Welcome to Centsable Savings Stories and Struggles! This week, Kerri from Save at Home Mommy is sharing her story. I think you’ll be inspired by how much Kerri has been able to save, and how couponing has allowed to her stay at home with her daughters. I think you’ll also find it humorous how excited Kerri gets about dishwasher tabs. 🙂 Read on to find out more.
Before Christmas last year, my husband and I were faced with a decision. We live in California and rent our home, but we still own a house in Virginia that we have not been able to sell. We were able to pay our bills and keep up but we really wanted to pay off some debt and not have things be so tight. My husband’s pay schedule also changed taking a dent out of our monthly income.
We talked about our options and considered the possibility of me taking on a part time job. While I was willing, it has always been our priority for me to stay home with our two little girls, and I was not looking forward to being out of the home even for a few hours a day. We went to visit family for Christmas and I was shuffling through my mom’s coupon inserts when I saw one for $2.50 off dishwasher tabs. I thought, “Wow, that seems like a lot off”. I snagged her coupon and brought it home with me. When I went to Target a few days later, I saw the same dishwasher tabs on sale and realized I could use the coupon to get them for $0.50 each! I was so excited that I had my mom’s coupon and mine so I could get two boxes.
Now, you have to know that during a very tough time in our lives financially, my husband and I were talking about what small things we deprived ourselves of to save money. Mine was dishwasher tabs. For some reason, I hate pouring the powder in and always said, “Someday, when we have more money I am going to buy dishwasher tabs!” I know that sounds crazy, but when I realized that I could get them so inexpensively, I was more than excited.
I came home and immediately got on the computer and began searching for websites that might help me on my way. I found several and began following their deals and saving my coupons. After a few weeks, I was so excited at the amount of money I was saving. I was telling everyone I knew about my deals. Several friends wanted me to help them and show them what I was doing so I thought maybe a blog would help me get them all the details at once. I decided to call it Save At Home Mommy since that is what I was doing, saving so I could be a stay at home mom! I posted the deals I found and what coupons I used so that other people could do the same thing. I had no idea what that little blog would turn into! I started spending so much time doing it that I realized it was an all or nothing deal. If I was going to spend that much time on it, I needed to do all I could to make it grow. There have been many times along the way that I have thought of stopping and those are the days that I get an email from someone telling me how my site has changed their life. It is then I am reminded why I do all of this.
Needless to say, when I saw how much money I could save, we realized it was better for me to stay home with our girls and save than to take on a part time job. For my first three months, I saved all my receipts so I could track just how much I was able to save. I counted groceries, toiletries, formula, diapers, cleaning supplies and any other small household needs. In March, my total was $406.90, April $368.01 and finally in May $242.58. That means I was able to shave over 1/3 off that part of our household budget even while building quite a stockpile in my food pantry and toiletries. You want to know the best part? I have three boxes of dishwasher tabs in my closet just waiting for me to use them! I have also been able to save that much money while buying the most expensive brands of diapers and other toiletries and not sacrificing quality or favorite foods.
Saveathomemommy.com has grown into a full time job, and I am learning more each day how to balance it with the rest of my responsibilities. I can now easily spot the deals I know my family will use and be in and out of the store in no time, making my shopping much easier and less time consuming. I love seeing all the debt we have paid off, the growing savings account and the extra wiggle room in our monthly budget. I am so glad I saw that one dishwasher tab coupon and the Target sale that started my wonderful journey into coupons! I would love for you to check out www.saveathomemommy.com to see what my little blog has turned into!
