New Goal: Saving Money

In general I am a thrifty person- I pride myself on my ability to find great deals on things.  I never pay full price!  But, that doesn't mean I still don't spend.  I just tend to get more for my money.  I've decided that I need to try to curb that spending for the next couple of weeks in preparation for the holidays!  I know I will be going out more, buying gifts etc, so my goal is to save as much money as possible and or make some extra cash.

Here is my plan:

1.  Keep posting on my blog- as when people visit and check out the ads I make a small commission.

2.  Collect all my spare change and cash it in to coinstar for Amazon.com gift cards or something similar.

3.  Sort through my clothing and sell things I don't wear that are in good condition to either Clothes Mentor (Plato's Closet for adults) or consign them.  - Please let me know of any good consignment shops in the area.

4.  Use coupons, shop for groceries, and avoid the fast food places.

5.  Avoid going to the mall.

6.  Use ebates.com when shopping online so that I can earn cash back on everything I spend! Seriously, I was dubious at first but all you have to do is sign up and use their site as a portal to all the normal places you shop online (Old Navy, Shutterfly, Macy's, Groupon etc) and they give you a percentage back in the form of a check every 3 months.  My first check from them was less than 10 dollars, but I don't do a lot of online shopping.  I do have plans to order some gifts from Shutterfly though so Ca-Ching, it will be a little more money in my pocket.

What are your best money saving/making tips? Oh- and help me out- visit one of the ads!

A Challenge

As I was frantically cleaning my apartment the other day in anticipation of a realtor visiting I realized something... I have a ton of clothes.  Yet, I tend to wear the same 10 tops or so over and over again.  So starting yesterday (November 1st) I am seeing how long I can go without re wearing the same top.  I'm having a coworker take a picture of me each day so that I can document the process.  I plan on lasting at least the month- but I may be able to go even further.  I'm going to do my best to not buy any new tops during this experiment as well... though I may bend that rule when I attend a conference in Chicago that is just a mile away from all the Michigan Ave shopping.

Stay tuned, on Fridays I will post my outfits from the work week.  On Sundays I will post my weekend outfits.