is sharing her story. I’m impressed with how hard Gina has worked to save money, pay for her own wedding and stay at home with her three kids in a big (expensive) city. 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
I have three kids–5, 3 and 3 (identical twins!). I’m 36 and have been married for 15 years. I’ve worked hard to be able to stay home with my children after being a teacher and budget administrator. I’ve always been a “city girl” and after living in Los Angeles for 16 years, we moved to the Washington DC area in 2006.
How I Started Couponing
I have always been a couponer; it was one of the ways we saved up to pay for our own wedding while working three jobs in college. Although I have always been frugal, I didn’t really get organized about it until after we moved to the DC area. My husband’s new job came with 45% of the salary he had before, and now we had three kids. I started using the internet to save money–printing internet coupons, scoping out deals ahead of time, and planning multi-store runs with a toddler and two infants. I realized I was saving hundreds of dollars a month on diapers, groceries, and toiletries. I was making a huge impact on our family budget all while being a stay-at-home mom.
Now that it’s been two years, I’ve really worked on my systems for meal planning, stockpiling, and couponing so that it’s not a big time issue anymore. My son helps with the coupons, and by staying organized it all fits into a busy week of housework, kid activities and blogging.
How I’ve Helped Others
I started my blog, Moneywise Moms, when I was getting lots of questions from family and friends about how I was finding all these deals. I know that some of these strategies can be time-consuming, so I strive to save my readers’ time by choosing the best deals and explaining in simple language and with humor. Saving so much per month on my groceries and household expenses has allowed me to make weekly and monthly donations to our local food bank, to get my kids involved in helping others, and to donate products to my kids’ schools. I love getting feedback from my readers, and I often receive emails from families telling me how much they’re saving using my strategies. That really keeps me going!
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.
