Miss_sweetstory, no my employer doesn't offer a 401K. I think in the future I will look in to other ways to build up my money. Right now I'm just trying to get out of spending money so that I can save it up. If I went into the hopistal right now for a surgery or something, I'd be screwed.

Debi, oh I can so relate!! We used those kinds of bowls growing up but have moved into the clear bowls that you can actually see what is in them. Every so often I'll find myself washing and saving those with the thoughts I'll take them down to the lake house or grandma's for holidays because bowls with left overs walk away and never return. But of course when we go to either place I forget I have them. I washed one a few months ago and set it aside to dry. When I went to go 'put it up' I was like why am I saving this and into the trash it goes.

Debi, moving isn't an option, since I have a good deal where I am. But I can see how it makes a big difference. My parents have lived in their house since before I was born, so they haven't had to pack up and move in 33 years. It is amazing how much stuff can be accumlated in that long.

JustToEatCake, my SIL would come over and help me clean out. She's a little OCD when it comes to organizing/labeling everything. But it is embaressing to have to have someone else come in and do it, and to see what kind of crap you have saved.

I know I can do it on my own. I just have to give up my "free time" and use it for cleaning time.

Jenny, I can totally relate to your MIL's reaction to it. That's my mother.

They are redoing my old bedroom at there house. I had a curio cabinet in there that had bears from all the states I had been to, as well as ones my grandmother had bought for me. And I have a collection of Cherished Teddies that were bought for me for holidays. I hate to throw these out, but thankfully my parents said they would store it in the top of that closet after they finish the room. Doesn't mean I will keep them forever, but for now they will stay there.

They also found in the window seat some stuff from when I was in High school. I haven't been through the stuff yet. But they told me there is a couple of scrapbooks and I'm thinking they are newspaper articles from when the football team went to state. I saved every article about them. And now I'm like what do you do with it. I don't need it, but it is history in a way, ya know?

Jadedlogic, I hope I can get as oganized as you. Spread sheets can be our friends huh?

Once I get my budget down, and I do have 'savings' listed as one of the imporant amounts, I will see about getting an certain amount direct deposited every month.

My full time pay check varies week to week. Thankfully my boss is pretty cool when it comes to over time and my hours range from 46-48 hours, with less on a few occasions, and more on others. I'm trying to figure an average there, close to the 46 hour a week range, for my amount to work with. Which means some weeks I'll make more money. Then I will have the Michaels check on top of that.

As far as grocery stuff, I'm going to have to figure how much I am buying and how much of that I need and how much I don't. I use coupons if it is for items that I already use, but I have learned that just because it is $1 off if it isn't something I buy regularlly it isn't saving me money. I do like coupons for deoderant, shampoo, toothpaste and all that stuff. Those are nice coupons.

If you would like I can email you my spreadsheet and you can see if it would work for you. I always enter the minimum amount that we bring in - right now I am on maternity leave so for the past 10 months I have been making less - because I don't know how much my income will be when I go back to work I have kept it at my mat. leave rate so I don't mess myself up. Let me know if the sheet would help you and I can email it.

Jaded, I'm PMing you...

PLAN, PLAN,PLAN......

Not enough can be said for menu planning to help keep your budget in check. Granted we are feeding 6 people in our house, but the same concepts apply to those in smaller households. If you make at least a week's long menu, then a shopping list for those items you are much less likely to end up with the cookies and snacks that are most expensive. Buy core items on sale. If your pantry is stocked you won't have to run out for last minute items that end up costing $25 in M&M's, chips and soda. I make a menu for an entire month. It isn't a fun task, but it takes about 30 minutes and then it is done for the whole month.It really does make shopping so much easier when you know what you need. We have some regulars we eat each week, but we keep a list of everyone's favorites and try to rotate them so we don't eat the same things again and again and everyone gets a "special" meal each month. By shopping at Sam's I save a ton of money on meats. Boneless skinless chicken is 1.46 a pound by the case. It only takes us a month to go through it, but if you have a deep freeze you could store it for up to 6 months. Compared to the grocery store you can't beat that. I don't know what I would do without my deep freeze!

I also created a budget in Excel. It started out pretty basic by listing out what was earned and exactly what was owed for the month. It was amazing how I couldn't explain where all the money was going once I had the "necessities" on paper. I then decided how much "really" needed to be spent on groceries each week, along with gas for the cars. This money gets transferred to a seperate spending account each week. All other money is "bills only", with $50 a month going into savings automatically. You can't spend it if it isn't there, so this seperation of accounts has gotten our household pretty far in a short period. We have been able to pay down several credit cards that we "didn't have the money to do" before.

Being educated about your spending makes a huge difference. Keep a log. You'll be surprised (and start to feel a little guilty at times) at how much we "waste" on things we don't need.

You still need to "have fun" so don't forget to put a little something aside for yourself to just blow. Just like a few people have mentioned, budgeting is like dieting and sometimes you do have to splurge. Even that can be planned for though!

Christina, thankfully since I've been eating better and losing weight, cokes, chips and cookies don't even make it to my buggy, unless I am buying them for someone else. Of course I'm sure I'm over spending on the healthy stuff too.

I don't currently have a deep freezer, or rather I do, it just isn't at my house. My dad knew I was planning on getting one and they needed an extra for a short period of time so they are borrowing it. When I get a place cleaned out for it, and they get it emptied it will be moved to my house. It isn't a large one, but big enough for me.

I've actually been buying the chicken breasts that come individually wrapped. I know they cost more when you buy them, but because I can quickly throw them into the freezer when I buy them, and pull out only what I need when I need it, it saves me money from throwing chicken out of the fridge that I planned to do something with and didn't.

I went to the store last night and stocked up on things. I'm going to watch what I use this week and next week and see how often I am buying things, what things are going to waste before I can use them, and so on. I've also got to make a list of other items I use all the time. This is alot like figuring the costs of cake ingredients. It is time consuming but I know important and neccessary.

When I was listing put budget things I was sitting there thinking about which catergory I put things I buy for my classes at Michaels under. And then I was like you spend $1.29 atleast once a week on a bottle of water at Big Lots when you go next door before class. If I have two classes a week and buy one every time that is over $10 on bottled water that I could get cheaper. So yeah I know not only am I going to have to chart everything, but I'm going to have to cut out needless spending too. I've cut extra unneeded calories out of my diet, so I know I can do this too, right?

I just want to say all three of your areas hit home SOOOOO much. Lets start with the first one..

Clutter - I grew up moving a lot (my age didn't catch up to the total number of addresses I had until I was 24 or 25 and had lived with my boyfriend for over 4 years) and every time we moved we just packed everything up. When we got to the new place we only unpacked what was needed and then of course collected things as we lived there. This went on for a LONG time. Eventually my parents bought a farmhouse with 5 bedrooms for 3 people and the largest room was full of boxes, some hadn't been opened in over 10 years. I think this is where most of my "collecting" started. And I got the "i can't get rid of this b/c it was a gift" from my mom.

Well it has taken 9-10 years but my boyfriend has finally helped me see the light (although it took a little one on the way and realizing everything they were going to have to do it) I started one room at a time, it's the easiest way. I like the 15 minute rule someone used. I may have to start using that on a weekly basis. But I saw you already had started and had a few bags of trash. The best advice I can do is go through the stuff once. A week or two later go through it again. That second time you go through it, you'll wonder why you kept it the first time.

Savings - I think you've gotten some good advice so far. I went through the buy it b/c it's on sale, buy it b/c I have a coupon, or just buy it b/c it's cute, will use it eventually, I can use it for a gift etc This got me in trouble financially. It took a lot of hard work and realization that what I was doing was damaging. The first thing I realized was that I was buying all of this useless stuff when I was Stressed out (from work, family, even financial situation) not saying there is an underlying cause, but when do you usually find yourself doing the most extra spending? Realizing this for me was a huge step. Once I realized this though it made me look at my purchases a second time before going to the check out.

The next thing that worked for me was, if I wanted to buy something I would write it down and the price and where it was at (if it was on sale, the end date) and hold on this is the shocker I LEFT THE STORE WITHOUT IT. And if in a couple of days I still wanted it then I would go. This has saved me a TON of money. I still do this sometimes, but this helped me break the habit and now I can usually do this in a couple of minutes in the store, or it goes in the cart, but it never makes it to the checkout b/c I realize I dont NEED and it would just sit around and collect dust.

You mentioned getting a credit card. Can I suggest getting a debit/credit with your checking account instead? I know you said to get it to work on your credit score, but you have to use it to get the credit score. Just from personal experience, if you get it now the situation may only get worse. I suggest waiting until you have your spending plan (I read a book once and I dont like the word budget anymore, they suggest using spending plan b/c it doesnt feel so restrictive) and know that you can stick to it. Then use the credit card on your monthly items and make one monthly payment to the credit card instead of to each individual bill. (hope I didnt confuse you) But in the meantime you can use the debit/credit card that is connected to your checking account to pay for things online. But you have to spend the money right then. And not use the justification that youll have the money when the credit card bill comes.

I have a lot more to say on this topic, but I imagine my post will already be really long. This is an area that I have constantly struggled with, and even though I am a lot better than I was 10, 6, and even 2 years ago I still feel like I have a lot I can improve on.

Menu planning YES YES YES, I have done this now for 6ish years and I have a couple of excel spreadsheets that I can share with you. They have changed over time as I have gotten better with spending. My first grocery list actually had an estimate cost column and an actual cost column. I used this for a LONG time until I got a good handle on what prices were at the grocery store. And as someone else mentioned what the normal prices are. If something was on sale bonus!! I would be more than happy to share these with you if you send me a PM with your email. I can now usually be within $5-$10 of my total grocery bill just from looking at my list and being aware of what all of the prices really are.

I do a menu for 2 weeks (I was getting paid bi-weekly, recently got laid off, but still keeping on the every 2 week schedule). One column is what the meal is (I also include lunches on this) the second column is the ingredients I need to make that meal. The third column is what I need to buy to make that meal (after I actually looked through the cupboards to see what I had already). Then I have an area for Breakfast and snacks. Writing all of this down in a menu helps me to see exactly what food and see if getting all of those fruits and veggies that sound so good, but go bad fast, are really realistic. Also having a list of things help me figure out what I have in the house to make for dinner on those nights where I just cant think of what to make.
Also, like you I go on whims and have lots of things I want to try. Well having a menu I can spread these new things out, or put them on the menu for 3 weeks for now, so I can still try them. But dont have to buy everything for them right now.

Also, you mentioned you buy the chicken in the individual pkgs b/c you can just use one. I used to do something similar (although for two) but as you said they cost more. What I do now is purchase the largest package I can (so I have enough for the meals I planned) and bring it home and then re-package it. I have a roll of freezer paper that I use to repackage chicken and hamburger (I buy hamburger when it goes on sale 93% for less than $2/# and then package in 1# pkgs) It takes a little bit more time at home, but you sure can notice the difference on the grocery bill. If you buy the large package and then clean up the chicken (I always cut all the extra fat off or cut in strips for a meal), wrap in freezer paper, write what it is (if its striped or cubed for a meal, write the meal its for on it) and the date you wrapped it. Then its all ready to go when you are.

So this just touches on a few of the things I do for groceries. Hope its not too much info, I know this got long so Ill stop now.

"Edited for paragraph stcture"

It looks like you're off to a great start, TexasSugar. My biggest concern is that you're trying to make so many major changes (weight, budget, clutter) all at once. I can totally relate, because these are all things I struggle with, too. These are not quick fixes; shunning lifelong habits and creating new, healthier ones is a BIG task. And if you are like me and a lot of other people I know, you'll start off doing great, and then life will get in the way and suddenly you won't have the energy to be perfect at everything anymore. So while these are all excellent goals, I caution you to not go overboard. Take it one step at a time, making small but sustainable changes. Once you have those down you can go a little further. And when you mess up, forgive yourself and move on.

And if you do manage to make all these major changes quickly and permanently, please let me know your secret!

Saffronica, I am a baby step person when it comes to changing things around. I actually lost 25lbs in 2006. Last Wednesday I was able to celebrate a loss of 13.6 for the year, and a grand total of 43lbs lost since Jan of 2006. In the next 3 to 4 months I hope to be where I need to be weight wise.

I think shedding the weight is part of my motivation. I feel much better about myself, and want other areas to give me the cofindence my weight loss has. I want to know I can invite someone over when ever, and not have to plan a week ahead of time hoping I can get things cleaned up to a sorta of decent level. I also hope that one day I meet a guy that I may end up making a future with. When that happens I want to atleast be independent and finacially stable. I want to be able to offer him what I look for myself.

I'm not looking for a quick fix, since I know those don't work, which is why I am trying to de-clutter as well as clean. And I doubt I will have this all down perfectly in the next week. I am and my life is a work in progress, and sometimes those take time to finish.

These are changes that have been coming for a while now. I've planned to clean my house up many of times in the past, but I really feel like this is the right time to do it. It is sort of like the weight I have lost this year. I started the year off feeling like this was my year to accomplish that once and for all. I just want to carry that over to other areas of my life.

Leily, if you have read any of my posts you will see that I am very long winded so I can relate to that in others. Feel free to share anything else, no matter how long your posts gets. I will definetly read it.

I do have a debit card, but I really hate putting my bank information online for purchases. I know it should be safe but that really bothers me. When I do things like register for the ICES convention, or need to make a hotel reservation my parents have been nice enough to let me use their card, but I'm 31 years old, and I know there comes a point whenI should be able to do that with out having to go to daddy.

I'm hoping after I get the amounts for the different things I need, I can use mostly cash for those items. Because in the past before I got my bank account I knew if I spent the cash that was it, no more. And while I do tend to buy more than I should at times, I really don't go major shopping sprees all the time. For instance I only go to Khol's or Pennys a few times a year, because I know when I go to either one, especially when they have sales I will end up spending over $100. So I avoid them most of the year.

I know my big spending places are Walmart, Michaels and Big Lots. Unfortunetly I can't avoid Michaels, and I go in to Big Lots to buy baby wipes to keep in the classroom and cheap plastic bags. And Walmart, well that is where my groceries and the rest of my stuff comes from.

I am working on portioning out my veggies and things when I bring them home, so I will probably switch over to the other chicken, but after throwing out two packets of chicken because I never got around to what I planned to do with them, I switched over to the individually wrapped ones. I think as I get in to the habit of menu planning, pick a shopping day, and keep working on portioning things out I will waste less, which means I'll save more.

I just want to say thank you to everyone that has replied to this post. It helps to know there are others that been through the same things, and what they did to help them change. I know that what works for one may not always work for someone else, but I am taking in everything that you have said and feel like with that information I will be a better person at the end of this. Thank you!

if you don't want to give your bank info online, get a prepaid credit card. I used to do this when I was buying asian china on ebay. I knew I could easily go overboard, so I allocated a specific amount that i could spend each month on my hobby and bought a pre-loaded credit card in that amount. When it was gone, it was gone because I only allowed myself to buy one card a month. But if someone got ahold of the info, I was only out the amount left on the card, not my whole bank account.

Here's my money system- it works great for me...

I have 2 checking accounts and 1 savings (plus the kids savings).

My paycheck is deposited 2x a month to account A- on the 10th and 25th

Account A is my bills account. I pay all my bills online and get email bills. Bill comes in, I go to account and set payment, etc...

When I get paid, I transfer $200.00 into Account B- my spending account. That's for gas, needed food, movies, cake supplies, etc.

I transfer $20 to each kids' account ($40 for the month)

I transfer what is left in my spending account to my savings account. So for example, if I still had 100$ in my spending account when I got paid on the 25th, I would transfer $100 to my savings and $100 to my spending on the 25th,

I only have $200 to spend before the next paycheck- keeps me in line and I cut back on stuff, but gives me enough on hand incase a tire blows and I need a quick fix

2x a month, I'm putting into my savings.

Plus, I'm building money into my bills account each paycheck as well which helps cover those stupid bills when someone leaves the hose on all night and the water bill spikes!! Or to get the rugs steam cleaned or to fix the washer that just started leaking....

i never have more than $200 in my spending account. I don't carry the card to my bills checking account and my savings doesn't even have a card.

By doing this, I built a 3 month emergency bill fund (in case something happens, I can cover 3 months of ALL bills), and built my savings account.

When I get extra money (through tutoring or workshops, etc.) I split it between the Bills account and the savings account. Or if there's a birthday/holiday coming up soon, I'll add it in the spending for presents and such.

I also set up text message reminders- when my spending account drops to $100 I get a text, and when it drops to $75 I get a text- that way I never overspend!

Oh- if I transfer more than $200 into savings a month, I buy myself a starbucks. No $200, no Starbucks!!

Sox-n-Pats, sounds like you have a really good system there.

I'm hoping I get as organized as ya'll are. I'm trying to!

Sometimes, I get so fed up with all the stuff laying around, I just throwing stuff away. I get a big black garbage bag and just start heaving stuff into it! I don't even care if it is important. My motto is, if it's not put away in a safe place, it must mean nothing to you. Just ask my kids and husband. When I am about to sweep or clean I give them about 10 minutes to get what they think is important our of my way. If they don't they will find it in the garbage. This means, shoes, pants, toys, elmos, dora the explorers, flash drives, anything.

Check to see if there is a consignment store in your town/city or look at selling your clothing on craigslist or ebay. You might be able to get some money for them to add to your savings or fun money account. The same for your unused cake items.

Congratulations on your weight loss! Loosing it slowly is the best way. My niece has spent two years loosing close to 100 pounds. She went from a size 16/18 to a size 4. I have lost and re-gained so much weight over the years I understand how difficult it can be. She and I were talking about maintaining weight loss over the weekend. One thing she did this time that she hasn't before and I never did was to get rid of all the clothes that no longer fit. She learned from her Mother and I to keep three sizes of clothes. The ones that fit now, the ones for when I'm really skinney and the ones for when I gain it back. She said only having the ones that actually fit has helped her to stay on track and to be goal oriented where her weight is concerned.

It's easy to get overwhelmed making changes, just set a goal and do a little at a time. Reward yourself for accomplishing your goals. The reward can be anything you want.

Good Luck!

Sweetlayers, I have a hard enough time throwing away stuff that I don't need any more, let alone perfectly good items I still use.

Retaunton, is there a such thing as unused cake items? I do have quite a few cake pans I never use, but I'm not sure if I want to get rid of them yet. They are contained in two big plastic totes though, so at least they do have a home.

I also totally understand the clothes thing. When I moved out of most of the 16/18 clothing, I boxed it up. Along the way I stared gaining some of the weight back. I did not want to go into those boxes, so that was motivation to get back on track.

Right now I'm not just trying to lose weight but trying to eat in a way that I will keep eating from now on. Instead of a maintance plan after the weight comes off, I'm focusing on building good habits and a eating life style that I can continue with from now on. The bonus of this for me is that I won't have to relearn to eat in another new way after the weight comes off. I also feel that by losing slowly I have a better chance to keep it off.

So far I have done well with m clothes buying band. The only thing I have bought since I said I wouldn't was a couple new bras, but that was because the others were too big. I may have to buy some new undies if these things don't stop falling down to.

I will wear the current size 10 pants until they are falling off of me. I'm not sure what size I'll be when I get done, so I'm not going to buy alot of clothes this time around. I don't want to get comfortable at this size, I want to keep losing. And I think when I have alot of clothest that fit I get comfortable.

I have the hardest time coming up with goals. Always have, but probably cause it has been hard for me to say I'll buy a new pair of earrings when I lose 10lbs, because if I see a pretty pair, and I haven't hit -10lbs I'd buy them anyway, because I'd think they probably won't be here then.

I need to figure out a way to challenge myself to do this. Maybe I need a support "group" like I have for the weight loss. Anyone else not to de-clutter? HeHe.

Go ahead and buy those earrings, but you can't wear them until you reach that 10 pound goal.

HeHe, but see since they would be in my house I'd be tempted to wear them.

I've realised though that with the weight loss that even if I didn't have goals/prizes I have still stick with it. And I do treat myself now and then, so I guess I just save my goals up and combine them. Such as I really needed to get my hair done again. Instead of buying a box color I went ahead and had it professionally done. I looked at it as a reward for working hard this year and losing a good chunk of weight.

I know like the weight lose, having my house clean, will be a reward in the end, so I'll look forward to that. It has also been discussed with my Landlord (aka boss, aka dad) about putting in some laminite wood floor in atleast the kitchen. I'd like to go ahead and get rid of the carpet and do the whole house. So having a clean house will get that accomplished faster.

And let me just say, no one should have dark green carpet in their house, especially with pets.

The best deculttering I did was by moving. I moved into a two bedroom condo after living in a three level town house. A LOT had to go!

Okay... this is a topic full of big posts and it's after 1 am, so I'm just going to add my post without reading everything... I hope not too much is duplicate info.

When we were looking to move up from our dinky little house that I'd come to hate to a bigger house, I figured out what the mortgage would likely be, and we put the difference between the current mortgage and the expected mortgage into savings. We lived off whatever was left. I was able to save quite a lot (around $7,000 AFTER having to raid the savings for a new car after being rear ended by a semi) while we were waiting to be able to move that then went to expenses for the new home (a fence, an extra room of furniture, and a nice bed and mattress) because of it.

I use ING direct. They allow me to have as many savings accounts as I want (it's easier for me to have completely separate accounts than to try to track them myself on a spreadsheet). I have one for an emergency fund, one for car expenses, one for computer stuff (DH is a techie... there's always something to upgrade or gadget to buy), home improvement, vacation, and Christmas, and while I don't have direct deposit into any of them, I do have funds automatically transferred each paycheck. It is so helpful when an expense comes up to be able to say "I have the funds to cover that", or even "I have at least some of that available, and I'll only have to find this much instead of the whole thing".

When I budget for bills, I budget for the MOST any bill has been in the last year. On any months where the bill is lower than the budgeted amount, I transfer the difference to somewhere else (it's nice to be able to choose what I'm going to do with the "extra" money each month... it begins to feel like a game). If you don't have enough funds to do it that way, budget the average, and any month that is below the average, set that money aside to be used on the months that are above the average.

Re: clutter/cleaning, read The Sidetracked Home Executive. It has some good advice (in fact, this system was the original inspiration for the woman behind FlyLady), and it is also hilarious. The authors have adjusted their system since then (and so there's other funny books you can check out for inspiration on your own system), but the original is still the one that makes the most sense to me, so I do suggest you start there.

Re: grocery shopping, keep a pricebook, so that you know if something is a good deal or not. Just because Safeway or King Soopers has it in their ad for less than they normally charge doesn't mean that those prices are actually less than Walmart's or Costco's regular prices. I personally can't keep that info in my head for more than a few items. I'd tried before making a pricebook on my own, and think my biggest problem with it is that my desktop couldn't come to the store with me I recently found an iphone app that I use now... it's not perfect, but so far it's worked better than anything I've tried on my own. If you have a store that does double coupons, and you match coupons to sales, then coupons can add up to big savings.

HTH

I shop at Walmart since it is down the road and I haven't convinced myself that driving around to other stores saves money. I don't often do their match the ad stuff because the few times I looked, Walmart's prices were actually better. My dad and uncle use it when buying some meats, like steaks, but since I don't usually buy those it doesn't help me save.

My dad worked at Safeway years ago, so he taught me to look at the price per oz since buying in bulk is not always cheaper. And I have seen the 2 for what ever deals that were actually not deals at all. Like Sandwich meat that would be $3 not on sale and they do a 2 for $6 on it. I'm like, really? But like you said, people see that sales tag and grab, grab, grab.

I do shop with coupons, but mostly for shampoo, deoderant and stuff. Alot of the ones for food items aren't things I buy regularlly, so I have to be careful with those. As some else said, it doesn't save you money if you wouldn't have bought it in the first place. I only buy name brand when it comes to a few items, so I save some money by buying the store brands most of the time.

I've been dealing with this alot lately myself. I have an 11.75 month old daughter and a 3 year old son.

You should REALLY check out E-mealz.. They will not only help with budgeting but also meal planning. $15 for 3 months of meal plans and they are easy. They have plans for families of six and smaller. I've been using it for 3 months now and it's great. Meal plans are based on sale prices at stores like wal-mart and kroger... publix (though I don't know what publix is) they also have "any store" plans if you just want the meal plan benefits that are still pretty awesome. It only repeats a meal every 6 months or so and only if that meal is considered a "favorite."

As far as money goes, the above will help but also check out Dave Ramsey. I took his financial peace university and I look at money a whole different way now.

And clutter.... you really have to have no mercy with yourself. Go through your home one room at a time and if you haven't used/worn an item in over 6 months you don't need it and you need to toss it.. Make your home some place where you can bring home and keep things you LOVE. Everything else just makes like more cluttered and complicated.

Hnharris86, on the E-meals, do you get to use your own recipes or theirs?

Right now I'm trying to decide if I want to stay late at work to clean the bathrooms and mop the floor or not. Since I have two classes at Michaels tomorrow and won't be home until 5 I doubt I will feel like doing it Saturday. I could come over on Sunday to do it though.

I am going to pick a room(s) in the house (just not sure which yet) and focus on that this weekend. I want to set a challenge for myself so I can push to accomplish it. Maybe something like atleast 2 bags of trash and 2 boxes of give away/garage sell stuff. Or make a to do list and have to check off so many items before I can turn the tv on.

It gives you recipes. There are like 4 types of eating. My family is on the point system plan. Email me if you want an example of the meal plan.

Oh I totally agree, shopping at Sam's is not always the best deal. I was reading to do a price sheet at the different stores you shop at so you can compare and go to the one with the best deals. I think I m ight do it with items I'd see at Walmart and Sam's just to know which is really cheaper for me. I've also seen things at Big Lots cost as much as regular stores as well. But then stores are out to make money not always give the best deals.

I've never seen any stories here double coupons either but I've never looked too hard at them either. I do like the coupons for the items like shampoo because you can buy those ahead with coupons because it doesn't go bad before you need it.

Hnharris86, I don't think that program would work for me, because there is alot of recipes I cook now and I'd rather not change them over to other stuff. I'll just have to do a little more leg work for my meal plan and budget. Thank you though.

I just skimmed and scanned this thread and I didn't see anyone mention Peter Walsh's books. He is fantastic!!! He will declutter your home and then declutter your mind.
Its All Too Much for your home
Enough Already for your mind

The best money advice I could give you is get in the habit of making a deposit to your savings EVERY PAY CHECK. My deposits fluctuate, usually b/t $50 to a few hundred. And, yes, some months it has only been 5 bucks. But the habit itself is more valuable then the amount you deposit. Its amazing how it all adds up. I regret the few years I didnt do this.

Also, I have two saving account, one with my main bank and a second one. My second one is strictly for my car finances. Im a leaser, I dont believe in buying something that expensive when you know it will only depreciate. And I prefer to spend my money *living* my life verses *driving* my live. (Senta $189 a month, love it!) So every 3 years I know I need first payment plus fees. And turn in fees if I lease with a different dealer (which I rarely do b/c the releasing perks are too good to pass up). This savings account allows me to transitions car leases without throwing a huge curve ball into monthly finances. So if you know you have a cost in the future and can save for it just by putting away 10 bucks a month...do it! In the past I have also added X amount of money to my car payment so I didnt have a last car payment, which again would help to not throw off your monthly expenses the month you need to release. But now a days dealerships offer great incentives to end your lease early and release with them. If you cant tell I think cars are the stupidest thing we spend money it. Its purpose is to get you from point A to point B and back.why would anyone pay for something more??? Its kinda like my friend who insisted she get a huge rock for a engagement ring; she is now married and lives in a very small house she cant standas my other friend said you can *wear* the house or *live* in the house.

Good Luck!

I have just now had the time to set and READ all of the responses to this.....and WOW what great advice!! TexasSugar - thank you for getting such a great thread started....I have gotten some wonderful info from it too!

Thanks to all the folks who posted to this - you're helping a lot of others too!

Well I have good news to report! This weekend ended productive, even though I got off to a slow start.

I threw out 6 bags of trash, with another one waiting to go in the dumpster.

I have 6 bags of clothes to go next door to the other house. As well as a laundry basket of clothes to go over to my mom's for her to pick through. There are 3 boxes of stuff that is going to be moved as well as about 8 pairs of shoes I am sending away.

They aren't moved out of my house yet, because it was snowing in Texas again yesterday and I wasn't up for being out in the cold and snow to move it. But that is first on my list of things to do Tuesday after work. I have class tonight so I leave work and go up to Michaels and don't get home until 9.

This weekend I cleaned my bedroom, hall closet and bathroom. Tonight after class I may start working in my living room a little, but that is also where all the stuff to go currently is. Tuesday night I'm focusing on the living room, and maybe dinning room, depending on how long the living room takes me.

I'm thinking if I can keep at this steady I could be done by the end of the month. If not it isn't the end of the world but the idea of a deadline helps me.