Welcome to Centsable Savings Stories and Struggles! This week, Jen from Simple Saving blog is sharing her story.
Over the last few weeks I have often thought to myself “How did I get here, how did I turn into this ‘crazy coupon lady’?” Because that is what I have turned into, a crazy coupon lady which for those that have known me forever have to laugh about. Growing up my sister and I were spoiled, I can look back and admit that now. When I was in college I had no problem spending money like crazy. I drained a savings account that I started when I was 10 with my babysitting money in one year. When I moved to the Twin Cities I continued down my scary spending path and put myself thousands of dollars into debt and had nothing to show for it except for last season’s expensive clothes. I still lived in an apartment at that point. I didn’t understand the value of a dollar and I liked buying stuff and even more importantly I liked doing stuff. My dad always said that I had champagne tastes on a beer budget. I never thought about money and I was scared of it. I didn’t balance my checkbook because if I didn’t see it, it wasn’t happening.
Then I guess you could say I grew up. I started to have grown up dreams and grown up goals. I wanted a house, a family and a baby. I didn’t want the stuff that had gotten me thousands of dollars into debt. I had seen couponing and the affect it could have on my spending through my best friend, the original crazy coupon lady, but the whole process overwhelmed me. I hated clipping coupons and I never understood the value of matching the coupons to what was on sale that week. I felt like I could never get where my best friend was at because it took too much time and the thought of sitting down with the weekly ads and matching everything seemed painstakingly boring.
Then one day I did it. I saw a special on our news about the Grocery Game. The Grocery Game is a service that you pay for that will match the weekly ad to the coupons you have in your stash. It put the list together for you! I saw how much these women were saving and I was hooked before I even started playing. All of a sudden I was a changed woman. I loved getting the Sunday paper, loved clipping my coupons and matching them to the ad every week. Slowly, my stockpile of coupons and of food began to grow.
Then it got worse. Shortly after Baby C was born I was getting antsy. I needed another outlet other than a newborn but I wasn’t ready to start talking to my clients yet. My sister-in-law showed me a blog devoted to saving money on all things baby, BabyCheapskate.com. I started to read this blog and subscribed to it following links all along the way to other helpful blogs. Before I knew it my hobby had become a full blown obsession. If I thought I was hooked before now it was worse. I could find deals at CVS, Walgreens and my happy place Target! I could get paid to shop! Also as a new mom I got to leave the house which was a present all by itself.
So a blog was born. I gave up the Grocery Game because I learned to do the weekly ad match up myself and no longer felt the need to pay for it. I emailed my friends and family any deals that I thought they would like when I found them. I figured why not put it altogether and create my own blog and that’s just what I did. I get a thrill out of not only finding deals for myself, but when I hear that other people save money because of information I gave them. It is exciting and inspires me to save even more!I have definitely changed from spoiled little girl to frugal, deal shopping Mama. Those that know me can see how far I have come. Sure I still like the finer things in life, but I refuse to pay full price for them and I refuse to apologize for that. When I go to the store I hand over my coupons proudly. I smile at the people behind me in line as they watch my total go down. I obsess over every deal and even take a break once in awhile. Two absolutely amazing things have come out of this transformation of me. Number one, I get to work at home and take care of Baby C. Number two, even as a little baby I am teaching Baby C the value of a dollar. As we deal shop every week I explain to her what I am doing and why I am doing it. In a small way I feel like I am teaching her the Art of Frugality already!
Money still scares me sometimes. I am self-employed and do not even come close to having a consistent income. I know now though the value of a dollar and I am proud of that. For me that is half the battle. I still think I have champagne tastes but now I indulge them with my own beer budget!
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 becentsable[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.
Keep tabs on all the best deals by subscribing to BeCentsAble’s feed or get updates direct to your inbox!
