This year was my aunt and uncle's year to host Christmas. After we opened our presents, it was time to clean up and get ready to go to their house. I didn't take a lot of pictures and what I did take I can't post due to privacy reasons.
I cannot believe Christmas has come and gone. It does not feel like Christmas happened at all. Christmas was so different this year. Mainly because we no longer have our own house, but even with a house I think it would have felt different.
I was able to get Friday December 23 off, so we decided to make Santa cookies on that day.
I was so excited this year for Christmas because for once I knew exactly what I wanted to get Maddy. Approximately two years ago we had the money saved for a PS5, but life happened, and I ended up having to use that money as our Christmas fund. I promised her we would rebuild the sinking fund and try again. She was such a good sport about it. She had a plan to save her money for a PS5 this year. Once our house sold, she realized the reality of her getting a puppy is sooner than expected, so she decided to use her PS5 savings as her dog savings. I knew I had to find a way to get her a PS5 for Christmas. After a little digging I found I could request an invitation from Amazon. I gave it a try and two days later received an invite. I could not believe it happened so fast. As you can tell in the video, she was quite surprised.
The PS5 was supposed to be her main present. We've been trying to figure out what homeschool curriculum we would use next year. We finally came to a decision. Unfortunately for me that decision required her to have a laptop because it will solely be online. I debated with the do I or don't I decision of getting her a laptop for Christmas. I figured it made financial sense to go ahead and purchase the laptop and make it part of her Christmas. She has wanted a laptop for a while, so she was really excited to get one.
Since she ended up getting two main presents, the rest of her Christmas were accessories mostly. She got a PS5 controller charging station and an extra controller. Mom wants to play too ya know! She also got three games: Avengers, Uncharted; Legacy of Thieves Collection, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
The last thing she got outside of stocking stuffers is a JBL Flip 6 speaker. This was something else I knew early on I wanted to get for her. When I tell you it is an awesome speaker, I mean it. The sound is incredible!
I never expected to get to go to two for King & Country concerts in a year. We got to attend A Drummer Boy Christmas tour in Nashville, TN. We did not have our new phones for this concert, so the pictures I did get will not be great quality. Like Christmas, I took more video than pictures, so we will see what I can come up with. We plan to make this concert a tradition every year.
The concert was held at the Gaylord Opry House. This was our first time at the venue. We got to drive through the beautiful lights. I could not get good pictures because I was in the back, and you weren't allowed to stop. It was breathtakingly beautiful!
I received my 2022 year in review and thought I'd share. As a reminder, I follow The Budget Mom on Instagram. I have implemented her budget by paycheck and have seen great progress.
My credit score went up by 83 points in 2022. Yes, you read that right; eighty-three points. I'd love to know how they calculate it because from the sounds of it I had a really low credit score to begin with, but in all reality I really didn't.
I've been able to keep my average credit card usage to under 30%. This is a big deal for me. I used to high credit card usage.
I was able to pay off $5,733 of credit card debt. My mind is really blown on this one. How?! It just goes to show a little bit really does add up in the long run. That is so hard to see in the beginning, which is one reason I never really tried before. When I first started this process, I did not have extra money to throw at debt. I had to wait until I was able to pay off a debt and snowball that payment into the next debt.
I paid off $4,135 of my car loan.
Other finance wins in 2022 include having a fully funded Christmas sinking fund. Whereas I did go over budget for Christmas this year, I did not accrue more debt. I started my house savings fund. We will just pretend it wasn't a forced savings lol. I feel very defeated in saving for a house. I feel like it will never happen. I'm trying to remind myself that much like debt, a little will turn into a lot in the long run. The last win is being able to afford new phones for my daughter and me. I did finance them through Apple; however, they are interest free for two years, and I have a plan to pay them off sooner than two years. Our phones were no longer going to be supported with the next update, so we needed to go ahead and purchase new ones. I now have a phone savings set up and plan to have it funded within the next four years.
Was 2022 a good year for you financially? I'd love to hear about it!
I am always looking for ways to save money. Several years ago, I cut the cord to cable. I went from paying $100 for the basic DirecTV package, to paying $54.75 for Sling. That was almost half the price of what I had been paying, and I got more channels. In full transparency, Sling has gone up on their rates. I tried to figure out a way I could go to a cheaper streaming service, but at the end of the day Sling was still the cheapest. I purchased the 4/$10 entertainment package, which included all the hallmark channels. I found it was cheaper to drop the extra package and use frndlytv for hallmark and lifetime movie network. In dropping the extra package, I was able to get my Sling bill back down to $54.75, but I now have a $9.84 frndlytv bill. It saves me $3 doing it this way verses having it all on Sling. If Sling keeps increasing rates, I may just drop it altogether and solely use frndlytv and a few other streaming platforms.
Another way I save money is by using Ibotta. Ibotta gives you money back on certain offers. I was able to earn $79 last year through Ibotta. If you haven't signed up, I highly recommend in doing so. You can click here to sign up. I have a referral code you can enter when signing up: nhpkaw. When you use the referral code, we will both get cash back when you submit your first receipt. Just a tip for Walmart pickup orders. If you use Walmart pickup, you will need to choose online in Ibotta. I learned that the hard way and missed out on some cash back. You will need to make sure you add the offers in Ibotta prior to purchasing them, otherwise you will not get credit for it. I left .30 in my account from last year, so I am excited to see what the new year brings.
The next way I save money is by using Fetch Rewards app. This app just requires you to submit receipts and you will get points for each receipt. It's similar to Ibotta in the fact that there are certain offers that give you a lot of points, but even if you don't redeem an offer, you still get 25 points per receipt. I have not gotten a lot of rewards off this app just yet. I am less than 10,000 points away from getting a $25 Visa card. My issue is I primarily shop at Walmart for groceries and when I switched to curbside pickup I no longer get receipts to scan.
The last way I save money is by shopping at CVS for household products. I shop their CVS bucks sale as often as possible to earn extra care bucks. I then use the extra care bucks to purchase household items, and sometimes you can get them for free.
Do you have any tips on saving money? I'd love to hear.
I cannot remember all the shows or movies I've seen since my last post, so I'm just going to name what I can remember.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever - can we just talk about this movie for a minute? It was phenomenal! I was not a fan of Black Panther, no offense to Chadwick Boseman because he was amazing. It was just the movie itself did not capture my attention. Wakanda Forever was a different story though.
Fire Country - this has been one of the best new shows I've seen in a while.
Manifest
9-1-1
Dead to Me
Stranger Things
Dog Gone - this was such a heartfelt movie.
Friday the 13th
National Treasure: Edge of History
Dead to Me
All Together Now
The Recruit
The Gray Man
Do you have any show or movie recommendations?
I am by no means a beauty guru, but I have found products that work well with my maturing skin.
I'll go over what little skincare I do first. The first product I use is Elemis Pro-Collagen Cleansing Balm. I like that this product melts my makeup off. To go along with this, I really enjoy using the Wonder Cloth. It works like magic! You simply run the cloth under water and then wipe off your make up. Once you run the cloth back under water the makeup disappears. I have found after I washed mine that the makeup no longer washes away.
Another cleanser I absolutely love is Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Daily Cleanser. This makes my face feel so smooth.
After I cleanse, I apply the L'oreal Age Perfect Cell Renewal Midnight Hydrating Serum. I love the way it smells and feels. I am not sure if it really produces results, but I continue to use it in my routine.
After I apply the serum, I use Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair Retinol Regenerating Cream. This is my first time using a retinol cream and thank goodness have not had any issues. I've only been using it once a day, but plan to try to bump it up to twice daily as recommended. I've noticed while doing this routine, I do not wake up with sleep lines on my face. I'm not sure if the products are actually working, but I do like how my face feels after using them, so I continue.
Another product that I love is from Good Habit Skincare, and it is the Bright Bright Baby Glow On Oil Exfoliator. I don't use this every day, but when I do use it, my face feels buttery smooth.
I do plan to add a sunscreen and essence water to my routine at some point, but for now these are all the products I use.
The next product I have been loving is the Elf Halo Glow. This product evens out my skin tone just like a foundation would but doesn't give full coverage like foundation. It is great for a no makeup, makeup look.
My favorite foundation is no longer available, and I am so sad! I decided to give Fenty Beauty a try and got the Pro Filt'r Hydrating Longwear Foundation. I instantly fell in love with it. I went back to try and get more only to find it was no longer available. Fenty Beauty replaced it with a skin tint. I guess it's back to the drawing board to figure out the best foundation for me.
These are the products I have been loving for now. I plan to update as I find other products I love just as much. These products, with the exception of Fenty Beauty, can be found at Ulta, Walmart, or Target.
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