Monthly Round Up/ Groceries for October

Well I decided not to keep such meticulous records this month...No CVS stops, NO Walgreen runs....we just did a couple of stops at Aldi's in September so I just didn't feel the need. I know we spent right around the $200 mark like usual.

So I know I mentioned to you all that I was done with couponing, after a year of "trying it out". Here is a pic of my monthly stop at ALDI'S....

I know it's hard to see everything...like you want to see everything anyway right (smile)....My entire table that seats six people was bursting from the seams with food....
I got 139 items for $186.62. I have decided that I am going back to Once A Month Shopping. Which for me means getting lots of fresh fruit to eat during the first 2 weeks then canned fruit for the remainder of the month, fresh veggies then when they run out frozen or canned veggies from the garden. Hubby buys our bread at the bread outlet once a month or every two weeks whatever he decides...we use some immediately and then freeze the rest until we need it. Hubby will also stop each week and replenish our milk supply...I have to hold them to 4 gallons a week..milk with meals then water or Kool-aid, if it is available, in between meals.
So 186.62 with another $10 or so in bread and then another $20 in milk...and I realized when I got home I forgot crackers..(BIG sigh)..they were out of chili beans...and then I need to get lasagna noodles as well, so another $5 in those needed things....We should be around the $230 mark for this month. Which is a little higher than I'd like but I bought a few different meat items I don't normally buy to mix things up a bit...so I can live with that total....

~~~~~~MY QUESTION TO YOU~~~~~~
Do you shop weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly? Just curious what everyone else does?


BLESSINGS,
DANIELLE

I think I need to set the record straight on a few things!!

While I appreciate Justin taking care of last month and all, and then letting you all have a little insight into his thinking and approach. I need to set the record straight on a few things. We DO NOT eat lots of processed foods in our everyday diet.....I do make HOME COOKED meals EVERYDAY around here......Yes everything was figured into this monthly total including toilet paper,ect. I have stocked piled most of these items so toilet paper really was the only thing we needed to buy....our total was around $130-$140 for the month....and we do eat fresh fruit also....he just didn't list that....we go through 3-4 gallons of milk per week.....which was also figured into that amount.....Here is a glimpse of what we ate last month for supper meals

Meatloaf, Baked Potatoes, Green beans
Spaghetti, Cheese Garlic bread
Sweet & Sour meatballs, peas, potatoes
Pizza
Tacos
Hamburger Helper, Butter bread, corn
Grill Cheese sand., apple slices
sloppy joes, corn on the cob, green beans
potato soup, cornbread
pb&j, yogurts
Chili, butter bread, crackers
Rice with Chicken, corn

Really that is it then we ate left overs alot from those meals, a couple meal were ate at my mom's (b/c of canning tomatoes), we had a picnic, and a b-day party thrown in also.....

Well hopefully this helps a bit more to know what we ate for that price.....for breakfast we ate cereal (corn flakes), oatmeal muffins, chocolate chip pancakes, peanut butter toast, scrambled eggs, yogurts.

Lunches are very simple around here..that's where that mac and cheese/hots come in once a week (twice with the leftovers we eat from that), pb&j sand with fruit, grilled cheese sand. with raisins and animal crackers....very simple and quick meals for lunch.

One thing that I have learned this month is that I have to be willing to admit there are other options to feed my family in a responsible yet frugal way other than couponing.....Don't get me wrong I have loved every minute....well besides cutting them that I never loved.....but everything else I really did enjoy. Time became a big factor for me, in the way that I had to admit I was pouring so much time and energy into preparation and shopping. It saved us a ton of money and I really thought of it like a game and new it was kind of like a part-time job for me. Also in this last year I have had to come to terms with this is not where God wants me spending my time right now......yes meal planning will still be in practice and yes I will still be shopping frugally....just minus the couponing on large level. I do think that I will come back to do...I have had to surrender it in this season of my life. So I hope you have been able to at least take something from our little experiment month....If nothing else I know I have....but I am happily taking the reins again in the kitchen/meal area of our household once again.....

BLESSINGS,

DANIELLE

Justin's Grocery Month (Written by Justin)

OK Ladies, Here's the moment you've been waiting for... My take on cutting the grocery bill.
If you remember, last month was my month to buy the groceries and see what I could do to save money.
No Coupons...
No ECB's or Register Rewards (I had to ask Danielle what these were)...

First of all I'd like you to keep an open mind and listen closely, I think what we discovered as a family are a few concepts that you may be able to apply as well.

When I told Danielle that I wanted to do this for the month, she said I could as long as I gave her a meal plan and bought the groceries for these meals. Well, I didn't really follow through with that plan, but I believe this was part of my success.

First thing I did was go to Aldi's and buy $77 dollars worth of grub.
-20 some cans of vegetables at $0.49/can
-20 some cans of fruit at $0.79/can
-Potatoes
-Several packets of Taco Seasoning
-3 Hamburger Helper boxes at $0.89/box
-Several Macaroni and Cheese Boxes at $0.33/box
-Several boxes of flavored noodles
-Some Yogurt
-A couple bags of chips
-3 boxes of cereal at $1.19/box
-A big can of Oatmeal
-Several Pounds of Hot dogs
-Several other items
-Several cheap pizzas (I think they were $1 ea.)
Items bought on separate trip:
-I bought bread at the outlet store (about 8 loaves) for $0.79/loaf
-There was a deal on milk for $1/gal (bought 8 gallons)

Basically I figured I had enough groceries for at least 2-3 weeks.
I was carefull not to buy stuff like fish sticks and pizza rolls which I noticed were like $2.50 or $3 each and I figured if you ate a vegetable and drank some milk you'd have a $5 or $6 meal.

That's the way I bought the stuff at the store. I figured about what it'd cost for a meal consisting of the items I bought.
Ex. (2) $1 pizza's, a ($0.49) can of green beans and 1/2 of a ($1) gallon of milk.

Then we started recording as closely as possible, the cost of each meal we ate.
We included the cost of our drinks and anything else we may have needed for the meal. If we drank 1/2 gal of kool-aid at supper I added $0.65 or so, figuring we used a cup of sugar and a $0.10 packet of mix.

Results:
Our daily avg cost for all 6 of us for 3 meals came out to $3.28 /day.
This would be a monthly total of $98.40.
We used about 8lbs of hamburger(which I didn't add cost for) adding the Hamburger at $2.99/lb would take this to about $125.

Keep in mind we eat leftovers when they're available, so on the days we ate a meal from the day before, our only cost was our drinks and things like bread.

We did make a couple extra trips for a few things here or there, but there are also some things that I bought that are still in the pantry.

How did this work?

Here's the short version because it's getting late:

Don't plan a meal and then go buy the stuff for it. Instead go buy a bunch of stuff that you can use to make meals and then when it's meal time, take a look at what you've got and create a meal from those goods.

Don't plan on eating cheap meals if you're not willing to take some preparation time. I noticed when shopping that the stuff you could make in like 5 minutes was much more expensive than making a box of hamburger helper and some baked potatoes (about a $2 meal).

You can eat really cheap if you want to, so don't complain about your grocery bill!!!
I never talk about how people spend their money, but I also won't listen to people complain about their finances. We all spend our money how we want.

Your kids may complain about eating oatmeal or corn flakes every single day, but if you only have a certain amount of money, you've gotta make choices.
Ask them if they'd rather eat corn flakes and go to the movies on Saturday night, or eat cinnamon toast crunch, and stay at home.

I don't plan on doing this again. I don't really care if we spend $100 or $200 a month on groceries, but this was a good eye opening experience, that I hope you can take something from.

Thanks,
Justin

July Monthly Spending Round Up

Well here is how we came out in JULY...if you remember Justin was suppose to take care of meals and shopping, but we decided about a week into in (since I had already made a meal plan for the first two weeks of the month we would just wait until August for him to try out his little experiment!
I have also been taking a break from couponing for the months of June, July, and now August. I am very happy with how this month turned out especially not using coupons for the most part...maybe I used a few a CVS....
I also decided I would not add in my CVS and Walgreens runs to my monthly grocery budget...but keep a tight rein on the spending and make sure it is only getting stuff we need and will use...

Walmart $50.12 (18 items)
I have to say $25.73 of that money was in supplies to make blueberry jam......
Aldi $71.73 (48 items)
Mostly camping items since we camped 3 weekends in July!
Kmart $14.45 (12 items)
Kroger $8.97 (3 HUGE bags of cheese)
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Total for JULY $145.27 number of itmes 81
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My CVS spending has been GREAT...CVS is finally rolling out some worthy deal this past month, and continues with great back to school deals this month!!!!!
============================
$15.97 oop (I stocked up on printer paper which is where most of this expense came from)
BEST PART!!!!!!!! I got 61 items in July for basically nothing because I have LOTS of ECB's I have been rolling over on all the deals......after all that is the name of the game!

Monthly Report for June

Another month down!!! Wow is the year flying by faster or what????

Here is what I spent this month.....

Walgreens $35.62
# of items = 42
CVS $21.44
#of items= 21
Meijer $28.91
#of items=33
Aldi $ 25.65
# of items=19
Kroger $83.47
#of items= 107
TOTAL FOR JUNE $223.80

To be honest I am a bit disappointed with that total...We ate from the pantry/freezer for about half the month!! I expected out total to be WAY down.....But I guess if I look at grocery alone purchases, I was at $137.83 which is way below $200......I was really hoping to be below $200 with everything though.....Hmmmm I need to decide if my $200 has to include my CVS and Walgreens runs or whether I just want to allow myself a certain amount of money per month for that......I go back and forth with that decision...what do you all think?

Well this next month, JULY, Justin has decided he is meal planning for the month and shopping one time. He wants to break down how much we are spending per meal and what we ate.......just for fun really......In all honesty we kind of like to challenge ourselves and make this whole frugal living lifestyle a game. So I will let you know how it all turned out in my next report......in the mean time I am looking forward to not meal planning and making whatever he comes up with....oh that kinda scares me a little though.....but I am NOT going to complain...He's helping.....right....ya I think so!

How I Did Last Month/ Grocery Run for the Week!

Well I did well last month!!! I had so much sharing how I did last month with you all I thought I would do it again this month......Here is the breakdown:

Walmart (I know don't fall off your chair I actually stop once in a GREAT while) $24.46
Aldi $38.81

Kroger $108.68 ( I spent more here than usual we decided before our 5-day camping trip to just make one stop here instead of running to several stores with ALL the kiddos.....)

Meijer $21.67

CVS $21.13

Walgreens $25.61 (I made more stops here than usual this last month...I MADE $35 in RR from all the Monitors I got.......)

GRAND TOTAL: $240.36

I was happy with that even though I try to stay within $200 for the month...We celebrated 2 birthdays last month and went on our little camping vacation.....So I think overall I did well and am pleased with that :)

How'd you do last month???? Is anyone else saving money shopping????? I would love for you to take a second to tell me...it encourages my heart!!!

Last night I made a Walgreens stop and did TWO transaction to use up my RR I made last month!!! Before I forget I got Johnson's & Johnson's Baby Powder FREE.....the 4oz bottle is $1.99 and then you get $1RR and then I also had a $1 MQ....so check that out....I had 2 items (puppy related) that I returned and then turned that money into a FREE pack of diapers and a pack of pull-ups :) After coupons my first total was .74 and then I got my $2 RR from the Ecotrin! Then the 2nd transaction total was $13.XX I had to get some things I needed while I was out sponges, snuggle softener sheets, the other things like honey, animals crackers, and fruit snack where just a nice treat for the kiddos....So I could've did it much cheaper....but I knew I had extra in the weekly budget to go ahead and get em'......

Next stop KROGER...I got FREE Quakers(coupon in the mail), FREE kitty food, FREE dial soap, FREE Oscar Meyer Franks (coupon in the mail).....MM dog treats!!! (Shortcuts had a $2.50 loadable coupon I had already loaded one on then they had another one available...then I had 2-$2.50MQ they cost $4.49 and I had $5 in coupons....LOVE THAT!!! I got pizza for $1.50 each By the time I deducted all my yoplait coupons I paid .29 per yogurt....I got .50 Bar S franks and Bologna...and cheap TP and bananas to round it up!!

Total $20.XX my total was $46.04 before Q's!!!!

Today while my loving MIL kept my kids I ran to MENARDS and scored some FREE after Rebate item...Saws were FREE, Safety glasses (in the back) FREE, Tarps FREE, Letter Coloring Book FREE, Batteries were .99 after rebate and the Duck tape was .49 after rebate...OFF was $2.XX after rebate...I only had one Q but I now we will use it!!!
After Menards I hit MEIJER....Not pictured is 2 cases of FREE water, and then I got 4 2 liter of pop and the chip for my SIL b-day party this weekend....2 FREE chex mix, FREE milk, 2 money making Pompeian Red Wine vinegars (Thanks Megan for that!!), FREE Go Lean waffles (coupon in the mail) There is a deal when you buy two Crystal Lights you get a FREE case of water..no limit...So I did two of these and there are coupons on Meijer's Mealbox and MQ you can use to make the 2 Crystal Lights and water $1.98 total!!! BONUS when I checked out I also got a $2 Catalina for my next purchase......I don't know if it was because I got 4???? But heads up with that!!! So I really got two Crystal Lights FREE also :) Kellogg's cereal was 4/$10 ($2.50 each) I got 3 of those then one that was $2.69 I had $1MQ for all of them and then because I bought 4 cereal I got the FREE milk!!! Ritz were .50 each after MBox Q and MQ combined....Then I had a coupon for 1 FREE box of Wheat Thins if you bought a box of Ritz (It was in this weeks paper I think) I was even able to get the BIG Family Size BOX.....and Tomato Basil are my FAV!!!!!

Grand Total was $20.XX My total before Q's was over $40!!!!!

So my grocery total this week was $53.00 only $3 over and since I had to extra stuff at Walgreens and another fun b-day party that works just fine!!!!

End of the Month Tally

Well this month I kept all my receipts from all my Kroger, CVS, and Walgreens. I also threw a Kmart stop in when they had their super doubles deal going last week....no Meijer stops this whole month!!!
This is where I ended up, keep in mind I budget $200 a month for groceries, cleaning stuff, toiletries, ect.....So just for the fun of it here is how I came out for April!



HERE ARE MY TOTALS #of items
Kroger: $138.41 144
Walgreens $ 27.83 24
CVS $ 32.15 28
Kmart $ 6.34 20

GRAND TOTAL $ 204.73 216

I know I was a little over...I can deal with that...also I kept my receipt because Unilever (seller of Skippy, Smucker jelly, Dove products, ect.) is having a deal that if you buy $40 worth of their products from April 1 to April 30th 2009 and you then go buy a Ham or Turkey of your choice......you send them your receipts from buying their products and the ham/turkey, they will give you $20 back. I knew I was going to be doing some Unilever deals at Walgreens this month, so I am going tonight to buy a $20 Ham so I can get is free after they mail me my $20 Rebate........It worked out that I am only $2.41 away from my $40 (this was without even trying...just buying things I needed to get anyway). I am pretty excited about this deal and glad that I should be able to go to Walgreens and easily find one product costing at least $2.41 and then use a coupon and possibly a Register Reward and score it free or almost free to reach my $40!!!!!!!! I will take FREE HAM whenever anyone wants to dish it out!!!!