savings mania

Ever since I got a taste of the "savings greater than paying" bug, I have been a mad woman trying to find/research the best deals with coupons every week.  It's no easy task and reminds me of a word problem.  I always hated word problems in school, but as I have aged I have learned how solve "real life" word problems.  My "real life" word problem for every week:  How many grocery items can Leslie buy on a discounted price just by using coupons and sale prices?

The answer:  around $60 to $70 worth of items on a weekly basis...which leads me to more questions.  How in the heck were we spending close to $100 a week at Wal-Mart after getting married?  Isn't Wal-Mart supposed to be the discount store?  And the real question is why did we put ourselves through that torture of going to Wal-Mart every week?  Ugh, now I cringe every time we have to make a stop by Wal-Mart.  It's hard to beat $17 for a 44-pound bag of dog food.  Thankfully Jackson and Tyson have serious tummy problems when switched to the more expensive brands.  They must have part of their "human" mommy in them...the cheap side.

And my word problem makes me think every week about how many people refuse to clip coupons and don't research for the best deals.  Honestly, there is no point in anyone not saving as much money as they possibly can when making their grocery run whether it's weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.  I mean you can't get in the habit of eating your favorite cereal every week when trying to save money.  And you will have to become creative when it comes to making supper.  Can't have the same ol' same ol' every Monday night. 

Ironically, this process has taught me a lot about cooking.  Because we buy a different buggie load every week, our meals change.  If you are having a hard time finding recipes for your sale items, go to kraftfoods.com and search under the ingredients section.  You can input up to 3 different ingredients and several recipes pop up just like magic!  Kraft Foods has been a source of my cooking for several meals.  They are so easy to make, and some recipes don't require a lot of ingredients, which is super handy.

Please:  don't take my word for it when it comes to savings.  I challenge you to start saving.  You will be happy that you did, but I have a warning:  once you start, it's super hard to stop.