Month End Money Recap

Wow! Another month gone already. Soo hard to believe. How have you been with your budget this month? Made any changes?

- We have not put any money on the credit card - woo hoo! This is a big deal :)

- We canceled our cell phone plan and have switched to a pay-as-you-go plan - we have been paying $85 a month to have 2 cell phones - mine died three months ago at least - I say died what I mean is slobbered on so much it no longer works (hazards of three 2-year-olds) - so essentially we have been paying $85 a month for Kirk to use his phone for maybe 20 minutes a month. We have so many rollover minutes we could talk for a week straight and not run out! Obviously we were paying too much for what we had. So, big savings monthly for us.

- Got a few free books from my swapping - one being the Coupon Mom and the other on being a Cheapskate - I'll share my thoughts on those next month but it's been fun reading :)

- Learned something new about www.thecouponmom.com - you can search for the coupons you need. I know I'm a tad slow - there's a tab there that says "Grocery Coupon Database" - I know it's there but I've never thought about using it to search for coupons. But you can! I shopped at Safeway this past week - spent $50 - saved $60 - but I wanted to see if I had coupons for some of the things on sale so I started searching through all my coupons - took forever. Then I went to the Coupon Mom to the database and typed in Quaker Oatmeal (it was on sale) and up came a list of where I could find the coupons! It's magic :) I am definitely going to use it in the future for shopping at stores other then Harris Teeter.

What about you? Any budget changes this month? Any tips to share?

photo by borman818

Finding Freedom Friday

I have been reading a number of blogs on saving money and getting debt free since well, I really want to do both! And one I'm enjoying is Cents to Get Debt Free (the button above will take you to her blog). She has begun Finding Freedom Fridays and I figured I just had to participate!

She listed a few questions on her blog and I thought I'd answer them here though most of you already know how I save money on groceries since I talk about it all the time :)

Why have you cut your budget?
- because I'd like to keep more of my money rather then giving it to other people and I also want to get out of debt for good - want and necessity

How have you cut your grocery budget?
- I've always menu-planned since the day I got married almost 13 years ago but ever since my friend turned me on to the Grocery Game I have been much more committed to cutting coupons and saving money and having fun doing it!

What helps you stay on track?
- the fact that I really need to save the money; this blog - I would certainly fall off the wagon if I didn't record everything here; and the fact that it is a great feeling when you actually spend less then you saved!! A 50% savings on your grocery bill (or more) - who doesn't want that??!!

What are your tips?
- find the best method for you for clipping coupons - for me it's the Grocery Game because it saves me so much time and does all the work for me - I don't have to keep track of stores sales (she leaves me no reason for writing down the price of all the items I buy to watch their sales cycle) - she does it for me and with 7 people in our family you can imagine how little time I have!
- check out other stores ads - whenever I see a deal at another store (other then Harris Teeter or CVS) I make every effort to get there and check my coupons before I go
- organize your coupons - whether it's filing them all together by date or cutting them - whatever is easier for you just make sure you do it so you're not throwing free money away!
- stick to a weekly budget regardless of how many stores you go to - right now I'm at $125 but I'm working on reducing that to $100 a week - I have virtually cut out BJ's from my budget which saves me around $300 a month! I can't believe I once spent that!!
- menu plan before you go but stock up on sales

Want to get more coupons for yourself? Head over to eBay Selling Coach - she's giving away $500 of free coupons!!

And Now A Free Breakfast

This week is full of free meals - a free pancake dinner or lunch, free subs and now a free breakfast from Mimi's Cafe. A new one just opened up around the corner from me and I have heard nothing but wonderful reviews but have not had the money (or time - the place is seriously crowded - what economic downturn?!) to eat there. But now I have an excuse to go out - yea!


My good friend, Joanna e-mailed me to say that Mimi's is giving away a free breakfast if you sign up for their Cafe Fun Club. Of course I did! So head here and sign yourself up and you too can get a free breakfast!

Trust The List

I did my weekly grocery shopping on Sunday evening. I had a cart full of groceries and I'm looking at it thinking "I have gone way over budget!" I had hoped to spend just $50 yet my car was overflowing with groceries - a few of them were, gasp, full price.

So, needless to say I was a little nervous when I got to the check out line - my cart was full, both in the basket and underneath so I knew I had spent to much. My original total was over $133! Yikes, way beyond my budget.



Then I handed over my VIC card and my total came down $57! After handing over my coupons my total was just $51.87! And that was exactly what I planned to spend :) I saved $85.61.

And that's when I realized just how well the list really works. There have been many times I have seen a coupon and considered using it but when I take it to the store I realize how little the coupon saves me.

For example: I have had a coupon for $1.00 off 2 packs of Ball Park hot dogs. The kids like hot dogs and they are really easy to serve for lunch or dinner but until this week the Grocery Game never suggested I use the coupon. The full price for the hot dogs is $2.99 so if I used my coupon on any other day I would have paid $4.98 for 2 packs but this week hot dogs were on sale buy 1 get 2 free! Wow, big savings. But I received an even bigger savings because I had my $1.00 off 2 coupon. Wait there's more - I actually had 3 $1.00 off 2 coupons so now I only paid $2.98 for 6 packs of hot dogs or just $0.50 a pack! If I had used my coupon at another time I would've missed out in this really great deal.

That's what the list does - Teri's program (founder of the Grocery Game) lets me know when the best time to buy an item is. Because sometimes a sale is just a sale and a triple coupon doesn't save you as much as double coupon plus a sale.

If you're on the fence about the Grocery Game I hope this is another reason and example to try it out :) And if you don't have a decent store to use it with be sure to really check the sales and coupons to be sure you're getting the best deal and save yourself some money! Every day my triplets are eating more and more and I'm realizing how much more food they can consume! Without help I would be spending twice what I do on my food bill.

Have a question? Feel free to comment but if you're having trouble commenting then please e-mail me: dorindanelson@comcast.net

Free Quizno Sub: Reader's Tip

What's better then free pancakes? Free pancakes AND free subs! Not at the same time really but who can pass up on 2 free meals?

When a reader e-mailed me because she was having trouble commenting (I think I fixed it but please let me know if you have trouble - I'd hate to miss out on a tip or a great deal!).



Go here for your free sub: Quizno's Million Sub Giveaway

Free Pancakes? Of course I'll blog!

First, my sincerest apologies for being a bad blogger. I'm fairly certain that Dorinda will faint from shock when she sees that I've finally posted.

I have the very best intentions of posting more soon. In my defense, in the past month I've returned to work full time, been sick, had three sick kids and hired a live in nanny. Yes, life has been busy.

But, when I heard about free pancake day at IHOP, I couldn't resist sharing that with all of you.

On Tuesday, the 24th, IHOP is giving away free pancakes. You can click here for more details.

Now that we are a family of 6, free pancakes for dinner sounds like a lovely idea!

What's On Ebay?

I came across this and thought it was too good to pass up! If you want to learn more about Ebay check this out.


I can share tips about selling kids clothes because that's what I sell and that's what I know. I buy and sell brand name Gap and Gymboree but I generally don't sell for profit or as a business. In other words, I don't buy new to re-sell to you at a higher price. I buy for my kids and then I sell it after we're done to make enough money to buy more for the upcoming season. But there are tons of other things to sell on Ebay and of course I can't know everything! Really? It's true :)

So if you want to learn everything you ever wanted to know about selling on Ebay check out: eBay Selling Coach and download her free ebook.

Be sure to check back here for tips on buying and selling kids/multiples clothes and leave me any tips you have - I love to hear!