Surprise Kiss

Archive for the ‘Money/Budget/Saving’ Category

When you go on a trip with your sweetheart do you try to purchase something to bring home that reminds you of the special time you had together? Perhaps you just have enough money to pay for the hotel or inn you are staying at and your meals? You enjoy the area by taking in the free things available to you, like strolling along the streets or taking a hike in the beautiful outdoors.

Did you know you can bring something home and it won’t cost a dime?

• If you are staying near the beach bring home a shell or piece o driftwood and put it on a dresser in your bedroom.
• Take pictures of the two of you together in the area you are staying at, frame one special picture and put it in your bedroom.
• Bring home a copy of the brochure of the hotel you stayed at, frame it and put it in your bedroom.
• Frame a menu of a special restaurant you both enjoyed eating at and hang it in the kitchen.
• If you went on a hike look for a special rock that you could use as a paperweight.
• Gather several business cards of the places you went to, frame it and again put it in your bedroom.

These are all great reminders of the special time you spent together. Every time you or your sweetheart look at these items you will smile and feel good about your marriage and the special moments you had during your romantic getaway.

Over forty years ago my husband and I went for a walk along the beach. I remember it vividly, it was a cold windy February and we were walking hand in hand when we notice a gray lava rock, with lots of holes in it and tiny shells stuck to it, nestled in the sand. We picked it up and brought it home. I still have the rock and it is in our bedroom, every time I look at the rock I think of an ordinary day when we had a moment alone and found this rock. Would I remember this day if I didn’t have the rock to remind me? Probably not.

It doesn’t have to cost money to bring special memories home.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2011, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Have you done your taxes yet? We have an appointment to meet with our CPA next week. If you have already have seen your accountant are you getting any money back? Do you have the money spent before you’ve gotten it? Hold on a minute. You may want to listen to this short video from the Today Show with Nicole Lapin of CNBC. She has some great suggestions on how to utilize your returns to their best advantage.

Click on the link below and watch the video. There are things to do with your hard earn money you may not have thought of:

5 Smart Ways to Spend Your Tax Refund

I really liked the idea Nicole had to take 10% of your tax return and enjoy something for yourself. If you are one of the lucky couples who will be getting the 2011 average return of $3,036 and if you put aside 10% of your tax return that would be $300! You could add it to your $5 a week fund for your anniversary. Think about what you and your sweetheart could do with the extra amount on your romantic getaway. Or does your bedroom need more romance? Then redecorate it. You can do a lot with $300. It could buy paint and maybe a new bedspread and some accessories. A new look could bring more romance in your master bedroom.

What do you and your sweetheart plan on doing with your tax refund?

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

Need help with cooking for romance, relationship or travel ideas? Then go to my Surprise Kiss Store above and click on the tab to see the authors I like to read.

© 2011, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Did you know when you do a home improvement project together you will feel closer with your partner? Want to have the feeling of fulfillment with your sweetheart? Grab a paint brush, move furniture around or go to a garage sale, flee market or thrift store and purchase something that needs a little tender loving care.

I like shopping at the discount stores. You know the ones that carry designer clothing, high end furniture and accessories at discounted prices. I not only look at the regular merchandise but I make it a point to look at the reduced priced items too. For the last few months I have been looking for a round beveled mirror and everything I like was priced at $80 to $100+. I just couldn’t justify paying that price right now but it didn’t stop me from looking at all the mirrors every time I went in a store. Well recently while shopping at one of these discount stores low and behold waiting for me was the mirror I wanted and it was in the reduced priced bend. It had several nicks and a crack in the frame but it was only $18 (the original price was $80) and I knew I could fix it with a little help from Larry.

I purchased it and brought it home. When Larry first saw it he looked at me and thought I was nuts but I said all it needs is a little loving care and I know when we are done no one will know it looked so trashed. Guess what, we worked on this weekend? Yap, we ran to the hardware store to get an ebony wood marker and some wood glue. We glued the crack and touched up the frame. We still need to glue the brown paper backing on the back and add a wire string to hang the mirror but when it is up no one will be able to tell it looked so bad. I wished I had taken a picture before we started to work on it to show you but “sorry” I didn’t think of it.

The mirror is something most people would pass up. Boy was I glad they did because I have something I can be proud of hanging in my den. Most importantly Larry and I did it together. Every time we look at the mirror we will think of a Sunday afternoon we both loving repaired our little rough jewel in the making.

Want to feel closer? Grab your sweetheart and do a home improvement project. There will be a sense of accomplishment that you both did something together. Little things like this are what help to have “that loving feeling” toward each other. Just like the trashed mirror your relationship needs you both to find ways to keep it glued together to make it look like a million dollars. When you do these little maintenance projects you are not only repairing something but also making your relationship stronger. You will both know that no matter how tattered your relationship is you can fix it.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

Need help with cooking for romance, relationship or travel ideas? Then go to my Surprise Kiss Store above and click on the tab to see the authors I like to read.

© 2011, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Start the New Year right with the thought of having fun together…..

Get a piece of paper and hand one to your sweetheart. Write down a few things you would like to do next year together that seems feasible for you to attain.

For suggestions go to:

Cloud9living.com – They have unique and memorable experience gifts that range in price from $40 to $120,000 or more.

Then decide which one interest both of you. Determine how you are going to make it happen. Choose the month you will do it in and how much money you both need to put away to make it happen by that date. If you plan on doing it in 6 months then divide how much it will cost by 6 months and you will know how much to put aside so you can pay cash.

Open a saving account at your local bank and make arrangements to have a payroll deduction in the amount that needs to be taken out of each person’s paycheck every payday and before you know it the money needed for a very unique and memorable experience together will be saved!

Hang a picture of this special experience with the date you plan on doing it in your bedroom to remind both of you why you are saving your money. You could add a post-it-note to it with the number of weeks before it all happens and change it every week.

Every time you both look at it you will be reminded of a very special New Years Day when you made your decision.

Once the decision has been made have a glass of champagne, wine or sparkling cider at the stroke of mid-night and toast each other to the fun you will have together in 2011 and seal it with a kiss!

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2010, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Do you have a credit card you would like to pay off? Is your interest rate high? Then you will want to listen to what David Bach had to say on the Today Show. He tells you how to negotiate a lower interest rate.

How to Lower Your Credit Card Debit

Here are the companies David talked about to help you with your negotiations:

CreditCards.com

LowCards.com

CreditPing.com

Cardtrak.com

Be money smart and take control of your finances for 2011. Over the weekend is the perfect time to set your goals for money control. Your marriage will thank you for it. Think about it once you pay off your credit card you will have more money to spend on your romantic weekend away.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2010, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Hope you had a Very Merry Christmas! We had a wonderfully full day with family. Our traditional Christmas breakfast was at our daughter’s home in the morning. Opening presents and eating a wonderful egg soufflé made by Great-grandma. I made my Bubble Coffee Cake (see my blog on Dec 22, Bake Something Good Together). Denise’s husband Tom made the fried potatoes. It was all delicious, then later in the day on to our house for Christmas dinner.

With Christmas done and the New Year only a few days ahead of us I thought I would have you watch a video that was on the Today Show yesterday with money expert and author, David Bach and psychiatrist, Gail Saltz. They talked about how some couples keep their spending a secret. Since money is one of the biggest reasons for couples to divorce I thought you would like to see their recommendations on how to resolve this issue.

Watch the video together and discuss how maybe you can start out the New Year better committed to being financially responsible together.

American Couples have a Dirty Little Secret

Look over your finances and determine how much you can both afford to give each other what is considered discretionary money per pay period. Then if your budget allows dole out $10, $20, $40 or more every payday to each other and consider that money yours to spend as you please or save. No questions asked on where you are spending your money. We all deserve to have the freedom to have some discretionary money and spend it as we please. 

When you have a stable financial history together it helps you to have a stable and loving marriage.

Hope you and your sweetheart had fun with my Christmas idea “Angel Baby”. My husband sure liked it!

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2010, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

With Thanksgiving coming up I wanted to tell you about a couple that touched me because they gave from the heart and received so much more. As you know originally I used to call close to 200 people to remind them to put their $5 a week away so they could have a romantic weekend with their sweetheart.

There was one gal, Suzi, that I called every week and she diligently put her money away every week. Suzi’s husband, Baltazar, is in the military and at the time he was in Iraq serving our Country. She wanted to do something special for both of them when he got home. She said she wanted to stay at a bed and breakfast that was decorated in a Victorian style in San Francisco for her and for her husband (he is a man’s man) she wanted to take him to a baseball game while they were at the city by the bay.

I recommended a couple of places for her to stay at and she chose one, made her reservations and purchased the tickets to the ball game. She made arrangements for their children to be with their grandparents while they were gone. A couple of weeks after Baltazar got home from being overseas she surprised him with the trip. She explained to him how they were going to San Francisco and how she had saved and planned a trip that matched both their personalities.

She loved the beautiful Victorian room with fireplace, the afternoon tea and full breakfast in the morning. Her husband was so excited he got to see his favorite team play, the San Francisco Giants. And of course there was lots of romance in the air for them both. They had the quite time they needed to reconnect after being apart for so long.

She told me about the game and how much fun they both had. The Giants won that night. They had brought a thermos of hot chocolate and his favorite blanket from Iraq to keep them warm. This was a special blanket because it had kept him warm during those long lonely nights away from home in Iraq.

After the game they slowly walked back holding hands, talking and laughing about the fun they were having together. They passed a homeless man trying to sleep on the cold fogy streets of San Francisco with nothing but his jacket to keep him warm. Suzi asked her husband to give his blanket to the homeless man and the husband replied “But this is my blanket and I brought it all the way back from Iraq.” It meant a lot to him. She said she understood but she felt God was asking them to give the blanket to someone who needed warmth too. Her husband smiled down on her and walked back to the homeless man, wrapped the blanket around him and told him how it had kept him warm in Iraq and now it will keep him warm. The man was very touched by his kindness. There was a real sense of peace and love as they walked back to their bed and breakfast.

The next morning they were having breakfast with another couple who was staying at the inn too and told them about how they decided to help keep the homeless man warm. Later that day when they went to check out and pay their bill the front desk clerk told them their 2 night stay had been paid for by the couple who ate breakfast with them. They tried to get the name and address of the couple that paid for their room so they could send them a thank you note but the clerk was told by the couple not to give any information to them.

This story touched my heart and I wanted to share it with you. I know God was touched by their willingness to give something that was meaningful away to a complete stranger in need. God smiled down and blessed them by making sure they were taken care of too.

Do something for someone less fortunate together. You will be blessed by the love and respect you have for each other knowing you did something for someone less fortunate than you are. God bless Suzi, Baltazar and you during this Thanksgiving season.

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2010, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

If you are planning on flying to a romantic getaway with your sweetheart or visiting family during the holidays then you will want to watch this video I seen yesterday on the Today Show. Travel & Leisure’s Nilou Motamed gives you tips on how to find the best deals during the holidays.

Did you know airfares could increase this year as much as 18%? With money tight I wanted to make sure you know how to find the best deals.

Holiday Travel Tips

For your convenience here are the websites Nilou recommended during the video:

• Orbits.com
• Bing.com (Airfare Comparisons)
• Farecompare.com
• Yapta.com
• Airfarewatchdog.com

So whether you are traveling for pleasure or visiting family checkout these websites and hopefully you will save a few dollars on your holiday airline tickets.

*Don’t forget to pickup the items I wrote about on Sept 29th called “Spice Up Your Holidays” for a very romantic Halloween and Christmas!

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2010, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Christmas is almost here! Are you still paying for last years holiday bills and you don’t want to make the same mistake you did last year?  CNN recently had a segment on “How to find $500 by Christmas” and I thought we could all benefit from watching this short video.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/10/13/romans.500.by.christmas/index.html?hpt=T2

It is always so surprising to find new ways to find money you may not have thought of. Following the simple rules that Christine Romans from CNN laid out for us may help your Christmas to be debt and stress free.

*Don’t forget to pickup the items I wrote about on Sept 29th called “Spice Up Your Holidays” for a very romantic Halloween and Christmas!
Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

© 2010, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.

Needing a vacation with your sweetheart but money is tight? You want to stay someplace nice but don’t know how to find the right deal at the right place? There is a website that list deeply discounted trips each week and I wanted you to know about it.

Check out and see if there is a deal you may want to purchase for you and your sweetheart:

Travel Zoo – Top 20

This week they had a deal in Santa Monica, CA at the Fairmont Hotel overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The room normally goes for $399.00 and we could get it for $199. 00. There were stipulations on when we could stay but what a great deal!

Not only are there deals on hotels but airfare, car rental, cruises and entertainment. Sign up for the Top 20 Travel Zoo newsletter and there may be a deal just waiting for you to purchase for you and your sweetheart.

*Don’t forget to pickup the items I wrote about on Sept 29th called “Spice Up Your Holidays” for a very romantic Halloween and Christmas!

Keep those sparks flying!
JoJo

*Remember to always do your own research on where you want to stay and what you want to do. Service, reviews, costs, etc can change. Like I always say buyer beware.

© 2010, Surprise Kiss. All rights reserved.