What do you get in a month for that $160 Budget?

Many of you see the pictures and all of the things that I get in the month but even though they say that a picture is worth a thousand words, I decided to write a list of all of things that I got during the month.  It might be a little easier to see broken down in a big list to see all the things that I get and stay under my monthly $160 budget.  Do you know how much you spend a month on your groceries? 

I was thinking about this after talking to my non-couponing mother because she asked why I have to go to the store every week.  No matter how many times I talk to her about couponing, she just doesn't get how it is different then other people who shop.  Just to take this time to stand up for myself, I don't have to go to the store every week.  I do have to get milk so I do go as often as I need that since it is something that spoils, I normally don't keep more than one gallon in the house at the same time (unless my mother is coming because she is a big milk drinker).

Remember that couponing uses a lot of stockpiling at the lowest price so I use items that are already in the refrigerator, freezer, pantry and stock up on things that are at the cheapest price.  I have an upstairs freezer and pantry for immediate use and a downstairs deep freeze and pantry for those things that are longer term storage.  I try to use the things that are in the house already to plan the menu for the upcoming month and any additional items purchased are saved for future months.  So here is the list of everything that I got in September:

September

Food

Honey Nut Cheerios (12.25 oz)- 3
Honey Nut Cheerios (17 oz)- 2
Quaker Perfect Portions- 2
Quaker Dinosaur Egg Oatmeal- 2
Kellogg's Pop Tarts- 6
Nacho Cheese Tortilla Chips- 2
White Corn Tortilla Chips- 1
Mini Pretzels- 1
Sliced Pepperoni- 1
Annie's Organic Mac and Cheese-8
Annie's Organic Bunny Crackers- 1
Ultimate Hamburger Helper- 2
Progresso Soup- 8
Gerber 2nd Bananas- 31
Marini Yogurt Covered Raisins- 4
Marini Cranberries- 4
Plum Baby Food- 4
Ortega Taco Seasoning- 4
Old El Paso Taco Seasoning- 3
Old El Paso Stand and Stuff Tortilla- 4
Old El Paso Cooking Sauce- 5
Smuckers Natural Jelly- 2
French's Brown Mustard- 3
Heinz Ketchup (20 oz)- 3
Franks Sauce- 1
Tetley Family Tea Bags- 1
McCormick Gourmet Seasoning Packet- 2

Baking

Dixie Granulated Sugar (4 lb)- 2
Aldi's Flour (5 lb)- 4
Pillsbury Bread Flour (5 lb)- 4
Aldi's Baking Powder- 1
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt- 3
Duncan Hines Frosting Creations- 2
Sweet n Low (100 ct)- 2
Nestle Chocolate Chips- 2
Lindt Chocolate Bar- 1
Magic Shell- 3
Vegetable Oil (128 oz)- 1

Refrigerated/Frozen

Ground Beef 80 %- 6 packages (range 1-2 lbs)
Chicken Breasts- 2 packages (about 5 lbs each)
Iceberg Lettuce- 1
String Beans- 0.3 lb
Gallon Skim Milk-3
Land O Frost Turkey Lunchmeat (16 oz)- 2
Dozen Large Eggs-4
Dozen Extra Large Eggland's Best- 2
Kraft Fresh Take- 6
Sargento Prov/Mozz Cheese Slices- 1
Smart Balance Butter- 4
Imperial Margarine- 6
Tastes Like Butter- 4
Yoplait Simply Yogurt- 2
McCain French Fries- 1
McCain Smiles- 1

Non Food

Tide (100 oz)- 1
Advil (24 count)- 6
Foil Muffin Cups- 1
Reynolds Oven Bags- 1
Angel Soft Tissues-8
Pampers Easy Ups- 3
Centrum Flavor Burst Vitamins- 3
Crest 3D White Toothpaste- 1
Dixie 5 oz cups for school- 1

Total Retail Cost $590.65

Total Savings $426.00+ $14.34 refunds= $440.34

Total OOP $150.31

Under budget so I was happy with everything that I got and some interesting stuff that we don't normally get to purchase.  I did have to make a return of one box of Annie's crackers ($2.05 refund) that my family didn't like and three bottles of vitamins ($11.11 refund) that my son didn't like that I purchased last month so there was a little more wiggle room this month with those credits of $13.16 which gave me the flexibility to add some more Gerber items and use up the coupons at the end of the month before they expired.  I had to buy 10 Gerber items to get the $1 and $2 catalina so I bought two of the ones that my son doesn't like assuming that it would be an easy exchange at another Giant but they only had one at the other Giant so I got $1.18 back for one banana.  I always count the credit in the month that it is received so that I don't have to go back and count it against the month where the purchase was made which does make a little more in the budget this month so that gave me an extra $14.34 in refunds this month which gave me enough to come in under budget.