I love love to save money!!!

I do. I am always so thrilled when I do. I tend to be more "free" than Russ. Not free in the sense of driving us to the poor house, or not paying bills, but free in that I'll see something I know someone would LOVE and okay I'll admit it, I know they would LOVE me for giving it to them. So I'll buy it.

But that has changed...somewhat. I still enjoy doing that but more often than not, I'll count the cost and find something else.  My favorite place to shop is the clearance rack, and even still my girls will tell you I more often than not will say, "That's not low enough for me." and I'll walk away. No more impulse shopping for this girl. Instead of burning a hole in my pocket, money now burns a hole in my hand, so I leave it safely tucked away.

My favorite grocery store closed down early this summer and I was in a definite quandary as to where to shop. We have a super Wal Mart and well..no thanks. The other two stores left a lot to be desired in my estimation. To me they seemed dirty and that wasn't counting the "soft" porn in the check stands.  I started shopping at the least of the evils and had to force myself to go.

Fast forward to last month, August. I was desperate to get out of town. Desperate. D.E.S.P.A.R.A.T.E!!! I thought if I just casually mentioned I'd like to travel, we would find a million and fifty reasons why we couldn't afford it. But if I said I wanted to go out of town to check out a store we don't have here, and "hey why don't we combine it with a trip to see your sister", it would seem so much more...legitimate.

Yes, if I were an Eskimo, I could rationalize spending money on an ice machine. Just sayin'.

We went. And I shopped. And I loved it. I loved filling my grocery cart full of good healthy food for a month. For a fraction of what I would have spent at home.

I kid you not. I spent about $175 on food for my family of 4 for a month. I did need to purchase more milk and fruit mid-month, but the bulk of the shopping was done.

I just returned home last week from another shopping trip. The girls and I went on Thursday, not to visit my sister-in-law, but to a town a little closer. I was amazed! I spent about $100 more than in August but I also bought some non-food items. I will still need to get milk and fruit mid-month but I won't be spending all the household envelope every two weeks.

I have been asked for some tips on saving money. It can be done!!! I'll be sharing those tips in the next few days/weeks. So stay tuned!!