ConneXfactor Status Update 2

I am a contestant in this competition. I am working hard toward winning $5000.

Converting Coupons Into A Home

I used to be a really insane, Crazy Coupon Lady. You could find me in the aisles of the grocery store binder in the carriage with a toddler climbing in and out of it, constantly disrupting the carefully calculated tower of that particular week’s haul. It used to take about 2 hours in the store to get all the things I need, wait for my Dad who I always take with me, and for the cashier to ring out all of my items and coupons.

When I started doing all of this it was to help out my parents who had just taken in my brother, sister in law, and 2 kids. They had now 6 mouths to feed and only one person was working. Being 7 months pregnant myself I was also wondering where I would get the money to feed my own growing family. COUPONS were my answer. After about a year it really took on a life of its own. Couponing became a game to me. How can I get the most stuff for the least amount of money? I would watch TLC’s Extreme Couponing for inspiration. I would scour sites and print coupons, collect them from neighbors and family, and yes I even dumpster dived for them. It was all about the chase, the high I would get from walking out of the store and basically legally robbing them (you aren’t actually robbing them, use properly merchants are reimbursed the amount of the coupon plus 8 cents. Oh and that doubled one that the store “covers” can we say tax write off??). Couponing was an obsession. I can admit I bought things I did not use or need because they were cheap or free. I can tell you that its true from the bag of Mac & cheese sitting in my cabinet that expired in 2012. I did all of it for the little number at the bottom of the receipt. The phrase that told me “You Saved $150 today”!!! It was an awesome feeling, until it wasn’t. I had burned myself out in about a year and a half that I just didn’t want to do it anymore. So I stopped bringing in my pile of coupons and buying things I really didn’t need.  I still couponed, just not to the same degree.

The idea was planted in my brain one night that I wanted to buy a house. While I love the town I currently live in, I don’t love my neighbors so much. Coming home and never knowing if your parking spot is going to be open, who kids’ crap was strewn all over your yard was no longer my idea of “home”. I wanted out, and FAST! I wanted a home to do what I wanted and not have to play “Mother May I” if I wanted to paint my bathroom a different color.

I have been working on buying a home since 2012. I did the research on what it would take to buy a house. I started learning more about finances. I mercilessly educated myself in the whole process. The problem was I didn’t have the money to buy a house. I was barely making ends meet, paying on a car that was 6 years old, student loans, day care costs, and the sneaky little habit of traveling I have was loaded on my credit cards. I buckled myself down and payed off all my debt in about 8 months of working diligently at it. After I paid off about $16,000, I began to get laser focused on getting a home for my daughter and I. I couldn’t help but think there were down payment assistance programs available to single moms in my income range I just had to find them.

After a sleepless night or two I came across IDAs. These are Individual Development Accounts that are used for the purpose of helping out low or moderate income families in obtaining home ownership, a higher education, or a vehicle to get to work. There are federal versions and state versions, which you qualify for will depend solely on the state you live in and their guidelines. There were 2 local programs for me to choose from. I live on the line between two counties so the choice was mine on where I wanted to live. Depending on what county I wanted to live in determined which program I went with. Since I had lived in various towns of New Haven County, I elected to stay there. I knew many of the towns where I would be looking wouldn’t be super far from my job. That was important to me.

The way an IDA works is similar to a 401K, you put in money up to a certain amount and the program them matches your contribution. My program matched 2:1, so for every dollar I put in, they gave me $2 more. They would also match my contribution up to $1500 and I had 5 years to reach that goal. Well I wasn’t waiting 5 years, at most I wanted to do 3. I looked over my finances and determined that to meet my goal would cost me $20 a paycheck. But I still didn’t know where I would get that money from. Everything was so tight already.

I thought back to my crazy coupon lady days and how it had been such an “easy” way to “make” money. I could just save all my savings again. I had really slacked off in my couponing but could jump back into it. After all it was just like riding a bike. The IDA sets up a separate savings account for you and anything I saved I would just deposit into the account. That was the plan anyway.

I started the IDA program in September 2013 with just $20. I made that initial deposit and I was on my way to getting my house. Every week I went grocery shopping I would see the savings at the bottom of the receipt and then put it in an envelope to make a monthly deposit. Some months there were only a few dollars, but other months there was about $150. I had set up a direct deposit of $20 from my paycheck to make sure I would stay on track to hit my goal in time.

The bank that I had to use wasn’t very convenient for me, so I opted to make monthly deposits with all the extra money I would save from groceries. It was awesome. Every dollar I saved was the equivalent of saving $3. I started getting that couponing high again. I could see my goal being reached faster and faster. I was able to max out the full $1500 match by April 2014. In 7 months I was able to tuck away $1500 without drastically altering my lifestyle. I bought things I would normally buy, I learned my lesson from the last round of it. But imagine what I could have saved if I had been doing this all along! I saved $1500 and then grew it into $4500 just by spending a few hours clipping pieces of paper!! Where else can you see a 300% gain on your money like that?? All with practically no risk of loosing it.

In February I found a real estate agent, called some mortgage brokers and banks, and started the process of finding a house. I now had a small down payment that I could use with some of the First Time Home Buyer Programs that were available. Now I just needed to find the perfect house for us. We looked at dozens of houses, put bids on a few and were rejected. I was just starting to loose hope that I would be able to find a house in my price range. All the ones were had available really weren’t the greatest, but it was what I could afford. Finally in June after being on the market for about 3 days I looked at my house. I put a bid on it that night and by the end of the week I had a home!!

By taking the money I saved with coupons and putting it into another account that had a great return I was able to buy my 1^st home. We are set to close on Aug 25^th and I can’t wait to move in!!

Oct Update:  The mortgage product I used paid for my down payment and closing costs on the house.  I was also able to walk away from the closing with a check for $2678.  I financed 96.5% of my house and still was paid to walk out of the door…..oh that mortgage payment, $600 a month….I reduced my rent costs by $150!!

Do the Hustle!!!

Websites or Apps that will make you rich SLOWLY!!!!

I am a full time working mom, sometimes barely making ends meet. I would love to get another job to help to get ahead but with my daughter in daycare 5 days a week at 9 hours a day already…I just can’t see spending more time away from her. Not to mention I’d have to pay someone else to care for her while working part time….negating all proceeds!!
So I am working on mastering the art of the hustle!! I used to hate that song, but now I feel like it plays no matter where I go!!
I have found that there are apps and websites that you can use to help either boost your savings or earn a little pocket change to fill out your budget a little better. So here are a few that I have found that have worked great for me. I have included my referral links and it would be great if you would use them. Most of them I get points, you get points, so it’s a win/win.

Swagbucks – http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/kitskat01 If you really want to kill yourself with surveys, knock yourself out. I personally don’t have much time for them. I maximize this site with their mobile apps. For android users there are 4 SwagbucksTV, Entertainow, Sportly, Moviecli.ps. For Iphone just the 1st two will work. DL them, run them on your phone, tablet, even some ipods. Find the shortest video and make it your favorite. I let them run on a loop while my phone is just sitting at work being a paperweight. It takes a few hours and best to do on Wifi…you max those out at 210SB daily…which is $2.10. Add the games for an extra 10SB and the daily crave, daily poll, and NOSO you’re raking in $2.25 daily. Shop through their portal to earn even more. Sometimes they work out better than Ebates! Add an extra $67.50 to your monthly budget this way. I recommend Paypal payouts, but $5 Amazon GC at 450SB are the best deal. You can only get 5 like GC in a given month.

Bing Rewards – by far my favorite quick earner. Look for the promotion in swagbucks. You search random, and I mean RANDOM stuff on your PC & phone. Score 25 points per day and you’re adding another $5-10 a month to your stash. Literally takes me 10 mins daily. I seem to average about 28 points per day. When you reach gold status, which takes about a month of searches every day, you need 475 points to earn $5 gift card. I personally get the swagbucks gift card to try to consolidate where I get my rewards. It also helps me snag that $25 Paypal gift card sooner.

PerkTV – ef2a818e this a great little app to help you earn gift cards as well. You literally let your phone scroll through app trailers or movie trailers. You can have up to 5 devices running this little gem. Snag a few cheapo phones that you purchase through extrabucks.com or topcashback.com which will render you a free device. They only need Wifi to work off of. So Far I have made about $30 off of this one running up to 4 phones. You have the potential to make lots with this if you have them dedicated full time, I don’t so mine is lower. There are also surveys and other offers available to earn more points but I don’t really do those.

Viggle – stuck at work with a TV on all day?? Listen to the radio all the time?? Viggle is a App that requires a little more work then some of the others. You get more points by tapping the prompts for 5points. Use this one for Redbox gift codes. A 1 night rental is 4000 points. They do add up pretty fast if you put Pandora on in the cubicle. Redbox codes are the best deal for this app.

Receipt Hog – http://app.receipthog.com/share/wl1ag4on This app is an awesome way to capture money a little extra on all aspects of shopping. After you are done with your grocery shopping, snap a picture of your receipt. You are awarded coins based on the amount of your bill. Enter a receipt every week for 5 weeks and then each receipt entered earns you spins in the Hog Slots. This method certainly takes a long time so don’t think you’ll stack up lots with this app. I’ve been using it for a few months and still haven’t reached the $10 payout. Depending on what you purchase there might be additional surveys and polls to earn more coins and spins. This is another app that you want to be patient with. The more coins you save the better the payout. 1000 = $5 but 4500 = $30.

Ibotta – iqyrjq – This app is great to use in addition to your coupons for groceries. You have to take a poll, tweet, or learn a fact to unlock the amount of $$ available. I am up to $75 since June. There are multiple stores to choose from and some of the items can be used multiple times. Choose Paypal or Venmo for your payouts. Check to see if you have a bonus offer with Venmo for an additional $5 when you cash out with them. $5 minimum to cash out with either service…might as well catch a 100% gain for the same cash payout. Simple as scanning the item’s barcode and then the receipt. I have been lucky that most receipts were approved within hours, but sometimes can take a few days.

Checkout51 – this app updates with new offers on Thursdays. There are usually fresh fruits & veggies on this app. Often times the offers are similar to Ibotta or Shopmium and they can all be used in conjunction with each other. Scan the products purchased and then the receipt. They’ve been great about posting the rewards in a timely fashion.

Shomium – Similar to Checkout51 there are a list of items available that you “discover” to unlock them. Scan the product and a receipt and in a few days the amount is deposited into your Paypal account. A friend recommended this over Ibotta, but I have found that Ibotta has more things I shop for available . So this app may be one to season to taste.

Shopkick – This app has the potential to be great, but it fails me consistently. The premise is you open the app, walk into a store and bam! Get points. Scan products for extra points and it should add up quickly to earn gift cards. I have yet to have this app work like it should for me. I seems to never be able to find the signal and sometimes I am credited the points later in the day. I scanned the products it says to scan and then the app says the product is wrong even though I scanned the one it is talking about. I know others who have used this with great success. If you are at the mall or work at a mall, this is a good one to try as there are usually several stores that participate in the mall.

Mycokerewards – See those bottle caps everywhere? Don’t drink soda? No problem!! I don’t either, but my coworkers can’t get enough of the sugary madness that is soda. We happen to have a huge tub in our break room. Periodically throughout the day I head in there, sift through the bin and take the caps. Each cap is 3 pts each. This program is great during the year if you are a magazine reader as there are MANY subscriptions available. But if like me you don’t read very many, the 12 Days of Christmas Promo is where you really rack up with this program. I suggest you enter codes all year to save for this one. $25 gift cards are only 600 pts as opposed to 1000+. There are movie passes and later in the promo $50 gift cards. It’s a great way to add Christmas gifts for some people on your list.

Smarterbucks – Got a student loans?? Who doesn’t these days!! With the price of tuition rising constantly, helping loved ones pay for school can seem like an insurmountable task. With Smarterbucks, you search, shop, play games, take surveys much like you would on other similar sites. The reward here is to link either your own or a family member’s loan information to help pay down their student loans. They automatically pay out ever $10 you hit.