My shopping never seems to end! I have made a big time vow to myself to spend a lot less money this year.

Not that I spent a fortune last year, but I really have goals to save more money! I want money to become something that I am OK with, Not rich but something that I am not always stressed about.

Part of my plan is to obviously pay debt down. I was able to pay off two cards this month and that felt awesome! So next month I will take what I normally paid them and roll them into the other three that have balances until they are paid off! This is what Dave Ramsey calls the debt snowball.

I have made more of an effort to compare shopping prices at all the local grocery stores by me. I unintentionally started the envelope system for groceries last payday. It was a Friday and we needed food. The bank doesn't credit deposits until the evening so I just pulled enough for shopping. I didn't spend all of it so I kept the rest in an envelope and have been using it for the past two weeks for groceries only! It has been working out great because I am keeping an eye on my spending and I know exactly how much I have left for my grocery shopping deals that happen weekly!

I have found the above to be an easy way to help curb the willy nilly spending that has stopped me from saving more. One big thing I plan on doing as soon as my husband and my brother are off together on a weekend is to pick up one of the stand alone freezers that my great uncle has at his home. When my grandmother was alive she had a serious issue with food. I don't know if it was growing up in the depression or what but seriously she was always food shopping. Consequently she had to buy two stand up freezers to store all the meat and frozen foods she bought. Now that she passed and he is alone my uncle really has no need for them. I offered to buy one it will help us both out, him with money and for me to be able to take advantage of some stellar sales that I usually have to pass up due to lack of storage!

Because we are eating the South Beach way we have to have loads of veggies and lean meats so it will be great to finally stock up when fresh veggies are in season and when meat is on sale!

So what have you done or what are you doing to save more money? I would love to hear them!