A whole year without a post, here I go again!

So, a whole year without a post...gonna try this again. For several reasons, some different than when I originally started out on this journey. After 17 years together with my husband, countless hours in counseling with several different counselors, going through a car repo, bankruptcy, foreclosure, IRS audit, and several other financial disasters, I have realized what should have been obvious and probably is to everyone around me: We aren't handling our money very well. And my husband has no real desire to change. He may say that he does, but he doesn't "walk the walk". He doesn't want to try a new approach, consult someone, go to a course, like Dave Ramsey, etc...so, after a long counseling session last week, in which we once again argued over money and I was made to feel like I have to justify all my spending, and where once again, it is very obvious that Jim sees things in the family, especially money as "jim" and "the family". After this long counseling session I was hit with the obvious revelation that things aren't going to change. Not now, not tomorrow, not next year. It will always be this way with money issues.

So, in order to deal with this, I have decided that I will need to make enough money so I can support myself and the kids without Jim's income if needed. So I can spend money without having to explain it, argue about it, or constantly argue and nitpick at it.

I also have become more interested in couponing, facebook blogs and savings, bartering, and other ways to save money. This blog will be a way I can document how I am doing during my journey, both good and bad. I hope it helps me on the rough days when I can look back and see how far I've come. And I hope it helps me pinpoint some of the areas that need more help.

I am going to go through all our bills,medical, utilities, and others and get them organized. I have a big job ahead of me dealing with all the medical bills, but it needs done.

However, to get started, I'm going to just list what I did to save money for the day.

Here's todays:

Justin's football cleats: Scored a free pair at registration, very lucky they had his size. Cost savings approximately: $40.00
In mail: I signed up for Tide Stain Release samples, which turned out to be full sized packages. Two came today, along with $2.00 coupons, for a savings of approximately $8.00.
Signed up for free head and shoulders samples: $3.00
CVC Pastor Jeff brought over a share of Spiral Path farm, very exciting,we used to get that, looking forward to trying out some ideas and hoping the family doesn't waste the food. Savings: $40.00
Received my refund check from Aspen Dental, who had a deposit for some dental work they were supposed to do, but now I'm changing. Check was $213.00

Total: 40+8+3+40+213=294.00

Yeah! Not a bad start to my return!

I am finally going to actually start this blog although I would also like to use wordpress. I want to try to capture the ways I am saving money along with ways that I'd like to save money.

So far this week, I saved money in the following ways:
1. I subscribed to the newspaper, which is a win-win situation. I subscribed for slightly more then just the price of a sunday paper and if you add in the coupons and the notifications for sales, it will pay for itself. By paying that day with my credit card, I saved another 10% or 25.00

2. Big grocery trip, tried to get enough to last most of the month. I used 6.50 in coupons and saved 72.00 in bonus bucks. Big mistake: Not having bonus card so all the points weren't used, that would have been sweet to use for gas savings. I also need to improve on my couponing, because the total bill was 700.00, so I should have been able to save 10%, which would have been 70.00. I was able to get some meat that was seriously marked down, chicken which was buy one/get one free and pork chops that were over 1/2 off.

3. Staples: Did the one penny deals (which included 2 packs of paper for 5.00, then you get the rebates in the mail, need to get organized about the rebates so I don't miss the opportunities there). We also bought some things for $1.00. Total savings: $30.00 in school supplies and paper


Total savings this week: $131.50

Goals for the next week:
1. Staples and office maxx: more school sales
2. Rite Aid: Transfer prescriptions to save 50.00, use our coupon for 5.00 off and use their sales
3. CVS: use our 28.00 bonus bucks, add on coupons and sales to get more bonus bucks
4. ollies: get the dog training equipment, which is a huge savings
5. go through my work bank account, I need to delete things I'm not using, can probably save close to $100/month
6. Cancel megan's weight watcher's subscription
7. Jim needs to look through our regular bank account for things that need cancelled
8. Work on the coupon binder and accordion file
9. Look through sales flyers to additional sales and markdowns
10. Organize myself to look through facebook sales each night, print out and put in coupon binder each day