Real Stories from Real People

 Guest Post by Marlessa Southern

I would just like to start off by saying that I admire Tightwad in Training's money saving skills and coupon expertise!! I have never been skilled with coupons. In fact, just yesterday I went to Target with several coupons in my purse, and by the time I gathered my list of items and ended up at the checkout, I had a crying baby in my arm, a 3 year old climbing out of the cart and coupons flying everywhere!! The clerk was SO sweet and helped me gather my coupons; if it wasn't for her, they would have gone to waste.

I think the main reason I am far from a pro coupon queen is because I simply do not have the time. As much as I would like to say I have it all balanced and smoothly functioning everyday as a mom of two, I just don't. I do what I can do and try my best. I do pride myself on being a frugal shopper, however. With a family, I strive to find the best deals for them. My husband and I have a set budget, and we stick to it which is positively key in being financially responsible because the 'unexpected' inevitably happens!!

I look for sales, but I don't go crazy hitting every sale I find because that would defeat the purpose of a sale!! ;o) I look for sales that fit me and my family. I also learn when certain items will go on sale by looking them up online and learning the stores. For example...Almost every time a new movie releases, it is $5 off for the first few days to a week at Wal-Mart or Target. Target advertises their sales in advance every Sunday through Saturday. Wal-Mart is the BEST, cheapest place to buy groceries, in my opinion. I could spend hours sorting through coupons to hit up the nearest high end grocery store or go to Wal-Mart on a whim, saving just as much money because the prices are so much lower.

Just as Tightwad in Training has recommended, I, too, ask for coupons or specials whenever I can because it's always worth asking. I sign up for the coupons I will use online, especially baby coupons like diapers, wipes, etc. because I get absolutely, positively overwhelmed when random coupons come streaming in from everywhere. I take advantage of reward codes as well, and sometimes you can find items cheaper online than in a store, esp. at Wal-Mart; if you have them delivered to the nearest store, they come at no extra charge.

My husband loves thrift stores. Although it's not my forte, you can find really good deals occasionally. One thing we try really hard to do is research what we want to buy, especially for higher purchases that take more of a chunk out of your bank account. When you do your homework, you can save sometimes hundreds of dollars just depending on where you buy from. Be careful of scams, however; they are out there, especially on Craig's List. Look for places that offer guarantees. I used to shy away from online shopping, but now, with two kids, it's much less of a hassle. I make sure I'm careful with who I buy from and what information we provide.

Everyone has their own way of saving that works for them!! I'm always open to advice and enjoy learning new ways to save money. Luckily, my husband and I are pretty low maintenance; we realize that stuff is just stuff, and we try to remember to store up treasures in Heaven because everything we have here will be gone one day. We also believe in the power of tithing, not because we have to, but because we want to, and what we have is all because of God's blessings!! We've experience financial peace as a result. Make sure you keep a savings of more than you think you will need, too. Pay off debt and establish credit. Don't overbuy, and most of all, keep following the excellent tips of Tightwad in Training!! :o

By doing a little bit of work, you can save big bucks

Occasionally my husband I and enjoy going out to eat. We decide in advance which restaurant we would like to visit, and then I do a little bit of work in finding a coupon. Today I would like to share with you more of my money saving strategies.

• I always look through Sunday paper and coupon certs for restaurant coupons. Many times there is a coupon for $X dollars off your meal or buy one entrée, get one free coupon (my personal favorite). Even if the coupon is for only $5 dollars of two entrees, I still use it…every little bit adds up.

• After dining out, I always look at the bottom of our receipt. More often that you would think, companies will give you a coupon code if you call and share about your dinning experience. Taking advantage of these offers is always a must for me. It only takes a few minutes to share my dining experience with an automated machine and in return I get a coupon code to use if off my next meal. My all time favorite was $7 dollars of two entrees for Macaroni Grill. And did I ever mention that they have the worlds’ greatest Tiramisu?!

• Sometimes I e-mail restaurants directly and had success with Ryan’s sending me coupons in the mail. Before my mom’s visit for Christmas, I decided to spend a few minutes e-mailing companies asking if they had coupons that I could use. To my surprise, I received a letter in the mail from Ryan’s (all you can eat buffet, my mom’s favorite place to eat). In my e-mail I shared a funny story about telling my dad upon return from the US about an amazing restaurant that all you had to pay for is a plate and eat all you want. In return my dad looked at me and said, “Well, can you bring your own plate and eat at the restaurant for free?” After sharing this story we received 6 coupons for free meals. I made sure to take a picture of my mom with a plate at Ryan’s and send it back to the representative who was very kind to bless us with free passes. She responded back letting me know how much the picture has brightened her day.

• Ask a waiter if the restaurant gives out loyalty cards. Our local Mexican restaurant punches stamps a card every time we eat there. After 7 stamps, we enjoy a free meal. And to me free has always tasted good.

• Sign up for e-mail updates from your favorite restaurants. Most likely you will receive a coupon on your birthday for a free meal or a dessert. On my Birthday, I received a coupon from Fatz for a free meal with a purchase of another meal. Sometimes through the year I receive more coupons for $x dollars off the meal, encouraging me to visit the restaurant for a dinner.

I would love to hear from you. What is your favorite money saving trick on dinning out?

Down the memory lane

As I was pondering through our quite house before my mama's visit, I looked back at my college years realizing how God has richly blessed me with friends.

I met Suzanne at church in high school, but outside of our youth group we never hung out. Even though we were just acquaintances, Suzanne’s big heart was easy to spot. During our senior year of high school, I found out that I was accepted to the University of South Carolina and would be required to pay out of state tuition. My sweet Suzanne made a video to Oprah asking to help me. Even though we never heard back from the talk show host, Suzanne’s thoughtfulness meant to me more than she would ever know. On a side note, God opened the door for me to attend USC as an instate student. What impossible with men is possible with God.


When it was time to move in to a place that I would call home for the next 8 months, I learned that Suzanne and I would be sharing not only a dorm, but also a calculus class together. Intended to study together for calculus, we quickly learned that we had much in common. Frequent trips to Starbucks (even though I hate coffee) to talk about the boys instead of math, kept us pretty busy. During the next 4 years Suzanne and I became best friends and roommates. We cried together and laughed together, but most of all she has always been there for me during the good times and the bad times. Now we are 3 hours apart both married to the guys that we dated during our college years, but the distance has not interfered with our friendship. I know that I can call Suzanne at any time and she will laugh with me, cry with me and pray for me. Her friendship is priceless to me.

I met Jill through Suzanne my freshman year of college. It only takes 1 minute being around Jill to realize that the girl is full of energy. Her laughter is so contagious that she can make the saddest person laugh with her in no time. We all learned quickly that Jill hates the color pink but loves to teach dance classes. During the next 4 years Jill became a friend, who is very dear to my heart.


And I must tell you about Lindsay! Being one year younger than the rest of us, Lindsay joined USC when we were all sophomores. We met her through a mutual friend and fell in love with the girl. You can never have too much Lindsay time…she is funny, loving and most of all the best person to watch a USC football game with. Many times my husband doesn’t understand my passion for football, when I jump of the couch and run a long side the running back to help him score a touch town (on TV of course). But Lindsay gets it! We can be a little bit too vocal at times during the games, but she is my best football buddy and will always talk to me about QB mistakes and new recruits.


And I can not leave the rest of the gang out… Charlie, Ben and Quel have made our college years memorable. Becoming friends our freshman year, we all (Suzanne, Jill and later Lindsay) hung out together creating everlasting memories. Enjoying each other’s company, we spent time watching TV together, hanging out together or cheering on our gamecocks together… the bond was unbreakable. Looking back I am so grateful for the friendship of 6 special to me people whom I will forever call my friends.

Lead Me to the Cross

If I could choose one person to job shadow, it would be Solomon, the guy from the Bible who was super wise. In 1 Kings 2:12 the Lord said, “… I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before, nor shall any like you arise after you.” As I read about Solomon’s life, I was amazed how richly God has blessed him. People from all over the world came to Solomon for wisdom and his name was known among the nations.

Fame and wealth didn’t take away Solomon’s humility and desire to serve the Lord. The smart man used the best of the best materials to build the temple. Not to mention that he didn’t hold back gold and used it to decorate the sacred place, where God promised to dwell. I was so mesmerized by Solomon’s dedication to the Lord, until… well, until he disappointed me.

Disappointment came when I read 1 Kings 11:4, “For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God.”

“Oh, no…not you”, with disappointment I exclaimed. “How could you turn away from God when He appeared before you twice and blessed you beyond your imagination? Turn around, you are headed for destruction!!!”

As I continued to read, I quickly learned that there were consequences to Solomon’s actions, which set off a light bulb above my head. Ding, ding, ding, ding!!! Sometimes as Christians we find ourselves in the same situation as Solomon. God extends grace to us, blesses us richly and sets up the path (perfect path) for us to follow. The only problem is that we sometimes push it all to the side and take a road that is full of signs that scream destruction. Yet, somehow we tune out the loud noise just to find ourselves in the mess. The road that once seemed pleasing to the eye is not longer attractive, because it is filled with consequences that we have to face.

I was heading in the wrong directions, when coupons became my god. As silly as it sounds, I was worshiping a piece of paper that saved me $0.50 instead of worshiping One True God that saved my life. At first couponing world was fun and quite honest addicting. I couldn’t wait to get off work so I could make my pit stop at the grocery store or run to a drug store at lunch time to buy another tube of toothpaste to add to my already overflowing collection of Colgate, Aquafresh and Crest.

Shamefully I must admit that I have woken up before at 5 am just so that I can drive to a grocery store 40 minutes away before work for a triple coupon event. However, my spiritual life became stagnant, not to mention that my prayer life became nonexistent. Every single moment was occupied with thoughts of saving money, while doing my best utilizing my knowledge about couponing. I didn’t think much of my obsession and was good at justifying it. After all, I was saving our family money so we can get out of debt. Isn’t what God would want me to do in the first place? Not at the expense of ignoring Him. The Word clearly states in Ex 20:3, "You shall have no other gods before me.”

Thankfully after much conviction I turned away from worshiping coupons to worshiping my One True God before facing the consequences of my actions. Today I have a healthy relationship with the pieces of paper that allow our family to be good stewards of God’s riches. I no longer get up at 5 am in order to snag a bottle of French’s mustard (which I don’t even like), instead I strive to spend time daily in soaking up God’s Word that is full of wisdom, love and grace. Just like Solomon for a while I chose to serve other gods, but oh how grateful am I for the Holy Spirit’s conviction that lead me back to the right path.

Tightwad's Savings

Curnuku - so yummy!

We had a fun week around our house! My mom has cooked every day and I am certain that I must weigh 10 lbs more by now. Her food is that delicious!!! Oh and my husband must be loving having my mama around too, because she cooks lunches for him every day, unless Daniel takes my mama with him to run errands.

Spent: $36.43

Saved: $44.46

As far as grocery shopping goes, we had fun in that department too. On my way home one day, I stopped by Ingles to pick up fish for Daniel and cherries for my mama. While I was picking up cherries in the produce department, I glanced over to the natural juice section and spotted “Manager’s Special” sticker. I was thrilled to see natural OJ on sale for $1.39 down from $5.00. There were 7 bottles left with pretty green sticker that said “Manager’s Special” so I decided to use my bargaining approach. I found a produce manager and told him that I was willing to purchase all 7 bottles if he could give me an additional discount. The result? Well, the manager marked it down to $0.99 per bottle. Oh happy day!!!!

Spent: $0.29

Saved: $26.91

Later in the week, I stopped by Staples with my mom and used coupons for free paper towels but did pay for tax. We then decided to go to Earth Fare, since I had coupons for free watermelon with a $5 purchase. Since my mama was with me I figured we can get 2 watermelons for free. Oh, and I also did not want to buy anything that would require me to send money, so I decided to do the following. Since I have accumulated several coupons for free products I decided to use them to minimize my out of pocket expense. This way I was still purchasing $5 worth of products, but instead of paying with cash, I was paying with coupons. The result? I paid $0.16 for two watermelons, chips, Newman’s Own candy bar and almond butter. YAYAYAYAY!!!

Spent: $8.04

Saved: $0

On our way home, my mama and I stopped by Publix, where we purchased 4 packages of farmer’s cheese. On Sunday evening my mama made homemade curnuku with raisins. I have taking tons of pictures of my mom’s cooking while she is visiting, so I can share with you all soon.


Spent: $0

Saved:$20

During lunch time on Monday, I stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up several packages of blueberries for $1.50 per pack. Since I had a gift card, I sent nothing out of pocket. I also made my way to Kmart for super doubles. One thing my mom’s friends ask for her to bring back was a toothbrush. Simple and humbling. Instead of big gifts all they wanted was a good toothbrush. So I stopped by Kmart and bought 5 toothbrushes for nothing out of pocket to me. After coupons, I had to pay tax but I used my gift card that I obtained from transferring prescription to cover the cost of tax.

All in all we had a great shopping week and I look forward to making more shopping trips with my mama.

It's time for a vacation

(pictures are from our honeymoon in Acapulco)

Memories of a gentle breeze, bright sunny sky and soothing sound of ocean waves serve as a constant reminder that vacation is right around the corner. Not so fast, you might say. Because of economic instability you chose to forgo a family vacation this summer. I admire you for making a smart financial move and not spending money that you don’t have, but what if I tell you that you can go on a family vacation this summer by following simple frugal tips. Are you ready?


Before deciding to go on a vacation lets say to Florida this summer, make sure that you do your homework first. Start of by setting aside X amount of money each pay check to a fund designated specifically for your vacation. So when the time comes to go on vacation, you don’t have to rely on credit cards to cover your expenses and then stress out afterwards how to pay them off.

The biggest vacation expense is room and board. On average one night hotel stay can range between $100 - $120 dollars. If you do the math, 5 night stay can cost you around $500. On a top of that with rising gas prices you just spend $300 on fuel getting to your final destination. Now you have to think how to entertain and feed your family. I don’t know about you, but I am already feeling overwhelmed. But we can fix that! After doing a little research, I found some useful information on lodging, food, and transportation.


To save money on the transportation call several companies and negotiate your price. Before our trip to Maine, I have called several companies letting them know my needs and was pleased with the lowest price that I received. To make sure that the price would be honored with we arrive to the airport, I wrote down the name of the agent, the time of the conversation and his promised price.

You can likewise save money on lodging using www.priceline.com, naming your price for a hotel that you specifically picked out and waiting to see if your bid was accepted. Please note that once your bid is accepted, the money is non refundable. However, on the bright side you can select a 5 star hotel and pay 50% less that the price listed by the hotel online. Also use your negotiation skills. Last year I called to reserve a hotel room for a short day trip to Georgia with my husband. It was a last minute decision, so I didn’t have chance to try “Name Your Price” engine. Instead, I called and made sure that hotel offered a continental breakfast, so we wouldn’t have to spend money on eating out. Then I asked if they offered any discounts or coupons and received $10 off our stay, simply because I asked. Since less people are traveling nowadays, hotels want your business, thus are willing to work with you.

Hotels are not the only place that wants your business. Restaurants recently have been putting out coupons for customer use right and left, ranging from “Buy One Dinner, Get Second Dinner Free” to “Free Appetizer with a Purchase of Any meal”. Another way to save money on restaurants is to use www.restaurants.com, where you can purchase a $25 gift certificate for $11. I have personally tried purchasing a gift card through this website and had a pleasant experience. To make this deal sweeter, you can check sign up for special offers and periodically receive a special coupon code that you can enter at a check out that would allow you to purchase $25 gift card for $3. There are rules with this gift card. Gift card will state that in order for you to redeem $25 gift card you must spend $50 or $35, depending on the price of the card. I do not think it is hard for a family to spend $50 at a restaurant nowadays. I personally think it is a great deal to only spend a total of $28 on food that otherwise would cost you $50.

To save money on entertainment, call local chamber of commerce and ask for them to send you a visitor’s packet guide. If you are staying at a hotel, check with them as well to see if they offer coupons to local attractions. You may be surprise how many websites are dedicated to sharing free activities tips with tourists.

We would love to hear from you. Do you have a favorite money saving tip for traveling?

Taco Soup

My co-worker, who is a wonderful cook, always makes amazing meals for lunch. One day she brought taco soup for lunch and shared it with me. And it was absolutely amazing. After I found out how easy it was to make it, I was hooked.

Ingredients

2 lb of ground beef
1 med. onion
1 pk. taco seasoning
1 pk. ranch dressing mix (dry)
2 cans Hunts diced tomatoes
2 cans Rotel chilies and tomatoes (kind of spicy)
1 can Bush’s pinto beans
1 can Bush’s dark red kidney beans
1 can corn

I didn’t have onion or pinto beans on hand, so I skipped those ingredients the day I made pictures of the taco soup cooking process. My husband doesn’t really care for corn, so I omitted it also from the recipe.


This is how you cook this amazing soup.


Brown and then drain ground beef.


Add it to the crock pot. Next add all the remaining ingredients and mix it all up.


Of course if you add onion make sure to chop it up. Set to cook on low for about two hours and serve immediately.


I top my taco soup with corn chips and sour cream. My husband likes to use crumbled corn bread instead of chips. Either way, the soup is easy to make, filling and taste absolutely amazing. By the way, you can also freeze it in zipper bags for later enjoyment.