Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Okay, I feel like I was a little prepared for this but then it still came up unexpectedly. It is already the beginning of October so I wanted to let you know what I got this month at the stores for my monthly budget of $160 for our family of three. I think that you will be impressed with all of the stuff I got and the totals are at the bottom!!
Giant $1.67 (rest paid with gift card)
Giant $11.19
Aldi's $36.95
Harris Teeter $16.21
There was an interesting deal where you bought some of the items included on a very specific list and you got $1.50 off ground beef. I used that to buy the expensive ground beef that was on sale and the smallest packages were around $3.80-$4 so I got them for way cheaper with the deal and I could get most of the things in the deal for free or money makers so that I got get a bunch of deals. I also used a rain check to get all of the yogurt super cheap because it was the last day of the $0.75/2 coupon that I had and I also had the $0.35 coupons. My son only likes one kind in his lunch and I decided to stock up since they go straight in the freezer. The most expensive thing in the picture was the darn toilet paper but we were out so it had to be done. Still looking for the deals of past of toilet paper and they just aren't there!!!
Harris Teeter $3.00
Excited to get the great deal to use the overage to pay for most of the stuff and paid less than the price of the package of ground beef (after getting the money back at customer service for the evic zvr that didn't come off).
Wegmans $7.22
Harris Teeter $43.88
This obviously was more than just this because you look at this picture and think how did it cost her that much!! I bought a $50 Harris Teeter Gift card to use on future purchases with all of the deals on the other food and the $10 off $50 so that I could use the great coupon and still get a few bargains. It was actually all of the food for free and the paying less than $50 for the gift card worth $50 so I was super excited. I didn't get an evic zvr off so I had to go to customer service to get the money back for that but it was a great deal and I got to splurge and buy the jelly that I love (on sale and a coupon but I paid $1 for it)!!
Harris Teeter $0
(spent $31.99 on gift card and got back $7.18 cash back)
This trip was by far the most impressive. I did do two check outs because I thought that I had everything and while I was waiting at customer service to get money back, I realized that I needed to get a few more things that I couldn't pass up because I wouldn't be able to come back and shop another day. I got 6 cranberry juice and 6 boxes of Cheese Its using rain checks. I picked up Gallon of Milk, 4 cartons of 18 eggs, 2 packages of 6 Ramen Noodles, 3 Chicken Noodle Soup, 2 Cream of Chicken Soup, 1 Cheddar Cheese soup, Jiffy Corn bread (money back from saving star), 2 bags of sugar, and 3 bags of 2 lb rice. The things that I got for free or that were money makers were 6 packages of Mahatma Rice, 2 Pantene Mousse, 5 Gillette Razors, Glade Plug-in, Just for Men Hair Color, Toaster Strudel. This was an amazing haul for under $25 (after I got the cash back) and a retail value of over $132
What do you think of my month? I was pretty happy with what I got and how well it went staying under budget. There were a lot of deals to be had and I stocked up with lots of ground beef and chicken which we quickly eaten or cooked and prepared to be eaten in the freezer. We also needed tissues so I was super glad to get a bunch of them for free to add to the cupboard since our sickness went through all of our stockpile. I also had some money makers with $5.25 already credited on my Saving Star account and some more on Ibotta and Checkout 51.
Total Retail $415.74
Total Savings $302.80
Total OOP $112.94
I still have a $10 Gift Card for Giant and then $18 left on my card for Harris Teeter to use in October (hoping to have another $10 Giant gift card coming in soon). I am hoping to spend those wisely with some $5 off $15 coupons that I have to get the most for the money with sales, coupons and deals. I can't wait to see what great deals I can get in the new month. Here is hoping that I get my act together and start selling some stuff on eBay!! Are you ready for the fall weather and fall shopping deals??