Month End Money Recap

How did your budgeting go this month? Make any changes? One big change I wish I could make would be giving up diapers times three! But right now that is balanced out by the fact that my girls eat so little it's like feeding one (except when it comes to snacks - then they can pack it in!).

We didn't make many changes this month but we did stick to our budget in most areas. We're still working on the eating out portion :)

One thing I plan to change in April is to try and stick with one store a week rather then 2. While it is fun to go to different stores for the best deals I do wonder if I'm spending more going twice then if I just go once and am done for the week. I do think one small BJ's run with the coupons they provide does help me round out what I buy on sale at Harris Teeter.

I am curious - do you just shop one store all the time or bounce from store to store for the best deal? From what I've read every store cycles and while chicken may be cheaper this week at one store it will be cheaper at a different store the following week.

So much experimenting only so many days in the week :)

Happy April and I hope you don't get fooled on April Fool's Day... Here's to another month with no credit cards and living within my budget. Not as horrible as it once sounded.

photo by emdot

I Went Back (Twice...)

The 2nd time was more an accident. I dropped some coupons and didn't realize I didn't have them until I went to buy what I knew I had coupons for. Aagh! Second trip - even the cashier recognized me - darn :) But who can pass up triple coupons? I mean I got so much groceries I should be able to spend less in April - I'm pretty stocked up!

First trip:



Spent: $32.30 ($9.99 on paper towels)
Saved: $30.88 (only $1.00 off the paper towels)

Second trip:



Spent: $12.53
Saved: $18.62

So for all 3 trips I spent: $113.95 (under budget but not quite $100)
And I saved: $185.03
Total would've been: $298.98 - cut my groceries by 62% - I certainly wish there was triple coupons every week :)

5th Sunday Saved By Triple Coupons!

I must admit that I was worried about this being a 5th Sunday. While I have been budgeting $125 a week on groceries I was trying to translate that to $500 a month. Without the 5th Sunday I was right on target - $502 for the month. Wow, not bad! But here it is the 5th Sunday and we need groceries so I have to go. This is where the budgeting thing breaks down for me a bit.

So, essentially Harris Teeter's Triple Coupon week saved my life! Literally :)



(Not pictured - 4 gallons of milk)

See that table of groceries? It cost me $69.12. Not too bad.

Even better when you know I saved $135.53!! I'm not kidding. Kirk keeps asking me if this is legal :) I assure you it is!

I will probably go back tomorrow and use more coupons. The daily limit is 20 and I certainly spent the limit. I have more I didn't use. Using triple coupons got me a number of items free and free is always in my budget!

The Grocery Game is going around - I was in line checking out and the girl in front of me was doing the same thing - got over $100 off her bill too! That's serious savings. A friend of mine recently signed up and her first week she got $155 off her bill. It works - worth every penny!

And I might add the most thorough list out there. While the coupon mom is free her list didn't even have a fraction of what I got from the Grocery Game. For HT I printed out maybe a page and a half from the Coupon Mom (how I knew about the Totino's Pizza rolls) - with the Grocery Game I printed off 9 pages of sale items today. Another thing I noticed is that the Coupon Mom listed just one coupon for each item. I found 5 other Totino's coupons when I was sorting through old coupons. When I printed out the Grocery Game list she had every single place I could find unexpired Totino's coupons which is VERY helpful.

I'm guessing the reason is because the Grocery Game re-lists coupons - she puts a plus sign next to them if they have been listed before which is so helpful because sometimes I find duplicates of the same coupon later or I didn't use it the last time she listed it. So useful.

Hope you all got some good deals this week! Please share when you do...

Triple Coupon Week!

It's triple coupon (manuf. coupons up to $0.99 face value) week again at Harris Teeter but this time it's for the entire week! It began this past Wednesday (3/25) all the way to next Tuesday (3/31). And let me tell you, you can save a bundle!

I went tonight and spent $1.33 and saved $20.67!!



The Totino's were Buy one Get one Free and I had 7 coupons for $0.35 off a box.
Original price: $2.19 each
Sale price: $1.10 each
Final price with coupon: $0.05 each!

The Suave was from my free coupon - remember that? It came and I cashed it in tonight.

The only thing I actually paid for was some shampoo for the kids and since I had a $0.75 off coupon it tripled and I got $2.25 off a $3.99 bottle of shampoo.

So, get out there and start saving! HT limits coupon redemption to 20 a day so you may have to go more then once (I know I am!)

Thanksgiving Thursday

If menu planning is the cornerstone in saving money on groceries then being thankful is the cornerstone for staying on budget. After all being thankful for what I already have means I'm more focused on enjoying my life as it is and less on what I could "get" with money.

So today I am thankful for:

1. I have a home! Even though it is smaller then I would ultimately like (it fit a family of 4 just fine but then we became a family of 7 and yikes it got small fast) it is my house. I have a roof over my head every day of the year and I don't have to worry about it. I feel blessed to have my own house that has enough rooms for us all to at least sleep seperately - except the babies who have to share but they think it's fun right now.

2. I have 2 cars that work and one of them is completely paid for. Of course I will be even more thankful when I can say they both are but right now I'll take what I can get.

3. I have access to lots of grocery stores so all the prices are competitive and as a shopper I win! Yea. But I am also thankful that I have a grocery store to go to just about any time of day to get the food I need. A lot of people can't say that.

4. Coupons! Enough said.

5. My family of 7 has food on the table every day and clothes on their backs all the time (except when they don't want to but I'm working on the triplets...).

6. I can pay my bills.

7. My husband has a job (three of them actually - crazy guy that he is) - I am also thankful that 2 of them can be done from home otherwise I would probably be less thankful about those other 2 jobs...

When I think about all I have it is easy to be thankful and less desirous of new things. Also takes my focus from things to gifts that I have been given that can't be bought. Wanting less thigs means spending less money - it's a win-win.

What are you thankful for? Want to participate in Thankful Thursday? Head on over to Nicole's blog and join in:

>>

(Isn't Nicole's button cool? At some point I'll get around to making one for me...)

Photo by roland

Menu Planning

At the cornerstone of saving money with your groceries is planning your meals ahead of time. Nothing kills a budget like going to the store unprepared. This week I felt rushed to get my things together so my menu planning was lacking which made me feel lost in the store. Frustrating.

Fortunately I know what we like and was able to grab stuff that I knew would make a meal at some point. But in general I do NOT like to do it that way. I want to have a plan going in, I want to know what I need to get me through the week and that's what I want to get.

So, I'd love to know how you menu plan? Do you have a set menu that you always use or is there a cookbook you love?

I'm a variety kind of person. My ideal week is when I can find 4 or 5 recipes that I'm really excited about making - whether it's all from 1 cookbook or from recipes friends recommend. I've already mentioned my love for Kraft Food & Family. I also enjoy Pampered Chef cookbooks when they don't involve too much Pillsbury biscuits.

But I am open to suggestions! If you love a cookbook or site please pass it on.

Photo by daveynin

Harris Teeter vs. Super Target

I will preface this post by saying we do not have a Super Wal-Mart anywhere near me (literally - no where) so it is impossible for me to shop there. However, when I'm in Florida with my parents I do shop at Wal-Mart and do find some good deals.

That being said I do have a Super Target nearby and have been asked how shopping with the Grocery Game at Harris Teeter compares to shopping at Super Target.

This week I had the chance to compare. I tried I really did - I swear!

To be fair I did have to get Bibsters at Target and toothbrushes because they are cheaper at full price items then HT. And yes, I do agree that Target's generic items are cheaper at Target then HT but I honestly don't want to buy generic if I can get brand-name for the same price or less! Just my personal opinion.

The verdict...

Target -

I spent $48.95 and saved about $7. Eeek!! Fortunately that's not the end of it. Because I bought 5 Quaker products I got a $5 gift card to Target. Ultimately my Quaker purchases were quite cheap - in fact my rice cake snacks were free. I did turn around and use my $5 to buy 6 toothbrushes for $2.72 (I had 3 buy one get one free coupons).

I came home with maybe 4 bags full of groceries including cat food and Bibsters which was about $10 of my purchase and a few other things like cereal and wheat thins. Meat is expensive at Target! Wow! I did buy 2 pounds because there was a $3 off coupon on the meat otherwise it would have stayed at Target.

Harris Teeter -


(Not pictured - 4 gallons of milk, 12 pack Pepsi, 2 1/2 dozen eggs)

Spent - $62.91
Saved - $71.47

My big savings was Lysol wipes - they were buy one get one free (normally $3.19 ea) and I had $1.00 off each so I got 2 for $1.19 or $0.60 each - wow!

HT was also running a special that if you bought 3 boxes of Kellogg's cereal or 3 Danimals yogurt then you got $2.00 off your milk. I was buying milk anyway but wasn't planning on buying yogurt or cereal but since Danimals drinkable yogurt was on sale for 3/$6.00 I figured it was worth it since it took $2.00 off my order it was more like getting 3/$4.00 - not bad!

So, in my opinion it makes more sense to shop your local grocery store that doubles coupons (Target does not - ouch!) and use those coupons when the good stuff is on sale. I definitely think this is the best way to save money and the Grocery Game is the best way to do it all for you so you don't have to do the work.

If you're wondering I did get my Target sale information from The Coupon Mom.