Did you know that the picture above was taken when I was 8 months pregnant with my youngest son…who turns three in just a few weeks? It was then, three years ago, I wrote my first post for Shop Talk.

Today I am writing my last.

Julie, my Shop Talk partner, has embarked on her own new adventure as she and her family have new opportunities outside of Lawrence and while I still speak on frugal living techniques and practice them just as often as I can, my own personal writing veered off in a different direction well over a year and a half ago. I have enjoyed very much sharing tips and techniques as well as great deals and bargains around town here at Shop Talk.

If you are interested in following deals and bargains aimed at helping you save money on the things you need…because you have a trim budget or because you would rather spend that money on the things you want… a good resource for you would be KansasCityMamas. Kelly is a great writer and one fantastic shopper.

Whether you cut coupons from the weekly inserts, print them out online, or just try to be a savvy shopper, here are a few tried and true tips to remember:

– Plan ahead. The biggest money suck in your budget is lack of planning…on all fronts. Plan what you are going to eat and feed your family for the week so that you don’t make more than one trip to the store…or worse….go out to eat because it is easier than problem solving dinner at the end of the day.
– Use what you have on hand before you go out and by something else. Want to have spaghetti for dinner but all you have on hand is spiral noodles? At our house we call that “Not Quite Spaghetti”.
– Stretch your budget by stretching your ingredients adding rice, beans or other nutritious fillers to your recipes. Cut the meat in a recipe and use beans instead. Americans consume much more than our daily allowance of protein every day, chances are you will not be sacrificing nutritional needs by doing so.
– Stock pile. Don’t hoard, but keep items on hand that you know you will use. When you see these items on sale buy two or three extra. Spending less on them now will save you from paying full price later.
– Finally, remember that a deal does not save you money, no matter how great it is, if you don’t use or wouldn’t buy the item anyway. That is just recklessly spending money.

Thank you so much to everyone that has followed along these last three years and made this a very interesting adventure. I’ve had the opportunity to meet several of you and enjoyed the comments and emails I received from others. Don’t you worry….I’m only a click away. You can still find me writing (though not about deals) at SuperJenn… or more regularly sharing random thoughts on my Facebook Page.

Thanks for everything,
Happy Shopping!