Archives for January 2019

Our No Spend Weekend Adventures

January 27, 2019 by Kati Mora

Every so often we decide to host a “no spend weekend.” The concept is rather simple – don’t spend any money on anything other than the essentials. But not every no spend weekend looks the same.

After Aaron’s birthday weekend, we decided it might be wise to embrace what we affectionately refer to as our “No Spend Weekend” – a weekend where we don’t spend money on anything other than the essentials.

Typically, this means we still go grocery shopping for the week. Other than that though, we intentionally look for activities to enjoy at home that cost us nothing.

Although these weekend’s were a little challenging at first, we’ve come to really enjoy the opportunity they provide. Before the weekend we brainstorm ways to spend our time. This weekend our activities included:

An epic battle of Settler’s of Catan. The boys and I just learned how to play this game; although full disclosure, we’ve owned this game for a few years now. It took a little effort to learn how to play (thanks YouTube how-to videos!) but once we figured it out, we’ve found that its a game we all enjoy.

Finally hanging up artwork in our basement! We’ve had really good intentions to get all our artwork up on the walls of our basement, but it also happens to be an activity that is super easy to put on the back burner. We thought this weekend would be the perfect time to do this and it was.

Michigan Copper Image with Barn Wood frame — Isn’t this beautiful? This is one of the art pieces we hung up in our basement – we’re going for an adventures in Michigan theme.

Watching a movie we already own that we haven’t watched in awhile. Our family loves to have movie nights where we make popcorn and rent a movie to watch on the weekend. This weekend though we opted for a movie we already own but haven’t watched in awhile. Ben’s been reading Lord of the Rings so we thought it be fun to watch this movie together.

Have you ever implemented a “no spend weekend?” What are some of your favorite no-cost activities?

Our December 2018 Side Hustle Report

January 16, 2019 by Kati Mora

Side hustle income is any income we receive from opportunities outside of our regular 9-to-5 jobs. Often its cash back or gift cards we receive through the apps we use. We also count affiliate income we receive through this blog as well. See how our side hustles performed in December 2018.

Our side hustle income was just okay this month; however, even the small amounts we earn and save make an impact on our overall budget. This month our side hustle income came to a sum total of $51 in December.

Breaking it down, $25 came from our cash back apps, we received a $10 Amazon gift card after completing a review of one of the services we use to manage our finances; another $9 resulted from our affiliate programs, and $7 in gift card rewards came from some of the game-based apps we use.

One of the game-based apps I play is Pop Quiz and if you like trivia, you might like this app too. You’ll earn perk points for each trivia game you play and can redeem the points for rewards like gift cards and cash. You don’t necessarily earn points quickly on this game (it usually takes me a few months to earn a $5 gift card)and the ads are a bit obnoxious, but it can be a fun and free way to earn gift cards and cash. Sign up with referral code “54bf34a5” and you can play with me and I’ll get a bonus too.

To put this dollar amount into perspective, this is approximately the amount we set aside for clothes, or if you prefer to think in terms of food, a little less than half of one week’s grocery budget.

Our December side hustles all have one main feature in common – they all require very little work on our end. We spend a few minutes each day checking into our apps and viola! Cash back and gift cards received.

For January we have a few more work-intensive side hustles on our agenda and expect to hit our 2019 monthly side hustle goal of at least $200 a month in side hustle income. We’ll be sure to share our results with you next month.

Do you have a way to make money on the side? We’re always looking for ways to make extra money to pay off our debt faster. Share your favorite side hustles below! We’d love to hear all about them.

Chicago for the Weekend? Save Money with Our Top City Travel Tips

January 4, 2019 by Kati Mora

The city can be expensive. Before you plan your next adventure, consider implementing some of our money saving tips that helped us save over $800 on our latest weekend trip to Chicago.

Our family loves to visit Chicago. It takes us about four hours to drive there, but it is always worth the trip. From deep dish pizza to some of the best museums and attractions in the country, its one of our favorite cities.

But when we travel, we always look for ways to save as much money as we can. This trip alone would have easily cost over $800, but we were able to save that and catch many of the best attractions for free on our weekend trip.

We thought these tips may come in handy for others looking to visit Chicago for the weekend.

Three money saving travel tips from the Money Saving Duo!

Utilize credit card reward points to score free hotel stays. Aaron and I are IHG reward members and we use our IGH Chase credit card on everyday purchases like groceries and gas to redeem points. These points can, in turn, be used to redeem free hotel stays. Members also receive a free hotel stay each year they are members.

We advise that you consider a rewards credit card only if your everyday expenses are consistent and you can pay the card off each month to avoid fees. There have been times in our past when we wouldn’t have trusted ourselves with a credit card for points. It can be tempting to carry a balance forward at the end of the month. But we’ve been diligent to pay the card down to zero at every paycheck and treat every charge as if it were coming from our checking account.

Pack snacks and breakfast items in case your hotel doesn’t have free breakfast. Ideally, we try to choose hotels that offer a free breakfast to maximize our savings; however, that isn’t always an option. For example, the Intercontinental Hotel we stayed at on the Magnificent Mile did not offer a complimentary breakfast, so we packed our own and combined it with some of our leftovers from dinner the night before.

Pro tip: If you have an IHG membership like us, the Holiday Inn Express always offers a complimentary breakfast, while a traditional Holiday Inn often does not.

Take advantage of reciprocal memberships. If you’ve ever wanted to explore the museums or zoos in a city you visit, consider purchasing a membership at your local museum or zoo first. We purchased a family membership to the Aldon B. Dow Museum of Science & Art in Midland, MI, which not only gets us into this museum, but into many museums across the country at no additional cost or at a reduced rate.

In Chicago, our reciprocal membership got us into the Field Museum and the Museum of Science & Industry for free! Check with the membership desk at your local zoo or museum for details.

Be willing to walk. Parking can be expensive in the city, so if you are able to walk you can save quite a bit of money. We often find that if we’re willing to travel a few extra blocks from wherever we are trying to go, the price of parking is often lower.

Use a Parking App to find cheaper rates. Another great way to save money in the city? Use a parking app that pinpoints parking fees so you can choose the lowest rate as close to your destination as you can. The app we use is called BestParking, but depending on where you are traveling, some apps may work better than others. Garages use the app to attract drivers for remaining spots. You can often pay a fraction of the rate listed on the building.

Do you love to travel? What are some of your favorite ways to save money while visiting destinations across the globe?

Archives for January 2019

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