You Saved:

I have been trying to save us some money the past couple of months so when I get my receipts I always look on the bottom so see how much my total saving was. This weekend I feel pretty good about myself.

At Target: You Saved: $15.50
At CVS: You Saved $13.50
At Festival: You saved $15.53
Total Saving: $44.53

I think that is a pretty good start! That is $44.53 that I would have NOT saved a few months ago!

There are some things that I have learned while trying to save money: I have found that I have to be much more organized in order to save money.

• I have to find the coupons (for things that I ALREADY buy- if I am buy extra things I am really not saving anything!) We used to get the Sunday paper and be all excited about the coupons and all the money we were saving, but we were buying extra things that we would not have gotten in the first place. So I would save $0.50 on a box of cookies that I did not really want but spend $3 to get them so I am more picky about what coupons I get and use!
• I have to use the coupons before the expire! An expired coupon saves me nothing!
• I also have to think ahead. For example: this weekend I did not need dishwasher soap, but I had two coupons for cascade dishwasher soap (the kind I love and always use- Cascade Complete gets all the food off my dishes!). Both coupons expired Feb 15th which means I had to use them by this weekend or not get the deal... so I now have an extra bottle of dishwasher soap under my sink for when I need it. I have to think different, and not just get things when I need them but pre-get them when they are good deal. It is some money up front but will save us some money in the long run I think (I hope).
• Just because it is on sale and good deal does not mean that I should buy it. Children's Place was/is having a HUGE clearance sale and I wanted to get Ky some more clothes! Jason looked at me and asked a simple question "does Kyan need any more clothes?" the answer is no... if you have seen his closet, he has plenty to wear so I did not get the clothes and his birthday was coming up and I knew he would get some clothes (but it was a great deal - 3 onesies- black, red, and cream- and 2 sweaters all for $24 including shipping! Can you believe I passed it up!?!?) But it was $24 dollars that I did not need to spend so now I think of it as SAVING $24! To be honest I am still a little bummed about this one! : )

I am happy with the saving that I have had so far, but I know that there are more ways for me to save money so back to work!