Tuesday, March 5, 2019

A photo of my family

Hi there! Thank you so much for signing up for my daily money-saving email newsletter! I love finding and sharing deals and helping you save money. If you're new around here, I wanted to take a few minutes to introduce myself and share a photo of my ...


Hi there!

Thank you so much for signing up for my daily money-saving email newsletter! I love finding and sharing deals and helping you save money.

If you’re new around here, I wanted to take a few minutes to introduce myself and share a photo of my family so you could have a little peek as to who is behind this site (I’m a visual person and I love connecting names with faces!)

My name is Crystal Paine, and I’m the blessed wife of Jesse and mom of three (Kathrynne, Kaitlynn, and Silas). I’m first and foremost a child of God.

I’m also a homeschool graduate, sister to six, and daughter of wise parents who modeled being financially-savvy to me.

My Frugal Journey

My mom was the one who first introduced me to couponing, made me my coupon organization box, and gave me a copy of Miserly Moms. Not only that, but she also put me in charge of the grocery shopping, menu-planning, and cooking for our family of nine for a few years while I was still living at home. Talk about great practice for the future!

When my husband and I first married and were living on a beans-and-rice budget in order to stay out of debt while he went through law school, I thrived on coming up with creative ways to pinch pennies. I didn’t always enjoy barely making ends meet, but I certainly loved the thrill of getting the best bang for my buck.

One way we saved thousands of dollars during those lean years was to keep our grocery and household products budget to $35 a week. I had fun taking couponing to a whole new level — I spent at least a few hours each week becoming proficient in “couponese” and playing the “Drug Store Game.”


About MoneySavingMom.com

In 2006, I briefly shared a bit about bargain-shopping on a former blog of mine… and I was quickly inundated with questions on how we managed to live on such a small grocery budget.

The questions kept coming despite writing a blog series, an ebook, and an online course on the subject of Supermarket Savings.

As time marched on and the questions, requests, and emails continued to pour in, MoneySavingMom.com was born!

It’s been quite the adventure and has far exceeded my wildest imaginations thanks to the many wonderful readers who have spread the word. In less than a year, it quickly became one of the highest-trafficked personal finance blogs on the web. And it just kept on growing!

Thanks in part to the revenue earned from advertising and affiliate sales on MoneySavingMom — and the fact that we stayed out of debt during law school! — we were able to save up enough to pay 100% down for our first home near the end of 2009. We’re committed to giving a percentage of all proceeds from MoneySavingMom.com to life-impacting ministries.


Things I Love

When I’m not bargain-shopping or blogging, I enjoy tweaking recipes and baking, good movies and shows, hanging out with friends, engaging in thought-provoking discussions, cleaning and listening to audiobooks or podcasts, drinking a cup of decaf tea with cream while reading a good book, or spending a quiet day at home with my family.

I have written a few books and blogging and time management courses and love teaching people how to make money through blogging over on YourBloggingMentor.com. I also have a weekly podcast called The Crystal Paine Show.

Most of all, I like to keep it simple, constantly be learning and growing as a person, I like to laugh, and most of all, I love the Lord and my family. And that pretty much sums it up. 🙂

I’m so glad to have you joining me on this journey and can’t wait to get to know you better!

-Crystal

P.S. I post a lot of behind-the-scenes, real-life photos and videos and stories over on Instagram. I’d love for you to join our community there.