March numbers

I can't believe the first 3 months of the year has gone.

Oops, I did it again. Shopped that is. This time I was not shopping for clothes. Over the past year, we have slowly been remodeling parts of the house (it's still a work in progress). So after DH redid the hardwood floors, he bought those plastic floor mats for our desks (without consulting me, I might ad). I was not happy with these mats, cause they were slippery and every time I leaned over to get something from any of the bookshelves next to me, my chair would tilt over (we have the rolling desk chairs). One day, I ended up on the floor with the chair on top of me. Thankfully DS was in the office at the time, so he lifted the chair off me and helped me up from the floor. Well, that was it for me!! I told DH I'd get rugs for our desks instead. Told him I'll wait until Kohls sends their monthly mystery discount, before purchasing the rugs.

So when I got my mystery discount over the weekend, the search was on. I figured I'd just pay for it with earned gcs, since I had some. I got a 30% discount, but my friend gave me her 40% discount that she wasn't using. So I ordered the rugs, 3 Christmas gifts, a new winter school coat for DS (last week I saw that his current one is busy breaking) and a pair of swim shorts for him. Used $95 gcs and $18.08 oop. Got 6% back through Ebates and earned $20 KC + $5 Y2Y. Those rewards will be used towards my $15K goal. I wasn't planning on any clothes shopping, but I figured I might as well get DS what he needs with the 40% off and because I wanted free shippping.

Now onto the numbers. March has been really good to us. We've had our best month for the year (earning), so I'm very happy

Gift cards earned

Mypoints $75 
Swagbucks : $25 
IGC : $75 ($50 mine, $25 DH account)
Ibotta : $50 Walmart 
Savingstar : $0 (I have enough in my account for a $10 redemption, that will go towards my $15K goal)
Bing : $5
Mycokerewards (this was a nice easy gc) $5
Total gcs earned in January : $235 

So onto the gc balances:

Kohls 
Previous balance $91.57
Added : $75
Spent : $95 + 25 (spent this when I redeemed my Kohls cash earlier this month)
New balance : $46.57

Target 
Previous balance $30 (I know that it's more than $30)
Added : $10
New balance : $40

Walmart 
Used the $45 I had, to purchase a $50 Red Robin gc. We still have $35 RR gcs left
Added $50 through Ibotta (earmarked for a new desk)

Gap - $54.54

TJM
Prev balance : $25
Added : $25
New balance : $50

Macy's 
Earned $50
Spent $25 (shoes)
New balance : $25 (earmarked for the shoe sale this month)


WHBM - $50.00

BBW - $15.00

Starbucks : $15 (this does not include the teacher's gifts). The $15 is for our personal use. I'm not a Starbucks fan (I'm a Dunkin Donuts girl), but I received this credit when I ordered something online. We'll just save it for when we're in the mood for a frappucino.

That's a total of $346.11 in gcs (excluding RR)


Total earned from online sales (after fees) : $476.14
Plus previous balance $207.37
Less expenses (139.46)  DS undies, shoes, Kohls rugs purchase
New Balance : $544.05

I'm very happy that we did so well last month. I was able to knock out 3 more Christmas gifts and we have a total of $890.16 in cash & gcs! I'm happy that I'm able to knock out the gifts so early. I love having my shopping done early, so there's less stress about what to buy and about spending a pile of money over the holidays.

As mentioned before, I will withdraw $300 from this total to start funding my $15K goal. Since there's not much good gcs left, I'll use the $50 TJM, $40 Target and $210 cash to go towards my goal. 

I have a starting balance of $108.80 in my bank account. 

$1 Savings = $36
$5 Savings = $125

As you can see, I don't just buy clothes/shoes with our earnings. It gets used for household items and whatever other needs we have too.

IBOTTA USERS : There's a new bonus stack available, so be sure to check your accounts.