This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure here.
To me one of the most important parts of saving money is remembering why you are saving. So I thought we would all take a day and share a bit of why we got started on this whole “couponing thing”.
For my family it was always our goal for me to stay home with our kids. From the beginning of our marriage we lived on one income while trying to save most of the second. This was not only to have savings but to teach us not to live on money we wouldn’t someday have. As we planned for kids, we never really expected our family to go from 2 to 4 overnight, but it did… The big problem we didn’t plan on was my husbands job not having health insurance and us not being able to get health insurance for our twins because of being premature (that we could afford anyway). The first quotes started coming back with rates of $900 and $1000 a month, and we knew that we had to make changes.
My husband found a new job in a different (cheaper) city and I found some new hobbies. Many of you know that couponing wasn’t actually something that I thought would work for us. I really thought we were already doing everything right: buying in bulk, shopping at Walmart, not eating a lot of meat etc.
With some prodding from my husband, I decided to try “couponing” for 30 days. It really only took a week or two and I was hooked. Really I think the minute you figure out how much you’ve been over paying for things (like toothpaste…) you can never go back!!
Now almost 9 years later, it still important for me to remember the key reason that sparked all of this… to be able to stay home with my girls. Focusing on that helps me keep a balance on the time that I am spending shopping and cutting coupons. I am not as extreme as others, and only shop at one grocery store and maybe one drugstore each week, but in the end we are meeting our budget of $50 per week and I’m meeting my goal of being a mom at home.
What got you started in saving? I would love to hear your stories!
