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.

April Month End Budget Update and Eating Out

Normally, I start this section with a statement that our family has set a $160 monthly budget for food and household goods for our family. I shop sales and use coupons and anything else that I can do maintain our monthly budget.  I make most of our bread and treats at home so that we have lots of food to enjoy. This month has definitely seen the rise in creative cooking and making things from the freezer and pantry to make the most out of everything we have.

However, our stay at home order has brought a lot of thoughts up that aren't things that I normally spend a lot of time thinking about.  Do I spend too much time at the grocery store?  Now we are trying to reduce the times out of the house so I have been trying to put in more thought to stocking up on the things that we need to last longer which I thought with a little planning, I would be able to do.  Have you tried to shop less often?  This once a month shopping trip goal is hard to do!!

If someone asked me how many times I went to the store, I would have to say that I have a lot of quick trips and a few bigger or longer trips in a month.  I didn't think that it was way more then other people went to the store.  I have come to wonder if people who say they go once a week really only check out at one store so they have four receipts for groceries for the month.

In the last three months, I went 18 times in January, 25 in February and 23 in March.  Going back and looking for 2019, I averaged 19 check outs every month.  After thinking about it, this doesn't mean that I have gone to the store that many times because many times I do more then one checkout for rebates and to use different coupons but I was amazed.

Check out what I got this month below with the price and the picture.  I think that you will see a lot less trips for the next few months but I am going to have to work a little harder on my planning for what we need.  My biggest problem is that I need to focus on the fact that we are going to be spending a lot more money on groceries because 20 trips to the store isn't going to happen to search for the lowest price and stock.

Giant $20.06

I went to the store to get ketchup because it was on sale and we were out which is a big issue in our house.  I try to stay aware of what we have in the pantry and when we are running low but I guess I missed someone taking the last few out because we were down to no ketchup.  I had been to a few stores last month and not had any luck finding any in stock.  I decided that while  I was there that I would pick up my son's favorite chips because they were on sale (still crazy high pricing).  I also got my husband and son's favorite cereal (way more then I ever spend on cereal and one is missing from the picture because it already got broken into and the box recycled). I also grabbed a Cran Grape because I walked by it on the way to the chips and it was on sale (for more then I ever pay but we were almost out).  Forgot to look to see if they had carrots in the store because I hate the way the store is arranged because I come in to the store in the middle and I was wearing all my protective gear and trying to fit all my stuff in my hands and not use a cart.

Target $0

used Gift Card (my husband got at work)

I went there to see if they had any clearance jellybeans.  Yup, this is what my life has come to!! My husband and my son were out of jelly beans and what would be a normal pop in trip with other errands turned into trying to find parking and figure out how I could walk up the escalators with no hands and then walk around the whole store to get to the back without passing out for heat exhaustion with my mask on.  I got barely on sale jelly beans and decided to do self checkout because they only had two registers open and I forgot to enter my phone number for my cartwheel or scan anything for that matter.  Super bummed because of course there was a discount but do you know how hard that is to do with gloves?  Used a gift card and walked away with candy so going to call it a win.

Safeway $0

used Gift Card (earned from Monopoly game)

I went to the store to get ice cream because it was on sale there and I had the gift card we got for free with our points.  Well, the ice cream aisle was empty but I managed to get a few other things that I had coupons for to get free.  I added a few other things into my cart that I thought my family might enjoy with my free gift card but making sure that I left enough for the ice cream at another store.

Safeway $0

used Gift Card (earned from Monopoly game)

I stopped at the second Safeway and they have some of the ice cream but most importantly, the one that my son wanted.  I got three and one mint chocolate chip for all of us to share.

Lidl $37.90

I went with a long list to try to get at Lidl and Aldi which are across the street from each other.  This was the first time that I have had to stand in line to get into the store because they are limiting the number of people in the store.  It was a fairly quick moving line with larger stickers on the ground where to stand and there was an employee at the front cleaning carts so that we could have a clean one when got to the front.  I was glad that they had lots of stock and my very small cart was over flowing with things...mostly junk food.  I got some refrigerated stuff that got wiped down and brought in including three big blocks of extra sharp cheddar cheese, two blocks of mozzarella cheese, two dozen eggs, a package of pepperoni, a package of lunch meat, and head of ice berg lettuce.  I left all the other food in the garage for 5 days because we didn't need them right away.  I got 9 different bags of chips, box of brownie mix, box of penne, graham crackers, bottle of ketchup, crispy rice cereal and two bags of marshmallows, and clearance jelly beans.  I forgot to write down the juice that my husband had liked and I didn't go into the last aisle so totally didn't even see it but I was happy with what I got.

Aldi $52.83

I went to Aldi and waited in a much longer line with so many people and there were no marks where to stand so you had to hope that other people kept their distance.  I had gone through the list and crossed through the things that I had already gotten and made sure that I kept my eyes out for anything we might want or need.  I went a little crazy stocking up on things we use to try to last a month.  I think that was because I really didn't like the line and I don't know how often I am going to be able to do that store.  For freezer stuff, I got three bags of chicken fries and two boxes of ice cream bars (not pictured because I think my husband put them in the freezer first).  For the refrigerated items, I got milk, 2 dozen eggs, baby carrots, two mozzarella cheese, shaky cheese (as it is known in our house), 5 packages of stick margarine, two tubs of butter and sour cream.  I got potatoes because we were almost out of all those ones that I picked up at the Lidl opening.  I got minced onion because I was out for awhile and keep forgetting but I finally added it to the list.  I got 5 bags of chips (in case all the ones that I bought at Lidl weren't enough).  The graham crackers were purchased to compare to the Lidl ones so that my son and husband could pick their favorite ones.  My husband also wanted bananas so I got him two.  I am certainly going to try a different time next time I have to go and maybe a different location but it was well stocked and I got a ton of things.

Total Retail $225.85
Total Savings $116.84
Total Rebates $0.75
Total OOP $108.26

Moral of the story is that I am not ready for once a month shopping but I did try to plan out my trips for the best.  I only three trips out this month.  I didn't plan enough or add things to the list this month like I did last month.  I am going to put the list on the fridge again and add things when I think of them or use them up.

I have planned out my monthly menu plan using the things in the house but I don't often think about the other small things because I normally pick them up during my other shopping trips so I have to put more thought into ingredients in baking and other products we might need for breakfasts and lunches.  I am working on it but I think that three trips out of the house isn't that bad in comparison to previous months.  I stayed well under budget but didn't actually get anything to help in coming months so this low budget will catch up with us in the next few months.  How are you doing??

Eating Out 

We haven't spent anything on eating out this month because we decided as a family that it was safest and easiest if we stayed at home as much as possible so eating out budget was $0.

November Month End Shopping and Eating Out Budget Update

I work hard to stay under my $160 monthly budget every month using sales, coupons and gift cards to get the best deals to stock up on.  Getting to the end of the year means that I know how I am doing for the whole year which has been a little bit higher then I have been in past years.  I am also above the average for both monthly grocery spending and take out spending.  The great news is that I already had a turkey in the freezer for Thanksgiving so I wasn't out looking for the deal on that this month.  The bad news is that the local paper only including Smart Source inserts and the prices of groceries increasing means I haven't been getting as many deals in recent months. 

I just realized that I didn't get the end of the month budget review posted earlier because I kind of missed the month ending.  I know that I was at the store a lot at the beginning of the month and not as much at the end of the month because of the holiday and family visiting.  The beginning of the month posts are broken down in my half post here so I removed the descriptions here but left the picture and the amount spent on each transaction.  All of the transactions from the second half of the month have the total spent, picture and the break down of what I got at the store.

Better late then never for my November shopping totals!!

Wegman's $2.03

Wegman's $2.03

Wegman's $23.82

Harris Teeter $13.09

Harris Teeter $0.61

Aldi $15.04 

Harris Teeter $11.38

Aldi $4.48 

Harris Teeter $5.65

Wegman's $3.04

Harris Teeter $0.61

Harris Teeter $0.61

Harris Teeter $0.61

Harris Teeter $0.41

Harris Teeter $0.61

Harris Teeter $0.61

Harris Teeter $0.61

Harris Teeter $0.61

Giant $2.04

There was a weekend deal to get cereal where they were $0.99 each and I had a coupon for $1 off 3.

Giant $2.04

I had a free coupon loaded for the bread and the cereal was on sale for $0.99 each but there was a coupon if you bought three boxes.

Harris Teeter $9.02

We were out of potatoes and iceberg lettuce so I got them here because they were cheaper then Aldi.  I got the turkey lunch meat on sale and my friend printed me a coupon because I used mine and couldn't print anymore.

Aldi $11.70

I was out of all of this and decided to run to the store to get  marshmallows for Rice Krispie Treats and celery for the Thanksgiving stuffing.  We needed shortening for the deep fryer.  We were out of cheese and bananas so I got some of them.

Target $0

I went to Target and used a gift card for these and got a little Christmas gift with what was left of the gift card.

CVS $0.08

I was super sick and went to the store to get medicine.  They gave me a coupon for $1 off Softsoap and I got a $1 ECB so this was free.  I got $3 back in ECB and I didn't make it back to the store to spend.  I hate doing that but I am so much out of the game that I am going to just call it a win on the one soap.

Harris Teeter $15.35

We went to get soda and we had to go to two different stores before we found the ones that we wanted.  It didn't seem like too hard of an order but the first store was out of all Fanta and the we almost those the second store was out of Sprite but my husband found it on an end cap.

Aldi $0

My parents went to Aldi to get a few things and ended up throwing in all this stuff for us so it was a great bonus grocery shopping trip that didn't come out of my grocery budget.

Total Retail $376.89
Total Savings  $250.81
Total OOP $126.08

Amazing stock up month with 70 boxes of pasta and 40 pounds of flour.  I also got a lot of meat which has been enjoyed and frozen to enjoy later.  I made a bunch of pumpkin and chili to freeze to add to my stockpile.  Love having quick meals in the freezer in case there isn't time to make dinner.

Eating Out

We got Pizza Hut for $8.47 at the beginning of the month and enjoyed some yummy pizza.  We got another pizza later in the month for $8.47 ad then again the next weekend for $8.47.  My parents bought us Chinese food which was a yummy dinner and leftovers for lunch the next day with even more leftovers to use in fried rice.  I took my parents to First Watch for lunch while we were out shopping and they super enjoyed it (looking at the calendar it was actually December but still including it).  Best part is that I used my gift card so it was nothing out of pocket.  Total Spending $25.41 spent for the month

October Month End Grocery and Eating Out Budgets

I work to maintain $160 monthly budget with using sales, coupons and deals to get as much as I can as low priced as I can.  I make as much of our food as I can from scratch and use the items from the pantry and freezer to stretch the budget as far as possible.  Making our own bread, rolls and baked goods means that I am not running out of things and going to the store to get one thing that means that I get more then we need.

We also work to maintain a budget of $40 for eating out.  The total for both is $200 for the month.  It has been getting harder and harder to find the deals that make this budget possible but I work my hardest to get the most deals. 

The trips to the store are detailed below with the amounts and break downs with a picture of everything that I got.  The first half of the deals were broken down here so they are not detailed in this post but still pictured so you can see what I bought for the month.  The bottom has the total retail and the total savings with the total out of pocket spent so far this month.  Check out how I did against my monthly budget and what I got for that amount.

Harris Teeter $8.10

Harris Teeter $10.97

Harris Teeter $1.04

Harris Teeter $9.63

Target $1.52 
after gift card

Aldi $9.19

Harris Teeter $15.42

Aldi $32.01

Aldi $6.12

I went to the store to get a pumpkin with my son so that he could pick it out.  We never actually got to carve it but I hope he will let me cut it up and roast it.  My husband picked out the blackberries to make muffins and the cookies because they are one of his favorites.

Harris Teeter $0

I had a freebie to get this free for Taste and Tell and we really enjoyed it.

Harris Teeter $22.22

This shopping trip might be the one that I point to and say that I bought more then I was expecting but I got the soda on sale for $2.47 per case, the eggs for $0.77 each, the Chewy Granola Bars for $0.67 per box, the Kellogg's cereal for $0.97 per box, and the Muir Glen tomatoes for $0.33 per can which is less then I spent on the Harris Teeter brand a little while ago.  I thought my best best was the free Philly dip which actually ended up being a money maker with the Ibotta rebate for $0.50 back.  I was most happy with the Nivea deal where you bought any two and got $4 off instantly so I got the Shave cream with electronic coupon and the Aquaphor (normally almost $14 shelf value) for $0.10 after sale, coupon and instant savings. Overall it was tons of amazing deals that I couldn't pass up.

Harris Teeter $22.05

The store was out of the things that I went looking for so I looked around and got the popcorn that we were running low on sale for $1.69 per bag since it is hard to find at Aldi anymore.  The potatoes were $2.79 for 8 lbs which is less then the price at Aldi.  I got two Ocean Spray with my coupons so they were $1.18 at this store after coupon.  I got the Quaker Oatmeal for my husband and son for $0.77 each after sale and coupon.  I got the Beyond Burger for my husband to try for $0.99 after sale and coupon.  I got four bags of Halls for my husband because he was sick and they were on sale for $0.97 and there was an electronic $1 coupon.  I also got $1 back from Saving Star and $2 from Checkout 51.  I got the tea for my mom and asked her if she wanted to try the other new flavor but she didn't answer so I bought it and later returned it when she said no and subtracted the amount out of the total spent even though it is still in the picture.

Harris Teeter $3.58

I went to the store to get Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice because the sale started and the coupons were expiring.

Harris Teeter $3.58

Very excited to get a few more!!

Harris Teeter $3.58

Super excited to get these for $1.14 each so I used a few more coupons on the remaining Ocean Spray.

Harris Teeter $3.58

My husband went to the store and got three since they are his favorite.

Harris Teeter $10.79

I got some Cheez Its and Ocean Spray to use up more of my Ocean Spray coupons and my peelies on the Cheez Its to make them $1.75 per box.

Aldi $6.67

I went to the store to get a few things that I was out of including the saltine crackers because my husband was sick and he always ends up with soup and crackers.

Harris Teeter $16.78 

I went to another store to get some Cheez Its and Ocean Spray on the last day of the coupon and to use up my last peelies on the Cheese Its.

 Total Retail $563.13

 Total Savings $378.30

Total OOP $184.83

I was almost $25 over budget for the month but I can't look at what I bought and really point any fingers and something I did wrong.  It is getting harder and harder to find the deals that I used to get with more limited coupons.  I probably need to do better at chasing down the deals.

I work to do the best that I can and I couldn't pass up the Ocean Spray deal to get them for $1.14 each because we were almost out.  The Cheez Its worked out to a great deal and we haven't had them in awhile either so I decided to get them at $1.75 per box and my family has already eaten three boxes.

Did we need soda?  I probably could have passed on it but it was $10 of the whole picture and we all enjoy soda as a treat and drink in moderation so it doesn't seem like a ad choice in my book.  I bought 18 boxes of spaghetti which are going to be on sale in next weeks ad with a new coupon for $0.09 and I paid about $0.20 more per box.  I don't normally stock up when it is over a quarter but we were running low on pasta and it wasn't a horrible deal.

I have looked at the whole year and I have had 5 months where I have been over budget so far this year with the monthly average still coming close so I am waiting to see how the year ends up before I start rethinking the budget or how I am doing things.

Eating Out

We got Pizza Hut take out and went out at Cracker Barrel while on vacation but my parents paid for it because I made all the dinners in the room and packed lunch and snacks.  When we got home, we bought Chinese food for all of us to have for dinner for $40.12.  We got take out pizza after a soccer game but I used points to get it for free.  My son went with friends to SkyZone and he got an ICEE for $3.50 so we were a little over budget for the month by $3.62.  Many months we are under budget but I was over in both categories so overall not a great month.