12 Days of Savings

Now that the holidays are in full force I’ve decided instead of posting about the “12 days of Christmas” theme, I’d run a “12 Days of Savings” theme instead (completely logical coming from a personal finance blog, of course!)

Day 1

On the first day of savings my true love gave to me…

a gift card to JCPenney’s…… (it sort of rhymes with “tree”)

I know many people think gift cards are lame gifts, but I still love getting them and am just fine with giving them. I look at it this way, most people I purchase gifts for can afford the items I buy them; they aren’t in desperate need of something. So instead of guessing what they’d like to receive, especially for those who are just difficult to buy for, giving a gift card to a favorite store is a good alternative.

I receive gift cards to some of my favorite places every holiday and am truly grateful for them. For example, I often receive a $20 gift card to Starbucks which equates to a $20 savings on my end. In my mind, a well thought out gift card = savings.

Worst case scenario: you get a gift card for a store you don’t have nearby or don’t shop in. Sell it on Gift Card Granny or eBay. It’s that easy.

And if gift cards just seem too impersonal, give one with a small personalized gift like a favorite book.

The countdown to Christmas has begun!

How are you handling your shopping list this year? Does it get more difficult every year? Or do you have a new tradition that limits gifts?

A Lazy Day

I’m one of the lucky gal’s who gets today off. As a substitute teacher, I  pretty much get every national holiday off, a week for spring break, three weeks of winter vacation, and a full 12-week summer vacation. Not bad, considering of those 180 working days I’m home by 3pm. Of course, I don’t get paid on my days off, but that’s a whole other story. So, today I’m spending my day relaxing in the warm California sun. Oh, yeah! Our temp’s have zoomed back up to 77 degrees, making me realize why I pay so much for living in sunny Southern California; the weather!

This weekend I not only helped my husband with a client project, finished 3 school projects, but also had the luxury of spending Sunday and most of today doing absolutely nothing. My favorite thing to do, out side of bike riding (I got to do this as well this weekend). I’ve decided that I can shrug off the guilt of doing nothing because I accomplished plenty on my three days off. But, that brings me to making the most of a 3-day weekend without the guilt. It all boils down to time management:

• Saturday: Since my husband manages his own business, he often has to catch up on projects on the weekends.  I helped him for a few hours. Results: completed one project, got paid.
• Sunday AM: Skype meeting with my brother who is starting his own business. Not only is he 12 hours ahead of me time wise, he also has different work days, Sunday being one of them. Results: finalized his logo, he should pay soon. (He’s my bro, so I can’t harass him too much!) Since I had to wake up early for the meeting, I had enough time to finish 2 school projects. Results: Two down, one more to go.
• Sunday PM: Had time to throw in a couple of loads of laundry while my husband cleaned the car and bikes (my Valentine’s Day gift, I think). Went to a friend’s for an early B-B-Q via a bike ride. Wrapped up the evening with a movie at home and a beer. Results: My do nothing time! Minus the laundry, of course.
• Monday AM: Sleep in! Finished the final school project. Will hop on my bike later today and head out for my 2-hour class. Results: I finished everything without being pressed for time and stressed out.

Since today is a holiday for many people, I intend to catch up on some pleasurable reading and not worry about the remainder of the week’s impending work.

How are you spending your 3-day weekend? Did you get to do something romantic or plan a weekend get-away? Are you one of the lucky people who get’s every national holiday off?

Only during the holiday season does my kitchen fill up with candy, cookies, and chocolate. The remainder of the year, it’s well stocked with beer, cereal, oranges, pasta, and maybe some spring mix salad. None of these items, of course, are in any particular order. I don’t go out of my way to purchase cookies or chocolate in the snack aisle of the supermarket. Yet, once the holiday season is officially finished, I have these chocolate urges that are insanely intense! Again, during the months between February and November, these chocolate urges are less likely to happen, or are easily quenched with a low-calorie hot chocolate drink.

Where does this “I must have chocolate” sensation come from? Through gifts I receive from collegues, friends, or left over candy I purchased as gifts to acquaintances. The money I save on making home made gifts where chocolate is used, may have repercussions later on down the road. I’m not over weight, so it’s not necessarily the cost of health care I’m concerned about, it’s more the cost of replacing pants that no longer snap. Or perhaps it’s the additional time I must now spend losing those extra chocolate pounds that are hanging around my mid-section to my derriere. My time is worth money, and my time is limited!

So while trying to save money on edible gifts, I might instead have to resort to making gifts like bath salts. This would be a safe option since I can’t see myself gobbling up this particular item. And it would no longer require me to purchase the additional dark chocolate chips, or Hershey’s Kisses needed to make my hot mocha mix or small gift bags. I could sail through the holidays without a chocolate chip passing over my lips.

I would only have to resolve the problem of what to do with the candy I receive. I could re-gift my chocolates to others and save money. The only problem I foresee with this is many of the gifts I receive and give hover within a small group of friends, they would easily know I re-gifted! I could donate my chocolate items before I ever cracked open a box of Chukar Cherries, my most recent craving. I could let my husband eat it all. He normally grazes and picks through the good stuff, then tosses the rest when he’s finished. If my will-power was stronger, I could accept this option. Or, I could accidentally forget to take my gifts home and leave them behind. By the time I came back after a 3-week break, they’d be stale and completely undesirable.

In the mean time, I have to work my butt off (literally). I’ve dedicated myself to Well Heeled Blog’s 30-Day challenge (see the side bar at the right). If my Jillian Michael’s DVD comes in the mail  soon, I’ll be able to catch-up and get back into shape. So the true cost of chocolate may be more than the $15 I spent on edible treats for others!

My chocolate equation:   $15 for chocolate + (30 hours of exercise x $40 per hour for my time spent exercising) = $1,215 the actual cost of my chocolate consumption

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas to all! Since this is a day off for me, I’ll quickly list a few of my favorite sites that I visit frequently. Indulge yourselves and have a wonderful day:

• Sunset Magazine: Living in the west was never so beautiful!
• Pioneer Woman: She lives a completely different lifestyle to mine, so reading her blog is refreshing and foreign sometimes.
• Money Funk: A Southern California girl like me.
• Treehugger: Makes living green seems easy.
• Cycle Chic: Bicycling is fashionable in Copenhagen!
• RainyDaySaver: An east coast blogger.

Enjoy this holiday season!

Gift Card Holder from Cardoftheweek.com

Every person has their own opinion about gift cards. But to me, I love them! The way I see them is that they are cash gifts that I can sock away in savings. Of course, this only applies to gift cards that I will actually use. Receiving a gift card to a store I don’t shop in is pointless, obviously. But more times than not, the gift cards I receive are either American Express Gift Cards, which can be used just like a credit card, or gift cards to Starbucks, a place I visit daily.

How does that work, putting the value of a gift card into my savings account? Let me explain;  as soon as I receive, say, a Starbucks gift card, I decide if it’s an amount that I can transfer from my regular checking into savings. If it’s not, I place that Starbucks gift card some place safe and will use it only when I can transfer the value of the gift card from my checking into my savings. When I have the cash to transfer, I then use the gift card that week toward my drinks since its a regular expense for me. I’m basically supplementing my spending habits with the gift card.

Today, I went shopping for Christmas dinner. Instead of using my debit card to pay for the entire grocery bill, I used a $50 AMEX gift card. This is an expense that would have normally come out of my checking account. When I got home, I then transferred that $50 from my checking account into my savings. Gift cards help me (or force me!) to save money.

I relate these gift cards to when I was a kid and received cash as a gift. Many times, a majority of the cash would be deposited into a savings account. The remainder I would spend on a small item that I really wanted. Since I’ve become an adult, I rarely receive cash gifts and instead receive gift cards. And, in California at least, gift cards don’t expire. Some do charge a small fee if they go unused, but it is nominal and I usually use the gift card before this happens.

A few times that I have received gift cards that I don’t use, I’ve been able to sell them on eBay.com for slightly less than what they’re worth. Another alternative to unwanted gift cards, giftcardrescue.com. I don’t have any experience with this company, but it’s worth a look if you end up with unwanted gift cards. They pay between 60% and 80% of the value of the card.

Do you like to receive or give gift cards as presents? Do you have any experience with giftcardrescue.com? Do gift cards alter your spending habits?