July Month End Budget Shopping and Eating Out

I wasn't sure how this month was going to go because we had vacation planned for the end so I left a little flexibility in case we needed groceries or more eating out while on vacation.  I have been over budget for May and June so I thought it was going to be the new way.  Couponing is hard to impossible to do now but I am doing my best at once a month grocery shopping where I get the majority of my groceries.  Although with the way that everything started, my shopping trip was at the end of the month and vacation was at the same time.  I was interested in seeing how this month went.

Below are all the shopping trips.  I was only out a few times this month but I got all of the things that we needed for the month.  I just didn't get much to stock up for the following month.  Check out the pictures and the totals of everything that I got for the month.

Aldi $29.74

I went to Aldi to get a few things that I thought we were going to need to make it through the month.  I got a few things that we needed like milk, lunch meat and new Jasmine rice.  My son has decided that he doesn't like either of the rices that we had before so we decided to try this kind and we are super excited to report that he likes it.  My son also declared that he would like apple juice so I got him some and he loved it.  I couldn't find the ice cream my son wanted so I got ice pops and cookies and cream.  I got a few things that were on the list for vacation like the cheese, lettuce, oil and a new garlic salt to take with us.  I also grabbed some more margarine to last a little longer.  I bought edamame and bananas because my husband has been enjoying them.

Target $1.68

I got gift cards to get a bunch of things to order online for pick up.  With the vitamins, I needed to add the Tums to get a $5 gift card back.  I wanted the coconut for the granola.  We needed more sunblock because we were running low on ours. It was a great experience for the Target pickup but we couldn't get everything online.  We had to go into the store to get a new swimsuit for my son but we found one that he liked when we sent him pictures.

Harris Teeter $19.54

I got lots of cereal that were all good deals with sales and coupons.  My son's favorite chips are the Sour Cream and Onion Pringles which were on sale for $0.97 so I got him four which brought cheers when he saw them.  I got a bunch of Kool Aid which should last us through the rest of the summer since the sale was ending and it was about half price.  I was excited to get the new Ortega powder that has 4 packages in the container and it was on sale too.  My favorite taco seasoning for ground beef tacos!!  I have tons and tons of Old El Paso but I don't prefer that on beef so excited to have the option back in the pantry.

Harris Teeter $9.13

There was a Turkey Hill ice cream sale so I grabbed four because I thought that was the limit...only I got home to find out that it was 5.  Oops!  There was a sale on Capri Sun for $2 and an evic coupon for $1 off so it was $1 and these are my son's favorite so I got them for vacation. I also wrote a quick message to Turkey Hill on their website and I got a bunch of coupons so I am super excited to say that next time I need to get ice cream, I will have lots of coupons to use.

Weiss $1.99

I went to the store on vacation because I forgot to pack emergency pads which I woke up needing the first morning of vacation!!   Downloaded the app and a coupon so that they were only $2 after the coupon for just about anything on the shelf.  Yeah for fast thinking even though I had poor packing.

Total Retail $159.76

Total Saving $97.68

Total Rebates $3.55

Total OOP $58.53

I had a very low spending month which was a huge change from the past few months.  The great thing is that we have tons of things in the house but I am always guessing on the things that I need to stock up on because they are going to be out of stock the next time I go to the store.  This month I didn't get a lot of stocking up done so I know that I am going to have a lot of things on the list for August so stay tuned to see how I do with once a month shopping next month.  I hope to be under budget again but I can't imagine that I can do it two months in a row.

Eating Out or Take Out

We got one pizza at Pizza Hut at the beginning of the month and used points to get free bread sticks and our summer reading Book It program individual pan pizza.  It was super tasty and we really enjoyed it.  I mostly enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to cook.  It was lot of food and we got to try the hand tossed and pan pizza together.  My son said he preferred the hand tossed.  Spent $10.59 out of our $40 budget so I was well under budget too with lots of leftovers to eat the next day.