I cook most of our meals from scratch at home and have a meal plan based on what I already have in the house so that we have have healthy home cooked meals every day. I also make our bread, rolls, breakfast foods and desserts. This month I made rolls, bread, banana bread, peanut butter cookies, berry muffins, strawberry bread, blueberry bread, nutella oat breakfast cookies, and chocolate chip cookies. Every bit helps to stretch the groceries as far as I can through the month.
Don't think that it is all bad because we have a budget of $40 for take out and restaurants!! At the bottom, you will see what we used that for this month. I used to not keep these numbers together but it makes a big difference on the amount of grocery money if you spend more on pre-made food instead of groceries so I have now connected them. Hoping that if one is high that the other is low and we stay under $200 for all those expenses for the month.
Below are the stores that I shopped at, what I spent and what I got. For the beginning of the month, those items are described in detail here so that you can see the breakdown if you missed it. The rest of the month is broken down so you know how much I paid for each item. I hope this shows everyone that they can stretch their money just as far I do to provide for their family.
Harris Teeter $6.22
Harris Teeter $0.46
Harris Teeter $7.28
Harris Teeter $0.20
Harris Teeter $21.44
Harris Teeter $18.06
Harris Teeter $8.60
I got a bunch of things on the sale that was on going that I went to last week but I had forgotten to print out another tomato sauce coupon so I was excited to get the crushed tomatoes to make some spaghetti sauce to make the lasagnas to have this week and for the freezer. They were buy 2, get 3 free so they were shelf priced at $2.29 each and I got 10 so they ended up being $9.16 after sale and I used three $1/3 coupons so it was $6.16 or $0.62 per can. I grabbed a few other weekend freebies like the Chobani yogurt and the Hormel Completes. I went home and went through my overflowing coupon basket to get rid of all of my expired coupons and label my new file folders for my coupons and found that I had a coupon for the Chobani that I didn't even know about so I was a little sad to not get the extra money off. I got the two Sweet tart candies for $0.09 after coupon. The three boxes of Hamburger Helper was free after coupons (which customer service had to reimburse me because the electronic coupon didn't work). The Gushers were $0.49 per box after sale and coupon (customer service gave me back the money for the electronic coupon not working). I got the Yoplait flip for free after sale and coupon (customer service reimbursed me for electronic coupon not working). The Welch's fruit rolls was $1.00 after sale and coupon and I turned it in for $1.00 rebate from Checkout 51. I also did a rebate for $0.25 at Ibotta for any item.
Harris Teeter $8.63
I went back one more time to get the Organic Valley milk deal since the last store didn't even carry it and I didn't find it in stock but I did see that they had milk on sale for $1.59 so it saved me a stop at Aldi. I did find a clearance on lunch meat which ended up being $0.89 per package so that was a bonus. I also remembered to check my new coupons and I got three Atkins bars free (one eaten and not pictured). For some reason, the one flavor was on sale and the other wasn't which I didn't realize but the cashier put through a store coupon code to give me the difference so that they were all on sale. I turned that in for $1 rebate from Checkout 51 so they were moneymakers!! While in the bar section, I saw my new favorite Goodness Knows which had $0.75 coupons and they were lower priced at $1.59 so I used the peelie coupon and got it for $0.09 (not something I would normally splurge on but why not). I grabbed the chicken noodle soup as an impulse purchase at the checkout. My husband loves them and I normally stock up when they are super cheap but we are down to three cans left after his last sickness so I figured $0.60 a can was a pretty good price and it might be needed for the next sickness and I certainly don't want to pay the $1.19 shelf price so I got 8 and pulled out two more coupons.
Harris Teeter $5.49
I went to get the sugar deal limit 4 for $0.97 because we were totally out of sugar and I was supposed to make cookies yesterday. I got two cans of Luck's Fruit which was hard to find but they were on sale for $1.50 and I had $0.60 coupon that doubled so it cost $0.30 and I put in a rebate for $0.40 each so those are money makers and there was a rebate for $0.25 on any item. I grabbed three more Atkins bars which were free after coupon and $1.00 back from Checkout 51 which reset. I decided to add the egg sale for $0.77 when I saw the rebate for $0.10 on Checkout 51. I am getting $1.10 back from Checkout 51 and $1.05 back from Ibotta.
Aldi $0
I went to Aldi with my mom and she kindly paid for all these groceries which was a total of $52.75. Obviously this would have put a much bigger hit to the budget so probably the main reason that I am so far under this month. Of course, I wouldn't have gotten all these things either but we still needed a lot of it.
Giant $0
My mom decided that my husband needed his Cranberry Juice so she went to the store to buy him some. I had to make her put one back because I couldn't take the price which she spent which was $3.06 after taxes. She bought one!! Both my husband and son have finished half of it already!
Total Retail $337.59
Total Savings $261.21
Total OOP $76.38
My parents also both separately bought treats for the soccer team. My father bought bags of Kettle Corn and my mom bought fruit snacks and juice boxes so we are all set for bringing snacks to the game when it is our turn with no money or thought from us. We have soda on our list but haven't seen it on a good sale yet so I will keep looking. Hoping you had a good month and got lots of great things for you and your family to enjoy too!! I already have enough in the house for next months meals so here is hoping to get lots of great deals to stock up in October.
Total spent for the month is $17.19
I got money back through lots of rebate sites. I got back $7.55 from Ibotta and $5.35 from Checkout 51 and $6.00 from Saving Star. That is a total of $18.90. It wasn't as high as last month but it is still a lot of money back for my normal shopping. I just used my money transferred to my Pay Pal to pay for my son's school pictures so ever bit helps to take off other parts of my spending.
My parents also both separately bought treats for the soccer team. My father bought bags of Kettle Corn and my mom bought fruit snacks and juice boxes so we are all set for bringing snacks to the game when it is our turn with no money or thought from us. We have soda on our list but haven't seen it on a good sale yet so I will keep looking. Hoping you had a good month and got lots of great things for you and your family to enjoy too!! I already have enough in the house for next months meals so here is hoping to get lots of great deals to stock up in October.
Eating Out
I think that we did pretty well this month with eating out. We got Paisano's Pizza during their customer special which was a nice treat at $5.29. We grabbed Little Caesar's Pizza one night after spending so much time at the pool with our friends that dinner would have been rushed and my son was starving after swimming for 3 hours straight. It was $5.30 and we all ate it for dinner. My husband went out for lunch with a work friend and got pizza (do you see a pattern this month) and he paid cash. He said it was $6.60 but I have to take his word on it because I don't have a receipt or credit card charge (insert eye roll that I have to interrogate to get the information).Total spent for the month is $17.19
I got money back through lots of rebate sites. I got back $7.55 from Ibotta and $5.35 from Checkout 51 and $6.00 from Saving Star. That is a total of $18.90. It wasn't as high as last month but it is still a lot of money back for my normal shopping. I just used my money transferred to my Pay Pal to pay for my son's school pictures so ever bit helps to take off other parts of my spending.
I love your end of the month reports, lol. So cool! Can your mom come shopping with me too? hahaha. I just realized that if my Daughter blogged, hers would be "OOP $0. Dad paid for this, mom came to visit and took me to Aldi and paid for that." Rinse and repeat. LOL
ReplyDeleteAnd also "but I have to take his word on it because I don't have a receipt or credit card charge" made me cringe and laugh at the same time. I HATE it when Greg forgets (or doesn't want to bother getting) a receipt. GRRR. I have set up all our credits cards to send me an email alert any time a charge it made past a certain point. For some of them they accept $1.00 as the lowest amount for which they'll send an alert, but others it's $10, which is annoying. Still, that has really helped me, plus the fact that he's made a lot of progress and now gives me probably 99% of the receipts he "owes" me.
I wonder why you had so many problems redeeming your digital coupons! Customer Service must know you really well by now!
I hate it when I come back from a shopping trip and find a coupon that I could have used! Publix will usually accept it if I go back with my receipt and they can see that I hadn't used it but they don't attach the coupons to the specific items on the receipt (which I actually like!) unless it's store coupons so I don't bother going back unless I didn't use any manufacturer coupons in the original trip. Thankfully, these days, it doesn't happen much at all.
I continue to be amazed at how little you guys spend on eating out. First off you rarely eat out, but I can't fathom spending less than $10 on 3 people. But it's true that your son isn't a teenager yet. My son would eat the whole pizza if I left him, but then again Greg and I don't stop at one piece either. Do you supplement the pizza with other foods that you have at home when you get it? Like do you make a salad or a side dish? We spend way too much on eating out, good grief, but since we all love food and eating out is a good way for us to relax and enjoy visiting with friends and family, I don't see that going down. It might if I really loved cooking and entertaining at home but I really don't, lol.
One last question: did you not buy any other produce than the grapes and potatoes in the last picture? Do you guys not like fruit and vegetables?
Lets see if I can hit all the points in your message starting at the bottom because I have to scroll up to see it all ;) I had blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and green beans in the freezer. We also had lettuce in the fridge along with some zucchini that my mom got from a neighbor's garden. My mom brought salad mix, tomatoes, grapes, strawberries, one peach (only my husband likes them), one apple (it was a new kind to try), and few other things earlier in the month so we had somethings that are more like leave behinds that my parents grab everything in the fridge and I have to figure out how to make it work with meals that I am making. I always figure it out and use whatever we have on hand!!
DeleteMy mom loves Aldi even though she hates grocery shopping. She is not a fan when I say I have to go to Harris Teeter because of the coupons and the time involved but she will happily take me and throw down $40-$50 at Aldi. They bought me groceries when I was in college and I guess now I just take it because they are trying to be nice because I am making them food for 4 days so they are getting me the next stuff that I need but I obviously barely ever spend that on what I make them so sometimes I feel bad but they like doing it so I stopped fighting against my "I am grown up" feeling but they also like buying my son junk food which I won't always buy so it is spoiling him too at the same time.
I thought of you when I wrote no receipt from the husband. I was going to write your name in () but resisted!!! LOL! I said how did lunch go today...good. How much was it...like $6. I said how much was it... $6.60. I said if I ask again are you going to go higher. I don't have a problem with what you spent but I do need to write it down. He said no you don't I paid cash! UGH!
Harris Teeter just changed their system again with the checkouts and it has affected the digital coupons coming off. When I follow the blogs, it seems like some customer service desks are telling people that they can't get them when they use coupons but it is really just some weird computer glitch that they can't explain. I know all my customer service people by name at my old Harris Teeter but there is new one by the new house and I haven't learned anyone's name but I try to address them with the name on their name tag and be polite so hopefully it is working. I seem to be getting my money back.
I don't do the best job with the catalina coupons going back into my organizer because they don't double and aren't usually worth too much money (sorry to you and all FL residents) but that is what I found as my extra coupon. I would go back other times but the item was already free so it would have gone through with the cashier for an extra $0.50 off but hard to sell at customer service when they look at the receipt so I didn't want to push my luck. I did well without it and didn't really enjoy that yogurt as much as the others anyway but I ate it for lunch today.
Hope I hit everything :)