Thriftism

If you want to know more about getting a sample box sent to your home every week, check out our Money Makers and Freebies page or visit our post on PINCHme Perks . WHAT I GOT THIS WEEK The sample box I got today had around $20.95 worth of samples ranging from beauty products to meal replacement. Below I break down the approximate price/value of each product I got this week.  Slimfast Advanced Energy Mocha Cappuccino ($1.20) 10.88 oz - $14.15  Sample contained 0.92 oz  ~ $1.20 Slimfast Mocha Cappuccino Meal Replacement Gold Bond Ultimate Strength & Resilience Skin Therapy Lotion - 0.75 oz bottle - 2 count  ($1.09) 13 oz - $9.48  Sample only contained 1.5 ~ $1.09 Gold Bond Ultimate Strength & Resilience Skin Therapy Shout Color Catcher - 4 Count - $0.98 Shout Color Catcher - 4 Count Skittles Sweet Heat 2 ct ($0.75) 12 oz - $2.50  Sample only contained 3.6 oz ~ $0.75 Skittles Sweet Heat The Origin

If you want to know more about getting a sample box sent to your home every week, check out our Money Makers and Freebies page or visit our post on PINCHme Perks . WHAT I GOT THIS WEEK The sample box I got today had around $19.71 worth of samples ranging from beauty products to food. Below I break down the approximate price/value of each product I got this week.  Undercover Agent Anti Winkle Serum ($12.03) 1.01 oz  - $45.00  Sample contained 0.27 oz  ~ $12.03 Undercover Agent Anti-Wrinkle DNA Protecting Serum Gillete Endurance Travel Size Gel Deodorant - 0.5 oz ($1.07) Gillette Endurance Clear Gel Deodorant, Cool Wave, 0.5 Oz  - $1.07  Gillette Endurance Gel Deodorant - Cool Wave Ricola Herbal Immunity Cough Drops - 3 ct.  ($0.86) 24 servings - $6.89  Sample only contained 3 ~ $0.86 Ricola Herbal Immunity Drops Olay Regenerist Luminous Tone Perfecting Cream Moisturizer ($2.26) 1.7 oz - $15.99  Sample only conta

Happy August! With a new month rolling around, that means we need another budget update. For a quick reminder, we run our budget solely on my income of $2,400/month which gives us a gross income of $31,200. We do not include health insurance in our budget as ours is currently covered by our jobs, but if this was our household income we would also be taken care of by insurance subsidies. We do not include all discretionary spending such as traveling or major home renovations, but we do include all entertainment, grocery, dining out, and every day expenses. It is our essentials budget that we live on before adding in trips! If we can do it, so can you! The Budget Our goal budget is balanced with total income minus expenses equal to zero. Numbers in red are expenditures, while black is income. The green background indicates under budget. Red squares point out our overspending.  We did change up the budget a bit to reflect that the student loan is paid off.

Fall is quickly approaching and we are still tracking our goals.  How are your goals coming along? Financial Goals Gain Employment (Race) ☑ Done - Race started working in February. Save 50% of our income We are back on track with this goal. While April was a rough month and we were a bit low in June, we definitely made up for those months in July. We actually saved over 100% of our income (carry over from June). I am not posting both with and without mortgage anymore as the extra payments on the mortgage are increasing our net worth and should therefor count as savings. We are also planning on paying off the mortgage this year and will then start putting money back into our regular savings.   Increase passive dividend income by 25% We are on track for 20% increase this year - slightly below our goal. It fell due to a few dividend cuts, but the main culprit is that we haven't been contributing to dividend earning stocks as we push to pay off the