Sydney Danielle Lough 3/11/07

Sydney Danielle Lough  3/11/07
My Inspiration

Sunday, November 9, 2008

My New Project

NaBloPoMo Day 9
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As we near Austin's due date and my maternity leave, I am becoming more and more aware of our financial situation. It is not that I am freaking out about it because we have been setting some money back to help cover it, but I am stressing some because we have not saved as much as I had hoped. Also, since I am not working as much any more, we have less and less to put back into savings. Add to that Christmas coming up and the threat of the economy and things are pretty tight right now.

As I have sat at home on my day off or spent time relaxing on my afternoons off, I have been trying to figure out a solution to the situation. One thing I can do to help with the crunch is to try to cut back on our food/eating out budget.

We have been eating out a lot since I have been pregnant because I either did not feel like cooking or could not handle the smell. Now that I am feeling better, I am trying to be better about menu planning. We did pretty well last week. Things turned out pretty much like I had expected except we substituted leftovers for one of the meals. That means I will be making that meal this week. I think that curbing our eating out habit will make a huge difference in our money situation.

But, I still end up spending a lot of money at the grocery store when I do the menu planning. I shop for my groceries at WalMart and Sams because it is generally cheaper there, but it still adds up quickly! That is where my new project comes in handy!

I am officially going to start couponing...seriously. Not like I have in the past where I print off a few here and there and forget to use them. I am going to plan my shopping trips around sales and coupons. I have spent the past week or so reading up on it a lot at some blogs I have found and I think I can really save some money by doing this...if I can stick to it! That is a big IF!

I don't really have the best track record for follow through. I get these grand ideas and then lose focus and the next thing I know, it is a thing of the past. But, this time, I have to give it an honest go!

I have always been overwhelmed by the thought of couponing. Thankfully, I am not going into it blindly this time. I have found a few great websites that help. The most useful thing I have found so far is a post at Mommy Snacks entitled Shopping with Coupons: A Beginners Guide to Saving. It has links to 7 posts that outline how to coupon and what resources to use. While it is still a daunting task, I now feel equipped to handle it. I will be going into it slowly so I don't get in over my head, but I think I can do it.

I will be posting my progress here on my blog for a couple of reasons.

  • I need some accountability! Kind of like the NaBloPoMo thing, I am more likely to do it if I have other people holding me accountable.
  • I want to be able to share if it really works and how hard/easy it really is to do.
I went on my first shopping trip yesterday to a store I don't normally go using the few coupons I had and my limited knowledge. I will share the results later in the week. I have always been skeptical if the coupons really end up making things any cheaper since I often buy things at a cheaper store and frequently use store brands instead of name brands. I am going to compare my savings at the more expensive store to what it would have cost at my friendly neighborhood WalMart and see how it really stacks up.

If anyone wants to join me in this project, I would love a buddy! Just let me know!

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11 comments:

Jeni said...

I hope it goes well! I've thought of doing something like that, but the idea of dragging Wendy around to a bunch of different stores is not appealing. Maybe I'll do better after the new baby arrives; if I leave the kiddos with Grandma, I can probably shop around & still get things done more quickly.

Tiffany said...

That is the nice thing about this system...you don't have to go to a lot of stores. You pick one (maybe two) and do most of your shopping there. And, even if you could save more by going to a lot of different stores, you still save a lot by going to just one and working the "system."

Amy said...

Considering I STILL don't have a job, I am trying to pinch pennies. I was doing the coupon thing for awhile but inevitably whenever I went to the store I always forgot my coupons. I'm trying to just buy the cheapest items I can but probably need to plan around sales, too.

Anonymous said...

Just a tip - Walmart will match competitors sale prices. So I take the weekly ads with me, and buy everything at one store. They match the competitors price and it saves me multiple trips.

Over Coffee - the green edition said...

Hi Tiffany. Thank you for your comment on my BD post. I love all reusable bags too. I just wrote a post on BD about Tips for remembering your reusable bags in case you’re interested.

I love your blog. Very pretty! I especially love your sonogram picture. How exciting! Congratulations.

Sandi said...

Just remember that it's only a deal if it's something you would buy anyway...I can't keep up with coupons -- I end up saving money by planning around sales and buying generic. I'll be interested in your results!

Anonymous said...

http://www.couponmom.com/

She was on Oprah. Her method is pretty sound and saves all the clipping and driving around.

Jessica
(I used to work with Andrew)

Anonymous said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLmpgNasY6o

The Oprah Episode (it's in five parts)

Anonymous said...

I learned about something really cool called the grocery game. It essentially gets to the point that you shop in your own pantry. Go to the website and check it out. It tells you what to buy and when and where you can double coupon. My first week I saved $60.00.

Tiffany said...

Thanks for all of the tips! I will keep you all updated on what I find and my progress!

Anonymous said...

Nice post..! I'm thinking that maybe WalMart grocery shopping during the months of November and December is not such a good idea.