February Month End Budget Update and Eating Out Total

Each month I work with a budget of $160 for our family of three.  This year I have changed a little bit and I am actually using the rebates back towards my total so that I work harder to get the rebates and because I am now transferring them into our bank account.  We also budget $40 for eating out.  I link the two amounts because we normally spend more on eating out when I don't get as much grocery shopping. The $200 budget is super low but I work hard to make it every month with sales, coupons and anything else I can use.

This month, I decided to make a list of all of the things in my pantry and my freezer even though I had already done the meal plan for the month.  I was a few meals short for the month so I thought that this would help fill the gaps.  I realized that I was super low on meat so I had my eye out for deals.  I went crazy this month with all the deals but I was super excited with all that I got so you will have to check it out below.  There are pictures and break downs of everything that I got for the month and the totals at the bottom. 

Harris Teeter $27.95

It was the last day of super doubles that I made it to and the first day of the month.  I got Ocean Spray for our stockpile for $2.14.  The Bananas Mixed Berry was on sale for $1.50 and there was a coupon so I got $3 off so they were $1 each.  I got the Super Pretzels for $0.09 and Tater Tots for $0.50.  The cheese was $1 which is super tasty for making pizza and other melting cheese.  The Prego was a great deal (thanks Christine) where the one was the Taste and Tell freebie.  The second jar was $0.48 after the sale and coupon. I put in for $3.85 rebates on the pretzels on Ibotta and Checkout 51.

Aldi $15.33 

I went to grab a few things we were out of (mostly chicken fries, tub butter and the shortening) and grabbed a few extras like the garlic salt for $0.99 and the bananas for my husband.  I also decided me needed the Parmesan if I decided to make lasagna which has been in the works for awhile.  I got $0.10 any item Ibotta rebate.

Harris Teeter $3.32

I picked out the tomato sauce which the shelf sign had the same price as the others but it didn't come up on sale but customer service fixed it for me.  I love when they have the tomatoes on sale cheap and we were running low so I was glad to get some.

Harris Teeter $3.32

I went to the other store to get the weekend freebie veggies because the other store didn't have them and I grabbed the diced tomatoes.  They rang up $0.37 each so I got the limit of 12.  I have made the sweet potatoes a few times for lunch and they are tasty but I still have a few left.

Aldi $7.52

We were out of milk and rice and bananas.  This was my second store looking for rice so we were totally out which isn't common because it is a staple at our house.

Harris Teeter $5.10 

I got two ice creams and there was a great rebate that made these an amazing deal.  I got back $9.19 from Ibotta and Checkout 51.  I also used the rain check for the Roasting Mexican Street Corn.  I am trying to decide if I am going to eat this plain or make some chicken tortilla soup.

Wegman's $15.82

I went to Wegman's to get ground beef which I kept some out to make tacos and then froze 5 bags for meals to come.  It actually went up in price so I was a little bummed but I got it anyway. 

Giant $0.05

I went to get my free Chobani yogurt.

Harris Teeter $3.63

I got some clearance steaks and free cottage cheese which I am going to use with the ricotta for lasagna.

 Safeway $0

My friend, Pam, gave me a coupon for free flour so my son and I stopped there and my son excitedly got two tickets for the Monopoly game.  We scanned them into the app and put them on the paper.

Lidl $12.55

I went to Lidl to the grand opening and got a bag, frisbee and chip clip.  I got $0.75 eggs, $0.75 Nacho Cheese Chips, $0.89 Tortilla Chips, $1.19 Celery and $1.00 Oven Ready Lasagna.  I got three bags of potatoes for $1.99 each. Fun new store and I can't wait to find some new favorites.

Giant $0.04

Freebie and used it to make scones.

Safeway $0 

I got another freebie on my Safeway app and we enjoyed it on a busy weekend.

Harris Teeter $15.62

There was a deal to get $2.47 soda so I decided to get them.  I saw the popcorn and grabbed two bags of kernels.  I got clearance sausage which was $1 so I came home and made sausage sauce.  I also got a head of lettuce for $0.99 which is cheaper then Aldi and Lidl.

 Wegman's $12.85

I went to get mac and cheese because I totally forgot when I got the ground beef.  I saw a sign for chicken at $1.79 per pound so I grabbed it too.  Now I just needed to make time to cut it all up and freeze it!!

Aldi $12.58

I went back for another trip to Aldi to get some things that were were low on.

Giant $10.72

I went to Giant to get the bacon that was on sale for $1.99 each pound.  I was told that it was really important to get them so that we could have baked potato soup.  When walking through the store, I saw ground beef for $1.79 so I got that and came home and cooked it all.  I made salsa sloppy joes, chili and cooked some for taco rice.  I was excited to be prepped for the week and get some cheaper ground beef.

Lidl $3.87

I went back to get my free birthday croissant at Lidl which I got when signed up for the app.  I got an extra bag of chips and a big block of cheese because we were totally out.

Harris Teeter $21.61

I went to the store with a ton of coupons and the best deals for the first day of super doubles. I didn't have that much left in the budget but I decided to put together a huge order and try to use the $5 off $25 coupon from Lidl.  I got 6 packages of Fruit Gushers for $0.34 each.  I got the Perdue Chicken $1.09 each.  I got the hashbrowns for $0.50 per bag.  The expensive Perdue chicken was $3.49 per bag for 1.5 lbs.  The ground beef was on sale for $1.88 per pound so I was excited to grab a few of them.  I got the roast beef for $1.99.  The Egg rolls were $0.50 per box.  The Ragu sauce was $0.34 each and I got three tomato and one alfredo.  The best deal was the Scrubbing Bubbles which gave a $2 catalina which printed out before so I used it in this transaction too!!

Harris Teeter $0.03

Something went crazy wrong in this transaction but it was only $0.03 so it was great that I got this all for free.  I had to use the clearance Kool Aid to get above the negative.

Harris Teeter $1.30

I got the Fruit Gushers for $0.34 each and the tater tots for $0.50 each and the Scrubbing Bubbles.  The amazing thing is that I had the catalina from the previous transaction to get all this for $1.30.  I love the roll over catalinas!!

Harris Teeter $1.44

I got the fries for $0.50 each and the Scrubbing Bubbles for $0.99 each with the last of my sad coupons for Scrubbing Bubbles running out.  I used the catalina to get these for super cheap too!! Then super excited to get another one to use on another transaction.

Harris Teeter $2.13

I thought this was going to be the end of my super doubles fun so I decided to get the one thing on the list that my son and husband said they needed.  It is obviously not a real need but they were super happy to get them.  I used the catalina so that it was way cheaper at $1 per box.

Harris Teeter $1.66

One last stop for the month and I got three more bags for $0.50 and my freezer is overflowing.  I also got two free Stonefire Naan which I actually put them in the freezer so later pizzas. Sad for no more catalinas but super excited about all these deals.

Safeway $0

Got another freebie added to the Safeway card so I went to the store to get it.  The women in front of me kindly gave me her monopoly coupons which was an even greater gift to my son.  He loves the monopoly game even though we never win anything.  I also put in an Ibotta for $0.25 for any item.

Total Retail $569.74

Total Savings $391.30
Total Rebates $16.04

Total OOP $162.40

I was totally excited to get all the deals that I got this month and only be $2.40 over budget.  It was an amazing month and I think that I got a bunch of things that will carry us through the next month really well.  I just need to reorganize the freezers to fit things and get at them better.

Eating Out

I can't believe that this month only had one take out Pizza Hut and we used a gift card so there was no money out of pocket.  $0 spent for our total take out this month!!