I grew up in San Antonio, TX, and went to college at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. A few short months after graduating from TCU, I found myself in the Dominican Republic as a missionary and high school math and science teacher. I met my husband in the DR. We married a year and a half after meeting. We continued living and ministering in the Dominican Republic. I learned all I needed to know about meal planning and grocery shopping on a budget…all in a 3rd world country using a foreign currency!

We later taught at a small elementary school in our town, where I managed the hormones of the 6th and 7th grade classes, and hopefully taught them a few academic things too. The year that I was pregnant with my oldest son, I was the principal of our elementary school. Talk about a hormonal roller coaster ride! After his birth, I worked part time from home as a consultant/part-time administrator at the school. After 6 years of ministry in the Dominican Republic, we moved back to the US several years ago when I was pregnant with our 2nd son. At first, I found life in the US overwhelming. Now that the reverse culture shock has worn off, I really enjoy the luxuries and comforts of home.

When I’m not couponing, grocery shopping or blogging, I enjoy date nights, training for and running half marathons, hanging out outside, reading and hanging out with girlfriends!

How $5 Dinners came to be…

Back in late summer 2008, I began couponing. Really couponing. It started paying off immediately! I love to cook and I love the challenge of coming up with a meal that costs under $5. A few weeks before I started the blog, I’d shared with my husband that “this meal was only $3.85, or tonight’s dinner cost about $5.” One night as I was cleaning up the dishes from dinner I thought of the phrase “$5 Dinners”. The website was born and we’ve added hundreds of recipes, cooking tutorials and more here on the site!