Hello!

I guess I ought to start properly and introduce myself. My name is Christi. I'm 28, married to B for 6 years and have two great kiddos (both boys - and yes, I know we will have our hands full)! J is 2 and is at the point where he is talking almost constantly. We understand him most of the time, & when we don't, nodding seems to work sufficiently (hopefully we aren't unwittingly agreeing to buy him the whole set of Thomas trains... so far, so good). C is 6 months old, sitting up on his own, playing with toys, chewing on everything and completely enamored with his big brother. We've got a happy little family and live in a small-ish Texas city that we love.

B and I both work full time, & the kids are at a GREAT day care that we love (J sometimes even asks to go to "school" on the weekends - I see how we rank on the fun scale!) - but this great place costs a pretty penny. Not enough that it would be worth it for me to stay home, but enough that we are looking for ways to save and be able to live comfortably within our means. We have some credit card debt, partly due to a few not-so-smart choices & partly due to things around our 1970's-era house breaking unexpectedly (ahhh, joys of home ownership). Our goal is to work on eliminating the debt completely and to make lifestyle choices that prevent us from accumulating any more.

That's where the frugal living comes in to play. I've always loved a bargain (ask B, who teases me when I excitedly add up our savings after shopping trips) and grew up going to garage sales, but have never focused on really trying to live frugally as a whole.

My goal with this blog is to keep track of my efforts to live frugally in as many ways as possible - from meal planning, clothing purchases, decorating our home, gift ideas and more. I'll let you know about any discounts, sales or coupons I come across - I'm going to be on the hunt! I'll also try to have contests with chances to win great freebies (who doesn't like free stuff? Plus, free=frugal, right?) Hopefully I'll be able to help you with some frugal ideas, & I always love a good tip - so send them my way!

I'm looking forward to starting down this path to frugal living - thanks for joining me on the journey!