{$aving$}

Last night I went to a free couponing seminar at the local community college.  The event was sponsored by our local newspaper {which makes sense since the coupons come from the paper!}.  Anyway, it was the kick in the pants I needed to get back into couponing.  

A couple of years back {before I started up daycare and my husband was the only one bringing in income} we really had to reevaluate all expenditures.  Groceries were our biggest money drain.  So I set out to figure out how to lower the spending in this category.  Enter couponing!

My early adventures were encouraging but not anything noteworthy.  And then I discovered that my local store would take competitor's coupons too!  Oh happy day!  After that I was saving $60-$80 a grocery run!  It was so much fun!

And then the fateful day when corporate headquarters of said neighborhood store decided to stop accepting competitor's coupons.  I almost stopped shopping at that store in protest.  So I continued to use coupons and sadly was only saving $10-$15 a trip.

When I began my in-home daycare I found myself with no time left to coupon and so it went by the wayside.

Well, after hearing a new technique and becoming remotivated last night, I am ready to dive back into the blissful world of couponing.

I most likely will not become the next extreme couponer.  That's not my goal anyway, my goal is to save my family money so that we can save for a trip to Mexico to visit our family down there.

As this blog is my journal of sorts, I intend to keep track of my savings for each shopping trip.  My goal is lower our groceries by $50 a month in the next month.  Currently we are spending approximately $650 per month on groceries.

Can I do it?  You'll have to come back and see my updates! ;)