Learning to say NO -- When a deal breaks the budget.

Let's just face it...Couponing is addictive! When I tell people that being frugal is truly fun (hence the name of this blog), they usually don't believe me at first. But as soon as they make that first savings trip to Publix, walk out of CVS with a bag full of freebies, or beat their all-time savings record...they start to understand how much fun saving money truly can be.

I'm sure you've experienced this fun and addicting coupon high as well! You start looking at that savings to spending ratio at the bottom of your receipt on every trip. You start feeling like you can NOT miss a single deal from week to week. You absolutely, no exceptions, will not pay full price for anything. The cabinets in your kitchen and bathrooms are overflowing, not to mention the donation boxes that are full to the brim. You take pictures of your grocery trips to share with your friends on Facebook. ;)

Where do you stop? Is there a limit when it comes to chasing the deals out there? I would say...YES.

This past week's grocery trip is a perfect example. I sat down to plan out my Publix run, and I knew I had less than $15 to spend in order to stay under February's grocery budget. I began going through the list of deals that I wanted to grab, printing coupons, getting excited about that killer Viva Italia sale. I then added up the estimated prices on my calculator to get a general idea of what our grocery bill would be...

I was over by about $10 or $15. I went over the list a million times trying to figure out what I could cut. I pretty much needed everything on the list for meals or staples. It came down to the awesome General Mills sale that was putting me over. I knew it would be a long time before I could get that great of a deal on some of those products again.

But, I figured out how much I was saving versus how much it was putting me over budget. I had to make the choice to not buy the products for the General Mills sale. I had to forgo the great sale, but it was worth it to stay under budget. It was so hard!!!

Sometimes you have to give up seeing that awesome savings number on the bottom of the receipt to grab savings in another way -- because staying under budget and not spending is the best kind of savings that exists. Don't you think?

What About You: What are your thoughts? Do you have troubles giving up a deal? Even if it means you'll stay under budget?