Mid-Month Budget and Shopping Update

I felt like I was having a really slow month and then it ramped up!!  I got a little caught up in some sales and couldn't get my act together all at the same time so I had a few trips.  Sadly, I wanted to make it back another time but there wasn't enough time to make it happen.  How has your month gone so far??

CVS $0.18 and CVS $0.13

Confusing but I got the free Essence Body Mist on my CVS card with my medicine and then I got another one on my husband's card and it cost $0.05 more.  Who knows what happened but I got to get them and only pay tax so they will make a nice little gift.  I didn't even think about taking a picture because it was just a little bottle...sorry!  You can see it in the next picture.

CVS $0.48

I went to the store as the snow was starting to come down because there was deal I promised to get my mother in law for my father for his Christmas present.  I know it sounds silly but she asked for suggestions and I found them on sale at CVS and let her know.  She just had foot surgery and isn't getting around as much so I got to go in and grab them with a free Essence Body Mist.  My couponing friend told me that I need to scan my card and get a few roll of Rolaids so I got them too!!  Got to use lots of my ECBs from Thanksgiving and my mother in law is going to pay me back too :)

Aldi $38.92

I am a super lucky Aldi shopper.  I had no idea what was on sale and didn't even check the flyer online but I knew that I needed milk since we had been out for a few days while there was a yucky snow storm.  I knew that we needed some but I didn't want to buy it if we were just going to loose power like we always do....jokes on me because we didn't loss power.  I headed to the store as soon as the storm passed and it was the day that the chicken was on sale for $1.49 per pound.  If I made it earlier, I would have bought more but there were only two packages left.  We got a ton of the normal stuff like nacho tortilla chips, pretzels, butter, milk and pepperoni.  I grabbed a head of lettuce because we were supposed to have tacos.  I added another 10 pound bag of potatoes (even though I already have two at home) because I can't pass up $1.99 for the bag!!!  I was also really excited to see the popcorn there because we were nearly out and it was cheaper then everywhere else for about $0.20 and I didn't have to make another trip. 

CVS $0.00

I love when I have ECBs and there are deals that come up to buy something that I normally wouldn't pay $6.29 for like these TUMS.  They were on sale for $3.99 so I used a $1 printable coupon and $2.99 in ECBs to pay nothing out of pocket and got $3 ECBs back.  I wanted to go back and buy two more bags but by the end of the sale came before my time allowed me to get back.  I have a little longer to spend my ECBs because I rolled them into a new deal so I am excited to see what I can get over the next few weeks.

Harris Teeter $6.46 and
Harris Teeter $8.18

I had tons of evic offers and zvr coupons so I broke this out to two transaction on the same day to make sure that everything worked and it did!  WHAT!?  I never get that lucky because something always falls through through the cracks or it only comes up on one kind/flavor and I pick the other one.  I was super glad to see the oatmeal on sale because my husband just used up the last of his and forgot to tell me!  UGH!!  A couponer's nightmare to have to buy something last minute.  It all worked out okay and I got a bunch of great deals.  Probably went a little crazy with my purchases getting things that I didn't need but it is hard to pass up a good deal and in some cases they were money makers and even gave back Saving Star in addition!  I think that I get $1.75 back in my Saving Star account but they haven't cleared yet so I don't know if I calculated that totally correct.

Giant $1.63

I had my $10 credit which people were having a lot of problems with this month but I was super excited to get it because I had to get the deal on the Ocean Spray at $2 each.  It is the lowest pricing that I have seen in awhile and my husband drinks through so much of these that I can't keep the stockpile full.  I was super excited to get a $0.50 u-scan coupon off one bottle of the Cran-Grape too!  I got a Giant Canola oil which was on sale for $0.50 off and the u-scan added a $1.50 so I got it for $2 instead of $4.  We don't have a back up container and the half price deal was a little too good to pass up even though I should have gotten another bottle of Cran-Grape.

Giant $1.54

I sent my husband back to get one bottle of Cran-Grape with the u-scan to get the great price but the sad part is that only gets you one bottle at a time.  Who can pass up on that deal?  Well, we couldn't and my husband went into the store to get the papers so he took the opportunity to grab one at the great deal.  I didn't take a picture but I think that you can figure out what it looks like from the above picture :)

Harris Teeter $1.33

I grabbed some more coupons and went back to Harris Teeter to get some deals that I couldn't pass up.  I had some great money makers and coupons that I didn't know I would ever use and I got some great deals.  I had a buy one, get one free on the shave gel so I got two more which I donated to NVFS because we don't use.  There is nothing better then getting some for free to share with others.  I sometimes pass on the deals but I thought that this would be a really good donation.  I got a great deal on the Venus shaver which got wrapped up for my cousin for Christmas.  She understands the strange presents that she gets come from the heart even if a little weird :)  Of course, the evic zvr coupons didn't come off so I had to get the customer service people give me back the credit for $5.1 cash so this was the total after I my money back.

Harris Teeter $0.36

I got a great deal on some more of the same things and the evic zvr coupons didn't come off this order either but I got it the next time I went back to the store so I got all this for pocket change after my discount.  Isn't that great deal on walking out with this much?  Plus, I got two Axe and Venus shaver for Christmas gifts .  My son is really into the snowflake Ritz so I was glad to grab a few more since he has already finished one box!!

Harris Teeter $1.17

I made one last trip to the store to get more of the Quaker Oatmeal for my husband.  One of them had a coupon on it to get a free Muller yogurt when you buy 2 Quaker products.  I bought a few of the money makers to cover the cost.  I had one more thing that I was going to get but I had my son with me and I couldn't remember what it was so I just grabbed a bottle of cranberry ginger ale for Christmas dinner instead because I needed a little bit more to cover the overage and it was $1.  The total was mostly tax and got me a bunch more of the deals!!

Total Retail $328.50

Total Savings $268.12

Total OOP $60.38

How has your month been going?  I think that I did pretty well so far but there are a few more things on my shopping list including:

Green beans

Zucchini

Cheddar Cheese

Dinosaur Oatmeal

I hope to get everything and stay way under budget but I guess we will see how it goes with company in the house for a week so wait for the update at the end of the month to see how it went.  Hope you all have a happy holiday!!!