Recently, I've noticed that some of my friends and family members seem to find the fact that I'm always looking for ways to save money quaint, a little hobby that apparently entertains me. Somehow, instead of seeing it as a smart way to be frugal, make ends meet and even have a little financial peace of mind, I am portrayed as a bored housewife with no life, no interests and lots of time for my 'fascination' with coupons. So instead of spitting back some interesting four-letter words, I thought I'd tell a little story...
On a hot, humid evening last August, we got a fax from our realtor with an offer on our home in New Hampshire. It was less than what we'd been hoping for, but it would mean the end of 12 months of paying two mortgages, and still leave us enough money to pay off the home equity loan. So we signed the papers and went to bed thinking things were definitely looking up.
The next morning I sent my older son to school and had barely settled in front of my computer, coffee at my lips, when the phone rang. It was my husband, Kevin. He was on his cell phone, and he sounded kind of funny. "They let me go," he said.
"Let you go where?" I asked, my caffeine-deprived brain unsure what we were talking about.
"My job!" he spat out vehemently. "They let me go! I got laid off!"
There was silence. My peaceful morning routine was shattered and the previous night's relief was gone. Nothing like this had ever happened to either of us, and after eleven years together, we had no idea what we would do. Although he had ten weeks of severance pay, we had nothing to fall back on. We'd moved to Georgia because of a great job opportunity, but they only paid a fraction of our moving expenses, and we hadn't had a lot of savings anyway. Although he made good money, we'd been paying two mortgages the entire time we'd been here. Our savings was gone, we had two young boys, and I hadn't worked outside the home in nearly a decade. It was a sobering time period.
However, like always, I stopped thinking about it and started doing something about it by finding ways to make this work. We negotiated a few more thousand out of the deal on our house, overhauled out budget, and I sat down at the computer determined to figure out how all those people on TV got $485 worth of groceries for $22.17 out of pocket. I would get there if it killed me--and trust me, it almost did.
As my husband, Kevin, spent his days on the phone networking, updating his resume and going to interviews, I read money-saving blogs, clipped coupons and did research. Name brands were thrown out the window and replaced with generic everything. Our family "entertainment" budget was immediately terminated, and with gas prices through the roof, when I went out I had a list, a plan and a stack of coupons. If it wasn't on my route, then it wasn't getting done until the next round of errands. It was serious crunch time.
It was a long, hard autumn season, but by the time Kevin started his new job on December 1st, I'd learned a lot about saving money, shopping, and in some ways, survival. I've discovered that you often get what you pay for, nothing in life is truly free, and everything is what you make it. I made some new friends, discovered what I'm really made of, and actually learned a lot.
It's been 11 months since that day in August, and it's been almost eight months since Kevin started his new job. The benefits are better, but he took a $10,000 pay cut. We got rid of that second mortgage, but our Homeowners Association fees almost doubled. Kevin's job seems stable and he enjoys it, but he's on the road four days most weeks, which leaves me a single mom about 75% of the time. Life is good, but it's far from perfect and I'm the first to admit that I am always looking for ways to save money. Being a single mom, even part-time, is a LOT of work and being able to afford little extras to make my life easier is just as important as making ends meet.
Consequently, I've spent hours and hours scouring all the information that's out there, searching for deals and steals. Believe it or not, they exist, but you have to be willing to exert some time, energy and, unfortunately, some of your "cool" to do it. A lot of my friends laugh at me--even the ones who subsequently tell me they don't have the money for girls night out or tickets to Bon Jovi. Well, here's an example of why I do what I do. This is what I've spent for school supplies so far, and how I did it:
2 Spiral Notebooks -- "FREE."
*Last year, Walmart had spiral-bound, wide-rule notebooks for five cents. I bought ten of them even though my son only needed one. This year, when I saw that he needed two, I already had them in my cabinet. Since they came out of last year's budget, I consider them free. You could say "10 cents" if it makes you feel better.
2 Packages of Wide-Rule Notebook Paper -- "FREE."
* Do you shop at CVS? Well, if you don't, you should. What they do is offer something called Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) and in this case, they put the paper on sale for $2.00, but then gave me $2 ECBs to spend on anything else in the store. Essentially, FREE, since I always need shampoo, conditioner, contact lens solution, etc.
2 boxes of #2 pencils -- "FREE."
Another CVS deal!
6 3-prong folders -- 96 cents at Walmart
* Currently on sale for 15 cents each (plus 6% tax)
1 24-count box of Crayons -- "FREE."
* Last year, I bought clearance crayons for 10 cents a piece and put them away for when I needed them. Again, these were already bought and essentially cost nothing now.
1 box Highlighters -- $1.06 (at the Dollar Store)
2 Packs of Dry Erase Markers -- $3.18 (on sale at Walmart, tax included)
2 Reams of Copy Paper -- $5.30 (on sale at Walmart, tax included)
2 bottles of Elmer's glue -- 42 cents (on sale at Walmart, tax included)
1 package Crayola colored pencils -- $1.00 (on sale at Walmart, tax included)
1 roll paper towels -- "FREE."
* I buy these in bulk when they're on sale, so there's always plenty in the pantry!
1 box tissues -- 94 cents (Walmart, tax included)
1 pair Fiskars scissors - ZERO (saved from last year)
1 pencil box -- ZERO (saved fromm last year)
There are only two things left on my list: 1 bottle hand sanitizer and two 4-packs of 3x3 Post-It notes. I know CVS puts hand sanitizer on sale all the time, plus I have ECB's I can use, so it will definitely be free. Depending on the ads in the coming weeks, I can most likely get the Post-Its free also, or no more than $1-2.
Grand total for Back-to-school Supplies: $12.86
Retail Cost without deals (it's not exact, but close): $40
Having the Last Laugh (as I schedule a pedicure using my savings): PRICELESS!
P.S. There are many web sites and blogs that have all this information available in one place, many of which are free, as well as printable coupons and other deals!!! Have fun...
Rainy Day Finances
Southern Savers (for people in the southeast)
Cool Savings (nation-wide)
Coupons (print right from your home printer, redeemable everywhere so far)
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