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April.

Isn’t that a lovely word?  It means spring is here and those long winter months are over.  (We are actually supposed to have near 80 degree weather on Easter this year–that’s a first for me!)

I really like April.  A lot.

The start of a new month also means another Saving on a Shoestring update!  How’s it going for you guys?  Are you sticking to your budgets and finding ways to save for the future?

I have some fun news for you all.  Sharon from Good, True, and Beautiful has some mad skillz with Excel.  I do not.  She very generously offered to help me create a spreadsheet for our Cha-Ching! Christmas Club.

I LOVE IT!

If you are like me, you have been keeping track using a paper and pencil–welcome to 2010, people!  This spreadsheet gives you a place to keep track of any money coming in from any ‘free money’ sites.  There is also a spot to keep track of rebates.  You can track when you sent the rebate in and the amount received.

And get this–put away your calculators because the spreadsheet will add it all up for you!   How cool is that?  (Ok, so those of you with any Excel abilities whatsoever are laughing at me right now.  I can take it.  I’m STILL excited!)

Click here to download the file.  You will need to click on ‘File’ then ‘Download’ to save it to your computer.  Then edit it according to your liking.  Sharon has all those crazy formulas already in place for you.  She’s so smart.

(By the way, if you aren’t already one of Sharon’s readers, you should be!  She’ll make you laugh and she’ll make you cry (in a good way, of coure!), and she’ll inspire you with her fabulous photography and lessons on things like how to make mozzarella cheese.  She is also offering to help you out if you have a blog and are considering a move to WordPress!  Find out more here.  And no–Sharon did NOT ask me to say this!)

Note: Stay tuned for our next Saving on a Shoestring update on Thursday!  I will once again be giving away a $5 Amazon gift code to one of you who links up or shares a comment with an update on how you are making progress with Saving on a Shoestring!  (If you are new, you can read more about it here.)

Thanks to all who joined our Saving on a Shoestring challenge!  The winner of the $5 Amazon gift code is:

Megan (megs193@xxxx)

I have e-mailed you with information on how to claim your prize.

Look for another Saving on a Shoestring update and giveaway at the end of March!

Drum Roll Please.

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for.

(Ok–maybe you haven’t been waiting for it, but I have!)

I’ve been busy tabulating and calculating and using my highly scientific method of record keeping (a.k.a. pencil and paper), and I now have my new February totals for Saving on a Shoestring (otherwise known as Project Cruise 2012) AND my Cha-Ching! Christmas Club savings.

I have set a goal amount of money to save for each category, so I will share the percentage saved for each one.

Here we go:

Project Cruise 2012: We are at 7%, Ladies and Gents!  Only 93 % to go!

Cha-Ching! Christmas Club: I am at 11%!  (This is from two rebates, 2 Pinecone surveys, Swag Bucks, and MyPoints.  I am working on sharing some info on some other ‘free money’ sites with you soon!)

It is really encouraging to see how far we have come and how all this saving is actually working toward some really fun goals.  If you haven’t joined up with this monthly update, you are welcome to at any time!

*****

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 tomorrow, March 2 at 10 p.m. EST. I’ll use Random.org to select the winning comment. Winner will be notified by email and listed on this site.

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

<p><a href=” https://chachingonashoestring.com/category/saving-on-a-shoestring/” title=”Saving on a Shoestring”><img src=”https://chachingonashoestring.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Saving-on-a-Shoestring-button-1252.PNG” alt=”Saving on a Shoestring” /></a></p>

I am so excited that it’s the end of the month.

Not because February is one of my least favorite months (how can a month with only 28 days feel so looong?).

I’m excited because the end of the month means it’s time for my next installment of Saving on a Shoestring!

I can’t wait to tally up our savings this month and determine how much money we are able to set aside for Project Cruise 2012!  I’m also planning on adding up all my savings from my various free money sites and sharing the percentage I’ve raised for the Cha-Ching! Christmas Club.  I’m hoping that by keeping track each month, I will continue to motivate myself to keep plugging away.

Would you like to join me? Whether or not you’ve already joined the Cha-Ching! Christmas Club or Saving on a Shoestring, you’re welcome to at any time.  I say, “The more the merrier!”

I’ll be sharing my latest update with you all on Monday, March 1. And to make it more fun, I’ve decided to give away a $5 Amazon.com gift code to one person who links up a blog post or leaves a comment with their latest savings update (on Monday’s post).  In fact, I’ll hold this giveway for each monthly update this year.  (Just one more way to keep saving on that shoestring!)

See you on Monday!

ATTENTION BLOGGERS:

• If you have a blog, then you can copy and paste the “Saving on a Shoestring” button in your post or contact me and I will send you the HTML code.

• If you have a WordPress blog, I have even more good news.  My web designer, Charlie, from Solution Three has made the Cha-Ching Ticker (the cash register in my left sidebar) available for you to use!  If you’d like, you can opt to use it to keep track of the percentage of your savings as I plan to do!  Just e-mail me at kaleyandwes @ chachingonashoestring.com (remove spaces) and I will send you the file.

Are you like me?  Are you the type of person that needs to be energized by your goals?

I can set goals until I am blue in the face, but I often find it’s difficult to follow through on them if there is not some sort of reward at the end.

This is exactly why I am beginning this new feature called Saving on a Shoestring. Most importantly, I want to encourage you to put your savings goals in place.  Secondly, I think that motivating yourself with some type of reward is a great way to help yourself stick to your savings goals.

Here’s a general idea of our plan:

• Wes and I have set a budget in place that includes putting money aside for present and future needs.  (You can see more of what our budget looks like here.)  Thankfully, we are currently debt-free!

• We have agreed to put aside a very small percentage of our income toward a certain reward.  We feel that by rewarding ourselves  somewhere down the road, we will be even more inspired to meet our current budget.

• If we ever find ourselves struggling to meet our budget, we will of course put a hold on putting money aside for this reward.

• If we ever find extra money in our budget, we will not use it toward this reward.  It may be tempting, but we want to feel like we worked hard to reach this goal!

• It is also very important to us that this reward never gets in the way of our giving.  We have also set aside a percentage of our income toward giving.

How about you?  Would you like to join us?

My plan is to update you all at the end of each month on what percentage of our goal we have reached.  (I will post my first update on Monday which will reveal our savings goal.  Heads up: It’s so fun that it will take 2 1/2 years to reach!)

If you think that this might be something you would enjoy taking part in, then why not take some time to think about what you would like to reward yourself with?  A new cooking appliance?  A pair of shoes?  A trip?  It doesn’t have to be anything big, just something that will energize you to stick to your budget!

Then come back on Monday and leave a comment or a link sharing that you want to join us in Saving on a Shoestring!

By the way, be creative! You don’t have to even set aside a percentage of your income for this reward.  There are plenty of other ways to do so such as saving ‘free money’, putting change in a coin jar at the end of the day, or putting aside the extra money from your grocery budget at the end of the month!  (That will motivate you to clip those coupons!)

ATTENTION BLOGGERS:

• If you have a blog, then you can copy and paste the “Saving on a Shoestring” button in your post. I will have the HTML code for you on Monday.

• If you have a WordPress blog, I have even more good news.  My web designer, Charlie, from Solution Three has made the Cha-Ching Ticker (the cash register in my left sidebar) available for you to use!  If you’d like, you can opt to use it to keep track of the percentage of your savings as I plan to do!  Just e-mail me at kaleyandwes @ chachingonashoestring.com (remove spaces) and I will send you the file!