Hi J.,
Great move! Too many people live beyond their earnings. I am in control of the money in our home and that is how it has to be because my husbands need to spend. Perhaps you are able to identify who is better with money in your home.
First you will have to review your total spending. Keep receipts and log them. Learn the difference between a treat and necessity. Treats are okay, but identify how often you deserve a treat and stick to it.
As for the credit cards...I came into our marriage with a lot of debt due to being a single parent and a couple of surgeries without insurance. I logged all the credit cards on an excel spreadsheet. Total Balance/Minimum Payment/Interest Rate/Interest in dollars/Actual Payment. I would make one of them my target payoff and pay minimum on the rest of the cards and pay as much as I could on the target. I did that and managed to payoff about $20,000,00 in about 2 to 3 years. I didn't necesarily go for the card with the highest rate, but the most feasible one to pay off. Each time a card was paid off, I kept it paid off and went on to the next card.
As for the grocery stores...I used to do a lot of brand name coupon shopping, but I don't have time any more. If you have the time than do it, otherwise, I shop by individual price. I open my phone calculator and do price divided by quantity on two different items. Some things I must have a specific brand and other things a generic is fine with me. I buy a box of Tide for my clothes and a box of generic detergent for towels, rags, & dish rags. Generic bleach is fine, bleach is bleach. Most generics are not that bad and many of them are a name brand but in a different box. Further, more is not always cheaper. Be sure to compare the price of items that are packaged as two or more to the the individual price.
And my last suggestion is organization. We currently have a mess at home. Hubby cleans like a 2 year old. I have light bulbs in 3 different locations. I never know where to look for something so when it is time to use the item, I just buy more. If I had everything in their proper location, I would know what I had and wouldn't buy duplicates...what a sore subject!
Best of luck! Now I will go check out everyone else's suggestions and see if we can save more.
C.