I’m going to start with a brief introduction for my first ever blogging attempt – at least, I’ll try to keep it brief. I’ve been known to ramble on and get a bit sidetracked.

My name is Sue, although I go by “Suzannah” online. I’m 49 years old, married, and have a 25 year old son who lives clear across the state, making me most definitely an empty-nester. I work outside the home, full-time. And, very important to the shopping nature of this blog – for all intents and purposes, I live in an area that does not have double coupons. (I’ve heard there are places that have triple, and occasionally even QUADRUPLE coupons. I’ll visit you in my dreams, oh enchanted shopping kingdoms. Quadruple coupons. I honestly can’t imagine that.) I think one chain here allows a few double coupons once a week, but they are severely limited, and the loss leaders are usually not anything that there are decent coupons for.

For much of my adult life, my shopping habits paralleled those of my mom. Decide what we want to eat during the week, buy all the necessary ingredients, buy anything else I may think we need, and buy it all at one store. That includes dish and laundry soap, paper products, personal care products. If they happened to be on sale when I needed them – BONUS! Otherwise, I bought them anyway. As a result, I remember that back when my son was five years old, I was spending sound $600 a month on all those necessities.

Today, I spend around $250 a month. Of course, there are only two of us now, not three. The last year my son lived with us, I spent on average $350 a month. Strangely enough, he eats even more now than he did when he lived at home, and I probably would be spending $400 a month if he still lived with us. At least. Still – isn’t that better than $600 a month (and that was 20 years ago…excuse me a moment while I reflect on prices 20 years ago. Sigh.)

The difference between what I spend now and what I used to spend is a result of trying to get the lowest possible prices on everything I buy. There are a lot of ways I do this, which should come out as I blog. I’m not always successful at getting the lowest price – I’ve made some pretty embarrassing mistakes (it’s annoying to come home after purchasing a package of cocoa mix on sale and realize that I had a dollar off coupon FOR THE SAME BRAND right in my wallet. Smack me upside the head, that cocoa would have been FREE!) But I’ve been diligent enough to be very happy with what today’s spending is compared to that of my not so distant past. I mean – we’re talking between $3000 and $4000 less spent per year!

I’d like to say that I have been banking the difference all these years, and have a huge amount socked away in a special fund, that I can point to and say “Look! All this money was saved by changing my buying habits.” I’d like to say that, but it’s not true. I’m still a frugal work in progress.