Saturday, January 30, 2016

January Month End Budget Update

With way too little shopping accomplished with the snow storm that shut us down and too much work, I ended up way under budget for the month.  I did get a lot during Super Doubles but I skipped a few days which I was a little disappointed in but my son and I both came down with a sickness so we were fighting it off instead of getting the great deals.  Stocked up on toilet bowl cleaner, laundry detergent, tea bags, hot dogs and cheese but not a lot of other foods.  There are rumors of more super doubles on the weekend so I will see if I end up with a last minute January purchase.

Harris Teeter $12.23
There were a lot of great meat deal with clearance stickers on a ton of meat so I filled up on tons of deals.  I spent more then I expected coming in but got tons more food then I was expecting to pick up.

Harris Teeter $20.36
I used a rain check to get the Lysol toilet bowl cleaner to save over $5.18 on the transaction and a rain check to get a free chocolate bar.  I earned $0.25 on Ibotta for the All Laundry Detergent.  I got free Listerine dental floss, Celestial Seasoning tea, Lipton family tea bags, Lipton regular bags and Old El Paso Taco Shells.  The rest were still great deals!!
Harris Teeter $4.59
I grabbed some more free Celestial Seasoning tea, Lipton tea and Colgate.  I paid only $0.04 for the Barilla pasta sauce which I put in to get a rebate on Ibotta for $0.25 so it was a money maker.  I bought the pie crusts because they were $0.69 for all 4 pie crusts so I thought it might even be cheaper then making them so they are going in the freezer (unless I decide to make a pie).  I got the orange juice to fit off the sickness and splurged at $1 and put in a rebate for $0.25 in Ibotta.
Aldi $6.72
I didn't get to stop at Aldi as I planned for my husband stopped on the way home from work to pick these things up because we needed lettuce and milk.  We needed the confectioners sugar for the frosting and the light brown sugar for cookies.  YUM!
Harris Teeter $19.64
I got in one more trip to get some deals.  I picked up some free Celestial Seasonings tea, Lipton tea bags, Colgate toothpaste, and Grands Biscuits.  I paid $0.04 for the Barilla sauce even though I couldn't turn in the rebate again because it was too soon.  I used a rain check to get the Lysol toilet bowl cleaner and saved $5.18 additional.  I was happy to put two more Jet Dry in my cart at $2.61 because my dishwasher works much better with it and they are shelf price of $5.39 which is CRAZY!!  I grabbed two more All Free and Clear Detergent for $0.99 each (instead of shelf price $5.49).
I paid $1.00 for the Panko bread crumbs and used them for dinner shortly after which is why I splurged because I like to mix them with homemade bread crumbs to stretch them.  I got 6 packages for cheese for $1.50 each but didn't get the catalina for money off the next transaction and totally forgot to check with customer service because the lines were so long!! UGH!!!
CVS -$1.20
I went to CVS to get some hair color for my mother per her request.  I decided to do the deal on the Coke products.  I got 6 cases and used 5 coupons to get free Coke.  I paid $3.80 for the Coke and got $5 ECBs back.  I bought my mom's hair coloring and used a coupon and my ECBs to pay less.  She paid me back for what I spent and the $5 so I subtracted the $5 from this transaction so that I had much less out of pocket thanks to Coke Rewards, Nathalie for giving me the heads up on the coupons and my mom for paying me back for the other transaction!
Aldi $0
My mom picked up some stuff for me at Aldi which I took a picture of on the belt because she is super weird about me taking pictures of all of my groceries.  I grabbed four bottles of $0.99 Molasses (Thanks Nathalie!!! I was going through the store hugging it!! ).  We also got milk, vegetable shortening, margarine, apricot preserves, chicken fries, ice cream bars, caramel bits, oyster crackers, fruit snacks, bananas, and celery.  She also bought me some dish detergent at Target because I didn't know we were going to Aldi but I was totally out of it from all the dishes that we ran.  The total was $26.06 on the items from Aldi.

Aldi $16.54

During the snow days, we finally got out of the house so I took that chance to grab some stuff at Aldi.  We were totally out of popcorn chicken (my husband's favorite to have his buffalo chicken).  My son wanted to use the heavy whipping cream to make ice cream in some ice cream maker so I bought it.  We only had a few potatoes left so I grabbed another 10 lb bag because it was $2.99 this week instead of $3.99 like it has been.  We were low on oil and I know that my son has been enjoying his popcorn and the good news is that it was $1.99 and it has been higher recently.  I grabbed an emergency pepperoni because I wasn't sure how low we were.  I knew that we were almost out of lunch meat and my husband was going to eventually go back to work and we only had a few days of lunch meat left.  I knew that I could get them because I added up the budget and we were way under :)  which was the bonus of getting this post done early with all the snow!!!

Total Retail $373.20
Total Savings $294.32
Total OOP $78.88
       **These totals don't include the value of things that my mom bought for me but only things that I purchased but I wanted to make sure that I shared the picture of the things that I got.  I gave her the 12 boxes of Celestial Seasonings Tea (retail value $35.88) and the bunch of hair color coupons and all their meals while they were here in exchange for the groceries :)
 

Rebates Earned:

Saving Star $4.50
$1/2 Pillsbury, $1/4 Progresso Soup, $0.75 Yoplait Yogurt, $0.75 Old El Paso Shells, $1.00 Rice Krispies- must have been to the person I loaned my card to so nice bonus!!
Checkout 51 $2.00
I put in a rebate for $2.00 off some beer that my dad bought while he was here through Checkout 51 and got that without any money out of pocket.
Ibotta $0.75
I got $0.25 for pasta sauce, orange juice and laundry detergent for $0.75.  I put in a rebate for Ibotta but they said that they couldn't read it so I had to try again because there is no way to fix it.  I contacted customer service and they never responded so I decided to try again for the $2.00 on my dad's receipt which luckily he left here but the deadline passed on the rebate to submit for the receipt so I might have lost the money anyway :(
MobiSave $1.10
I got $0.30 for some bananas that my mom bought and $0.30 for lettuce and $0.50 for milk which are all purchases from Aldi!!  Love that I found some place that does rebate for the already low prices
Total Rebates $8.35

**ADDITION UPDATE **

After making this post, I decided that I would go get the sales at Harris Teeter and use lots of rain checks which was still in January because we got a little extra day.  I used a rain check for the Cheez-Its for 2/$5 (shelf price $4.99), Quaker Chewy Bars 2/$4 (shelf price $2.59), Honey Nut Cheerios $1.97 (shelf price $3.49), and Finish Detergent B1G1 (shelf price $4.39).  The rain checks saved me the following $14.94 + 3.54 + 3.04 + 8.78= $30.30.  I also used coupons to save me a little more on each item!!  The Cheez-Its were $2 each after rain check and coupon.  The Quaker Granola Bars were $1.50 each after rain check and coupon.  The Honey Nut Cheerios were $0.99 each which is way above my normal spending price but my husband said that he needed cereal.  The Finish was $1.10 each after rain check and coupon.
I got a few deals that weren't all rain checks.  The main reason that I went it is to get the chickens for $0.89 per pound which made the chickens about $5 each so I bought 4 of them.  I got the Windex with vinegar for $2, Franks Wing sauce for $0.74, Olive Oil for $6.39, Smart Balance Butter $1.29 and Gerber food for $1 each.  I went crazy and got the Rubbermaid water bottle because my husband lost his at Target last week and they were on sale for 30% off and there was a coupon so I got it for $5.29 instead of $9.
Oops!!!  I left these in the back seat because I didn't want them in the trunk to break.  They were on sale for $2.77 less the coupon so they were $1.77 for 18 count eggs.
Total Retail $541.76
Total Savings $387.24
Total OOP $154.52

Kind of amazed with that huge trip to the store and I stayed under the monthly budget!!  I am excited and I think that I got most of the things that were on my list for February so I am going to have to see what I need to get for the coming month!

10 comments:

  1. Well done! I'm so glad you found the molasses, I wasn't sure they would still have them and I don't think I saw them at my store after the week when I bought them, back in December. And awesome deal on the Coke products!

    Wow, you're going to be doing a lot of toilet cleaning, it looks like, ha!

    Ibotta's customer service stinks, I think. They never replied to me when I had to resubmit a receipt and never got credited for it either. But they do offer awesome rebates. I wish they would stop fiddling with their app, every time I get used to their way of doing things, they change it around. In the meantime, there's still no way to ONLY see the unlocked offers, much less with the newest ones first! It drives me nuts that I have to spend so much time curating this.

    I had put a note to sign up for MobiSave and then never did it. I forget if you have a referral code or not for that one. Will you email me if you do have a code? imperfectlynathalie@gmail.com (thanks!)

    I hope the rumor of Super Doubles this weekend turns out to be true for you!

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    1. The molasses was in the "clearance section" not near the baking which is always confusing but we found it and I bought 4...I almost bought more but I held back. It is almost $4 for the bottle at the store so I figured that it was the same as what I would have spent at the grocery store :)

      I never got the Ibotta rebate after turning it in twice. They couldn't see the rebate on the receipt...well, they should learn to read or make their rebates less complicated because I wouldn't have wasted my time turning it in if it didn't qualify!!!

      I don't think that there is a code for MobiSave for referrals. It is way more limited then the other apps but money straight to pay pal as soon as it is approved so make sure you use an email that you also have a pay pal account with.

      Sadly no super doubles which I would have loved. Everyone said that it came in the email but I didn't get it and I checked all over the websites but only in Carolinas :( Total bummer but gives me way more time to not shop. I really need to make it over there to get the whole chickens for $0.89 per pound and Egglands Best eggs 18 ct for $1.77. Maybe tomorrow while the boys are out at a birthday party...of course I will come up with another reason why I can't do it then but here is hoping :)

      My husband will be cleaning lots of toilet right?! I couldn't pass up the deal with the price and the rain check and the coupon to get them all for $0.45 each instead of the crazy shelf price. I almost got all 8 for the price of one bottle!!! Love when couponing works out so well on things that I hate to pay for :)

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    2. Aagh, sorry Alison, you must be banging your head on the table because I realize now that I must have already asked you the same question about MobiSave about 2 or 3 times in the past few months! I emailed them this morning and they said that they don't have a referral program at this time and that Paypal is still their only way of redeeming the money. I keep on forgetting about that. I remember you said you used the Paypal option to pay at Home Depot or Lowe's... hmm, I don't shop there much when I don't garden and I'm not planning on gardening this season and I never use Paypal. So I wasn't going to sign up but then I started thinking that since it's not like I cash in the money from the other apps very often anyway so I could still sign up and then hopefully one day they'll have another option than Paypal and I can use that at that time to redeem the cash that has accumulated in the app. So, sorry you won't get the referral, though.

      18 eggs for $1.77? Egg prices have been going back up here, I'm not sure what the deal is. I'm probably going to pay $2.49 a dozen at CVS this week only because i have ECBs to use up and there's really nothing else that I need or feel like buying just to redeem ECBs.

      Your husband cleaning the toilet bowls? Yeah, he's a keeper! lol

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    3. Aaaand I fail at reading comprehension because I'm reading the reviews on the app store and the people are loving that the money goes into Paypal right away.... I go back to read your reply and you told me that too! Dang it, I really lack focus these days! Anyhoo, some people are saying that you have to submit your receipt right at checkout or they deny you the rebates for being too late? Is that another Snap by Groupon type of situation? I've stopped using that one because of the lack of good offers and also that specific problem.

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    4. I always got good offers from MobiSave and got the money with no fight...mind you that it has only been a few dollars and I do it as soon as I get home usually but I haven't had nearly the trouble that I have had with Ibotta.

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    5. Okay, I thought that I could go back up and reply to other comment but my computer won't let me do it that way or edit the other comment because it is being mean to me for never shutting it off....no problem on the referral code and asking. I don't know if I answered before but always willing to answer :) I can't remember what I did yesterday so I certainly don't get bothered by answering your questions even if you did ask them before :) If you don't use PayPal to pay for anything then you can transfer the money to your bank account but my husband doesn't like to link too many things to our bank account so it usually my way of getting money out of MobiSave, Saving Star, and Ibotta to pay for stuff at Home Depot, Wendy's and eBay. We have no trouble using up the money without transferring it :) Money is money so as long as it is in my pocket, more the better!! Hope you can get a few bucks back using it too.

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    6. I'm glad I'm not annoying you and that your memory seems to be as bad as mine, hahaha! Yes, you had replied each time. I did sign up and checked the FAQs on the app as had been suggested by one of the reviewers and saw that the offers expire at midnight during the night of Sunday/Monday so I put a reminder on my calendar to upload new offers every Monday morning. We'll see what happens but I'm excited that I have an offer for $0.75 off Post cereals (there is also one in Ibotta so I was going to get yet another box of Grape Nuts for Greg at Walmart this week), and offers for bananas, apples, squash.. of course, typing this right now makes me realize that those offers expire tonight with no guarantee that they'll reappear tomorrow morning so I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I don't feel like traipsing to WM today to save a buck!

      I didn't realize you could use Paypal at Wendy's. That is good news as I'm going to my oldest son's concert this week and tradition dictates that we stop at Wendy's for a snack on the way home so maybe I'll be able to save a little bit! Did you hear that Wendy's payment system was hacked recently, though? This is one of the reasons why I'm like your husband, I don't like my bank account linked to anything. I don't have my Paypal account linked to it, which is why I was hesitant about using MobiSave. But I'll use the money at Wendy's and learn to remember to use Paypal at Home Depot :) Thanks for all your help.

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    7. Hi Ladies,
      Jumping in to add my two cents. My credit union acct. got hacked and someone used my card. Thank goodness it was linked only to my Visa Debit through the credit union. They caught it immediately and put a hold on my card. Just finished getting it straightened out and a new card ordered over the last week. They said it was another Target hack! That's 3 in less than 2 years. Not using my card there ever again - cash only! Then I asked about the Target Red Card and the bank lady checked and said that's not Visa and it allows them access to your acct and if it was her no way she'd have that. Good to know.

      On to the molasses. I had a wave of nostalgia when you talked about buying molasses. When I was younger and my anemia was very bad the Dr. had me taking a tablespoon of molasses in hot water 2-3 times a day. Got to where I really liked the taste of it. lol. And it worked!
      Take care.

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    8. Yikes, Crystal, I'm sorry to hear that! I'm a little confused on how it happened: am I understanding correctly that you used your credit union's debit card at Target and your account got hacked and someone was able to use your debit card (even though you still had it in your possession) and the bank determined that it was a hack that happened at Target? I have a Target REDcard that used to be the Visa card but they just changed it to Mastercard and the PIN + CHIP system, which makes it a pain to use because it's yet another PIN number to remember. This year so far I've only used the gift cards from Swagbucks and the one that I had bought on Target.com. From what I understand, Target has the REDcard Mastercard credit card, the REDcard credit card and the REDcard debit card. They don't issue REDcard Mastercards to new applicants anymore, but all three kinds of card some with PIN+CHIP, which supposedly makes it much harder for criminals to intercept the information when you use it to pay in store, but they can still use the number and security code from the back of the card (if they have them) to shop online in all impunity. I'm not sure how the Target REDcard debit card works... I would assume that you would need to link it to your bank account but I would never do that, personally.

      Anyway, maybe I misunderstood your whole post but it sounds like you got everything straightened out and aren't going to be held responsible for any of the charges, right? That's good. If I were you I'd continue to monitor all my accounts very closely for a couple of months. I haven't seen anything on the Consumerist about another Target hack but the story might break this week. Thanks for the heads up!

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    9. I was freaked out by getting credit cards hacked but I don't even know if there is anyway around it. I have a few government clearances from back when I had a full time job and I got a letter that they got hacked and my information was at risk so no where is safe!! Also just got one from my parents insurance company that all my information was accessed there as well which I don't understand because I am only the medical power of attorney but still it was an insurance company. Not that you can give up being alert but in this world of technology, it is super hard. We only have one credit card which is good and bad but it simplified our life a little especially since I hate using cash. Good luck with getting everything back on track.

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