Saving money for your family

I just read this great article/review from Dave Ramsey's debt relief program. The first step is to get out of debt is to create an emergency savings account. He suggests $1000 to start. This is a great buffer for car, pet, even small medical emergencies that come up. Some of us will take longer than others to get this fund set up but the goal is to do it as fast as possible and move on to the next step. There are many ways to acquire the money... selling stuff, extra job, skipping some fun stuff and replacing it with other inexpensive fun stuff. This emergency savings account sets you up to relax a bit when something extra comes up or the mini van needs new tires, etc... It allows you to move forward and feel at ease. YOu can check out the review that I found by CLICKING HERE to see the next steps in Dave Ramsey's program.

With all the talk about saving money-perhaps that is your New Years Resolution- I stumbled upon a tv show called Extreme Couponing... Wow was I inspired to go out and get $600 worth of groceries for $32. So I started to research a few "coupon gurus" on the web and found that in order to do this kind of extreme coupon shopping you have the have your $h!% together. If you are naturally super organized this will be easy for you. Here is a site that I found that will help you get going on couponing one step at a time. http://www.mycouponteacher.com/ there are others out there that will teach you the basics. I am one of those not so organized chickies. I will start small and see where it takes me while observing my SIL and Mom while they take the journey into couponing. If anything comes of this for me or them I will share it. Go ahead, clip a few, double a few and see what you can get for next to nothing.. if it is not fun move on... if it is a blast you go girl or boy :o)

So I used to, just a few short days ago, be a one stop shopper. I don't have time to go from store to store just to get a better deal. That all changed when I watched a show on TLC called Kids by the Dozen. The Mom of 11 kids at home said she did all her food shopping for about $150 per week. Wow, That is what I spend on food for a family of 5 and she is spending as much as me for a family of 13. How the hell is she doing that??? So here is how. First they grow and can alot. Not my style and I am fine with that but she shops the sales. She has 3 freezers and she keeps them full of meat that she gets on sale. So I cracked open the paper this week and went thru the food ads and found chicken for 79 cents a pound, milk for 1.99 a gallon, roast for 78 cents a pound, jimmy dean sausage 2 for 1, ground beef 1.69 a pound, polish sausage for 99 cents a pound and I stocked up. I now have meat for the next two weeks plus and am so looking forward to next weeks ads. I still went to my main store, walmart for most of my stuff but went to 2 other stores and it is already making a huge difference in my food budget. Oh and all of the stores that I chose to shop at are all within a mile and a half of eachother so it was quick.

I love Craigslist and you can find all sorts of things there. Recently I have found a horse for free. Yeah thats right a horse. The great thing is you can save money on advertising here too. So if you are selling a car, dress, or chicken you can list it for free with up to 4 pictures. I personally am a garage saling, Goodwill junky and love to resell stuff that I find. Recently I found a large bird cage in perfect condition and it was too bulky to try to ship and sell on eBay so I put it on craigslist. Bought it for $5 and sold it for $20 and they came and got it, can't beat that! So just a heads up next time you have something to sell or need something check out craigslist first. Happy 2009 I wish you Abundance!