I'm cooking a lot more than I was before, packing lunches when I go to work (which I realize you don't do, but maybe you could pack one for DH?) to save bucks there, and just being really aware of how much eating out costs! I also only order water when I eat out - soda is expensive (!) with some restaurants charging nearly $3 for a coke! It adds up!!

I've really tried to use coupons, but I've heard that sometimes you almost end up spending MORE money when you use coupons because you cut them for things you don't really need. SO, now I make a list of what I need and THEN look for coupons - because I realized that I really DO cut coupons for things that aren't necessary.

When I do use them, I also look for places that double coupons of course!

What on-line coupon sites do you know of? (I'm usually old school clipping from the paper on Sundays!)

I don't use many coupons myself. I just don't find many that are for products that I use. But here are a few things I do.

I check out the weekly ads online for all the grocery stores in my area (and a few of the retail stores). The stores offer such great deals when they really need to sell a product. Then it's just a matter of being able to store whatever it is until I need it.

My husband and I have tracked/categorized every dollar we spend for many years. It is so helpful to see where our money actually goes. We've been able to make more informed decisions about where best to cut back. There have been many times when we were shocked to see how much money we actually spent on some item or activity over the course of a month or year. And we've been able to adjust our spending to more closely match our priorities for ourselves and our family. We use Quicken to track but I think it could pretty easily be done on any spreadsheet. We save all our receipts and enter the expenditures maybe once a week or so.

I make or prep meals ahead of time. That way it's still possible to fix a meal myself even on days when I'm particularly tired or low on time. I don't spend an entire day cooking or anything like that. I just make extra when I do cook. So if I make a meatloaf, I mix an extra and freeze it raw. Then it just has to be thawed and baked. I also buy veggies when they're on sale and then chop/freeze them. Then they're ready to toss into a dish. They don't even have to be thawed ahead of time. So that saves me money and time and we end up eating better/healthier.

I use inexpensive but healthy fillers in my meals. Carrots and spinach are two of my favorites. I finely shed the carrots and finely chop the spinach and they can be added to all sorts of things (chili, scrambled eggs, marinara sauce).

I love things like stews, casseroles, and stir frys for a few reasons. One thing is that the meat is chopped up - this means I can use less without anyone really noticing. I can add just about any vegetable that I happen to find on sale. Also, many of the ingredients can be prepped in advance (i.e. here's where I use lots of my chopped/frozen veggies).

Jalapeno - That is really impressive! You could start a business organizing people's lives and budgets!