Saving vs. Penny Pinching

I've learned lately about myself that while I am really good at pinching pennies and stretching a dollar I am really bad at actually saving that money and putting it to work for me. I wouldn't call it a "lightbulb moment" it was more of a "duh" moment. I've realized that I can look all I want through books and the internet to try and find ways to "save" money, but if I am not actually putting that money into an account, I am just bargain hunting.

My husband and I are taking the Dave Ramsey "Financial Peace University" and reading Financial Peace Revisited.
One of his first steps is to put money into an emergency fund. This is not new advice to me, I've read it and seen it a gazillion other places before, but I haven't put it into practice. I guess now that we are taking the class together and it is sort of like homework, I feel more empowered to work towards that goal.

I've been getting some extra income doing work for my mother. My father recently passed, and I am working on cleaning out his office and I have been doing some "mystery shopper" stuff to get a little extra cash. This month I plan to sell some more things on Ebay and Amazon and hopefully I will be able to post how much cash I have actually accumulated towards my goal.