Disclosure: This post may contain third party affiliate links. When you click on an affiliate link within a post Broke Dolly may earn a small commission which helps support the blog and content (at no cost to you). Please check the disclosure and privacy policy pages for more details. Thank you so much for your kindness and support. 

Hey guys! I’ve been having a crazy day at work (neck deep in Excel sumifs) but I wanted to share with you another cool offer from Shopkick. The app that every diehard shopper needs - the app that lets you can earn money just for walking into stores and making purchases with a linked credit card.

If you’re not currently using Shopkick to earn a little extra money you need to check out my Shopkick tutorial then sign up for an account. Don’t leave free money on the table!

All signed up?

Good.

Now check out this offer:


Use the Shopkick app to make your first mobile purchase from Best Buy and earn a 500 kick bonus.

In order to be eligible this will have to be the first time you’ve used the app to purchase from Best Buy. Additionally, you’ll have to spend $10 and the offer is only good for today (January 22, 2020).

In addition to the 500 bonus kicks you'll earn 2 kicks for every $1 spent. Even if you’ve made a Best Buy purchase from the app previously you’ll be eligible for the 2 kicks for every $1 spent!

Shopkick is really making it hard for me to not spend money! I’ve been drooling over the Nest Protect smoke detectors for quite some time.

But at $120 each, and having 6 smoke detectors just on the main floor of my house, I’m not sure a $700 investment in smoke detectors is what I need right now. Maybe one day.

If you don’t know what a Nest Protect is, you can check them out here.

Cool, huh?

Do you have any Nest Protects? Would you recommend them? Do you have something similar I should maybe check out as an alternative?

Maybe you‘ve been eyeing some other new electronics lately? Tell me what you will be buying (or would love to buy) from Best Buy!

Disclosure: This post may contain third party affiliate links. When you click on an affiliate link within a post Broke Dolly may earn a small commission which helps support the blog and content (at no cost to you). Please check the disclosure and privacy policy pages for more details. Thank you so much for your kindness and support. 

My mom’s birthday was this past week and she requested we take a mini road trip and get out of the house for a couple of hours. It seems like everyone is getting a little sick of being couped up inside, but it’s been a pretty mild winter thus far. It was 55 degrees last weekend. Unheard of in upstate NY.

However everyone knows good things seldom last and they’ve been calling for snow for this weekend all week. It started out at an estimated 12 inches but the last I checked we’ve been downgraded to 4-6 inches. I’ll take it.

Anyways, my mom found an estate sale she just had to go to today. Snow be damned.

So off we went.

We went to the estate sale and rather than head home and beat the storm, we decided to take a trip to the Newburgh Vintage Emporium since we were in their neck of the woods.

The first time I wrote about Newburgh Vintage was last February. I’ve been back several times since but it seems to be a favorite winter stop of mine - close enough to not hate the drive and good enough to make me want to go outside in the cold.

Ready to check out what they have going on at Newburgh Vintage?

Good because I’m excited to show you!


The first thing that caught my eye were these upcycled end tables. I love the clean lines and the soft colors. Not only do they look fantastic, I don’t think you can go wrong with such a great price! Unfortunately for me, dog hair shows up just a little too prominently on anything white.


These sweet accent chairs were in the same booth as the night stands. Isn’t the ikat fabric on the seats just perfect?

Maybe yellow is more your thing? It’s definitely my thing. I love these pale yellow mid-century chairs. There’s just something about the shape of the wood frame I love.

My favorite chair in my grandmother’s house is similar in style. Maybe it’s a nostalgia thing. Or maybe it’s just because it’s just dang good design. Or maybe it’s both?


Alright, enough with the furniture for now. Tucked away in the far back corner of the store is one of my favorite booths - filled with vintage records and neon lights. I can’t go to Newburgh Vintage without taking at least a quick look through these crates. And every time I go back, I think this booth looks cooler. There’s no other way to describe it, I mean the records hanging from the ceiling makes me want to try a little DIY at home. But I’m not that cool and my record mobiles won’t look anywhere near as good as these so maybe I’ll just stick to listening for now.


The second I saw this flamingo bust I was in love. I’ve never seen anything like it and I’m on some sort of weird flamingo kick as of late. Unfortunately when I brought him up to the counter to inquire about a price I learned he wasn’t for sale.

Shucks.

But how could I be mad? If I was the owner I wouldn’t sell him either. He’s dang cool.


Oh, look more records! But how great is that card catalog? That thing was HUGE. I think card catalogs are pretty cool in general but add a fun color and they’re kind of a must have. Except I can’t figure out what exactly I would do with one. The minute I find a good use for one - besides looking at them - I’m going to be on the hunt for one just like this.


Ok, just a quick detour back to furniture. This green table caught my eye from like five booths away. After checking it out I’m pretty sure it’s stained green. I had no idea you could buy colored stain! This is an exciting new development for me. If you’re interested, and like me had no idea,  check out some of these colored stains at Home Depot.



My next find was thanks to an adorable little girl testing the product in the aisle. I’ve never seen one of these before but I’m sure it would have provided me hours and hours of entertainment as a kid. A rubber bounce pony is way more fun than the boring old ball I had as a kid. Nah, just kidding, those are a lot of fun too.

In case you’re interested, I looked it up once I got home and learned the Rody Pony is still made today and comes in several different colors including this fun multicolored version from Amazon.


And last but not least, check out this acrylic painting entitled “Flapper.” I’m not an art expert so I’m someone that just likes what I like, I know nothing about technique or mediums or anything. But this chick looks like someone I’d like to know (read: total badass) and the colors are just oh so pretty.

Unfortunately it was a really quick trip due to the storm and we still hit a little bit of snow on our ride home but as always Newburgh Vintage never disappoints! Even better news, they’ve now opened a second location! We didn’t get to check it out today but I’m hoping we get to go on our next trip down the line.

Is it snowing where you are? Did you venture out into the storm or did you stay warm and cozy inside?

See anything good from the pictures above you would just have to have? I call dibs on the flamingo bust if the owner decides to sell!

It’s hard to believe it’s 2020. As I said to someone last night, doesn’t it feel like we were just waiting up for the new millennium?! Obviously I’m dating myself, but seriously, how is it even possible how quickly time goes?

I hope that you have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year, my dear friends. You deserve it.

As you know, I’m not much on New Year’s resolutions and setting myself up for failure but all the way back on January 1, 2019 I did set up some goals for 2019. And I’m here to report, things did not go well.

To make myself feel better about my failure, I’m just going to drop this fun little fact - only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s goals. That’s crazy isn’t it?! 8 out of 100 people actually follow through. Here’s to being one of the eight this year!

Alright, it’s time to see what went wrong.

Just a quick reminder, my 2019 goals were:

1) Pay off any renovation related debt. Oops. Failed horribly on this one. It’s atrocious but with setbacks I’m farther in the hole than I was last year.

2) Accumulate savings of $3,000. Well, I did better on this one but I still fell short. I only managed to get my savings up to $2,550.

3) Pay off the smaller of my two student loans. Yeah, you can laugh right along with me here - not only did I not pay off any student loans, I added another. Oh, sometimes life just has a way of taking you down a peg doesn’t it? Even worse, I’m planning on needing one more student loan this upcoming semester. But then I should be good and my focus will be on getting them paid off. Student loans will soon be a thing of the past for me.

Ok, so now, it’s time for my 2020 goals. I’m trying to find a balance between pushing myself to achieve great things and setting realistic goals.

Here’s my final list:

1) Get renovation related debt below $5,000. Right now I’m at about $12,000 so this is definitely a lofty goal but I want to push myself on this one and start really wiping out debt.

2) Accumulate savings of $3,000. So what this didn’t happen in 2019? It’s a worthwhile goal and something I should be pushing for. Once I get over my $3,000 hurdle I’d like to start plugging more money into savings until I have a six month emergency fund.

3) Pay off that pesky smaller student loan. Like my savings goal, I’m recycling my student loan goal from 2019. Hopefully once the smaller loan is paid off I can go onto the next smallest and make some real progress towards my debt payoff.

4) Get my total debt balances below $160,000. Right now my grand total of debt is over $175,000 so this certainly won’t be easy. Like my first goal I think I might be setting some lofty expectations but like I’ve said before, I’d like to push myself and start making a dent in this debt.

What are your resolutions for 2020? How did you make out with your resolutions from 2019? Are you one of the 8%? If you were, you have to fill me in on your secrets to success!

Happy New Year!!