Thrifty Jay Girl

I pride myself on being a Midwesterner. Engrained in the DNA of 99.2% of all Midwesterners is being thrifty. Therefore, I have a knack for finding bargain sales, saving money, and securing the cheapest airfares possible. My closet is filled with cute clothes, all of which were bought on sale. It's as if I am allergic to purchasing things at full price. I have many cost savings tricks up my sleeve. But, out on the East Coast I was starting to feel that I was sliding away from my time-honored money saving rituals. I was using plastic instead of cash a little too much and generally not budgeting as I should. So, I decided one of my New Year's resolutions would be to use cash only in addition to sticking to my monthly budgets.

Dear readers, I am happy to report after week one of the New Year, I have stuck to my resolution. And I like it. It helps me stick to spending what I have. Having relied on my debit card regularly it is much more concrete to use old greenbacks.

Not only this, but I learned of a new cost-savings trick last weekend, more applicable to families than to me. One of my friends became responsible for making his own lunch for school at the tender age of six. His mom would take him and his sister grocery shopping each week and they would pick out what they wanted for their lunches. As a bonus, they could clip coupons before they went grocery shopping. Any money they saved through using coupons became theirs, in addition to their weekly allowances. Isn't that clever? I may look at the coupons in tomorrow's newspaper. Exciting Sunday, I know : )