My monthly budget is $160 for all my household goods and groceries. I shop sales and use coupons to make the most of my budget. I frequently get things at the lowest price that I can so that I make meals from the freezer or pantry for super cheap on a monthly basis. I took a quick inventory of the items in the freezer and the items in the pantry to see what I needed to use to figure out what I was going to make. It seemed like I had plenty to get through the month so here is what I got.
Aldi $23.53
It was the first trip to the store for the month and it was luckily after a doctors visit so my husband got to do all the heavy lifting. We got some things that we were out of like corn tortillas, turkey, tub butter, pepperoni, cheese and chicken fries. My husband wanted some rolls and bananas so we grabbed those. We also were out of ice cream bars so I grabbed those but I think that they melted by the time we made it home even with the cooler. We got three bags of chips because they are $0.75 at this store and we really enjoy them.
Giant $6.35
I went to get something that was free on my card so I got the Chobani yogurt. My son picked out the free fruit which I used later in the month for my ground orange chicken because it didn't get eaten. We also decided to get the Gerber because it was cheaper at Giant then it would be at Harris Teeter during super doubles.
Safeway $2.83
My husband took my son to get doughnuts and they got 4 of them!! I don't know what he was thinking but he didn't really tell me that there were four but they both ate one on the way home and brought another which I got to eat some of. Of course, I had a gift card for Safeway which he didn't have with him so he didn't use it.
Harris Teeter $6.20
It was the first day of super doubles and I got the free bacon and Life cereal. I also got the Challenge Butter which I thought was going to have a catalina but nothing printed out.
Harris Teeter $27.18
I did a second transaction even though the first one wasn't super successful but the customer service gave me money back which I took off this transaction because that is what the catalina would have come off of if I got it. The cashier also rang up the lettuce as cabbage so I got that money back too. I got the chicken tenders for $3 per bag with two more coupons that were in my stash. I got the Tide for $0.97 each even though I didn't need any because the price was too amazing to pass up. I got the eggs for $0.87 per dozen. The sugar was $0.97 per bag. The Dunkin Doughnuts coffee was $1.97 after sale and coupon so I got it for my cousin. The Roast beef was $1.99 after sale and coupon each. I got the free Life cereal. I got the Starburst jelly beans for $0.79 per bag. We needed the potatoes and they were cheaper at HT then Aldi so I grabbed them here.
Harris Teeter $14.46
I went back to Harris Teeter to get some more deals which were mostly looking for the Cheez-Its because I just printed the coupon from Kelloggs Family Rewards. This store had a few of the other jelly beans that my son and husband were looking for so I grabbed four for $0.79 each. I also had a rain check for free cottage cheese. I decided since I didn't have a lot of things in the cart that I would also get my husband beef jerky which was $2.99 per bag after sale and coupon. There was some meat on clearance so I thought it would be great to make some chili and it ended up being around $1.70 per pound after all discounts which was an amazing deal.
Harris Teeter $7.23
It was my last trip to get deals so I decided to grab three more ground beef so that I could make a huge batch of chili. I also got to make a batch of tacos. It was super tasty and I got to freeze some chili and beef for later too.
Harris Teeter $0
My parents were in town and my dad used my Harris Teeter card to buy lots of wine but things didn't come off because I guess it wasn't entered in correctly. I ended up at customer service and got over $15 credited back so my groceries were free since they would have been $12.62 before taxes.
Wegman's $6.00
My parents were in town and my dad used my Harris Teeter card to buy lots of wine but things didn't come off because I guess it wasn't entered in correctly. I ended up at customer service and got over $15 credited back so my groceries were free since they would have been $12.62 before taxes.
Wegman's $6.00
We got a bag of ice for my shoulder ice machine to cool it. It sadly only lasted two rounds for me to ice my shoulder but at least I could ice it down while on vacation. My husband also got ice cream for my son so that he could have ice cream cones every night. We didn't take any pictures so you just have to take my word for it....my husband didn't even save the receipt and he paid cash so I have to take his word for it but he said that he rounded up to $6 for a donation so it seems to make sense.
Wegman's $17.17
We cleaned out the garage while we were visiting my cousin and we got all of the recycling and so we went and put it all the in recycle machines. You get $0.05 per can or bottle in New York so we got to get a credit on the groceries we were getting...although they paid for it up front but we cleaned out the recycling area in the garage and then the bin that had all the recycling in it. YUCK! I paid for the groceries at the store because they got take out the day before and they were getting take out for lunch when we made it home. I was going to count it under take out but couldn't decide and left it under groceries.
Aldi $22.94
I had to get a few things when we got home from vacation. I got most of the things that we had run out of or that went bad while we were away. I also splurged and got ginger for a new recipe that I was trying. It turned out really well so I am excited to use it for other recipes too!!
Total Retail $319.03
Total Savings $185.14
Total OOP $133.89
This month was a little different because it included Easter and spring break. I worked hard on Swagbucks and ordered a $50 gift card to buy Easter basket stuff. My son had a Target gift card from his birthday and he decided to buy a Nintendo Switch case and clearance Easter candy. I ordered another gift card from My Points to pay for the rest of the transaction. We also used up a lot of Home Depot and Lowes Gift cards to get the other things we needed for the house. We still have a lot of gift cards to use in the coming months to stretch the budget further.
Eating Out
We also got a gift card from My Points for Burger King which paid for lunch after a day of appointments and errands. My son had two gift cards to Sweet Frog so my husband took him there while I went to physical therapy. I think we used our Starbucks gift card to get some deals too but I didn't make a note of the date. We went to Delia's for lunch and my parents paid for it. We went to Seneca Falls and got lunch there which was paid for by the restaurant because they knew my aunt. We got take out pizza and Cheesecake Factory that my aunt paid for while we were visiting. It has been a busy month with lots of special occasions which we tried to plan ahead for and use gift cards that we had or earn with points. At the end of the month, we ordered two Pizza Hut pizzas to pick up after a soccer game and errands on the way home for $11 which was my total eating out amount.
I hope that you had a great month and found lots of great deals!! Maybe not my best month because I didn't pay attention to sales and stock up but every once in awhile, you need a break which I think that I got from shopping this month. Hoping for some amazing deals for next month to stock up again!
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