Middle of the Month October Budget Update

I work every month to shop for all of the things at the best price so that I can stock up on the items that my family needs at the lowest price to spread our budget as far as possible.  My budget for the month is $160 per month for all our household goods for our family of three.  I use sales, coupons and any method to get the items that we need for the lowest prices that I can.  I shop at lots of different stores and my shopping may look a little different then a normal trip to the store because of that shopping technique.  Most of our monthly meal plan is already in our house in the pantry and the freezer with a few additions of deals that I get in the month that I work in.

I didn't do the best job this month of writing the receipts into my spreadsheet as soon as I got them but I knew that I was a little over shopping but still well under budget.  Below are the pictures and break downs of all the items that I got this month.  We have a lot of cereal and granola bars now but it was a pretty good month so far.

Harris Teeter $6.30

I got the tomato sauce and soup for free.  I bought the cold medicine to stock up for this winter cold systems since there was a coupon that doubled.

Harris Teeter $2.08

I bought these because my husband seemed to enjoy them as a special treat and there was a $2 rebate on Ibotta so they ended up being a great deal after the rebate.

Harris Teeter $7.76

Super excited for the beginning of super doubles and I got my free canned tomatoes.  We are running low on rice so I decided that I would get the Mahatma Jasmine for $1 since I didn't get it back when it was free.  The ground chicken was $1 each and it took a few stores to find it so I was excited to find it in stock.  The Quaker Chewy Granola bars are $0.74 per box which was a great deal!!

Harris Teeter $3.07

This store was out of a bunch of things but had the right granola bars that my son likes so I grabbed what they had left for $0.74 per box.

Shoppers $0

Another yummy freebie that I ran in and grabbed at Shoppers.  They didn't have the right thing so they replaced it with these.  They were tasty treats for me that I got to have over a few days.

Harris Teeter $1.27

I was excited to get free coffee, Piergoies, and Evol burritos.  The Wewalka pizza crust is $0.50 and the Nellie eggs were $0.49.  

Harris Teeter $1.28

Got more freebies and $0.50 Wewelka pizza dough and $0.49 Nellie eggs because the deals were too good to pass up.

Harris Teeter $0.15

I grabbed these additional coffee pods which are going to be a big gift box for my cousin for the holidays.  Who doesn't enjoy getting something they use which normally cost $8 per box?!

Harris Teeter $3.88

I went out at night with my friend to see if I could find some more things that I couldn't find earlier in the day and I didn't have a lot of luck because everything was out of stock.  I decided to get the tomatoes.  The Muir Glen was on sale for the big can and I got them for $0.67 each.  The other cans were $0.60 each.  I was hoping to make a big pot of sauce and lasagna so I wanted to grab some sauce to make my own sauce so I was glad to get some deals.

Harris Teeter $0.44

I went back to the store to get some deals and saw in my email that there was a $10 off $50 digital coupon on my account and free milk.  I decided to go a little crazy when I had found most of the things that I wanted in stock including some high priced items like the $7.99 coffee and $3.99 cereal.  I added up the price of the items before coupons to make sure that it was over $50 and after coupons and it was still under the $10 after coupon amount so I added the eggs to my order. The coffee, chocolate milk, life cereal and Captain Crunch were all free after coupon.   The Cheerios were $0.75 each, the Frosted Flakes were $0.97 each, Children's medicine $2.99, and eggs were $1.47.  The $10 digital coupon and another digital coupon that came off paid for all my items that weren't free and I paid only tax for all these items worth about $92 retail. 

Harris Teeter $6.21

I went to another store to see if they have any more Cheerios cereal and free Life cereal.  I got these for $1 each box after sale and coupon.  My husband was super excited to have all those Cheerios since they are now his favorite cereal.

Safeway $0

I got another digital coupon added to my account and my husband and son picked it up and we had it for lunch.

Aldi $11.03

I was out of all these items so I grabbed a few things to cover us until I had more time for shopping.

Shoppers $0.28 

Super excited for these deals.  I got the free Lucky Charms, Honey Nut Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  I also got $2 overage in digital coupons.  There was a Friday freebie for the Grown in Idaho Tater Tots which are my son's favorites.  I also got the Orville popcorn with the overage for a treat for my son.  I ended up getting $2 back from Saving Star and $1 from Checkout 51 so it was a great bonus on a trip where I paid only tax.

Wegman's $3.12 + $0.08 + $0.08 + $0.08= $3.36

I went to the store to get lettuce so that I didn't have to drive farther to Harris Teeter. I was willing to even pay a little more so I didn't have to make another stop but I luckily didn't have to because it was $0.99 at Wegman's.  I grabbed the yeast and saw the flour out of the side of my eye and they have already started the holiday sale on flour (limit 2).  I checked out four different times to get all of these groceries super cheap.  I have so much yeast but it is hard for me to pass it up when we get the high value coupons. 

Aldi $14.40 

Next stop of the day was Aldi.  We needed lots of things but I was on a mission to get all my errands done and make it home.  I grabbed what I had written on my list and was super happy that I didn't forget anything.

Harris Teeter $26.64

Maybe my craziest trip of the month but the Cranberry juice was on sale half off so it was $2 each so I grabbed what I could carry.  I got the free taste and tell milk to use in baking.  The ricotta was to make some yummy lasagna with all the things that I already have around the house because it was half price.  I got the Nonni Thin cookies which were $1 each and there was a rebate for $1 each.  It seemed like too good of a deal to pass up.

Total Retail $462.56
Total Savings $374.41

Total OOP $88.15

I have $71.85 left for the month so I know that I will spend it well.  I am looking forward to a rumored super doubles at the end of the month.  I am going to save a little bit of money to spend there but I haven't seen a lot of other deals that I couldn't pass up.  I guess I will see what the rest of the month brings but I know that I am on a mission to clean out the freezer and eat a bunch of things from the pantry before filling them up again.

I have already received back $11.10 in rebates so that is an amazing bonus for the month. I hope that you have a great month so far and enjoy some great shopping.