly expenditures. As a team, you can help each other find new ways and opportunities to better your financial situation. Can we find a cheaper internet provider? Is there a better cell phone plan out there for us? Do we actually need the cable TV package that we currently have?

A good place to start looking for savings each month is your car insurance. Because it’s usually easy to switch to a new provider without incurring any extra costs, it’s certainly in your best interest to seek out a better deal. Then, check out other household expenses. In no time, you’ll be saving a few hundred dollars each month while only expending a little extra energy.

Have you compared car insurance lately?

Goal: Save 10%

This year my goals were fairly simple; save money ($6,000 for the year), continue to grow my blog (375 readers daily), and ride my bike (1,000 miles this year). Using the SMART technique, I came up with a plan to meet each target goal. I also added in paying off the car, but that goal is soclose to being completed, I almost can’t count it as a “New Year’s” goal. So how am I doing at day 31?

Biking

One month into the new year I’m finding that riding my bike 1,000 miles this year is going to be a piece of cake. I’m super motivated since I’ve started a bike blog, Bike Lane Living, and the weather has been sublime. It helps that this is something I have complete control over; it’s up to me to wake up 15-30 minutes earlier than usual and it’s up to me to psyche myself into “You gotta ride, the weather is terrific!” There’s really few, if any, outside factors working against me to meet this goal. Progress: Ahead of the game.

Blog

So starting another blog this year may be splitting my time and focus in two and could detract from my initial goal. However, I’m realizing I need to outsource some of the “busy” work it takes to “run” a blog. But of course, some of you know this already! I’ve enlisted the help of a couple of colleagues to help me network more often; submit to carnivals, comment on blogs I just don’t have time to catch up on, etc. This should assist me in meeting my blog goal and expanding my readership. So far, my page views have been consistently improving and this is a good sign. Progress: On target.

Saving Money

I just wrote an article the other day mentioning some strategies for those of us (i.e. ME) that need mind tricks to SAVE MORE MONEY! If finances were completely up to me, I think I’d be on schedule (Ah, Um…I need to save so pay me more! Or, hey, we don’t really need that, do we?). But let’s face it; outside factors influence how much I can save and what I have to work with. Yet, sticking with a 10% savings plan, I think I’ll be able to play catch-up in the next couple of  months. I’ve also been good at stashing the Lincolns in my Mason Jar, so hopefully that will add up to some extra green by March. At only $200 saved so far this year, I’d say I have a bit of catching up to do! Progress: Behind.

If only saving were as easy as biking, I’d be doing great. I need to break the cycle and save more because this is becoming a recurring theme (and post)!

How are your New Year’s goals or resolutions going so far?

I love my cats and usually they’re quite inexpensive minus a freak visit to the vet. But one thing pet owners probably don’t take into consideration when it comes to pet costs are accidents. I’m not talking about medical accidents, I’m talking about ACCIDENTS that result in destruction around the home.

For instance, my cats seems to prefer to barf up their hairballs on the carpets instead of the laminate flooring that covers three-quarters of my house. Once a year I have to have my carpets cleaned professionally due to cat vomit; cost: $120. We purposely have a light weight blanket over our bedspread for exactly these kinds of mishaps. Over the past year, the stains have sunk in and just won’t come out. Sometime this year, I’m sure I’ll replace it; cost: $35. Every now and then, my cats get into a bit of trouble and knock over a trinket on a counter top. Those trinkets are usually under the $20 range, but that can add up over time; cost:who knows.

It’s just not cats, though. Just the other day I overheard someone describing her puppy’s destructive behavior, chewing up shoes, books, and who knows what else.

Well just last night, my cats decided to pull a doosey of an accident. One of them (and I’m not sure which one) knocked over a fairly heavy bar stool (I’m thinking it’s my fat cat Fred) and destroyed it. It landed on its side and broke the top of the back off like a twig. It’s a shame because this particular bar stool is $300. Yep. That’s the true cost of pets I suppose.

If you have pets, how much do you estimate you spend annually on pet destruction?

Saving money doesn’t come naturally to me; I have to work hard at it. According to the US Department of Commerce the national personal savings rate is about 6% which is an improvement considering it dipped below 0% in 2001. However, I think most people would agree with me when I say Americans need some strategies to bump their savings rate up because we can do better than 6%! Since I know saving money isn’t easy, I’ve concocted some mind bending tricks to make me save more of my money.

Pocket those Percentages.

One way I’ve been able to stash some extra cash is to set aside a percentage of my income. Using percents makes it easier for me to feel like I’m accomplishing my savings goal, especially since I live on a fluctuating income. I set aside 10%  percent from every source of income I receive and apply it towards savings. I auto debit the amount from my pay check making it easy for me to not count it as “income.” For all other sources of income, I automatically move 10% of the total check to my savings account.

If I had a set amount, I’m not sure I’d be able to meet it every month and I’d become discouraged. Percentages work no matter what my income might be in any given month.

Don’t Spend the Lincoln’s (or Benjamin’s, or Jeffersons, etc.)

I came across this tip on another website (of course I don’t remember which one!) that used a mind trick to save some extra cash; select a bill of choice and make a commitment to NOT spend it. I rarely have cash on hand, however, my goal is to save every Lincoln I come across. Five bucks here and there will eventually add up. After three to six months, my goal is to deposit the total into my savings account. This might motivate me to use cash more often. Of course the objective here is to increase your savings account, so place the cash where you can forget about it for a while!

Save those Gifts

Birthday’s, anniversaries, and even holidays are great ways to boost your savings. Deposit cash gifts into your savings account and turn gift cards into cash by cashing them out, or selling them. If the gift card is from a place you normally shop, save them for future use and stash the cash value in your savings account. If you don’t feel comfortable turning a gift into cash, tell family and friends that you’re working hard to ramp up your savings and would prefer gifts that help accomplish that goal.

Find Motivation

Another great way to get motivated to save more money is by using an online company that offer rewards for saving such as SaveUp. SaveUp wants to make saving money fun and offers daily give-aways to help motivate their members. Setting up an account earns you points that you use to “play” a game for a prize. Prizes include cash, bills paid, cars, shopping sprees, and many other options. Just a warning: SaveUp is a little addicting.

Do you use mind tricks to save more money?