Middle of the Month Shopping Update

Okay, this month this might be more for me then you but I can't believe that it is the middle of the month.  I thought that I was doing pretty well this month with the monthly meal plan done so I didn't think that there was much more that I need but I was wrong!  We needed a lot and I was ignoring the cabinets as they were running bare.  I made way too many trips to the store for half of the month but the good news is that it is nearly over so one more big trip and I will hopefully be done for the month (and under budget with any luck).

Wegmans $1.27 + $30.74= $32.01

I went to Wegman's with my son to get some more ground beef.  I had some coupons for $3 off $15 and $1 off Health and Beauty and $1 off the cheese shop which I was trying to use. When I was there I found another coupon for the cheese shop so my son did a check out with his cheese.  I found the smallest piece of blue cheese that I got for $1.27.  I got the ricotta cheese for $1.99 which I figured was a good deal for me to make lasagna.  If I get it all made then I am going to have some lasagna soon!!  My husband also needed vitamins so those ended up being $1.79 after store coupon and manufacturers coupon.  The flour was on sale for $0.99 for 5 lbs.  We grabbed two more Cran Grape for my husband and Macaroni and Cheese for my son.

Harris Teeter  $9.44 + $7.26= $16.70

I got three Cinnamon Toast Crunch and two Honey Nut Cheerios.  Under advice from my 6 year old, we got 8 boxes of granola bars because they go very quickly because he likes them.

CVS $6.98

My son was sick so I went to the store and grabbed some medicine.   Got lots of coupons and deals so it was not a high ticket that it would normally be.

Safeway $2.75

My husband took my son to the store to get doughnuts and they brought them home to enjoy.

Aldi $4.70

My husband went to the store to get milk and also got two bags of chips.  The chips are already gone and this is an old picture that I took since I didn't take any pictures when my husband came home (oops!!!).

Harris Teeter $48.23

I made a huge trip to the store and was a little disappointed that I spent so much but I got bread flour which was on sale for $1.77 for a 5 lb bag.  This is the season to get those and since I had to have my mom buy be two 25 lb bags at Sam's Club this year, I know that I need to stock up.  I think that I have 6 bags now and what is left of the last 5 lb bag my mom got.  

We really needed lunchmeat which I might have over bought because my husband took two weeks off around the holidays.  We were also almost totally out of margarine and my husband has declared that Aldi brand changed too much and he dislikes it so I splurged and bought the brand we used to use.  I grabbed Miracle Whip because we didn't move any with us and my husband likes it on turkey sandwiches after the holidays.  I grabbed the 18 packs of eggs because they were on special and we were almost totally out of eggs with my recent splurge of baking sugar cookies.  My husband is a little addicted to this new sugar cookie recipe so I have been making double batches.  I was also at the bottom of the shortening container and needed to refill the Fry Daddy so I figured that $2.87 was close to what I pay at Aldi and it wasn't worth another trip to another store.

My son really needed popcorn because I thought we used the last bag from Aldi (but I found one more in the freezer).  My son has also used all the tissues in the house and my car so I had to buy another box of tissues which I think is mostly all gone now too!

I splurged and bought the toilet paper because we were running low and it always seems to go a lot faster when we have company over the holidays.  I also grabbed three boxes of cereal for way more then I would normally pay and I can't really tell you why but they were a decent deal around $1 per box but we could have done without.  I also grabbed the Crisco butter sticks because I had a coupon and they were on sale.  It is so much easier to bake with them and they were $0.75 each after coupon (don't know if it was a good deal but at least it was easy to make the last batch of cookies).  Seriously thought that I was almost out of honey mustard (which I like on my chicken fingers) and I got them for $0.50 each.  I got home and went to put them in the cupboard and there was one of my favorite brand still in there.  I obviously was doing a lot of impulse shopping with not list and no direction.  I also grabbed two vanilla because it was on sale and I had a coupon (I said that I wouldn't do that and I would start making it because I use so much but of well).

There were two things on my list to get and they were both free!  Free cinnamon hard candy and I used a rain check to get free chocolate because the shelf was fully stocked.  I also got the instant potato packets which I use in my baked potato soup to thicken it (YUM) for free after sale, coupon and electronic coupon.

Last but not least, my mom got addicted to this holiday Celestial Seasonings (which I picked up two years ago free after sale and double coupon) so I bought her these for Christmas which I ended up spending $4.50 for $9 worth of tea....plus it was a thoughtful gift.  Still hoping to catch it when they put it on clearance and get her a bunch more but this is all that I could get since it wasn't the best deal!

Walgreens $17.51

My husband looked online for deals on Coke and found the best deal at Walgreens.  It was 3/$8 which is less than $3 per case.  I had two coupons for $3 off that I "bought" with my coke rewards earlier in the year.  I didn't know how it was going to go because I always have trouble at Walgreens with coupons and deals.  I got the popcorn tin for my dad for Christmas (already wrapped and under the tree).  My husband was totally out of Cran Grape and it was on sale for $1.99 (my buy price).  I got the two off the shelf and asked the sales person if there was anymore in the back.  They said that they would check and he brought three more out.  We took them all...he was a little surprised. 

Total OOP $128.88

The only good news is that this includes gifts for Christmas which really aren't groceries but I am leaving them in there so that I don't have to separate everything out.  I also used the rest of my free rebate card to get some of the groceries so this means that my real money out of pocket wasn't so high.  I did get a few gift cards for Christmas to Target which I promptly went out and spent.  I still have a few to Trader Joes, Starbucks, Panera, Amazon and a local restaurant chain so those will be well spent to offset the cost of Christmas.  Looking forward to starting to add up the year and seeing where I end overall!!  Hope that the rest of this year goes well for you too!!