My name is Stacey, and I am married with 2 kids (ages 5 and 2). I work full-time at General Motors, volunteer often, and try to keep my household running in the meantime! My husband owns his own business, so we do our best to stretch our budget as far as possible. My mom taught my 3 siblings and I to be financially responsible when we were kids, so I grew up with the basic mentality of using coupons, shopping garage sales, and saving money where possible.
Fast forward to 1 year ago… I was still using coupons but didn’t quite understand the concepts of matching them to sales, stockpiling items, and avoiding the "I’ll buy just one more (regular-priced) thing while I’m here" trap. Like my mom had done while I was growing up, I was doing all of my weekly grocery shopping at one store, spending $150 and 2 hours on average.
Jolyn introduced me to sites like A Full Cup, which helped but were overwhelming and confusing for a newcomer. When she started Macomb Money Savers, I was excited to see everything laid out in a clear, consistent format that was so easy to follow.
I was even more excited to see all the deals I could be getting! Over the past year, I’ve completely changed the way I shop. I now typically stop at 2-3 stores per week, spending 15-20 minutes and $20-30 at each store (for an engineer, it’s all about the efficiency factor!). In addition, we’ve gone from donating food a couple times a year to donating 2 large grocery bags per month, allowing us to share our blessings with others with no impact to our budget.
Although admittedly, it was a big paradigm shift for me and didn’t happen overnight, I am now completely convinced that everyone should shop this way. We are all so blessed to have Macomb Money Savers as a resource, and I’m so thankful for the time and money that this site has saved my family!
I’m proud to have a friend like Stacey – and so glad that, on top of her already-busy schedule, she takes the time to provide the weekly Target post here at Macomb Money Savers. Many of you have already benefitted from her efforts! Thanks, Stacey!