Operation: Get That Dough (I need a better title)

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Help me out girls.  What’s a good title for Operation: Get and save money in any (legal) way shape or form I can for a house, a baby coming soon and grad school tuition?

While you’re thinking about that, I’ll let you in on my plan so far in the tentatively named Operation: Get That Dough

1. saving $ from 9-5 job – OK this is the “duh” item on the list and will likely contribute most to the savings accounts.  I save $XXXX each paycheck to an account on everbank.com.  I’m going to beef this up by:

• looking for an online bank account with a higher interest rate to switch to
• look into upping the amount I put in (after consulting the budget to see if it’s even possible)

i have this pic on my vision board 🙂

2. couponing more aggressively – I am going to even start “liking” brands on FB and signing up for their “clubs” so I can get some coupons sent to me to help me with the food costs.  Oh, and I’m never shopping with John, I’ll go alone and have him pick me up because it’s easier to stick to my list that way without seeing “surprise!” hot dogs and pork rinds sliding down the conveyor belt.

3. Sell stuff – I’m going to try craigslist, half.com, and ebay for selling books and clothes and other things that I’d otherwise just give to goodwill.  Let’s see if anyone wants this stuff.  One man’s trash another man’s treasure, right? I used to sell textbooks on half.com all the time.  Hopefully it’s still as easy.

4. Switch Credit Cards – I actually already did this.  I got rid of my continental chase card and got a chase freedom card.  This gives me unlimited cash back versus miles, and has no annual fee (Saved $79/year) – PS: I gotta say, the customer service people for this card were stellar…never had such good service from a credit card company before.

5. Adios Gym – I did this one already too.  I said sayonara to NYSC,  I had the membership on hold since I couldn’t workout in my first trimester at all, but I just got rid of the membership all together.  I still have my Planet Fitness account which is $10 a month (which if I’m being honest with myself I should probably cancel too….), but that one will go bye bye after we move.  (Saved $75/month)  I am putting the “gym payment” into my savings account as if it’s a bill I’m still paying.

6. Cash Back – All of the money I get back each month from Mr. Rebates and Ebates goes straight into my savings.  Now that I use the site when I book/buy anything at work, I’m getting a lot more cash back! Yippee!  (If you haven’t yet signed up for one of those, I suggest you do so now, you’ll get cash back for shopping…if you’re going to shop online anyway, may as well get some $$ back each month for it!)

7. Continue cutting back – another duh item.  We’re cutting back even more and depending on how my future baby shower goes, we’ll be going used/thrift for the baby stuff (not the crib or car seat of course).  I did a pretty sizeable haul of maternity clothes for $250 (target clearance and old navy clearance) and am now on another shopping ban until May 1, 2012!

8. Save freelancing / coaching income – my final “duh” item.  I’m treating my side business income as an untouchable bonus.  A certain percentage of it goes to IRA and the rest goes to savings.

I’m dividing all the “extra” earned money in savings 3 ways.

• 50% to Down Payment fund
• 25% Baby fund
• 25% Tuition fund

Any other ideas for me? Know where any money trees are planted perhaps?  Know any rich benefactors?  

Also, I was asked in an email about what books I’d recommend to help get a hold of your finances.  Here are my suggestions:

• Total Money Makeover – by Dave Ramsey (this is like a bible for some folks)
• Women & Money – by Suze Orman – I LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS BOOK
• Your Money or Your Life – by Robin & Dominguez

And….I haven’t read these yet, but if you have amazon prime (which you can get free if you’re a mom or student fyi) you can read these books for FREE!!!

• How to make a budget
• 92 Easy ways to save money

 HAPPY SAVING!!

Doyou have any financial goals this year?  What are you doing to save or earn money this year?