Saving Up to Purchase Lightroom

I love great deals, saving money with coupons and coming up with easy ways to save money in general.  But like most busy moms, I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to clipping coupons or driving to multiple stores to get the best deal.  Instead, I'm trying to find a balanced approach that doesn't take a lot of time, but helps me save money.

So I've decided to combine my love for saving money with my love for creativity.  I'm going to track the amount I save to help me reach my goal of saving $118.89 to purchase Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4. 

I love photography and have wanted to get Lightroom 4 for a while now, and while I could just purchase it, I'd love to use it as a goal for saving money.

Yesterday, I took advantage of the deal Target had on diapers (purchase two large boxes get a $20 gift card), together with a coupon mailer they had recently sent me and the February P&G brandSaver. Clipping these coupons took me all of five minutes.

With the coupons alone, I saved $4.75.  I also saved money using my Target REDcard (saving 5% per transaction) of $3.89.  I've decided to hold off on claiming that I saved the $20 with the gift card as I'll wait until I use it to actually make a purchase before adding to my savings total.

My total savings so far is $8.64.