Saving on a Shoestring Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Cha-Ching on a Shoestring™

Saving on a Shoestring Update: Mission Mini Van COMPLETE!

November 2nd, 2011 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Would you like to have these great deals delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to our email digest. Or if you use a feed reader, subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by!

I took a brief hiatus from posting my monthly Saving on a Shoestring updates, but that doesn’t mean the savings has ended!

In fact, I have some BIG NEWS to share with you all:

Image Credit

MISSION MINI VAN HAS BEEN COMPLETED!

(Ok, that’s not our mini van–but wouldn’t it be cool if it was?!)

Who knew I’d be so excited to say I was the owner of a mini van?!

My husband did all sorts of research over the past several months. We were quickly going to need to replace my husband’s jeep since it was soon going to cost more in repairs than it was worth. We had saved up almost 100% of our goal, but soon realized that if we wanted a van that was reliable and not ancient, we were going to have to pay a little more out of pocket than we had planned.

We tossed around the idea of getting a loan for a while, but when it came down to it, we knew that we had worked so hard to get to this point that we wanted to stick with our original plan. We happened to have some money that wasn’t earmarked toward anything yet so we decided to put that toward the van.

We were pleased to find a great deal on a well-kept 2005 Honda Odyssey and a dealership that would give us a nice trade-in amount for our Jeep. Wes also was able to talk the dealer down from their original price to a price that we felt comfortable.

Now it’s time to decide what our next mission should be. Any suggestions?!

***

And here are my latest numbers: Remember that you can download your own copy of the Cha-Ching Christmas Club Savings Tracker (click on ‘File’ and then ‘Download’) and then make it all your own.

Project Cruise 2012: We are up to 51%.
Mission Mini Van: COMPLETE
Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: I am at 100%!

*****

How about you? Have you been saving and scrimping toward a reward or are you a part of the Cha-Ching! Christmas Club? Then leave a comment or a link below sharing your savings update. And then PLEASE encourage each other by leaving comments here or on the blogs listed. If we work on this together, it will be so much more fun!

AND just to add to all the fun going on around here, I will give a $5 Amazon gift code to one person who leaves a direct link to their savings post or a comment sharing an update on their savings. (I figure it’s just one more way to help you save on that shoestring!)

The giveaway will end Monday, November 7, 2011 at 10 a.m. EST. I’ll randomly select the winning comment or link. Winner will be notified by email and listed on this site.

August Saving on a Shoestring Update (Share Your Savings for a Chance to Win!)

August 1st, 2011 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Would you like to have these great deals delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to our email digest. Or if you use a feed reader, subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by!

It’s the beginning of a new month and that means the next installment of my Saving on a Shoestring updates and a chance for you to win an Amazon gift card!

In case you aren’t familiar with my Saving on a Shoestring series, it’s my monthly summary of how we are pinching our pennies and tucking some away for a future reward. At this point in life, we have three fun goals:

To save 100% cash for a cruise next year to celebrate our 10th anniversary (been saving for about a year and a half now).

To save 100% cash for a mini van to replace our 1995 Camry (been saving for over 5 years for this one).

To set aside reward points and rebates to cut our Christmas spending out of pocket to $50 or less.

Here are my latest numbers. Remember that you can download your own copy of the Cha-Ching Christmas Club Savings Tracker (click on ‘File’ and then ‘Download’) and then make it all your own.

Project Cruise 2012: We are up to 50%. (Halfway there!)
Mission Mini Van: We are at 87%.
Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: I am at 73%.

*****

The giveaway will end Monday, August 1, 2011 at 10 a.m. EST. I’ll randomly select the winning comment or link. Winner will be notified by email and listed on this site.

Note: If you have a blog, here is the HTML code for the Saving on a Shoestring button above:

June Saving on a Shoestring Update (Share Your Savings for a Chance to Win!)

June 2nd, 2011 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Would you like to have these great deals delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to our email digest. Or if you use a feed reader, subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by!

It’s the beginning of a new month and that means the next installment of my Saving on a Shoestring updates and a chance for you to win an Amazon gift card!

To save 100% cash for a cruise next year to celebrate our 10th anniversary (been saving for about a year and a half now).

To save 100% cash for a mini van to replace our 1995 Camry (been saving for over 5 years for this one).

To set aside reward points and rebates to cut our Christmas spending out of pocket to $50 or less.

Project Cruise 2012: We are up to 44%.
Mission Mini Van: We are at 86%.
Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: I am at 68%.

*****

The giveaway will end Monday, June 6, 2011 at 10 a.m. EST. I’ll randomly select the winning comment or link. Winner will be notified by email and listed on this site.

Note: If you have a blog, here is the HTML code for the Saving on a Shoestring button above:

May Saving on a Shoestring Update (Share Your Savings Updates!)

May 2nd, 2011 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Would you like to have these great deals delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to our email digest. Or if you use a feed reader, subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by!

It’s the first day (er…second, actually) of the month and that means the next installment of my Saving on a Shoestring updates and a chance for you to win an Amazon gift card!

To save 100% cash for a cruise next year to celebrate our 10th anniversary (been saving for about a year and a half now).

To save 100% cash for a mini van to replace our 1995 Camry (been saving for over 5 years for this one).

To set aside reward points and rebates to cut our Christmas spending out of pocket to $50 or less.

Project Cruise 2012: We are up to 42%.
Mission Mini Van: We are at 83%.
Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: I am at 54%.

*****

How about you? Have you been saving and scrimping toward a reward or are you a part of the Cha-Ching! Christmas Club? Then leave a comment or a link below sharing your savings update.

The giveaway will end Friday, May 6 at 10 a.m. EST. I’ll randomly select the winning comment or link. Winner will be notified by email and listed on this site.

Note: If you have a blog, here is the HTML code for the Saving on a Shoestring button above:

Saving on a Shoestring Update (Share Your Savings Updates!)

March 1st, 2011 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Would you like to have these great deals delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to our email digest. Or if you use a feed reader, subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by!

It’s the first day of the month and that means the next installment of my Saving on a Shoestring updates and a chance for you to win an Amazon gift card!

But first, may I just take a moment to put in a plug for online banking? Not only does it help me keep track of the funds in each of these accounts, but it’s a great way to see how our budget is holding up at a glance. I typically am a pen and paper kind of girl, but have used online banking since the early years of our marriage and love it!

Project Cruise 2012: We are up to 35%.
Mission Mini Van: We are at 76%.
Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: I am at 37%.

*****

The giveaway will end Friday,March 4 at 10 a.m. EST. I’ll randomly select the winning comment or link. Winner will be notified by email and listed on this site.

Note: If you have a blog, here is the HTML code for the Saving on a Shoestring button above:

Saving on a Shoestring Update (Share Your Savings Updates!)

February 1st, 2011 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Would you like to have these great deals delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to our email digest. Or if you use a feed reader, subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by!

One of my goals this year is to post a Saving on a Shoestring update on the first day of every month. So, although I just posted an update last week, I am going to be a girl of my word and post a new update today!

And may I just say that saving money is FUN?! Sometimes it feels like the end will never come, but then one day you turn a corner and see that all this saving and scrimping is beginning to add up! (Of course, there are days when I’d rather just blow all that saved money on a trip to the Bahamas. Just sayin’.)

Project Cruise 2012: We are up to 32%.
Mission Mini Van: We are at 72%.
Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: I am at 9%.

*****

AND just to add to all the fun going on around here, I will give a $5 Amazon gift code to one person who leaves a direct link to their savings post or a comment sharing an update on their savings. (I figure it’s just one more way to help you save on that shoestring!)

The giveaway will end Friday, February 4 at 10 a.m. EST. I’ll use Random.org to select the winning comment or link. Winner will be notified by email and listed on this site.

Note: If you have a blog, here is the HTML code for the Saving on a Shoestring button above:

Saving on a Shoestring Update: Introducing Mission Mini Van (Share Your Savings Updates!)

January 24th, 2011 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Would you like to have these great deals delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to our email digest. Or if you use a feed reader, subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by!

Ok, so I know it’s already three weeks into January and I’m just now posting my Saving on a Shoestring update. I have no excuses other than I’ve been working on lots of other fun stuff!

I have something new and exciting that I plan on adding to this year’s Saving on a Shoestring updates. My husband and I have been steadily putting money away for a new car ever since we paid off our last car about six years ago. We did take a break during the lean months of Wes’s unemployment, but picked right back up once he was back to work.

We have been drooling over wanting a mini van ever since we realized how much stuff a baby requires when you travel anywhere. {Seriously. What’s up with that?!} But the time has never been right since both of our vehicles were still working well and we hadn’t reached our savings goal yet.

And now the end is in site!

We are on track to make our purchase sometime this year. (Not to mention our vehicles are 13 and 15 years old, so we better be!) I thought it would be fun to share this part of our savings journey with you all so we can celebrate this milestone together.

I figured we could call it: Mission Mini Van! {grin}

So here is where we are at with each of our savings updates:

Project Cruise 2012: We are up to 28%!
Mission Mini Van: We are at 67%!
Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: I am at 8%!

I am still using my handy dandy Cha-Ching Christmas Club Savings Tracker and love it! Remember that you can download your own copy (click on ‘File’ and then ‘Download’) and then make it all your own.

*****

The giveaway will end January 28 at 10 a.m. EST. I’ll randomly select the winning comment or link. Winner will be notified by email and listed on this site.

Note: If you have a blog, here is the HTML code for the Saving on a Shoestring button above:

Saving on a Shoestring Update (Share Your Savings Updates!)

November 9th, 2010 By Kaley
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I will make a small commission if you click and make a purchase.

Would you like to have these great deals delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to our email digest. Or if you use a feed reader, subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for stopping by!

It’s the beginning of another month and that means another Saving on a Shoestring update and GIVEAWAY is due!!

I have quite a few new readers around here who found us through Saving with 6abc, so I figured I should do a little re-cap about what Saving on a Shoestring is all about.

I have had two Savings Projects going on all year this year. The first is my Cha-Ching! Christmas Club savings from rewards sites, surveys, and rebates. I reached my savings goal a couple of months ago, but have still been adding to it for an opportunity to be even more generous this year!

My second savings goal is a little something that I like to call Project Cruise 2012. I will spare you the details, but the bottom line is this: We went on a cruise for our honeymoon. I fell in love. (With cruises…I was already in love with Wes!) My dream in life is to go on another cruise. I decided to start saving my pennies so we could go on another cruise to celebrate our 10 year anniversary in 2012.

(If that’s not enough info to suit your fancy, you can read all the rest of the details here about why I’m saving for a cruise instead of saving for braces.)

If YOU are a member of the Cha-Ching! Christmas Club or have been saving your pennies towards a special goal, be sure to leave a comment or link up below! I’ll be giving one person who shares their savings update a $10 Amazon gift code! (I decided to raise the amount of the gift card through December to help someone with a little Christmas shopping!)

So, here’s the scoop:

Project Cruise 2012: We are up to 19%! Woo Hoo!

Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: 100%!

*****

AND just to add to all the fun going on around here, I will give a $10 Amazon gift code to one person who leaves a direct link to their savings post or a comment sharing an update on their savings. (I figure it’s just one more way to help you save on that shoestring!)

The giveaway will end November 12, 2010 at 10 a.m. EST. I’ll use Random.org to select the winning comment or link. Winner will be notified by email and listed on this site.

Note: If you have a blog, here is the HTML code for the Saving on a Shoestring button above: