Middle of the Month November Shopping Update

I maintain a monthly budget for our family of three for groceries and eating out of $200.  I use $160 for groceries and $40 for eating out.  I work hard to shop sales and use coupons to stretch the budget as far as possible. Shopping at the lowest possible prices mean that the items in my pantry, fridge and freezer afford me many months that I am not running to the store to get lots through the month.  This was one of those months where I didn't need to go to the store.

I normally set aside November budget to buy whatever I have to get two turkeys for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Sometimes it requires a $40 or $50 purchase at a store that I don't normally shop at which has me getting more then I think is necessary because I don't know if it is going to be pre-sale or post-sale price or with or without coupons.  This time there were sales for turkeys at two stores for $0.39 per pound with only a $25 purchase.  I already had one turkey in the freezer for Thanksgiving so I was trying to decide on whether to get another turkey or eat something different for Christmas like steaks.  My mom said get a turkey so I did!!

Below are the items that I got and what I spent at each store with a break down of what the different items cost.

Aldi $3.32

I went to the store to return a bag of Honey Crisp Apples that I got.  I got another bag and half of those were bad too.  It is tough to go out of your way to get apples when none of them look decent and it is hard to see into the bag.  I thought about returning the second bag but it seemed pointless.  I threw the second bag in the fridge so that I could cut out the good parts and make them into bread.  I grabbed turkey lunch meat, tub margarine and stick margarine because we were running low on both of them.

Aldi $18.16

We were totally out of cheese, milk and lettuce.  I got the chicken fries and turkey lunch meat just in case because I wasn't sure what we had at home.  I wasn't planning on getting this much but they changed the packaging on the chicken fries so I was a little worried that the product changed too which will be a tough fight with my son since these are the only chicken product that he likes.

Shoppers $0.10

I went to get the freebie that was tasty broth for free especially since I haven't made it for the last few weeks.

Giant $32.40

I was looking at all the deals to get the best price on a turkey.  I know that it is only turkey season to get them cheap so I made a plan to get it on sale.  Giant had Heinz ketchup on sale for $1.88 which we just ran out of.  Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice was $1.88 (limit 4) which I had one printed coupon and one electronic coupon come off.  I also picked up cranberry sauce for my husband (leftovers to be used in some yummy salad dressing).  They had a deal for free pasta which they were continually out of so the manager substituted another one.  I had enough in my cart to get my turkey for $8.27 instead of $31.60 which is almost what I paid for all the groceries instead.

Total Retail $107.85

Total Savings $53.87

Total OOP $53.98

I hope that you are having a good month and have lots more deals to get this month.

Eating Out

We took a family trip at the beginning of the month and we bought pizza at Pizza Hut for $22.40.  We were running errands and stopped at Panera to get some treats for all of ours.  I had a gift card which paid for all of it.  That leaves us $17.60 for the rest of the month.  I also have gift cards so we are hoping to use those for some more special treats this month.