Week 2 Grocery Game with Mom

Well, sort of - mom didn't go with me :) And most of the stuff I bought was for me! But I did get the chance to show her how it works along with my sister-in-law who is in the process of buying her first home (with my brother of course).

So, how did I do? Pretty good. I'm sure there's a lot I have to learn about Publix - they have lots of flyers with coupons that can be matched to manufacturers coupons but I don't know where you get all those! Oh well, I've got one more week here so I think I'll be good.

What I got today - Kaitlyn was my model:



I spent: $59.89
I saved: $73.05

Thanks to coupons.com I had some more great coupons:

$1.00 off Crystal Light - on sale Buy 1 Get 1 free - I was able to print off more then 1 coupon so I got 6 for $1.00 each down from $3.99

$0.75 off 2 Gogurt which were on sale Buy 1 Get 1 free - $2.55 each originally - down to $1.80 for 2 or $0.90 each

Month End Money Recap

Can you believe it? May is basically over! This month has been extremely busy for me - for Cherie too I know.

We went from VA to FL to CO within a week then I'm back in FL and my DH is back in VA. Crazy! All while trying to stay on a budget!

Fortunately I think we did quite well. It's been hard for me because I'm less in control of the numbers - I haven't seen my money program in almost a month so I don't know what we spent on groceries in May but I'm pretty confident we stayed under our $500 budget.

We did not use our credit cards for another month which still amazes me considering just how much traveling we did and all on cash - yea :)

Goals for June:

Spend even less on groceries - I'm trying to establish a weekly budget for everything - not just groceries in an attempt to spend less. Rather then break everything into certain categories I'm going to set a weekly goal to include everything for that whole week except gas - Kirk has to get back and forth to work regardless of the gas prices!

Get back to work :) Every summer I babysit a friend's two daughters (so, yes, over the summer I have 7 kids) and once I'm back from FL I am back to work. The extra income will pay us back for our trip and pay down some debt.

Sell some stuff - my DH is working on this now but I really want to get lots of things gone.

What about you? Any new goals for June? Or even the summer?

Photo by +angst

Frugal Millionaire

I came across this article in Yahoo! News:



http://finance.yahoo.com/news/How-to-Spend-Like-a-Frugal-usnews-15357371.html

I really like what it said. I may not be a millionaire (certainly not now!) and I may never be but everything the article said could be applied to any of us making any amount of money.

I like to write and my favorite characters are those that aren't what they appear to be - you know superheros - people think they are ordinary (idiots?) people and truly they aren't. We, the audience know their secret and that is part of the fun. And so, in life I'd much rather HAVE money in the bank then APPEAR to have money in the bank all the while charging up my credit cards. Because truthfully I will NEVER be a millionaire if I spend all that I make and charge the difference. Credit cards only make credit card companies rich - never the users.

According to the article even millionaires (the frugal ones):

- buy on sale

- use coupons to get the best deals

- buy clothes off season

- plan their purchases and don't buy on impulse

- eat meals at home to save money

- don't splurge when going out

- buy used cars!

No wonder they're rich - maybe we could all learn a little something :) It pays to have money in the bank!

Photo by AMagill

Heard It Through The Grapevine

Harris Teeter is doing TRIPLE COUPONS AGAIN! Nothing could make a triplet mom happier then triple coupons :) I did triples great - Harris Teeter makes them even better by saving me that extra amount of money. Even though I'm not there to enjoy it I'm sending my hubby out to pick up a few cheap and free items that I can look forward to when I get back.

Thanks to Frugal in Virginia for listing a number of Harris Teeter triple coupons! I'll actually be mailing a few to Kirk so he can save even more at HT.



I also heard on Frugal in Virginia that Arby's is giving away something free every Wednesday. Check her blog for the details and check your local Arby's to see if they are participating.

At least that's what I've heard...

Kirk's 1st Grocery Game Trip

I may be a tad obsessed with a good deal and saving money. I admit it. It's so bad that I'm e-mailing my husband with a list and asking him to go and pick up the best stuff at Harris Teeter. It helps that we continue to get coupons for $20 off $50 at the store - You just can't waste those!!

So, I just Kirk a list last night and asked him to go for me. I think he did pretty good!



Kirk spent $35.71 and he saved $76.42. Pretty good for learning over the phone :)

He was able to get himself a few breakfast items on sale and get some treats for the kids that are easily stored away until we return home in a few weeks.

Serious grocery savings so easy a.... :)

Week 1 Grocery Game with Mom

I signed my mom up for the Grocery Game :) You knew I would - I can't resist. And it's only $1 for 4 weeks so if she doesn't want to keep it when I leave FL then that's fine but at least I can save money while I'm here.

So, tonight I took my mom after gathering all my coupons and my list. She had a small list too and a few coupons.



Our combined total was $83.30
And we saved: $91.74

This included a box of diapers and my mom's full-priced items that she needed :)

Some of my best deals came because I could print coupons from coupon.com - you printed those too right?

Philadelphia Cream Cheese was on sale 4/$5.00 - I had 2 $1.00 off 2 coupons making my total 4 for $3.00!

Kraft BBQ sauce was on sale buy one get one free (at Publix this means I have to buy 2 unlike HT where it's 1/2 price for each item) - so sale price was 2 for $1.49 - I had 1 $1.00 off coupon and 1 $0.75 off coupon so it was a $0.25 moneymaker! No doubling here in FL - hate it!!

Kraft Mayo was also B1G1 free and I had 2 $1.00 off 1 coupons making it $2.00 for 2 or $1.00 each :)

Kraft Salad dressing was also B1G1 free so 2 for $2.99 and I had 2 $1.50 off coupons so I got 2 free!

And Publix was having a great cereal sale - buy 3 boxes of Kellogg's and get a gallon of milk free. Even better Kellogg's cereal was of on sale for $1.99 each and I had 2 (unfortunately not 3) $1.00 off coupons so for $3.98 I got 3 boxes of cereal and a gallon of milk for less then $4.00.

My mom spent $17.88 and saved $1.50
So my total spent was $65.42 and saved $90.24 - including those diapers!!!! And they were $16.49 - I was able to stack 2 coupons together - a Publix coupon and a manufacturers coupon to save $3.50.

There's the proof - it works here too! As always, I'm looking forward to next week :)

Finding Freedom Friday: Frugal Flops

The question today is whether or not you have had any frugal flops along the way to becoming debt free.

At this point I'd say I'm still in the beginning stages - adjusting my lifestyle to be cash only, to stop spending when I'm supposed to, to use coupons to save money - so I'm sure my flops are many but I'll just list a few :)

1. Being coupon obsessed - not a bad thing but I do find myself wanting to go to the store for more sale stuff just because it's on sale. Sure I'm saving money then buying it full price but I'm also spending money that I might not need to spend - I'm still trying to work through my issues.

2. Not focusing on paying off my debt - I AM focusing on not putting more on, I AM focusing on paying cash and spending less but I'm not focusing as much on actually making a better dent it in what I owe. I'm not putting the extra money I find towards reducing the debt and I really need to work on this.

3. Not saving enough - that one explains itself - I'm trying I swear...

4. Still going to BJ's - I admit it I get hooked. I get a coupon for something there and I just must have 3 boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios - I don't know why maybe they're calling my name :) But I know if I don't go I could cut $100 out of my monthly grocery budget and eat just fine yet I keep going. Somebody stop me!

5. Not getting rid of enough stuff - this kind of applies to #2 - I have stuff to sell and I've been lazy about doing it. Bad, bad, frugal mama! I could have money in and yet I'm not taking the time to do it.

As I write I think of more and the list could go on but I'll leave it at that. Have some you'd like to share? Leave a comment here or head over to Cents to Get Debt Free and bare your soul :) Isn't that what blogging is for anyway?