September Middle of the Month Budget Update

I have a monthly budget of $160 to feed my family of 3 each month.  I work my hardest to use coupons and shop sales to make the money stretch as far as it can.  I don't break it down by week or for certain items but I include all of my household goods.  In order to be healthy and make my budget stretch as far as possible, I make many things from scratch and buy more ingredients then food.  Often getting creative with the items that I do get like free salad dressing turns into chicken marinate and free sandwiches are disassembled to make grilled cheese and crispy pepperoni for a chopped salad.  This month I have made rolls, bread and banana bread!! 

Here are the shopping trips that I have made so far this month and how I am doing with my budget.

Harris Teeter $6.22

I got a bunch of things at the store including the free Oikos yogurt and Hormel Natural Choice Snacks.  The Ken's salad dressing was on sale for Buy 2, Get 3 free so it was $2.99 shelf price.  I used coupons and got all of the salad dressing for free!!  The Sweetarts were $0.09 each.  The Barilla Pasta was $0.17 after sale and coupon and it was pretty tasty so I am glad that we got it.  The Natural Deli meat was $1.83 after sale and coupon so not the best price but seemed like an okay deal.  The only thing that I bought without a coupon was the lasagna noodles because I need to use up the sausage and ricotta that I already bought and I don't have any noodles so I bought them for $1.50.

Harris Teeter $0.46

I got the Hormel Natural Snacks, Okios yogurt and Oreo candy bar for free.  The Sweetart ropes were $0.09 each so they were my big spending item.  I got two Suddenly Salads for free after sale and coupon and I should get another $0.50 from Saving Star when it is processed.

Harris Teeter $7.28

I knew that there were going to be some deals this week so I decided to go get things before coupons expired and I got free Chloe's popsicles and ramen after sale and coupon.  I got the Sweetart candies for $0.09 after coupon.  The Bistro Pizza dough was $0.09 each after sale and coupon.  I grabbed the Crunchmaster crackers which were on sale buy one, get one and used $1 coupon to pay $1.24 per bag.I turned this in for $1.50 rebate off two bags of Crunchmaster crackers on Ibotta and $1.00 rebate for Crunchmaster crackers on Checkout 51 so they are free.  My huge spend was the Alexia tater tots which are my husband's favorite treat and they were on sale for $3 a bag with $1 coupon so they were $2 each.  I normally don't buy them until I get them for $1 or under but everything else was such a great deal that I couldn't pass them up.

Harris Teeter $0.20

I went to use up the last of my coupons.  I got two Chloe's Pops and the pizza crust in different transactions and got these yummy treats for change out of my change purse.

Harris Teeter $21.44

I got an Evic special for $1.77 for my son's favorite granola bars and I went to the store and they had exactly 10 so after coupons they were $1.47 per box.  I grabbed the clearance Vitamints and used a coupon for $0.99.  I got two more of the Spree candy for $0.09 each.  The Kool Aid was $0.10 per package and will hold my husband over until I find the next sale on Ocean Spray.  The Hormel Natural Choice was free after sale and coupon (and bonus that I ate them for lunch with my free crackers from earlier in the month).  I splurged and bought the roast beef to make hot roast beef sandwiches with melted cheese over the weekend which was $1.50 after sale and coupon each. 

Harris Teeter $18.06

I went to the store to get the free soup, milk and Old El Paso taco boats and I will get back $1 for the milk from Ibotta and $1 for the taco shells from Old El Paso so they will both be money makers.  I got the two boxes of Fruit Roll Ups mixed package for $0.74 each after sale, coupon and evic coupon and I will get another $0.50 back from Saving Star.  I found some clearance Freezer to Plate meals for $1.49 and I used a coupon for $1 so it was $0.49 and there was a $1 back from Saving Star so it will be a money maker.   There was a deal on the Hamburger Helper which was $1 each and then there was $0.75/3 coupon and $0.75/3 evic coupon so they were $0.25 each and I will get back $0.75 from Saving Star so they will be free.  The Yoplait Mix-in was $0.15 after sale, coupon and evic and I get $0.25 back from Saving Star so another money maker.  The Crunchmaster deals were back in my Checkout 51 and Ibotta so I bought them again for $1.24 each and turned in the $1.50 and $1.00 rebate so I made $0.06 on them.  I bought the Land O Frost Turkey which was $2.49 after sale and coupon.  The Centrum Men's Vitamins were $2.79 after sale and coupon and I will get $1 rebate from Saving Star.  The Advil was the biggest expense at $6.99 after sale and coupon and I turned it in for $2 rebate from Ibotta and $1 from Saving Star but we were totally out so it was a need.  I turned in for $11.25 in rebates so this worked out to a pretty good trip once the money comes back.

 

Total Retail $241.29
Total Savings $187.63
Total OOP $53.66

I am happy with how the month is going so far and I picked up a lot of deals through the beginning of the month and only missed a few things that I wanted to get.  We are almost totally out of soda (with a few root beers and sprites hanging on) and Ocean Spray Cran-Grape so there is a little sadness in our house.  My husband has started to get into the Kool Aid which is go to back up drink.  I am going to work on finding a deal on that soon!!  Other than that we seemed to be stocked up on a lot and I look forward to stocking up on some soup for the cold weather.  I am still hanging on with the rebates and have already gotten $6.25 from Ibotta, $2.00 from Checkout 51, and $6.00 from Saving Star so total of $14.25.

 

Eating Out

We try very hard to maintain a eating out/take out budget of $40 per month.  It adds in nicely to our grocery budget to make a total of $200 for both.  We ate out at the beginning of the month with a really neat Customer Appreciation that we heard about from Paisano's which is a local pizza chain where we normally get cheese steak subs.  They had a large one topping pizza for $4.99 plus tax so it was $5.29 for us to have this yummy dinner.  We went with half pepperoni and half cheese just in case the pepperoni was too spicy but it was great to have both!!  My parents came and took the boys out to lunch at one of my husband's favorite places to get fried chicken so again a special treat with no money out of pocket. Happy to be well under our halfway mark for the month and leaves us something for a special meal later in the month.