Coupon is Not a Dirty word!

Ok, so I will be the first to admit that coupons seem like a waste of time, effort and the looks people can give! I remember the first time I saw someone use coupons, it was Wednesday Harrington. We went to buy a few groceries and the 4 items I picked up cost $20 MORE than the 20 items she got?! I was confused, but intrigued! How could that be possible!?! Double what?! Managers Special!?

After tons of trial and error, I too have learned how these golden tickets can save more than a few dollars...I'm talking 50% or MORE on groceries, 50% or MORE on travel, 80% or MORE at drug stores, 80% or MORE on dining....get my point yet? Ok, here is the basic math...if I shave $100 in groceries and $50 in coupons (its REALLY easy to do!) then I have $50 I didn't have to spend?! 

So how do I explain this in an easy to understand, doesn't add much time to my day, saves me while I sleep kind of way? Well, its not quite that simple BUT here is where I will start with how to save more and spend less! Take advantage of your career as a model, don't fool yourself that it has a shelf life, and save as much as you can while you can!

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The Path to Freedom:

So you have realized that your finances aren't quite where you want them to be? Or do you have more expenses than income? Economy hit your family a hard as it did mine? Whatever the reason you came here, you made it and now together we can save money, end debt, and live a better quality of life on a budget....sorry, that is a dirty word "budget" but once I realized I needed to live on a budget and limit my excessive or unnecessary spending, I realized that my life would be a lot better, less stressful and I could have freedom from bills once again!

Budget: 

Long before I knew about coupons, I created a budget, more than anything because I needed to know what I was paying out every month on bills, utilities and then somewhere in there I forgot that I needed to include groceries, personal items, etc....well, you can use this excel spreadsheet for a very good break down of expenses. Once you have it filled out you can choose what you need and what you don't and eliminate extras like movie channels you don't watch, gym memberships you don't use, etc. Or you can use this as a basic idea of what you want to include in your budget or not and create your own. My income is varied so I base my budget on the low average I make and anything more is "extra" that is paid on credit card bills and other debts or put into a high yield savings account to buy a house.

Negotiate Bills: 

Amazingly enough, most companies would rather you spend less than lose you as a customer, especially cable and phone companies! Rather than completely canceling your cable, call and tell them you need a better option, mine always offers different deals and when my bill goes from $100 to $175 (it really does!) I call and have them sign me up for a new special. I recently found out that a full membership to Hulu is only $7.99 a month! If you need some sort of entertainment other than renting movies, you may want to look into it.