Resolution #4 Become a better money saver

Yes, I skipped #3.  Yes, I have already messed up that small string of daily posts that I had going.  Yes, I have other stuff going on and luckily can restart.  Thank the Lord there are more than 30 days in this year... not all is lost.  I decided that #3 didn't necessitate it's own blog post since it's fairly straight forward. 

On to #4 - become a better money saver.  First, let me say that I dislike talking about money.  I talk about money when necessary with my husband or my parents but rarely with anyone else.  My husband and I are blessed with jobs that afford us a comfortable lifestyle for a nominal amount of stress yet saving money has been a struggle for me for 29 years and for the both of us the 5ish years that we have been together.  I will say that we have awesome intentions.  I am the master of making plans.  My personality dictates that I need lists and plans, etc but have an issue always following through with this one issue. 

Because my son is 6 weeks old and thinks that it is cool to party all night I have been watching a lot of late night... strike that... over night television.  A lot of this includes different exercise programs promising me a Brazillian's butt, abs from that blonde chick from the View, and several different kitchen appliances that basically promise to do the cooking for me (which would be awesome if it was really true!)... however a lot of it also includes Suze Orman.  The other night Oprah decided that someone else besides herself could have a show on her network and had Suze Orman teaching something that looked like a money conference.  During one of the six(!) episodes of this conference she stated that she recommends at least eight months worth of living expenses in savings as an emergency fund.  Yikes.  Just doing some rough math in my head, we are SUPER behind that goal.  I can make a thousand excuses for why we don't have that much in savings and, of course, I could make ten plans to have that much by the end of the year but I would really like to actually accomplish this goal and not just say it aloud. 

I think that I am going to do a compounding plan this year where during one month I help save money doing one item, then during the next month I do that saving money task and a new one.  Should make it easier and less painful then trying to implement like ninety new tasks all at once.  My first month's goal will be to start using more coupons.  Not like the crazy coupon people that you see on TLC now... I don't need a stockpile of sodas and boxed cereals.  I would just like to be more diligent about using coupons for items that we are actually going to buy.  Luckily the stores that we shop at that have loyalty cards allow you to load coupons onto those cards and also use manufacturer coupons. 

I am going to take some time during this week to try to research some of the crazy couponing and see if there is something that I can utilize for our everyday usage.  Let me know if you use coupons or have any tips.