A Bundle of Savings

I have been working on reducing our monthly money outflow recently by learning more about couponing and cutting our grocery budget and to help me out has been these ebooks.
Right now you can purchase a whole bundle of ebooks for a low price of $17 here.
You will receive "Supermarket Savings 101", "Grocery Shopping on a Budget", "Money saving Meats" and "Saving on Cleaning Supplies". Plus 13 other ebooks full of frugal living advice and low cost recipes!
I've been working through Supermarket Savings and have been inspired to change the way I've been shopping with the goal of reducing our monthly grocery budge by $300! And now I have all the tools at hand to do so.

If you haven't been to these great websites yet please visit them today. You will be amazed at what you didn't know about grocery shopping cheaply with very little extra effort.

SAVING 'O' THE GREEN EBOOK PACKAGE DEAL!

Frugal Homeschooling

Grocery Cart Challenge

Miserly Moms

Saving Cents with Sense

The Simple Dollar

Money Saving Mom

Striving to live cheaper

At the beginning of the year my hubby and I made a commitment to not let our finances go to pot like we have for many years. It is sad to think of all the money that we have wasted simply by not paying attention or taking the time to keep track of things.
So, I have really dedicated myself to keeping our checkbook balanced and following a written budget plan. (see Dave Ramsey if you need help with budgeting)
It has taken me several attempts and different forms to come up with a budget plan that is simple and easy to use. I tried Larry Burkett's system when we were first married but as soon as kids came along I found it almost impossible to manage, I also tried this plan, and have worked Dave Ramsey's plan as well. But invariably they were all too detailed or for whatever reason I had a hard time sticking with them.
After much trial and error I have come up with a simple one-page monthly budget plan.d

Along these same lines I have run into a problem that will not be solved by adding more money to the budget category. FOOD! This is a major budget buster in our house and I'm totally to blame for it. We hardly ever eat out so that's not the issue but I've been averaging close to $700 a month on groceries for our family of 7!!!!!! I know that I can do better than this without sacrificing our health.
Part of my problem has been that while I make out a grocery list I don't usually have a menu written out as well, so I impulse buy. Also I have a bad habit of borrowing from other envelope categories if I've overspent at one store so that I don't have to cut very much from my list. Very bad idea!

Thankfully there are much more frugal and creative souls out in the blogsphere and internet world that have readily shared winning strategies on saving money and living more frugally, so I wanted to share some posts that have especially hit home for me.

The Simply Dollar - The Happy Minimum

Biblical Womanhood - Frugal Friday Menu planning

Money Saving Mom - 100 Different ways to save $100

Life as Mom

I love this website for really good, simple, cheap recipes as well.
The Family Homestead

Frugality

Buy what you NEED

Want what you HAVE.

Debt Free Journey

We are there!
After over a year of meandering our way toward debt freedom we have finally HAD IT!
Whatever it takes, whatever the sacrifices we are going to get out of DEBT.

How?

By taking Baby Steps.

For us that looks like this:

• Keep checkbook balanced and up to date.


• Tell our money where to go (budget) at the BEGINNING of every month.


• Live inside of our budget, no fudging allowed!


• Create more income by selling things, and hubby working an extra job.


• Using a debt snowball plan

How about you? Have you had it yet?

Proverbs 22:7

The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender.

Proverbs 6:3-5

So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; For you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; Plead with your friend. Give no sleep to your eyes, Nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

The Truth about Debt

The Truth about Budgeting