Getting started, week one.

Recently I found a website called smartcanucks.ca, until I went onto that site I always thought I was a savvy shopper. I looked out for sales, picked up things at second hand shops but I never used coupons, unless they fell into my hand exactly when I needed them.

Spend some time on that site just reading the deals and brags section of the forums, some of those people are amazing in their ability to make their pennies scream from being squeezed so hard, and face it we all could stand to keep our pennies in our pockets a little longer.

I've set up a challenge for myself and my hubby, he has agreed to it in theory, we will see if it lasts into reality. We are only going to use 460 dollars a month for everything from entertainment (excluding cable) food, clothes, household items, gifts, cleaning supplies, and day to day spending like Tim Hortons coffees, which is as everyone knows the best coffee in the world, newspapers, vending machines, and anything else that we normally reach into our pockets for.

To add to that challenge, we also want to purchase a freezer, go out to the Keg on our 10 year Anniversary, see at least one concert this year, go camping with my daughter and her boyfriend this summer, and go see my family at Christmas time, all this also has to come out of the 460 a month.

So starting this week we each have 30 dollars in our pockets every month to buy day to day things, and we have to keep the rest of the spending down to 100 dollars a week. With a little creativity I'm sure we can do this, we just have to stay focused on the big picture right?