Coupons: The "Gateway Drug"

When I started using coupons, I was all excited about how much money we were going to save... And we have!

But being grocery savvy has made me a lot more aware of our financial situation as well as helped me to realize that there are a lot of other areas in our lives that we can improve monetarily, physically and other ways as well.

Tobacco, alcohol and other common drugs are frequently referred to as "gateway" drugs, that once you use them enough you need to turn to harder and more dangerous drugs to get that same high...
The same goes with coupons, only in a positive way!!!

Before I started using coupons, if I could save 10-15% or even just 5-7% for that matter, it was an awesome day!!!! Now, I'm not satisfied unless my total is more than 60% savings, and sometimes, even a 75% saving isn't good enough.

Here is how the frugality of grocery shopping has started to spill over into other areas of our life and finance.

Gas: We don't drive as much as we used to. WE used to go places more frequently, but now we plan our trips so we get the most out of every gallon of gas. I'll plan my shopping trips according to distance and store location. where I used to back-track to go to more than one store, I will actually plan my route so that I can travel the least amount of miles in the car. Also, I use this site to help me find the best price on gas. Whenever we travel a longer distance, it is great for finding the places that I can spend the least to fill up my car on the way.

Cable: Technically we could LIVE without the TV, but for our family and our personal interests, it's an important thing for us! Remember that every family is different and your needs and wants are going to be different than the next family. We weighed our needs and wants, and then sacrifice most of our wants and then allow ourselves certain things. When it comes to Cable though, we don't need it! Most basic packages for Cable start out at a great price but then sky rocket to an easy $60/month after the first while and you are stuck with a contract at a high monthly payment. Consider this... Cancel your Cable or Dish service. Upgrade your internet plan so you can great streaming, then subscribe to HuluPlus and NetFlix. Combined, the two plans will run you less than $20 each month, and you can watch all of your favorite TV shows and movies from your computer. If you have the right TV or Bluray player, you can stream the movies and watch them from your couch whenever you want!

Phones: Do you need both a land-line and a cellphone? Believe it or not, a lot of people have both. If you look at your numbers and really focus on your personal needs, most people can get away with one or the other. If that is the case, you can drop an entire monthly payment all-together. If you do need both, re-evaluate your cellphone needs. Do you need that many minutes? Can you do without a Data Plan? Is that smart phone a need or a want? If you can do without a little bit, then downgrade your current phone plan to save money in the long run.

Smart Phone or iPod?: Most companies require you to purchase a data plan when you buy a smart phone. data plans can cost anywhere from $10-$100 per month depending on what you need. If you are a business person and do a lot of travel and that is the only to go, then by all means DO IT! It is an amazing tool we have at our disposal. But, if you are not a business person, and just want a smart phone because they are cool...ask yourself this; can you get away with just using Wi-Fi? If you do most of your mobile-surfing or browsing at home or Wi-Fi enabled locations, you may be better off downgrading your cell phone to a simple phone that doesn't require a data plan, and then get an iPod or even an iPad or another similar device that has just Wi-Fi and no 3G or 4G options. The upfront cost may be a bit more, but in the long run, you'll save big that way.

The list goes on and on, and I'm sure I'll blog about more of them later on. But these are just some of the things we have done and it has helped us a lot!