I guess you can say that I’m a born frugalist. Growing up, we never really had an expendable income even though both of my parents were extremely hard working. When I wanted a pair of Jirbaud jeans (don’t laugh–you know you wanted them, too), I had to get a job to pay for them. I learned the value of my money very early on. My mother used to send me to the grocery store because I would come back with better bargains than her without using coupons.
When I got married almost 10 years ago to my wonderful husband Bryan, we decided that I would stay home with our children. We have a 12 year old (my daughter from previous relationship), 7 year old daughter and 18 month old daughter. Yes, all girls! Having only one income has been really hard at times but rewarding because I can go on field trips and be a room mom.
About four years ago I became extremely passionate about serving healthy food to my family. I am very proud of the fact that I lost 42 pounds by changing my diet and exercising. The struggle that we have had is the higher cost of healthier food items. Once we made the decision to start eating better, we had to tighten up other areas in our spending. We just accepted that fact that we had to pay more to eat better, until I learned how to “be centsable”.
Since learning the BeCentsAble strategies and becoming an Educator myself, our household budget has gone from about $700 a month to around $350, and that’s including diapers. I love the reactions I get when sharing money saving tips and even more when people let me know how much money they save on their shopping trips. I truly love helping families so it was a no-brainer when I had the opportunity to team up with Kim Julian of STL Mommy to create My Baton Rouge Mommy.
I blog about deals in the Baton Rouge area and of course cover national deals, too. My passion for healthy eating is evident in a lot of the posts that I write, including a Whole Foods ad each week. I am working on a very exciting section of my website that will be dedicated exclusively to healthy food items.
Another passion of mine is paying it forward and helping those in need. I always said that if I won the lotto, I would love to better someone else’s life. It feels great to give and I encourage my readers to pay it forward. If everyone gives a little, we can all make a lot of happiness!
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.
