..... Ouch, that hurts my eyes!!!

I hate, hate, hate looking at my bank statement, and seeing good money go to absolutely STUPID things. Its almost depressing, ok not almost, it is depressing. So, What do I plan to do about it? ... Tightening the spending reins. We have a pretty solid budget, its my give-in button that needs tweaking. Its reminding my other half that wants are not needs, and Needs are only purchased with coupons!!

Ok, so I'm not joking.

And often I'm asked how I manage to feed my family of 6 on a $400 dollar a month budget. And how do I answer?

Talent.

Yes, Talent. Coupon clipping, off brand buying, sales searching, talent. That and our menu RARELY contains the following words: Steak. Unless Deer or Elk is before that. I like to think I feed my family fairly healthy meals, but who am I kidding?! How is Tator -tot casserole healthy? Its shredded potatoes, smothered in soup, cheese and ground beef. But Damn, its good. Granted I'm trying new recipes all the time, and most are extremely simple, very tasty and somewhat healthy. They beat going through the drive thru!!!! and it saves our wallet a HUGE hit.

Seriously.

Our family at Burger King we cant walk away with out spending minimum of $15 and most of the time the amount is double that!! $30 on clogged arteries, more cellulite, I don't think so!! For $30 I can buy the ingredients for 2 extremely healthy and tasty home cooked meals! That's $30 I don't have in my saving account or $30 more for Christmas presents. ... But it seems in the last few months, we have overlooked these facts and have been on a spending nightmare... Well...

I'm waking up.

Granted some of the small purchases, or family outings have been planned therefore budgeted... but the frivolous spending on this and that, crap and crude, frankly, must stop. I'm a HUGE sale freak. Generally if its not on sale, clearance, or I have a coupon code, I don't buy it. What do I do? WAIT! I wait until it goes on sale, clearance or I get a REALLY good coupon to use. I know where I can buy things the cheapest, I know which places sell the things we use at a lower cost.

Also, we do this little things called....

THRIFT STORE SHOPPING!!

Oh yes, Oh yes.

Thrift stores!

I love them. I have scored some AMAZING deals and found some super buys saving our family loads of money. Nothing thrills me more to find something brand new at Goodwill and knowing I paid a 1/10th of what my not so savvy counter parts paid!

So the next few months I plan on really cutting back and cutting out the stuff we don't need. Re-teaching the family the difference between a need and a want. And hopefully Christmas can be completely paid for with out having to dip into the rainy-day fund!

So, Join me on this adventure, and though, its not News Years, join me on my resolution to cut the spending down.... and to save a little more. Lord knows, with our family possibly growing in the near future we need every Penny, Dime, Nickel and quarter we can save!!!