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Do You Like Free Food?

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Free Food

My family loves food. I really like free food. We’ve been getting free food from Kroger for years by simply using the Kroger REWARDS World Mastercard. We’ve also saved tons of money on our gas purchases. I’m excited to share how much I love this card! Let me tell you what I love about this credit card and how it has saved my family thousands of dollars. If you have a Kroger store (or Dillons, Bakers, etc) nearby, you’ll probably already know about the great discount features there. Kroger loyalty cards give you all the savings in the store that cut money off of your receipt. Using the Kroger website, we always click and load the Digital Coupons onto our card. Then, at checkout, the ecoupons are automatically added….money saved without clipping any paper coupons. Points that are earned on our loyalty card will also get us cents-off-per-gallon at the Kroger Fuel centers. These are conveniently located in the Kroger parking lot. I also love getting the custom coupons in the mail that match what we purchase often. Kroger sends recipe pamphlets in the mail, too. These have super paper coupons. New product coupons also come right to my home. Using the Kroger Rewards World Mastercard works to help my family by: 3 points for every dollar spent in Kroger for Kroger brands (including Simple Truth, Home Brand, and Private Selections). 2 points for every dollar spent in Kroger stores 1 point for every dollar spent anywhere Earn FREE groceries with a rewards check, sent automatically from Kroger, 4 times a year. Receive additional 5ยข fuel discount at Kroger Family of Companies Fuel when you pay with you Kroger REWARDS World Mastercard. We love when the Kroger checks come in the mail. We have $170. in free food checks this quarter! Wow! This is really super for our budget. @2020, copyright Lisa Ehrman

Fresh Look At The Budget

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books

Welcome to the new year! Each new year brings a fresh start for living. We often want a fresh start for our diet. Many of us think of January 1st as a day when we can have a do-over. My diet is already in motion, but my main focus is to take a fresh look at the budget. As a retired couple, our budget is more important than ever. There are limited resources when the job income stops, so we need to make the most of them. There is always room to improve the budget and there are numerous ways to look at it with fresh 2020 eyes. Categories One of my favorite ways to examine the budget is by looking at each category. As we look at each section, we then analyze individual purchase type and decide if or what we can save. Here are some of the categories that always seem to be flexible: Food – cutting down on eating out or using generic brands and coupons. use apps, cash-back, and rebates to save even more. Utilities – can we lower the temperature by one or two degrees? we can make sure that the dishwasher is full and close the heavy drapes on cold nights. we wash most of our clothes in cold water. Automobile – we drive old cars and keep them well-maintained. plan trips to town, do errands on one day per week (or order online) Housing – if you’re in a rental, are you doing the best you can on pricing? is there a place that you live and save money each month? if you own your home, can you do more of the maintenance yourself? Insurance – this is easy to find comparison prices for. many insurance websites will help you compare prices and switch to a policy that saves you money. Medical – this is the biggest drain on our retirement budget. I don’t yet have medicare, so private insurance and medical bills are a huge drain. we shop for the best deal possible when picking my policy. Investing – make sure that you’re saving for rainy days and the future. retirement comes sooner than you think. Cash Back and Rewards You have no choice but to spend money. You might as well get rewarded for spending it. I use every cash back and rewards program that I can to earn income for the budget. As we just finished the holiday shopping, I’m happy to see all the cash-back and rewards I’ve earned. I use cash-back programs like Swagbucks and Rakuten. My rewards credit cards have also enriched the budget. It’s wonderful to see all the free gift cards! I love the Discover cash-back program and my US Bank cards have great cash-back, too. Personal Spending You’ve already seen how to deal with budget categories. But, we all have our little personal spending wants. We want to make some purchases that seem small, but can add up to be enough to break the budget. Since we don’t want to spend more than we make, these small budget busters need to be addressed. Pampering items – if you’ve decided to cut back on spending, that means everything must be looked at. do you really need that new beauty product? use up what you have before you make more purchases. do you really need to buy that latte? take coffee from home and save money every week. Books – if you love to read, check out the local library. you can even get digital copies now! Manicures – paint your own nails or just go natural Hair – haircuts and styling doesn’t have to cost a fortune. I use Great Clips and save a ton! Save on your Food Budget by using a Meal Planner. Planning meals helps you to save money by only purchasing foods that you’ll need for specific meals. If prevents food waste and allows for healthier eating. Would you like to have a FREE MEAL PLANNER? Grab mine today! @2020, copyright Lisa Ehrman

Email Service with the Best Service

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emails

Do you need an email marketing service? If you have any type of business, having an email service is important. Social media is wonderful and brings in lots of traffic, but social media changes can leave you without access to your customers. Your email list is yours to keep. Because I’ve been a blogger since 2013, I’ve tried a few different email services. Now, I’m using Constant Contact and I love it! I’ve never experienced the level of customer service that Constant Contact has provided me. As soon as I signed up for my account, I found how easy it was to set up my account and start sending emails. Then, it got even better. I actually got a phone call from them and they were more than helpful. I was given wonderful advice about my email needs and a promise to call back soon. Then, Constant Contact created an email template for me and called me again. They made more great recommendations and answered all my questions. Now, I also get newsletters with wonderful tips and seasonal advice. I’m welcome to call them at any time with questions or needs. I’m completely sold on their email service. They are making huge strides technically and have big plans for more and more business-helps. One of the fun things they’ve added is a connection with Facebook and Instagram. They help you to design ads at Constant Contact and follow the results. I’m excited for each new solution to my blogging problems. From now until December 6th, you can sign up with Constant Contact and get the first 3 months 50% off! What a great deal. It’s the perfect time to try out this wonderful service. CHECK OUT THIS SAVINGS DEAL HERE When you sign with Constant Contact, you’ll receive the personal touch and help that you need to get more customers. All the webinars, custom templates, phone calls, and ever-improving service keeps me a happy customer of Constant Contact. I hope you’ll try out their super service to help build your business, too! @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

7 Reasons To Love Downsizing

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Moving to a much smaller home has been a rewarding experience that has resulted in a more peaceful life. It really is a journey or a process to begin downsizing. For me, it took time, even with careful planning. We now live in a home that is almost half of the size as our previous homes. Now that two of our children are adults, we only have one college-aged child living with us. We feel like empty-nesters, because this child is pretty much independent. Living in a smaller home means that a great percentage of our furniture wasn’t needed. Much of the extra furniture was offered to our children. Whatever furniture they didn’t need was donated to someone else who could use it. This made our moving to a new state so much easier. Downsizing is a sure way to lower your utility bills, too. With less rooms to heat and cool the electric and gas bills are lower. We downsized our wardrobes, and that makes less clothes to store. I like the way the closet isn’t so crammed, and I don’t keep clothes that I will not wear. Donating the extra clothes gives someone else the chance to use. Having less clutter in the cabinets and drawers makes me feel more peaceful. Cabinets crammed with items that I might use once or twice is wasteful and frustrating. It makes me unhappy to need to unstack and move everything to get an item from the back corner. Again, we donated unwanted items. I’m less likely to buy more stuff, when there is no place to put it. That not only keeps clutter away, but saves the bank account. Being retired, there isn’t an ever-growing bank account. It has been much easier to get and stay organized when I have less stuff. Downsizing has helped me to be more creative. As I decided what furnishings to keep, I re-examined my personal style. Selecting furnishings that made me truly comfortable and cozy has created a look that I love. Downsizing and simplifying our home has made me feel like my mind is more clear. When I look around, there is less of a mess. I’ve only kept things that are beautiful to me. Quickly putting excess paper into the recycling box means that it’s out of sight. Time is so valuable, and downsizing means less time spent on things I don’t love. I don’t like to do housework (who does?) and now there is less house to clean. There is less flooring to vacuum or mop. There is less furniture to dust. You get the picture. There’s also less grass to mow. (we’re renting temporarily, so there’s no grass to mow). Have you downsized or are you thinking about downsizing? In 2019, many baby boomers are choosing not to downsize. There are pros and cons to everything, but I am very happy with the choice we’ve made. The benefits have been perfect for me and my family. @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

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