Tuesday, July 5, 2016

End of the Month for June with Epic Fail for the Budget!!!

I had already done too much shopping at the middle of the month (beginning of the month trips here) and then Nathalie from Imperfectly Frugally told me that there was super doubles at Harris Teeter and a bunch of other things that I was trying to stock up on for vacation.  I got close to budget and I was within $1.12 of max budget but I decided that it is the summer time and I have my little man home with me so I don't get a lot of time to coupon unless I use family time on the weekends.  I decided to try something a little different and combine the summer months and see what I can do to limit shopping in July and August until my little guy goes back to school. Let's see if I can swing that!!

Here is the second half of the month shopping which was a little more then I thought was coming.  My monthly budget for our family of three is $160 but I was already at $124.67 for the first half of the month so you can see where this ended up.

Wegman's $22.03

I went to Wegman's and I was a little worried that I was going to be largely over budget.  My main reason for going was to get the ground beef because there meat is the only one that I like because I seem to have a very sensitive nose and taste.  I had to get lunch meat because Aldi's still didn't have turkey and we were totally out.  Our milk was expired and the milk at Wegman's is close or the same to Aldi pricing so I grabbed it to save me a stop.  I splurged on the brownie mix for $1 because it is one of my husband's favorites and we haven't had them in ages....I thought that it might soft the blow on the discussion of the budget.  The funny thing is that this still put me under budget with the use of the Wegman's coupons that they sent me in the mail. 



Aldi $32.10

I went to the store to get a few things for vacation and for the house to stock up for next month including rice which we were totally out of because of my son's recent rice binge.  I figured that this would be enough to get through for awhile but I was wrong because we are already out of cheese!!!  My vacation stock up includes cones because my husband said that one box wasn't enough for three of us to last days (laughing because of course it was).  I also got my husband chips and salsa.




Harris Teeter $0.99

I had a great trip to Harris Teeter to do super doubles and I even threw in some extras because I knew that my coupons and deals were going to give me extra.  I ran through the most amazing meat clearance.  I got lunch meat and pre-cooked chicken.  The menu plan changed quickly to add some of these in and the rest went into the freezer.  My subtotal was $0.02 and the rest of the $0.97 was tax!!!  Super exciting and I had to call my mom as I was leaving to tell her my excitement.  I got lots free with coupon including 3 Dove Men's Shampoo, 3 Dove Men's Body Wash, 4 bags Nut Exactly Popcorn Snacks, Melt Coconut Spread Butter, and 4 Ortega Taco Powder.  There were a few things that I paid for including the Pronto Pasta was $0.18 after sale and coupon and the Land O Frost Roast Beef which was $5.99 with a $3.00 meat coupon so it cost $2.99 and *gasp* I didn't use a coupon because I couldn't find one anywhere!!!  The taco meat was $5.49 but I used a $1 coupon which doubled and there was a $2 or $3 meat coupon so I paid something for them but I can't really figure it out because I had 8 meat coupons for $1, $2 and $3 but I am not sure that they were rung up correctly.  I had a few electronic coupons on the Dove, Uploaded and something else that gave me the overage to pay for everything.  Glad it worked out so well!!



Harris Teeter $5.51- 3.06= $2.45 and $0.08

I decided that I would get a bag of edamame but I guess even though I read the sign, I picked one that wasn't on sale.  I went straight to customer service and returned because I looked at the receipt and saw why my total was too high....half was the $2.99 edamame instead of $1 or something that it should have been.  I got free yogurt, Gatorade Drink, Rev Wraps and Air Wick plug in after coupon.  The Suave deal was a sale, coupon and electronic coupon to get them for free so that means that I can only do it once because the electronic coupons don't usually get added for you to use again.  I got the pasta for $0.18, Country Time for $0.89, and the Stayfree for $0.14 per package.  Overall, a bunch of great deals with the lemonade being one of the most expensive items.

I went to another store to check to see if they had stock of some of the things that I wanted and they didn't.  I was super sad but I got a few yogurts with coupons that were free and only paid tax so I added them to this picture since I did it all on the same day.



Aldi $17.23

Did I really need to go to Aldi again??  Well, we were out of a few things but mostly it was to get things a few more snacks for vacation which we didn't even eat.  We were also totally out of milk which happened to be on sale for $1.99 and oil which was not on sale anywhere.  I got enough potatoes to last us for a few months (hopefully) too since I made the plan to try to not shop too much in July and August. I needed provolone cheese for the roast beef sandwiches...yum!!!



Harris Teeter $36.77

I went for the last time to Super Doubles before vacation to get a few deals.  There was a free bottle of Ocean Spray and Quilted Northern deal for the Saturday only.  I got some limes to make some lime chicken over vacation which was yummy!  I spent too much because of the three bottles of Centrum and Quilted Northern but still saved almost $67 with sales and coupons.  The Fruit push up pops where only $0.50 and then I got the rebate back for $0.75 from Ibotta so it will eventually be a money maker.



Giant $6.59

We went to Giant to get our vacation ice cream- two gallons of Turkey Hill and one package of Firecracker Popsicle (I didn't take a picture).  We had a condo for the vacation and the only item we needed was ice cream.  I explained to my son last time that we could get any ice cream we wanted and it would be cheaper then the three of us getting ice cream at the beach.  He understood because that meant that he got ice cream one or two times a day...even though he still asked for a $5 soft serve on the last day that we caved and bought even after having ice cream all week.  It was a small cone that was huge enough for all of us to share because he couldn't finish it all after eating most of the container of Thrashers french fries :).




Giant $10.00

My husband was down to only a few Cokes left and he found a deal at Giant to get 4 cases for $10 which he said that he couldn't pass up.  I think that we might have a problem when it comes to soda but we basically sit down after dinner to watch TV and enjoy one soda a day so he got 2 cases for him and two for me.  Super thoughtful right?!



Giant $12.50

My husband went back because the sale was ending and he decided that at $0.20 per can, it was a deal he couldn't pass up.  He got four more and another ice cream because although my son said he wanted the vanilla and chocolate, he ate all the one that my husband bought for himself.  One more just in case which we ate part of but not all of before the end of vacation.  Since we were all eating popsicles in the morning as we were packing and leaving, we obviously had too much ice cream but I guess that is what vacation is for and it was cheaper at $2.50 then getting half an ice cream cone on the boardwalk which of course is not something you can get :)


Total OOP $277.59


I might have had a crazy month but I think that it is at an end and I am excited to say that I think that I got a ton of great deals even though I went crazy over budget by $117.59 but I didn't add up how much I save this month which I hope to go back and do sometime but who knows if I will get enough time.  I can't figure out if I am going to try to only spend the remaining budget for July or spread the money over July and August but I guess I will see how July works out.  I feel like other than tissues, milk and produce, we are fairly set for the next little while. I hope to get some great deals in the coming months and make due with what we have one hand but only time will tell because I don't have any menu made up for the month so I don't know how far what we have will go!!

How did your month go??  Did you get as off track as I did with your budget and spending??

5 comments:

  1. Dang Alison, you did great considering that you went on vacation and this includes the "splurges" for vacation AND also some stocking up! Your monthly total seems high to you but it's still probably lower than what I spent :) I'm really giddy over your Super Double trip that only cost you 2 cents (without tax)! How awesome is that?! You are the queen of grocery shopping. I was yelling "I have a Land O Frost coupon!" but I think I clipped it recently so maybe you had already shopped by then.

    I haven't added up all my receipts for the month yet but I need to do that. Greg and our son's food expenses on their vacation won't be added in, I have a different bucket for "vacation food".

    Great job. And yes, it was really thoughtful for your husband to get you 4 packs of Diet Coke too but it's the least he could do after you got him all that Ocean Spray Grape juice last month, lol. Btw, I saw an Ocean Spray rebate on Ibotta yesterday. If you want to absorb your budget overage into July and August, I guess I won't give you a heads-up on the Super Double sales if I see a heads-up about it? Let me know :)

    It sounds like you had tons of fun on your vacation! I gasped when I saw that you spend $5 on one cone of ice cream, not because I would have said no to my own kids (I throw all caution to the wind when we're on vacation!) but because it was just so unexpected from you, lol. But you all got to eat it so really it was $1.66 per person, right?

    I was kind of ticked off at Greg for coming back 1 day early because that made him in range of RaceTrac stations on June 30 and we had 2 free ice cream coupons for RaceTrac that expired June 30... but they were with me in Florida and I'm not driving 20 minutes to the station that has the ice cream "bar" to get a free cone (I don't care for ice cream all that much) so they went to waste. And then I found out that he bought chocolate milkshakes for him and our son every day of his vacation but because he hadn't downloaded the McDonald's app when I told him to before he left on vacation, he didn't get any freebies at all (the app has BOGO coupons for those every week and you also earn punches on a virtual punch card whereby you get a free one after the 5th purchase). His excuse for not downloading it was that iTunes always asks him for his password and he never remembers it so he always has to reset it and it's a "pain in the butt". GRRR. It's not like he could just type his password into his "notes" or anything, is it? Sometimes the man is maddening! But... I guess he was on vacation and, as i said, I myself throw all caution to the wind when we're on vacation so I can't be TOO mad. But I'm still mad :)

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    1. I tried to reply to your comment this morning and my computer crashed so I guess it must have been to much or my computer was editing me!! I know that the month wasn't a total loss because I know that I used sales, coupons and the best deal possible to spend the lowest but I went a little crazy. This doesn't include the Saving Star, Ibotta, Mobi and Checkout 51 but I don't think that adds up. I also seemed to get the best luck because I found a quarter at Aldi's near the carts and someone gave me their cart so another free quarter when I returned it. This morning I found $2.07 at the library so maybe I need to add the other money and see where that gets me ($3.50 Ibotta,$0.50 Mobi Save, $0.25 lettuce). Now I just need to find $170 in spare change. Mission accepted :)

      There was an article in the local paper that said that Virginia was looking at putting the tax on unhealthy drinks. I am totally irritated by this because I don't think that $2 tax on a 12 pack of soda is going to benefit anyone but the local government. It seems that it might also apply to my husband's cranberry juice because it said that the items need to be more then 50% juice and they will charge per ounce but it sounds like the price will practically double it. Let's hope that doesn't go through or I will never be able to afford cranberry juice again...let alone soda!!! Do they have that in Florida yet?

      I love the heads up on the sales because I totally cleaned out my coupon basket and cut all my coupons because you told me too. I am horrible at following the blogs anymore and knowing what is going on because my free time has been spent at work and now summertime with my son. I think that I saved a bundle at super doubles alone even though I know have 6 huge packages of toilet paper and no tissues... I told the family that they are going to be using toilet paper when the last box of tissues runs out!!

      I love that you gasped at the $5 ice cream cone!! It was probably a long day but it was also the last day of vacation and my kid had been super well behaved and didn't beg for things in the store except a weird $14 volleyball (a sport he doesn't even play) which we quickly traded for a $3 golf ball for him to play mini golf with and there were no complaints at meal time, bedtime or otherwise so maybe I was giddy with excitement because I didn't write that before that we had a $7.50 bucket of fries!! Cheaper then going to a restaurant to eat and it was a nice treat after dinner at home.

      Funny that you say that about boys and how they just don't think of those things like the sales and freebies. I guess it is more in our brains then theirs but my husband did put all my mom's passwords in her notes because she always asks him to fix something on her ipad and she doesn't remember any passwords so I can totally relate to that. We couldn't remember the pay pal password to buy something online at Target while we were at the beach so it had to wait until we got home but that is because we had to change the password to something obscure when we got hacked awhile back.

      I think that with the money going out to eat and the money saved not staying in a hotel, I should probably just write off the extra money for the month and start the months fresh for the rest of the summer because of my incredibly low month budget...probably looking back over the last 5 months, I might have under spent by that much so far this year so I guess we will see how that plays out and what my brain finally comes to term with!! I might have to calculate the savings to make sure that I am not tricking myself into thinking that I saved more then I did :)

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    2. Yeah, it's true: you spent so little the other months that you probably broke even this month YTD, when you think of it. So just clean the slate and move forward. It's going to be back to school before you know it so you might want to stock up on lunchbox items anyway.

      We don't have the soda tax here (well, we pay sales tax on it but that's just 7%) and I don't anticipate this passing down in Florida, to tell you the truth, if it was ever proposed. Heavily Republican state (although I guess we'll see what happens at election time) with lots of Tea Party people who don't like the government telling them what to do... our motorcyclists don't have to wear helmets, we're allowed to talk on the phone while driving, our stores still give us plastic bags, we don't have to take our cars for any kind of emission inspection and we're already taxed on pretty much everything since we don't have state income tax. And it's hot so a lot of people are buying soda, including all the theme parks so I seriously doubt that the various lobbyists down here would allow that to pass.

      You know that none of the money is going to go to anything that would actually be useful to reduce obesity. Shoot, cigarettes cost a ton of money and people still smoke even though they're broke! You'll start seeing black market soda sales from out-of-state people, and soda drinkers will bitch but by in large will continue drinking soda. So the only result will be the state enriching itself and it won't solve the problem that they're supposedly trying to solve. If they were serious about wanting to reduce obesity, they'd impose the same sale on ALL foods including fruit since fruit is usually high in sugar, and then make you exercise so many minutes a day or you have to pay more in income tax or something. Can you imagine? LOL. But that's my 2 cents. I'm glad I live in Florida where I can indulge in my Sodapalooza refills while they last. Speaking of which, would the tax also be on diet sodas?

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  2. Considering everything you bought, you still did amazing!
    I'm sure many families spend $270 a week on their purchases.

    You do great and I'm sure you'll get back on track.

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    1. I think that I got a lot for the money so it wasn't a horrible month like not shopping sales and not using coupons or falling off the frugal wagon...just a little turn with vacation on the brain. My husband thought was that it was still less than other people too :) Still there was a massive amount of ice cream purchased that might have been a little excessive!!! Oh well!!

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