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!!!
Showing posts with label savings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label savings. Show all posts
Saturday, November 28, 2009
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.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
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!!
Monday, November 24, 2008
November savings...
11/2-11/8 (Aldi and Meijer)
Spent 63
Saved 12
11/9-11/15 (Meijer)
Spent 99
Saved 65
11/16-11/22 (Meijer)
Spent 59
Saved 36
11/23-11/29 (Meijer and Aldi)
Spent 80
Saved 45
Total monthly spent: 301
Total monthly saved: 158
Average weekly grocery bill: $75.25
Yes, this was a great budget this month. I do have to be honest that I didn't do much cooking this month. It really seemed like a fix it and go month. It seemed like our family was running in all different ways this month. I did make a "real" dinner about 8 times this month.
We also ate about about 4 times this month.
I know that many of you wonder how we do it on such a small budget. I wanted to share a few reasons.
1. My children refuse to bring their lunch to school. They love the school cafeteria so very rarely am I buying groceries to take for lunch. This saves my grocery bill, but I still have to pay the school for their food.
2. I bring my lunch to work. This saves some money. Lately, I have been bad and have eaten out more than I should have. :)
3. I force myself to stick to a budget and force myself to cook from my stockpile. Very rarely do I fix a meal that I feel like unless all of the items are available. I challenge you to try to create meals out of food you already have in your home. It is amazing how much food we have but we don't feel like making it....You must have felt like making it at some point because otherwise the food wouldn't be in your house!
4. Very rarely will I buy an item that is not on sale. So almost everything that I fix for meals or snacks was purchased ON SALE!!! If you haven't gotten to this stage yet, it will happen. I have begun to learn that I can wait for something until it goes on sale. Usually, the item I want/need will be on sale in a week or two. I find that when I buy items that I have to have to make a certain meal, it is almost always on sale the next week or I didn't get around to making it that week and could have purchased the item the next week and saved sooooo much more money.
I hope some of these tips and/or strategies help! Remember the key is that if you are reading this blog and are now a coupon clipper, you are saving more money now than you had before.
Think about what you can do with your extra savings each month!
Spent 63
Saved 12
11/9-11/15 (Meijer)
Spent 99
Saved 65
11/16-11/22 (Meijer)
Spent 59
Saved 36
11/23-11/29 (Meijer and Aldi)
Spent 80
Saved 45
Total monthly spent: 301
Total monthly saved: 158
Average weekly grocery bill: $75.25
Yes, this was a great budget this month. I do have to be honest that I didn't do much cooking this month. It really seemed like a fix it and go month. It seemed like our family was running in all different ways this month. I did make a "real" dinner about 8 times this month.
We also ate about about 4 times this month.
I know that many of you wonder how we do it on such a small budget. I wanted to share a few reasons.
1. My children refuse to bring their lunch to school. They love the school cafeteria so very rarely am I buying groceries to take for lunch. This saves my grocery bill, but I still have to pay the school for their food.
2. I bring my lunch to work. This saves some money. Lately, I have been bad and have eaten out more than I should have. :)
3. I force myself to stick to a budget and force myself to cook from my stockpile. Very rarely do I fix a meal that I feel like unless all of the items are available. I challenge you to try to create meals out of food you already have in your home. It is amazing how much food we have but we don't feel like making it....You must have felt like making it at some point because otherwise the food wouldn't be in your house!
4. Very rarely will I buy an item that is not on sale. So almost everything that I fix for meals or snacks was purchased ON SALE!!! If you haven't gotten to this stage yet, it will happen. I have begun to learn that I can wait for something until it goes on sale. Usually, the item I want/need will be on sale in a week or two. I find that when I buy items that I have to have to make a certain meal, it is almost always on sale the next week or I didn't get around to making it that week and could have purchased the item the next week and saved sooooo much more money.
I hope some of these tips and/or strategies help! Remember the key is that if you are reading this blog and are now a coupon clipper, you are saving more money now than you had before.
Think about what you can do with your extra savings each month!
Monday, October 27, 2008
October Savings
10/5-10/11
Spent 94
Saved 48
10/12-10/18
Spent 90
Saved 34
Sam's club spent 169
http://savingmoneytofillupmytruck.blogspot.com/2008/10/sams-club-shop.html (See my posting about this shopping trip! It was a shop against my will!)
10/19-10/25
Spent 79
Saved 45
10/26-11/1
Spent $82
Saved $74
Spent 94
Saved 48
10/12-10/18
Spent 90
Saved 34
Sam's club spent 169
http://savingmoneytofillupmytruck.blogspot.com/2008/10/sams-club-shop.html (See my posting about this shopping trip! It was a shop against my will!)
10/19-10/25
Spent 79
Saved 45
10/26-11/1
Spent $82
Saved $74
Well, we are getting better and better at saving. Unfortunately, the Sam's club run hurt my monthly budget. I felt like I needed to really cut corners the week's following that shop in order to make up for our huge bill that week! It is amazing how my philosophy has changed. I never would have thought twice about spending 169 at the grocery store in one shop. Boy, has my shopping philosophy changed for the better!
My monthly total was $514 and saved $201. This works out to be a weekly average of $128.50.
Oh well! Last month our weekly average was 80.00!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Meijer Shop on 10/26 (Saved $44.00)
This week's shop was very productive. I found everything on my list and got in and got of Meijer in less than 30 minutes.
I spent $79.00 dollars and saved $44.00. I had to buy a few things that weren't on sale but this was a good shop. I am very pleased that most weeks I have been able to keep our bills at 100.00 dollars or less.
Those of you who are watching the ads may have noticed that we are in a soup cycle. It seems like soup is on sale everywhere and the coupons in the Sunday paper are also for soup. If you haven't been paying attention to the cycles that occur, stores tend to offer certain items on sale during certain seasons. For example, ice cream was on sale quite a bit during the summer months. The trends change which is good because the theory to saving money is to stockpile (buy as much of an item that you would need over 12 weeks.) When a certain item is being featured over a few weeks the goal is to buy that item at its lowest price, if you buy 12 weeks of an item you will never have to pay full price for any item. Because this item will go on sale again when your stockpile begins to run out. This may sound like you are buying a lot of food, but it really depends on what your family eats. For example, sometime in August pasta was on sale. I bought 12 boxes of pasta, because I knew that we would eat at least a box a week.
How and where to store your food...
Many people who have joined the grocery game have used their savings from the first month for an extra freezer to help accomodate their stockpiles. We have an extra fridge/freezer from a recent fridge upgrade. I know that everyone doesn't have tons of extra cabinet space so some additional ways to store food would be in bins with lids. Most of the items you will stockpile are nonperishables. I have read about people who store these in their basement, garage, etc.
The key is to not overbuy. I know when I first started this process, I felt like I was still buying items that were on sale even though I had already created quite a stockpile. I acquired about 10 tubes of toothpaste and kept buying more. I kept thinking since I was buying toothpaste for .50-1.00, I couldn't pass up the deals. I finally had to force myself to make sure that I didn't buy more if I already had enough. It is amazing how you begin to go crazy with the sale prices of items and feel like you have to get it because it is on sale. I have learned every item will eventually go on sale again. The key is to try to make it without having to buy that item until it is on sale again. Some items I will be buying every week no matter if it is on sale or not: yogurt, milk, and some times meats...
I hope that you are beginning to understand this adventure. I know that I am thrilled that I have cut my grocery budget in 1/2 since I have started couponing. I still can't believe that I use to spend almost $800 a month on groceries. I try to stay close to $400 a month! Think of what you could do with $400 dollars extra a month!! Every little bit you save will help you with whatever financial goals you have!
I recommend you begin your coupon adventure!!
I spent $79.00 dollars and saved $44.00. I had to buy a few things that weren't on sale but this was a good shop. I am very pleased that most weeks I have been able to keep our bills at 100.00 dollars or less.
Those of you who are watching the ads may have noticed that we are in a soup cycle. It seems like soup is on sale everywhere and the coupons in the Sunday paper are also for soup. If you haven't been paying attention to the cycles that occur, stores tend to offer certain items on sale during certain seasons. For example, ice cream was on sale quite a bit during the summer months. The trends change which is good because the theory to saving money is to stockpile (buy as much of an item that you would need over 12 weeks.) When a certain item is being featured over a few weeks the goal is to buy that item at its lowest price, if you buy 12 weeks of an item you will never have to pay full price for any item. Because this item will go on sale again when your stockpile begins to run out. This may sound like you are buying a lot of food, but it really depends on what your family eats. For example, sometime in August pasta was on sale. I bought 12 boxes of pasta, because I knew that we would eat at least a box a week.
How and where to store your food...
Many people who have joined the grocery game have used their savings from the first month for an extra freezer to help accomodate their stockpiles. We have an extra fridge/freezer from a recent fridge upgrade. I know that everyone doesn't have tons of extra cabinet space so some additional ways to store food would be in bins with lids. Most of the items you will stockpile are nonperishables. I have read about people who store these in their basement, garage, etc.
The key is to not overbuy. I know when I first started this process, I felt like I was still buying items that were on sale even though I had already created quite a stockpile. I acquired about 10 tubes of toothpaste and kept buying more. I kept thinking since I was buying toothpaste for .50-1.00, I couldn't pass up the deals. I finally had to force myself to make sure that I didn't buy more if I already had enough. It is amazing how you begin to go crazy with the sale prices of items and feel like you have to get it because it is on sale. I have learned every item will eventually go on sale again. The key is to try to make it without having to buy that item until it is on sale again. Some items I will be buying every week no matter if it is on sale or not: yogurt, milk, and some times meats...
I hope that you are beginning to understand this adventure. I know that I am thrilled that I have cut my grocery budget in 1/2 since I have started couponing. I still can't believe that I use to spend almost $800 a month on groceries. I try to stay close to $400 a month! Think of what you could do with $400 dollars extra a month!! Every little bit you save will help you with whatever financial goals you have!
I recommend you begin your coupon adventure!!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
September Grocery Savings
Time to look at this month's budget and spending on groceries....
8/31-9/7
Spent 65.00
Saved 35
9/8-9/14
Spent 103
Saved 76.00
9/15-9/21
Spent 110.00
Saved 46
9/21-9/27
Spent 0
9/28-10/4
Spent 46
Saved 27
Total month spent 323 and saved 184
On average, I spent only 80.75 a week on groceries!!! Not too bad. You may have noticed that I didn't spend any money on groceries one week. This is one of the wonderful things about the grocery game. Honestly, I could have also not shopped the following week as well. I only went to the store to get some items that were on sale. When you shop using the grocery game, the stockpile you end up creating is just amazing. There is always food in the cabinet that you can use to prepare for dinner! I did run out of milk yesterday, but otherwise I am in good shape with lots of things that we can eat.
Remember that you have to reverse your shopping/cooking philosophy to participate in the wonderful world of saving money. The trick is to plan the meals based on the food you have on hand (that you had gotten on sale) instead of planning your meals based on what you feel like eating. Once you get your stockpile going, you can plan your meals and then check your panty and/or freezer and find out that you already have these items!!
For more information about the grocery game make sure you check out my other posts!
8/31-9/7
Spent 65.00
Saved 35
9/8-9/14
Spent 103
Saved 76.00
9/15-9/21
Spent 110.00
Saved 46
9/21-9/27
Spent 0
9/28-10/4
Spent 46
Saved 27
Total month spent 323 and saved 184
On average, I spent only 80.75 a week on groceries!!! Not too bad. You may have noticed that I didn't spend any money on groceries one week. This is one of the wonderful things about the grocery game. Honestly, I could have also not shopped the following week as well. I only went to the store to get some items that were on sale. When you shop using the grocery game, the stockpile you end up creating is just amazing. There is always food in the cabinet that you can use to prepare for dinner! I did run out of milk yesterday, but otherwise I am in good shape with lots of things that we can eat.
Remember that you have to reverse your shopping/cooking philosophy to participate in the wonderful world of saving money. The trick is to plan the meals based on the food you have on hand (that you had gotten on sale) instead of planning your meals based on what you feel like eating. Once you get your stockpile going, you can plan your meals and then check your panty and/or freezer and find out that you already have these items!!
For more information about the grocery game make sure you check out my other posts!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
August Savings!
Well, it is time to look at how I did with my grocery budget for the month of August.
We are a family of 4. We have 2 growing preteens who enjoy snacks and eat more and more as they get older. They are especially active right now and are participating in 2 sports. So, there is a lot of calorie consumption going on in order to keep them fueled for these activities.
I have been using a grocery saving service called The Grocery Game. Check out my previous posts for information about this. It helps me create my grocery list, tells me where to find the coupons, and lets me know if this item is on sale for its lowest price. Using the grocery game has helped me save more money on groceries. Another way I have been able to save more money, is that I have forced myself to keep track of my grocery spending on an index card. By writing down what I spend every week, it helps me consider what I spend at each shop. This has really helped our family. I use to have grocery bills that were over 200 dollars each time I shopped.
I shop at 3 stores: Meijer, Kroger, and Aldi. This month I have not been to Aldi because I have been able to get all of groceries at Kroger and Meijer for less!!! Our Kroger and Meijer doubles coupons up to .50 cents.
8/4-8/10
spent 98.00
saved 65.00
8/11-8/17
spent 123.00
saved 81.00
8/18-8/24
Spent 56.00
Saved 44.00
8/25-8/31
spent 92
saved 74.00
Monthy total spent = $369
Monthy total saved = $255.00- $7.50=$247.50
Now, I have to deduct $7.50 from the saved amount because this is the cost for me to get 2 lists from the grocery game for the month. Not too bad!!! A $7.50 investment in order to save $247.50!!
I hope to keep our grocery bill under $400 for the month of September. Eventually, my goal will be $75.00 a week. I know this is possible because as I shop I am creating my stockpile and I am finding that I need to purchase less and less to get through each week.
Happy saving!!
We are a family of 4. We have 2 growing preteens who enjoy snacks and eat more and more as they get older. They are especially active right now and are participating in 2 sports. So, there is a lot of calorie consumption going on in order to keep them fueled for these activities.
I have been using a grocery saving service called The Grocery Game. Check out my previous posts for information about this. It helps me create my grocery list, tells me where to find the coupons, and lets me know if this item is on sale for its lowest price. Using the grocery game has helped me save more money on groceries. Another way I have been able to save more money, is that I have forced myself to keep track of my grocery spending on an index card. By writing down what I spend every week, it helps me consider what I spend at each shop. This has really helped our family. I use to have grocery bills that were over 200 dollars each time I shopped.
I shop at 3 stores: Meijer, Kroger, and Aldi. This month I have not been to Aldi because I have been able to get all of groceries at Kroger and Meijer for less!!! Our Kroger and Meijer doubles coupons up to .50 cents.
8/4-8/10
spent 98.00
saved 65.00
8/11-8/17
spent 123.00
saved 81.00
8/18-8/24
Spent 56.00
Saved 44.00
8/25-8/31
spent 92
saved 74.00
Monthy total spent = $369
Monthy total saved = $255.00- $7.50=$247.50
Now, I have to deduct $7.50 from the saved amount because this is the cost for me to get 2 lists from the grocery game for the month. Not too bad!!! A $7.50 investment in order to save $247.50!!
I hope to keep our grocery bill under $400 for the month of September. Eventually, my goal will be $75.00 a week. I know this is possible because as I shop I am creating my stockpile and I am finding that I need to purchase less and less to get through each week.
Happy saving!!
Sunday, July 27, 2008
June/July Savings.....
Many of you are not sure if coupons and shopping the sales are the way to go...
Here are my totals. These are based on the week ending on the date listed. This also includes things such as tp, papertowels, shampoo, toothpaste, deoderant, etc and FOOD!
6/8
$ 107 spent
$ 30 saved
6/15
$ 45 spent
$ 7 Saved
6/22
$ 241 Spent
$ 61 saved
6/29
$ 103 Spent
$ 87 Saved
7/6
$ 81 Spent
$ 37 Saved
7/13
$ 105 Spent
$ 69 Saved
7/20
$ 101 Spent
$ 86 Saved
7/27
$ 41 Spent
$ 43 Saved
This last week was my best! I spent less than I actually saved!! This was 51% savings...
Since June 8th, I have saved $419.00! I wish I had started keeping track in April when I began my coupon adventure. Think of what this savings can do for your family's financial situation. We are using my grocery savings to of course compensate for the cost of gas, but I have also increased my monthly contribution to my retirement account due to this new way of shopping!
I am currently trying something called the grocery game. I plan on sharing my trial experiences with you in the next 2 weeks.
Another thing that has really helped us cut our expenses was for me to write down on an index card my grocery spending for the week. After each grocery visit, I would write down what I spent and keep a running total. Once I got close to my budget for that week, I forced myself to fix meals from our stockpile. I don't know about you but I always bring more food into the house when I actually have food. It is just not something that I feel like eating at the time!
To create your stockpile, the trick is to buy multiples of an item when it is at it's cheapest (using a coupon). So, you will never have to pay full price for that item when you run out. This really amazed me that this was possible. For example, I use to always buy generic cereal because I thought it was cheaper. Cereal in my opinion is so darn expensive. Well, a couple of weeks ago it was on sale at Kroger for $1.88 (name brand) and if you applied a coupon for a $1.00 off it was only .88cents a box! I was also able to get a few boxes for free because of my e coupon and a manufactures coupon.
I actually love grocery shopping now!! I love when I checkout and I see my total and then they enter my coupons and the price goes down and down and down....
Here are my totals. These are based on the week ending on the date listed. This also includes things such as tp, papertowels, shampoo, toothpaste, deoderant, etc and FOOD!
6/8
$ 107 spent
$ 30 saved
6/15
$ 45 spent
$ 7 Saved
6/22
$ 241 Spent
$ 61 saved
6/29
$ 103 Spent
$ 87 Saved
7/6
$ 81 Spent
$ 37 Saved
7/13
$ 105 Spent
$ 69 Saved
7/20
$ 101 Spent
$ 86 Saved
7/27
$ 41 Spent
$ 43 Saved
This last week was my best! I spent less than I actually saved!! This was 51% savings...
Since June 8th, I have saved $419.00! I wish I had started keeping track in April when I began my coupon adventure. Think of what this savings can do for your family's financial situation. We are using my grocery savings to of course compensate for the cost of gas, but I have also increased my monthly contribution to my retirement account due to this new way of shopping!
I am currently trying something called the grocery game. I plan on sharing my trial experiences with you in the next 2 weeks.
Another thing that has really helped us cut our expenses was for me to write down on an index card my grocery spending for the week. After each grocery visit, I would write down what I spent and keep a running total. Once I got close to my budget for that week, I forced myself to fix meals from our stockpile. I don't know about you but I always bring more food into the house when I actually have food. It is just not something that I feel like eating at the time!
To create your stockpile, the trick is to buy multiples of an item when it is at it's cheapest (using a coupon). So, you will never have to pay full price for that item when you run out. This really amazed me that this was possible. For example, I use to always buy generic cereal because I thought it was cheaper. Cereal in my opinion is so darn expensive. Well, a couple of weeks ago it was on sale at Kroger for $1.88 (name brand) and if you applied a coupon for a $1.00 off it was only .88cents a box! I was also able to get a few boxes for free because of my e coupon and a manufactures coupon.
I actually love grocery shopping now!! I love when I checkout and I see my total and then they enter my coupons and the price goes down and down and down....
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