Making It All Work

Recently at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting myself and several other moms gathered to pray together, chat, support, and learn together.  Our meetings are monthly and this month we had a fabulous speaker who shared the importance of financial peace.  The woman who shared many words of wisdom about finances gleaned her perspectives on several ways to save money on every day living expenditures.

In past blog posts I have shared sites that I have utilized in saving money.  You can find those posts here and here. I have since then found more sites and more strategies to saving money.   Here are some of the strategies I use to get the most on what we've been provided.

1)   I scour and search for steals and deals on gifts, necessities, and the occasional splurge.  Some of the sites that I have added to my money saving scavenger hunt are
PocketYourDollars 
Creative Couponing 

2) I always buy a Saturday paper ( they're cheaper than Sunday) sometimes I buy 2, purely for the coupon inserts.  Both of the above websites alert me as to the number of inserts that will be in the paper for that weekend, as well as the value of the coupons I'll find.  It's always nice when someone else does some of the work for you.

3) In order to keep to my $60-$80/week grocery budget for our family of 5, I plan the week's meals based on the foods that are on sale at Cub Foods and Target.  Both stores offer deals and they also offer coupons either in store, by mail, or on the web.  Many times you can match up a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon to score even bigger savings.  I spend a good amount of time each week devising my plan for meals for the week in order to come out with a best case scenario, which usually keeps the pocketbook a little more full.  I only go to the grocery store with a detailed list, and I rarely deviate.

These are just my top three things I've been doing to save money recently.  It's all become so natural and routine now,that I don't really think before doing it, it's all become habit, and I'm working hard to make it all work.

~Amber