Article: The Most Important Item on Your Expense List

There is a great guest post on Deal Seeking Mom today from Claire at ChoysterCash.com. The article is here and states that the most important item to focus on every week is the one item you probably shouldn’t have bought. By tallying the random items every week you spent money on but probably shouldn’t have, you can learn to plan better (for example the lunch you bought because you forgot to pack) and learn to really think about every purchase- large or small.

I thought this was a great article as it also applies to couponing. It is easy to get frustrated when you make a mistake couponing, but rather than focusing on the mistake, you can choose to learn from it. I am still irritated about my trip to Walgreen’s last week where I had a $1 Colgate coupon that would have resulted in all my items being free. I didn’t double check the coupon and it had expired. I wound up spending more than I wanted and I actually paid for something I did not need. These experiences are so valuable as they are great ways to learn. Rather than getting frustrated, it makes me more efficient and organized for my next trip. You better bet I will double check my coupons before hitting the checkout line!