Today, I managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Kroger in between running the teenagers around town. Kroger is my second tier grocery store. I love the savings that I can find there but I get the majority of my groceries at Meijer. Both Meijer and Kroger double their coupons up to .50.
My Kroger shops are usually small and allow me to get in and get out quickly. I don't have a lot of aisles that tend to distract me like Meijer does. However, I did find some great deals on Saturday at Meijer while browsing the homegoods aisles. I was able to get a HUGE battery operated remote control candle for half off and some great gifts for the family Christmas grab bag!!
When making my list for Kroger today, I used the Grocery Game and quickly clipped my coupons in about 15 minutes.
The items I put on my list today were BLUE which means that they are the best price they will be during this cycle.
I bought:
6 Yoplait Greek Yogurt
6 Boxes of Nature Valley Granola Bars
2 Boxes of Nature Valley Protein Bars
1 Bottle of Welch's Grape Juice
4 Can's of Campbell Soup
Tide Detergent
6 cans of refried beans
1 container of Kroger sour creme
Not on a BLUE sale...but we still needed.
Bananas
Lunchmeat
Truvia sweetner (coupon for 1.50 off)
My total for these 31 items was $41.08 BUT I used my Visa card that received from the P&G rebate sale for $15.
Total after the $15 Visa Card= $26.08
Saved a total of $43.86 with coupons and shopping the sale + my $15 gift card = $58.86
So I spent $26.08 and SAVED $58.86
I recommend taking advantage of opportunies for rebates and use that money towards your grocery budget because a rebate is like a REALLY good coupon!
Look for my upcoming post regarding my grocery budget and savings for September!!
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
August grocery savings
I am finally getting closer to reaching my monthly grocery budget! I have spent much of the summer stockpiling and spending a little bit more than my average budget in order to build up the pantry again. Now that I have built up my stockpile in order to meet my monthly goal, I have to be more conscious of my weekly spending on groceries.
The way I make this happen is cooking off my stockpile. What that means is that I am planning meals based on what is already purchased. It is a backwards design from how many of us usually plan our meals. In the past, I would decide my meals from menus or recipes that I "felt" like making.
Now to make the most of my savings, I plan meals based on the staples I have gotten on "sale". This can be challenging but it can be done. For example, this past week shrimp, talapia, and chicken were on sale. My menu planning needs to be around dishes that include these meats. There are great websites that help you backwards plan. Here is an example of one that lets you click what you have on hand to find recipes. http://www.recipekey.com/
My monthly goal for groceries is $400 a month this includes ALL items such as detergent, tooth paste, cleaning products, and toiletries.
Every family makes their own decisions regarding budget but this is one that I know can work for us WHEN I take the time to coupon.
So after adding up my receipts for the month of August....
I spent $667 this month on groceries and SAVED $363 with coupons and shopping the sales. So, if I had bought these items without coupons and not purchased them on sale my monthly spending would be $1030! Yikes!!
My average weekly spending was $166 and weekly SAVINGS of $90. Each week I plan on getting closer to the $100/week goal.
This month I did spend more on some great deals on detergent and P&G products. I saved a lot of money on these products by using coupons and shopping the sales, but I will also be receiving $30 in Visa/MC gift cards through these promotions to apply to my groceries the next month. This unexpected expense pushed my budget over but it was worth it because I won't have to buy detergent for about 5 months or so! :)
Happy couponing and don't forget to follow me on my coupon journey through email!
The way I make this happen is cooking off my stockpile. What that means is that I am planning meals based on what is already purchased. It is a backwards design from how many of us usually plan our meals. In the past, I would decide my meals from menus or recipes that I "felt" like making.
Now to make the most of my savings, I plan meals based on the staples I have gotten on "sale". This can be challenging but it can be done. For example, this past week shrimp, talapia, and chicken were on sale. My menu planning needs to be around dishes that include these meats. There are great websites that help you backwards plan. Here is an example of one that lets you click what you have on hand to find recipes. http://www.recipekey.com/
My monthly goal for groceries is $400 a month this includes ALL items such as detergent, tooth paste, cleaning products, and toiletries.
Every family makes their own decisions regarding budget but this is one that I know can work for us WHEN I take the time to coupon.
So after adding up my receipts for the month of August....
I spent $667 this month on groceries and SAVED $363 with coupons and shopping the sales. So, if I had bought these items without coupons and not purchased them on sale my monthly spending would be $1030! Yikes!!
My average weekly spending was $166 and weekly SAVINGS of $90. Each week I plan on getting closer to the $100/week goal.
This month I did spend more on some great deals on detergent and P&G products. I saved a lot of money on these products by using coupons and shopping the sales, but I will also be receiving $30 in Visa/MC gift cards through these promotions to apply to my groceries the next month. This unexpected expense pushed my budget over but it was worth it because I won't have to buy detergent for about 5 months or so! :)
Happy couponing and don't forget to follow me on my coupon journey through email!
Saving Money by giving old things a new life!
I am sure many of you are finding some amazing ideas on Pinterest. I find that although I LOVE PINTEREST it encourages me to WANT for more. Yes, they have great ideas to save money, budget and organize which in turn will save you money, but it also gives me great ideas for redecorating that makes me want to SHOP!
There is a great blogger that I have begun to follow at Infarrantly Creative. I found her through Pinterest and subscribe to her posts through email. This summer she posted a great patio redo that inspired me to consider giving my patio set a new life.
My husband and I bought our patio set about 10 years ago. The set consisted of 6 dining chairs, umbrella and table, swinging bench, and chaise lounge. It was a sturdy rod iron set that we knew would hold up through the years. The furniture was in great shape but the paint job and the cushions were a little worse for wear.
I had begun to price out new sets and the cost for as many pieces as we currently had would have had us spending thousands of dollars. This was not going to happen so I began to consider how can we give this old set new life!
The deciding factor was to see if we could find cushions that fit our chairs. Our original set had cushions that folded over the top to create a pillow top to rest your head against. I was unable to find cushions that would include this feature. So hubby and I shopped for a cushion that would go higher to cover this portion of the chair.
After looking online and at every store that we thought would carry cushions, we found some at our neighborhood Lowe's. Once we found cushions, we could make some decisions about the color. The cushions I found were just perfect.
It is amazing what a can of spray paint can do to give something new life! Our entire family is very happy with the patio set's new face lift and so is my pocketbook!
There is a great blogger that I have begun to follow at Infarrantly Creative. I found her through Pinterest and subscribe to her posts through email. This summer she posted a great patio redo that inspired me to consider giving my patio set a new life.
My husband and I bought our patio set about 10 years ago. The set consisted of 6 dining chairs, umbrella and table, swinging bench, and chaise lounge. It was a sturdy rod iron set that we knew would hold up through the years. The furniture was in great shape but the paint job and the cushions were a little worse for wear.
I had begun to price out new sets and the cost for as many pieces as we currently had would have had us spending thousands of dollars. This was not going to happen so I began to consider how can we give this old set new life!
The deciding factor was to see if we could find cushions that fit our chairs. Our original set had cushions that folded over the top to create a pillow top to rest your head against. I was unable to find cushions that would include this feature. So hubby and I shopped for a cushion that would go higher to cover this portion of the chair.
After looking online and at every store that we thought would carry cushions, we found some at our neighborhood Lowe's. Once we found cushions, we could make some decisions about the color. The cushions I found were just perfect.
It is amazing what a can of spray paint can do to give something new life! Our entire family is very happy with the patio set's new face lift and so is my pocketbook!
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| Old Set before face lift |
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| Left chair was spray painted brown |
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| New umbrella, spray painted table, new cushions |
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| New set with glider |
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