Today is the last day of my holiday vacation. I returned last night from a five day holiday visit with my family which always seems to wrap up the year for me. I’ll return to work tomorrow. John and I will spend Christmas and New Years at home. And I’m already thinking of things that I want to accomplish next year, several of which I’ll be writing about on the blog between now and the end of the year.

In the past, I devoted some time on the blog to my coupon saving apps and saving money in general. Like most subjects, I eventually stopped writing about that because I’m lazy and probably a little ADD too. That doesn’t mean I stopped doing those things so I wanted to recap a few things for my sake.

MONEY MARKET

I continue to use my money market account like a Christmas savings club, having $30 from each paycheck transferred into it the whole year. Things were looking good so in August I used $425 from the account to pay off and close a credit card. That felt good. I used another $350 to buy Christmas gifts for my family this month. Today the account has a $37.89 balance. I get paid this week and another $30 will transfer over. So I’ll end the year with $67.89 in the account which I won’t touch until next year. My plans for next year are to increase the transfer from $30 to $50.

APPS

I love my money savings apps and focus mainly on Receipt Hog and iBotta. My Receipt Hog account is at about $38 right now. My next cash out level is $40 at 6500 points and I’m at 6192 so that won’t take long. It does take a long time to build up points on this app but it’s free. I’ll probably cash out and move the $40 to my savings account and start the new year over.

My iBotta account is at $53.99, and over half of that was earned this month thanks to some bonuses I earned with my team. The minimum to cash out is $20. I’m going to wait until I reach $100 and also move that money to savings.

I opened a STASH investing account this year using the STASH app and invest just $5 each week. I’m currently at $88.31. I’ve only been investing for 17 weeks and have an increase of $3.31. Not bad.

And let’s not forget InBox Dollars, a website that pays you to take surveys. I was doing really well at this a few years ago but haven’t spent much time doing it this year. My account sets at $21.80 and you have to reach $30 before you can cash out.

CREDIT UNION & SAVINGS

I have an account with a credit union that was opened originally to pay for my car. I also had a small personal loan with them at one time. All of this is paid off and now I use them just for a life insurance policy. I have a checking and savings account with them. I’d love to build this savings up and eventually use it for a new car. I like this account because it’s kind of out of sight and out of mind, but I used most of what I had in it to float me through the life insurance payments this year so I didn’t have to pay out of pocket. That was nice, but now it’s almost empty. The balance is $10.03.

I also have a small savings and money market with my main bank. $25 transfer automatically each money to my savings here but never stays there long. The total balance of both accounts sits at just $15 right now.

RECAP

Money Market $67.89
iBotta $53.99
Receipt Hog $38
Stash $88.31
Inbox $21.80
Credit Union $10.03
Savings $15.00

Total $295.02

Eh, that’s not great but could be worse. I continue to battle credit card and student loan debt so it’s hard to save. That’s why I appreciate using the apps and such that are basically free money.

My goals for next year are simple. Try to save more and try to pay off more of my debt to continue to give me more breathing room so that I can save. That’s it.

I can’t say I’ll recap each month next year like I was doing before. Like I said, this post is for my sake. But I’m sure I’ll check back in in a few months to see how I’m doing.

What are your savings or financial goals for the new year?