With one recent salary cut behind me and another in the near future, I've really started watching my pennies and nickels. After months of not taking the time to cut coupons, I have started once again. Since I usually grocery shop on Sunday, a few moments going through the coupons with my grocery list in hand saves me several dollars a week. I haven't been using my big coupon organizer, since time is almost as tight as the money, but a business size envelope with the shopping list and the coupons inside of it works pretty well in a pinch. It's worth it for even a few items, because it does add up rather quickly. I keep myself motivated to use coupons by looking at the total dollar amount of coupons used, and translating it into how many items the money I saved paid for on my shopping list. The grocery store where I usually shop also has a gas station, and certain grocery items will earn you credit towards buying gas. Although it usually doesn't add up to very much, even a dollar's worth of free gas is worth the trouble of saving the little coupons in my wallet until I need to buy gas.

Knowing who has specials, and when, is another way to stretch your dollars. One of the other nearby grocery stores has a video rental section and since Monday is their slow day, they offer any two videos for 99 cents on Monday. This is a good deal because it even includes the newest videos that are $2.99 each any other day of the week.

Since I am real picky about where I buy my gas for my assorted cars and trucks, I can't always go to the station with the lowest price. The most commonly found gas station brand near me is one that my auto mechanic friend tells me not to use. He says that their gas contains something that will eventually damage your car engine. With the newer cars it would take a long time, but with my older vehicles I noticed the difference almost right away. I have begun telling people that I don't buy gas there anymore because my Jeeps are allergic to it. I have found that the gas station our local Walmart built is safe to buy gas at, and it's rather easy to save a few cents a gallon by filling up there. The secret is buying a "gift" card at Walmart, there is no charge for the card itself, and you can put any amount of money on it. Then when you go to the gas station, use the gift card at the pump and automatically it will give you a discount of 3 cents a gallon.

Eating out at a restaurant has almost become a thing of the past, even eating at fast food places adds up rather quickly. I have started keeping "emergency" meals in the freezer. Some of the ready-made entrees are pretty good, and at an average of under six dollars each, they are a lot cheaper than visiting the golden arches. Our current favorites are the frozen entrees by Michael Angelo's. So far we have tried the regular lasagna, the vegetarian lasagna, the stuffed shells, the ravioli, and the chicken parmesan. Each takes one hour in the oven, so I can put one on to cook and have an hour to relax and read the newspaper before dinner. Or knowing me, I'll read half of the newspaper and get a load of laundry started!

I knew about both salary cuts before they happened, the first one was due to having my work hours cut, and the second one was by choice, since I want to move to a different job in the same office. Knowing in advance that there was going to be less in my paycheck each payday, I was able to get myself back in a more frugal frame of mind. I also made sure that my kids knew ahead of time that there was going to be less money. I wasn't sure if the kids really understood the impact of my pay cut until my daughter lost one of her baby teeth. She showed it to me, and I asked her if she wanted her dollar now, or did she want me to put it under her pillow? She has known for a couple of years that I am the Tooth Fairy so I wasn't too worried about keeping up the tradition of the tooth under the pillow and mom sneaking in there at night. She looked straight at me and said "It's okay Mommy, you only have to give me a quarter". I knew then that she had understood about having less money. Of course I was so overwhelmed by her generous offer to take less money for her baby tooth, that we compromised and I gave her 50 cents.

Not to change the subject, but just a reminder, even if you are trying to keep to a frugal budget, don't forget to buy a couple of extra non-perishable items at the grocery store this week, and put them in your mailbox this Saturday for the food drive. Each year on the second Saturday in May, the Post Office collects cans and boxes of food for your local food banks.

--- © Renee