Welcome to Centsable Savings Stories and Struggles! I love reading stories of how other people became frugal shoppers. I find encouragement and motivation in every story. This week, Aimee from The Mommy Trade is sharing her story. Recently, Aimee stepped up to cover Stater Brothers and Ralphs for the Grocery Gathering. This is great news for our readers in Southern California!
If you’d like to share your story, I’d love to hear from you. Please email me at centsable.katherine[at]gmail.com. More details are at the end of this post.
About Me
Hello! My name is Aimee and I LOVE to save money! Ok, you probably say the same thing since you are a reader of BeCentsAble! I am a wife to James and a stay at home mom with two wonderful little girls, Joy-Joy who is almost 3 and Gracie-Grace who is almost 1.
Growing up I learned early the importance and the thrill of finding a good deal whenever I shop. My father was in and out work for a few years and my parents had to stretch every dollar they had! I think that season in my life had a great impact in the way I view spending money. (It’s not unusual for me to feel like I’m getting “ripped off” if I have to pay full price for something!)
That Was Then…
But even though I love to get deals and have always looked for them, I haven’t always made it a priority in my spending habits. My husband and I have been married for 5 ½ years and a few years ago we purchased our first home. Before owning a home we had extra “expendable” money that left room for me to buy groceries without HAVING to save money. Now that we are home owners and parents of two little ones our income doesn’t seem to have much “expendable” left in it. Without that expendable money we’ve had to find creative ways to save and for me the first place I turned to was groceries! At first, we (meaning I) were easily spending $500 a month on food including eating out and groceries – and that was pretty much just for the two of us since we only had one child and she wasn’t eating solid foods yet!
Since making the choice to save on groceries I’ve had a gradual progression with using coupons. It took me a while to grasp the whole concept of matching coupons with sales to really get the best deal and to start stock piling. Now, however, I am to the point that if there is a coupon for where I’m going I use it!
I have blogging to thank for my progression and love for the “thrill of the deal”. I began a personal family blog when I found out I was pregnant with our first to keep our friends and family that lived out of town up to date on our family and through that blog discovered a whole new world, a world of information and great deals!
And This Is Now…
It wasn’t until the past year that I’ve found all the blogs out there that offer grocery store and drug store coupon match ups. I started by adding one or two in my RSS feed reader and let me tell you…they were addicting! I couldn’t help but read them, and I wanted to get coupons and get the same great deals the bloggers were getting! That has brought me to where I am today – a serious couponer! All of my friends would tell you that almost every time we chat I mention a good deal they can get somewhere!
Even though I’d found a lot of great sites to highlight deals for stores like CVS, Walgreens and Target, I just couldn’t find anyone that posted for Ralphs and Stater Brothersso I decided to do it myself! I tossed the idea around for a couple of months and this past month I finally jumped in with both feet and created www.themommytrade.com! (Not trading objects but more like “learning the trade of being a mom, a wife and homemaker.”)
My goal in creating this website has been to first and foremost provide coupon match ups for Ralphs and Stater Brothers. I also put effort into posting other deals I find around the web and doing regular posts about tips and tricks that help make life a little easier and better!
So how has my grocery budget changed since becoming serious about couponing? I can now keep my monthly grocery budget to around $250….unfortunately that doesn’t include eating out…that is my struggle! But cutting my grocery bill in half has been a HUGE help to our general budget and my husband and I are thankful for the benefits of coupons!
Each week I feature a different shopper’s story. Centsable Savings Stories are the stories of people just like you who are working toward reducing their budgets, bargain hunting, living a more frugal lifestyle and constantly learning along the way. If you are interested in sharing your family’s successes and struggles, please contact me at centsable.katherine[at]gmail [dot]com. Bloggers and non-bloggers are both welcome to participate. Click here to read the stories of shoppers featured in the past.
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