Middle of the Month September Shopping Update

I can't believe that we are already through the middle of the month.  I quickly put together my list of places I had been this month and updated my spreadsheet to see where I was at against my $160 monthly budget for our family of three.  Below are all the things that I have gotten for the month and the breakdown of the items.

Aldi $17.58

We were near an Aldi that was cheaper then ours and I grabbed a few things while the rest of the family waited in the car. The butter tubs were $0.85 and the sticks were $0.84.  The cheese was $1.45.  The milk was $1.68.  All of these prices were lower then the stores closest to our house.  The chicken fries were $4.59 which I think is the same price as near us but were running low so I grabbed two.

Giant $0.44

I got the yogurt and Ortega seasoning free after sale and coupon with a little overage that paid for most of the Heinz Ketchup which was on sale for $1.88.  Amazing bonus is that I turned it in for Fetch rebate and got 593 points!!! I got $0.30 back from Saving Star for the yogurt.

Safeway $12.30 

The soda was on sale for buy two get three free (shelf price was $6.49 so it is the best price around with the worst selection stocked) and there was a $1 electronic coupon off buying 5.  There was an electronic coupon for a free frozen pizza so I grabbed that too.  I earned $0.50 back from Ibotta for the Frozen Pizza and any item rebates.

Harris Teeter $6.19

There was an evic to get a free yogurt and I used a coupon to save more on the granola bars.  They had a sale on granola bars for $2 but there was an evic limit 4 at $1.77.  I was super excited that we got a coupon for $0.75/2 so four boxes were $1.02 and two were $1.25.  I got 187 points through Fetch for the granola bars as a nice bonus.

Harris Teeter $5.16

I grabbed a few more of the granola bars my son loved at $1.25 each and I got 111 points through Fetch.   I am finally getting close to a $25 gift card through Fetch!!

Shoppers $0.08

Grabbed the two freebies and paid only tax.

Target $0

I went to Target to get bananas mixed berries for my son while he was sick so I preordered to pick them up in the store so I payed for them with pay pal so it was no money out of pocket.

Aldi $19.89

I wrote a whole long list of things that we were out of and hoping the storm didn't take out our power after stocking up on everything that was perishable.  I got almost everything on the list but they didn't have any eggs.

Aldi $1.42

Second Aldi in the day to get eggs.  I just gave up and grabbed them even though they were over the price I normally pay but we were totally out.

Harris Teeter $13.56

I went a little overboard at Harris Teeter but I thought my spending was pretty low for the beginning of the month so I splurged on clearance pork chops, cube steak and sirloin.  I got the cereal for $0.97 each after sale and coupon and should get $1 back from Saving Star.  I got the Muir Glen tomato paste for $0.19 and should get back $0.50 on Saving Star.  The Crescent rolls were free because I had to return ones that were gross so they gave me money back and another one free.  The LaLa Yogurt were free with the taste and tell through their facebook giveaway.

Total Retail $150.88

Total Saving $91.84

Total OOP $59.04

I think that the month has gone pretty well but I haven't gotten a lot of sales yet but we currently don't need a lot of things to stock up because we are pretty well stocked on things from previous sales.  I was trying to get the lowest priced items.  There is a rumored super double at the end of the month so hoping to score a lot of savings then.  

My happiest thing that we have done this month is amazing saving with using gift cards and free money this month.  My husband used Home Depot gift cards to buy stuff for the house and still has some left to use.  I went to Kohl's because I realized that my son didn't have a shirt for picture day and found shorts on clearance for $6 and shirts for $5.  I had a gift card that I already got from My Points and got another one while I was in the store and only spent $11 for 5 items.  I still had two Target gift cards which I used to get new dish brushes and clearance notebooks for $0.07 so paid nothing.  I used the rest of the gift card and Pay Pal to pay for our Target purchase.  Then used Pay Pal for my son's school pictures. Working on using my Swagbucks and My Points to pay for lots more going forward including my new bread machine because the old one broke.

Eating Out

We haven't spent any money on eating out yet this month.  I don't know if we have any planned for the rest of the month but stay tuned.