Laura Wales, Author at The Coupon Project

Capital One Shopping – Automatically Apply Coupon Codes + Get Cash Back!

Disclosure: the post below may contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase or take action using these links, the site makes commission. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

There’s a new cash back and coupon code extension on the market! Add the Capital One Shopping extension and apply coupon codes for savings. Here’s our quick Capital One Shopping review.

Automatically apply coupon codes for FREE – it’s kinda genius!

Capital One Shopping searches for a better price while you shop at Target, Best Buy, and more. You’ll see a friendly little pop-up if a better offer is found, including tax and shipping details.

Earn Capital One shopping credits while you shop, then redeem those shopping credits for free gift cards. Cha-ching!

The Capital One Shopping extension works with all major browsers, and their website also highlights featured offers and trending deals from top stores. They even feature local deals near you, too!

My Capital One Shopping Review

I decided to give this extension a try to see how it works. I need to buy a new Pack ‘n Play to use at my parents’ house, so I did a quick search on Amazon and found this one:

See that “Save $2” under the price? I clicked on that and it took me to this page:

So Capital One Shopping showed me that I can get the exact same Pack ‘n Play for the same price – including free shipping – from Walmart.com, and I’ll also get 3% cash back for a total of $2.24 saved! Sounds like a winner to me!

When you sign up for a Capital One Shopping account with the extension, they ask you whether or not you’re a Prime member and they also count shipping and tax for your specific zip code so you really are getting a true price comparison.

Download the Capital One Shopping extension HERE!

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Eat at Home: Affordable Online Weekly Meal Plan Service

1/12/21 Laura Wales

Disclosure: the post below may contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase or take action using these links, the site makes commission. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

We all know that eating at home is a smart choice for both your health and pocketbook. But do you ever feel stuck in a dinner rut of making the same meals over and over? Or maybe you’re so busy that after a full day of work, kids’ activities, and housework, the drive-thru is just way too tempting.

If so, I’m excited to share about Eat at Home, an online meal planning site.

Eat at Home provides you weekly meal plans, including lots of slow cooker/instant pot meals, freezer stash menus, 15-minute meals and more, along with color-coded grocery lists! It will take the headache out of planning and shopping.

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Free Budget and Financial Planning Printables

1/8/21 Laura Wales

Disclosure: the post below may contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase or take action using these links, the site makes commission. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

Is it time to get organized with your budget? Or maybe you’ve got a good budget in place, but would like some place pretty to track your savings or debt payoff? I’m so excited to share that I’ve had a wonderful designer put together a series of beautiful and practical free budget and financial planning printables just for you!

How to Print and Use These Free Budget and Financial Planning Printables

To print any of these, simply click on the image below. The printable will appear in a new tab. From there, right click or locate the “print” button from your browser’s toolbar.
Some of these printables you’ll want extras of! For instance, if you have more than one savings goal? Print 2 or 3 Savings Trackers!
Pick and choose whichever printables are helpful OR you can print them all and make a financial planning binder and notebook! We’ve even included a themed cover for you below if this is your end goal.

Prefer digital budgeting? Read all about my favorite digital budgeting system, YNAB (You Need A Budget) and get a FREE 34-day trial HERE!

With that, here are the printables and a little bit about how you might use each of them. Enjoy!

Free Monthly Budget Tracker Printable

Monthly Budget. Use this sheet to tally up your income and expenses for the month. This printable is a great way to get a quick “snapshot” view of how your spending and planning measured up in a month.

Free Bill Payment Tracker Printable

Bill Payment Tracker - Free Printable Spreadsheet

Bill Payment Tracker. Never forget another bill – for an entire year! Simply write in the description of the recurring bill (“medical insurance,” “mortgage,” “car payment”), enter the amount and due date, and fill in the bubble once it’s paid! This is an awesome printable to see it all at a glance.

Free Expense Tracker Printable

Expense Tracker. One of the best ways to figure out where all of your money goes is to track it! Write in the description of what expense you took care of, what category it falls under, and the date and amount. Seeing it all on one page can be startling – or inspiring!

Free Savings Tracker Printable

Savings Tracker - Free Financial Planning Printable

Savings Tracker. This printable will help you track your savings goals. If you have multiple savings accounts or multiple goals, you can print a sheet for each.

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7 Books to Help with Your New Year’s Resolutions

12/28/20 Laura Wales

Disclosure: the post below may contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase or take action using these links, the site makes commission. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

The New Year is upon us! I love the possibilities of a New Year, and a chance to start fresh. Today I wanted to share some of my favorite books to help you jump start your resolutions. I have personally read and/or owned all of these, so they are coming with my hearty recommendation.

For convenience, I’ve included Amazon links to each of the titles below. However, in many cases you should be able to locate these books at your local library if you wish!

Better Than Before: What I Learned about Making and Breaking Habits – to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life by Gretchen Rubin

This was my book club’s pick for December and what a great discussion it produced! You might recognize the author, Gretchen Rubin, because she wrote the bestseller The Happiness Project. Better than Before would be an excellent read no matter that your New Year’s Resolutions are. In this book, she uncovers the role habits have in our life – both good and bad. She shares how to develop habits that you want in your life, and how to protect them from self-sabotage. It was a very thought-provoking, yet easy read.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo

Chances are you’ve seen this title floating around: and for good reason, it’s a #1 New York Times Bestseller that’s easy to read, yet offers solid advice. I picked this book up myself last month and managed to read it in three sittings. There are a couple things that made this book different from other organizing books I’ve read: 1) Kondo claims that none of her clients have relapsed to disorganization (um… wow!) and 2) she advocates decluttering by category, not room.

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Free New Year’s Resolutions Planning Printables

12/27/20 Laura Wales

Disclosure: the post below may contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase or take action using these links, the site makes commission. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

I love a good New Year’s Resolution! In my experience, your success in reaching your goals starts with making a solid goal and plan in the first place. It’s so easy to slap down a resolution without giving much thought to why it matters or how you’re going to achieve it.

This year, I wanted to help you make your best set of New Year’s Resolutions ever! To do that, I’m offering up a FREE set of New Year’s Resolutions printables you can download and use to assist you through the process.

I recommend you print these out and find an hour or so when you can be quiet and reflect on what matters to you for the year ahead. This might involve leaving your house to hit up the coffee stand or library so you can clear your thoughts.

The first printable you’ll want to print out is the Resolution Brainstorm. On this sheet, your goal is to come up with all of the ideas in your head…all those resolutions that appeal to you or you’ve been kicking around for a while.

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4 Tips for Writing Better New Year’s Resolutions

12/26/20 Laura Wales

Disclosure: the post below may contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase or take action using these links, the site makes commission. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

4 Tips for Writing Better New Year's Resolutions

I love a good New Year’s Resolution! I know they often get a bad rap, but I think there’s something to be said about the desire to want to improve oneself.

Over the years, I’ve made some resolutions that I feel really have bettered or improved my life in some way. I’ve also made some resolutions that I failed miserably at. As I’ve been pondering the New Year, I wanted to share a few of my observations about how to write solid resolutions.

Tip #1: Avoid Resolutions that Require Perfectionism

One of my resolutions this year was to floss every day. So what happened in February, when I forgot one night and broke the streak? Well, I’d obviously failed so what was the point of continuing?

I have seen other resolutions like this too – maybe you’ve even written them. They might include a running streak (where you run every day for a year, without a day off) or take a picture every day and post to social media.

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Last-Minute Gift Idea: Top 20 Most-Wanted Gift Cards This Year (+ FREE shipping by Christmas!)

12/22/20 Laura Wales

Disclosure: the post below may contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase or take action using these links, the site makes commission. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

We’ve got just three days until Christmas – are you thinking about just giving gift cards to the rest of the people on your list?

Well, I have absolutely no qualms about giving (or receiving, for that matter) gift cards for Christmas. In fact, I think that a well-chosen gift card can be a very thoughtful gift, especially for someone who has difficulty spending money on himself/herself (ahem, me).

In fact, I just ordered a Lowe’s gift card for my mother-in-law so she can buy some new paint for her kitchen (this was on her wish list). I also bought my sister a gift card to her favorite bar/restaurant and my father-in-law a gift certificate to a hot dog/ice cream shop.

If you’re not sure what gift cards your recipients might be interested in, here’s a Top 20 list of the most-wanted gift cards this year along with links for you to purchase them from the comfort of your own home:

Amazon: instant delivery (email or print at home) or free shipping in a greeting card or in a gift box
VISA: also available on Amazon
Walmart: e-gift cards available
Target: email or mobile delivery by Christmas

Starbucks: e-gift cards available, and also available on Amazon
eBay: e-gift cards available
American Express: e-gift cards available
iTunes: e-gift cards available

Google Play: e-gift cards available, and also available on Amazon
Disney: e-gift cards available
Sephora: e-gift cards available, and also available on Amazon
Netflix: e-gift cards available, and also available on Amazon

Home Depot: e-gift cards available
Chick-fil-A: also available on Amazon
Best Buy: e-gift cards available or free 2-day shipping on gift card orders of $25 or more; also available on Amazon
McDonald’s

GameStop: e-gift cards available, and also available on Amazon
Dunkin’: e-gift cards available
Mastercard: also available on Amazon
Fandango: also available on Amazon

Just a heads up: Amazon has a number of other gift cards available (not necessarily at a discount, but still with free shipping). Some ideas: Cold Stone Crea mery, Ulta Beauty, Lowe’s, AMC Theatres, Wendy’s, Applebee’s, Petco, and more.

Thanks to WalletHub for this awesome list!

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21 Incredible “Experience” Gifts (Greater Seattle Area)

12/18/20 Laura Wales

Disclosure: the post below may contain affiliate links. When you make a purchase or take action using these links, the site makes commission. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

Ever been stumped on what to buy that person that has everything? Here’s an idea – how about buying them the chance to experience something exciting, and maybe cross an item off their bucket list?

While browsing Groupon last night for the greater Seattle area, I stumbled on a variety of deals over at Groupon that I think would make stand-out gifts.