Saving money and getting famous. Well, not really famous.

 One of my very favorite things is saving money on quality products.  I've met more and more moms, especially in recent years, who've been dipping their toes into the world of couponing to save money on their grocery and household bills, or like me, jumping in and swimming around. 

In fall of 2009, I was fortunate enough to be personally tutored in how to coupon by my friend Kim from MavenOnAMission.  With her encouragement and coaching, I applied what I learned one step at a time, and a few months later I was saving 40-50% on my grocery and household bills, and my family was eating healthier.  

In the summer of 2010, the Orlando Sentinel held a 'Super Saver' contest where they chose the top 10 essays about how people used the newspaper to save money.  As you can guess from the photo, I was one of the winners, and got featured in a print ad campaign.  (They also did radio spots; some of my local friends have heard me on Magic 107.7, but I've not heard myself yet).  While saving money for my own family is rewarding and gives me a sense of accomplishment, I'm also eager to help other moms learn how to save so that they can be better stewards and have more room in their budgets to pay off bills, have more fun, save towards a financial goal or give to their churches or charity.

Along those lines, my first post of 2011 was actually on my friend Kristy's savings & couponing blog, 4our2cents, about my trip to CVS and paying $1 for over $40 worth of stuff.

I'm thankful and honored that Kristy asked me to guest-post on her blog, and it's inspired me to write more about couponing and saving on Mommy's Favorite Things.  If you're new to couponing or not even sure you want to try it ---that Extreme Couponing show is giving it a bad name -- don't worry.  I'll take it one step at a time. 

In case you were wondering, I won a gift card for my Super Saver essay too.  Winning money --that's another one of my favorite things.