Vacation Saving Has Begun!

I feel like a coupon evangelist sometimes, but it is such a thrill to save money! I am such a bargain shopper anyway, and now that I'm getting the hang of this and it's not taking so long, I'm really having fun. The past month I spent stocking up and spent maybe just over our normal grocery budget.  I haven't compiled the totals of my savings v. spendings because I hate adding, but suffice to say I saved at least as much as I spent, which means that I basically got double my money's worth.  Great feeling.  Here are some things I've stockpiled:


6 Months to 1 Year of:
-soap (hand and body)
-body wash (probably 3 years, lol)
-toothpaste
-deodorant 
-paper towels
-toilet paper
-shampoo & conditioner
-razors
-monterey jack cheese
-cleaning supplies


I also have a ton of steaks, chicken, cheese, and sausage which are in someone else's freezer until I trust mine is working again.  I'm excited!  Now that I've stockpiled so many things, I am saving a ton each week in groceries and starting to use our cash and save the extra.  Rob and I plan to use what we save on a vacation, probably after Linc was weaned.


Tonight the focus was snacks because there were tons of coupons and sale combinations. I was able to get probably two months worth of chippy kind of snacks: pirate booty, chex mix (which saw and I LOVE), goldfish, pretzels.  I also got toothpaste (finishing out our stockpile), frozen veggies, and some weekly staples like milk and cheese.  I was a little scared to buy lots of frozen (or fresh) things because if the freezer busts again (we should know for sure in the next 24 hours or so), I am out of friendly neighbors with room for my stuff. Plus I have lots of great food still here from previous weeks.  Here are my totals for tonight: 


Total spent: $35
Total saved: $42
Total put away for vacay: $50*


If I can save this much every week, or even half that every week, I figure that by Linc's first birthday, we'll have around $1,000 or more put away.  We didn't take our first child-free vacay until Saw was over a year, so we may even have a few more months to save.  I'm getting excited!  Now I just need to get this excited about seeing my bathing-suit body again...


*In reading the totals, the total spent is how much I paid.  The total saved is how much MORE my bill should have been.  As in, add those two numbers together for what was my total before coupons and store deals.  The total put away is how much was left over from our weekly budget.