Ways I Saved/Earned Money This Week

What a week it has been!!  First of all, let me say Happy New Year to everyone.  I hope our year is filled with lots of fantastic coupons and great deals.  This past week has been a doozy.  I got sick the day after Christmas and dh got called in to work due to the weather so Sunday and Monday was miserable.  I was sick and snowed in with 2 kids.  Not sure how I made it through Sunday but thankfully I am feeling better after lots of rest and medicine.  Wednesday and Thursday was spent getting my house back in order from Christmas, my kids got way too much.  I also took down all of my decorations and got everything packed away for next year.  Friday, moma needed a break so we called the grandmas to take care a child each and we spent the day returning some gifts (Bryson got 3 of 1 toy and 2 of 2 more toys for Christmas) and exchanging a couple of things and then we treated ourselves to The Olive Garden for an early dinner. I received a gift card for Christmas and I also had a coupon.  Throughout the week I did find several ways to save money. 


Here is a list of things I did to save/earn money in the past week:

- I read all of my Inbox Dollars emails daily to add money to my account.

 

- I read all of my MyPoints emails daily to add points to receive FREE gift cards.

- Didn't do any grocery shopping this week except for bread, milk, formula and diapers.  Only spent $20 OOP.

- Had leftovers for lunch 4 days this week. No food wasted and money saved by not cooking something else.

- Continued trying to teach my 4 year old the importance of not leaving lights on or not using lights during the day when they are not needed. (Not sure if we will ever get there!)

 

- Cleaned out my coupon binder and filed new coupons for future shopping trips.

- Spent lots of time at home sick and snowed in.  No gas money spent.

- Turned my heat off on Friday we are having a warm spell.

 

- Watched 1movie for FREE saved on my DVR, thanks to Starz free weekend on Directv a couple of months ago. 

 

- Made all meals out of stockpile.  No money spent on eating out except for Friday.

 

- Received a $3 deposit in paypal for a survey payment.

- My mom had a Honey Baked Ham for Christmas and she sent home lots of leftovers.  I saved some for sandwiches and then put the rest in the freezer.  Enough for a couple of meals.

 

- Recycled 16 Christmas bags that we received with gifts.

 

- Recycled 8 boxes.  5 of them can be used for other occasions and will only need a ribbon. 

 

- Took an inventory of my Christmas supplies.  I have plenty of wrapping paper, Christmas bags, bows, and tape.  I do need to buy some ribbon and name tags.  I hope to find some 75% off or more.

 

- Had lunch at moms on New Years day and of course she sent leftovers home again for dinner.  She has supplied us with lots of free meals in the past few days.  

 

- Returned several toys and received gift cards for the credit.  I plan on saving these to use as needed on the kids.

 

- Starting a list of my goals for 2011 to save money, earn money and hopefully finish paying off all of our bills.  (Will share this later!) 

 

What did you do to save/earn money this week?