We’re trying to be better managers of our money. We want to be debt free. And then we want to be able to save to do fun stuff like travel abroad or take extravagant holidays and own a front loading washer and dryer. So we’re working on being smarter spenders and more frugal. We’re diligently cutting out coupons and using them strategically to save as much money as possible grocery shopping. (If you live in the South/South East, this is a fantastic website that does most of the work for you.) Actually, we’re trying to be smarter spenders, period. This means shopping sales for pretty much anything we need to buy as much as we can. For the most part, we’re doing all right. Especially when it comes to coupon usage. Now, we’re not at the “I bought 400 groceries and made money instead of spending money” end of coupon usage, but we’re making smarter purchases and taking the time to use coupons and on the whole we are saving somewhere between 35 – 50% on what we buy. Considering that we’ve only been doing this for a couple of week, I’d call it a pretty decent start. And, for the record, we’re sticking to the healthier things and we’re not buying stuff just because it’s on sale. We’re working towards only buying what we need and/or use.

Honestly? Saving money is kind of addictive. It becomes a game of “how much can we get off this?” And wow, that sounds…inappropriate. We are totally not into sex games at our local grocery store. Just saving money.

Moving on.

I think the hardest thing for us is cutting back on eating out. Because, well, we LIKE eating out. And. I don’t cook. I refused to learn how when I was a kid and the few times I have learned how to cook something, well, it’s not cooking. I prefer to bake. I love baking. Mostly sweets, but I also like baking casseroles. And, wouldn’t you know, I married someone who will not eat a casserole dish if his life depended on it. So I don’t cook. But luckily enough, B does cook. Which is why I married him. Well, that and he’s totally arm candy. But sometimes? It’s hard. We are totally stumped as to what to have for dinner. Especially when the only thing you want to eat for dinner is sushi and don’t want to prepare it yourself or even know how. (And by “you,” I mean “I.” Because B doesn’t eat sushi and honestly I have no idea what you like to eat, internets.)

And that one time my mom and a Japanese lady came to my third grade class and showed us how to make sushi? That? THAT DOES NOT COUNT as knowing how to make sushi. I mean, hello?! THIRD GRADE. The only reason I really even remember it is because I have a picture from that day that my third grade teacher, Mr. Cox, took. But I digress.

So on nights like tonight? When all I really want is sushi? (Specifically Tokyo Roll and Supercrunch.) I eat cereal. Which is not as good as eating sushi. But at least we’re saving money by staying in and eating. And we’re being responsible.  Right?

*sigh*

Sometimes it really sucks to be this responsible. Especially when it means not eating sushi.