Ok, not really. But a little bit. Like I said in one of my last blogs, my goal is to get a good 1-3 months stockpile going so that I'm not making huge (or even BIG) hauls every week. In a house of 4 adults, 1 preschooler, 3 big dogs, and 3 big cats.... that's easy to do unless you plan :)
Originally, my plan wasn't to stockpile for even 1-3 months. But I'm taking couponing in stride and learning what works best for us. :)
So Abbie and I headed out today after naptime. It was just she and I, which is something I rarely do because it's very difficult. But thank God, it was wonderful, as I hoped it would be right after nap time ;-)
Tom Thumb is having a BUNCH of sales right now because of Memorial Day. Usually 90% of my grocery list is found at Kroger and hte other 10% at Tom Thumb. This week, I am pleased to say it was the opposite. :)
I'm going to break down what I got, how much I saved, and also how I use some of these things. I feel that last part is important because I have to admit that I see these women on TV (Extreme Couponing) and I think "Ok, that's great. But who really needs 600 bottles of Sundrop? Or 893 things of cheap noodles? 1200 boxes of sugary cereal?" Everything that comes in my house is probably getting opened within a couple of days, and to me that's important :)
So here's what I got:
* 2 boxes of Special K cereal (mama needs this for breakfast so I stay away from buttery toasts and fattening waffles) ;-)
* 2 boxes of Special K cereal bars (these are low-cal and are great when you're just a little hungry) Plus they're yummy
Ok, so here's what I did: I'd grabbed a Special K coupon booklet while I was wondering around TT last week. Got it home and realized it had over $10 in coupons for things from Splenda to fresh produce to milk. Well, as many of you know, you don't typically get coupons for things like that. So I was all over it! :)
So I used the coupon that said you could get $2 off ANY milk, ANY size if you bought a box of Special K cereal and a box of Special K cereal bars.
Great thing about coupons like this? You can also use coupons on the products you're buying! So it broke down like this:
2 boxes of cereal- 2.99 each (-$1 coupon I had for two) 4.98 for two
2 boxes of cereal bars- 2.79 each (-$2 coupon I had for two) $3.58 for both
I had two of each of these coupons(so 1 cereal and 1 cereal bar box was a pair; I had two pairs). Therefore, I got TWO $2 coupons off milk. So I bought two gallons of milk at 2.38 each... making the milk .38 per gallon! :) :)
They also had Banana Boat Sunscreens on sale for 4.99 each. (origianlly 10.79, but I pray nobody ever pays that for a bottle of sunscreen!) I had 2 coupons for $1 off each... so I got two of them at 3.99 each. And they're SPF 50 and they're the spray kind. :D Usually I only buy Blue Lizard for Abbie, but I know we'll be in and out and in and out this summer with my preschool going and I know I'll have other kids to apply sunscreen to sometimes as well... So I've been wanting some quick and easy spray sunscreen for her. These will be perfect for the 30-45 minutes we're out running around and sometimes playing in the kiddie pool. Plus, I have them on hand and I'm not using up my precious, expensive, uber-small bottle of the other lotions when I have to share with all my preschool kiddos ;-)
We were going to be out of dog food in a few days, so that was on my list as well. They had Kibbles and Bits on sale for 11.99 (originally 14.99), plus I had 1.50 coupon. It was by far the best deal, so I got 4 ;-)
So now we have over 80 lbs of dog food and I don't have to worry about that $15-$30 coming out of my grocery bill each week... at least not for a couple of weeks ;-) That should last us 4-5 weeks.
They also had Ritz crackers on sale; this is a favorite snack of Abbie's. I grabbed 4 big boxes of the whole wheat crackers. They were buy one, get one free and I had $1 coupon. So I got the 4 for 7.58, making them 1.89 a piece. These will easily last us 1-2 months and I'll use them for preschool snacks as well if I need to :)
Next up: Totino's pizzas. Yes, these are the cheapest (and probably the most unhealthy) pizzas you can buy. But boy are they YUMMY! And I'm not gonna lie... I pair them with fresh spinach salad and I don't feel bad about serving the pizzas ;-) They're super easy to make, especially when it's just me and Abbie for dinner. And I'm all about easy! :)
They were $1 each and I had $1/5 coupons. So I got 20 and spent $16.00
I needed dishwashing tablets and they had them on sale for 5.49 each. I had a .50 coupon that doubled, so I got 32 tablets for 4.49 each. I bought 2 and should be good on those for 1-2 months. :)
Some of their other deals included:
Cheez its and Keebler cookies (2 of my favorite indulgences!!) 2/$4
They also had some of their block cheeses on sale for 2/$4- I use these a lot to pair with apples and to shred for salads or to top off dishes that I make :)
Plus LOTS of super coupons! (For those who don't know, Super Coupons can be combined with manufacturer coupons! :):))
I also got some canned fruits for fruit salads and snacks as well as lunch meat, 100% juices for Abbie, some jelly for sandwiches, a few soft drinks, paper towels, canned dog food to go with our dry dog food, lots of dog treats, a large carton of eggs, 2 cartons of orange juice, and 2 packages of fresh salad.
I spent $154.99 and saved $100. Plus, I can knock quite a few things off my list for quite a few weeks. I'm happy :) I'm not tearing down walls for my stockpile quite yet, but I'm happy :)
Melissa
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
My shopping experiences this week :)
On Thursday, I did my weekly grocery shopping. I needed quite a few things, so I got plenty organized before I went. On my list were things like dog food (our dogs easily go through 20 lbs a week), cat food, orange juice, lunch meat for sandwiches, laundry detergent and softener, trash compactor bags, fresh salad, sodas and more.
A few months ago, this kind of list easily would have run me $100-$150 for the week. And I would have been out of most of it within a week or two. This week, I spent less than $80 on all of it and then some :) I will also say that, although I am not at my $100 monthly grocery bill goal, I will be a lot closer when I have some of these things stocked up. Am I going to stockpile everything because I have 600 coupons? No, and I don't have 600 coupons for anything ;-) But my goal is to get to where I only need to go to the store for fresh things (produce, salad, maybe juice, etc) 2-3 weeks out of the month. And I think when I have built that SMALL stock, that's when my grocery bills will truly dwindle :)
Kroger was my 1st stop. They are having another Mega Event. If you're not familiar with their Mega Events, it's where you buy any 10 participating items (of which there are A LOT throughout the store) and you get $5 off at the register. So .50 off each item. Unfortunately, I didn't have coupons for a lot of their Mega Event items, but that was okay because I needed quite a bit of stuff this week anyway.
From this promo, I got
4 boxes of Eggo waffles (my 4-year-old eats them 24 hours a day!) I want to note here that I had gotten a circular in the mail saying the waffles were .99. When I got to the store, they were 1.79. Turns out, one of my local Kroger's (I have 2 within about 2 miles or less of me) is sending our circulars just for THEIR store. I didn't realize they were doing this and, hence, giving me somewhat misleading info since I haven't been shopping at the one from which I get the circulars. SO... I went up to customer service and the employee was nice enough to tell me they'd match the price in the circular. I was very glad because this way, I wasn't paying an extra .80 per box that I hadn't accounted for. :)
I also got 2 packs of Oscar Mayer lunch meat, of which we go through a lot of. 2.49 each.
I threw in some Capri Suns for Abbie as a treat b/c she enjoys them and I don't hardly ever keep them in the house. 1.66
I also got a bag of fresh salad for 1.99 :)
I got Kraft BBQ sauce because BBQ chicken was on my menu for this week. .50
Then I grabbed the fabric softener. The cashier made somewhat of a mistake, so instead of being 3.49, it was 4.24. But that's okay.
I spent 16.76 and saved 12.43. A 43% savings. I was happy :)
Then I had another transaction. This one was a little hairier so I wanted to seperate it (I also wanted to make sure there was no confusion with my 10 participating promo items).
First on my list was laundry detergent because we were completely OUT! :O I looked at all of their HE detergents and found that Purex was the best deal b/c I had a 3.00 coupon. It was on sale for 7.99 and I got it for 4.99. It will last us probably close to a month b/c it was 150 ounces. :)
I also grabbed some milk they had marked on clearance for 1.09 :) We always need milk. :)
I love Hormel pork tenderloins (because they're SUPER easy and yummy!) They had some of my favorites on sale for 7.99 and I had $1 off coupon. So I got it for 6.99 :)
Then I had a coupon I'd never seen before. It was for $1 ANY fresh beef in the store if I bought one Mrs. Dash spice. Well, I had another .50 coupon off the Ms.Dash spices (which doubled to $1 off). So I used both and got...
The spice for 1.50 (because they were also on sale 2/$5 or 2.50 each)
and the meat for 1.92. :)
I had some good Tostitos coupons, so we headed over that way. I had a coupon for both the salsa and the chips that I bought (making them 2.20 and 1.75 respectively I believe) And then I had ANOTHER coupon that, when I bought those 2 items, I got a free Pepsi Max. So I got that as well.
So...
One big thing of HE laundry detergent, Milk for the week, 2 liter of pepsi, Pork Tenderloin, bag of chips, salsa, Ms. Dash seasoning, and a pound of ground beef.... 21.30
13.51 saved (39%) :)
I made another stop after that, but I won't bore you with that quite yet. :)
Melissa
A few months ago, this kind of list easily would have run me $100-$150 for the week. And I would have been out of most of it within a week or two. This week, I spent less than $80 on all of it and then some :) I will also say that, although I am not at my $100 monthly grocery bill goal, I will be a lot closer when I have some of these things stocked up. Am I going to stockpile everything because I have 600 coupons? No, and I don't have 600 coupons for anything ;-) But my goal is to get to where I only need to go to the store for fresh things (produce, salad, maybe juice, etc) 2-3 weeks out of the month. And I think when I have built that SMALL stock, that's when my grocery bills will truly dwindle :)
Kroger was my 1st stop. They are having another Mega Event. If you're not familiar with their Mega Events, it's where you buy any 10 participating items (of which there are A LOT throughout the store) and you get $5 off at the register. So .50 off each item. Unfortunately, I didn't have coupons for a lot of their Mega Event items, but that was okay because I needed quite a bit of stuff this week anyway.
From this promo, I got
4 boxes of Eggo waffles (my 4-year-old eats them 24 hours a day!) I want to note here that I had gotten a circular in the mail saying the waffles were .99. When I got to the store, they were 1.79. Turns out, one of my local Kroger's (I have 2 within about 2 miles or less of me) is sending our circulars just for THEIR store. I didn't realize they were doing this and, hence, giving me somewhat misleading info since I haven't been shopping at the one from which I get the circulars. SO... I went up to customer service and the employee was nice enough to tell me they'd match the price in the circular. I was very glad because this way, I wasn't paying an extra .80 per box that I hadn't accounted for. :)
I also got 2 packs of Oscar Mayer lunch meat, of which we go through a lot of. 2.49 each.
I threw in some Capri Suns for Abbie as a treat b/c she enjoys them and I don't hardly ever keep them in the house. 1.66
I also got a bag of fresh salad for 1.99 :)
I got Kraft BBQ sauce because BBQ chicken was on my menu for this week. .50
Then I grabbed the fabric softener. The cashier made somewhat of a mistake, so instead of being 3.49, it was 4.24. But that's okay.
I spent 16.76 and saved 12.43. A 43% savings. I was happy :)
Then I had another transaction. This one was a little hairier so I wanted to seperate it (I also wanted to make sure there was no confusion with my 10 participating promo items).
First on my list was laundry detergent because we were completely OUT! :O I looked at all of their HE detergents and found that Purex was the best deal b/c I had a 3.00 coupon. It was on sale for 7.99 and I got it for 4.99. It will last us probably close to a month b/c it was 150 ounces. :)
I also grabbed some milk they had marked on clearance for 1.09 :) We always need milk. :)
I love Hormel pork tenderloins (because they're SUPER easy and yummy!) They had some of my favorites on sale for 7.99 and I had $1 off coupon. So I got it for 6.99 :)
Then I had a coupon I'd never seen before. It was for $1 ANY fresh beef in the store if I bought one Mrs. Dash spice. Well, I had another .50 coupon off the Ms.Dash spices (which doubled to $1 off). So I used both and got...
The spice for 1.50 (because they were also on sale 2/$5 or 2.50 each)
and the meat for 1.92. :)
I had some good Tostitos coupons, so we headed over that way. I had a coupon for both the salsa and the chips that I bought (making them 2.20 and 1.75 respectively I believe) And then I had ANOTHER coupon that, when I bought those 2 items, I got a free Pepsi Max. So I got that as well.
So...
One big thing of HE laundry detergent, Milk for the week, 2 liter of pepsi, Pork Tenderloin, bag of chips, salsa, Ms. Dash seasoning, and a pound of ground beef.... 21.30
13.51 saved (39%) :)
I made another stop after that, but I won't bore you with that quite yet. :)
Melissa
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