When I started couponing almost two years ago, one of the first grocery deals I can remember doing (using Meijer Mealbox coupons) was getting bags of Meijer chocolate chips for $.50 each. I was a little bit of a Nestle snob back then, so I didn’t take as much advantage of that as I would now. Chocolate chips are expensive! And I feel like great sales/deals are rare (and/or I have somehow missed out on them around the holidays where they’re cheaper).

But, we do love chocolate chip cookies in our house. So, I decided to try a tip from Crystal Paine over at Money Saving Mom.

I happened to be at Target about a week after Easter, and some of their Easter merchandise was 90% off. So, I picked up two of these Ginormous Eggs for $.49 each. (They really were pretty big, though hollow.)

Then I broke one up into little pieces.

Oooh, and then I made these…

Yum-O.

Knowing that cheap holiday candy usually contains more paraffin wax than, say, chocolate chips, I decreased the amount of chunks I used. Normally, I use a full 2 cups of chocolate chips in my cookies, but I decreased the amount of chocolate chunks to about 1 to 1-1/2 cups, in order to preserve the consistency. (I’m just guessing that it could change the consistency. I could be completely wrong about this entire paragraph. Except for the 1-1/2 cups. That’s about right.)

The one egg of ginormous proportions gave me 2 or 2-1/2 batches’ worth of chocolate chunks! So, $.25 or less per batch of cookies. YAY!

Tell me…What creative ways do you save money in baking?

So…what do I do with all my cash?

I’m so glad you asked!

I used to have the bills inside the (ugly) bank envelopes, with the titles written in ink pen on the outside. Not too attractive. And not very easy to access, either.

But recently, I was inspired by this post on Kelleigh Ratzlaff’s site. (I don’t actually know her, have never seen her site before this post, and wish I was as amazingly crafty as she.) It’s a tutorial on how to make cash envelopes, and let me tell you, hers are beautiful!

Since I don’t often have time to drop into Hobby Lobby with four children in tow, I did my first draft of cash envelopes with paper I had on hand. (I should also mention that I’m not a scrapbooker, so I don’t have cute patterned paper like I’d LOVE to! Hence the need for a trip to Hobby Lobby.)

(Side note: I have been wildly overusing the parentheses lately!)

My finished envelopes are pictured above. I used some textured cream cardstock, then colors, and then labels I made in Adobe Illustrator. (The labels were printed on the textured cardstock – so you can sort of see the texture under the grey area.)

Here’s a closer look…

And the money fits perfectly in there!

Now, you have to check out this etsy shop with wallets that are made especially for Kelleigh’s awesome cash envelopes! I would SO buy one of these if I had $30 burning a hole in my pocket (ahem, I mean my envelope).

Instead, I’m using my plain ol’ black wallet from days of yore.

But it’s fun to have beautiful things to aspire to, anyway.

*Disclaimer: If you are uncomfortable with transparency about finances, you probably will not enjoy this post.*

Luke and I used to be financial wrecks. We had accrued around $35,000-$40,000 in school loans from attending our wonderful alma mater. We also had a car loan, because you can’t have a car without a loan, right? (*Puke*) AND we believed the bank when they said we could afford to build a new house (that was pre-economic-craziness), so we got a mortgage that we couldn’t afford (probably like a good majority of those with mortgages) – $176,000. We’ve had numerous credit card debts, and medical debts (having 4 babies in 4-1/2 years costs money!). All that to say, we wish we had been counseled a long time ago to do everything we can to avoid debt.

That’s what we are already teaching our young children. We don’t want them to be slaves to their lenders, like we are.

So, PRAISE THE LORD, we have paid off everything but two student loans and our mortgage! We are down to $12,343.57 in student loans and $167,299.09 for our mortgage.

We are eagerly anticipating the moment we can permanently break up with Sallie Mae – slated for this July. The debt snowball will then allow us to pay off the remaining loan, hopefully within a year.

And if we could sell this silly house, we will rent for a period of time, until it’s financially wise to buy again.

Then we’ll be DEBT FREE! I can’t wait!

So, the real reason for this post… (Yup, that was just the intro!)

Many of you know that we are big fans of Dave Ramsey. Part of his financial wisdom involves using cash for purchases. You say, “What? Are we living in the stone age?” No. We are living in the age where credit (and even debit) purchases are just too easy.

You might even say, “Well, I earn rewards and pay off my card each month. I’m very responsible.” Okay. I’m glad you pay off your card every month. And it probably feels good to earn a free hat, or $20, or whatever your lender thinks will keep you loyal to their company.

But I’m not here to talk about what feels good.

I just started using cash in 2010 for three budget categories: groceries, Wednesday dinners (for Family Night at church), and entertainment (i.e. date nights and/or eating out). To be honest, the first month didn’t feel like it made a difference in the world to our budget.

And then I started to realize the implications of using cash.

First of all, cash feels good. Yes, it’s a little awkward to use a slower method of payment than the guy behind me in line. But goodness-gracious, he can just wait two extra seconds. (Harumph!) There’s just something about the feel of cash in my hand. It’s hard to let go of. Unlike my debit card, which actually feels good to swipe.

Cash is also limited. I only take my cash into the grocery store, so if it runs out, it runs out. I can’t spend $5 more than my grocery budget, because I don’t have 5 extra dollars. It hasn’t happened to me yet, but if I get to the end of a transaction and have more due than the cash I have in hand, I will just have to have the cashier take some items off my order. Embarrassing, sure. But imagine all the money I’m not spending that I could have spent with my debit/credit card.

Not only that, but studies show (and my experience affirms) that using cash will cause you to spend less money overall. Yes, you might pay your credit card bills in full every month, but by just using cash you can actually save money.

Let me show you our numbers…

For our family of six, my monthly grocery budget is $300. (Praise the Lord for coupons!)

In 2009, I had two months where I spent less than my budget: $240.39 and $294.04. Every other month I went over. Because it was easy. The other numbers range anywhere from $309.67 to $492.16.

I was over budget by $469.38 in 2009 in the grocery category alone.

With cash, I spent $296.20 in January, $142.50 in February, and $216.32 (so far) in March.

I’ve been under budget by $244.98.

For me, cash is absolutely, without a doubt, so much better for our budget.

I challenge you to try it. Give it three months, and see how cash can affect your money-spending habits.

And if you don’t even have a budget, I urge you to get your finances on track! I already said that Dave Ramsey is great. He’s very practical. Crown Financial Ministries is also important. We actually went through their training first, which gave us a great foundation for understanding exactly whose money we’re dealing with anyway. (Everything in the heavens and earth is Yours, oh Lord!)

If you have a Rite Aid nearby, and have access to two computers/printers, you can get bags of Hershey’s/Reese’s/Cadbury Easter candy for 32.3 cents per bag (when you buy 9). Here’s how…

Choose 9 bags of candy that are manufactured by Hershey’s (including Cadbury/Reese’s), on sale for $1.99 each (Total = $17.91)

Use the $3/$15 Rite Aid coupon from coupons.com (New total = $14.91)
Use 3 of the in-ad coupons for $2 off a purchase of 3 bags (New total = $8.91)
Use 3 of the printable coupons from smartsource.com for $2 off a purchase of 3 bags (New total = $2.91)

So, $2.91 for 9 bags of candy equals $.323 per bag!

I know Easter is about Jesus’ death and resurrection (He is RISEN! He is RISEN INDEED!), but a little candy is good, too!