Step 1 in the highly acclaimed "12 Steps to Saving Money" by Jewl-E

So here we are, staring at the aftermath of what was undoubtedly a wonderful Christmas. I hope that even though you may being dealing with losses personally or financially,  you will take the time to evaluate what you DO have. I have done that today and found that I am greatly blessed!!!! Thank you God!!!!

Okay, to begin..... Like all people with addiction problems,  we need a 12 step program to get us back on track. That is where I want to start. Call it if you will "The 12 step program to saving money." Catchy huh????   Yeah, well, call it what you want then!!!!!!

Remember that each step is important and you need to take it slow so you will find success. I will explain the steps and then tell you how I did it. Remember you don't have to do it my way but you DO need to find a way to do them that suits your life, style, etc.....

• Pre-plan  ALWAYS before you go shopping. I know this takes time and we are ALWAYS short on time but you need MAKE the time if you want to SAVE the money. Cut out some of that FACEBOOK time!!!!!!! Sure my crops are suffering, on FarmTown and my BINGO and FARKLE scores are at an all time low, but I am playing a new game and it is called researching to find the best deals!!!!!What do I mean by pre-planning? I mean you need to make a list of what you need. Always plan with your sales ads in front of you. I do this on Sunday night. I am only using WALGREENS, RITE-AID, PHILLIPS MKT, and FOOD LION right now because of the time issue and I don't want to be overwhelmed. I started with just Walgreens and each week added a new store.
• Make grocery lists according to what is on sale and what coupons you have.
• Researching Blogs also helps with this because they do alot of the work for you....I usually print the Walgreens and Rite Aide deal reviews that you will find on sites such as Hip2Save (WOOT, WOOT) The important thing to know here is that sometimes  prices are different or coupon amount in my Sunday paper might be different. (Its happened one or two times for me)
•  Use this information from circulars and online blogs to make lists for each store.
• Obviously things like bread, milk, oj, eggs are probably going to be weekly purchases w/o coupons but still watch for good deals. (Walgreens has eggs and english muffins this week for 99 cents.  Food Lion eggs are 1.00)
• Pull out coupons for things that are on sale to get even bigger deals (I will talk about specific stores and how to get their good deals later.)
• If you find incredible deals, STOCK UP. Sales run in about a 6 week cycle and bigger sales closer to holidays. Buy enough of a product to last a 6 week period. (ex. With a coupon the other day, I got cereal at Rite-Aid for .49 cent a box so I bought 6 boxes to last approx. 6weeks.)
• One you have spent the time pre-planning collect all the coupons you are planning to use in a pre-planning envelope. you can have an envelope for each store and just write the list on it or throw them all in one baggie or envelope and clip the list to the baggie. (you still want to bring your binder of coupons in case you run upon an awesome deal that wasn't in the sales ad- Clearance items, daily specials, etc....)

Great, yeah, well that's all today... so, if you are interested come back later and we will talk about the second step.....and its called........" LEARNIN TO LOVE SOME WALGREENS"