Savin' Benjamins

How are your New Year's resolutions coming along? Mine was to save money this year.
Here's where we are at almost halfway;

1. Save money by:

• Getting rid of unwanted mo. expenses- done!  We cancelled the newspaper that we didn't read that much, and called the cable company and negotiated a better deal.

• Track monthly- done/ doing! I have been tracking our expenditures in this spreadsheet template, which helps to see where you're spending. 

• Tighten variables like clothing & groceries- work in progress. We are still absurdly over what we should spend on groceries, but I haven't got any new clothes in a while (not counting gift cards I've gotten ;))

Yeaaaa, doin' pretty good so far. 

2. Become a home owner- wow, did that!
3. Have a baby- not quite yet, gotta get the house first ;) I wanted to save $1000/ month, but it's been less than that. To be fair we started paying more on student loans and credit cards.

Here are some of my favorite ways to save when shopping;
Gift Card Granny website. Stores like Marshall's or TJ Maxx rarely have coupons, but you can save some $ by buying someone else's unwanted gift card or merchandise credit.

For the stores that do take coupons (Kohl's, Macys, World Market), I love the Retail Me Not app.
I just type in the store before I check out & voila! For those of you without an iPhone, you can go to their website & print off the coupons before you shop.

Happy shopping y'all!