My Newest Budget-Saving Trick

October 20, 2015 by Kelly Dedeaux

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for AmericanExpress Serve. I applied for the Serve Cash Back card to facilitate my review and received a promotional item to thank me for my participation. #ServeSomeGood

I love budgeting – making the spreadsheet, tracking our expenses and income, planning how we can afford our necessities, maybe get some fun wants, and hopefully save for future goals. Whether you love to budget or not, My Newest Budget-Saving Trick can help you keep more green to use for whatever you choose!

Recently, I shared 5 Best Money Saving Tips with you, one of which being to use the American Express Serve® Cash Back prepaid debit card. Not only does it make it so you don’t have to carry bundles of cash around, but still give you the benefits of a ‘cash only/envelope’ system, but you can earn money BACK! I mentioned I planned to use this for the majority of my spending to test it out, and I loved it!

Knowing that I had a set amount on my card, whatever amount it was that I’d chosen to load onto my card easily online, it worked just as great as a cash-only system. I only had a card to worry about, too, instead of cash that could be lost or stolen. I mean, your card can be, also, but you can report it and get any stolen funds back and the card replaced. Cash, not so much.

There’s also some handy money management tools online for no or low cost, so whether you just love learning more about finance help or really need to up your financial knowledge they’re there to help! There is a low monthly fee of $5.95, which did leave me hesitant at first – but I learned you earn that much and more easily with the 1% cash back on purchases. The cash back you earn is quickly added to your account after your purchase, so it’s available whenever you are. Just log in to redeem your earnings for your next purchase.

They also offer free direct deposit, free online bill pay, and free in-network ATM withdrawals. A $2.50 AmericanExpress Serve fee applies for out of network ATM withdrawals.

So what are you waiting for? Register on-line to get a prepaid card in the mail. There’s no credit checks, minimum balances or hidden fees.

Reality Check & Protecting the Ones I Love

September 28, 2015 by Kelly Dedeaux

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #iamprotective #CollectiveBias

I don’t watch the news – it just makes me sad and concerned about the world. With social media, and especially being a blogger that’s online a lot, I can’t help but catch some things that happen. When I hear about a sudden tragedy to someone I know, even if it is just a little through blogging, it gives me a hard reality check! You never know when things will happen, and I want to ensure I plan ahead for Protecting the Ones I Love, should the worst happen, like Protective Life suggests in many of it’s articles.

Recently, a fellow blogger was away from home and her husband passed away. Suddenly, without warning, and she wasn’t even home! Just yesterday (as I write this) in my area a man was killed instantly when a texting driver hit him head on. He was a husband, father, grandfather, friend – just heading home from Kroger like a regular Saturday. He never made it home.

It’s things like this that I hear and just have to say a little prayer – for the families, of course, but also for my own family and how grateful I am that this hasn’t happened to us. But it could – nobody is guaranteed tomorrow. When Hubby and I first got married and had Black Widow, we knew that if something happened to one or both of us, we wanted her taken care of. Even though our friends thought we were crazy and ‘irresponsible’ we bought life insurance. Even at that young age, we wanted to protect our family. We have many friends who aren’t sure if they ‘need’ it or not – this article from Protective Life is helpful for people who aren’t quite sure.

Now that our circumstances have changed significantly since then, from now owning a home, having more children, a higher income we rely on and more financial responsibilities, these recent deaths made me realize I need to re-evaluate to see if what we have would still cover our needs. It’s super important to keep up with it – because looking into it now, I realize that what would have been plenty to provide for back then hardly covers our needs now!

Even though many think life insurance is just confusing, it’s actually quite a simple process to figure out – just see the 3 steps here. Once we re-access our insurance situation, we want to make sure we’re protecting our family in other ways too – for example, if Hubby died, I have no idea most of the computer passwords or where important files are. If I suddenly passed away, he’d be struggling badly trying to figure out our budget, when/how bills are paid and things such as that.

I continue to be grateful that our family hasn’t dealt with something so heart breaking and tragic (knock on wood), but I’m still going to ensure we’re protected in case it ever does happen. After all, this bunch of crazies is my whole world – whether I’m here or not, I want the best for them!

Has there been an event in your life that’s made you think about life insurance?

My 5 Best Money Saving Tips

September 27, 2015 by Kelly Dedeaux

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for American Express Serve. I applied for the Serve Cash Back card to facilitate my review and received a promotional item to thank me for my participation. #ServeSomeGood

Remember as a kid, the biggest money issues we personally faced were pretty much whether we could afford that new set of roller skates? Things sure change when you’re an adult! Even though we now have ‘real’ jobs making ‘real’ money, it’s so easy to lose track of it and end up in the hole. Since everyone deals with money, I thought My 5 Best Money Saving Tips would be just the ticket to help us all out!

Now, understand that I’m definitely not perfect with finances – but these tips that I’ve been slowly turning into habits have made a big difference in our budget. They may not all be for you, but see if even just one or two could make money a little less stressful of a thing in your life!

Tips #1: Use American Express Serve® Cash Back Prepaid Debit Card

You know how they say to use a cash system, because you HAVE to stick to your budget? My problem was carrying all that cash around – it never worked out well, plus was super frustrating fitting it in my wallet, and the risk of having it stolen. That’s why I’m loving my new American Express Serve® Cash Back Prepaid Debit Card! It’s not a credit card, it’s a full service reloadable prepaid debit account offering convenient and easy access to money management tools at no or low cost PLUS cash back on purchases you make everyday. It’s also the only prepaid debit account with 1% cash back on purchases. If you’re spending money anyway, why not earn some of it back – and it’s added to your account quickly after your purchase so it’s ready to spend whenever you choose.

I love that it’s more secure than carrying cash, but has the same benefits! I just load my budgeted amount onto the prepaid debit card, and that’s what I have to stick to – without the bulk and hassle of dollar bills. We also are taking advantage of it in our upcoming Disneyland trip – loading it with our ‘fun money’, so we can’t go over budget! Sure will beat cash in a busy park and a bulky shoulder pack on the roller coasters!

To get your prepaid debit card, you can register on-line and it comes in the mail for free – or purchase one at a retailer for up to $3.95 (depending on the retailer). No credit checks, minimum balances or hidden fees – just a low monthly fee of $5.95 (can easily earn this back with the 1% cash back). There’s free direct deposit, free online bill pay and free in-network ATM withdrawals. For out of network ATM withdrawals there’s a $2.50 American Express Serve Cash Back Prepaid Debit Card fee.

Tip #2: Menu Plan According to What’s on Sale

I use to plan my weekly menu on what we felt like eating – but sometimes that ends up being the more expensive things because nothing on our list is on sale! Now we wait to see what the sales are, then pick our meals from the ingredients we can nab for cheaper. If ground beef is on sale, perhaps it’s meatloaf that week. Chicken for a great price? Why not toss some in the crock pot for a dinner? Here’s 15 other tips when it comes to your grocery budget.

Tip #3: Adjust Your Utility Usage

In our neighborhood, we had several people furious this summer because they were certain the utility companies were overcharging them because of the high costs. I checked ours, and it was the same as it should be from previous summers! After talking with a few of them, I learned a few things we were doing that they didn’t bother with – that saved us a LOT of money.

Set the temperature higher (summer) or lower (winter) when you won’t be home. Do the same for at night when you’re sleeping – you can always use more or less blankets!
Don’t waste water – take shorter showers (I love long showers, so compromise with ‘medium length’) don’t do a load of laundry that isn’t full or run a dishwasher that is practically empty.
Don’t water your lawn during the hottest times of day.
In summer, if it cools down in the evenings then turn your A/C off and open your windows – let the FREE breeze cool your house.

Tip #4: Cook at Home Instead of Eating Out

It’s saves so much money to avoid eating out (at least too often, sometimes is a nice treat). That being said, it’s so much EASIER to eat out a lot of the time! You can help this by planning ahead with your shopping/menu planning, prep things ahead of time (like over the weekend) and taking advantage of simple crock pot meals. Another great idea that I love is making a bunch of freezer meals at once, then enjoying them the rest of the week.

Tip #5: Save on Gas Costs

To save on gas costs, plan your necessary errands in advance so you can make the most of your trips. If the grocery store is on the way home from dance lessons, plan on swinging by to avoid having to drive back later. If it isn’t very hot, don’t run your A/C unnecessarily as this affects your gas mileage. Also, if it isn’t too hot/cold, don’t sit in your vehicle with it running unless you need to (like after school pick-up, sitting in a parking lot, etc.)

Go nab your American Express Serve® Cash Back Prepaid Debit Card now and start using it, plus applying these other fabulous money saving tips to help your budget!

Smart Money Smart Kids: Dave & Rachel’s New Book

April 5, 2014 by Kelly Dedeaux

I received a free digital copy of this book to facilitate this review. All opinions are 100% my own.

Guys I’m So. Dang. Excited! I’m part of the launch team for Dave Ramsey & Rachel Cruze’s (his daughter) new book: Smart Money Smart Kids. Now that I’ve read the entire thing (and am preparing to re-read it), I have to admit I don’t even know where to START in telling you guys about it! Seriously, there is so much amazing info in it for raising your kids to be smart with money, have a grateful heart, and basically prepare them for a successful future! The best way to begin something is just to begin, right? I think this ‘beginning’ should be mine and Hubby’s not-so-great financial history. So let’s just dive right in, shall we?

First of all, I’ve been a huge fan of Dave’s for awhile now. After reading his Total Money Makeover book, it completely changed how Hubby and I view our financial situation. Up until that point, however, our financial knowledge was very VERY limited. Starting our family while still in college, we used that as an excuse to rack up substantial student loans to cover our education and many living expenses. We also didn’t think much about going on several family vacations. Add to that our attempts at starting a large business that completely failed and lead us to bankruptcy…..ya, our financial situation was beyond critical.

After reading the Total Money Makeover about two years ago, we decided to turn our lives around completely. We started by moving to an area (and different state) where there was much more job potential (and a lot better pay) than where we were stuck in Utah. By doing so, we tripled Hubby’s annual salary. I have yet to figure out how we got by before….a mixture of amazing family support and the grace of heaven, probably!

We have now been working as hard as possible to get rid of our debt, which currently sits at an appalling $105,000 NOT including our home! The majority is student loans, then there’s one auto loan, a little credit card debt, and a chunk that we owe our parents (for daycare and such help while we were in school). This is not chump change, guys! We’re throwing as much as we can at this debt, and making many sacrifices along the way. No cable (not really a sacrifice), driving as infrequently as possible to save on gas and repairs, keeping a close eye on our utilities and groceries (see the 15+ Best Grocery Budgeting Tips Ever), and trying to avoid ‘extra’ stuff such as eating out and toys/games/etc. It’s a long process, but we’re determined to pull this off!

Now, I’ll be perfectly honest with you all: Hubby makes a pretty decent salary. Growing up, I never would’ve thought my family would have this income with just ONE spouse working. But think about it….this nice salary is going mostly to DEBT! To things that are in the past, instead of things we could enjoy now or save for in the future. Depressing, right?!

This is NOT what I want for my kids, so I want to arm them with as much knowledge, experience and attitude as possible in financial wisdom. That’s where Smart Money Smart Kids comes in! Dave and Rachel break it down into very specific, age-appropriate levels. With lots of personal stories and a back-and-forth type narrative, this is so fun to read! What I love the best, though, is that these lessons not only teach kids how to be financial smart, but it helps build their entire character in a way they can TRULY succeed in their life!

Here’s some of the things they touch on:

Build the desire in your kids to WORK, not be lazy. This will help them in so many ways throughout their life. Work isn’t really a four letter word!!!
Money doesn’t grow on trees. Kids need to learn that it does have a limit, and when it’s gone, it’s gone.
Delayed gratification: learn to save! Set age-appropriate goals, allow your child to work towards something. Imagine their sense of pride and accomplishment when they’ve EARNED something by working for it.
Do you think it’s easier to give away money that’s not really yours anyway? Of course it is! Teaching your children that everything is really God’s money anyway will help foster a giving heart….now THAT will go far in their lives!
When their old enough, teaching your child the importance and benefit of a budget is crucial. Starting the habit when their younger will make it second nature when they’re grown and have much more at stake. Help them tell their money where to go, not wonder where it went!
Debt IS a four letter word! Just like in our situation where it’s taking EXTRA work, sacrifice and lot of years of our lives to get rid of, debt can truly ruin your child’s future. Raising them to avoid it altogether can do amazing things for them. This is one of the best things you can teach your child!
Student loans: AVOID THEM! There’s so many other options, and even Hubby and I (thinking back) could have paid for our college a dozen better ways than the loans. We just didn’t realize, and didn’t care. If I gave ONE piece of advice to my sisters and children on finances….avoid student loans!

Really, there’s TONS in Smart Money Smart Kids that every parent should utilize with their children. Heck, they even cover the different types of family situations (divorced, step-families, special needs kids, etc.). Seriously, they cover EVERYTHING you need to set your kid up for success!

Smart Money Smart Kids is available for pre-order NOW…and comes out April 22nd! So do your kids and all the future generations a favor and go pre-order it RIGHT NOW. It could be the best purchase you ever make for your child’s future.