Down With The Pounds

So I am down 5 more pounds.  I am working on eating out less to start.  I got a little side tracked and was eating out a little too much.  I have continued to have my smoothies with the protein powder.  I really like buying the frozen fruit at #Target.  It is very tasty and makes things very simple.  I have the #Nutribullet and I just put in the fruit and powder and blend it in the to go cup and drink it at work.

I have not started back to the gym yet.  I really need to go but I have napping way to much again.  That is a big down fall of mine.  Over the years I have been napping so much it is crazy.  I take my daughter to school then come sleep until the last minute before work.  Sooo not healthy.  Today I decided to stay awake.  Napping is a hard habit to break when you have been doing it for like 9 years now.

So what is your favorite way to spend your extra morning time?  What do you get done before leaving to work?  I will have an extra hour after I go to the gym when I start o I want some ideas of things I can accomplish with my extra time before I have to get ready to go.

Upsetting Day So Lets Talk Savings

So today did not go as planned at all.  I was not able to get anything that I wanted to done so I am not very happy.  I could not get on the site to finish my divorce papers so I was not able to go file.  My cable was out and couldn't get it fixed so that was annoying.  So today we are going to talk about savings and points apps.  I am going to cover them over the next couple days.

For today we are going to talk about Shop Kicks.  If you do not already know what this is, it is a phone app where you earn points for shopping and then redeem the points for awards.  It is very easy.  You just take your phone with you when shopping and it will alert you to the different kicks you can earn.  You can earn kicks for just walking into a store or by scanning the specific merchandise.

So far my favorite place to get kicks from is Target.  I have earned bonus boards there which is when you scan a full group of specified items.  I also earned $2 to shop just for getting kicks and entering the store.  They also have books as they are called.  You can look through specific store to see the latest items they have.  Some times for looking through the books you earn bonus kicks.  They can be right then or some are issued the next time you go to that specific store.  It is free and you are earning stuff from doing it.

The hardest part for me is when I am just running in and out of a store I some times forget my phone so I miss out on kicks.  The good news though is that they are free so I am not losing anything by forgetting.  It can be a little frustrating when you are so close to getting the level of points you want but that is the good thing, you can always earn more. 

You can use it to make shopping fun for the kids.  You can do the bonus boards as scavenger hunts and they can help.  It will earn you kicks and it will keep them occupied helping to look for the items.  I mean who couldn't use a way to entertain the kids while shopping.  The bonus is you can earn free stuff doing it too.

The prizes are pretty good.  They range from gift cards to merchandise, they even have it so if you earn enough points you can get a Vespa scooter.  The nice thing about it is that you are already going shopping so why not get something back.  If you are interested in trying it out http://get.shopkick.com/lithium12388

Useful Information About Target

So today we went to Target to get some dog food and we like to occasionally eat at the cafe.  We first stopped at the cafe and did our eating.  As a side not to this story be careful of getting the salads from the cooler the chef salad my daughter got had lettuce that was not so appealing looking.  We then took our usual stroll through the $1 section.  If you are a teacher you can find some useful items like stamps for papers, chalkboard border, grade books and more.  Then it was off to the dog food.  I myself find there are way too many options to choose from and I am always comparing prices to pounds.  We are currently using IAMS.  We tried the Rachel Ray brand but our dogs would not eat it very well.

Now it was time to head to the check out.  As you might know Target has a few different private label cards.  I personally have the store credit card.  You may also know that when you use your Target credit card you can receive 5% off your purchase.  I am really trying to not use my cards as much as possible due to my finances.  I need to pay stuff off.  So the cashier rings things up and ask how I am paying.  I say debit and he starts into the whole thing about using the Target card to which I inform him I have a card already.  Then he says do you have our debit card, I say no and that I only use the credit card for the discount.  Here is the part I was unaware  of.

The cashier proceeds to tell me that with the debit card you also get the 5% discount.  This is not something I personally was told about before.  All it is, is a debit card linked to your checking account you already have and then you still get the 5% off.  So now you can still shop with out having to extend your credit and get the discount.  It took less than 5 minutes to sign up for the card and you can use it immediately.

Another thing that some people may not know is that by using the card you can get the 5% even at the cafe and the pharmacy.  As another bonus when you use your card to purchase your prescription you can have the rewards program and after 5 purchases you get a day of discounted shopping.  This place is full of ways to save and now you can use the method you would have in the first place to get it.

To make this trip even better my daughter asked that since her salad was not to her liking could she get some popcorn,  which I was fine with so we went over there with my temporary card and ready to save on our popcorn when The guy at the counter says to my daughter " I have not seen you in awhile but if I remember correctly you were sick so are you feeling better."  He was right the last time we had been there she had been having stomach trouble and had to be careful about what she was eating.  I was very impressed that he remembered but not shocked.  He is amazing every time we go there.  The first time I saw him there I was having a bad day and had been crying and he was so nice that I left feeling 10x better.  I admit I am not positive on his name and I need to make sure to let his management team know just how great he is.  I believe his name is Roy and he works at the Target on W Saginaw if you are ever in the neighborhood.

I just wanted to share the new info I learned about their card program and throw in the amazing service that I got today.  It is so rare for people to just be nice to other that I wanted to make sure I let you know about and amazing local person.