Travel is always on my mind. Everyday I think of my next trips. I keep a mental list of places of where I want to go next. The only way for me to get to this mental bucket list of places is to always be on budget and live frugally. Most people I know live the same way whether they have to or not. Some people live frugally because it is the only way they can survive. Others it is the thrill of the deal. It doesn’t matter the motivation, “Waste not, Want not” is not a bad way to live. With this being my motto, I have spent the last year utilizing shopping apps. I have written a blog post on my savings at the grocery store with coupons. This is one thing I will probably always do, but now I am integrating shopping apps too. I will use my trip to WalMart the other night as an example.

WalMart is not my favorite place to shop but for somethings, it is the only thing in my town. I follow a few blogs/websites called www.CouponDivas.com and www.Cuckcooforcoupons.com. I was reading some tips and followed some links to print several really good coupons. This was my inspiration for me to go on an extreme couponing trip to Walmart. My goal when I went was to maximize my coupons with my shopping apps. So I proceeded to only look at the price of things with coupons and the money I would get back by using Ibotta and Checkout51. These apps both offer rebates and bonuses for certain items purchased. It is very easy to use. By using these apps and my coupons this is how my savings played out: At checkout I saved a total of $20.25 with coupons. The other magic happens when I get home. I put all my goods on the counter. With Checkout51 all I have to do is check the items I bought on the app and then scan my receipt. With this app I only saved $2.75. With Ibotta I have to check all the items I bought, then verify them. You verify by scanning the UPC and then the receipt. With Ibotta I got $5.75, plus a $2.50 in a bonus for submitting enough rebates. Then I moved on to scanning the Walmart on the Walmart app. On this app there is a link called “Savings Catcher”. All you do is scan your Walmart receipt and for 7-14 days it will automatically check competitors ads, it will automatically give you the difference for an advertise price that is less at one of the competitors. You can save this up and get it on a Walmart gift card. So far in 2 days I got $1.79. Then I scan it on an app called Receipt Hog. This app gives you “coins” for your receipts. These coins add up to cash or gift cards. It also stores my receipts in my phone. If you do the math you will see I am up to $33.04 so far. There is still potential to earn more within the 2 weeks of that shopping trip.

All of these apps are free. I also do Mpoints and Shopkicks. These apps are ones you just check in at certain stores and get points. These points add up so you can cash them in for gift cards to places like Target, Marshalls, Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, Starbucks and many more. This all free too. This may seem silly to some, but I find it entertaining.

I have two more shopping apps I use. One is the United Mileage Plus. This one I just make purchases at participating retailers thru the app. When I buy a gift card thru the app at a participating retailer I earn sky mileage with United.I have earned a total of 7500 miles from this app. This a little over 1/3 of a saver ticket on the continent of USA. It all adds up! The second is Ebates. This is an online shopping app. This one you can rebates for shopping at many stores like Target, Kohl’s etc. If you join off of someones referral (hint, hint, over to the left or bottom of my blog is the referral link)you will earn $10 off your first rebate is earned. If you are shopping, then you might as well earn money back.

By using my apps I have earned over $400 in money or gift cards and 7500 sky miles in one year.Some of these apps I just started using. To me that is equivalent to a round trip ticket somewhere or if your really good a whole trip somewhere. This alone is my passion and motivation, I find it a fun game I like to play.

Are there shopping apps you use? Are you interested in learning the shopping app or sky miles game? If so let me help you. I can teach you and your friends to save or make money doing simple everyday things.

I am still traveling and I am still blogging. It has been a busy year. I have spent most of my time working on Frugal Intentional Traveler Facebook page, working on travel decor, taking a few trips and living frugally. My plan is to post my adventures soon. Today I am home sick and my sewing machine is in Pasadena, so its time for me to update the blog. I am not one to sit back and let the grass grow under my feet.

Over the past months, my boyfriend bought a house. It’s in a great neighborhood, with amazing views. This house is a complete fixer upper. So now it is time to find the balance of fixing the house up (frugally as possible) and traveling to cool places. This is quite the balance. We live 2.5 hours apart. I have many ideas and plans but both of us work full-time and only see each other 3 weekends a month. Sometimes I get ahead of myself and have to slow down, on purpose, to not overwhelm Mark.

Besides working, traveling, remodeling, writing the blog and Facebook page, I am wanting to do a home decor online business. Years ago I sold Southern Living at Home. I loved all of their product and still use it every day. I miss selling that product. I decided to do a business of my own. Why not? I enjoy doing it and I get to travel around looking for product. Soon I will be listing items for sale. They will probably be travel inspired. I hope to have a successful business that will support my travel.

I took a couple of trips to Charleston again. I also traveled to Spain. We took a few day trips to some central coast locations as well. We are in the process of planning our trips for this year. The up coming blog posts will touch base on all I have mentioned. I will have plenty of pictures and references for my inspirations. Sometimes one thing or idea leads to another for me. Most of my inspiration is from travel (or shopping). Pinterest and Craigslist are two of my favorites.

I am excited to get all my thoughts on paper. I hope your excited to see the posts and my crazy adventures. Hopefully they will be inspiring to you and your crazy adventures.

It is the first day of summer. An Exciting time. School is out, days are longer and the living is easy. I love this time of year. 

Most people use this time for travel ( maybe another reason I love it so much). These travels consist of all kinds of different things. Camping, cruises, hiking, road trips etc. Making memories is what is important. 

I started my summer out with a trip to Las Vegas, then a day of watching the whales and now a small road trip to Mammoth Lakes. There are more fun things on the horizon. It’s going to be great! 

I would love to hear about your summer fun and travels, wether that is near or far. Please share your expeiences and pictures.  

                     

Easter is celebrated in many different parts of the world. It is very colorful and cheery. Enjoy pictures from Germany, Spain, France, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Israel, Costa Rica  Belgian and Italy.

Have any of you celebrate Easter in any of these places? What kind of traditions do they have?

 

 

 

I noticed in the Target weekly add a deal of $10 gift card after spending $50 on food. This does not include, baby food, pet food, alcohol and a few other purchases. Read the fine print to make sure you comply. You can use store coupons and manufactures coupons combined to maximize your savings. This is a 20% savings even without factoring sale items or coupons. Just ring your food up first and separately from any other purchases. Get the gift card and use it on your items not involved in that promotion. If you have a Target Red card, you will get an additional 5% off. Bring your own bag and get $.05 off per bag. All of these money saving tips really do not take extra time. 

Happy savings everyone. Enjoy it. Let me know how you saved. 

Every girl that has a travel blog should have a night stand made out of an antique suitcase.

I finally got my Prague pictures framed and hung next to my Italy ones. I was so excited my dad custom made me those frames. It cost me $25 in materials instead of $170 each. I am a frugal traveler and frugal decorator.

Last week was my birthday. Yes I am blessed to have been born December 30th. The frugal side of me thinks what a great tax deduction I was for my parents. Being born so close to Christmas and the day before New Years Eve has sometimes not always been fun. A lot of times I would celebrate it on New Years Eve. This year I found it was great to celebrate on my official birthday. Thanks to some friends, I got to celebrate frugally, my favorite way.

Did you know you can go to Catalina Island, California on your birthday for freeeeee??? Thanks to my friends, I found this wonderful news out the day before my birthday.I decided to go. I left out of San Pedro Harbor. I had to register there an hour before the boat left. You can do it online the day before or earlier too. They give you a birthday ribbon to wear, and a list of deals on the island for your birthday. This free trip included round trip boat ferry to/from Catalina. You have to leave on your actual birthday, and you can stay for up to 30 days.

While on the island I had a list of free and discounted deals. I took advantage of the free coffee, free meal, and free tour of the Wrigley Casino. It was a great tour of the theater and ballroom. Spectacular views off the balcony. It was too cold for the free ice cream and water sports deals. This island treated me like the birthday queen that I was. Everyone told me Happy Birthday all day long. It was a wonderful day!

There are other birthday deals for me at other places. Some I still have a few more days to take advantage of. Some you have to do on your actual birthday. I feel I chose wisely. It was a great birthday. Check around your area for birthday deals. I know a lot of local coffee shops (Starbucks too) give a free drink on your birthday, IHOP and Denny’s give free breakfast. Baskin Robins, Cold Stone and Farrells gives free ice cream. Register for Sephora and get a free gift. Red Robin restaurant offers a free burger. There are many more. Just take a look a month before your birthday and register when necessary. You can have a frugal, fun birthday too.