February Totals

So I am finding that trying to reduce my budget by the goal I wanted, to be a difficult challenge for many reasons. First and for most, we eat meat. Secondly, I give a lot of food away. Easily $300.00 to $400.00 worth (before saving) per month. So by giving that much away, I have to replenish to continue to give away. Thirdly, when my kids want a particular healthy food (i.e. Babel cheese, fruit, etc.) I will buy it whether I have a coupon, sale or not. I do stock up when it is on sale; however, many times that kind of stuff just does not go on sale.

So for the month of Febraury I increased my budget back up to $275.00 per pay period $135ish per week. I am still going to try to reduce my budget as the months progress, just not guite so suddenly. A drop by $100.00 for two weeks is a big jump. And as I stated when I start this crazy adventure to reduce my budget, I would not hesitate to increase it back up if we were not eating the food we enjoy eating.

So here are my totals of February.

Shelf Cost $1,366.67
Coupons Savings $383.40
Discount Savings $454.71
Rebates $17.98
Total Saved $856.09
Total Spent $528.56
Percentage Saved 61.32%
Amount under budget ($550.00) $21.44

So not terrible. I am going to stick with the $275.00 per pay period (two weeks) for the month of March and see how that goes first. If I continue to be under budget, then I will try reducing just a touch more. That is slow I guess you could say.

Saving update...

Sorry it's been a while since my last post. Time really gets away from me now days. So here is the updated savings for the month of January. As you may remember I am trying to reduce my budget from $300 every two weeks to $200. However, for the total month, I had a total of $500, due to weeks and what not. For the month of January here are my totals.

Shelf Cost $1,187.91
Coupon Savings $314.80
Discounts $372.34
Rebates $14.98
Total Saved $702.12
Total Spent $501.33
Percentage Saved 57.84%
Amount over budget $(1.33)

The challenge of reducing my budget my $100.00 per pay period or $50.00 per week is a bite difficult. For the month of February, I believe I budgeted $275.00 per pay period or $135ish per week.

I will post February's total in a day or two.

Old Navy Savings...

Saturday I posted our Saturday savings at Old Navy. I did not tell you what we paid for all of those clothes. I just told you how much they were before sales and coupons. You can scroll down and look at the pictures if you want to see. Anyway, the total before savings was $225.00 before sales tax. After sales and coupon saving I paid (hold on to you underwear) only $43.00 with sales tax.

So have I mentioned I love couponing.

Update...

Well, I've started pretty well for the year with the reduced grocery/household budget. As most of you know, I am trying to reduce my budget from $300.00 every two weeks to $200.00 every two weeks. As I previously posted, I am trying; however, if we are not eating the way we like to eat I will not hesitate to increase back up. So here is the first two week total for the year.

My Totals:
Shelf Cost $520.01
Coupons $163.48
Discounts $155.04
Rebates $14.98
Savings $333.50
Out of Pocket $202.05
Percentage saved 61.25%

Not too bad if I might say so myself. Sorry, no pictures this time. I will try to remember to take some this week of my spending.

Super Saturday Savings

So today, the hubby, myself and the boys went to Old Navy to see what we could get. Well, here's what we walked out with.

The Hubby got these three items: a brown jacket, a T-shirt, and the orange fleece pull over. The total for this three was approximately $65.00
For myself I got these three items: a gray hoodie jacket, a black thermal shirt, and a blue pull over hoodie totally approximately $70.00.
Kid-O got this five items: Sweet t-shirt, Music makes me happy, Minny shirt, Love t-shirt, and the booby cover. Her total was approximately $55.00.
Little Man got these three items: two long sleeve pull overs and a pair of boxers. His total was approximately $35.00.

Mini-Me didn't get lucky. They had nothing in his size.

So today's total before sales and coupons was $225.00. Now here's the fun part. Guess how much you think I paid for all these clothes. I will post in a couple of days the total of all these clothes.

Coupon Update...

Well the year finished out great. Still staying in my budget every two weeks. So for this year, I am going to really challenge myself. I have decided to reduce my grocery budget from the current $300.00 every two weeks, to $200.00 every two weeks. I have been staying my by budget by around $100.oo per two weeks, give or take a little bit. We'll see how it goes. If it is too much work or we are not eating the way we like to eat, then I will increase it back up to maybe $250.00. I hoping that I can do it for $200.00. That extra every month to save would be nice. I will update as I can.

This week, I got spent a total of $103.00 which included, but not limited to 2 reams of copy paper, pens, 3 boxes of electrosal tabs, chicken, steak, pork loin, 4 gallons milk, 5 boxes au gratin potatoes, 3 6 packs yogurt, and lots of food and snack food to list a few. I forgot to take pictures. So I don't have any to show. I will try to remember to do that next week.

Remind me to update if it's been a while. Accountability will help the reduced budget work.

Coupon Saving Update...

So I did not get around to posting my couponing update last month, up I have managed to get October's up plus my overall total since I started couponing back in April. Remember my budget is $300.00 per two weeks. So since April the amount I am allowed to spend is $4500.00.

So here are the totals:
Monthly Totals (October 09)
Total before savings $812.01
Coupon total $188.23
Advertised savings $225.42
Total out of pocket $398.36
Spent of total 49.10%


Totals (Since April)
Total before savings $7,245.90
Coupon total $1,753.13
Advertised savings $1,372.38
Total out of pocket $3,807.07
Spent of total 52.40%

So as you can tell I am inside my allowed budget by $692.93. So your next question, what have we done with that money. Well, we do what we want with it. Eat out, save it, buy Christmas gifts, pay for Red Rooster, etc. Just whatever we feel like doing with the money. As I said in another post, I am inside my budget which is fabulous, but the greatest part of us is that I used to actually spend the total before savings. We are even eating even better than we were. I love to try new recipes which usually requires none staples, therefore, increasing your cost. Well, before couponing we would eat two maybe three new meals in a two week period. This two weeks, twelve meals.

Pork chop with apples
Beef and sausage stew
Chicken and red bean tostadas
Slow cooker Ratatouille
Beef Fajita stir-fry
Chicken marsala
Shrimp scampi
Oven fried chili chicken
Mini penne zucchini and sausage pasta
Gaucho Chimichurri steak
Tenderloin with black bean salsa
Shrimp Po-boys

Yes, you see steak, shrimp, pork tenderloin (center cut), and pork chops, not just the standard ground beef and chicken. Couponing is so worth all the work and effort. By the way, I have 24 bottles of laundry soap, lots of toilet paper, more shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, tampons,and shaving cream to last a year along with 20 + boxes of cereal. And I have given lots of stuff away.

My children love this couponing thing too, becuase they get more of the snacks that they love. Kid-O is even beginning to figure out you can get things for free. I gave her my coupon for a free bath and body item no purchase required. Couponing is trickling over into everything else. Example, I went to Children's Place, bought two pairs of blue jean (2/$28) and a bath robe for Kid-O for Christmas ($24.50). I used my 20% coupon on the total, then gave the cashier my $20 off $40 purchase and got all three items for $23.00. Can you say fabulous?

Coupon Saving

Yes, I am still couponing and saving lots at the grocery store. Today, I got around to doing my totals for July and then my four month total. So here are the results.

July 2009
Total Before Savings $970.84
Total Coupons $233.29
Total Advertised Savings $246.06
Total out of pocket $548.56
Inside my budget by $51.44. Plus some of that money (about $50) was spent on Christmas gifts.

Four Month Total
Total Before Savings $4158.26
Total Coupons $990.82
Total Advertised Savings $1007.96
Total out of pocket $2216.55
Inside four month budget by $483.45 which is a huge accomplishment being that I was actually spendig the amount before savings which is $1458.26 over budget. Wow. So for me, I really have saved $1458.26.

June Savings and 3 month total

So, I thought since I as putting my totals on for the month of June and my three month total, I decided to take pictures of most of the food and stuff in my house, so that when I say we have a lot of stuff in the house you will know I am telling the truth.

Here is one picture of the downstairs refrigerator/freezer. There is more in this freezer, I just took a picture of the door.

This is the door of the upright deep freezer.

The body of the upright freezer.

I took the laundry detergent out of the cabinet, so you could see it better.

This is a shelf in the downstairs room.

Pretty self explanatory.

One side of under my bathroom sink. In the front is 5 toothbrushes, I believe, and one of 7 razors I have bought. Giving many of those away.

Under my bathroom sink. The shampoo and conditioner is on the left, then body wash, toothpaste, shaving cream, deodorant, and tampons. We have given some of this stuff away, so it is not in the pictures.

Twelve boxes of the kids soap.

Sugar, Ziplocs, pasta, easy mac, etc.

This is one cabinet in the kitchen.

The snack cabinet.

And finally, the cereal cabinet.

June Totals
Before Savings 1023.05
Coupons 301.90
Advertised savings 219.97
Out of Pocket 501.18


Three Month Total
Before Savings 3187.42
Coupons 757.53
Advertised Savings 761.90
Out of Pocket 1667.99
A total percentage savings of 52.32%

We now have so much food and personal hygiene products in our house, we are giving them away. We have also decided not to change our grocery budget. We thought the left over would be an excellent addition to my Longaberger commission that will be used for vacation. So that is the incentive to keep the groceries low, but yet still eat what we want (ie. lots of ice cream).

Saving again....

This was my Publix trip yesterday. My out of pocket spending was $46.19, I saved $58.01. I have had several people ask me how I am doing this, so I am going to give a little explaining.

How did I do it. Well, cherries were on sale for $2.49, and raspberries were on sale 3/$5 and asparagus for $1.99 per pound, tostitos were B1G1. Everything else was on sale plus I had coupons. Example, the pringles were on 3/$4 per can ($1.33 per can), then I had $1.00 MC (manufacture coupons) on two cans. So I bought four, because I had two coupons and the chips don't expire until Mar 2010. The apple juice ($2.49) I paid a penny for with the mystery coupon in the sale paper. French's mustard was B1G1, then I had two $.50 MC and one $.75 MC. The $.50 MC doubles, so I spent $.09 on all three bottles of mustard that don't expire until Sept 2010. The Kotex were B1G1, and I had $.75 MC per box, so I paid $.85 per box, so bought four boxes since I had four couples. The Velveeta cheese was B1G1, I had two $1.00 MC and one $1.00 Publix coupon so I spent $.98 per box of Velveeta. Yoplait yogurt, I had a $.40 MC that doubles to $.80, and a $1.00 Publix coupon. I only buy stuff that is either on sale, or I have a coupon for. I prefer both of course, because then you save even more.

Here was my CVS stop yesterday. Out of pocket, $3.45, saved $25.96. How did I do it?

First, I did three transactions, one stick of speed stick for $3.99 (used a rain check I had been saving with ECB's with attached) I used a $3.00 Extra Care Buck (ECB) from last week, paid $1.07 and got a $4.00 ECB, used that $4.00 ECB to pay for the next stick of deodorant, paid $0.00 and got another $4.00 ECB. Then the Wisk was on sale B1G1 ($8.49 for both), I had two $1.50 coupons (brought total down to $5.49), then I used the $4.00 ECB from the previous transaction, and paid $2.38 for both bottles of Wisk.

It is more time consuming to shop this way, but the amount of money I am saving is completely worth the extra time. I will post this months totals, most like tomorrow.

This is just too much FUN....

Todays Target Trip (Thursday)

Two packages Oscar Mayer lunchmeat, three boxes of the kids soap, one container icing, and one 16oz package of Kraft singles. Out of Pocket: $3.83, total saved: $10.64.

By the way, if you are wondering about all the lunchmeat I have been buying, it freezes really well. Is freezes a word?

CVS Lute...

So here is the lute that I got at CVS Sunday.

I got 2 Positively Ageless Aveeno body lotion, 1 positively ageless Aveeno face wash, 1 CVS hand lotion, Clearasil Daily face wash, Excedrin migraine, and Schick Quattro Titanium razor. Here is the kicker. Out of Pocket: $3.25, total saved: $51.76 ($41.48 was coupons and ECBs).

Question of the Day...

Question: How am I doing it? (saving that is)

Answer: Well, it is a combination of adverstised specials, coupons, and stock piling.

So here are a few examples, using my Publix lute from last week. The Nabisco wheat thins and triscuts are normally $2.75 per box. At Publix last week, they were on sale buy 1 get 1 (b1g1); which made them $1.38 and $1.37 per box. A great price so buy two, whether you currently need two or not, just check the expiration dates to get a long one. Well, to top that off, by couponing, I also had 2 $1.00 off coupons for a box of wheat thins and a box of triscuts. So, at the end I paid $.38 and $.37 per box of crackers a total savings of $2.37 per box or $4.74 for both.

Example number 2: Orville Redenbacher popcorn is normally $4.89 per box. Last week at Publix, they were b1g1; which reduced them to $2.45 and $2.44 per box. Yet again this is a great price, so buy 2, not 1, it won't go bad before you eat it, but most likely will not go back on sale before you want more. Then by couponing, I had a $.50 coupon for the regular size bags and a $.50 coupon for the mini bags (great for kids). But it gets better than $1.95 and $1.94 per box, because Publix, as well as Kroger, double coupon all the time up to $.50. So, the end result was I paid $1.45 and $1.44 per box of popcorn that would normally cost $4.89 per box a savings of $3.44 per box or a total of $6.88.

Example number 3: Clorox 2 ultra 2x stain fighter and color protector is normally $6.19 per bottle. Last week Publix had it on sale for $3.99 per bottle. A great price, but it gets better, because I had a two $1.50 coupons per bottle. So of course I picked up two bottles. Do I currently need 2, NO, will it go bad, NO, should I buy two, YES. So, I paid $2.49 per bottle for a product that would normally be $6.19 a total savings of $3.70 per bottle.

I think you are probably getting the idea as to how this works using the sale papers and coupons. A plus, I am now buying things I would never have bought before, because I can get them cheaper than the store brand now.

Question: Where do the coupons come from?

Answer: The Sunday paper, coupons.com, smartsource.com, and redplum.com. I have also used a new site this past week, thecouponclipper.com. You have to pay for the coupons on that site, which I did last week, I got $40.00 ($80.00 if doubled) worth of coupons for $5.75. The advantage to that site is you can pick what you want and how many you want. I will let you know if it was worth it or not before you use it. Other great sites that I use are moneysavingmom.com and fistfullofcoupons.blogspot.com. These ladies link you to coupons and great deal at other stores. They each also explain the CVS and Walgreens game really well.

This is a time consuming undertaking; however, I am finding it worth the time and effort. I saved over $400.00 dollars last month and I am on my way to or greater than that for this month. Yesterday we had friends over, grilled 3 racks of baby back ribs, one package hot dogs with buns, potato salad (homemade), and salad, oh and paper plates (chinet) and out of pocket I spent approximately $18.00. SALES baby, that is the way to go.

Question of the Day...

Where is all this food and household stuff going?

Answer:

Well, I have a good bit of cabinet space that I did not have in the old house, there is a cabinet above the stairs going down to the scrapbook room, there is a cabinet in the laundry room full of laundry soap (15 bottles), a shelve in the scrapbook room with condiments, and an upright deep freezer in the laundry room, a refrigerator in the kitchen and a refrigerator in the garage, as well as a cabinet in the kids bathroom and our bathroom. Everything stays just about full. The hubby is looking to close in the area under the stairs in the scrapbook room for me to make into a pantry.

Yesterdays Lute

I think I might just be addicted to saving money. Here is yesterdays lute:

Target: Total Spent Out of Pocket: $54.43, Total Saved: $33.19 ($26.00 in coupons) As you can tell, there is a package of Huggies pull ups, Little Swimmers for Grandma's house, a rack of baby back ribs, and two packages of Oscar Mayer deli fresh lunch meat to name of few things off.

Publix: Total spent outof pocket: $54.33, total saved $71.02 ($22.75 in coupons). No, I don't currently need 4 bottles of syrup, just one, but it is not going to go bad before my kids use it all up on all the waffles I got last week at Target. Three jugs of V8, the Hubby loves this stuff, 4 boxes of spaghetti, just need one, but buy 1 get 1 is hard to pass up. Two bags of potatoes, we eat lots of potatoes in our house. Two bags of onions; just about everything I cook calls for onions. We eat lots of yogurt and cheese in this house and the popcorn; while that is just a great snack. Two more bottles of laundry detergent,not including the two I picked up at Kroger as well.

It is difficult for me to pass up a $2-3 bottle of detergent when you are used to paying $5-6, or $1 box of cereal when you were paying $4 or a $0.39 box of crackers when you were paying $2.50 or $0.90 for a box of popcorn that you were paying $5 or $0.08 for B-B-Q sauce.

Out of what you see, the potatoes, onions, yogurt, 1 box of spaghetti, 1 bottle of syrup, garlic, lemon, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and wipes, were the only things I NEEDED this week.

I hope you all are enjoying reading about my savings, because I am really having fun with this, plus it gives me my shopping fix that I so love. So not only am I saving money on groceries, I am also saving money on shopping, because now I don't go as much. It is great.

Couponing

So, I thought I would let you all see how the couponing and sale paper watching was going. So here are the final totals for April, my first month of couponing.

Total before savings $1,015.18
Total coupons used $207.61
Total advertised savings $252.33
Total out of pocket $577.21

I will continue to keep you all updated as to how the couponing is going. So far, I am pretty well stocked on things that I use regularly, now I am working toward other staples that will not go bad. I am not trying to reduce my budge right now. I figure I will keep it were it was for three months while I stock pile, then start trying to reduce it. For those that may not know, my monthly budget for groceries and household neccessities and items is $600.00. Before couponing, I was actually spending between $800.00 and $900.00 per month.

At it Again

Our household budget for groceries is $300.00 per two weeks (this includes food, health and beauty, and household stuff, light bulbs, bags air filter, etc). Before, I started all of this I was actually spending between $450.00 and $500.00 every two weeks. Now I am buying things I would not have bought before (ie, chocolate milk, cereal, easymac, new razor, fresh vegetables, etc.). I am currently staying inside of my budget by about $30.00 to $40.00 per two weeks, and looking for room to store everything in my house. Example, I have 14 boxes of cereal that I maybe paid $25.00. I know I can't bye anymore cereal for a little while, I just hate to pass up an $.88 box of cereal. The Hubby told me last night that he truly appreciated it, even though it takes a lot more time to shop this way.

This is my Kroger stop today. I got 3 boxes of cereal, 4 gallons of milk, 2 dozen eggs, 2 packages cheese, 4 bags Dixie Crystal sugar, 2 green peppers, 8 ears of corn, onions, 2 packages of pudding, and 2 packages of hotdogs. Out of pocket, 36.17.

Here was todays Target trip. I got 2 boxes of Fiber one cereal (Kid-O loves this stuff), lunchmeat, sour cream 2 packages Fiber one yogurt, large jar of peanut butter, 6 easy mac (Little Man loves these for lunch), Dannon la Creme yogurt, 3 boxes of Eggo waffles and a Shick (sp) Qauttro razor. Out of pocket, 23.08

Pick up a Pork Loin at Sam's also and fresh salsa that the hubby and I love (thanks to the mom-in-law) to have it and no one has put it on sale. Out of Pocket, 24.82. I get about six meals off the pork loin.

Saving Again...

Okay, I think I might be addicted to saving money. This is great. Anyway, here were my finds for this week and the amounts that I spent.

This was my Target trip: two boxes Special K berry cereal, two boxes of the kids soap, Lysol kitchen cleanup, Bandaids, Fajita dinner kit, refried beans, taco seasoning, and two Easy mac singles. Out of pocket, 7.10.

My Publix trip was good as well: two boxes of Go-Gurts, bottle water, Al foil (50ft), and Cascade actionpacs. Out of pocket, 7.79.

Kroger was fabulous: 3 lbs ground pork, two packages boneless skinless breast, four packages tilipia fish, 5 zucchini, 2 green pepper, 2 boxes strawberries, 2 bags rice, 3 bags frozen vegetables, hot dog buns, ProVive shampoo and conditioner, 2 cans diced tomatoes, Al foil, 1 eye round roast. Out of pocket, 45.53

Walgreens: Nivea body wash, Arm & Hammer laundry soap, Tresemme shampoo and conditioner. Out of pocket, 6.72

Yesterday I saved $100.00 on groceries with coupons and advertised savings.
Today, I went CVS and Walgreens. These four things I picked up from CVS and paid $3.23 and saved $15.07. I thought it quite a savings. These are the things that I picked up from Walgreens and paid $5.06 out of pocket. I saved $8.99.