Tuesday, April 17, 2018

April Middle of the Month Budget Update

My budget for my family of three is $160 per month.  I shop sales and use coupons to get the best deals for my family in order to stay under budget.  We do a month menu plan which I share weekly on this blog so that you can see what I scheduled eating and a review of what we ate the previous week if there were any changes. My shopping trips are very different then they were before couponing but we have more quantity and variety of food in the house with

I was starting off in a very cautious after going over groceries last month but I knew that we needed to still get a few things at the grocery store including Cran Grape juice and chicken.  I can't believe we have almost gone through all the chicken that I bought in November before Thanksgiving to get the turkey deal but we are getting close to the bottom.  I hope to defrost the freezer before filling it again but I still have a turkey left so we might have to eat that soon!!

The month may have ramped up as it was going so I spent more then I thought for the first half.  Check out what I got so far this month below.  I combined the pictures of some transactions so that you didn't look at 10 pictures of tissues or other things and added the tax I paid together but this is everything that we got for the first half of the month.

Harris Teeter $1.90

My husband wanted to try a banana and pear because they were starting to look good and we needed some lettuce for tacos.  I also got the free Hormel Natural Choice after evic sale and coupon.  I enjoyed the cheese and snacks for lunch on the way home.


Harris Teeter $2.05

My husband really wanted these Starburst Jellybeans which I should have gotten earlier but found on clearance and I got two Reese Egg's for me....which may or may not have been eaten before this picture was taken.  They are my favorite Easter treat!!



Giant $0.90

I went to get the free yogurt, mints and kids yogurt.  I figured that I would get my husband another pear and banana for him to enjoy but he said that he liked the ones from Harris Teeter.



Harris Teeter $5.22

I got a free RXBar and three free Kind Protein bars.  My husband and son wanted Kool Aid and it was on sale for $0.17 each.  There was clearance asparagus for $1.25 which was super yummy for dinner that night with olive oil pasta.  I splurged and got the tater tots for $2.79 and will get $1 back for Saving Star and $1 from Checkout 51 so $0.79 after rebates for my husband and son's favorite.




Harris Teeter $0.06

My husband bought these three Kind Protein bars that were only tax.




Harris Teeter $4.55

When I was at the store previously, I promised my son and husband that I would buy the Screamin Sicilian Pizza when super doubles started so it was $3.99 after sale and coupon and everything else was free so it was only tax.  We enjoyed the pizza when I got home for lunch that day.



Harris Teeter $0.15

Free cheese and gravy mix and paid only tax.



Harris Teeter $0.21

I got free pizza dough, ranch spice dip, and Kind Protein bars and paid only tax.



Harris Teeter $0.15

Free pizza dough and spice mix and paid only tax.



Harris Teeter $1.06

My fun trip with two coupons thanks to Maria for sharing.  I got free juice and $0.49 packages of Oreos for my son.  He was so excited that he "needed" one for breakfast before heading off to school.



Harris Teeter $0.26

I went to a different store and found these Chilly Cows that didn't have a sale tag but ended up on sale and free after coupons.  I also got free olives, Kind Protein bars and Listerine floss.



Harris Teeter $0.08 

These were the only thing in stock in this store so I got them and paid only tax.



Harris Teeter $0.18

All free after sale and coupons and only paid tax.



Harris Teeter $0.82

I got some more free pizza dough and Kind bars.  I bought 4 packets of Kool Aid for $0.17 for our summer stash.



Harris Teeter $0.18

All these are free after sale and coupon and I only paid tax.



Harris Teeter $ 0.25

Everything was free and I paid only tax in two transactions for these things.



Harris Teeter $1.97 

There was a deal on the clearance salads that made them a $0.15 money maker per bag.  I got the free spice mix after sale and coupon.  There was a bag of apples for $1 and bananas for $0.71.  The Kool Aid packets were $0.17 each.



Aldi $16.24

We were totally out of milk and Parmesan Cheese so I got them.  I went for a stock up on salsa and chicken fries.  I forgot the darn corn tortillas!!




Harris Teeter $2.21  

Free eggs and Ranch dip mix but I forgot to get the corn tortillas at Aldi so I grabbed them at Harris Teeter because they were on sale for $1.99.




Harris Teeter $0.15 (multiple transactions)

I got these because they were the only things in stock at most of the stores.




Harris Teeter $0.24 (multiple transactions) 

I went to get some tissues a few times to use up some coupons and get some free tissues but instead of putting pictures of two tissue boxes at a time and taking up lots of room on the post, I put all the tissues in one picture.



Giant $0.37 (multiple transactions)

 Did many transactions at Giant to get the rest of the tissues before the sale was over so I used up all my coupons.  Also had overage from an electronic coupon and went to grab a banana once so it was even cheaper then the other transactions.  I also got free Tic Tac gum with my one printable coupon for free.


Wegman's $16.87

I stopped at the store to get ground beef because I was down to the last two bags and I was at the library program next to the Wegman's.  We are set for the next few months!!



Harris Teeter $0

My son went to the store with grandma and grandpa because grandpa needed wine and it was 20% off.  My son wanted Grape Fanta, Orange Fanta, Sprite and the Gingerale Lemonade (and a Coke for dad and Diet Coke for mom).  I used the coupon and got the Zevia for $0.74 (which had a rebate) and the taco seasoning for dinner that night.  I got my $0.97 sugar because we were down to three on the stockpile!! I loaded the $15 coupon on my card which paid for most of the groceries and my parents paid for the rest.  The taco seasoning rang up incorrectly and I went back and then gave me back money which I put against my next trip to the store.  I turned in rebates for $3.25 on this and a bottle of my dad's wine.



Shoppers $0.08

I went to get my free tater tots and paid only tax in the shelf checkout lane.  Went super easy except scanning the phone was a little hard but it worked like a charm!!  I got $1 back from Checkout 51 for buying them so this was a moneymaker!!




Harris Teeter $6.15- $1.01= $5.14

I went to get more toilet paper.  I realize that I have a problem but it was on sale and there was a coupon and a rebate so I couldn't pass up $0.24 per roll!!  Almost 180 rolls so I am going to try to hold off on buying anymore.


Giant $0.12

I went to the store to get the freebie and I grabbed a banana just in case this didn't ring up easily because I felt like I might need some extra in case there was a weird overage and it rang up perfectly with no problems.  Which was great because I brought no coupons or anything else into the store.  This little bottle was supposed to cost $6.99 normally which is crazy high in my opinion but I am going to enjoy it!



Safeway $0.00

I went to the store to get the free pasta...sadly it said that I was supposed to get Monopoly tickets but I didn't so don't tell my son!!


Total Retail $455.71
Total Savings $394.31
Total OOP $61.40

I think that I did pretty well for the first half of the month and left a lot to get the items that we need to stock up on this month.  Lots of free tissues, pizza dough, seasoning, eggs, cheese and Kind Bars to use for months to come.  I need to put a few more shopping trips in my plan for Cran Grape and Chicken but I still have almost $100 to do it with.


Eating Out


My parents took my son to his favorite restaurant and they paid so we didn't spend any money but he super enjoy it.  He went to Parent's Night Out at the local church so he got to play games, eat pizza and have a blast for free.  We haven't eaten out yet so I still have my $40 budget for eating out available but I don't know how much of it will be used because we have so much going on but we might have something at the Fun Fair at our school towards the end of the month although they don't often have food my son likes.

2 comments:

  1. That's amazing, Alison :)

    I DO think you have a toilet paper addiction though. Didn't you already say 3 times this year that you were stocked until next year? You're going to have to build an addition just to store it, lol!

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    Replies
    1. I really don't know how long our supply will last but the price is right and I opened two packages recently so now I have room for two more in the stack....filled to capacity again!! I do have a problem but I think I know the answer... stop having good deal on toilet paper ;)

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