So a while ago I posted some thoughts I was having about my life and my first complaint was that being broke sucks. A few things have happened since then. One, I was able to move out of the house in Mapleton. This truly was a HUGE blessing for me. Two, I decided I wanted to make my money work for me. I'm trying to learn all sorts of ways to be smarter with my money...swagbucks is my most recent find and I've already gotten over $100.00 worth of gift certificates! I now have a debit card that earns me points on my purchases that gets me free stuff (mostly gift certificates again, and nice ones too....I've got my eye on some stuff at Pottery Barn) and I've also opened a checking account with a fairly decent interest rate that I've set up my recurring bills to filter through. So, I'm really, really excited about all the changes I've made over the last few months. However, the most tangible evidence of making my money work for me is accomplished through my new favorite hobby of shopping with coupons. Everyone I work with knows how over the past 9 months or so I have been a big fan of this because I have seen such positive results. In addition to a stocked pantry, stuffed freezer and a laundry room stocked with toiletries (I mean seriously, when was the last time you only spent $2.20 on two packages of 6 mega rolls of Charmin toilet paper? Oh wait, I did last week!), I also have a 4 tier metal shelf in the garage that is full. I actually need to get another one. Amazingly, I only get one Sunday paper (not one for every member of my family like most couponers do). I'm so excited on Sunday mornings to grab the paper, clip all the coupons I'm interested in and go through all the store ads and make a shopping plan for the week. I created an 'inventory' list of how much I need of all items I use to make our favorite 30 meals for 1 year. My goal is to be able to have enough food in storage that I can make each meal once a month for a year! On top of all this I'm putting together 72 hour kits and stocking a closet full of gifts. The last two birthday parties the girls went to I was able to pull the gifts out of my closet rather than going to the store! So exciting! Well, if you can't tell I'm pretty proud of myself. That was until this past week when I found a couple of websites that absolutely put me to shame. One girl, who lives in Florida and shopped at a store called Publix which apparently has an amazing coupon policy, was able to get over $200.00 worth of groceries for $3.45!!!! I was absolutely shocked. So, I decided that even though I've been doing pretty well I'm going to be even more picky with the deals I spend my money on. So, this week here are some of my best finds!
5 boxes Jolly Time popcorn...$3.35 (.67 each)
1 bag of Cheetos...$1.00
1 bottle Fantastik cleaner...$1.00
1 bottle Joy dish soap...$.70
1 stick Lady Speed Stick deodorant...$1.99 (now this isn't the best price but I got a dollar back in Walgreen's register rewards which allowed me to get the dental floss for the price I did)
1 package Reach dental floss...FREE (plus had an overage of .21)
2 packages Kotex liners...FREE
2 bottles Resveratrol supplement...FREE
I didn't take any pictures of my freezer or pantry because they're not quite as nice and neat as everything else. But, my freezer is FULL of meat. I've got tons of hamburger, chicken, steaks, pork chops, roasts and hot dogs. Plus, my parents gave me a food saver for Christmas so I now have lots of veggies stored away too. Smiths has a great price on cheese this week so I am going to shred it and seal it all up to put in the freezer.
So, how much do I typically spend? Right now I spend about $50.00 per week. Eventually I'd like to get down to $35.00 per week. Not too shabby for a family of 4 and I make the girls home lunches every day!!!!
Final thing of excitment for me is that I decided that rather than carry around an ugly binder with me to the store that I'd treat myself to a cute bag to conceal it in. I think with all the money I'm saving I deserve a little fashion over function. Although, I lucked out because I really like the bag but it was on clearance for $9.95! lol.