This weeks goals

Organize Organize Organize. I have allowed my files to get out of order at home. I don't function well when I am unorgainzed.

There are three areas that I am going to tackle this week.

1. Organizing my receipts and bill file. Last year this was kept in a 3 ring binder sorted by month with an envelope in front of each month for receipts. This worked great for us. I just don't know what happened and I didn't get one set up for 2009. This week is the week to get caught up and get that organized.


2. Organizing my coupons. I need to go through and take out all the expired coupons and get them ready to send over seas to the troops. The Military bases allows the troops and their families to use expired coupons up to 3 months after the expiration date. Plus this week in the paper there was % inserts. YIKS I bought 3 papers which means 15 inserts to cut and file. Excited about the great deals that I know will come from today's coupons.


3. Menu plan for the rest of the month. Since our son's basketball season is finished, we are eating at home most every night. My menu planning needs to get back into full swing. Planning lunches, and suppers are needed for our lives. I find myself writing my son's school a check often for lunches when I should of had planned his lunch earlier and packed it to save over $3 for a school lunch.

Now, you are asking, why am I tell you this? This is an essential part of being thrifty. You have to keep on top of your receipts and bills in order to know if you are being over charged for something or if you have a rebate for an item you can find the receipt fast. Coupons always need to be in place to where you can find them when you are shopping and come across that silient sale. Plus if you have coupons organized it doesn't take long to make your list and pull whatcoupons you need. If your coupons are not organized, you might miss out on a great deal because you just can't put your finger on where you stuck that coupon. Finally Menu planning. Even if you just plan the Supper time meals, you will be so suprised how much it will cut down on your food budget. It allows you to see what you need and that allows you to shop just for items that is needed and not items that might be a needed item. Impulse shopping is the worst kind of shopping when you are trying to save money.

If you don't have these things in order, join me this week in getting back in gear and getting that inner Thrifty Geek back on track.