Discover Credit Unions - #MakeYourMoneyMatter

Think About It

Have you ever sat down and thought about all the money big banks are raking in? I had not really thought about it. I bank with a very large military bank and it bothers me a lot when I see them running commercials on TV, because it seems like a waste of money to me. When I stop to really think about it I realize that although there seem to be benefits for me, they are still making loads and loads of money and they do not share it with me. Turns out a credit union would share it with you and I never realized it until now after visiting Make Your Money Matter.

Benefits of a Credit Union

• Credit unions are not-for-profit cooperatives that exist solely to provide financial services to their members, and anyone can find one that he or she is eligible to join. 

• Unlike banks, it’s the members, not corporate shareholders, who own the credit unions. 

• All the profit that credit unions bring in goes back to members in the form of dividends, rebates and lowered interest rates; for every $100 deposited at a credit union, on average $67 is directly redeployed to individual borrowers within the membership. For Example:  In the last year, credit unions distributed more than $5.3 billion in member dividends and refunds on loan interest payments.

• On average, credit unions offer lower interest rates on loans and higher interest returns on investments, as well as lower fees for checking accounts, ATM surcharges, overdrafts and stopped payments.

Is Your Money Safe in a Credit Union

• Yes. Member deposits are insured up to $250,000 per account by the NCUA.
• In fact, in the 100 year history of Credit Unions there has never been a U.S. taxpayer bail out. That’s a lot more than the big banks can say.

"This post is sponsored by Make Your Money Matter, in association with PSCU, though all views expressed are my own."

Win a $50 Safeway gift card and Learn about Safeway Gas Rewards now available at Chevron

Safeway has had a gas reward program for a long time, but until recently you could only use those rewards at Safeway gas stations. To be able to earn gas rewards you need to sign up for their club card. You can get one of these cards at Safeway. This is not a credit card. Once you have your club card register it online. Once your card is registered use it every time you shop at Safeway. Each dollar you spend at Safeway gets you one reward point. 100 reward points gets you .10 off per gallon on your next gas purchase. Now you can redeem your gas savings at the Safeway gas stations and at Chevron. If you save up your points then you can get up to a $1 off per gallon.

I use my card so I can earn gas savings, but I also you it because you can load electronic coupons to it. Each week Safeway offers you Just for U coupons, plus all the manufacturers coupons that are available. You just select the ones you want and load them to your card. You can load coupons to your card online or by using their app. I personally use the app.


These are pictures of my last shopping trip. I spent $109 and earned .20 off per gallon. Between the store's weekly deals and the electronic coupons I save $45 - $55.

Win a $50 Safeway Gift Card

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Reducing Our Carbon FootPrint #EverydayEffect

Have you done anything lately to reduce your carbon footprint?

We've been back in Oregon for over a year and like any true Oregonian would, I decided to try and reduce our home's carbon footprint. I decided this because of our rising utility bills, it's the right thing to do, and it didn't hurt that P& G and SheSpeaks ask me to participate in they're sponsored #EverydayEffect campaign.

Save Money on your Utility Bills

So far our electric bill has dropped $60! Here are some of the things we've been doing.

• Turning off the lights in rooms we are not in.
• Unplugging the coffee pot when it is not in use
•  

Our gas bill has dropped $80

• Wearing warmer clothes instead of turning up the temperature in the house.
• Turning our fireplace off and shutting off the gas valve
• Replacing our old thermostat for a new efficient one

Win a Washing Machine

enter the P&G #EverydayEffect Pinterest Giveaway by filling out the form here: on.fb.me/ZMyucH

7 Money Saving Travel Websites

There are loads of money saving travel websites to choose from. I utilized an assortment of websites to get the best travel deals I can find.  Here is a list of my 7 favorite travel discount sites right now.

 CheapOair is one a use a lot to find the cheapest airfare.  Through this site I was able to get 4 round trip tickets from Vegas to Honduras last minute under $2200.  I think that is pretty good!


 Travelocity makes it easy to compare airfares. You can also set up fare watchers.

Priceline has been one of my favorite sites for a long time.  I have been successful bidding on several occasions and felt like I saved a lot of money.

 Flight Network runs some pretty good deals at times.  So, they are always worth checking out. You never know when their deal might be to your city.

HipMunk is a newer website that I've been using a lot to check airfare prices. I love the way they display the choices.

Travelzoo has deals on everything involving a vacation: lodging, airfare, activities, and more. I'm always booking something through them.

Hotel Tonight is a new travel app that can save you a load on hotels.  They release a list of available hotels at noon each day. If you can tolerate not booking a hotel until the last minute, then this site will save you large amounts of money.

Bring your own food into Disney World

Did you know that you are allowed to bring food into all the Disney Parks. We were unsure about this until we ask someone in the park that worked there.  Here's what you need to know about taking food into Disney.

• Soft sided coolers are allowed in Disney Parks
• Hard sided coolers are allowed in Disney water parks only
• No glass allowed
• There is a Super Wal-Mart and a Super Target near Disney World where you can get whatever you need
• All rooms at Disney have a small fringe, microwave, and coffee maker.

Here are some of the food items we've packed and taken into the Disney parks with us.

Cold Items:Grapes
Yogurt sticks
Cheese sticks
Sodas 

Juice boxes
Lunchables
Premade sandwiches
Fruit cups
Applesauce
Carrots

Room TemperatureCrackers
Fruit and nut mix
Granola bars
Bananas
Apples
Pop tarts
Fruit snacks
Cookies
Goldfish
Pretzels
Chips

Other random items

• Reusable coffee mug filled with coffee
• Drinks mixes – You can refill your water bottles all over any of these parks, but sometimes the water doesn’t taste good.  The water at the Magic Kingdom tastes especially bad.  We refill and then mix in a drink flavor packets and the problem is solved. (Any of the restaurants will give you a glass of water for free.)

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Related articles

• Gift a D23 Membership - Disney's Official Fan Club @disney23 #1DisneyFan (familytravelmagazine.com)
• Save some money on your next Disney vacation? 
• Disney Knows Details Matter #NewFantasyland (brainfoggles.com)

City Pass

One of the ways my family saves money and is able to see so much stuff in certain cities has been by using the City Pass. They offer this in about 14 different cities. It usually includes 4 major attractions in the area and then a handful to choose from. You can usually pick two other attractions for a total of six things to do on your trip.  City pass also has a military discount!  Here are just a few of the cities that are available.

Atlanta: Admission Pass to Atlanta's "History Center" and 5 other attractions only $74.00 at CityPass - $152.11 value if purchased separately

Boston:Admission Pass to Boston's "Museum of Science" and 4 other attractions only $46.00 at CityPass - $89.95 value if purchased separately

Chicago: Admission Pass to Chicago's "Shedd Aquarium" and 4 other attractions only $69.00 at CityPass - $134.60 value if purchased separately

New York: Admission Pass to Chicago's "Shedd Aquarium" and 4 other attractions only $69.00 at CityPass - $134.60 value if purchased separately

San Francisco: Admission Pass to San Francisco "California Academy of Sciences" & 5 other attractions for just $69.00 at CityPass - SAVE 48%

Seattle: Admission Pass to Seattle"s "Space Center" and 5 other attractions only $39.00 at CityPass - $70.96 value if purchased separately

Southern California: Visit Southern California's "Universal Studios" and 4 other attractions for just $279.00 CityPass price - SAVE 25%

11 Ways to Save Money on Vacation

I love taking family vacations, but sometimes there is more room in the budget for traveling than other times.   To save money on vacations I do a handful of things before and during the family trip. Here are 11 ways I save money on vacations.

1. Use Discounts! Do you qualify for a discount on anything?  AAA, AARP, military, local government, are you part of some sort of club that can get you a discount, or does your child's age get them a discount.  Use your discount on everything you can: hotel, flight, tickets, meal, or activities.

2.  Hotel Breakfast.  Stay at a hotel that serves breakfast.  9 times out of 10 you can find a hotel that serves breakfast for the same price as one that doesn't.  If you are on a week long family trip this could save you money on 5-7 meals.

3.  Combine Attractions  Buy a multiple use pass.  Decide ahead of time some of the things you plan to do on vacation.  Then see if they are selling these activities together.  One price covers all, like CityPASS. CityPASS is an American thing and available in many of the bigger cities.  In Europe you will find similar deals.  In Rome we got the Roma Pass that got us 3 days bus and subway use and into two of the attractions.

4.  Take a podcast tour.  Quit paying to go on tours if you can help it.  You can download free podcast tours of the destination you are visiting.  The podcast will tell you where to start, where to go, and what to look for.  Often you can find multiple podcast tour of the same place.  Listen to all of them if you like, each one will tell you a little something new.  I recommend Rick Steve's podcast for places in Europe.

5.  Extra ear buds  If you go on a museum tour they often have audio guides.  Instead of having to rent one for each person take some extra ear phones.  Most audio tour devices have a place to plug in a second set of ear buds.  You may have to walk closer together, but you will save money on each device you don't have to rent. Even if they don't have a second place to plug in you can just use a headphone splitter.


6.  Subway Use the subway, bus, train, plane, or a car.  Take the time to figure out what is the cheapest way to get around.  A subway system can be very intimidating if you are not familiar with it.  Download a subway app to your phone and it will pinpoint where you are and tell you which subway to use.  It's easy! 

7.  Use Cheap Transportation  Don't assume that one form of transportation is cheaper than another.  When we were in Europe we thought we would take the train everywhere, but it was so expensive.  Instead, we found Ryan Air and flew from one destination to another.  We took three separate flights and it was less than half what the train would have cost and took about a sixth of the time.

8.  Get a Hotel Deal  Watch various websites for the best hotel deal.  Use which ever site you need to.  I use Travelzoo, Priceline, and Expedia.com the most.

9.  Daily Deals  Once you know where you are going on vacation you can sign up with daily deal websites for that city.  Everyday is a different deal.  You can get up to half price restaurant, spa, hotel, and tours.  LivingSocial's Daily Deals and Groupon are available in most cities.

10.  Buy Restaurant gift certificates  Utilize restaurants.com to your benefit.  Look up your hotels zip code and search for restaurants available nearby.  If there is one you want to go to or one that is recommended get a $25 certificate for it.  I do this all the time and pay $2 per gift certificate.  There is usually a minimum of 2 entrees or $35 that you have to spend to use it and they add tip.  If you sign up with them they will send you coupon codes.  I never pay $10 for a certificate, because I always use an 80% off coupon code. 

11.  Free admission  Almost all museums have times when they admit people for free.  Look up the museum you want to visit and find out if they offer this. Even some of the most famous museum in the world do this, like the Prado.

For some other ways to save money on Family Travel check out Veggie Mom's 10 tips for family travel deals.

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Restaurant savings

When we travel we try to save money on eating since there are five of us and that can quickly become our biggest expense if we are not careful. I use various websites to save money.

1. Restaurants.com - I use this website constantly. On this website you can search by zip code for $25 certificates to restaurants. I only buy if I have a discount code. Normally you would have to pay $10 for a certificate, but often times with a discount code I can get it for only $2.

2. Groupon.com - I am fairly new to this site, because they only offer good deals in big cities. Often times it is for other stuff, not restaurants. About once a week they offer a good deal on dining so it is worth checking out if you live in an area they offer services in.

3. LivingSocial's Daily Deals - This is the same idea as groupon. It is only available in most cities, including European cities. They offer an array of deals, many of which are restaurants.


4. Entertainment book - They have these in all kinds of cities and there are always a lot of restaurant coupons.