My coupon organizer broke this week (actually, it broke a few weeks ago but I cobbled it back together), so I picked up another one — with polka dots! That meant I got to start fresh and set up the new one. I took the opportunity to review my grocery receipts from the last three months. Wow! I am so impressed with myself.
Since March 25, I have gone shopping at Pick ‘n Save 15 times, pretty much once a week every week. In those 15 weeks, I have saved a total of $842! That’s an average of $56/week in savings or $224/month.
Where else can you realize those kinds of savings each and every week? I know that watching less TV doesn’t mean my cable bill is lower. Driving less doesn’t mean that my car payment decreases. Changing my Internet habits doesn’t lower my bill, either. But changing my grocery shopping habits has dramatically changed my bottom line.
I lost my job — and more than half of our income — at the end of January. I am grateful that saving money like this has made it possible for me to stay home with our kids and generally live the same lifestyle we did when I was working full-time.