Saving Money

Ok, enough from the media about the bad economy, people losing jobs, and the doom and gloom for the nation. What is really happening in the real world with real people? We should always be prepared for the worse, but is the media just trying to increase the use of Prozac? Since I don't think we are helpless in all this, we can always improve how and where we spend our money, maybe even saving some along the way.

One thing we are doing around our house is cutting more coupons from the newspaper, but only cutting the ones we actually need so we don't buy extra stuff. Although I am a huge BOGO (buy one get one free) shopper, I am only buying it if we need it that month. The only times I will buy ahead are if it won't go bad, it is BOGO, and I have coupon.

My sister is the queen of CVS extra care bucks. I did that for awhile but it started to be time consuming. If you want more about that, try http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/03/cvs-101.html .

If you are needing more coupons, this is a great place to get them:
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/coupons.html

Noticing a trend? Moneysavingmom.

One thing I need to do better on is budgeting. Mark (thanks!) has been working for a couple of months now developing a new video curriculum with Casey Graham and ReThink Money. To check out his video, go to www.markclement.com . The tools at ReThink for budgeting are nice & I need to use them soon! ( http://rethinkmoney.org/blog/?page_id=150 )

One other site I just found is http://clarkhoward.com/topics/free_and_cheap.html . I will let you know what I think, let me know if it is useful for you too.

Are you changing how you live? Are you tightening your belt and have you come up with any new or great ideas? Please post so we can learn from everyone's knowledge.