money saving money ? Do coupons REALLY save you money?

Coupons can be considered a form of currency. After all, if you consider you are trying to buy a bag of chips that is $2, if you give the cashier a coupon, you now owe $1.50 (the same as if you just gave a cashier 2 quarters).

I remember going to the store (in my extreme couponing days) about 5 months ago with about 10 coupons. I had matched the coupons with the sale items, and was ready to save a ton of money! I walked out of the store with nothing I went in for...

Why?

Well, I went into the store, and when I realized I could buy the store brand for cheaper than the SALE AND COUPON TOGETHER I was awfully disappointed. This happens at least 75% of the time. If you do the math, one of the things I was looking for was DiGiorno Pizzas. They were "regularly" $6.99, on sale for $4.99 with a 75c coupon. So for $4.24 I could buy a Digiorno pizza, $3.79 the generic (though tastfully identical), or I could make the pizza for under $2 (and tastes MUCH better!).

This was just one example. I tried this not once, but 3 TIMES!!!!! I saved more buying store brands, which with a few exceptions are tastefully indifferent.

The question you need to ask yourself is twofold:

1. What is the minimum wage you would accept to be at home for the time you are cooking (taking care of the kids, etc.).

2. What is MORE IMPORTANT? what you save or what you spend?

Think about it.

Look at it THIS way...

For Big Family, lets start with an even $100 worth of food

Regular retail: $100.
Regular sales: $80
With Coupons, extreme couponing, several hours per week: $60
Home made, from least expensive stores: $35-50

The simple fact is, if you adapt yourselves to a more "simple" lifestyle, learn to cook and "shop the outer edge" of the supermarket, then you save money. Not to mention, time from clipping coupons.

We are going into a month of TRUE FOOD FRUGALITY.

DO VEGETABLE GARDENS REALLY SAVE MONEY?

NO! OK, maybe.... in the long run. But not enough. When people visualize a beautiful garden full of vegetables, they don't imagine pulling off hundreds of caterpillars, bugs, fungus, etc. every day to be able to even get one decent tomato.

I would have to say, I spent $300 on my garden, and got about $50 worth of produce. NOT a good deal.

I took a HUGE loss, especially considering the time I put into it. SO.... I decided to give people other options to reap the same benefits with better guarantees, and this comes with a CSA. We have a CSA that for $550 per year, you get 1 share. I WANT my family to eat healthier food so desperately that I decided to check into it.

Now, I have NO IDEA how much you get for that $550, but I looked under employment, and they were looking for people to help out 5 hours a week. These people who work 5 hours per week for 20 weeks, receive a full share ($550 value) of the CSA. So, for 100 hours of work, this is about $5.50 per hour. This is NOT a bad wage considering I can work it around my oldest child being home, and no "Taxes" on my share. Taking a $50 daycare day into consideration, and 18% of that, my share WOULD cost me nearly 2k. Since Big C can watch them for the 5 hours I am gone, it equates to free food. Not only that, it is an EXCELLENT learning experience and will better my abilities to growing my own food. So... fingers crossed, I hope I get the "position"

2012 revelations for big family, bigger bills

I feel like I have learned a LOT over the past 4 months. My seasonal business did quite well for 7-8 weeks, but I was running CONSTANTLY 80+ hours a week. BUT I can stay home with the kiddoes for the next year and SURVIVE, between my husband's income and the money I put aside.

We paid off 2 credit cards, so have 2 credit cards and 2 car payments to go. I paid back mom (who was so wonderful to loan us the money to get the business started!), so next year we will do even better.

SO this leaves me 45 weeks out of the year to try and supplement our income. This year, I need to be able to take care of the babies and make $200 per week to keep up with our standard of living.

I just ordered a book on amazon. Sadly enough, it is not available on an e-reader. It is called the TIGHTWAD GAZETTE. It is by far the BEST resource I have found about saving money, yet they DO take it to extremes. I am expecting it on Tuesday, and that, along with a few resources on the internet, my next post will be on the top ideas and resources to save money.

A Totally AWESOME update!

My husband let me try out the bunk room!!!! OK, so it took a little persuading because it is not traditional, but here is how we have it set up:

Master bedroom: Ours and BABY K- he is still not sleeping through the night at 13 months, so he stays with us.

BR #2 THE BUNK ROOM- which right now, consists of one bunk bed, and 1 crib (which turns into a toddler bed). The closet has many storage areas from bins to those hanging clothes holders, but nothing closed.

BR#3 THE PLAY ROOM/GUEST ROOM- This consists of a daybed, a dresser with a TV on top (out of the babie's reach!) and a small bookcase with a lamp. The top drawer will be craft supplies, markers, pens, pencils, etc. The third will be for games and board games. The bottom two are yet to be determined.

I plan on taking over the 3rd bedroom closet for food storage so we can save money by buying in bulk. Since we are in a hurricane evacuation area, we will want to have a decent food storage.

Anyway, this idea has turned out to be spectacular!!!! LIL C (our 2 year old) can be napping while (BIG M- our 9 year old) is doing his homework.

Still, BABY K (our little 1 year old) can throw toys around, scream and squeal as he wishes in BR 3. While BABY K is destroying the room, BIG C (our 12 year old) can watch TV and keep an eye on BABY K at the same time!

END RESULT: Better study time for BIG M who has SEVERE concentration issues. TV time for BIG C without distracting BIG M. BABY K and LITTLE C can get naps any time without being woken up....

PLUS- when family visits, they have a seperate room. Also if one of your kids has a sleepover, they can have some privacy away from their siblings. IT works so much better than traditional room sharing!

If you have more people than bedrooms, this is a great setup and has made everyone happy.