What's in the works...

Who doesn't like to save a little cash? Well, I've been doing a lot of researching as of late. Frugal living has enthralled me since I quit my nursing job to become a stay-at-home mommy. We are so blessed that God has provided Brad with a good job that provides enough income for me to be at home, but we still have to watch and there have been times when we've had to pinch those pennies.

Right now, we are currently in the midst of finishing our basement. This comes out of necessity as our dear Sergei currently does not have a bedroom. So we are putting a bedroom in the basement for him. My wonderful husband also built a beautiful laundry room (with finished floors, painted walls, and trim in contrast to the cement floor and block walls I had previously) for me. We are also putting in a full bathroom, a guest bedroom/craft room, and a game/family room. And we are not borrowing money for this project. We are paying in cash and only working on things as we have the money. So this project, which started last October, is slow-going, but it's very freeing not to have to worry about taking out a home equity loan!

Due to this project, we are currently in one of those penny-pinching stages of our lives. And a couple of months ago, I realized that the only category in my budget that I could really tweak would be the grocery budget so I set out to find a way to reduce that category.

In summary, last month was my first month with my reduced grocery budget. I went from spending $600/month on groceries to spending only $300/month. And it was doable (I was actually amazed about that) although it required several big adjustments in the way I shop.

So, I know that many families out there have to watch the outflow of their money, especially if you're a one-income family. And I'd like to share some of the ways our family has been doing that for the last four years. Over the next two or three weeks, I'm going to share some of the things I've found that have helped us save money. I can't guarantee that everything we do will work for everyone, or that everyone would even actually want to do everything that we do, but I'm going to put the information out there for you to see.

This week, Lord-willing, I'm going to discuss how you can reduce your grocery bill. And if at anytime you also have some money-saving tips, please leave the tip in the comments section here on my blog! Have a great Sunday!