I think it’s going to be a big challenge this month to keep any kind of budget – I’ve got 2 birthdays and Christmas… it’s not going to be pretty, but I’m grateful that I’ve got an understanding family who know I’m on a budget and we’ve all agreed not to go overboard with the present buying this year!  Thank … god.

I feel completely disconnected right now and I’m not sure I’m even making sense with what I’m writing tonight.  I’ve just been trying to get by and stay positive about everything, realizing it can’t get much worse and if I work on things I can turn things around and save some money for a rainy day.  It’s just feeling like a heavy load with what I know is coming up this month and realizing that what I want to give for presents…. may not happen.  It’s depressing to really realize that.

Blah.

What I’ll be saving on includes through Web Saver:

• Nutrigrain Bars: Save $0.75
• NOS Energy Drink: Save $1.50
• Habitant Jam: Save $0.50
• Green Works Cleaner: Save $3.00
• Dr. Scholl’s Skin Tag Remover: Save $5.00
• Advil Muscle and Joint: Save $4.00
• Catelli Pasta: Save $1.00
• Prime Chicken Portions: Save $2.00
• Clorox Bleach: Save $1.00
• Scrubbing Bubbles: Save $5.00

Total Potential Savings: $23.75

Through BrandSaver I’ve got coupons for:

• Herbal Essences: Save $0.75
• Herbal Essences: Save $0.50
• Gain Laundry: Save $3.00 ( on purchase of 2 products)
• Always Infinity: Save $1.00
• Tide Washing Machine Cleaner: Save $1.00
• Covergirl: Save $2.00
• Gain Laundry: Save $0.50
• Aussie Styling Products: Save $0.75
• Charmin: Save $1.00

Total Potential Savings: $10.50

The random coupons I found in my car:

• Pogo: Save $3.00 (20 pack)
• Pogo: Save $1.00 (10 pack)
• VH Sauces: Save $1.00
• Hunts Sauce: Save $1.00
• Chef Boyardee: Save $1.00
• Snack Pack: Save $1.00
• PAM Spray: Save $1.00
• Orville Redenbacher: Save $1.00 (with the purchase of 2 Orville Redenbacher’s 3 packs)

Total Potential Savings: $10.00

Just like yesterday, now I have to put my plan into action and get this started – looking at the flyers for the deals, checking my coupons to see if I can get it for less and just go for it!

So I was pretty stoked by all the discounts they had and I was armed to get what I needed and get out.  Nothing to be purchased that I didn’t need – that was how I was going to roll.

Well, I forgot the list of items in the car.

…. I think this is where it all started to unravel.

So I get into the store – I have a pretty good idea of what I’d checked off, so I didn’t feel I needed to go back to the car to grab it.  I was on a roll!  I picked up only what I needed, bought a majority of the food/products I needed that were ON SALE and I went to the check out.  I left with 6 bags of groceries for $77.  I have to say for what I bought I was giving myself virtual high fives all the way home.

But here’s where I stop high fiving and realize I’ve just screwed myself.

I check my bank account – and realize that I’ve written a cheque…. after the cheque goes through – I’m left with a whopping $0.06 in my bank account till payday.

This is where the high five turns into a palm to the forehead.

Now what am I suppose to do – wait it out I guess.

Then one of the girls from work says that the order I’d placed for some spices, etc has just come in and it’s $35.

Crap.

So needless to say I either write a post-dated cheque… borrow some money till payday… go to a cash lender…

I am going to see if I can borrow it and really, really get on the whole – watch your pennies campaign.

When I opened the envelope I have 10 coupons for the following:

• Folgers Gourmet Coffee: Save $4.00
• Majesta Toilet Paper: Save $1.00
• All Bran Cereal: Save $0.75
• Thinsations: Save $0.75
• Danacol: Save $1.00
• Smart Pasta: Save $0.75
• Honey Bunches of Oats: Save $1.00
• PediaSure Complete: Save $3.00
• Giovanni Panzani Pasta: Save $0.75
• Snuggle Fabric Softener: Save $1.00

Total Potential Savings: $14.00

Now I just have to keep an eye on the weekly flyers so I can take advantage of any in store discounts on top of the coupons for even more savings.

I was pretty excited to get $75.24 in coupon savings from BrandSaver – the maximum number of coupons that you can ask for in one go is 32, so it took a bit to wean my list down.  It just seemed like a lot of really good things, for less.

I did try this week to locate some Colgate coupons and kitty litter coupons – but I didn’t have much luck.  Purina, Maxx Scoop, Arm and Hammer – no coupons for that sort of thing this week.  I did find that Buckerfields was offering $5 off on Arm and Hammer Clumping Cat Litter for the 12.7kg – so instead of $19.99 it’s $14.97.  I figure that’s not so bad since a 7kg is about $8.99 or more in the grocery store.

I found it a bit frustrating in my hunt for these types of coupons because I either ended up at coupon sites with deals for this sort of thing from 2010 or I’d end up on an American coupon site, and of course that’s not any good for someone living in Canada.  Ah, well.  It’s been a definite learning curve for sure (and a bit of a time waster).

I also made a bit of a discovery… I would never have thought to go to Ebay.ca and check out the coupons for sale there – there was one offer of 100 Canadian coupons for something like $3.25.  I’m going to have to look into that a bit more to see if it’s worth while to pay the lower price for pre-cut/already collected coupons.  Check Ebay Coupon offers here.

From the Future Shop website it sums it up nicely:

Samsung introduces a compact monochrome laser printer with greater convenience, the ML-1675 laser printer. With its ultra compact elegant design, there’s space for this little beauty anywhere. Clever built-in features like one touch printing make the ML-1675 smart, as well as easy to look at. The ML-1675′s low noise level, rapid print speed, and power-save button assure maximum convenience.

I feel so good having this new printer that I’m super stoked about getting those online coupons printed so I can go and start saving a bit of money on my bills.  Happiness is…. a new printer.  It was easy to install and you can print what you see on the screen at the touch of a button – how cool is that!

I then went to MrsJanuary.com and she’s got a great resourceful website and she goes through and flyer matches the coupons that are available.  I grabbed some of the links from her site and clicked for my first coupon print out only to find out that the ink I have in my printer is frapped.  I have no black ink (darn you refill booth in the mall) so I’m going to need to pick up some new printer inks.  Hmmm… I wonder if they have coupons?

I’ve managed to find some coupons for Listerine, Flintstone Vitamins, Kotex, and I’m stoked at the idea that I can save off the regular prices.  I also found another good coupon site SmartSource.ca – LOVE IT!  I can see why this is an addictive process, I start looking on one site and then I find links to other great sites that have more coupons for us to use.  I’m even more stoked that these sites are Canadian and I can use them!

I’m a happy camper… now just to get some printer ink to get the ball rolling.

Well…. *insert my squeal of glee!!!!* it’s now available in Canada.  What’s better than it being available to us now – IT’S FREE!!!!

So last night after I’d finished work I decided to sign up and check it out.  I have to say that it looks so darn pretty it was so hard to resist and it asked questions about loans, credit cards, cars, etc to get your profile set up.  It also asked for my credit score…. which urm…. isn’t so great.  I haven’t gone through Equifax or TransUnion but I have had to declare bankruptcy when I went through my divorce.  It was a nasty thing and I left the house, gave it to the Ex who then proceeded not to pay the mortgage.  So, long story short – I had to get that big monkey off my back and even though you never want to have to go through a bankruptcy…. it was the best thing for me in my circumstance.

Back to Mint.com!  I have to say that once I’d set up my bank account it categorized most of my spending into the right categories and it created a budget.  I have to say that I’m not sure what it bases its budget on (well, yes it has the numbers….) but my income seemed really high (and it was so I fixed it) but it was really handy – and saved me loads of time.

Mint.com puts together a budget for you from the information it gets from your bank account

Seriously, it is one of my favourite budget making / where’s my money going sort of program.  Not only is it available online, it’s also available through iTunes as an iPhone or iPad app – and it is seriously pleasing on the eyes and makes it pretty simple to know what’s what as far as your spending is going.   Just to take a peek at what the main page looks like when you’ve logged into Mint.com.

When you have logged in and added the info that Mint.com needs to put together your own financial profile that keeps you on top of it all.

I have to say from the experience so far with Mint.com it’s really opened my eyes to what it is that I’m spending my money on (urm… food…. restaurants…gah!) and what I should focus on with the budgets that I had created for me and the ability to create my own – very handy – and a time saver for sure.  I just loaded up Mint for the iPad – and I know I keep saying how pretty things are but if it’s not pretty – I lose interest, it appears more like work (maybe that’s just me… but Mint makes it more eye appealing).

Mint.com has both iPhone and iPad apps so you leave home and know exactly where you stand with your finances.

I know I’ve mentioned at the beginning but I love the fact that Mint is at no cost – perhaps they make their money through Equifax/TransUnion and the ability to offer credit cards to help boost one’s financial situation – as their way to boost their bottom line to provide us with a free product and to be honest if this is how it is… I have no problem with that, because they’re not forcing you to do anything you don’t want to do.

I would recommend if you’re looking for a budget program – to give Mint a try… now that we can get it in Canada (and it’s been available for some time in the US as well).

I’m on the look out for some coupon sites or even try the product manufacturer for coupons  or deals.  My plan is to find the sites online and get a list together and then get a plan together on how to put together the flyer deals with the coupons to maximize my savings.  I’m kind of excited to feel like I’m starting to get control of what I spend my money on and anything I can do to lower my grocery bills, personal care bills, heck – even bigger purchases like clothing, furniture, and all that stuff we need to get by and live – without so much stress about the money.  I will feel like I’ve won the lottery!

In my brief search on the Internet I’ve found some pretty interesting sites:

• CanadianCouponMom.ca
• MrsSmiththeExtremeShopper.com
• MrsJanuary.com
• WebSaver.ca
• CrestCanada.ca
• SaveaLoonie.com
• CanadianFreeStuff.com
• DealStreet.ca
• RedFlagDeals.com
• SmartCanucks.ca
• Brandsaver.ca
• BounceEverywhere.com
• CanadianCouponQueen.ca
• FrugalShopper.ca
• ThinkCoupons.ca
• GroceryAlerts.ca

I love the fact that with shows like Extreme Couponing on TLC it’s really opened the door for coupon sites and maybe the whole idea of coupons is very very attractive for those of us who are trying to start saving their pennies, or are in the process of saving their pennies.  I’m hoping I’ll be able to find some deals and give this a try on the weekend!

I will be completely up front that I’m seriously stressing, I’m in a panic about money – money from the time I left home has always been my nemesis.  I hate it.  It’s truly the bane of my existence and I’m tired of it always being the monkey on my back.  I’m a smart woman who should know how to take control of her life and her finances…. but as of yet is a bit rusty at both!

I’m mad, in case you haven’t caught on…

I’m mad at myself for having only $16.20 in my bank account.  For having no savings, RRSPs, or money for a rainy day.  I don’t have a credit card or any real out there debt.  I do have a personal loan from my parents, due to a divorce I couldn’t pay for on my own.  It is just a big shit cake with some awesome icing on top, let me tell you!  But you know what, I’m not wallowing in self-pity.  I want to move on and up and out of this hole I’m in.

Why now?

This morning I realized that I’m doing what I had done a few years ago when I was desperate for cash – at that time I had a house = mortgage, a husband who loved to spend money and I was trying to keep things afloat by trying my hand at starting up websites to sell things.   Let’s fast forward to today – I’m starting to do the same damn thing again.  I’m feeling like I’ve got ADD – start one site, go to another idea, go to yet another idea, spend some money on things I can’t really afford so I can make more money… and at the end of the day I’m in the hole with a bunch of websites that aren’t making a dime…. why?  Because there are thousands if not more people out there trying to do the same thing as me.  I don’t have the time, the inclination, or perhaps the focus to follow through on some of the website ideas I have… some I think might make a go – but I’m starting to spiral and I think I’ve caught myself before I did end up down that path of no return.

It’s not to say I won’t give those websites a try… I’m just saying enough is enough until I start to see some income from them.  Time to focus.  Time to get things going the right way and it’s time to stop the panic.