I started cutting coupons that Sunday. I had a small coupon organizer and I needed a way to organize all these coupons. With this small organizer, you put your coupons in, but you can't see them, and I wanted a way to keep track of them. So I went onto Word and typed in all my coupons alphabetically with expiration dates, etc. After awhile, it was getting to be too much of a chore, not to mention wasting a lot of paper each week when I would print out my master list of coupons to plan my shopping trips. I noticed a lot of the 'hounds' were talking about coupon binders, and one posted a link to her blog on how she organizes her coupons. Since I'm a visual person by nature, this spoke to me, so I got a binder, some dividers and baseball card inserts and started organizing. This way was so much easier for me. I can just peruse my coupons in my binder and I'll always remember what coupons I have. Even now, someone can ask me if I have a coupon for a product, and I'll know from memory if I had it.
After awhile, I was doing really well with the coupons and kept hearing about people's blogs. My co-workers were always so impressed with all my savings, and I wanted my friends and family to see how to also score some good deals at our local stores. A lot of the blogs were from blogger.com so I started playing around with it and made my own blog.
In doing so, I am able to also subscribe to feeds to see my fellow hounds' blogs as well. There are so many in there that I follow that at times it's hard to keep track, but it's so useful. I subscribe to blogs both in couponing as well as personal finance.
In doing so, I am able to also subscribe to feeds to see my fellow hounds' blogs as well. There are so many in there that I follow that at times it's hard to keep track, but it's so useful. I subscribe to blogs both in couponing as well as personal finance.
When I first started really couponing, I wanted to keep track of my savings. I'm a very organized person and love notebooks, lists, excel spreadsheets, etc. In the beginning, after every trip I would write everything out, including what I bought, shelf price, sale price, price after coupons, total savings, etc. That got too time consuming after awhile, but in doing so in the beginning, I was able to see what rock bottom prices were for all the items I normally purchase. This way, I can plan what I should be at rock bottom prices and plan for the sale cycles.
At the same time, I also started really budgeting our money and trying to pay off our debt. I started following Dave Ramsey, David Bach and Suze Orman. I made a list of all of our debts. When we first started our journey to become debt free, we know we needed to stand in our truth, as Suze Orman said. Our credit cards were so high, from buying things for the house and buying things for our wedding. Soon after our wedding, we sat down and went through all of our debt. We started with about $70k in debt. Wow, that was a shocker, and not including our condo. I also came across the Women In Red Racers NorEaster thread on MSN Money where once a month, you post your starting debt and your current debt. This way, it keeps you in check month by month and you can see the numbers go down. It also gave the motivation needed to keep being frugal and paying down your debt. When you have a good month, the girls on there would be so proud and post really nice comments, which keeps you motivated to keep it going. They also understand that sometimes you may slip and have a bad month. Those same girls are there to lend a virtual shoulder to cry on and to offer any support you may need. With all the people on there, there were so many ideas to utilize and it helps so much. I am no longer on there as they moved from MSN money to another outlet and my computers at work wouldn't allow the access so I wasn't able to really go on there much. But it's a great place to everyone to turn to when they are just starting out their journey to become debt free.
I now am labeled an 'extreme couponer' and a frugalista. If someone is looking for a deal on groceries or anything else, they call me. I don't buy anything for retail or without a coupon. In the time my husband and I started our journey, we have been able to pay down all of our debt except for about $8k which are my student loans and saved enough for an 8 month emergency fund. We also have a few other savings accounts for gifts, Christmas presents, car repairs, vacation fund (funded by my grocery savings), a baby fund, etc. It may seem overwhelming at first, but there is always help out there. I'm always willing to help out friends and family with their bills. I think that people are too scared and embarrassed to ask for help, and I really wish that there was some kind of budgeting or money managing class in high school. Nobody teaches the kids and/or adults on how to manage their money, and that's reason so many adults are in credit card debt. It's so simple to find help on the internet. Whether it's a chat room or forum or a blog, all people need to do is just ask for help and they would be amazed at the response they get.
Beth writes over at Grocery Hound and Poker Chick, where she documents her life as a frugalista and a (almost) professional poker player. In games and in life, she's doing the best with the cards she's dealt.
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