Winning Christmas with Gift Cards

I am going to try something new this year and collect and save as many FREE gift cards as I can. Who wouldn't want to go on a Christmas shopping spree with free money?? By starting early (I began in January and have over $100 in gift cards in my "stock pile") I hope to be able to wow my family with a generous 2015 holiday season. How am I collecting these free gift cards? Allow me to explain my favorite three methods...

1. Before the baby, before the husband and before the pets, I fell in love. With Target. Target frequently offers free gift cards for future use when you purchase multiple quantities of a certain item. I was just there yesterday and found that they were having such a deal on Aveeno Baby Lotion -- something my baby uses on a daily basis that seems to disappear quicker than food in a full refrigerator since we live in the high desert. I purchased three of the lotions and received a $5.00 gift card that an be used on a later purchase. Last month, Tide Pods, another frequently used commodity in our home, were buy two and receive a $5.00. I combined that deal with a coupon and felt proud to be stocking up with such a great deal. My absolute proudest free Target gift card moment, however, came when they were offering a $25 gift card on a $100 purchase of baby items concurrently with an offer of a $10 gift card for purchasing two cases of Target brand diapers which retail for about $25.00 a piece. We use cloth diapers at home but indulge in disposables at night and when we're out of the house. I thus had no problem investing $100 to receive four cases of diapers and $45 in free gift cards (two free $10 cards for buying 4 cases and a free $25 card for having a total baby purchase of $100). Winning.

2. I joined the Ibotta app late in the game. That's okay though as I'm making up for lost time. If you haven't joined already, here's a link to download the free app and join my team so we can work on monthly bonuses together! Ibotta offers you rebates on items from all walks of like: groceries, liquor (yes!), apparel, pet supplies, movie tickets and more! I particularly like it because they offer rebates on "any brand" of certain items that are often difficult to find coupons for. Think about your last grocery trip. Did you buy milk? Bread? Eggs? Cereal? There's likely a rebate waiting for you right now. I recently had a $10 coupon off of a $10 purchase at JCPenney. I combined it with a $10 rebate Penney's was offering off of a $25 purchase through Ibotta and felt like I owned the place. Anyway, the money you earn through the rebates can be pulled out as cash via Paypal or withdrawn as gift cards to certain stores. I have an Amazon Prime account and literally completed 90% of my 2014 Christmas shopping with it. I am now choosing to withdraw my Ibotta money in the form of Amazon gift cards to add to the stock pile for the 2015 holiday season as I know I would just blow through the cash if I choose the Paypal route.

3. Bing! Bing is a search engine that rewards you for use in the form of points that can be traded in for various gift cards. It will take a few weeks to earn a free gift card because there's a daily limit to how many points you can accumulate. You get rewarded for searches on your phone and your PC as well as bonus points you can earn here and there. You're already using the internet, right? Why not get paid to do it?

What am I missing? Please let me know how you earn free gift cards to help my stock pile grow! I'm listening.

24 Paycheck Money Saving Challenge

I have an addictive personality. Right now, I am feeding it by obsessing over how to save more money in 2015. I adore the idea of the popular 52 Week Money Saving Challenge that dominates Pinterest at the beginning of every year. Unfortunately, I don't find it conducive to my family's particular situation. My husband is our only family member who works for money and he is paid bi-monthly on the 10th and the 25th. I regulate all of our bills off of these two dates and would prefer to tuck away money ONLY on these two dates in order to clearly see how much is left for the rest of the pay period.

In an attempt to make it easier for me, I have changed it from a 52 Week Money Saving Challenge to a 24 Paycheck Money Saving Challenge! Also, the $1,378-$1,729 (depending on which method you chose to use) you end up with at the end of the challenge challenges my OCD so I have added a few extra dollars to end up with a nice, calm, and even $2,000. You're welcome. I of course realize the deposits are grander than the weekly version, so it might not seem quite as conquerable. Just remember you're only making half of the number of original deposits!

To make it easier for me I also felt that I needed to tweak not having the bulk of the savings coincide with the holiday season. Ouch. I have seen the challenge offered in reverse as well: you start off saving the higher amounts at the beginning and then reduce the amount weekly. Again, ouch. To help smooth this out and give my new savings habit an easier start, I tapped into my inner statistics loving self and designed it after the classic bell curve. Your pockets will feel the increase happen sooner, true, but you'll also feel the decrease sooner, too!

One last trick I plan to implement is to ensure I don't touch the money: I opened another savings account, separate from where I normally bank, to help it become "out of sight, out of mind." Anyway, here's a link to my 24 Paycheck Money Saving Challenge if you'd like to make your own adjustments. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions and stay tuned for ways to help come up with the deposit amount. Happy savings!

24-Paycheck Money Saving Challenge
Paycheck	Deposit Amount	Account Balance
1	$55	$55
2	$60	$115
3	$65	$180
4	$70	$250
5	$75	$325
6	$80	$405
7	$85	$490
8	$90	$580
9	$95	$675
10	$100	$775
11	$105	$880
12	$120	$1,000
13	$120	$1,120
14	$105	$1,225
15	$100	$1,325
16	$95	$1,420
17	$90	$1,510
18	$85	$1,595
19	$80	$1,675
20	$75	$1,750
21	$70	$1,820
22	$65	$1,885
23	$60	$1,945
24	$55	$2,000