Guest post from Sarah
My husband and I are debt-free except for our house and live within our means. Until last year that was enough for us.
Then I stumbled upon Money Saving Mom®. One year later I can’t claim to be an expert, but there are a few things I’ve learned along the way.
Saving money takes time.
Time to learn the lingo. Time to know a good deal when you see it. Time to find a system for coupons. It even takes time to make some mistakes and learn from them.
Don’t expect to be a pro in a few months. Start slowly so you don’t burn out. You can’t change everything about your household expenditures in a month.
Be leery of spending money to save money.
At least when you’re starting out. At first I thought we absolutely had to buy a deep freeze if we wanted to save money on groceries.
We delayed this purchase, and for us that was a great decision. We’ve made our side-by-side refrigerator/freezer work. Sure, it’s a challenge to stack and shove it all in, and sometimes I’ve had to ask family members if I can store a little in their freezers.
That may not be an option for you, but try being creative before you dive in to an investment designed to save you money.
Do what works for you.
I don’t play the drugstore game. Am I missing out on some great deals? Probably, but I’m doing what works for me.
I shop with my kids, and the stress of handing over coupons in a specific order and making complicated shopping scenarios seems like more than I can handle with them in the cart. Although, it is an adventure I’m excited to tackle sometime down the road!
Draw a line, and don’t feel bad about it.
Sure, you can save money by making things from scratch, and I do more of that than I did 12 months ago. But like Crystal says in her homemade tortilla post, some things aren’t worth the effort.
You have to put a price on your sanity and quality time with your family. Don’t waste those precious gifts on saving only a few pennies.
Keep things in perspective.
You have a life beyond saving money. At times I’m making a grocery list or printing coupons and my sons need a snack or help washing their hands.
This can seem like a major interruption. Can’t an 18-month old realize I’m printing coupons?
My kids are my job. Looking for deals is something I need to do as I can and not let it consume me.
Give back.
A year ago we were content with our level of giving. We wanted to give big, but it was something to do later. After I return to work. After college funds are fully funded. After the house is paid off.
Crystal has challenged those thoughts. We’ve been able to increase our giving over the last year, and I’m excited to see where God leads us in this area in the future.
Sarah is a writer turned stay-at-home mom with two boys, ages 5 and almost 2. In an effort to stay in the writing game, she’s dabbling as a freelancer between loads of laundry, potty training, playing super heroes and saving money.
I love this post and feel like I could have written it verbatim. I chuckled about the deep freezer because that was something I thought we just had to have but we’ve done fine without it. One day we’ll have one!
Excellent!!
Thanks everyone for the kind comments. It was such a nice surprise to see the post go live last night! I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one that’s not out there at the drugstores 🙂
It’s a great post, Sarah. Thanks for sharing it!
I can’t overstate how much I love this post !!!!!!
I can relate to this! There was a time a couple years ago when I had to do the drugstore game and shop at multiple stores with stacks of coupons…but God had great mercy on me! Our finances haves eased up at the same time as having more babies so that I dont have to worry about it so much. Yes I probably spend $100/month more now, but my sanity is worth that $25/week. I would say more, but my 4-month-old is getting fussy In my arms ;-)..
Thanks for sharing. I am retired and have some health issues that prevent my doing very active things and couponing and the drug store deals give me an outlet that I enjoy immensely. Figuring out the best deals and scenarios is relaxing and mind challenging like sudoku or crosswords are to some. It gives me a way to contribute to my family’s bottom line. But I do not have small ones to raise, meals to fix three times a day and lots of housework and errand running to do like younger moms do. I admire the moms who can do all these things because couponing takes time and effort. SO, I agree each one should do what she or he can comfortably manage without sacrificing family. One way to do this might be to focus mainly on the items where couponing saves you most – in my younger days I mainly used coupons on baby/ toddler items: ex.diapers,wipes,baby wash, etc. And my other point is couponing may look different for you in different seasons of life. God bless.
Great post. I think the learning to give is just as important as the learning to save. If we wait until everything is fully funded we will never give. I have learned from years of being a faith supported missionary, the more we give the more we get back. Our college funds will never be funded, that’s ok, to prove that to us God chose my daughter to win a $20,000 scholarship, in a drawing she entered to get a free t-shirt! My son 17 (soon to be 18) year old son felt God call him to go on a 5 month mission trip. He has about 20 days to raise $10,000, 10 days into it he is almost 1/2 way there. I think it is because he still does volunteer work, not just work for pay. So many people say they just can’t give right now, but if they learned to give they would find they have so much more. Trust me, I have given almost everything in my house away twice when I moved overseas and twice when I came back and I have so much stuff, I need to declutter badly. I am not advocating giving everything away. Just saying you can’t out give God and that is as an important lesson as saving.
I love how you’re teaching your son to have such a servant’s heart! That will take him far in life.
And what an incredible win for your daughter! How cool is that?!?
You can check out his blog at ToKnowHimAnd.blogspot.com
He can use all the prayer he can get 🙂
Robin, you pretty much nailed it! The saving part is sometimes easy to focus on, but it’s the giving that we often forget. Thanks for sharing the stories of your children’s experiences.
Great post, Sarah! I agree, not everyone can be an extreme coupon-er, sometimes one can be coupon-less and still learn to save money (like me!). It is all about being realistic and a good steward of what we are given. Thanks for the wonderful reminder!
Great post! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
The “drugstore game” link above doesn’t work. I’m new to couponing and MSM, so I’d really like to learn more about it to see if it’s worth the time!
Thanks for letting me know. Here’s the correct link:
https://moneysavingmom.com/2011/05/31-weeks-to-a-better-grocery-budget-video-series-how-to-get-started-playing-the-drugstore-game.html
You might also check out this post:
https://moneysavingmom.com/2010/06/31-days-to-a-better-grocery-budget-how-to-get-started-playing-the-drugstore-game.html
I love this post–especially the part about your 18 month old not understanding your couponing LOL
I have to remind myself that being a patient mother to my two small children is much more important than saving a few dollars here and there. In 20 years, the $100 or so that I may have saved over a year with coupons is small stuff compared to spending time with my kids and enjoying the little moments with them…
Well said!
Not everything works for everyone. I’ve had people ask me if I do this or that, and often they are surprised to hear that the answer is no. I do what I can, and that is all I can do.
Love that post!
Always do what works for you and your family 🙂
I don’t do the drugstore game either. My kids are older so I don’t have to worry about dragging them with me. But the drugstore game is way to complicated. I can save just as much elsewhere and it’s easier to figure out. Sometimes I will do a Walgreens deal if it’s something I need and it’s a great deal.
Thank you, I love this post. You are refreshingly realistic. I think if we strive to save, we should also seek to give.
Love your views and writing Sarah – very admirable!
Thanks for a great post. I agree with all you’ve said and it’s a nice confirmation of my own beliefs and practices.
Great post! I did the drugstore deals for a while, but they are too popular now. Even going to shop on the first day of a sale, my store shelves were cleared. So, you might not be missing too much. I love how you’re keeping perspective with your childrn as the top priority!
I had to cut back on couponing in order to save money. I found I was spending a lot to “get a good deal” and wasn’t really feeling like I had more. For me, better meal planning and only buying what we actually need is working out best when it comes to saving money. And it was actually somewhat freeing to not feel like I HAD to save every coupon that came into the house. But I know many do amazing things with couponing, so I guess it’s all about finding your own personal recipe for success. 🙂
Ditto!
I went overboard with the couponing and spent too much on items that we really need. Sure, they were all super great deals where I “saved” a great deal of money off retail price, but I would have saved more had I not bought them at all. I now buy just what we need, using coupons just here and there for just those items, and my grocery bill is much lower than it was when I was couponing in earnest.
The keys for me are:
(1) Paying attention to sale prices. I’m fortunate to have 4 major gocery chains and 2 drug store chains within two miles of my house, plus an awesome farmers market nearby that is open year round, so I can be choosy about where to shop in any given week.
(2) Not wasting food. We love fresh fruits and veggies, but I started buying less than what I think we will consume because it seemed like every week I was tossing out fresh food that was past its prime. When we run out of fresh, we turn to canned or frozen for a day or two, which I’m able to pick up pretty inexpensively with sales and coupons.
Great post Sarah!
I couldn’t agree more. We are edging ever so slowly to increase our giving and hope to improve even more in the future.