Who am I? Part 3

If you missed the first 2 parts of this series you can check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here

Courtney asked this question:

How did you get into couponing/deals?

Thanks for your question Courtney, it is a great question with a long answer . I have a history of very poor money management, and 6 years ago I started on a journey with Mary Kay Cosmetics.  I moved up in the company very quickly and within 1 and 1/2 years I earned my Pink Cadillac. Don’t believe me?  Here is proof with a picture.

I love being in Mary Kay and the friendships that I made.  I didn’t make the best financial decisions the years prior to Mary Kay, and during my journey with MK I made even worse financial decisions.  We moved to Charlotte, NC and had a house built for us. It was great, we were so happy with everything!  Then God made it very clear to me in many different ways, that he wanted me to quit working for them.  This was very hard for me, because I really wanted to keep doing it.  I quit, then was faced with the fact that I had to go out and get a job to supplement my income.  My son was then 18 months old.  I didn’t want to leave him alone all day, so I got back into the restaurant industry. I started to work as a server 5-6 nights per week at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  I wanted to be a stay at home mommy so badly, but we just couldn’t swing it until our debt was paid off. I worked 5 nights per week for over a year. I remember crying myself to sleep some nights because I didn’t know what my son ate for dinner anymore, or what his favorite bed time story was.  I felt like I was was missing out on so much of his life.  My husband and I kept on praying when the right time was for me to quit my server job.  I remember sitting down one night with him and crunching numbers to see where we could scale down our budget.  We realized that we needed to cut back on another $400 per month in expenses; and if we did this I could stop working!  I looked at what we had been spending on groceries (we didn’t budget then at all!)  I realized we were spending over $800 per month on groceries, on our family of 3.  I told my husband that if I could get that down to $200 per month, then we would be able to have me stay at home. We agreed that if I could do this, this could work!

That is where my coupon adventure started.  I was able to cut my grocery budget back to $50 per week, and quit my job!  I started using coupons as a means to be a stay at home mommy, but what I realized is that I think it is REALLY fun!  Now four years later, I see it as a hobby and something that can help free up money for other things.  We have been able to pay off all our debt with the help of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. I have been able to be a stay at home mommy to my son, and daughter, and another baby on the way.  I have been so blessed by many different websites to help me get started using coupons, moneysavingmom.com being one of them. I only hope that I can pass on the same information and tips to all of you, like they did for me.   If you are in a place where you have to work but don’t want too, think about how much money you would save by not paying childcare and cutting back your budget for groceries.  When I looked at the numbers, I wasn’t make much after how much more I was spending on groceries because of my lack of budgeting, couponing, and careful planning.

Do you feel like you are Struggling financially? I hope to help you free up money so you can do the things that you can spend it on the things you REALLY want to do with it. I would also highly recommending finding a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class, you find one in an area near you.  My husband recently just taught a Financial Peace class at our church, and it just amazes me how far was have come in learning how to be wise with our finances….  I certainly had to work very HARD at using coupons, it did not come naturally to me.  It took many mistakes, messed up deals, messed up transactions, and wasted money!  I always recommend at the coupon seminars that I teach, to set a goal for using coupons; do you want to be a stay at home mom, go on a Disney Vacation, save up for retirement, purchase a home?   I would LOVE to help you achieve your goal!

What is one of the goals that you have with all your saved money from using coupons?