Why Am I Blogging?

When Justin was out on his first patrol and Aurora was less than a month old and screaming non-stop, an overly nosey naval hospital doctor sent Fleet and Family Support Services to my house because she thought I could use someone to help me with the baby so that I could nap - she thought I looked stressed. (Really, sometimes I forget to brush my hair and put on makeup before I leave! lol) While these ladies were in my house, we got to talking about the reasons why I am truly not stressed (it was more me trying to inform them of how laid back I really am, than anything else). We started talking about Justin and I's finances, because they said that not having a husband around to help with the baby is almost as stressful as not having your finances under control and having a new baby with all of the added costs.


When I showed them the budget break down of each individual bill, it's due date, our interest rate, and projected pay off balances/dates ... I thought they were about to suffer from a stroke. They told me that there are very few E4 and below families our age that have their finances under control. (Justin had not reenlisted at that point, so we were still an E4 family) They actually began to inquire more about my budget and were impressed that I have a budget for the rest of the year. When I budget, I do budget for a year in advance. So, right now, I have my budget from April 2009 until April 2010. In late April, I will create a budget for May 2010. Always stay one step ahead!


They pretty much offered me a job at Fleet and Family because they said they are always looking for people to sit down and help people make financial budgets. I considered it, but mostly I just wanted to stay home at that point and enjoy my new baby. Plus, who was I to tell people how to budget their money, because I was still overspending sometimes and we were still living paycheck to paycheck.


I began getting into couponing last fall, when Justin and I both had cars, were both going out and spending money, and were not communicating with each other about our financial spendings. We blew our budget for four months in a row, and at the beginning of his second patrol in October, I really paid the price...


When Justin's crew has control of his submarine (ie: refit, patrol, and the few days they're home after patrol before handing the control to the other crew), we lose our BAS. That means, we lose about $290 a month. When you're already on a strict budget with the $290, not having it really makes a difference. We lost our BAS in the fall, when our electric bill was rising (due to heat usage), and when Aurora was just beginning to eat lots and lots of baby food. When we finally got family separation pay and back pay, I had to use all of that to catch up on our budget and bills (they only pay you family sep pay after 30 days of the sailor being gone. The first check you get fam sep on is much higher, because you have the $260 pay for the prior 30 days, as well as for the upcoming 15 days).


Christmas 2008 was the last straw for me before I realized how desperately I needed to become a more frugal wife. In an effort to be a nice wife, I decided to cook for any and all the boys who were not able to go home for Christmas, since the submarine got back so close to the holiday. I spent over $400 and had a 12-course feast. It fed 10 people overall, although we were expecting 14. We had a lot of leftovers, which we happily ate, but we still ended up throwing away a lot of food.


In January 2009, I began doing research about couponing. I met a lady who had a blog and she sometimes posted about getting 10 bags of groceries for under $30. I thought it was damn near impossible. With all of the blogs I read, everyone kept saying "build your stockpile!" And the more research I did, the more I realized that the key to frugal living is truly in building a stockpile.


No one said it was going to be easy, and at times I still find it very challenging. I am inspired, however, and I plan to continue to build my stock pile. People often give me hell for having 60 cans of Progresso soup, or 20 boxes of Post cereal, but hey, you know what? You can't ever have enough canned food or boxed cereal. Just like you can't ever have enough toilet paper or diapers. If, God forbid, we ever got snowed in, or ashed in (if Mt. Rainier erupted) - at least we would have SOME food in the house.


I am no where close to living as frugally as I would like. Clearly, it will take time, patience, research, and a very large chest freezer for some overstock ... but someday, it will happen. My total inspiration is the lady who only spends $15 a week on groceries, and allows herself $100 a month for her stockpile needs. Basically, she spends $15 a week on meat, dairy, and other parishable items ... and allows herself about $25 a week to restock anything from her stockpile that may be running low.


Everyone says the same thing, over and over: restock your stockpile. Everyone says that sales repeat themselves every 6-12 weeks. I have not been paying enough attention at this point to see whether or not that is true.


Although my main purpose of doing this blog AT THIS POINT, is to keep track of my savings/spendings and "brag" about it to others, I really hope to someday have a more popular blog that others can come to and use as an example when they're starting their couponing hobby.


I still want to volunteer at Fleet&Family someday. I think it would be nice to get involved like that and help others. But several people have suggested actually using my skills and creating a "class" to teach others. Fleet&Family offers a lot of classes to Navy wives: baby basics, spouse101, compass (a "welcome to bangor/bremerton base" class) ... as well as many other informative classes. Clearly, if they are correct and there are wives out there who haven't taken control of the family finances (which, off the top of my head, I can honestly name 5 that I know of personally), then maybe this would be a beneficial class for them.


I want to help others, the way others helped me. No one should have to sit around and worry over whether or not they'll run out of food before the next pay check. No mother should worry about whether she'll have enough formula, diapers, or wipes until the next paycheck. And no husband should have to worry about making enough money, especially when he's already stressed enough from his job in the military.


Clearly, becoming involved in couponing takes an open mind. You can't be one of those people who can only see things from one angle. When you read my blog, as well as other blogs, you will find that we count coupons that we get back with our receipt (such as my $5.00 off your next purchase coupons) as "profits". Honestly, they are profits, because if we're already spending our money in that store anyway, these receipts are just as good as someone handing us an in-store gift card. But there will be a separate post about couponing for profit.


I've only been "intense couponing" for three months, but we're already experiencing the positive effects of having a stockpile. By next year, I hope to cut our grocery bill in half. By the year after that, I hope to cut our grocery bill by 75% (from where I financally stand today).


Welcome to my journey. :)