March Budget Review

I did a lot of overshopping last month so I was on a strict budget this month of little to no spending.  Since I was way over last month, I was hoping to spend between $50-$60 in March.  I had to get a package of pull-ups for nighttime for my little man which I got early in the month at Target.  The total OOP was $7.39.

I made it to the middle of the month without spending another dime.  I was pretty proud of that fact!!  Then, I realized that we were running out of some perishables like eggs, milk and lunchmeat.  I decided that I would use my $10 monthly credit at Giant to get these things and the most exciting thing happened!  A gift card for Giant showed up in the mail for a recipe contest that I entered.  I knew that would spend the $10 credit wisely and not have to pay any money out of pocket because I would use my gift card to pay any remaining money.

With list in hand, I went to Giant to get some essentials to last us through the rest of the month (or at least a lot of it)!!  I didn't have the best of trip (more details here) after having issues with a promotion that Giant was running.  But I used my $10 community credit and my gift card so it was no money out of pocket.

Then, a toilet paper promotion came up at Harris Teeter and I also had a coupon which doesn't happen very much anymore with toilet paper so I went a little crazy.  Cottonelle 12 pack ended up being under $5 each (original price $10.15 each).  I bought two on my card and my mom bought two on her card and we used my mother in laws card to buy two more!!  I waited until the very end of the day so I was super excited that they had stock and that I could get all that toilet paper.  See the original post here.  The total OOP was $30.84.

We made a quick trip to Target where I got another package of Pull-ups and a dozen eggs.  They were on supposed to be on sale for $1.59 but my mom had an issue with her check out so I didn't pay as close attention to my check out and they didn't ring up on sale!!!  I was not a happy camper and I almost headed back to return them but I knew that it wasn't worth the effort to go out of my way (plus I knew that my husband would think I was crazy).  I don't think that the return person would be as upset by my egg return as I was at the fact that the item didn't ring up at the right price. Total OOP $9.45

I had already spent $47.68 for the month so there wasn't a lot left in the wiggle room for the month that I wanted to spend and I knew that we were going to need some more milk soon.  I decided to use the gift card at Giant to buy it so I only spent $1.48 OOP.

It was starting to shape up to a good month with only $49.16 spent for the month and only 4 days left in the month.  I did find a rebate that expired at the end of March for the furnace filters we use which would save $3 per filter.  I was on a mission to try to find them even though that would mean spending an addition (at least) $50 for the month that I wasn't counting on.  Getting a $12-$15 rebate would make it worth it in the long run so I went to Walmart twice looking for the filters and they didn't have them!!! UGH!  I had to find another Walmart near the things that we were already doing and only 4 more days in the month.  Mission accepted!

Ending the month with my purchase of 4 high end furnace filters that will last for the next year.  I have to get the rebate done to make it all worthwhile and cross my fingers that I get the rebate.  Total OOP $70.90

Then, I had a last minute trip to CVS after receiving a $10 ECB from doing a survey online.  I looked at the ad and there was a great deal on Pull-ups!  Really, after buying two this month already at the higher price because I was sure we were done with these but we still need them for nighttime.  I decided to stop fighting it and get the three packages needed for the deal.  They were $10 each.  I used three $2 coupons and my $10 ECB so the total was $15 OOP with tax and I got back $10 to use next time.  I was super happy with my great deal because even without counting the money back, they were $5 per package!!!

Total Monthly OOP $135.06
Total Savings $61.08 (plus $10 giant gift card)

Lower than my monthly budget but more than I had want to spend this month but I am still really happy with the total and what was purchased for the month.  Lots of toilet paper and pull-ups so we won't have to get them again for a long time.  I hope that you had a great month and got everything you were looking for under budget :)

Started my list for somethings that I need for April:

Main Items
Ground Beef
Cheese Its
Butter and Margarine
Vegetable Oil
Olive Oil
Vegetable Shortening
Flour (yup, I bought 10 lbs last month and my mom brought be 10 lbs this month and I am still going to need more because we are running low!!)

Perishables
Ham
Turkey
Lettuce

Hopefully with a trip to Giant, Wegman's and Aldi's, I should have the month under control pretty quickly but it doesn't mean that it will be over :)  As most months go, I find a deal that I can't pass up!!  Happy April!!