Crystal Paine
Crystal Paine is married and the mother of three children (Kathrynne, Kaitlynn, and Silas. Crystal is a homeschool graduate and sister to six. She credits her financial savvyness to her parents.
Crystal's Frugal Journey
Crystal was introduced to couponing by her mom who made Crystal, her first coupon organization box, and gave her a copy of Miserly Moms. Growing up, Crystal was also charged with grocery shopping, menu-planning, and cooking for her family of nine.
When Crystal and her husband first married they were living on a beans-and-rice budget in order to stay out of debt while he went through law school. Crystal thrived on coming up with creative ways to pinch pennies. Crystal claims she didn't always enjoy barely making ends meet, but she loved the thrill of getting the best bang for her buck.
One way they saved thousands of dollars during those lean years was to keep their grocery and household products budget to $35 a week. Crystal spent at least a few hours each week becoming proficient in "couponese" and playing the "Drug Store Game."
About MoneySavingMom.com
Several years ago, Crystal briefly shared a bit about bargain-shopping on a former blog of hers. She was quickly inundated with questions on how her family managed to live on such a small grocery budget.
The questions kept coming despite writing a blog series, an ebook, and an ecourse on the subject of Supermarket Savings. As time marched on and the questions, requests, and emails continued to pour in, MoneySavingMom.com was born! In less than a year, MoneySavingMom.com quickly became one of the highest-trafficked personal finance blogs on the web.
Thanks in part to the revenue earned from advertising and affiliate sales on MoneySavingMom and the fact that Crystal and husband, Jesse stayed out of debt during law school, they were able to save up enough to pay 100% down for our first home near the end of 2009. The couple has now committed to give 100% of the proceeds from private ad sales to Compassion International and Show Hope.