There is nothing better than grocery shopping when the store is dead! Just got back from the grocery store on a Saturday night, I am sure you are all so jealous and wish you lead an adventurous life like me! The family all had plans this evening so I chose to casually stroll the aisles at Meijer with no concern about racing home to run someone to their next activity. I forgot how quiet grocery stores are in the evenings. I remember when my twin daughters were infants I was a frequent customer at Walmart after 10 or 11 pm as I tried to find a time to get to store when it was quiet and without screaming children.
Today's shop and browsing proved to be worthwhile. As you know Valentine's Day is on Monday. I had been looking for something to get my daughters. On Friday, they went to see Justin Bieber's Never Say Never movie with some girlfriends. I think every single teenage girl in America saw this movie this weekend. I stumbled upon giant sized poster of Bieber. They will be thrilled as they have Bieber fever. I also got them nailpolish that was on sale with coupons. They will be thrilled!!
Anyways, I also found a great deal on a coat for a 24M old boy. This time of year, I am able to get winter coats to donate to the church coat drive in the fall. The coat was 50.00 and I got it for 7.00. It will be a great coat for a needy child.
So, today's grocery shop contains items other than groceries but they were also purchased on sale and with coupons!
Spent $127.49
Saved: $1.75 with Meijer coupons
Saved: $34.61 for purchasing items that were on sale
Saved: $11.98 with coupons
Total Savings: $48.34
Hope everyone has a wonderful Valentines Day with someone they care about...their children, friends, family, boyfriend/girlfriend, or spouse.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
2/5/2011 Meijer shop and Stockpiling
Well, I have been back on the coupon wagon for about a month now. However, this is the first post I have regarding my savings.
Today at Meijer, there were so many great deals! When I do my grocery shopping, my total savings is based on all purchases. Sometimes I will have household items, cleaning products, and tolietries as well as groceries.
As I work on building up my stockpile again, I know that my grocery bills will be higher than my goal. For those of you that aren't sure what stockpiling is it is when you buy as much of an item as you can to get you to the next sale cycle. Every item in your grocery store goes through a sale cycle. A cycle can vary from 6-12 weeks depending on the product. Many items in your store will go on sale again but there is a time when the item will be at it's lowest price. This is the time that you want to stockpile. Now, this doesn't mean you have to turn a spare bedroom into a pantry. You need to determine how much of that item your family really eats. For example, if pasta was on sale and your family eats pasta on average once a week you would want to buy 10 boxes of pasta to get you to the time that this item is on sale again.
Since I haven't stockpiled until just the last 2 weeks, I still have to buy items that are not on SALE or are on sale but not at their cheapest sale price.
Summary of today's shop at Meijer
Spent: $101.53 (including tax)
Saved: .50 (do to a Meijer promotion)
Saved: $26.19 (by buying items on sale. This is the sale price savings)
Saved: $21.42 (by matching my coupons to the sale items. This is the total savings of all of my coupons once they doubled them. Our Meijer doubles up to a $1.00.)
Total SAVINGS $48.12
In this total I bought shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, and food to donate for our church's food drive tomorrow. As I begin to add more to my stockpile, I know that I will be able to provide more for others while still saving money for my family.
Today at Meijer, there were so many great deals! When I do my grocery shopping, my total savings is based on all purchases. Sometimes I will have household items, cleaning products, and tolietries as well as groceries.
As I work on building up my stockpile again, I know that my grocery bills will be higher than my goal. For those of you that aren't sure what stockpiling is it is when you buy as much of an item as you can to get you to the next sale cycle. Every item in your grocery store goes through a sale cycle. A cycle can vary from 6-12 weeks depending on the product. Many items in your store will go on sale again but there is a time when the item will be at it's lowest price. This is the time that you want to stockpile. Now, this doesn't mean you have to turn a spare bedroom into a pantry. You need to determine how much of that item your family really eats. For example, if pasta was on sale and your family eats pasta on average once a week you would want to buy 10 boxes of pasta to get you to the time that this item is on sale again.
Since I haven't stockpiled until just the last 2 weeks, I still have to buy items that are not on SALE or are on sale but not at their cheapest sale price.
Summary of today's shop at Meijer
Spent: $101.53 (including tax)
Saved: .50 (do to a Meijer promotion)
Saved: $26.19 (by buying items on sale. This is the sale price savings)
Saved: $21.42 (by matching my coupons to the sale items. This is the total savings of all of my coupons once they doubled them. Our Meijer doubles up to a $1.00.)
Total SAVINGS $48.12
In this total I bought shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, and food to donate for our church's food drive tomorrow. As I begin to add more to my stockpile, I know that I will be able to provide more for others while still saving money for my family.
Back on the wagon...
I have decided to put coupons back on the priority list.
We all know how expensive groceries are. For the last year, I have been relying on Sam's Club to feed my family. Although, I know we can save money by shopping at Sam's Club I know the savings are not as great as when couponing was a priority for me. Even though Sam's is a stock up store, it seemed like my pantry was never as full as when I shopped with coupons at Meijer and Kroger. When our church would have a food drive, I could always pull from my stockpile and not make much of dent on our food supply. Because of this, I hadn't helped out our food pantry as much as I could have.
In 2009, I was able to save almost $1500 in groceries!
I need some accountablility for myself as much as an opportunity to share my savings with you. Because of this, I will continue to update this blog with my weekly purchases and savings. My goal is to get back to my $400 a month grocery budget.
I admit I have used a lot of excuses as to why I stopped couponing. But the real reason is that I just became lazy. Many of us say how busy we are but when things become priorities it happens. Couponing only took me 30-40 minutes a week to prepare my grocery list and to cut my coupons. I use to do this while watching TV with my family. It didn't take any time away from family time. I could still engage in conversation as well as talk to them about what they would like to eat this week. Saving almost $200 a month should be a priority for me... not sure why I let this get away from me.
So if you are interested in following me on my journey again, please feel free to follow my blog. You can subscribe to receive any updates via email or RSS so you won't miss a moment of savings journey.
We all know how expensive groceries are. For the last year, I have been relying on Sam's Club to feed my family. Although, I know we can save money by shopping at Sam's Club I know the savings are not as great as when couponing was a priority for me. Even though Sam's is a stock up store, it seemed like my pantry was never as full as when I shopped with coupons at Meijer and Kroger. When our church would have a food drive, I could always pull from my stockpile and not make much of dent on our food supply. Because of this, I hadn't helped out our food pantry as much as I could have.
In 2009, I was able to save almost $1500 in groceries!
I need some accountablility for myself as much as an opportunity to share my savings with you. Because of this, I will continue to update this blog with my weekly purchases and savings. My goal is to get back to my $400 a month grocery budget.
I admit I have used a lot of excuses as to why I stopped couponing. But the real reason is that I just became lazy. Many of us say how busy we are but when things become priorities it happens. Couponing only took me 30-40 minutes a week to prepare my grocery list and to cut my coupons. I use to do this while watching TV with my family. It didn't take any time away from family time. I could still engage in conversation as well as talk to them about what they would like to eat this week. Saving almost $200 a month should be a priority for me... not sure why I let this get away from me.
So if you are interested in following me on my journey again, please feel free to follow my blog. You can subscribe to receive any updates via email or RSS so you won't miss a moment of savings journey.
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