"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
Luke 12:42
"And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?"
$$$ Money, money, money!! $$$ It seems to be talked about all the time on the news, radio, in church, in regular day to day converstations, and in the work place. Money has been a steady topic in our household for a few months now. Eric has a deep respect for finanacial guru, Dave Ramsey. He listens to his radio show and checks out his website at www.DaveRamsey.com. Recently, we decided to take his classes called Financial Peace University. Eric and I have found this class to be incredibly insightful, encouraging, edifying, and educational. We have a plan for tomorrow and for a few years from now and that feels...well...GREAT! Dave Ramsey sets up everything so clearly and from a biblical standpoint. One of the things I have learned to implement into my shopping is coupon clipping! I always wanted to be a coupon clipper and now, slowly but surely, I am becoming one. I still have a lot to learn in regards to how to combine my coupons with the best deals, etc. but I LOVE seeing money come off my grocery bill almost instantly as each coupon is scanned. It's like money magic!! :-) I just like saving the money plus it makes me feel good about myself. I may not pull in the same money that Eric does but this makes me feel like I do my part beyond my regular job. Again, I'm not a pro by any means but I'm no dummy either so I am going to share with you some of the sites I use that help me cut back on our spending and how I don't just cut coupons but how I make myself use them as well. Keep in mind....I am still learning! :-)
1. www.coupons.com I use this site weekly or bi-weekly. It is soooo easy! Now that I know it's there I have no excuse not to use it. All I have to do is go to the site, browse through the coupons, click on the ones that I want and at the end I click "Print Coupons." How simple is that?!?
2. www.e-mealz.com I have said it before and I will say it again, I love this site. For the cost and ease of use, this is a great online source. It's a double threat: tells where you to shop and what items to buy that are on sale AND it helps you plan meals!!
3. www.thegrocerygame.com I have not tried this yet but am very tempted to. The lady who created this site says that using coupons is like playing cards....you just have to know how to play your hand. Many items, combined with coupons, end up being FREE!! She was featured on the Food Network and they followed her on a shopping trip. Her original receipt was over $200 but after the amazing combo of coupons + store sales she only spent around $80!!!!! Sounds pretty sweet to me!
4. www.aldi.com Some people have hangups about using generics. I won't say I'm not a label snob. I like to have nice things but I'm also willing to try the "no-name" brands which works well because Aldi Grocery Store is full of them! I do the majority of my food shopping there. Their prices can be anywhere from $.50 to $1.50 cheaper than the name brands at other grocery stores which my wallet and I <3! When it comes to household cleaners, toilitries, I frequent Wal-Mart and {sometimes} Dollar General armed with coupons!
5. How do I get myself to use my coupons? I bought a little plastic divider folder from Dollar General for $1 and I labeled it with the categories that I shop in the most. Mine has 12 tabs which gave me some room to play with when it came to making labels. I cut my coupons (which is the longest process out of all of this but totally worth it), sort them and head off to the store. I then go aisle by aisle with my shopping list and coupon folder out. As I find the items I need that have a coupon available, I take the coupon from the designated area and put it up in the front of my sorter. By doing that I don't have to be the annoying person in line at checkout trying to find my coupons. You know what I'm talking about. Have you ever seen those people still cutting the coupons as they are trying to pay?? Ridiculousness. So to avoid being that person I have them ready and hand them to the cashier at the end. Then BAM! BAM! BAM! Money gets knocked off my bill. I always do a little happy dance internally! :-)
6. What else makes this effective? Per the Dave Ramsey system we are instructed to budget our money at the beginning of each month. It's like an actual meeting and we discuss what expenses we have coming up plus calculate what we regularly spend. Eric and I actually really enjoy this process because we know we are on the same page and we can see what money we are ultimately saving! We then designate cash for certain areas (i.e. groceries, gas, entertainment, etc.) get the cash, put them in the nifty cash envelopes from the Financial Peace class and then we don't have to spend anything else (beyond bills paid online.) We don't have to pull out the debit card at all and {kind of} blindly spend our money. If we need or want something, we have cash exactly for that purpose. This works wonders in our mula saving efforts! And you would never believe the compliments I receive on the envelopes when I use them. Check out the pics and you will see what I mean!
I'll be sharing more tips on saving money! What are some money saving tips you can share with me?
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| Snazzy cash envelope holder! |
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| Cash envelopes! |
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| I use these to save that! |
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| My lifesaver at the grocery store! |
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