Have you seen TLC’s Extreme Couponing show?

$1,500 in groceries for $0.14 cents, or less. Sure, sign me up, right?

Oh yeah, you have to be willing to spend 20-35 hours a week doing it and jump in dumpsters on a regular basis.

Um, on second thought…I don’t really need 218 packs of Tic-Tacs (even if they are free!) and I’d wrestle sheep for 20-35 hours before I’d jump in one of our local dumpsters.

Photo credit: www.tlc.discovery.com

But I’ve been working my way through that stack of books from January and I just recently finished The Money Saving Mom’s Budget by Crystal Paine and got all excited about saving money. Again.

Whether you spend 15 minutes or 15 hours a week, budgeting and coupons can get old. Pinching pennies and saving for long term goals can get boring! It never hurts to refresh yourself with a little bit of someone else’s enthusiasm–and Crystal has plenty to share!  I really loved this book–although I can’t decide whether I should share mine with friends (and maybe not get it back) to save money, or spend the money to just buy copies for them.

{And I did not receive a copy of the book for this review.  I just bought it myself and loved it and highly recommend it! It’s a little book that packs a lot of punch and is an easy read. It only took me two evenings to finish from start to finish.}

This picture is in our truck--you never know when you might be stuck in a drive thru bank line and have a few minutes to snatch some reading time!

She has a great down-to-earth voice and she shares plenty of real-life experiences that keeps her advice well-grounded. She’s already using what she’s sharing with you every day. (Her blog is chock full of good information too!)  I especially loved her 3 step process for easing you into budgeting, starting with control of your food budget, then moving to a “bare-bones budget” and within a few months moving to a “full-fledged budget.” Some of these financial planner budget sheets make me cross-eyed just looking at them! You won’t even get started if you feel defeated before you even begin!

The final section of the book is full of worksheets you can use to get started with any of the ideas she presents. (Another reason to get your own copy!)

She also addresses using credit cards–or not using credit cards!–which I completely agree with too. (We haven’t had a credit card in years and have never run into needing one.) She actually addresses using cash rather than your debit card too. This is something we’re looking at closely but have not completely implemented just yet. It makes sense though. Since you have your card and you know the money’s in the bank, you tend to feel safe if you run over budget a little bit here and a little bit there…and suddenly it’s a whole lot in total.

In our case, we realized that if you run over the grocery budget by just $10 each week, that’s enough to pay our whole cable bill each month!

She challenges you to go 3 months plastic free and see what you come up with for yourself.

And she has a couple chapters specifically on coupon strategies. These were a little less enlightening for me because I’ve been hammering out my own coupon and shopping strategies for a couple years now and have already found what seems to work for me. She has great tips for getting started if you’re not doing any shopping strategies right now, but there are a few things that I just find too time consuming, complicated, or just plain cumbersome for our lifestyle right now.

Not that they’re not good ideas! I just find that my point of diminishing returns higher. I’m trying to control our grocery budget, not eliminate it. I’ve tried most of  things she’s mentions at different points and just settled on my own “bare-bones” grocery strategy that’s simple enough I can actually maintain it over the long run–and I’ve still cut our grocery budget by 30% (and on our way to 50%!).

"Realistic" and "workable" are words near and dear to my heart!

So what do I do? Thursday I’ll share about price lists, menu plans, and stockpiling (which we call the “tumbling toilet paper problem”).

And next Tuesday I’ll share how I organize and manage my coupons. I only spend about 1-2 hours a week doing my coupons and all my shopping. That’s all I have, so I’ve learned to make it work!

But if you’ve ever felt completely overwhelmed by the idea of real budgeting or strategic shopping, this little book is just for you. It’s not a financial planning handbook. It’s not going to require reams of calculator tape to use her worksheets. She’s just another busy mom, sharing real life ideas for getting some control over your finances and finding some peace of mind.

Do you use any of these strategies? Have you found a way to simplify them to work with your routine?

{I purchased this book for my own personal enjoyment and considered it of value for my readers. I’m even going to purchase at least one more copy as a gift! This review was not solicited–Crystal Paine doesn’t even know who I am other than a few Twitter comments! I just think it has real value for women like me that want financial peace without pulling their hair out and I really enjoyed reading it. The Amazon links are affiliate links and if you use them to purchase Money Saving Mom’s Budget, this blog will receive a small commission.}