Centsable Saving Stories (and Struggles)

Welcome to Centsable Savings Stories and Struggles!

I am always looking for frugal shoppers to share their stories. If you’ve ever thought about sharing your story, please email me at centsable.katherine[at]gmail.com. More details are at the end of this post.

This week we are featuring Jessica from Never Paying Full Price Again. Jessica and her husband have not had an easy past two years, but they have found the means to make ends meet through Jessica’s bargain shopping and coupon use. I’m sure you’ll be inspired by reading Jessica’s story. Thank you for sharing your story, Jessica.

Past Spending Habits

When my husband and I were first married we were both working full-time for the same employer. We had great pay, decent benefits, and as much overtime as we wanted. We bought a house and started planning our family. In November of 2005 our first child was born after much difficulty in conceiving. Life was great. We were able to buy what we wanted when we wanted. The baby was always dressed in name brand clothes. I bought clothes from garage sales and thrift stores if I had the time to shop, but otherwise the baby always got new outfits and toys. We spent money as we pleased and didn’t worry about debt. We were pretty secure. Our jobs were really secure and the pay just kept going up. The first 4 years of our marriage, our average gross income was $70K-$75K (which is a lot in this area). In November of 2006, our baby turned one and we started talking about a second baby. This time the pregnancy happened sooner than we expected.

The Layoffs Begin

In May of 2007, I was let go from my full-time job during my pregnancy with our second child. I was able to get short-term disability from the company as I was let go due to complications with my pregnancy. We were doing ok. We had $30,000 in vehicle loans, $4,500 in credit card debt and a mortgage, but my husband picked up extra hours to make up the difference in pay. I started to shop more at discount stores and grocers. I bought more generics, and we continued to do alright. We paid ahead on my car and paid off one of our two credit cards. I started cloth diapering to save money as well.

Just one week before our child was born, my brother in law was killed at work. That turned our little world upside down. My husband saw so much of himself in his brother, always working, never much time for the family, more than enough money to live on but not enough time to spend any. When our child was born, my husband vowed to change his life around. Just one month after she was born, he found a different job where he would be home in the evenings and on weekends. It was a big pay cut but we ran the numbers, and figured we would just have to tighten our belts a little more and we could make it. That winter I took a part-time seasonal job to help make ends meet. Life was harder than we were used to but better in so many ways.

The Layoffs Continue

Just after Christmas 2007, I was laid off. It was ok. I got a little unemployment and got to be home with the kids. The employer wanted me to come back but did not have work for me at the time so I waited. In May of 2008, I stumbled onto a forum about couponing and my thoughts about spending money and shopping did a 180. I read as much as I could about couponing, started having family and friends save their coupons for me and started stockpiling. In June of 2008, we experienced significant flooding in our town and my husband was laid off. I was concerned but knew we would be ok. I had been couponing for about a month and already had a pretty good sized stockpile of things that we used regularly. After two weeks, my husband was back at work and I received the call from my employer to start back to work. Life was going good. I was continuing to coupon and stockpile and save money. After just a month back at work, my husband was once again laid off. I panicked a little. Our fuel pre-buy for the winter months was due in a month, our car insurance was due in a month and life insurance premiums were coming due in a couple months. We had a savings that would cover those bills but that was it.

After one month of being back to work, I was offered a year-round part-time position with my employer. I accepted. My husband’s layoff kept extending from two weeks to a month to six weeks, and on. Finally after eleven weeks, he was back to work but it was short-lived. After just one month, he was again laid off. We lived off the stockpile. I was determined to not ask for money from family so I picked up extra hours when I could and saved money by couponing, buying only on sale items and reusing everything and anything. Finally in March of 2009, my husband was offered a job with a different company. The hours are not ideal and the pay is less, but we make it work.

Our Success Despite the Setbacks

During the last two years, even with the layoffs, we went from $30,000 in vehicle loans to $1800 in one loan and $4,500 in credit card debt to no credit card debt at all. We stayed current or ahead on all of our bills and never once fell behind or had to ask anyone for money. We went from making $75K-$80K a year to making less than $35K (projected) for this year and have less debt and a better life.

We currently have enough food in the house for four to six months and toiletries for a year, all paid for very cheaply or even free after coupons. Should my husband or myself be laid off yet again, I am only slightly worried. I know we can handle just about anything that is thrown our way. I owe it all to couponing and watching sales. I hope to pass this on to my children. My oldest (3 1/2 years old) loves to sit down with Mommy on a Sunday afternoon and clip coupons. When I take a little hiatus to use up the stockpile, she is disappointed that we are not clipping coupons that Sunday. She gets excited seeing the blinkie dispensers in stores and loves to tell the cashiers at various stores about mommy’s cool coupons. Even my husband, who was very skeptical at first, asks if I have a coupon for something he is looking to buy now. He also asks where the best deal is on whatever it is. I get a huge smile when I hear him brag to his friends about how much better life is now for us than when we used to work all those hours and how it is because of me and my thriftiness.

Other Money-Saving Ideas We Use

A few other things that I do to save money are:

Hosting a garage sale: I have my own to sell the clothes the kids have outgrown and things that we no longer use (last year we made $500!!)
Garage sale shopping: I shop to buy things we need and get the next size in clothing for the kids.
Hand-me-downs: I save the clothes from my oldest child so my youngest can wear what the older one has outgrown.
Thrift store shopping
Homemade laundry detergent: I just started making my own laundry detergent.
Cooking from scratch: We still use quite a bit of convenience food for breakfast on the mornings I work, but, other than that, we mostly cook from scratch.
Eating at home
Bartering my stockpile for services we need: I trade items for services I need like babysitting and tree trimming.
Freecycle
Clearance shopping: I started shopping for Christmas 2009 on the day after Christmas 2008. I watch clearance at places like Sears, Old Navy, JCPenney and others. I am able to get great gifts for birthdays and Christmas throughout the year for very little money.
Paying the savings first: We have our bills budgeted out for each month. The money for the bills goes directly into our savings account and we take it out as needed to pay the bills. We also budgeted extra for the bills and that money stays in savings for emergencies. We live off what is left. If I don’t work much during a particular week, we spend less on groceries that week and eat more out of the panty. I have our grocery budget down to $50 a week and most weeks I don’t even spend that much. I only buy fresh fruit/veggies, milk, and bread on a regular basis. The rest of the budget is for stockpile items that are on sale. We would spend an average of $300-400/month before couponing.
Take lunch to work: Both my hubby and I are avid brown baggers. We rarely even take cash to work so we are not tempted. We take soda from home to drink or we drink water, we take snacks and meals. Some evenings the kids and I will take dinner to my husband at work. He works about 1 mile from home.

Stay tuned for a future guest post from Jessica on how she uses her stockpile of items to barter for services she needs.

Each week we 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 Katherine at centsable.katherine[at]gmail [dot]com. Blogger and non-bloggers are both welcome to participate. Click here to read the stories of shoppers featured in the past.

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Centsable Saving Stories (and Struggles)

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