A Lifetime of Lemonade

Laboring as an introvert is a bit different. My epidural is amazing, and my MIL and DH are passed out. Am I mad? No! Quite relieved! The room is nice and quiet. And when the baby cluster feeds, my husband will be well-rested and I’ll get to sleep. It’s only weird if you make it weird…

It’s been a little over a year since I signed in here. We sold our town house, paid off $250k ish of debt, bought a manufactured home at Upset Sale to flip, started remodeling a slow, live-in flip of another manufactured home and found community, and right now I’m in labor with our second baby. Wow!

Currently in labor with a VERY GOOD epidural. WOW! This is so much better than my last labor with a failed one. We are not all having the same birth experiences. That’s for sure.

Oh I’m just one of the patients in the study. The researchers are amazing, and I really hope they are able to continue.

I don’t have to look. I’ll likely be affected. I’m in an NIH funded natural history study on Relapsing Polychondritis At Penn. Rare disease month is usually one of hope. Not this year.

This would be a great thing to partner with the SADS foundation on

Made our 2025 budget template today. Ouch. It hurts, but I know it’s the first step towards getting back on track. It was good to get a grasp on things and to find out that no, we really can’t realistically frugal down further. We can only increase income and invest.

Also: Quick tip! This deal is best maximized at stores like Target or Walmart, where out of pocket costs are higher and paired with Ibotta rebates and/or Target Gift card offers

Payout is via Digital Visa Pre-Paid Card and is sent to the email used to register. Be sure to check out the FAQ for more complete details. www.cp-rewards.com/faq/

Eligible brands include some you may not expect: Ajax, Speed Stick, Irish Spring, Suavitel, and more!

Full list here: www.cp-rewards.com/brands/

Did you know Colgate-Palmolive is offering a rebate on their products through March 2025?

Spend $20, earn $5. Spend $30, earn $10.

www.cp-rewards.com

Ibotta Friends and Bonuses is my favorite group for finding Ibotta matchups. Each week the admins post a cheapies/freebies thread and it’s super helpful! www.facebook.com/share/g/1A6P...

One thing to remember is that understanding the value per offer is useful for helping you assess whether you want to chase a specific bonus and to assess “Did I get a good deal on this?” But until that rebate is actually in your wallet, it doesn’t really matter.

Because these Ibotta bonuses were available to me at the same time, each offer I complete counts toward both. So for the next 15 offers, the combined value of both bonuses per offer is $.33 + $.25 = $.58 per offer. The value of offers 16-20 is $.25 per offer.

My Peak Profits bonus was $5 for 20 offers:

$5/20 offers = $.25 per offer

My Cash Dash bonus was $5 for 15 offers.

$5/15 offers = $.33 per offer

How do you calculate the value of an Ibotta bonus?

Let’s look at two bonus offers available to me this week: Cash Dash and Peak Profits.

Fetch | America's Rewards App | Get Free Gift Cards With Fetch, you can get free gift cards simply for shopping, snapping all your receipts and playing games on your phone! Try our rewards app today.

Fetch is my favorite rebate app to recommend for someone who thinks they don’t have time to coupon. Just scan your receipt and you’ll find you earn points without even trying! Sign up w/ code 174UFU & get 2,000 pts: referral.fetch.com/vvv3/referra....

Shopkick is another rebate app that paid me almost $400 last year. This app works really well for in-store Walmart shoppers. Sign up with my code to get bonus kicks: KIND268208 get.shopkick.com/96Rn/4r2mr1ur

Ibotta is my favorite rebate app. It cashes out quickly and directly to PayPal. Plus, it offers bonuses weekly. In less than a year using it, I’ve received over $1700 in rebates. Signing up with this referral link will earn you $5: ibotta.onelink.me/iUfE/1005cd3...

‎Aisle: Cash Back Every Aisle ‎Aisle is the easiest way to discover, shop, and get rewarded for trying new brands. Download Aisle and create an account in less than 30 seconds. CASH BACK IN EVERY AISLE! Aisle has helped hundreds ...

Aisle is a rebate app that pays out directly to Venmo or PayPal usually within just a few days of submitting a receipt. It was previously a web app, but they launched an app today! apps.apple.com/us/app/aisle...

AwesomeFreebies If you are looking for free food (and more) you've come to the right place. I post freebies including mailed samples, Amazon freebates, food/grocery freebies, Ibotta, and more.

r/AwesomeFreebies is a fantastic resource for finding free food and free-after-rebate offers. They do a master food post every month!

www.reddit.com/r/AwesomeFre...

Want to lower your grocery bill by ~50%?! Here’s a couponer’s guide to apps and resources that will help you do just that! 🧵

So it’s just wild to me that so many people dismiss couponing as a waste of time. Because for a low income family, it can drastically improve their quality of life. And for a middle income family choosing to invest the money save, it can pay for college tuition. #couponing can be a game changer

If someone told you a stock market investor got this kinds of returns every two weeks, most people would say they were the GOAT.

We do this every paycheck, so in just a two week period, we see a 108.91% return from couponing.

So for our household, when I spend $300 from our paychecks, I come home with $626.74 worth of products to meet our family’s needs.

Typically, I purchase items our household needs and pay out of pocket 20-30% less than retail at the register from sales and coupons. I then submit for rebates and typically receive back 40-50% of what I paid at the register.

People tend to be dismissive of couponing in a way that blows my mind because they would never dare blow off an investor who matched my returns. 🧵

Life is going to give you lemons. How many you get or how moldy they are is not in your control. And comparing your lemons to your neighbor’s lemons is useless. The only thing that matters is how equipped you are to deal with the lemons you’ve got and whether you even try.