TGIF: Best Blog Posts of the Week

Was it me, or did this week seem especially long? I think I say that every week. Let's bring on the weeknd with the top blog posts. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

• 7 Times Not to Use a Coupon from Five Cent Nickel -- You heard that right, and I’m just as shocked as you are! But this article offers very good advice, including not using a coupon if buying the store brand is cheaper.
• Save up to $1500 a Year on Laundry from Being Frugal -- While I haven’t tried making my own laundry detergent yet, I didn’t realize how much it could save you annually ($200+). Great tips you may – or may not – have already tried.
• Segment Their Allowance from The Simple Dollar -- We recently started giving our 8-year-old an allowance and it’s been very interesting to see him try to stretch his money (e.g., sales, coupons, etc). Stay tuned for a future blog post on it.
• Do You Know Your Monthly Nut? from My Journey to Millions -- This article clearly outlines where you need to start in order to figure out how to create a monthly budget. Knowing what your monthly bills are and how to optimize them are essential to the budget process.

As always, I'd love to hear which posts were your favorite. Which ones did I miss?

New Year's Resolution Update: $5k in Savings

How did March sneak up on us? Only a few short weeks until spring -- you've gotta love it!

As I mentioned in my New Year's Resolution post, one area I'm trying to focus on is creating a decent price book (still working through that -- way more work than I first thought) and saving $5,000 in sales and coupons.

Here are my February shopping trips(stated savings on receipts):

Date        Store          Total Spent          Savings (coupons and/or sales)

Feb. 3       KFC          $26.95                  $9.40
Feb. 5      Shoprite      $124.98                $75.34
Feb. 11     Target         $21.98                  $2.00
Feb. 11    B&N           $0.49                    $3.74
Feb. 12    Shoprite      $178.38                $89.31
Feb. 18    Staples        $0.79                    $10.00
Feb. 18    Kohl's          $102.48               $236.66
Feb, 19    Shoprite       $114.42                $91.90
Feb. 20    CVS            $5.90                   $15.99
Feb. 20    Jun Lung      $26.21                  $3.00
Feb. 22    Kohl's          $130.33                $53.69
Feb. 25    A&P            $5.98                    $2.00
Feb. 26   Shoprite        $46.14                  $52.12
Feb. 27    A&P            $33.56                 $6.82

TOTAL SPENT TO DATE = $651.97
TOTAL SAVINGS TO DATE = $502.31



I still have some work to do to get my grocery shopping under $400 per month. But with a goal of saving $400+ per month to reach $5,000, I'm pretty much on track. Last month, I saved $481.66, so I'm ahead of that savings.




I have $4016.03 left to save after saving $481.66 in Jan. and $502.31 in Feb. Stay tuned for more updates.