The Importance of Planning

I really enjoy being spontaneous, however, I'm finding that spontaneity is not always the best thing for saving money. I am leaving to go out of town tomorrow with the worship team from my church and did not plan out exactly what my family would eat while I was gone when I was doing my meal planning for this week. My hubby and I briefly discussed it tonight and headed to Wal-Mart to get some staples for meals he can make. Although I had coupons for some of my purchases, I spent way more than I wanted to. Our bill was $67 (although that included a new hairdryer since ours no longer works), which is over half of what I paid for groceries and toiletries for the whole month of January. I guess it's true that "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail." Take a little extra time this week to scan your grocery ad and match up coupons (or visit Becky over at Nickels-n-Dimes for ad matchups and a printable list. Her site it totally awesome and has been really helpful to me.) and plan your meals out accordingly. The little extra planning is worth the big amount of savings!!!