My family of three budgets $160 per month for all of our household goods which includes food, cleaning supplies and more. Pretty much anything you buy at the grocery store gets put into this and we buy lots at the grocery store. In order to stretch my budget, I shop sales and use coupons to get the most things for the cheapest price. I have been couponing for 9 years and have learned to only buy the things that my family will eat and stock up at the lowest price to use later. This means that my shopping trips look a lot different then other people's trips because I am purchasing the items that are at the lowest price and very infrequently buying things we need for that week.
I did a quick inventory to see how the pantry was looking to see if I was running low on anything and I started with flour and sugar to see if there was enough in my baking cupboard. I found extra in another cupboard that I had squirreled away because there wasn't enough room in the winter when I stocked up but I put the month of the expiration on the top so that I can use the "oldest" first. I have 14 five pound bags of flour in the cupboard and 7 bags of sugar. I did a quick count on the pasta and I have 30 Bucatini and 45 Spaghetti and a few other boxes of shapes... okay like 25 other boxes of pasta. I have Mahatma Organic Rice in a container and I have 4 two pound bags as back up. I have lots of salad dressing, hot sauce, soy sauce and more in my pantry so I am plenty read for a slow shopping summer.
I have been at the store a lot at the beginning of the month and then there was a drop off because I was working for two weeks and then it was summer so I had a helper that doesn't like to go grocery shopping but likes to have all the things from the trip. Sadly summertime is hard because my son is home and we keep a busy
schedule of other things and it is hot to leave groceries in the car so I
am frequently traveling with ice packs for even granola bars. If we are going to run out of food and then he might let me back to the store!!
All of the pictures below show the items that I got for the month and what I spent on the transactions. The transactions from the beginning of the month have a breakdown and more detailed description
here. The purchases in the second half of the month have more details on what I spent on each item. The monthly total spent and retail value of the items is listed below.
Harris Teeter $7.88
Shoppers $0.13
Harris Teeter $1.99
Harris Teeter $6.82
Giant $1.40
Shoppers $0.06
Safeway $0.18
Giant $0.02
Shoppers $0.32
I went and grabbed the free ice cream bars and got the overage on the second coupon so I grabbed a milky way and only paid a little bit. The cashier freaked out a little when it went negative and I added the milky way but she let it go through so I walked out with ice cream that my son and I enjoyed on the way home and for most of the next week. I turned this in for a rebate back for any item from Ibotta for $0.25.
Harris Teeter $1.52
We needed lettuce so I grabbed that and I saw the clearance bananas so I got them too. I knew that my husband would eat one or two and the rest would go into bread and they were $0.44 so it would have been the same buying two in the regular section. I went to get the free bread and the free Planters Peanuts from my taste and tell. I turned them in for a rebate for $1.25 from Ibotta and then also got over 1,000 points on Fetch to use towards my first gift card.
Giant $0.03
I had a coupon for free yogurt so I grabbed that and paid only tax. It seemed like a pretty good deal and I will use it to make some scones if I don't eat it.
Shopers $0.42
I went in to get the free salad dressing but I was having trouble getting the app to work to show me coupons so I didn't know if I was going to have overage and I left my husband and son in the car so I decided to check out.... ugh, of course I got overage of $0.40 so I bought a milky way from the checkout which is my most hated thing to do because I hate to buy junk instead of real food with free money. I should always have extras at checkout but it takes so much more planning!
Harris Teeter $0.00
I went in to grab the free cookies and they were super tasty!! Glad I got them!
Aldi $2.24
I went in to buy milk because ours was already past the date again and we didn't finish it. I guess I am doing a horrible job of finishing up things with cooking but maybe we have better hope with this one!! I highly doubt it through but it seems silly to buy the smaller milk when it is only pennies less expensive.
Aldi $14.88
We went to Aldi's in Manasas after a doctors appointment and everything was cheaper so I ended up throwing more into the cart then I had on my list. I needed a second box of cones for the beach. We were running low on everything else so I was excited to get them all for less then even other Aldi's!!
Wegman's $15.92
We needed more ground beef for dinner that week and for our vacation so I went to stock up. We also grabbed three mac and cheese because we ran low but my son was still upset when they changed the recipe so we are still on the fence on our loyalty to them.
Harris Teeter $7.37- $0.50= $6.87
First stop was customer service because I ended up getting the wrong pineapple and chex mix so I went to exchange them for the right ones. Super easy even exchange for crushed pineapple to chunk pineapple and regular chex mix for bold and they gave me $0.50 back for a evic coupon that rang up so that was a bonus. I went to get the Nature Valley Granola Bars which were on sale and there was a coupon and I got a $2 catalina back to spend on more products. I also grabbed Gatorade for my husband which was on evic limit 10. I used a $5 catalina from diapers that I bought for my cousin.
Shoppers $0.07
There was another Friday freebie so I added it on the account and my son picked out this rice which we are going to enjoy soon.
Safeway $13.30
We wanted soda for vacation and there were sales everywhere but not great pricing so this was Buy two and get three free and they were $6.49 each for the two.
Harris Teeter $0.24
This works out to 4 different transactions that were taken together as one picture so that you didn't have to see all the transactions but it is about $0.03 per box just in tax.
Harris Teeter $3.92
I got the ketchup for $1.49 each after sale and electronic coupon. The hot dog rolls were on sale for $0.79 so I got those so my husband could eat some more of his hot dogs. He likes the squishy buns instead of homemade ones for hot dogs no matter what I try. The tissues and the Swedish fish were free.
I did a bunch of rebates although not as many as other months with $26.55 through Ibotta and $1 through Checkout 51 and $1.40 through Saving Star. I was happy that I had $28.95 in total rebates. I transferred some money to my PayPal account too and deposited my Checkout 51 check.
Amazed at my monthly total and feel like I could have gotten more during the month but there really wasn't too much more we needed so I was happy with where I ended up. Here is hoping that means next month is just as good because sometimes when I end one month really low then I go over board the next month. I guess we will see what deals the month holds!!
Eating Out
We went to a basketball picnic at the beginning of the month that was a pot luck but then we ordered pizza too so we chipped in $10 for pizza. My husband took my son to get ice cream and knows that he gave the lady $5 and got some change back but can't remember how much he spent (eyeroll!!!) so I am counting it as $5. We decided to grab pizza one night when we were out running around and it was $6.59. My husband went back with my son and got ice cream the next weekend and I asked him nicely to remember how much it was but our friends bought it for them. The total was $21.59 for the month.
