Long time...

So it's been quite sometime since I've posted anything, and that's mainly because I've been ridiculously busy and haven't been sure what to say. So I'm going with some basic updates and then I will try to do better!

My family and I moved from Maryland to Tennessee in September. My husband and I are from TN, but moved to MD for a good job for him. He has since retired from that good job due to an injury. So we decided it would be best to take his pension and live in TN since it would definitely stretch farther.

For now, we are staying with his parents, which as it turns out is a great thing! I still have not found a full time job, but I've been doing some catering as often as they need me. So far I've probably submitted at least 300 resumes for positions in the area, but unfortunately the economy has put a real restriction on companies choosing to hire anyone right now. Don't worry though I keep looking, and everyone I talk to I let them know I'm looking for a good job and ask them to keep their ears open for me. Many have done just that and I can't thank them enough!

I'm trying to work with my mother in law to teach her to use coupons, but she's not very patient with it. We have a lot of work to do financially so please keep your fingers crossed the the right position will come along soon.

First Trade

Last week I completed my first trade (Thank you Xufan-HCW). I had some coupons she wanted and at this point all coupons are great for me, so it was a wonderful trade! I also mailed out my first coupon train yesterday, and I'm so excited to get my envelopes in the mail.

It's funny, I check the mail everyday hoping for more coupons. You see, I've emailed some companies I regularly use to compliment their products or if something is not up to normal par I let them know that as well. It's allowing me to get coupons for products that I use all the time, that aren't necessarily found in inserts. Seems like a win-win to me!

I sold my first item on Craigslist!

I know it seems sort of silly, but I am very excited I was able to successfully sell an item on Craigslist.

I posted two sale ads in the furniture section. I took pictures of the items and included them with the cost, description, and my general location. The first posting was for a metal desk and office chair. I received three emails of people wanting to send me a Cashier's Check and have thier mover come get the items. I don't think so!! You can take $100 out at any ATM machine, and that's what you'll have to do. So that, at least for now hasn't sold.

The other item was a VHS movie cabinet, great people called, made an appointment to stop by. Showed up on time, and purchased the item. What a simple concept, but I was beginning to wonder if that wasn't the case anymore.

Not too bad for my first time, now I just need to find a way to make this desk and chair more interesting...

How it got started...

I realized that we were in way over our heads financially recently. Don't get me wrong I knew it was bad, but sometimes you just need that slap in the face to make it hit you. I got the said slap in the face when we started falling short each week. We make decent money, certainly not loads, but we should be in a better financial place than where we are now.

My parents weren't what I would consider frugal, we ate out regularly, if we wanted something and had some money in our pocket we got it, so frugality was all a new concept to me. It was something I knew I needed to know more about. So I did a simple google search for frugal. My google search turned up a wonderful website http://www.frugalvillage.com I saw they had forums so I browsed for about an hour and realized I was absolutely ignorant to this new lifestyle I hoped to achieve. I signed up right away, I began reading all the different posts. I noticed very quickly that overall the people were there to help each other. There wasn't alot of bashing and flaming each other. I've began posting questions and I'm starting to learn from these wonderful people, who have all "been there and done that". I saw things mentioned like budgeting, stockpiling, coupons, and gardening.

Someone on Frugal Village (FV) had posted a link to a couponing site http://www.hotcouponworld.com so I checked it out. It was overloaded with wonderful information. I quickly realized I had no clue as to what I was doing. I signed up with them as well. I started cliping coupons, and printing them online. I kept reading, and reading just trying to get that lighbulb to go off in my head. There's so much information there and lots of codes, very overwhelming. Some posters/members there have posted pictures of their stockpiles and coupon organizing systems and I was amazed! That's definitely something to work towards. The amount of money these people are saving is amazing to me!

Someone on Hot Coupon World (HCW) posted a link to one of their members blogs. It's http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/. WOW! This woman is brilliant with using her coupons, I have so much I could learn from her. I've subscribed immediately.

My heartfelt thanks go out to these wonderful individuals who have motivated me more than I could ever express. I will continue to utilize the above listed resources in my quest of learning to live in a much more financially sound way. It's going to be a long, hard road, but my husband and I are on the same page. This will pay off in the long run!

Thank you so very much to those who continue to inspire me, this road will be better travelled with those who can relate and are willing to help!