The first penny I ever pinched

I've always thought about starting a blog but never actually got around to doing it. I want to thank my college prof for making it a requirement for the course I'm currently taking (hope you're reading this Erin).

But enough of me, lets get to the meat of the matter. Having worked retail, food, and service from the age of fifteen, I've gained what I consider to be an above average understanding of the actual value of products and services. I now suffer from the inability to pay full price for anything!

One of my first jobs as a kid was working at the grocery store down the street from my house. As I got to know the people I worked with, they let me in on secrets regarding how to save money on food. This resulted in (drum roll please ......) THE FIRST PENNY I EVER PINCHED. The butcher I worked with, told me how meat was priced and marked. He explained how when new meat comes in, stuff on the shelves was automatically marked down regardless of the expiry date. So on Sundays when our truck came, I'd go talk to John about what was worth buying and end up saving thirty to fifty percent of the original price... for perfectly good meat!

Since then I've always developed and maintained a relationship with the butcher at my local grocery store, I move around a lot so I know a lot of butchers.

At that my friends is the story of the FPIEP. This Blog has been setup for the sole purpose of educating my fellow consumer on how to be smart shopper when it comes to the things we need so we can spend more on the overpriced things we want. It's not about being cheap but being smart.

So if there's a topic you'd like me touch on, feel free to leave a question or comment.