"I'm frugal now" has become my catchphrase. All these pictures in this post are of things I got for $1 thanks to coupons. Now I'm not getting $100 worth of groceries for $2 like some of those coupon nuts out there but our food budget is going down and it feels so good! Jer and I decided about halfway through January that we were going to have to make some big decisions this year. We knew we were semi-interested in buying a house but we have never been able to control our spending. Our last house-buying episode nearly destroyed us, then later saved us, but that was pure luck (the saving, not destroying part). The destroying part was fully our fault. We have never used a budget before in our whole married lives (18 years). We just look at what we have and "know" what we can spend. We waste a lot of money that way. We've tracked spending before but we've never truly controlled spending before. And what an eye opener it has been for me! It's been kind of like taming a wild horse. So half of January we were being frugal. We were $300 over that month. All of February, we used a budget. We were over $700 under! Are you kidding me? Two things were really hard for me to do. I could not go to the Hobby Lobby right when I was learning how to use the Cricut. I had to make do with the paper and materials I had. Amazingly, I had a lot of stuff I didn't even realize I had. The second hardest involved my social life. It can be hard to have friends when you don't really fit in financially with them. Not that they judge you or are mean even, but when you are being careful with your money and you realize you make less than and have more kids than most of the people you know, things just have to be different for you. It can actually be embarrassing though. Did I really want to own a home more than I wanted to be free to spend money? The answer is yes! 
In January, one of the checkers at the commissary forgot to put my 5 coupons in and so they had to ring it up after the sales transaction and give the money saved to me ($5) in cash. All of a sudden a little lightbulb went off in my head--you mean "coupons are money"!? So for the past two weeks I have started getting into coupon-using. I print digital coupons and I even created a facebook with a fake name so I can "like" stuff for more coupons. :-) I have used 30-40 coupons each week and have saved nearly $50 on stuff we normally buy. Jer thought it would be a good idea for me to put the money I "save" from coupons into a separate checking account that we will use for Christmas this year. This has turned couponing into a very fun game for me. Jer and I have also given ourselves and the younger three (not including Isaac) a small allowance each and this has made us much more aware of what we are doing with our money. The teenagers are going to have to get jobs if they ever want anything. :-) One of my other favorite things we do each year is use our credit card for everything. Now I realize this idea may not work for everyone but our card has no fees and we owe nothing on it since we pay it off monthly, but we get money back yearly. Last Christmas we got $500 back. $400 the year before. Probably not as much this year since we plan to spend less but still--it's free money!
And something else we are going to try this year is gardening. For the first time in our lives, we will have a real place we can call our own for good even maybe, so we are going to put down roots literally! :-) I'm sure we will make a mess of it at first but since this is another thing the prophets have told us to do, I'm sure we will be blessed for trying. Did you know they even have a Primary song about it? The Burpee seed people say you can grow $1250 worth of food in $50 worth of seed and fertilizer. Sounds good to me.
I am just thankful that Jeremy has been such a good provider for us throughout the years. We have always had more than our needs fulfilled. I feel a little ashamed that I haven't been a very good steward over what he has provided but I think I'm starting to learn some things, a little bit at a time.
6 comments:
Saving money can be awesome! It gives one a strange feeling of power. Can't wait to see your garden!
i remember having to do that with coupons once. it felt so good to get $8 put right into my hand after shopping, lol. we too have not been good at budgeting. partly bc we don't have reg income with both of our jobs. we sorta know what we have but you are right, you have to be stricter. we are still getting there. it is hard! and i totally understand the discomfort with friends on diff levels or just not even that, but not watching their spending....kinda get left out of a lot of things. i suppose it gets easier. :) y'all are doing great! keep it up! it'll be SO worth it to have your house. :)
You are doing awesome! I love all your ideas!! We have always tried to garden. Some years it has worked better than others, but it is a real money saver. What have you found is the best source for coupons? Does the commissary accept all coupons? I want to do more of this coupon thing. I hope we didn't make you feel awkward with Tina's birthday. I thought it turned out great in the end. Which reminds me, I still owe you $10 which will make your Feb savings, $710. That is really amazing that you can save that much just by budgeting. It makes me want to try it too! You are awesome! Thanks for always being such a good example for me.
I got your gift! It was in perfect shape- not a chip or scratch. Thank You! It is so cute. I love it!!!!!!
Budget? What a concept! The garden is a great idea too. Joshua is the master gardener of all time. Babs has had a fine garden but had to give it up due to lack of time so I'm going to give it a go this spring. I'm only going to plant cantaloupe because that's what I want to eat.
Great job with your newly found frugality. Keep up the strong work and someday you may own your own gas station
That's awesome. I used to be better than I am now with coupons. It takes BOTH adults to make a budget work. I'm glad you support each other. You shouldn't be ashamed. It's hard when everyone wants/needs something. You just do the best you can to make everyone happy and sometimes it backfires. I'm guilty of that. Keep up the good work. You might actually get me motivated to do more coupons.
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