Money Matters

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sam’s Club for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

We have survived our first week of summer break! However, with my kids and their friends it’s safe to say that I will be visiting Sam’s Club a lot during the next 3 months! These kids know they can eat! Thankfully, My Sam’s Club membership continues to get us unbeatable summer deals on everything that I need to make sure my kitchen is stocked for all these hungry and thirsty teens!

But did you know those savings also include auto & tire services? The Sam’s Club #DareToCompare all-in tire offer is truly unbeatable. Sam’s Club offers the best tire brands at the best all-in price, matching offer. These tire brands include: Michelin, Goodyear, BF Goodrich and Pirelli. Not only does Sam’s Club offer a fabulous price on tires, but they also include the Tire Installation Package with each tire purchase. The Tire Installation Package makes this deal unbeatable! ($15/tire, $25/dually tire).

The Sam’s Club Tire Installation Package provides purchasing members with the following benefits and services for as long as they remain an active member of Sam’s Club:

• Tire Mounting
• Tire Lifetime Balancing
• Tire Lifetime Rotation
• A Value Stem
• No Charge Tire Lifetime Flat Repair
• 24-hour Emergency Roadside Service
Complete terms and conditions of all Sam’s Club warranties and services can be obtained at any Sam’s Club Tire and Battery Center location

This is a perfect deal for all those upcoming summer road trips! Thankfully, Sam’s Club works hard everyday to save their members money on tires. So, go ahead and let Sam’s Club help you save and get summer ready today!  But wait before you head off be sure to check out this keep reading…You don’t want to miss this….

#DareToCompare Twitter Party!

When: Wednesday 6/3/2015

Time: 1:00pm-2:00pm EST

Host/CoHost: @ModernDayMoms and @BrettBMartin

Prizes:

• (4) $50 Sam’s Club Gift Cards
• (3) $75 Sam’s Club Gift Cards
• (2) $100 Sam’s Club Gift Cards
• $500 Grand Prize Gift Card

Please note: winners will be announced throughout party so you have to attend to be eligible for the prizes!  So Be sure Follow and join in with the hashtag #DareToCompare 

Also if this is your first twitter party be sure to check out these great tips  before the party to help you stay connected in all the fun at http://bit.ly/18onQgl Hope to see you there!!

The kids are home for the summer and your grocery bill may be facing an increase. Not to mention that some foods go up in the summer (such as certain produce) due to weather conditions and supply and demand. You can save money, though, with a few tips you can use during any season. The best part is that there is no coupon clipping involved, because who has time for that when summer fun is waiting?

Clear your food: This means you should spend one full week without going grocery shopping, except for absolute essentials like milk and butter. Aside from those types of food, though, don’t buy anything. Eat what you have. Chances are, you can make some pretty great meals from all those foods you haven’t yet opened. You’ll need to be creative and flexible, but you can usually feed a family for five days on the basics you have lying around. It saves money and clears your food stash.

Get to cooking more: If you don’t have a lot of time to cook, look into crockpot meals or meals you can make in 20 minutes or less. The key is to cook, because that will save you the most money. Plus, you can cook a lot of foods on a Sunday and save them for the week. That will save money and time.

Buy in bulk: If you do plan to cook a few meals at one time, arrange them around a few main ingredients and buy in bulk to save money. This means you will have to find recipes with similar ingredients, but that shouldn’t be too hard these days.

Remember the season: You can get some things at any season, but remember that things out-of-season will cost more. Replace certain ingredients with seasonal foods and save money on the recipe.

Eat less meat: Eat more vegetables and fruit, and skimp on the meat. Meat can be expensive, but a few meatless meals can save you money and most people in your family won’t even notice if the meat is missing. Almost any meal you find a recipe for can be made without meat, and you don’t even have to change up much if anything at all.

Learn the value of frozen foods: This doesn’t mean processed foods. You can buy frozen veggies for simple meals. Most people think summer and see fresh produce. While produce can be cheaper in the summer, buying too much and not using it means you’ve just wasted money and food. If you cannot shop every three days, then you will need to use more frozen veggies to round out meals and save yourself some cash.

In our home, dinnertime as a family is very important to us. Not only do we get to enjoy a hot delicious meal, but we also get to gather as a family and talk about our day. And oftentimes, we forget how lucky we are to have these options when so many others don’t! Did you know that In the United States, 1 in 6 people struggles with hunger! Here in Georgia, it’s 1 in 5 according to feedingamerica.org

If you are a regular reader on my blog, then you know that I believe in giving back and volunteering in my community! This is something that I feel is very important and its close to my heart. I also feel it’s important to share ways with my readers and encourage you all to do the same. The truth is there are so many ways to give back in your own community that doesn’t cost a thing, so I hate when people always use the excuse “ I just don’t have the time or money.” For anyone who tries to give me that excuse, I give them five things right off the top of my head; they can do that don’t involve money or a lot of time!

I am sure your asking, “what can we do about this”? “How can we help those who aren’t able to afford food for their next meal”? Well, that’s where Fighting Hunger comes in. Walmart has launched the “Fight Hunger, Spark Change” campaign that promises to fight hunger here in America. As the largest food retailer, they know the importance of local families being able to purchase affordable, nutritious, sustainably growth food, and that is exactly why they work with farmers, suppliers, and nonprofit organizations to make sure they can reach these goals and feed America.

How can you help? By doing one of these easy things:

• Visit Walmart and purchase one item from this list or look for the signs and labels around the store,between April 6th and May 3rd, 2015. *It will equal one meal.*
• Donate at the register. You can give monetary donations of $1, $2, or $5 to your local Feeding America food bank at the register of any participating Walmart.
• Get social! Upload a public photo of 6 or more people who commit to solving hunger to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and tell your friends, family, and coworkers to do the same! Use #WeSparkChange and Walmart will donate $10—up to $1,500,000—for every post shared!!
• Visit Feeding America and find other ways you can help that include online donations that will help provide food and groceries for families battling hunger.

So, this weekend when doing our weekly grocery shopping, I decided to bring my kids along. Usually, I prefer to leave them at home. The truth is when they tag alone I come out spending double on what I planned to! However, I wanted them to see that buying our everyday products is actually helping so many others enjoy meals that we take for granted! They really enjoyed finding the special marketed products and were amazed and inspired to do more. My oldest daughter actually got very emotional when we talked about how many people go to bed at night starving! She kept asking me how we could do more! Both of my teenagers took their allowance and donated cash! I was so proud of them! The truth is I feel we all can do more to help! Personally, I feel that nobody should go hungry but especially here in America!

After all, no one should have to be hungry, and the best way to fight hunger is to start here at home. So, will you please help share and get the word out! Please comment below on how you give back or how you get your children involved?

*One meal is equivalent to $0.10, so $1 helps provide ten meals. Secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member foodbanks. For more info, visit Walmart.com/FightHunger.* DISCLAIMER: Walmart is not responsible for donating the meals, the supplier partners listed below are responsible for that.

Not long ago, my husband and I started shopping and selling online. We aren’t hoarders or anything, but it’s important to us to simplify our belongings every so often. Plus, who doesn’t want a little extra money for date night or that adorable Easter outfit that your daughter just has to have?

We are active eBay users (I like purchasing everything from baby supplies to clothes to books, and he loves all things truck-related), and eBay goes hand-in-hand with PayPal. We always thought these two websites/services were harmless, and so we (quite freely) gave them our bank and credit card information. After all, it was essentially just shopping, right? Providing our bank information made the transactions a lot easier, and as a military family with a 15-month-old daughter running around and a LOT going on, we are all about quick and easy.

After a few months of using the services, we had quite a scare. My husband received an email from PayPal stating that his information had been stolen—this included everything from his bank information to his credit card number. We couldn’t understand how something like this could happen without our knowledge, and to make matters worse, this person was making large purchases with our money. We also had to worry about someone stealing his identity—a very scary and all-too-common occurrence nowadays.

Luckily, our bank and PayPal were very helpful and were able to both fix the problem and reimburse our stolen money, but we made sure to take several precautions to assure something like this would never happen again. After all, it could have been much worse. It was during this research that we came across LifeLock, a comprehensive identity theft protection service that “helps safeguard your finances, credit, and good name.” By scanning threats, restoring any damage, tracking your credit score, and truly guaranteeing their services, we knew we were in good hands. When we signed up for the LifeLock Ultimate Plus Program, we felt that we could even go back to using eBay and PayPal because we knew we would be protected from any future dangers with our money and credit.

Even when we received another email that our card information may or may not have been stolen during Target’s recent data breach, we knew we were safe with LifeLock’s services. They assured us there would be no future problems, and it was easy to turn down Target’s offer for free credit monitoring when we had such a good service protecting us already. While it never hurts to have one more thing to help, LifeLock has really proven its worth. They emailed us before Target even had a chance to!

With data breaches like the one Target recently experienced—and the recent Anthem security breath that has affected as many as 80 million customers—happening all too often, it’s vital to use a protective service like LifeLock to keep your future, your finances, and your good name safe. We are so glad we did, and we know you’ll feel the same way!

Learn More:

For more information on data breaches and what it can really cost you (I’m not just talking money here), check out this website.

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