Just a Month of Groceries, That's All

**I know this is long and I'm sorry I don't have any pictures this time to hold your interest, but especially if you live in Searcy, I beg you to please read all of this.  It's a lot to ask, I know, because your time is your most precious commodity and I do not wish to waste a second of it.  I hope to make it worth your while.  I think it will be.**

I cut coupons.  I "price comp".  I don't like doing that anymore.  I used to get a "high" from seeing the savings but it takes time to search sale ads and find and clip coupons and even the best of us suffer from burn-out sometimes.  I don't know if my days are busier now (doubtful) but these efforts feel more like drudgery.  Why do I do it then?  Because it routinely saves me 20% or more off of my total monthly grocery bill.  That's at least $100, folks.  Who couldn't use an extra $100 every month?  When I don't price comp and clip coupons, we feel it.  I mean, for us $100 goes a long way and makes a huge difference.  I've talked to enough friends and families to know the same holds true for the majority of us.  Over the course of a year, that $1200 is nothing to sneeze at!

And without fail, that "extra" $100 gets spent on something other than the latest Wii game or electronic gadget that we'd just love to own.  This month it will go toward car repair.  Last month it was spent on hubby's tuition (+ an additional $700.  And that's just tuition for just one class!  ...but I digress...).  All of this while still making payments on his student loan and trying to scrape together a down payment for a home of our own.  We literally had $9.51 left in our checking account this past month before Justin's next paycheck cleared.  You get the picture.  (Like I said, many of you can relate all too well!)

Why am I telling you all of this?  Because our city council wants to raise our sales tax by 1%.  It's just a penny, right?  No big deal.  Well, I'm here to explain why it is a big deal.