I have not couponed all my life. In fact, I probably started couponing about three years ago. However, I have saved for as long as I can remember.

It all started long ago, when I was born.

I was the first of three children. As I mentioned in my introduceyourself post, my father is from Spain and my mother is from Holland. My parents met in Playa de Aro, Spain, and communicated through letters in various languages. After dating for a while and getting married, my mom moved to Spain. She left behind her family, her friends, and her job to be with my dad. She knew minimum Spanish, and didn't know anyone. She felt very lonely. My dad was working. She started taking classes and learnt more Spanish. My mom didn't feel comfortable shopping at first or leaving the aparment. One does not realize how hard it must be in a country you know nothing about and try to live your daily life. So after less than a year of living in Spain, I was born. She now had something to do.

My parents were never wealthy. My dad worked for the air force and it was enough to get by. My mom decided she would be a housewife and raise me (and later my siblings). Therefore, money was tight for a family of five. 

Ever since I can remember, my mom made every penny count (back in the day it was pesetas). There were times when she wouldn't be able to buy certain things we needed. But we never went hungry. She knew how much my dad's salary was a month, and she had no choice than to make it work. She budgeted all the necessary bills to run the house, and what she had left over for food. She started buying items when they were on sale, and bought cheaper items to make money last longer.

This is were I get my saving skills from. I actually never thought about this until now, but she also helped me realize the price of things which later became me using coupons.

While you are growing up, you never appreciate what your parents do for you. You want your toy, or a candy from the store. I was not able to get those things. And although I didn't know it back then, it helped me shape into the person I am now. For that, I am thankful. I can appreciate the price of items and how much it really costs to attain or get that item.

Even though we weren't wealthy and were on a tight budget, I remember being happy. We still managed to travel to Holland for many summers. Sometimes bus rides, sometimes by car, other few times by plane.

We also had help from family members. I remember being happy to visit my grandparents because they would give us sweets and some pesetas for spending money.

Every so often, whenever there was anything left that month, we would get 100 pesetas (maybe about a dollar) and we would go to the kiosk and buy some candy that would last us the week.

Many clothes we wore were hand-me-downs from other cousins. Then, my sister would wear them. That was another way my mom saved. We as children didn't know any better! (although looking back I have to say some clothes' selections I wouldn't have chosen for myself-lol).

This was the start of what would become me saving and couponing.

All pictures are of me when i was younger.