First Post - Getting to Know You (Or Us)

Hello. Welcome to Start Out Saving, a shopping/couponing/saving/out-on-your-own-in-the-big-bad-world kind of blog.

This blog is to be run by two 20-something friends - A & K - who are both in different stages of life.

A is a newly-wed whose husband is in Iraq until April and will be graduating from college in May to become a high school history teacher in the fine state of Texas for the rest of her life. (Military and a teacher income - you'd better believe that they have got this saving thing down.)

And I'm K - an engaged-to-be-engaged unemployed college graduate (*yay economy!*) who picked up couponing as a free/cheap hobby, because I had the time.

We're live in different parts of the Northern Dallas suburbs and are constantly out and about all over this fine metroplex. (Most of the time we're at Target, 'cause come on, does it get any better than that?)

Our goal is to help you help yourself. Why pay retail? If you're like us, you have student loans or are entering the world for the first time and can't afford to blow a whole paycheck on "Thirsty Thursday" anymore. (I cried the first time this happened.) The coupons and deals are out there - you just need to know about them.

Sure, there are other coupon web sites - better ones that are more professional and have thousands of readers daily - and we're not trying to compete with them. Most of the time everyone is just posting the same information anyway. But it really is its own community - even the moderators from the other websites often share information with each other and that is how everyone wins!

However, as Dallas is a unique and competitive market for everything (did you know that we only have a handful of grocery store outlets because DFW is the nations number one grocery-store market. Why?) we often miss out on most of the things posted on the other websites simply because we don't have Winn-Dixie, K-Mart or Rite-aid. And coupons that you find in the paper are regional - I can't tell you how many times I've been soooo excited about an upcoming deal that I read about on the interwebs, only to be passed over completely because the coupon in question never came to this area.

Plus we're not moms. (Someday we will be and that will be great.) A lot of the other sites really hone in on that and its kind of off-putting to our generation. We don't need a recipe that will feed 8 and we aren't making 20 school lunches in a week. We just want to be able to afford whats at the mall and stock our pantries. (Or ship food overseas, as in A's case. And man, that boy can eat!)

So with that, we hope that this site helps you on your way to financial freedom - we know that it's a messy place, and trust me, we've all broken down and cried. It is scary. Whether you're just starting out in college, starting your family or looking for something to do in Dallas (how often do you say to yourself "there is nothing to do here!"), we hope that you consider this your place to learn how to deal, spend like a rock star and still have cash left over for your bills (and a bottle of tequila.)

Take care and talk soon -

~K