Month End Money Recap

It's the last day of January which means it's the first chance I get to see how I'm doing on my new year's resolutions. Remember those? Did you make any? Have you already broken them? I have a little bit :) It's true - I'm human but I will try better in February.

Here they are:

1. Spend $100 or less in groceries each week. This I did. My final total expenditure on everything grocery related including diapers was $411.12. My total savings was $778.25 and I earned back $97 in extra care bucks and register Catalinas. It was a challenge but I certainly enjoyed keeping track of every penny saved and earned.

2. Pay down debt and keep from accruing new debt. For the most part we did this other than a few minor charges that will be paid off by March 1st. We'll be making some adjustments for February to do better.

3. Budget, budget, budget. Yes! We did this. We laid out a budget for each month and are sticking to it. Just as #2 we'll be making adjustments for February to do even better and save more money. I did keep exact notes of every penny we spent and earned.

4. Make a price point book. Haven't done this yet but I am still planning to. However, having a general idea I did shop at other stores to stock up on the best deals.

5. Get rid of stuff! We donated a good four or five bags of clothes and about 2 boxes of books. I also mailed out about 10 books for credit at PaperBackSwap - haven't ordered anything from them but I now have earned the ability to get 10 free books - not a bad deal and books I no longer need are out of my house.

6. Organize! Check out the picture - that's the girls while we're organizing Kaitlyn's room. This weekend we had some snow so we tackled all three kids rooms cleaning off their floors and throwing plenty away - we still have all the kids toys to organize and that's my biggest task for February. I have a March 5th deadline because of my moms of multiples yard sale so I have to get moving!

7. Make extra money. Didn't do as well on this one. I did receive a $10 rebate check from Kraft foods that I submitted last month. I'm expecting another $27.50 in the coming weeks so I guess that's something :) This month I'll be listing more on eBay - it's time to sell those spring clothes!

8. Still buying good kids clothes. Yep! Used my Gymbucks earlier this month to get $500 worth of kids clothes for $250 - a great start for the kids summer wardrobe. Though I will say for summer I won't buy nearly as many clothes because the kids play so much outside and get dirty that I have no desire to waste good clothes.

For February I plan to stick with these goals and refine them as I go. Still hoping to spend less than $400 instead of more than but I did enjoy some of the store hopping :) Call me weird but I like it. Though for this coming week my grocery budget will be $40 - we'll see how I do!

Stretching A Buck At CVS

I know, you're thinking I've already gone over budget for the month how could I possibly have even a dollar to spend at CVS? Well, I didn't. Turns out I only needed $0.66 - and that I had lying around in the change jar.

Here's what I got:



And yes, you read correctly I spent $0.66! How'd I do it? I took advantage of some coupons I received from CVS and a gift card because of a transferred prescription.

- I used a $4.00 off $20.00 coupon that I got in the mail
- A $10 ECB that I had from the Pepsi deal
- And a $25 gift card from transferring my thyroid medication to CVS

I tried to get the most out of the gift card as I possibly could by purchasing items that would give me extra care bucks back. I was able to do the pepsi deal again though this time I bought some chips instead of all soda!

I was also finally able to pick up the Oust sanitizing spray which has been a great ECB earner all month. Price is $3.99 and you get $3 ECB's back - if you use a B1G1 coupon from S 1/03 then you get 2 for $3.99 and earn back $6 ECB's! Can't go wrong there.

With a few other deals I was able to save $26.86 and earn $19 ECB's back making my gift card last that much longer.

You may not have a gift card but there are certainly ways to make every dollar count and stretching every dollar especially at the end of the month when money is low. Do you have any ways that you make your money go further?

Grocery Game & Southern Savers Part 2

I have to admit that when I first found Southern Savers my thought was, "How in the world am I going to keep track of this?"

I liked Grocery Game because it did all of the work for me. I made my list on Friday, pulled the coupons I needed, and moved on. I loved that I never had to really choose and clip coupons. Each week that the Sunday circular came, I filed it away in it's own folder. I would come back and clip only what I needed based on the GG List. I'd put the list and the coupons in a small envelope and head to the store. Here's what it looked like:


I was tempted to add other stores to my list but as a very busy mom of three toddlers, there just wasn't time for me to shop multiple stores. Also, my favorite store, Target, is not currently on the Grocery Game List.

Then I discovered Southern Savers. I love it because it lists the Target Deals each week. The coupon matchups are easy to read and the Internet coupon links are so helpful! But then, I felt compelled to clip random coupons and print extra Internet coupons. I slowly ended up with a drawer that looked like this:

What's the point of having coupons if you can't find them quickly and efficiently? Not to mention, I can't tell you how many times I've been in the store, seen a great deal and knew that I had a coupon for it at home. But because it wasn't on the grocery list, I didn't have it with me.

Then I found THIS. I knew when I saw these photos, that I was finally going to become "that" lady at the grocery store toting around a million coupons.


So, today I ran to Office Depot and picked up a 3 ring binder, dividers and plastic pages. I spent less than $10 and I'm very excited to start putting it all together. The only mistake I've made so far, is that I purchased business card plastic pages and they are just not wide enough for coupons. So, I just snagged a package of super cheap 9 pocket baseball card protector sheets off of Ebay. They should do the trick. Doesn't this look great?!

Grocery Game and Southern Savers

For a month I've shopped with both and I've come up with a list of pros and cons for each which I'm hoping you will find helpful as you figure out what helps your coupon clip. I know starting couponing can often be so overwhelming and it takes a while to figure out what everything means. But fortunately there are tons of services and people out there who are willing to help you save money.

Using both Southern Savers and the Grocery Game this is what I picked up this week:


(Not pictured: 4 gallons of milk; 2 boxes of Toaster Strudels)

I spent: $51.98
And saved: $51.60

The deals weren't that great this week (except for the yogurt since it was part of the Kraft buy 15 get $5.00 back deal which meant each pack was $0.87 and we go through yogurt like crazy around here!) so I only saved about 50%. I needed "a lot" of items for meals for this week so it was more of a needs run than a sales run.

I'd say for this week both lists led me to pretty much the same deals.

But here are my thoughts on each "service":

Southern Savers:

Pros: FREE; up early; printable list; coupon match-ups including printables to coupons not in the paper; great information about rebates; really good resource for coupons

Cons: it's sometimes hard to tell if items are a good price that's worth stocking up on - yes, if it's free then it's pretty easy but I often need some extra help figuring out the final price and the final price of items isn't always listed; because it's a blog there are lots of different things posted - while it is easy to find the store I'm looking for the site has plenty of distractions; the site isn't local - meaning match-ups aren't based in VA and Harris Teeter is actually the only local grocery store listed (CVS and Target are nationwide - I'm talking about actual grocery stores).

The Grocery Game

Pros: very easy to use; list is very easy to read as is printing; site is specific for its intentions and there are no distractions; stores are local and more specific options locally - more than just Harris Teeter; list makes it easy to know what is free, what to stock up on and what's on sale if you need it but not at the greatest price; lists original price, sale price, coupon match-up, final price after both and percentage saved; very extensive list of sales - more than any other list I have come across thus far including SS

Cons: cost - the fact that you have to pay for each store makes it cost prohibitive to get more than one or two stores; not up until Friday at noon - which is better than it was but still means you miss 2 1/2 days of shopping and may find the store empty of the best deals; doesn't match-up printables for the most part

My simple assessment is use both :) If you must choose and find the cost acceptable I would still go with the Grocery Game for ease of use, extensiveness of the list and the fact that she uses a 12-week stock-up rule making it easy to know when the sales are at their best. However, there's no downside to checking Southern Savers since it's free so you can bet I'll be checking in weekly!

Next month I will use the Coupon Mom and the Grocery Game (I'm sure I'll check Southern Savers tomorrow too but I'm out of shopping money for the month!)

Menu Planning Monday (1/25): Ground Beef Week

The past few weeks we only had chicken so this week I was determined to do something different! We headed to Wal-Mart expecting good deals on meat. I tell you the thing about Wal-Mart's low prices is just a joke. I got low grade meat for the same price I found higher grade meat at Safeway on sale this week. Maybe Wal-Mart would price match but to me that's just too much of a hassle!

Still, I got $20 of ground beef (about 10 pounds) - after seperating and freezing that will give me 9 meals since 1 meal takes 2 pounds. And since it's the end of the month that's exactly what I need. This week I have actually menu-planned all the way to next Sunday when the new month begins.

While I didn't stick to a cookbook this week, a lot of my recipes came from Kraft Food. I find Kraft Food to be invaluable when it comes to great recipes. It's an awesome website and the food is great!

They also have a magazine - it used to be free but now it's maybe $10 or so for the year - it's very worth it. Awesome recipes!

Monday: Mini Meat Loaves with green beans - HUGE family favorite because I use an icing decorator (Easy Accent Decorator from Pampered Chef) to make fun designs with the mashed potatoes - smiley faces, swirls, hearts - the kids love it and eat it up.

Tuesday: Shepherd's Pie - I make real mashed potatoes for the mini meat loaves and use the remainder to make shepherd's pie - so good that way.

Wednesday: Weeknight Lasagna Toss

Thursday: Layered Enchilada Bake (I'm sure you remember this one - we LOVE it so I make it often)

Friday: Easy Bake Pasta - the name says it all - easy.

Saturday: Pizza Joes - these make a ton - I know they're will be plenty of leftovers.

Sunday: Mini Taco Bowls

This is the plan - as you can tell that's a LOT of food and I still have 2 pounds of ground beef left when the new month starts. So, what will probably end up happening in reality is that we'll eat some of these meals this week and some of them next week. Not a bad thing since I'm hoping to really stretch my budget over the next few weeks!

Stretching My Diaper Budget At Giant

It's the end of the month. Oh, it isn't for you? Well, it is for me! I've used up my monthly budget of $400. Hard to believe I even spent that much but I did. Actually my total stands right now at $407.98 - fortunately that's after my Giant runs which included diapers and right now diapers are a seperate budget. Until this month we were spending at least $20 a week on diapers but now we are down to 2 in diapers which helps. I had bought a few boxes before January so I haven't had to purchase any more this month until now.

Sooo, it was a great excuse to head to Giant and check out their P&G sale/Catalina promotion (a Catalina is a coupon that prints out at the register for $ off your next purchase).

In 4 trips (2 each day in 2 days) here's what I got:



In total I spent: $54.51 (I also have another $10 off coupon so it brings me down to $44.51)
And saved: $73.05 (I used 4 $10.00 off coupons that printed - add the other $10 back and it's $83.05 in savings)

I am debating whether or not to go back for some paper towels. As it stands now probably not - I will use my other $10 to pick up milk or bread or butter that I'll need this week. $7.00 is far enough over budget! Of course, since it includes diapers (normally an $80/month line item) I am actually $72 under budget.

Transaction #1:

- 2 packs Jumbo Pampers Diapers $11.49 retail price
- sale price $10
- used 2 $2.00/off coupons from PG 12/27

- Tide HE Detergent $8.49 retail price
- sale price $5.00 (no coupon)

- spent $22.25
- saved $10.47
- earned $10 coupon back

Transaction #2:

- 1 Charmin toilet paper pack $15.49 retail price
- sale price $10
- used $1.00 off/1 coupon from Pampers pack I had

- 1 Pampers Pull-up pack $10.99 retail price
- sale price $10
- used 1 $2.00 off coupon from PG 12/27

- Herbal Essences Shampoo $3.99 retail price
- sale price $3.34 (shelf said $1.99 but I was at self check-out and decided not to argue over the $1.00 - no coupon used)

- spent: $11.01
- saved: $20.13
- earned: $10 coupon back

Transaction #3 (same as Transaction #1)

- spent: $11.75
- saved: $20.47
- earned: $10 coupon back

Transaction #4

- 2 Charmin Mega Packs $15.49 retail price
- sale price $10/each
- used $1.00/2 coupon from PG 12/27

- spent: $9.50
- saved: $21.98
- earned: $10 coupon back

Hopefully this will give you a few ideas as to how to try it yourself if you wish to. It's a great way to stock up on toilet paper and diapers if you need to! Thanks again to Moneywise Moms for the heads up!

Safeway Has Some Great Deals

I did say at the beginning of the year that I was going to keep an eye on other stores to see what promos were going on. I know there's one at Giant that I haven't gotten to yet - hopefully will this weekend since I need diapers - have 1 less in diapers these days but still, 2 in diapers costs me plenty.

This week I couldn't resist heading over to Safeway and picking up a few things we really needed.

Here's what I got:



I spent: $26.82
And saved: $47.59 (65%)

That's not bad for savings but $9.01 of my spending was the ground beef and $5.00 was the milk which means I spent just $12 on everything else! ($0.81 was tax) I got 15 boxes for $12 or $0.80 a box.

6 boxes of cereal
6 boxes of fruit snacks
3 boxes of oatmeal

All the products are part of their Buy 3, Save $3.00 sale.

The match-ups were a little tricky but mostly because it was a lot of printables.

I used 2 $1.00/1 Quaker oatmeals coupons from HERE. I printed it twice - maybe you can print it more - didn't try.

I used 1 $1.00/1 Honey Nut Cheerios coupon and 1 $1.00/2 coupons from HERE.

I used $1.00/3 General Mills cereal coupon from G 1/3 or Coupons.com

And I used 3 $0.50/2 coupon from Coupons.com - all 3 of them doubled. I should also have gotten a $3.50 Catalina off my next purchase according to MoneyWise Moms but mine didn't print or if it did the cashier was too distracted by my triplets that she didn't give it to me. I will have to call and find out if I qualifed.

Safeway's coupon policy does not limit the number of internet printables used as long as the scan properly at the register. Harris Teeter's official policy is that they will only allow 2 per order but I believe it's up to the store as to whether or not they enforce it because so far mine never has.

For more match-ups for Safeway this week head on over to Moneywise Moms - this is a great sale and very worth heading over to Safeway for!