Today's shop was another great savings!!!
Total spent was $81.19 (including tax)
Total savings: $38.73
Non coupon savings = $24.33 (savings from purchasing these items on sale)
Coupon savings= $14.40
Yippee!!!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The reason why I coupon shop!
A fist full of coupons, a cart full of goodies, and my favorite cashier at Meijer helped solidify another marvelous experience of savings today!!!
If you frequent the same grocery store, you might have a favorite cashier. Today my favorite cashier was there. I just love Imelda. She gets my coupon addiction. As she rang up my 6 pack of brawny paper towels that rang up for $7.24. She said that is a good deal. I smiled because I had a raincheck to get these paper towels for $5.99 and I had a .50 cent coupon that would be doubled. I purchased these paperttowels for $4.99. A much better savings that the $7.24!! She then turned to me and said now that was a great deal!!!
When I first began my coupon adventure, I would buy the items that we needed without batting an eye at the price. Now don't get me wrong I would buy generic or I might even have a coupon but I didn't play the savings game like I do now.
Even though, we weren't out of paper towels. This price was a great deal so I bought 2 packages. Another strategy that I didn't do before. I would only buy items that we needed on the list and usually we were totally out of that item. Since we were out, I was forced to buy that item whether it was on sale or not. When the cashier rang up my cart of groceries, I would always have a heart attack when my total rang up! Now, almost every grocery item in our home was purchased when it was on sale. This type of savings changes your thinking that you have to buy items even when you don't need them.
Be careful playing this way as you may end up with too many of an item that will spoil before your family eats it or they may grow tired of this item and never get around to eating it! Then this would be a waste of money! Something that I will not allow!!! :)
Now, I watch the cashier as she rings up my coupons and my original price drop and drop and drop.
This just makes me squeal with glee!!!
If you frequent the same grocery store, you might have a favorite cashier. Today my favorite cashier was there. I just love Imelda. She gets my coupon addiction. As she rang up my 6 pack of brawny paper towels that rang up for $7.24. She said that is a good deal. I smiled because I had a raincheck to get these paper towels for $5.99 and I had a .50 cent coupon that would be doubled. I purchased these paperttowels for $4.99. A much better savings that the $7.24!! She then turned to me and said now that was a great deal!!!
When I first began my coupon adventure, I would buy the items that we needed without batting an eye at the price. Now don't get me wrong I would buy generic or I might even have a coupon but I didn't play the savings game like I do now.
Even though, we weren't out of paper towels. This price was a great deal so I bought 2 packages. Another strategy that I didn't do before. I would only buy items that we needed on the list and usually we were totally out of that item. Since we were out, I was forced to buy that item whether it was on sale or not. When the cashier rang up my cart of groceries, I would always have a heart attack when my total rang up! Now, almost every grocery item in our home was purchased when it was on sale. This type of savings changes your thinking that you have to buy items even when you don't need them.
Be careful playing this way as you may end up with too many of an item that will spoil before your family eats it or they may grow tired of this item and never get around to eating it! Then this would be a waste of money! Something that I will not allow!!! :)
Now, I watch the cashier as she rings up my coupons and my original price drop and drop and drop.
This just makes me squeal with glee!!!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
November savings
Another month under my belt and the savings continues...
For the month of November, I spent $575 and saved $132!!!
This works out to $115 a week to feed a family of 4!!! As I begin to coupon more and add to our stockpile, I am working towards achieving 80-90 a week!!!
Wish me luck!!!
For the month of November, I spent $575 and saved $132!!!
This works out to $115 a week to feed a family of 4!!! As I begin to coupon more and add to our stockpile, I am working towards achieving 80-90 a week!!!
Wish me luck!!!
Meijer and Aldi shop 11/28
Today my dear husband decided to accompany me on my grocery shopping expedition. He has gone once before and was very supportive. I ran into a friend on Wednesday who shared with me that her family is now becoming more supportive of her coupon addiction. My family still teases me but loves it when I come home with special items that are on sale that I wouldn't have usually bought before coupons.
I just don't understand how anyone wouldn't support saving money. I have found when I am a conscious coupon clipper I am able to apply more money towards bills and/or retirement.
When I get lazy and don't pay attention to the grocery shopping and budget, we start eating out more and eating less healthy meals.
Today's shop included Aldi and Meijer. I needed to run to Aldi as I was filling a box of food to bring into our church for their food collection day. I bought 20 dollars worth of groceries at Aldi and spent 20 on our family. Last year, I was a die hard couponer and I just pulled this food from our pantry. Since I haven't filled our pantry doesn't look like it did last year, I needed to supplement a little to support our church's campaign.
Our Meijer shop also included something to take into church and that was a winter coat for their Imagine campaign. I was able to get 4 dollars off the coat using a coupon. I also bought some toothpaste and toothbrushes to donate with our food drop off.
I spent 106 at Meijer and saved 48 dollars!!! I did have a few items that made it into the cart due to my husband accompanying me on this journey. He did apologize for throwing off my savings a bit! :)
This does include the 20 dollar coat for donation. Our grocery budget for the week was 106 dollars including the Aldi shop!
Savings breakdown:
Total Meijer promotions: $6.09 (from my catalinas)
Items being on sale: $12.92
Total coupon savings: $29.08
Total Savings of $48.09
I just don't understand how anyone wouldn't support saving money. I have found when I am a conscious coupon clipper I am able to apply more money towards bills and/or retirement.
When I get lazy and don't pay attention to the grocery shopping and budget, we start eating out more and eating less healthy meals.
Today's shop included Aldi and Meijer. I needed to run to Aldi as I was filling a box of food to bring into our church for their food collection day. I bought 20 dollars worth of groceries at Aldi and spent 20 on our family. Last year, I was a die hard couponer and I just pulled this food from our pantry. Since I haven't filled our pantry doesn't look like it did last year, I needed to supplement a little to support our church's campaign.
Our Meijer shop also included something to take into church and that was a winter coat for their Imagine campaign. I was able to get 4 dollars off the coat using a coupon. I also bought some toothpaste and toothbrushes to donate with our food drop off.
I spent 106 at Meijer and saved 48 dollars!!! I did have a few items that made it into the cart due to my husband accompanying me on this journey. He did apologize for throwing off my savings a bit! :)
This does include the 20 dollar coat for donation. Our grocery budget for the week was 106 dollars including the Aldi shop!
Savings breakdown:
Total Meijer promotions: $6.09 (from my catalinas)
Items being on sale: $12.92
Total coupon savings: $29.08
Total Savings of $48.09
Saturday, November 21, 2009
11/21 Meijer shop (Spent $49 and SAVED 36)
I am back on my coupon high!!! I had a great shop today. However, I was mad at myself because I left my $6.50 off coupons that can be used at Meijer. I will have to use them on my next shop. If I had them today, I would have been close to a 50% savings on today's grocery shop!!!
We made a Sam's club run last night. Despite my attempt at always using coupons, there are many items at Sam's that are cheaper than Meijer and Kroger. When we make a Sam's club run, I pay extra close attention to our weekly grocery shop. Sometimes, on the week that we make our Sam's club run I don't make a Meijer/Kroger run. However, there were lots of great items on sale this week.
Today's shop totals:
Spent $48.57 (including tax)
Saved: $24.14 for shopping the sale and $11.85 with coupons (Total Savings $35.99)
GOTTA LOVE COUPONS!!!
We made a Sam's club run last night. Despite my attempt at always using coupons, there are many items at Sam's that are cheaper than Meijer and Kroger. When we make a Sam's club run, I pay extra close attention to our weekly grocery shop. Sometimes, on the week that we make our Sam's club run I don't make a Meijer/Kroger run. However, there were lots of great items on sale this week.
Today's shop totals:
Spent $48.57 (including tax)
Saved: $24.14 for shopping the sale and $11.85 with coupons (Total Savings $35.99)
GOTTA LOVE COUPONS!!!
Is the time to clip coupons worth it?
When I brag to my friends about my coupon savings, the automatic response is I don't have time to do this. I understand how busy our lives are and know that I don't have a lot of extra time either. My husband and I both work full time and I am in graduate school. My daughters are in middle school and participate in travel soccer and run cross country and track. So, our week is always busy as well as our weekend. I have written about my hiatus from couponing but I have reevaluated that the time that I spend couponing is worth it for a couple of reasons.
1. When I am shopping the sales, our family eats at home more because we have more food. This also saves money!!!
2. When we have more food, we eat healthier!!
Today, I took the time to pay attention to the time that it took for me to organize my list and clip coupons. Since I subscribe to the grocery game, I log into the site on Monday's or any day after Monday to pull my grocery list(s). The grocery game lists all of the items that are on sale and where you can find the coupon. The list also is color coded. Blue= stock up!!! it is a great price, green=free, and black= that it is a good price but will be cheaper. Your shopping list could be huge, but I go through and just select the items that our family will eat. No reason to buy an item just because it is on sale if no one will eat it.
The list is then narrowed down with just the items that you will buy buying. Another wonderful thing about the grocery game list is that it also sorts the items by where they are located in the store. This saves time!!! When you rely on the list, you are in and out of the store within 30 minutes because you aren't browsing the aisles. This also saves you money because you aren't adding extra items to your cart!
Once the list is printed and sorted (this takes less than 5 minutes), I match up my coupons. Today, this took me only 20 minutes to do. I purchased 34 items at Meijer and was able to find the coupons that matched up to the items in this amount of time.
Today's shop saved me 50 dollars. So, for 25 minutes of my time I was able to save 50 dollars! I think that this is a wonderful way to invest your time.
Clip your coupons while the family watches tv or while you are supervising homework! If you do this every week and save 50 dollars on average, you will be saving your family 200 dollars a month for 2 hours worth of time for the month!!! Not too bad!!
How many of us have easily "wasted" 2 hours by browsing the internet or watching tv. I challenge you to give it a try!!!
1. When I am shopping the sales, our family eats at home more because we have more food. This also saves money!!!
2. When we have more food, we eat healthier!!
Today, I took the time to pay attention to the time that it took for me to organize my list and clip coupons. Since I subscribe to the grocery game, I log into the site on Monday's or any day after Monday to pull my grocery list(s). The grocery game lists all of the items that are on sale and where you can find the coupon. The list also is color coded. Blue= stock up!!! it is a great price, green=free, and black= that it is a good price but will be cheaper. Your shopping list could be huge, but I go through and just select the items that our family will eat. No reason to buy an item just because it is on sale if no one will eat it.
The list is then narrowed down with just the items that you will buy buying. Another wonderful thing about the grocery game list is that it also sorts the items by where they are located in the store. This saves time!!! When you rely on the list, you are in and out of the store within 30 minutes because you aren't browsing the aisles. This also saves you money because you aren't adding extra items to your cart!
Once the list is printed and sorted (this takes less than 5 minutes), I match up my coupons. Today, this took me only 20 minutes to do. I purchased 34 items at Meijer and was able to find the coupons that matched up to the items in this amount of time.
Today's shop saved me 50 dollars. So, for 25 minutes of my time I was able to save 50 dollars! I think that this is a wonderful way to invest your time.
Clip your coupons while the family watches tv or while you are supervising homework! If you do this every week and save 50 dollars on average, you will be saving your family 200 dollars a month for 2 hours worth of time for the month!!! Not too bad!!
How many of us have easily "wasted" 2 hours by browsing the internet or watching tv. I challenge you to give it a try!!!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Christmas Shopping....
It is time to think about Christmas Shopping. I know it is hard to believe but it is almost the Christmas season. I still am amazed at how early the Christmas decorations go up. There use to be a respected code that Christmas displays didn't go up before Halloween. For some reason this code has fallen by the wayside. It irks me to see ghosts and goblins in one aisle and boughs of holly in another. ...
Well, from some of my former posts I have shared Ebates with you. Today, I received a check from Ebates for $19.21. This money is from just shopping online through Ebates' portal. Every one of their 900 stores will give a percentage cash back on your purchases if you hit ebates first.
My husband and I started shopping with Ebates one year ago and have earned back $152 dollars!!
I am including the link to a previous posts so you can learn more about ebates and how it works!!
Well, from some of my former posts I have shared Ebates with you. Today, I received a check from Ebates for $19.21. This money is from just shopping online through Ebates' portal. Every one of their 900 stores will give a percentage cash back on your purchases if you hit ebates first.
My husband and I started shopping with Ebates one year ago and have earned back $152 dollars!!
I am including the link to a previous posts so you can learn more about ebates and how it works!!
http://savingmoneytofillupmytruck.blogspot.com/2008/06/ebates-easy-way-to-save-money.html
Saturday, November 14, 2009
11/15 Grocery shop
The savings has begun again.....
This morning I woke up on a Saturday determined that my leaf has turned over and healthy eating and meal preparation will begin again...
I got out my coupon binder and started filing my weeks of circulars into their sheet protectors. This is where it really hit me. I have 6 weeks of coupons that were labeled with the appropriate week but I had done nothing with them. This means that it has been almost 6 weeks since my last coupon clip!!
I went onto the grocery game and printed my Meijer list for. There were some good deals but since I had fallen behind on my stockpiling I had to buy many items that were needed for our family even though they were not on sale. I did have coupons for some of these items but the item wasn't on sale! This was frustrating for me!!
I leisurely strolled the aisles with a cup of coffee in my hand. I found that I had missed going to the grocery store. It was about one o clock in the afternoon and the store was quiet. I had a wad of coupons in my hand and I was ready to begin my journey again.
I feel that I will keep going on this journey. So feel free to see how I do...
Total grocery bill:
184 dollars (we needed razor blades!!! these are so darn expensive. I had a coupon but they weren't on sale. So 22 dollars of this bill was for razor blades!!
Saved $51.95
Non coupon savings = $33.55
Coupon savings $18.40
As I checked out, my catalinas (the coupons that shoot out of the coupon printer with your receipt) included more coupons for $6.50 off my next purchase!!! Yippee!!!
This morning I woke up on a Saturday determined that my leaf has turned over and healthy eating and meal preparation will begin again...
I got out my coupon binder and started filing my weeks of circulars into their sheet protectors. This is where it really hit me. I have 6 weeks of coupons that were labeled with the appropriate week but I had done nothing with them. This means that it has been almost 6 weeks since my last coupon clip!!
I went onto the grocery game and printed my Meijer list for. There were some good deals but since I had fallen behind on my stockpiling I had to buy many items that were needed for our family even though they were not on sale. I did have coupons for some of these items but the item wasn't on sale! This was frustrating for me!!
I leisurely strolled the aisles with a cup of coffee in my hand. I found that I had missed going to the grocery store. It was about one o clock in the afternoon and the store was quiet. I had a wad of coupons in my hand and I was ready to begin my journey again.
I feel that I will keep going on this journey. So feel free to see how I do...
Total grocery bill:
184 dollars (we needed razor blades!!! these are so darn expensive. I had a coupon but they weren't on sale. So 22 dollars of this bill was for razor blades!!
Saved $51.95
Non coupon savings = $33.55
Coupon savings $18.40
As I checked out, my catalinas (the coupons that shoot out of the coupon printer with your receipt) included more coupons for $6.50 off my next purchase!!! Yippee!!!
Grocery Savings for October
My efforts towards saving money has taken a backseat and I have not been working the sales or the coupons. I believe in my last post I commented that I was going to work on this..Well, not much improvement has occured.
However, today I have jumped back on the coupon wagon again. I hope that I can stay on and keep on riding!!!
We found out last week that both of my daughters will be in braces next year. I need to make my grocery coupon shopping a priority again!!!
For October, we spent $631.00 and only saved 75 dollars. This worked out to a weekly grocery average of $157/week. This number is less than I was spending about a year and half ago. I remember when we were spending close to 200/week on groceries and came home feeling like we didn't buy very much.
Since there were very few coupons cut last month, I know that this is higher than it should be. Also due to time restraints, there were many Sam's club shops (which means no coupons -uggh!!) and last minute fast food runs.
With the braces coming and the reflection of the amount of fast food that was eaten in our house, I have decided to REALLY get our budget back in order and to go back to cooking dinners again for our family!
There was a moment last week that really resonated with me. One evening after a long day at work, there was no desire to fix a meal. We have been functioning on the help yourself method. With 2 almost teens in the house and 2 adults, we have been allowing everyone to fix their own dinner. Well, one of my daughters decided to fix french fries for dinner. The shocking part to me was that this was okay with me because I didn't have to fix dinner. Later that evening after reflecting, I realized how sad our eating had become.
The sad eating story continues...In the car on the way to drop off my daughters at school, I shared with them my new goal to make healthy eating a priority again for our family. My other daughter (not the one who had the french fry dinner) said, "Mom, it is okay. We eat a healthy school lunch. I always have a vegetable and a fruit." I had to agree with her that this was great that she was eating from the pyramiad but we all know school lunches aren't always as healthy as they seem. I knew that I really needed to get this together.
Another thing that I have noticed with my lack of "real meal" preparation is that we have strayed away from the family dinner table. I know that having children in middle school with lots of activities that the "family meals" are harder to coordinate but they need to become a priority again.
So wish me luck as I try to keep in mind that even though we are busy, my families nutritional health is important but so is the time together that we spend together at the dinner table!
However, today I have jumped back on the coupon wagon again. I hope that I can stay on and keep on riding!!!
We found out last week that both of my daughters will be in braces next year. I need to make my grocery coupon shopping a priority again!!!
For October, we spent $631.00 and only saved 75 dollars. This worked out to a weekly grocery average of $157/week. This number is less than I was spending about a year and half ago. I remember when we were spending close to 200/week on groceries and came home feeling like we didn't buy very much.
Since there were very few coupons cut last month, I know that this is higher than it should be. Also due to time restraints, there were many Sam's club shops (which means no coupons -uggh!!) and last minute fast food runs.
With the braces coming and the reflection of the amount of fast food that was eaten in our house, I have decided to REALLY get our budget back in order and to go back to cooking dinners again for our family!
There was a moment last week that really resonated with me. One evening after a long day at work, there was no desire to fix a meal. We have been functioning on the help yourself method. With 2 almost teens in the house and 2 adults, we have been allowing everyone to fix their own dinner. Well, one of my daughters decided to fix french fries for dinner. The shocking part to me was that this was okay with me because I didn't have to fix dinner. Later that evening after reflecting, I realized how sad our eating had become.
The sad eating story continues...In the car on the way to drop off my daughters at school, I shared with them my new goal to make healthy eating a priority again for our family. My other daughter (not the one who had the french fry dinner) said, "Mom, it is okay. We eat a healthy school lunch. I always have a vegetable and a fruit." I had to agree with her that this was great that she was eating from the pyramiad but we all know school lunches aren't always as healthy as they seem. I knew that I really needed to get this together.
Another thing that I have noticed with my lack of "real meal" preparation is that we have strayed away from the family dinner table. I know that having children in middle school with lots of activities that the "family meals" are harder to coordinate but they need to become a priority again.
So wish me luck as I try to keep in mind that even though we are busy, my families nutritional health is important but so is the time together that we spend together at the dinner table!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
10/3 Meijer grocery shop (Spent $94 and Saved $67)
Today was a challenging shop for me....
The challenge that I faced was due to the fact that my tween daughters accompanied me to the store. I coerced them into going by agreeing to take them to Shoe Carnival and Target if they went to the grocery store with me. They are a great help, but they tend to still whine about wanting this and wanting that...
I only gave in once and bought something off the list that wasn't on sale and that I didn't have a coupon for. Overall, it was a great shop. We stocked up on a lot of snack items such as chex mix and cheerios mix.
I have written about this before but I highly recommend subscribing to 2 Sunday editions of the paper. I get the Pantagraph and the Chicago Tribune. The money I save by subscribing to these allows me to buy multiple items with multiple coupons. I only subscribe to 2 papers since the grocery stores that I shop at will only double 2 coupons for the same item.
Today I spent $94 and saved $67!!!
I saved $15.25 for Meijer promotions.
I saved $38.73 for buying items that were on sale.
I saved $13.28 with coupons from my newspapers and Meijer Mealbox.
We are getting into the swing of things!!! Gotta love coupons!! :)
The challenge that I faced was due to the fact that my tween daughters accompanied me to the store. I coerced them into going by agreeing to take them to Shoe Carnival and Target if they went to the grocery store with me. They are a great help, but they tend to still whine about wanting this and wanting that...
I only gave in once and bought something off the list that wasn't on sale and that I didn't have a coupon for. Overall, it was a great shop. We stocked up on a lot of snack items such as chex mix and cheerios mix.
I have written about this before but I highly recommend subscribing to 2 Sunday editions of the paper. I get the Pantagraph and the Chicago Tribune. The money I save by subscribing to these allows me to buy multiple items with multiple coupons. I only subscribe to 2 papers since the grocery stores that I shop at will only double 2 coupons for the same item.
Today I spent $94 and saved $67!!!
I saved $15.25 for Meijer promotions.
I saved $38.73 for buying items that were on sale.
I saved $13.28 with coupons from my newspapers and Meijer Mealbox.
We are getting into the swing of things!!! Gotta love coupons!! :)
September Savings
It is hard to believe but September is now over and we have entered the Halloween month of October. We have been back to school for 6 weeks and it is amazing to think that the school year is about a quarter of the way done.
As I have mentioned in previous blogs, life has been pretty crazy with activities. I am back on the coupon journey. Not only am I back to couponing, I am trying to get back my love of cooking. The activities that the entire family has taken on has greatly impacted my desire as well as my time to prepare a meal. I have made a promise to myself that I will cook at least 3 times a week. I am sure that some of you wondering what we are going to do for the other meals. What I mean by this is that I will actually prepare a meal that doesn't involve a microwave 3 times each week. For the rest of the week, it will be up for grabs with meals like breakfast, sandwiches, and maybe a frozen pizza.
Last week was pretty good week for me. I made spaghetti and meatballs, italian sausage with vegetables, and salmon with mashed potatoes and brocolli.
In regards to my savings, I only posted once this month but here is my monthly total.
9/5 Meijer spent &113 and saved $56
9/11 Sam's club spent $187
9/19 Meijer spent $131 and saved $75
9/27 Aldi spent $82
The total spent for the month of September was $513 and saved $131.
This breaks down to a weekly average of $128. Not too bad. I am trying to get back to a weekly average of below $100.
I hope you continue to join me on my coupon adventure!!!
As I have mentioned in previous blogs, life has been pretty crazy with activities. I am back on the coupon journey. Not only am I back to couponing, I am trying to get back my love of cooking. The activities that the entire family has taken on has greatly impacted my desire as well as my time to prepare a meal. I have made a promise to myself that I will cook at least 3 times a week. I am sure that some of you wondering what we are going to do for the other meals. What I mean by this is that I will actually prepare a meal that doesn't involve a microwave 3 times each week. For the rest of the week, it will be up for grabs with meals like breakfast, sandwiches, and maybe a frozen pizza.
Last week was pretty good week for me. I made spaghetti and meatballs, italian sausage with vegetables, and salmon with mashed potatoes and brocolli.
In regards to my savings, I only posted once this month but here is my monthly total.
9/5 Meijer spent &113 and saved $56
9/11 Sam's club spent $187
9/19 Meijer spent $131 and saved $75
9/27 Aldi spent $82
The total spent for the month of September was $513 and saved $131.
This breaks down to a weekly average of $128. Not too bad. I am trying to get back to a weekly average of below $100.
I hope you continue to join me on my coupon adventure!!!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Meijer Shop on 9/5 Spent 113 and Saved 56
Since the summer is over, I am back to work. It always takes awhile for me to transition into the work/life routine. I am still using the grocery game but have really only been using my Meijer grocery list from them. I also subscribe to the Kroger list but haven't been able to make it before their sale ends. I am thinking that I might drop Kroger and just keep to the Meijer list. I will give it another month or so to see if I make it to Kroger.
Saturday is my day to shop at Meijer. It is the last day of their sale and it seems like it is what works best for our family schedule.
I spent 113 and saved 56 with coupons and shopping the sales. This also includes toiletries. I bought 41 items. It was a good shop. I didn't buy anything that wasn't on sale and I even got some A1 Marinade for FREE with a coupon.
The meals are figured out in my mind for the week using this shop and items from the previous beginnings of my new stockpile!
Have a great week!!!
Saturday is my day to shop at Meijer. It is the last day of their sale and it seems like it is what works best for our family schedule.
I spent 113 and saved 56 with coupons and shopping the sales. This also includes toiletries. I bought 41 items. It was a good shop. I didn't buy anything that wasn't on sale and I even got some A1 Marinade for FREE with a coupon.
The meals are figured out in my mind for the week using this shop and items from the previous beginnings of my new stockpile!
Have a great week!!!
Monthly Averages
As you know, I have been bad about keeping all of you updated with my coupon journey. I have been keeping track of my grocery spending but it hasn't been as good as it once was. Even though I am disappointed that I haven't saved as much as I have in the past, I am still saving more than I did 2 years ago. I am aware of prices and sales even if it is a week when I didn't take the time to organize my grocery shop.
In June, our average weekly grocery expense was $83/week. This must be off or we ate out a lot!!
In July my weekly average on groceries was $165/week. This isn't too bad since my daughters and I are home in the summer therefore more meals and snacks. I saved $125 using coupons and shopping the sales.
In August, we averaged $145/week. I started back into my coupon adventure and saved over 80 on groceries this month.
Look for more postings as I make it a priority again to save more money on groceries!!!
In June, our average weekly grocery expense was $83/week. This must be off or we ate out a lot!!
In July my weekly average on groceries was $165/week. This isn't too bad since my daughters and I are home in the summer therefore more meals and snacks. I saved $125 using coupons and shopping the sales.
In August, we averaged $145/week. I started back into my coupon adventure and saved over 80 on groceries this month.
Look for more postings as I make it a priority again to save more money on groceries!!!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Meijer Shop 7/9 Spent 125 and Saved 61
Yes, I am back!!! Great deals today and the stockpile is growing....
I started by building up my stockpile with lots of bags of pretzels, english muffins, and pasta. It should take us about 3 months to eat all of this but it was a great deal and even cheaper than Aldi!!!
Hopefully, I will be able to catch the next sale without running out of these.
I did pay full price for pop!! It just makes me sick. Pop was on sale at Meijer a couple of weeks ago and I bought some then but they only allow us to buy 4 - 12 packs at a time. What I should have done is have gone back multiple times to get this deal. My family has been without pop for almost 2 weeks. I know it is probably better that we go without but I don't want to pay full price. But I gave in and bought a case for $6.75. Oh well!!!
This shop also included shaving cream, razors (they are so darn expensive), and face soap. This was almost 29 dollars of this bill before coupons.
My total spent was 125 and the savings came from the following:
Total Meijer promotions: 1.00
Non-Meijer coupon savings: $38.74 (Items on sale)
Total coupons (internet and newspaper) $21.25
Savings total: $60.99
I started by building up my stockpile with lots of bags of pretzels, english muffins, and pasta. It should take us about 3 months to eat all of this but it was a great deal and even cheaper than Aldi!!!
Hopefully, I will be able to catch the next sale without running out of these.
I did pay full price for pop!! It just makes me sick. Pop was on sale at Meijer a couple of weeks ago and I bought some then but they only allow us to buy 4 - 12 packs at a time. What I should have done is have gone back multiple times to get this deal. My family has been without pop for almost 2 weeks. I know it is probably better that we go without but I don't want to pay full price. But I gave in and bought a case for $6.75. Oh well!!!
This shop also included shaving cream, razors (they are so darn expensive), and face soap. This was almost 29 dollars of this bill before coupons.
My total spent was 125 and the savings came from the following:
Total Meijer promotions: 1.00
Non-Meijer coupon savings: $38.74 (Items on sale)
Total coupons (internet and newspaper) $21.25
Savings total: $60.99
Kroger shop 7/8 Spent 25.33 (with tax) and Saved 20.17
Last night I made a run into Kroger after putting together my grocery list and matching coupons. I did this while my family and I were watching MTV's show "Cribs".
I was able to interact and be part of the family while I worked on finding my coupons and matching them to the items that were on sale.
I knew that I needed to go last night because it was the last day of their sale. I matched coupons from the newspaper, magazines, and loaded 2 cellfire coupons to my Kroger card. If I had more time, I would have checked out the Kroger site to see if there were more e coupons that could have been added.
I bought 22 items that will help me as I begin to rebuild our stockpile.
Kroger savings from my receipt:
MFG CPN savings $6.00
Bonus coupon savings $1.84 (cellfire e coupons)
Kroger plus savings $12.33
Total savings: $20.17
I was able to interact and be part of the family while I worked on finding my coupons and matching them to the items that were on sale.
I knew that I needed to go last night because it was the last day of their sale. I matched coupons from the newspaper, magazines, and loaded 2 cellfire coupons to my Kroger card. If I had more time, I would have checked out the Kroger site to see if there were more e coupons that could have been added.
I bought 22 items that will help me as I begin to rebuild our stockpile.
Kroger savings from my receipt:
MFG CPN savings $6.00
Bonus coupon savings $1.84 (cellfire e coupons)
Kroger plus savings $12.33
Total savings: $20.17
I'm Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Life has been a little crazy this spring and into summer. Our families activities have increased and the shopping has taken a back seat. I am sure that I have written in previous posts that we have been living on Aldi and Sam's Club and a little too much fast food. I have prior month purchases but didn't keep track of my coupons.
Well, I have decided to get my act back in gear. There are a lot of financial strains that I know will be coming this year and I need to get back into my grocery savings back on track to offset these expenses. I can tell you after taking a "break" from my couponing quest (I still used coupons but didn't stockpile like I have done before) I really felt a lot of struggle with what to feed our family. My stockpile dwindled and dwindled. I also know that I was spending more and not getting as much. Why would I do this? I was just lazy....and tired or tired and lazy. In reflection, I am kicking myself for this. It only takes me about an hour a week to make 2 grocery lists - 1 to Kroger and 1 to Meijer.
Last night, I was in and out of Kroger in less than 15 minutes!!!
So, if you were once a follower of this blog. Know that I am back and will get back to posting my deals!!!
Well, I have decided to get my act back in gear. There are a lot of financial strains that I know will be coming this year and I need to get back into my grocery savings back on track to offset these expenses. I can tell you after taking a "break" from my couponing quest (I still used coupons but didn't stockpile like I have done before) I really felt a lot of struggle with what to feed our family. My stockpile dwindled and dwindled. I also know that I was spending more and not getting as much. Why would I do this? I was just lazy....and tired or tired and lazy. In reflection, I am kicking myself for this. It only takes me about an hour a week to make 2 grocery lists - 1 to Kroger and 1 to Meijer.
Last night, I was in and out of Kroger in less than 15 minutes!!!
So, if you were once a follower of this blog. Know that I am back and will get back to posting my deals!!!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Great Money Saving Article from Readers Digest
My husband shared a link with me that was shared with him from someone at work. It is amazing how many people are looking for ways to save money in today's economy. I read in Newsweek or Time that the amount of coupons being used has increased from previous years. I am not surprised by this fact as I know many of my readers are reverting back to using coupons again. We had given them up before and now we are trying to find the best way to use them and how to not forget them at home!!! :)
I wanted to share this with all of my readers as well.
The article is from Readers Digest. It has great links and information in it. Many of the links they reference and strategies, I also reference in my blog but it is great to have it in one document.
http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/best-deals-and-bargains-on-gas-cars-and-more/article99717.html
I wanted to share this with all of my readers as well.
The article is from Readers Digest. It has great links and information in it. Many of the links they reference and strategies, I also reference in my blog but it is great to have it in one document.
http://www.rd.com/advice-and-know-how/best-deals-and-bargains-on-gas-cars-and-more/article99717.html
Sunday, May 3, 2009
April Grocery Savings
Well, the month is over and we are now into May. Boy does time fly!!!
I have been really excited about all of my new coupon friends that are beginning their coupon journey. I love it when others can save money!
Some of my coupon friends beat themselves up and feel that they are doing a terrible job saving money. Please know that everyone's savings is different. As you begin your journey, your savings won't be as large. As you learn the ins and outs you will save even more money, but don't compare your savings to others.
Even though I have some knowledge on how to save money at the grocery store, I am no expert. There are also a lot of other factors that impact how much a family may save. For example, both of my daughters eat lunch at school in the school cafeteria so my "grocery bill" is less because I sent them to school with lunch money. Also, when savings are posted either by me on this blog or on other coupon blogs you don't know how much they spent on fast food. If you eat out 2-3 times a week, your grocery bill should be less than a family that is eating every meal at home.
Our family doesn't eat out very much, however I have noticed that we have hit the drive thru a little more frequently this past month since my daughters have 3 sports that are overlapping until the end of the school year...
So, don't feel that you can compare your savings to anyone else's but you can can always apply new strategies and pay attention to your weekly/monthly expenditures to find out how much you are saving.
April Savings
4/15 Aldi $40
4/19 Meijer Spent 51/Saved 20
4/24 Sam's Club $72
4/25 Meijer Spent 67/Saved 36
Total month spent $230 and saved $56
Average weekly grocery budget was $56.50!!! I believe this was my lowest weekly average since I began couponing a year ago!!! Yippee!!
Honestly, I am sure that I should look at my fast food expenses as this was a crazy month with sports and training for the 1/2 Marathon.
I have been really excited about all of my new coupon friends that are beginning their coupon journey. I love it when others can save money!
Some of my coupon friends beat themselves up and feel that they are doing a terrible job saving money. Please know that everyone's savings is different. As you begin your journey, your savings won't be as large. As you learn the ins and outs you will save even more money, but don't compare your savings to others.
Even though I have some knowledge on how to save money at the grocery store, I am no expert. There are also a lot of other factors that impact how much a family may save. For example, both of my daughters eat lunch at school in the school cafeteria so my "grocery bill" is less because I sent them to school with lunch money. Also, when savings are posted either by me on this blog or on other coupon blogs you don't know how much they spent on fast food. If you eat out 2-3 times a week, your grocery bill should be less than a family that is eating every meal at home.
Our family doesn't eat out very much, however I have noticed that we have hit the drive thru a little more frequently this past month since my daughters have 3 sports that are overlapping until the end of the school year...
So, don't feel that you can compare your savings to anyone else's but you can can always apply new strategies and pay attention to your weekly/monthly expenditures to find out how much you are saving.
April Savings
4/15 Aldi $40
4/19 Meijer Spent 51/Saved 20
4/24 Sam's Club $72
4/25 Meijer Spent 67/Saved 36
Total month spent $230 and saved $56
Average weekly grocery budget was $56.50!!! I believe this was my lowest weekly average since I began couponing a year ago!!! Yippee!!
Honestly, I am sure that I should look at my fast food expenses as this was a crazy month with sports and training for the 1/2 Marathon.
Ebates!!! Send me the money!!!
We have recently done some online shopping and went through ebates first. We have bought items that we needed, shopped around for the best price, and then also received cash back from ebates.
We have bought the following items recently...
Eastbay (4 pairs of running shoes for the entire family) $17.50 cash back
Ann Taylor Loft (pants for me - I had a gift card so almost FREE!) $1.04 cash back
Ebay (shoes my daughter had to get with her birthday money) .90 cents cash back
Ebay (a part to fix my daughter's scooter) .27 cents cash back
Apple store (refurbished ipod for me, the last one in the family to get one) .79 cents cash back
Apple store (Nike Plus Ipod software for my daughter to monitor their miles) .29 cents cash back
Apple store (New Nike Plus sensor for me) .19 cents cash back
$20.98 cash back will be coming to me this month!!!
My total I have received back in a years time from Ebates is $124.30. So, don't forget to sign up and shop through ebates. See my link on the side of my page.
We have bought the following items recently...
Eastbay (4 pairs of running shoes for the entire family) $17.50 cash back
Ann Taylor Loft (pants for me - I had a gift card so almost FREE!) $1.04 cash back
Ebay (shoes my daughter had to get with her birthday money) .90 cents cash back
Ebay (a part to fix my daughter's scooter) .27 cents cash back
Apple store (refurbished ipod for me, the last one in the family to get one) .79 cents cash back
Apple store (Nike Plus Ipod software for my daughter to monitor their miles) .29 cents cash back
Apple store (New Nike Plus sensor for me) .19 cents cash back
$20.98 cash back will be coming to me this month!!!
My total I have received back in a years time from Ebates is $124.30. So, don't forget to sign up and shop through ebates. See my link on the side of my page.
5/3 Grocery Shop at Kroger and Aldi
Today was such a beautiful day that I really didn't want to go to the grocery store. It was a quick one today because I have some items in my stockpile that I am going to use to get us through the week so I didn't need to get a ton of items. It took me less than an hour to hit both of these stores and arrive back home.
Today I hit Kroger and saved 48%. I love it when I hit this percentage. I was able to load e coupons to my Kroger card from shortcuts and p&g. I also used manufacturers coupons.
Total shop at Kroger
MFG coupon savings $6.75
Bonus coupon savings (ecoupons) $2.35
Kroger savings (buying it on sale) $24.24
Total savings....$33 = 48% savings
I also needed to hit Aldi for some essentials.
I bought waffles, chewy granola bars, splenda, parmesean cheese, salmon, baby carrots, and gummy bears.
These are items that I almost always get for less at Aldi. There are a few rare occasions when I get these items for less, but they are also staples in our house and sometimes I underestimate our stockpile and fall short.
Spent 28 at Aldi
Total weekly grocery budget: $65
Today I hit Kroger and saved 48%. I love it when I hit this percentage. I was able to load e coupons to my Kroger card from shortcuts and p&g. I also used manufacturers coupons.
Total shop at Kroger
MFG coupon savings $6.75
Bonus coupon savings (ecoupons) $2.35
Kroger savings (buying it on sale) $24.24
Total savings....$33 = 48% savings
I also needed to hit Aldi for some essentials.
I bought waffles, chewy granola bars, splenda, parmesean cheese, salmon, baby carrots, and gummy bears.
These are items that I almost always get for less at Aldi. There are a few rare occasions when I get these items for less, but they are also staples in our house and sometimes I underestimate our stockpile and fall short.
Spent 28 at Aldi
Total weekly grocery budget: $65
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Do you really need it just because it is on sale?
I found that with my coupon journey that I got into the thinking that it was a good deal so I had to buy it. I know we all love to get good deals, but what I have found that helps is to stick to a budget. As I have mentioned before, I have a notecard that I write all my grocery purchases and this helps remind me of what I already spent and encourages me to think about what I buy.
Now many of my friends are now on this coupon journey and I am also going to encourage you to think about items/products that you don't need that you consider buying it to donate to charity. Each week, I would say 3-5 dollars worth of my purchases support our church's food pantry. When I can get a good deal on something, I do consider that I can donate this to my church and I also get the thrill of finding a great item on sale. Every month or so, I gather up all of these items and drop them off.
Something to think about!!!
Now many of my friends are now on this coupon journey and I am also going to encourage you to think about items/products that you don't need that you consider buying it to donate to charity. Each week, I would say 3-5 dollars worth of my purchases support our church's food pantry. When I can get a good deal on something, I do consider that I can donate this to my church and I also get the thrill of finding a great item on sale. Every month or so, I gather up all of these items and drop them off.
Something to think about!!!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
A Visit to the Mall....
Look for the deals everywhere!!!!
Well, we made a quick run into the mall today to get a last minute birthday gift and to find a swimsuit for one of my daughters. Every store that we went to we used a coupon or a rewards card!!! My daughters are now creatures of couponing!!!
We went to Justice to get a swimsuit and I had forgotten (hard to believe :) ) my 30% off coupon. Luckily, the wonderful cashier there took the 30% off for my daughter's swimsuit. I had decided that if she didn't I would put the swimsuit on hold, drive home to get the coupon, and then bring the swimsuit to her at the birthday party. I can't bear to pay full price for anything.
Then we went to Bath and Body works to buy the birthday gift and got the birthday girl some wonderful perfume and soap. It smelled yummy. Buying 2 of these items gave us a cheaper price and I had a coupon for a free fragrance item so I was able to get 2 wallflower refills for my home!!!
Off to the Hallmark store....I have a stash of cute cards (from the $ store that were only .50) that I keep at home in my present closet to give for all different occasions but I wasn't going to be able to run home before I dropped her off at her party so I used my Hallmark rewards card and earned some reward points for the $1 cards that I bought.
Then on our way out of the mall, one of my daughters decided she wanted a drink at Gloria Jean's so she got out her mall gift card that she had gotten for her birthday and ordered a delicious carmel beverage. One taste of this delicious drink and I was in heaven. Yummy!!! As she paid, I watched her whip out her Gloria Jean's reward card to earn her a free drink. I have taught her well!!
I am sure many of you have some stories about your savings to share!!! Feel free to post them as a comment. We can learn so much from each other!!!
Well, we made a quick run into the mall today to get a last minute birthday gift and to find a swimsuit for one of my daughters. Every store that we went to we used a coupon or a rewards card!!! My daughters are now creatures of couponing!!!
We went to Justice to get a swimsuit and I had forgotten (hard to believe :) ) my 30% off coupon. Luckily, the wonderful cashier there took the 30% off for my daughter's swimsuit. I had decided that if she didn't I would put the swimsuit on hold, drive home to get the coupon, and then bring the swimsuit to her at the birthday party. I can't bear to pay full price for anything.
Then we went to Bath and Body works to buy the birthday gift and got the birthday girl some wonderful perfume and soap. It smelled yummy. Buying 2 of these items gave us a cheaper price and I had a coupon for a free fragrance item so I was able to get 2 wallflower refills for my home!!!
Off to the Hallmark store....I have a stash of cute cards (from the $ store that were only .50) that I keep at home in my present closet to give for all different occasions but I wasn't going to be able to run home before I dropped her off at her party so I used my Hallmark rewards card and earned some reward points for the $1 cards that I bought.
Then on our way out of the mall, one of my daughters decided she wanted a drink at Gloria Jean's so she got out her mall gift card that she had gotten for her birthday and ordered a delicious carmel beverage. One taste of this delicious drink and I was in heaven. Yummy!!! As she paid, I watched her whip out her Gloria Jean's reward card to earn her a free drink. I have taught her well!!
I am sure many of you have some stories about your savings to share!!! Feel free to post them as a comment. We can learn so much from each other!!!
Shop at Meijer on 4/25 Spent 67 and Saved 36
Today was a quick shop at Meijer.
I was in and out of the store within 20 minutes (I did stop and talk to a friend for a short bit!).
I spent 67 (with tax) and saved 36.
I had almost 14 dollars in coupons.
I saved 22 dollars by buying items that were on sale.
My husband made a Sam's run on Friday. For my friends that follow my blog, they know how much this makes me cringe. I know that there are some items that are a good value. There are also quite a few things that our family loves that we can't find at other stores. So on the weeks that he shops at Sam's I try to keep my Meijer/Aldi/Kroger bills lower to offset the Sam's bill. I haven't seen the reciept yet, but have a feeling that I will need to be creative with my cooking and shopping this week.
Our biggest expenses is sports beverages. All four of us are very active. My husband and I have developed a love for running and my daughters are now up to 3 sports during this spring season. We can't seem to keep the propel or gatorade in the house. If anyone has any suggestions about how to get this for cheaper, I would love some suggestions. Occasionally, I will get the sport drink that Aldi sells. Otherwise, it seems like we go through gallons of this stuff. It seems like it NEVER goes on sale!
Enjoy this beautiful weather and I think spring is finally here!!!
I was in and out of the store within 20 minutes (I did stop and talk to a friend for a short bit!).
I spent 67 (with tax) and saved 36.
I had almost 14 dollars in coupons.
I saved 22 dollars by buying items that were on sale.
My husband made a Sam's run on Friday. For my friends that follow my blog, they know how much this makes me cringe. I know that there are some items that are a good value. There are also quite a few things that our family loves that we can't find at other stores. So on the weeks that he shops at Sam's I try to keep my Meijer/Aldi/Kroger bills lower to offset the Sam's bill. I haven't seen the reciept yet, but have a feeling that I will need to be creative with my cooking and shopping this week.
Our biggest expenses is sports beverages. All four of us are very active. My husband and I have developed a love for running and my daughters are now up to 3 sports during this spring season. We can't seem to keep the propel or gatorade in the house. If anyone has any suggestions about how to get this for cheaper, I would love some suggestions. Occasionally, I will get the sport drink that Aldi sells. Otherwise, it seems like we go through gallons of this stuff. It seems like it NEVER goes on sale!
Enjoy this beautiful weather and I think spring is finally here!!!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Target Deals for this week!!!
http://www.imommies.com/financial-resources/saving/the-target-weekly-041909-042509.htm
If you like to shop at Target, check out the imommies blog. I receive email updates from her every time she post something new to her blog.
If you like to shop at Target, check out the imommies blog. I receive email updates from her every time she post something new to her blog.
Restaurant.com Gift Certificates on sale
Restaurant.com is a great website for gettting reduced gift certificates that you can give or use for yourself. Unfortunately, there aren't any restaurants here in B town but if you travel to the burbs or possibly Peoria you can get 60% off.
We gave a bunch of these to my dad and stepmom for Christmas at various restaurants in Florida. They loved trying out new places that they might not have gone to before.
I recommend that you go through ebates first and get 15% cash back. I checked and right now in Peoria they have a Cheddar's gift certificates for $10 on sale for $3. If you enter the discount code (see the imommies link below) you will get an additional 60% off this price therefore $1.20 for a $10 gift certificate. Now you will also get 15% cash back from ebates as well!!!
http://www.imommies.com/financial-resources/saving/restaurantcom-60-discount-15-dale-thomas-gift-card-through-042609.htm
ENJOY!!!
We gave a bunch of these to my dad and stepmom for Christmas at various restaurants in Florida. They loved trying out new places that they might not have gone to before.
I recommend that you go through ebates first and get 15% cash back. I checked and right now in Peoria they have a Cheddar's gift certificates for $10 on sale for $3. If you enter the discount code (see the imommies link below) you will get an additional 60% off this price therefore $1.20 for a $10 gift certificate. Now you will also get 15% cash back from ebates as well!!!
http://www.imommies.com/financial-resources/saving/restaurantcom-60-discount-15-dale-thomas-gift-card-through-042609.htm
ENJOY!!!
Earth Day Deals
http://becentsable.blogspot.com/2009/04/earth-day-freebies.html
http://www.imommies.com/financial-resources/saving/happy-earth-day-09-saving-the-green.htm
http://katycouponers.blogspot.com/2009/04/earth-day-freebies.html
These are from some of my favorite bloggers that I receive automated emails from....
Enjoy!!
http://www.imommies.com/financial-resources/saving/happy-earth-day-09-saving-the-green.htm
http://katycouponers.blogspot.com/2009/04/earth-day-freebies.html
These are from some of my favorite bloggers that I receive automated emails from....
Enjoy!!
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
March Savings....
My organization in March was not as organized as I have been in previous months. March and April was a VERY busy time for my family. My daughters are now involved in 2 afterschool sports activities and my husband and I were training for a 1/2 Marathon. March and April consisted of a lot of time running for us as well as running our kids to their different activities.
My monthly spending for groceries this month was $464.50.
I saved with coupons and shopping the sales $296.00.
Since March was a 5 week month, my weekly budget equaled $92.90.
This month I had 2 shops at Sam's Club one for 60 and one for 80. This is also included in my monthly budget.
If I had paid full price for all of items and didn't use coupons, I would have spent $760 on groceries this month.
Do you still think clipping coupons isn't worth the time and/or the trouble?
My monthly spending for groceries this month was $464.50.
I saved with coupons and shopping the sales $296.00.
Since March was a 5 week month, my weekly budget equaled $92.90.
This month I had 2 shops at Sam's Club one for 60 and one for 80. This is also included in my monthly budget.
If I had paid full price for all of items and didn't use coupons, I would have spent $760 on groceries this month.
Do you still think clipping coupons isn't worth the time and/or the trouble?
Coupon Class
Coupon Class
Well, today I had a coupon class afterschool. It was great to see so many of my colleagues want to save money!!As I have said before, I just hate to see people spend too much at the grocery store. There have been many times that I have been in line behind someone who has spent hundreds of dollars on groceries and they have so little to show for it. I want to pull them aside and share all of my secrets!!
I also have a hard time spending a lot of money on food that ends up in 2 places on our hips, butt, or thighs :) or in the toilet!!! Don't get me wrong, I believe in feeding my family quality fresh and healthy food but if I can find it on sale and then use a coupon it puts a lot more money into our family budget.
I hope that my friends are enjoying their coupon adventure. For those of you that are new to couponing, take it slow. Try the free blogs for awhile and start matching your coupons to items on sale. Or sign up for a month for a dollar with the grocery game and start slowly. I would recommend saving your coupons for a couple of weeks or even a month in order to get the best savings.
I have about a year under my belt from serious couponing but I still know that I can learn sooooo much more.
I will continue to share my findings with you and help you with this coupon adventure. Every little bit you save will continue to grow and you will get to the amount of savings that I am finding during my grocery visits and maybe even more. If you do, make sure you share your tricks with me and our readers.
Please feel free to comment on the blog if you have questions or drop me an email at the link on the side of my blog.For those of you that are new when time allows try exploring some of my postings on the blog and learn some of the tricks that I have learned over the past year.
Happy Couponing!!!
Well, today I had a coupon class afterschool. It was great to see so many of my colleagues want to save money!!As I have said before, I just hate to see people spend too much at the grocery store. There have been many times that I have been in line behind someone who has spent hundreds of dollars on groceries and they have so little to show for it. I want to pull them aside and share all of my secrets!!
I also have a hard time spending a lot of money on food that ends up in 2 places on our hips, butt, or thighs :) or in the toilet!!! Don't get me wrong, I believe in feeding my family quality fresh and healthy food but if I can find it on sale and then use a coupon it puts a lot more money into our family budget.
I hope that my friends are enjoying their coupon adventure. For those of you that are new to couponing, take it slow. Try the free blogs for awhile and start matching your coupons to items on sale. Or sign up for a month for a dollar with the grocery game and start slowly. I would recommend saving your coupons for a couple of weeks or even a month in order to get the best savings.
I have about a year under my belt from serious couponing but I still know that I can learn sooooo much more.
I will continue to share my findings with you and help you with this coupon adventure. Every little bit you save will continue to grow and you will get to the amount of savings that I am finding during my grocery visits and maybe even more. If you do, make sure you share your tricks with me and our readers.
Please feel free to comment on the blog if you have questions or drop me an email at the link on the side of my blog.For those of you that are new when time allows try exploring some of my postings on the blog and learn some of the tricks that I have learned over the past year.
Happy Couponing!!!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Dinner and a movie....
Our family is spending spring break at home this year and we felt like we wanted a treat that was cost effective. I being the coupon lady has made this happen. We are having bacon wrapped filet mingon from a local butcher. I had a coupon for 4.99 each. I got 4 beautiful pieces of filet for 22.00 with tax. They would have cost $32.00!
Dinner is covered with salad for $1.00 and garlic bread which was also on sale!! A steak dinner for 4 for only $25.00. Much better price than it would be in a restaurant.
Now for the movie, we have a netflix account but didn't have any family movies on hand. My husband and I are hooked on the series 24 and have been watching it from the beginning on DVD.
So, I went to one of the blogs I follow and got a coupon code for redbox movies. I have done this before and just seem to forget to use their system. I had a coupon for a free rental and then we bought an additional one. We were able to rent 2 movies for 1.00!!! Redbox is a dvd kiosk that is in a lot of grocery stores. I went to the one that is outside of our Walgreens. I recommend signing up through redbox online first. I think it makes it easier and faster when you checkout from the kiosk. Ours was outside and let me tell you with the way the wind has been blowing lately, I wanted back in the truck as fast as possible! Make sure that when you begin to select your movie that you enter that you have a promo code. They will still ask for your visa card to ensure that you return the movie, but if you use one of the codes from the ladies at becentsable you are set for a free rental.
http://www.becentsable.net/2009/03/march-madness-final.html
Dinner is covered with salad for $1.00 and garlic bread which was also on sale!! A steak dinner for 4 for only $25.00. Much better price than it would be in a restaurant.
Now for the movie, we have a netflix account but didn't have any family movies on hand. My husband and I are hooked on the series 24 and have been watching it from the beginning on DVD.
So, I went to one of the blogs I follow and got a coupon code for redbox movies. I have done this before and just seem to forget to use their system. I had a coupon for a free rental and then we bought an additional one. We were able to rent 2 movies for 1.00!!! Redbox is a dvd kiosk that is in a lot of grocery stores. I went to the one that is outside of our Walgreens. I recommend signing up through redbox online first. I think it makes it easier and faster when you checkout from the kiosk. Ours was outside and let me tell you with the way the wind has been blowing lately, I wanted back in the truck as fast as possible! Make sure that when you begin to select your movie that you enter that you have a promo code. They will still ask for your visa card to ensure that you return the movie, but if you use one of the codes from the ladies at becentsable you are set for a free rental.
http://www.becentsable.net/2009/03/march-madness-final.html
Kroger savings 3/24/09 (Spent 72 and Saved 113)
What another great shop! It seems like sometimes there are banner sales and savings and other times that the sales are pitiful!!
I have noticed that I have been able to save more lately and I really feel that it is due to sticking to the grocery game list, deciding what we already have that can be eaten, subscribing to 2 newspapers, and (trying to) sticking to a budget.
Kroger is having a mega sale where when you buy 10 of their participating items you get $5 off. I bought 20 of these items and saved $10.
I have taken a little bit of extra time to go to http://mommysnacks.blogspot.com/2008/07/snack-time-welcome.html. There are many times that she has additional deals with printable coupons or coupons in the circulars.
When I shop at Kroger, I take the time to check out 3 sites to link electronic coupons to my Kroger card. The coupon comes off automatically and it will show on your receipt under the item that the coupon is applied to. The nice thing about the ecoupons is that you can add manufacturer coupons to lower the price of the sale item as well.
For example, Fruit snacks were on sale for 1.99 each. They were also part of the mega sale so they were 1.49 each. I had a coupon for .50 cents off from the SS 3/8 which is doubled by our Kroger. So I got them for a dollar off which is .49 cents. I also had an electronic coupon for .75 cents off of 2. So I got my both of my fruit snacks (I had 2 manufacturer coupons) for .12 cents each!!!
As I said there are 3 sites for electronic/ecoupons.
http://www.cellfire.com/
http://www.softcoin.com/Sites/PG_eSAVER/Page/HomePage/
http://shortcuts.com/
My total savings is as follows:
Manufacturer coupons $36.49
Bonus coupon savings $5.50
Kroger Plus Savings $70.77
Total savings 61% = 112.76
Can you say yippeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have noticed that I have been able to save more lately and I really feel that it is due to sticking to the grocery game list, deciding what we already have that can be eaten, subscribing to 2 newspapers, and (trying to) sticking to a budget.
Kroger is having a mega sale where when you buy 10 of their participating items you get $5 off. I bought 20 of these items and saved $10.
I have taken a little bit of extra time to go to http://mommysnacks.blogspot.com/2008/07/snack-time-welcome.html. There are many times that she has additional deals with printable coupons or coupons in the circulars.
When I shop at Kroger, I take the time to check out 3 sites to link electronic coupons to my Kroger card. The coupon comes off automatically and it will show on your receipt under the item that the coupon is applied to. The nice thing about the ecoupons is that you can add manufacturer coupons to lower the price of the sale item as well.
For example, Fruit snacks were on sale for 1.99 each. They were also part of the mega sale so they were 1.49 each. I had a coupon for .50 cents off from the SS 3/8 which is doubled by our Kroger. So I got them for a dollar off which is .49 cents. I also had an electronic coupon for .75 cents off of 2. So I got my both of my fruit snacks (I had 2 manufacturer coupons) for .12 cents each!!!
As I said there are 3 sites for electronic/ecoupons.
http://www.cellfire.com/
http://www.softcoin.com/Sites/PG_eSAVER/Page/HomePage/
http://shortcuts.com/
My total savings is as follows:
Manufacturer coupons $36.49
Bonus coupon savings $5.50
Kroger Plus Savings $70.77
Total savings 61% = 112.76
Can you say yippeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Kroger Sale
Big sale at Kroger this week!!!
I plan on hitting the sale on Monday which will count towards my next week's spending. The big attraction this week is Jack's Pizza for 5 for 10. This is a great deal! My family loves Jack's pizza. It makes for an inexpensive meal for those nights that you don't feel like cooking or are to pressed for time. Throw in a bag of salad on sale at Meijer for 1.00 and I can feed my family of 4 for $5.00!!!
Not too bad...
I plan on hitting the sale on Monday which will count towards my next week's spending. The big attraction this week is Jack's Pizza for 5 for 10. This is a great deal! My family loves Jack's pizza. It makes for an inexpensive meal for those nights that you don't feel like cooking or are to pressed for time. Throw in a bag of salad on sale at Meijer for 1.00 and I can feed my family of 4 for $5.00!!!
Not too bad...
Meijer savings on 3/21 (Spent 85 and Saved 88)
Great sale at Meijer! It is the 10 for 10 sale!!!
It is amazing how challenged I am making sure that my items add up to multiples of 10 to get my deal plus 1 item for free!!!
I bought 20 items and got 2 free!!!
Total spent was 85.00 including tax and I saved 87.91
Savings Breakdown...
Meijer promotions 4.00
Noncoupon savings (buying sale items) 57.76
Total coupons 26.15
=87.91!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, for about 30 minutes worth of time this morning matching coupons and printing coupons earned my family 88 dollars. I know that I don't earn 160 an hour. So for 1/2 an hour worth of work we paid ourselves 88.00!!!
Coupons are great!!! How did I live without them? I will never shop without them!!!
It is amazing how challenged I am making sure that my items add up to multiples of 10 to get my deal plus 1 item for free!!!
I bought 20 items and got 2 free!!!
Total spent was 85.00 including tax and I saved 87.91
Savings Breakdown...
Meijer promotions 4.00
Noncoupon savings (buying sale items) 57.76
Total coupons 26.15
=87.91!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, for about 30 minutes worth of time this morning matching coupons and printing coupons earned my family 88 dollars. I know that I don't earn 160 an hour. So for 1/2 an hour worth of work we paid ourselves 88.00!!!
Coupons are great!!! How did I live without them? I will never shop without them!!!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
3/7 Meijer shop (Spent 106 and Saved 75)
Again, I am sooooo appreciative of the grocery game. The amount of time and money it saves me is wonderful!
Today was a great shop. Usually on a Saturday which is the last day of the sale, I find that many items are gone. I was able to find everything without getting a raincheck. I was also able to get some Turkey Store Italian Sausage for 40% off. This was priced at a discount because on the label it said that the use by date was today. I bought 6 packages and put them in the freezer so the date won't be a problem for us.
I have 2 good friends that have just signed on to the grocery game. I am so excited that they are trying this great system and I know that they will save tons of money!!
I have been on this coupon adventure for a year now and I am still learning new strategies and finding new ways to save money. I am thrilled with the ways I have been able to save money for our family. Every little bit I save helps pay for our retirement, savings, or college education for our children. I feel like finding these alternative ways to save money has been a huge release on our finances!! I wish you luck on your coupon adventure!
Today was a great shop. Usually on a Saturday which is the last day of the sale, I find that many items are gone. I was able to find everything without getting a raincheck. I was also able to get some Turkey Store Italian Sausage for 40% off. This was priced at a discount because on the label it said that the use by date was today. I bought 6 packages and put them in the freezer so the date won't be a problem for us.
I have 2 good friends that have just signed on to the grocery game. I am so excited that they are trying this great system and I know that they will save tons of money!!
I have been on this coupon adventure for a year now and I am still learning new strategies and finding new ways to save money. I am thrilled with the ways I have been able to save money for our family. Every little bit I save helps pay for our retirement, savings, or college education for our children. I feel like finding these alternative ways to save money has been a huge release on our finances!! I wish you luck on your coupon adventure!
February Savings...
2/1 Sam's Club
Spent 125
2/8 Meijer and Kroger
Spent 191
Saved 117
2/28 Aldi and Meijer
Spent 88
Saved 46
Total for February:
Spent 404
Saved 163
Average weekly amount 101/week!!!
Spent 125
2/8 Meijer and Kroger
Spent 191
Saved 117
2/28 Aldi and Meijer
Spent 88
Saved 46
Total for February:
Spent 404
Saved 163
Average weekly amount 101/week!!!
January Savings...
I have been trying to curb my internet addiction hence my lack of postings...
So sorry!
Here are my totals for January...
1/4 Meijer and Kroger
Spent 130
Saved 89
1/11 Meijer and Kroger
Spent 135
Saved 124
1/18 Aldi
Spent 47
1/25 Kroger
Spent 47
Saved 29
1/31 Meijer
Spent 102
Saved 83
Total January groceries:
Spent 461
Saved 325
5 weeks in January equals 92 a week spent on groceries!!! Not too bad!!
So sorry!
Here are my totals for January...
1/4 Meijer and Kroger
Spent 130
Saved 89
1/11 Meijer and Kroger
Spent 135
Saved 124
1/18 Aldi
Spent 47
1/25 Kroger
Spent 47
Saved 29
1/31 Meijer
Spent 102
Saved 83
Total January groceries:
Spent 461
Saved 325
5 weeks in January equals 92 a week spent on groceries!!! Not too bad!!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
No coupons in Sunday's paper, 2/15
http://www.southernsavers.com/2008/12/2009-coupon-inserts-schedule/
Can you imagine my disappointment that today there were no coupons in the Sunday paper. My first thought was that my inserts were left out. After a search on the internet, I found out that no coupons are in any papers!
See above link for what inserts come in the paper every week!
Can you imagine my disappointment that today there were no coupons in the Sunday paper. My first thought was that my inserts were left out. After a search on the internet, I found out that no coupons are in any papers!
See above link for what inserts come in the paper every week!
Grocery shop on 2/14 (Spent 159 and saved 108)
Great shop on 2/14 at Meijer....
I have fallen a little behind on my posts. I hope to get my January shopping totals up sometime this weekend...
Today, I had a huge wad of coupons. The cashier even commented (nicely) that I did a great job.
I got my coupons in the following places:
The Chicago Tribune Sunday paper
The Pantagraph Sunday paper
The Coupon Clippers (I purchased coupons for items that I always buy like yogurt, organge juice, etc.)- check out their site...
The All You magazine (see link for info about this in another post)
The P&G rebate coupons (I finally received this in the mail!! Great wad of P&G products)
Internet coupons (printed from various coupon sites)
Register Reward coupons (The coupons that spit out of the cash register)
Meijer Mealbox coupons (See link)
It took me about 30 minutes to cut, clip, and organize my coupons for this shop....Not too bad for a 108 dollar savings!!
Total coupons and savings....
Total Meijer promotions (Meijer Mealbox coupons) $5.74
Non Coupon Savings (savings for buying these items on sale) $56.88
Total Coupons (many of these coupons doubled) $45.79
Savings Total $108.41
I have fallen a little behind on my posts. I hope to get my January shopping totals up sometime this weekend...
Today, I had a huge wad of coupons. The cashier even commented (nicely) that I did a great job.
I got my coupons in the following places:
The Chicago Tribune Sunday paper
The Pantagraph Sunday paper
The Coupon Clippers (I purchased coupons for items that I always buy like yogurt, organge juice, etc.)- check out their site...
The All You magazine (see link for info about this in another post)
The P&G rebate coupons (I finally received this in the mail!! Great wad of P&G products)
Internet coupons (printed from various coupon sites)
Register Reward coupons (The coupons that spit out of the cash register)
Meijer Mealbox coupons (See link)
It took me about 30 minutes to cut, clip, and organize my coupons for this shop....Not too bad for a 108 dollar savings!!
Total coupons and savings....
Total Meijer promotions (Meijer Mealbox coupons) $5.74
Non Coupon Savings (savings for buying these items on sale) $56.88
Total Coupons (many of these coupons doubled) $45.79
Savings Total $108.41
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Rebate for Pepsi and Frito Lays
From one of my regular blogs that I read....
This is for a $15 rebate for purchasing Frito Lays and Pepsi
http://www.stretchingabuckblog.com/2009/01/pepsifrito-lay-rebate.html
This is for a $15 rebate for purchasing Frito Lays and Pepsi
http://www.stretchingabuckblog.com/2009/01/pepsifrito-lay-rebate.html
Do you want more coupons?
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/01/free-10-coupon-booklet-from-eat-better-america.html
Read the above link about how to get $10 dollars worth of coupons.....
Read the above link about how to get $10 dollars worth of coupons.....
Bath and Body Works
Great sale at Bath and Body Works and White Barn Candle....
I stopped into Bath and Body works on Sunday while my daughters were shopping in Claire's. I don't know about you but Claire's drive me nuts. The aisles are too small. I find myself knocking something over with my big purse that is of course full of coupons! :) And their are soooo many preteen and teens that I begin to really feel my age! :)
Anyways, while I was in White Barn (Bath and Body Work and White Barn are connected to each other in our mall) I came across their holiday merchandise. They have marked down a lot of their items to 75% off. I found some really cute holiday scented car air freshners. They were originally $5.00 and rang up for $1.25. I bought 10 of them for teacher gifts for next year!
I went back to the mall today, because I had forgotten to bring my coupon for a free signature item with any purchase. I only spent $1.25 for some really cute lotion to give as a gift for some soon to be invited birthday party. I will put this in our present closet. I know that many of you are not surprised, but when I find really good deals on clearance that I know would be great for gifts I buy it and put it in our present closet. If you don't have space in your closet, I recommend a rubbermaid tote or something like that. Having 2 preteen daughters, I know that one of them will be invited to something that we would want to bring a gift. It is nice being able to go to our stash and find something really cute and fun that we got a great deal on!!!
Well, with the future gift that I purchased I was able to get some of my favorite liquid body wash in my favorite scent of Japenese Cherry Blossom.
If you didn't receive this coupon in the mail, check out the following link for some printable coupons that you can use at Bath and Body works!
Happy Shopping!!!
http://www.wowprintablecoupons.com/
I stopped into Bath and Body works on Sunday while my daughters were shopping in Claire's. I don't know about you but Claire's drive me nuts. The aisles are too small. I find myself knocking something over with my big purse that is of course full of coupons! :) And their are soooo many preteen and teens that I begin to really feel my age! :)
Anyways, while I was in White Barn (Bath and Body Work and White Barn are connected to each other in our mall) I came across their holiday merchandise. They have marked down a lot of their items to 75% off. I found some really cute holiday scented car air freshners. They were originally $5.00 and rang up for $1.25. I bought 10 of them for teacher gifts for next year!
I went back to the mall today, because I had forgotten to bring my coupon for a free signature item with any purchase. I only spent $1.25 for some really cute lotion to give as a gift for some soon to be invited birthday party. I will put this in our present closet. I know that many of you are not surprised, but when I find really good deals on clearance that I know would be great for gifts I buy it and put it in our present closet. If you don't have space in your closet, I recommend a rubbermaid tote or something like that. Having 2 preteen daughters, I know that one of them will be invited to something that we would want to bring a gift. It is nice being able to go to our stash and find something really cute and fun that we got a great deal on!!!
Well, with the future gift that I purchased I was able to get some of my favorite liquid body wash in my favorite scent of Japenese Cherry Blossom.
If you didn't receive this coupon in the mail, check out the following link for some printable coupons that you can use at Bath and Body works!
Happy Shopping!!!
http://www.wowprintablecoupons.com/
Meijer shop 1/14/09 (Spent 108 and Saved 100)
Wow! I don't recall saving this much in coupons before. My cashier at Meijer (one of my favorites) was sooooo cute as she kept entering each of my coupons. She said to me, "You did good." Of course, I didn't correct being that I am an English teacher. I know that sometimes we come across not so nice cashiers as we hand over our coupons. I have heard some interesting stories from friends. One story I heard is that the cashier said "You know you use too many coupons." Is there really such a thing as using too many coupons?
Anyways, my favorite cashier was so sweet as she entered each coupon. She said, "Now hunny make sure that I get each one and let me know if it doesn't ring up correctly." Now that is a great cashier. After she entered all of my coupons, I ended up knocking $32.80 off my bill!!! The lady behind me in line just smiled!!!
Some of my friends have adopted my ways and won't pay full price ever again for groceries. Everything that I bought today was on sale. I find myself wanting to stop people who are shopping and tell them that they can save soooo much and buy sooooo much more for their family. I haven't been so bold to go up to total strangers but I do bore and irritate some of my friends as I my holler my savings stories. I want everyone to be able to save this much!!!
What can you do with your weekly grocery savings? I have some friends that are saving for trips, paying off bills, or just using the extra savings to get by from week to week. If you want some extra help, suggestions, or ideas let me know. I am no expert, but I am finding out a lot of the ins and outs of this coupon world!!
Now to the Meijer shop...
Lots of goodies this week....84 items (my cart was overflowing!!!)
Some of the items I bought were 2 packages of vitamins, 4 of the energy efficient light bulbs, airborne, 8 fruit snack and gushers (my daughters' love them), 5 chex mix, 3 hamburger helper, 4 frozen veggies, grapes, 1 pizza, 1 milk, 24 eggs, 2 pkgs. ground turkey, lunchmeat turkey, 2 orange juice, grands bisquits, pancake mix, syrup, 4 pkgs. fiber one bars, 4 pkgs. nature valley granola bars, 3 creme of chicken soup, paper towels, 16 yoplait yogurts, 2 avocados, coffee, fantastic, bathroom cleaner, fabric softener, garlic toast, and 3 packages of danactive.
Yes, some of these are excessive...For example there is no way my children will eat 8 boxes of fruit snacks and/or gushers. Let me correct myself, I am sure that they could eat all 8 boxes but it would not be allowed by their mean mom. If you remember reading on my previous posts, you buy as many items as you can when an item is at its cheapest price. When an item is at that price you then apply your coupon and save the most. For example the fruit snacks were originally $2.84. They were on sale for 1.50 each and I had a coupon for .50/2. Since Meijer will double 2 like coupons, I was able to get 1.00 off of 2. So they were a 1.00 a piece. This saved me 1.84 off of the original price!!!
Another recommendation I have mentioned before is to get an extra paper. For awhile, I would make a conscious effort to pick one up every Sunday. I was already getting one delivered so this would get me 2. Some of the great coupons savings ladies that are out there buy a lot more than this to get their savings. There is one lady who spends only $800 a year on groceries!!! For me, I only get 2 papers since Meijer will only double 2 like coupons. I don't have the time to make 2 trips to the store a week in order to maximize the savings. I recommend getting your nearest major city newspaper. I now receive the Chicago Tribune. It is delivered so if I don't make it out of the house to pick up an extra paper I am set. It cost about $1.25 a week to get the Sunday paper. This is .25 cents more than it does to buy a paper at our store. By having it delivered, you don't have to drive; therefore saving gas money and also I am finding better coupons in the Tribune that we don't have in our local paper. For example today, Powerade was on sale at Kroger for .88 cents. I had a coupon that was only in the Tribune's coupon circular for $1.00 off. I was able to get 1 powerade for FREE!!!
Well back to my savings...
I spent 108.00 (I had a merchandise credit for 5.86)
Saved over $66.74 for buying items on sale
Coupons saved me 32.80
Total savings $99.54
YIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways, my favorite cashier was so sweet as she entered each coupon. She said, "Now hunny make sure that I get each one and let me know if it doesn't ring up correctly." Now that is a great cashier. After she entered all of my coupons, I ended up knocking $32.80 off my bill!!! The lady behind me in line just smiled!!!
Some of my friends have adopted my ways and won't pay full price ever again for groceries. Everything that I bought today was on sale. I find myself wanting to stop people who are shopping and tell them that they can save soooo much and buy sooooo much more for their family. I haven't been so bold to go up to total strangers but I do bore and irritate some of my friends as I my holler my savings stories. I want everyone to be able to save this much!!!
What can you do with your weekly grocery savings? I have some friends that are saving for trips, paying off bills, or just using the extra savings to get by from week to week. If you want some extra help, suggestions, or ideas let me know. I am no expert, but I am finding out a lot of the ins and outs of this coupon world!!
Now to the Meijer shop...
Lots of goodies this week....84 items (my cart was overflowing!!!)
Some of the items I bought were 2 packages of vitamins, 4 of the energy efficient light bulbs, airborne, 8 fruit snack and gushers (my daughters' love them), 5 chex mix, 3 hamburger helper, 4 frozen veggies, grapes, 1 pizza, 1 milk, 24 eggs, 2 pkgs. ground turkey, lunchmeat turkey, 2 orange juice, grands bisquits, pancake mix, syrup, 4 pkgs. fiber one bars, 4 pkgs. nature valley granola bars, 3 creme of chicken soup, paper towels, 16 yoplait yogurts, 2 avocados, coffee, fantastic, bathroom cleaner, fabric softener, garlic toast, and 3 packages of danactive.
Yes, some of these are excessive...For example there is no way my children will eat 8 boxes of fruit snacks and/or gushers. Let me correct myself, I am sure that they could eat all 8 boxes but it would not be allowed by their mean mom. If you remember reading on my previous posts, you buy as many items as you can when an item is at its cheapest price. When an item is at that price you then apply your coupon and save the most. For example the fruit snacks were originally $2.84. They were on sale for 1.50 each and I had a coupon for .50/2. Since Meijer will double 2 like coupons, I was able to get 1.00 off of 2. So they were a 1.00 a piece. This saved me 1.84 off of the original price!!!
Another recommendation I have mentioned before is to get an extra paper. For awhile, I would make a conscious effort to pick one up every Sunday. I was already getting one delivered so this would get me 2. Some of the great coupons savings ladies that are out there buy a lot more than this to get their savings. There is one lady who spends only $800 a year on groceries!!! For me, I only get 2 papers since Meijer will only double 2 like coupons. I don't have the time to make 2 trips to the store a week in order to maximize the savings. I recommend getting your nearest major city newspaper. I now receive the Chicago Tribune. It is delivered so if I don't make it out of the house to pick up an extra paper I am set. It cost about $1.25 a week to get the Sunday paper. This is .25 cents more than it does to buy a paper at our store. By having it delivered, you don't have to drive; therefore saving gas money and also I am finding better coupons in the Tribune that we don't have in our local paper. For example today, Powerade was on sale at Kroger for .88 cents. I had a coupon that was only in the Tribune's coupon circular for $1.00 off. I was able to get 1 powerade for FREE!!!
Well back to my savings...
I spent 108.00 (I had a merchandise credit for 5.86)
Saved over $66.74 for buying items on sale
Coupons saved me 32.80
Total savings $99.54
YIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kroger shop 1/14/09 (Spent 27 and Saved 24)
I am now remembering why I love Kroger! I hadn't bought anything from Kroger in a very long time because there were usually only 2-3 items during their sale that we would use and to make an extra trip for those few items wasn't worth it in my opinion. Lately, the sales have been good. What I like about Kroger is that it seems like I have a great percentage of savings when I shop there. I don't buy as much as I do at Meijer, but it does help...
Today, I purchased 26 items...
I bought 7 Lean Cuisines
9 Easy Mac cups (these are great for snacks for my kids)
5 lb bag of grapefruit
2 packages of coffee filters
1 powerade (FREE!!!)
3 Suave deoderants
1 softsoap liquid soap
1 pkg. jello refrigerated pudding
1 container of sour creme
Total coupon savings $6.50
Savings for items on sale and using Kroger card $17.67
Total savings $24.16 = 47% savings
Today, I purchased 26 items...
I bought 7 Lean Cuisines
9 Easy Mac cups (these are great for snacks for my kids)
5 lb bag of grapefruit
2 packages of coffee filters
1 powerade (FREE!!!)
3 Suave deoderants
1 softsoap liquid soap
1 pkg. jello refrigerated pudding
1 container of sour creme
Total coupon savings $6.50
Savings for items on sale and using Kroger card $17.67
Total savings $24.16 = 47% savings
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Meijer shop 1/10 (Spent 73 saved 32)
Today's shop was accomplished with the help of my dear husband. He did such a great job helping me keep to my list. He had never accompanied me on one of my grocery visits since we are now coupon and sale conscious. He asked lots of questions and saw how it all works.
Spent 73 (before tax)
Meijer coupons -2.00
Items on sale -20.99
Coupons -9.30
Total savings $32.29
My kids still love when I come home from the grocery store. One of the pluses from shopping from my grocery game list is I am always bringing home different and new items. There are the regular items that are always on our list like yogurt, milk, cheese, etc. but with the grocery game you buy the items that are on sale at their lowest price and then add your coupons to this price to get the items for even cheaper. They love the new treats and snacks that come home with each shop!
I am bringing new items into our house that I never bought before because they were too expensive. I am buying more brand name items than ever before. As I have mentioned before, in our past shopping experiences I almost always bought the store generic or items at Aldi. I still get a few items at Aldi cheaper than the grocery store, but I am very rarely buying the store generic because it is more expensive than the name brand item when it is on sale with a coupon.
Just a small example, today we bought some cough medicine. We don't need it right now, but figuring it is cold season and we live in Central Illinois someone in my home will need some. Well, Robettusin (sp?) was on sale for $4.00 (usually $5.68) and I had a $1.00 off coupon. So the cough medicine was $3.00. Now, it is important to still check the shelf for like products to see if you can still get an item for cheaper. Again, in the past I would have usually bought the generic. Well the generic cough medicine was $3.89. So the Robettusin was .89 cents less then the store generic!!!
Every little bit helps!!!
Combined with my shop at Kroger this week our weekly grocery bill was $130. We saved $89.
This weekly amount is a little high for me, but I did get my dear husband some of his favorite skin care products that weren't on sale (Neutrogena and Nivea never go on sale when I have a coupon!) but I did apply coupons. This was about $18 dollars of my budget.
I am trying to keep our grocery bill at $100 a week. However, I am looking for ways to lower this even more. I have been reading a lot of coupon blogs that I follow and I might be ready to add an additional step to our coupon journey. It is amazing how some families are saving soooo much more than I am. The key is finding something that doesn't take too much time out of my busy life. Currently, I am spending about an hour a week to match coupons, print my list, and look for additional bargains. Getting paid $89 for an hour's worth of work isn't too bad!!
We all have busy lives and it is very important to me that this coupon journey allows me time for my family, my work, and some leisure time.
Keep following me on my savings adventure! I hope that my adventure saves you and your family time and MONEY!!!
Spent 73 (before tax)
Meijer coupons -2.00
Items on sale -20.99
Coupons -9.30
Total savings $32.29
My kids still love when I come home from the grocery store. One of the pluses from shopping from my grocery game list is I am always bringing home different and new items. There are the regular items that are always on our list like yogurt, milk, cheese, etc. but with the grocery game you buy the items that are on sale at their lowest price and then add your coupons to this price to get the items for even cheaper. They love the new treats and snacks that come home with each shop!
I am bringing new items into our house that I never bought before because they were too expensive. I am buying more brand name items than ever before. As I have mentioned before, in our past shopping experiences I almost always bought the store generic or items at Aldi. I still get a few items at Aldi cheaper than the grocery store, but I am very rarely buying the store generic because it is more expensive than the name brand item when it is on sale with a coupon.
Just a small example, today we bought some cough medicine. We don't need it right now, but figuring it is cold season and we live in Central Illinois someone in my home will need some. Well, Robettusin (sp?) was on sale for $4.00 (usually $5.68) and I had a $1.00 off coupon. So the cough medicine was $3.00. Now, it is important to still check the shelf for like products to see if you can still get an item for cheaper. Again, in the past I would have usually bought the generic. Well the generic cough medicine was $3.89. So the Robettusin was .89 cents less then the store generic!!!
Every little bit helps!!!
Combined with my shop at Kroger this week our weekly grocery bill was $130. We saved $89.
This weekly amount is a little high for me, but I did get my dear husband some of his favorite skin care products that weren't on sale (Neutrogena and Nivea never go on sale when I have a coupon!) but I did apply coupons. This was about $18 dollars of my budget.
I am trying to keep our grocery bill at $100 a week. However, I am looking for ways to lower this even more. I have been reading a lot of coupon blogs that I follow and I might be ready to add an additional step to our coupon journey. It is amazing how some families are saving soooo much more than I am. The key is finding something that doesn't take too much time out of my busy life. Currently, I am spending about an hour a week to match coupons, print my list, and look for additional bargains. Getting paid $89 for an hour's worth of work isn't too bad!!
We all have busy lives and it is very important to me that this coupon journey allows me time for my family, my work, and some leisure time.
Keep following me on my savings adventure! I hope that my adventure saves you and your family time and MONEY!!!
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Kroger shop on 1/7 (Spent 57 and Saved 57)
Well, this week Kroger had a decent sale!!! I had written in a previous post that it had been so long since I had been to Kroger that I was unable to find my card. During that last visit, I got a new card and took the time on Tuesday to load some electronic coupons to my card. In one of my earlier posts, I shared that there are 2 companies that allow you to load electronic coupons to your card. These electronic coupons act like real coupons. The plus is that you don't have to have them in hand.
Another benefit is that these coupons can be "stacked". This means that you can use the ecoupon as well as a manufacture's coupon. Our Kroger doubles coupons upto .50 cents. You can get great deals this way. For example, Crest was on sale for 2.50. I had an ecoupon loaded on my card for Crest for -1.50. I also had a manufacturer coupon for .50 cents. Since Kroger doubles coupons. I got my toothpaste for FREE!!!
The 2 sites that have ecoupons are:
1. http://shortcuts.com/
2. http://www.softcoin.com/Sites/PG_eSAVER/Page/HomePage/
Here are the fruits of my labor....
1. Coupon savings $19.15
2. Bonus coupon savings (3 coupons) $3.80
3. Kroger Savings (items on sale) $33.72
4. Total Savings!!!! 56.67 = 50% savings!!!
Another benefit is that these coupons can be "stacked". This means that you can use the ecoupon as well as a manufacture's coupon. Our Kroger doubles coupons upto .50 cents. You can get great deals this way. For example, Crest was on sale for 2.50. I had an ecoupon loaded on my card for Crest for -1.50. I also had a manufacturer coupon for .50 cents. Since Kroger doubles coupons. I got my toothpaste for FREE!!!
The 2 sites that have ecoupons are:
1. http://shortcuts.com/
2. http://www.softcoin.com/Sites/PG_eSAVER/Page/HomePage/
Here are the fruits of my labor....
1. Coupon savings $19.15
2. Bonus coupon savings (3 coupons) $3.80
3. Kroger Savings (items on sale) $33.72
4. Total Savings!!!! 56.67 = 50% savings!!!
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