Good bye 2008!!

Can you believe another year is gone? This year has flown by, for the most part it was a pretty good year- we had baby #5, hubby still has a job, still cancer free, all my family is healthy. The only bad thing was dear daughter #2 breaking her arm two weeks before we had the baby.

2008 has proven to be a turning point for me in many ways. As a family we have always had to work hard to stretch our money, many months we wondered how we were going to pay our bills, then in July I happened upon a web site www.thegrocerygame.com and nothing has been the same since. I have tried to be frugal and a smart shopper but it was always hard for me to stay in a budget for groceries and household supplies. I was tired of spending so much and not getting very much to show for it. I started using coupons and playing the cvs game in July. I had used coupons before but never correctly.

Before I started using Cvs and coupons the correct way I was spending $700 a month on groceries plus an extra $150 for household supplies. I now spend $565 for groceries and maybe $25 a month on household supplies and really now I could go a month or so without having to buy anything but diapers. I'm finding it harder and harder to spend money, which is nothing short of a miracle for me! We are not feeling the economic pinch to hard right now and if I can keep my goals for 2009 I hope that feeling will continue.

My goals for January 2009 are to continue to reduce our grocery budget, to stop buying household stuff just because it's a good deal, no eating out unless we use a gift card, and a utility challenge to lower our electric bill and gas bill. What about you? Are you making any life changes? I'm planning on a spending freeze here in the near future. If you are interested in joining the challenge, leave a comment and we can all support each other and pinch our pennies!

God bless you and your family in 2009!! I wish you all peace, health, happiness, and faithfulness in 2009!!