How We Save Money - and have lived to tell about it {Part 1}

I've been getting a lot of questions regarding how Robert and I get by on what we do, and how we run our household. So, I thought I'd post something quick about it. Then, after praying and thinking more on this idea, I decided I should maybe do a week-long series (parts 1 through 7) on this, so it's not one huge long blog post.

To begin part one, I'll start with a very brief introduction on the reasons behind why my husband and I do what we do, and explain exactly how I was led to do this series.


I've worked since I was legally old enough to do so. I worked my way through college, and lived on my own. It's all I've ever known - self-reliance and independence. Losing my job last October was a huge blow to my self-confidence, and our financial stability (or so we thought!) All we had known was a two-income lifestyle. Basically, we learned through reliance on God, and faith in Him, that He would provide for and supply all our needs. We have been (and are still able) to make ends meet. We don't have an over-abundance, but we have just enough. It became a necessity to change our lifestyle, and we did. Immediately. We've been blessed throughout this process in many, many ways! (I hope to expound on just a couple of them throughout this series). Trust me; we've also been humbled. But more on the details later.

After several friends encouraged me by telling me they are encouraged by me, and always feel motivated when they talk to me (you know who you are), I tried to deny it. I wasn't trying to be a martyr; I was just in disbelief that I could inspire even my friends like that! Eventually, I started seeing that this is where the Lord is calling me: To learn, to inspire and to encourage. Please let me humbly state that I do not wish to say my ways are the best or only ways to do things; instead, I just want to let this be something for people to read and maybe take to heart.

So here we go! Part 1 of my 7-part series "How We Save Money - and have lived to tell about it."

When we were first married, I learned that Robert likes to read comics of all kinds. Even those in the paper. So, in an effort to make the most of our paychecks (remember, I was working full-time when we got married), and please my hubby, I did some research on subscribing to the Sunday paper. We found that it wasn't much more to subscribe for the whole weekend, so we did that. Robert was happy with his funnies, and I was happy cutting a few coupons.

Tip #1- Invest: in a Sunday paper. We did away with Friday & Saturday, because we weren't really reading them, even though it was a fantastic deal. The Herald (which contains coupons and sale fliers on Sundays) costs us $21 for 3 months of Sunday morning delivery. That breaks down to $7/ month. I guarantee that our grocery savings is always at least $175/ month. Therefore, that investment pays off in about 1/4 of our shopping cost. We also purchase one extra one, so that the manufacturer's coupons (and some store-specific coupons) can be utilized more than once. Also, friends who cut coupons for items we use give them to us. (Ever heard of a coupon co-op and swap?)

After I lost my job (fast-forward to 7 months into our marriage), I started planning our meals according to the sales fliers we were getting weekly in the Sunday paper. We sometimes use the sales fliers we get on Tuesdays in the mail as well, but the Sunday paper is where the best deals are at (for us).

Tip #2: Meal Planning. We plan our meals according to the sale fliers and coupons we have on hand. If there's a sale at Fred Meyer for Pasta Roni $0.79 each (limit 10), and we have a coupon for $1.00 of 10, That means we're getting at least one free. We use that coupon right away on that sale. I immediately plan for that to be a side dish for whatever we plan to eat that week. If Tyson Chicken is on sale for $5.99/ bag, and we have a coupon for $1.00 off a bag of it, we use that right away. We then plan for roasted or brined chicken with Pasta Roni for a side dish, and homemade applesauce for dessert. The leftovers can be used for lunch, or a chicken tortilla soup, or whatever else we can imagine up. We still eat like kings on $30-$35/ week for our food budget. Trust me; it's do-able. Even if it seems to be a daunting task.

I spend hours preparing for grocery shopping trips throughout the month. I do this in the comfort of my own home. I started doing something I call coupon cataloging about a year ago, and I'm even more involved in it now. Please, don't assume I'm one of the nuts on the "Extreme Couponing" shows. I do not steal other peoples' papers or circulars to get the ads they've ignored. And I don't spend every waking minute coupon cutting, cataloging and/or meal planning. But I learned a valuable lesson when I first embarked on this endeavor: 2 hours in planning at home saves me a stressful, drawn-out trip to the stores, and saves me hassle, time and money.






Tip #3: Coupon Cataloging. I cut coupons. I then organize them in my physical catalog by expiration date.



All the months are together, in order by days 1-31 of expiration on each coupon.





 They are divided into sections in each month, paper-clipped together. My sections are as follows: Non-Perishables, Dairy, Produce, Refrigerated, Frozen, Cleaning Supplies, and Toiletries. I don't put a physical label on the divisions, because seeing the first coupon on top will tell me what section it is.




Once that's done (and it's an on-going task; I'm always recycling expired coupons and adding new ones),



I type a categorized list of the coupons, arranged by the same sections the coupons themselves are organized by. I print one list per month of expiration, and tuck it into the physical catalog at the front of the month for which it coincides. As I use the coupons I have, I check it off my cataloged list. I know exactly what I have, when it expires, what the coupon specifies, and where it is - all at a glance! Coupons I'm planning to use are clipped together in the very front section of my organizer. That way, I don't have to check them or anything while I'm shopping; they're already there and ready for me to hand the cashier. Also, this cuts down on impulse-purchasing.

That leads me to shopping lists. I create those lists for each store prior to actually visiting the store. I am willing to pay a little $ for the ink and paper I use to print my categorized lists (organized by layout of the store's areas) to not be confused by my sometimes sloppy penmanship when I get to the stores. (I print on the "Fast Draft" option, and I use the back of my lists again).

Tip #4: Creating Shopping Lists in Advance. This typically happens Sunday evenings or very early Monday morning. As I mentioned previously, I use my coupon catalog, the sales flier and my best planning and coordinating skills to plan our menu for the week. Generally, nothing is purchased without coupons and/ or sales. Produce is an exception, but barely. If broccoli and carrots are on sale, that is the vegetables we eat that week. I'll probably be creative about it, and make broccoli-cheddar soup, and dice the carrots in a salad or something, too. But creating those nice, neat lists means I never spend longer than 35 minutes in a grocery store; regardless of how much I'm purchasing.

Lastly, I don't make a trip to any store without consulting with my hubby on what he'd like to eat, or a luxury purchase that we may have a coupon for.

Tip #5: Teamwork. We each look over the sales fliers and coupons before we recycle the remnants of what's already been cut up. For instance, I got a deal on Hillshire Farms Sausages - 2 for $6 on sale + $1 off two coupon + $1 off two store coupon = 2 for $4 - and I had no idea my hubby liked them so much! He was so appreciative that I thought of him when I cut those coupons. That prompted us to start letting the other person look over the ads after they've already been gone through - just in case. When I was sick for a week, Robert had to do the shopping. I had 100% confidence in him, and it was very easy for him, as the list was all made, he was armed with the coupon catalog and organizer, and he did a fantastic job!

Well, that's it for Part 1 of this series. Stay tuned for more!

Recent musings

I've been doing a lot of thinking (and praying) lately. Mostly about where Robert and I are at in life, and how we got to where we are, and where we'd like to be in 5, 10, or even 20 years from today.

One thing that we've learned is to bloom where we're planted. On October 19th at 10:30p.m., I made my first sale in my Etsy Shop, to someone I don't even know, and have never talked to. We rejoiced, and praised God for His provision, and just for me to be happy with that! On October 20th at 7:07a.m., I was dismissed from my day job. While I was numb for about a week, and we were scared to death trying to figure out how we'd get by on one income, the feeling subsided. I was able to gain enough composure to set up my yearly appointment for the doctor, and get in before my insurance ran out. I'd already been to the dentist, so that wasn't a concern, either. I applied for unemployment the same day I lost my job, and that helped out a lot. Then, within two weeks of us being a single-income family, God provided 3 new piano students for me! Additionally, in December, I called H&R Block (where I'd worked for 5 previous tax seasons), to see if they needed me back for even just a couple shifts per week. I was asked to come in one night a week, for a few hours. God was providing! A few weeks later, I was asked to take over another shift, and I've also picked up about 8 extra shifts throughout the season, which has provided us just enough money to get by. I'm still nannying for the same family, which gives us a little more income as well.

Frankly, that employer did me a favor. I couldn't stand the stress of being there. I hated how I felt about myself, because my work was never good enough for anyone there. In a short amount of time, Robert and I - through prayer and constant communication with each other - learned that my new occupation was to be at home, providing however I could with what God had given me to take on. My job searches post-grad from UW were fruitless - all 86 applications. Same with everything while I was collecting unemployment - all 37 applications. We learned that God would have provided me with employment if that was what He wanted for us, but He was holding back on our account. He wants us right where we are.

We've faced many people passing judgment on us, making us feel lousy about our decision to have me home now. But we know better than to listen. We only have to answer to God. And we're doing just fine. I'm also working a little bit from home, selling on eBay and working with Scott (a friend from a previous company), to get his business off the ground. We have just what we need.

Something else I've been thinking a lot about is to be thankful in and during the trials we face, not just after them. It's a discipline that we've been having to learn over this new season of life.

Also, I've tried to be as frugal as I possibly can be. We save money as much as possible. And by "save" I don't mean that we don't pay as much for stuff, and spend the extra. I mean, we put the money we've saved into our savings account. At the grocery store, from our household bills, etc. Also, Robert's been driving my car to work a lot, so that we don't have to go through so much fuel in the TrailBlazer. Lights don't get turned on in the house during the day. Laundry is done on two specific days only. Dishwasher gets ran once per week only. Robert thanks me every day for all the efforts I've put in to make all this possible. :)

I've also been growing a lot, just in learning about myself and my husband, and in my walk with God, and in learning who true friends are. Something I think about frequently is how we always have enough to get by, and don't have to go without anything. People around the world do. But we don't. We're blessed. Additionally, we are where we're at for a reason. It's not circumstantial or coincidence.

Anyway, that's what's been on my brain lately. :)

More on savings

Recently, I've been trying very hard to save money in every way we possibly can.

This has included everything from grocery shopping to keeping lights off as much as possible to watching bank accounts very closely.

Some things that I have learned while doing so:
1) Spending one hour per week doing coupon cataloging and meal planning according to sale fliers will always benefit me, as I never spend more than 30 minutes in the grocery store - even when I fill a cart completely.

2) If I'm going to put laundry away, I need to do so during daylight hours, so the light in our walk-in closet doesn't need to be on.

3) It really doesn't take much effort to turn off lights when you're not in a room. (Although I forgot the hall lights when I left for coffee with Tiffany this morning, and didn't notice until I came home 5 1/2 hours later after the ladies' brunch at church. Whoops! First failure in 3 months I think is allowable).

4) Making sure that I ask Robert to look through the ads and sale fliers after I have on Sunday evenings saves a lot of hassle when we get to the store and he pouts because he knows there was a coupon for some yummy treats he wanted, and I say no because we have no coupon cut for it.

5) I shower in our master bathroom now, without the light on. The window in there is opaque, so you can't really see through it (plus, our bathroom faces the woods and you'd need a 10-foot ladder to see in). The sun provides enough light (even earlier than 7am) to shower. When it doesn't, or when I have to wake up earlier, I light some candles instead. Free, and smells fantastic! Then the only electricity I use is the fan. :)

6) Monitoring our bank accounts is essential. One institution attempted to try to weasel their way out of paying me back the $ (no joke) they've taken from our joint account over the course of a month. The first problem was 3 bogus "NSF" charges. I wrote 3 checks, each for single or double-digit amounts. Since we had well over 4 digits worth of funds in there, and nothing else out, I thought it would be fine. Nope. Logged on to see $75 in NSF fees. When I called to get them reversed, I immediately got a lecture on not spending more than I have, etc. I was unhappy with this and threatened to write a letter to management, so they finally (after an hour) gave me the money back. Same institution 1 week later: I notice while balancing the checkbook, that $4.60 is not working out one way or the other. I asked Robert if he'd purchased anything, and he said no. So we waited for the charges to clear (they were pending for 3 days). Saturday morning at 9am, (3 days later), I got online and saw it had cleared. It was for a purchase outside of Florida, (like, NOT in the US), and when I called to report fraud, I got a lecture on keeping track of where I spend my money. 2nd time in 2 weeks, I was VERY unhappy. I told them so. After I forced them to research the charges, they confirmed it was from a bogus business outside the Florida Keys, as well as the fact that whoever used my card had only obtained mydebit card numbers; not Robert's. How they did it, I will never know. It took 2 full weeks to get my new debit card. The final blow was one week after thatwhen I saw a charge for $150 on our account that neither one of us made. I called and they very casually said, "Oh, that's for your line of credit payment, Mrs. Crombie." I was completely short of fuse after all this, and I said, "We don't even have one of those! Give me my money back immediately. We're taking our loyalty elsewhere." The associate confirmed that another customer had called to make a payment on their line of credit, and the representative had "transposed numbers incorrectly." When I asked about a double-checking, or heck, even a NAME-MATCHING system, they told me they didn't have anything like that. Today, I logged on to a different account (that I don't really use anymore, except to pay for my YMCA membership), to see that I had $85 in overdrafts and fees. Since I don't use the account, I was freaking out. I called them, and they've been charging me $6.95 for who-knows-how-many months for a "bill pay service fee." I don't use bill-pay there. Additionally, they had to refund the charges, fees, and money taken from my savings account to pay for it all. Lesson learned: ALWAYS pay attention!

7) I do laundry twice a week: Sundays (when I was our sheets) and Thursdays (after Awana, so our uniforms are always clean for the following week). It saves water and energy. I know Fly Lady suggests "a load a day keeps the CHAOS away," but I disagree with this.

8) We save the difference - always. Like the Duggars do. If we save $16.50 at the grocery store, I transfer that to our savings account. Yesterday, while at work (so right next to Costco - didn't have to use extra gas!), I took a 15-minute break to re-new our Costco membership and pick up some Brie that Robert requested. I was happy when I saw the price on it - $5.33. A little cheaper than usual! But when I went to the self-check, it rang up $5.99. I asked for help, and they said that I was getting the cheese for $5.00 because it was a mis-representation of prices. :) Apparently, they are super friendly for that kind of request! Of course, I messed up (big shock) and left it in the fridge at work. I hope it's still there when I go in on Monday!

9) Driving the Focus is almost always the best choice. Robert has become more comfortable driving it, and even though the battery died on Tuesday night after I got off work (long story; it's fixed now with a brand new battery), it's worth it. We now choose which cars each of us drive based on who drives further. Whoever drives the farthest from home on on any given day takes the Focus. Sometimes, it's me (since I'm working at H&R Block this season), but usually it's Robert. Some days we don't worry about it, but the fact is that it gets way better gas mileage than the Trailblazer (although the Trailblazer doesn't do too badly).

10) I love sharing how I save money with others, because I've been blessed to have others share with me money-saving tips. Just Thursday at Ladies' Bible Study, Mommy Kelley shared with me that not running the dishwasher will save some, too. :) Even though it's just the two of us here, we use a lot of dishes. As a result, I'm now doing the dishes by hand as much as possible. Which means we have to find a different jurisdiction for Robert, since I promised him that it wasn't his job to keep up with my money-saving ideas. :)

11) I feel like such a good steward of what we have.

The fruits of my efforts have paid off, too. I successfully got our PUD bill down to $49.57/ month. :)