2 Different Stores:

I was raised in the Island Kingdom of Tonga until I was the age of 10 than traveled with my family to the US, my parents picked Salt Lake City Utah because we are members of the LDS church.  We already had alot of famiy living in Utah so it was a great place to move our family.  I've always been observant, I loved learning about people and places. My favorite Uncle Sione Tomasi whom was more like a father to me, traveled to the US alot.  I'd always questioned him about the US and since we were moving here I wanted to know as much as I could. During one of our conversations I asked what is the most important thing about the US he wanted me to know. He said, there are 2 different kinds of stores in the US, one for the rich and one for the poor. I asked what the difference was, he said there wasnt any difference just the price.  He cautioned me not to shop at the store for the rich, that I could find everything they sold at the poor peoples store. I couldnt believe people would pay more for what they can find in the poor peoples store. That lesson stayed with me my whole life. I love to bargain hunt, thank you Uncle Sione, your advise is what made me what I am today. I coupon, browse garage sales, thift stores and love the 75 percent off sales at all the major department stores (Dillard/Macy's..etc..).  I love to share my bargain hunting ideas with all my friends and relatives, we use coupons to reduce our costs for groceries n household items. I have my newspapers delivered, 8 sunday papers weekly and I paid $159.00 for the year. It saves my family over $700 a month, my grocery bill is only $200 a month. That includes all household items, toilet paper, shampoo, cleaners, etc. Plus our storage is stocked, n we have basically a year supply of everything we need, n sum fun stuff I wouldnt normally stock up on, hair dye, makeup, n every hair product out there. Thru these savings we were able to pay off our credit cards, both vehicles, with the goal of never having a car payment again. Our only debt right now is our Mortgage, n we're hoping to pay that off within 5 years... Our favortite book right now is "Rich Dad Poor Dad!", his advises reminds me of my Uncle Siones advise. "Dont say you cant afford it, say how can I afford it."