I am pretty good at being frugal. I am also pretty terrible at being frugal.

I can score clothes for almost my whole family for pennies on the dollar (thank you thrift stores), I can find endless kid activities for just the gas to get to the library. I am also notorious for grabbing coffee on the run.

I am a busy thirty two year old mom… I have four…yes four kids . I had my first child at the ripe old age of nineteen and my last one just this year. When our first child was little we did literally everything backwards. Had him, then got an apartment, then bought a house, then got married… totally backwards. I finished my degree but because I was a busy full time working mom at the time I did it online and oh man did I rack up some debt… I can’t even look at it without fighting the urge to be sick. I was young and stupid.

Here I am now and I have been working incredibly hard to change my ways. I used to shop for pleasure, then I learned to grocery shop and get the same thrill… which is better but can still get you into trouble. I have managed to take our grocery bill from over one thousand a month to currently about eight hundred a month by repurposing groceries, being more intentional. I don’t buy shoes, or pay for my hair. I am pretty frugal.

I also like drive thrus. I love coffee….like really love coffee. I have this foolish app on my phone that makes it insanely easy to get coffee without even swiping my card so it doesn’t occur to me I spent money. I also love Amazon.

I am a bit of a mixed bag.

But I’m tired of it. Tired of the stress. Tired of my husband telling me how much we overspent. Tired of the student loan and mortgage payments making me feel sick. Tired of the stressed out look in my husbands eyes and the worry of will we retire with dignity.

I read so many stories of people who have already paid off their debt. Not so many of people who are in the middle of it. So here I am.. I am going to share my journey of going from rockie to allstar. I will share little tidbits over on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/1139677569480345/

I will give more detailed updates over here on my blog post such as how I’ve reduced our grocery budget, and honestly probably a few venting sessions about how much this sucks at times.

Tomorrow starts my first mini spending/fiscal freeze. Wish me luck!

I have also signed out of my Amazon app on my phone and committed to not signing back in. Going on the computer adds another barrier to spending money.

I think my coffee app may need to be next 😔