Short-term personal challenge from a "newbie"

[gavinsmom]

I am just starting my "savings adventure" thanks to a friend that I've made at church. She introduced me to this site and she is going to personally teach me how to score amazing deals.

She is going to start teaching me next week. My family is leaving Wednesday going on vacation. Two weeks ago I made a personal challenge to myself to not buy ANY grocery items that go in my pantry. (ex - no canned goods, dry goods, snacks etc.) Fresh veggies, milk and meat is all I've bought and I've had to do that only sparingly. I've bought milk on sale for $2.99 at CVS the last two weeks and our local grocery store has a deal where you can mix and match any 5 meat items for $19.95. A very good deal!

So for the last two weeks I have fixed meals around what I have in the pantry. I think it's a good way to clean out and save money - and jumpstart my new savings adventure!

So I guess my challenge is to anyone else out there just getting started and wondering where to start - this is a good place to start! Clean out what you've got.

I've also organized my bathroom pantry to see what I have (like 8 bottles of body wash! - don't need that for a while!) You begin to see how much money you are wasting by not planning your shopping trips better! It motivates you to want to do better!

~Tabitha
"Gavin's Mom"

[skw6559]

You might want to check out the month long live off your stockpile threads. They are great to follow.