Monday, November 10, 2008

Grocery Roundup Report: October Nov 10th

Before I say anything else, can I just take a moment to say that I am SO SICK of being sick!!!! I have been battling this stupid cold thing for about a month now, and always just when I think it's over, it comes back!!!!! I bought some eccinachea (I know I butchered the spelling on that baby) from my chiropractor this morning. I hope it helps. I don't know how long it takes to kick in, but, man, it better be soon. The taste of phlegm is getting rrreeeeaaaaallllyyyyy old. Seriously.

OK, now for more pleasant (and less germy) things!

Yesterday was the first major grocery trip I had taken in a month!!!! I know!!!!! We did small milk-bread-fruit runs, but other than that, we had actually been doing OK until about the end of last week on just about everything else. Hooray for stocking up, because we were pretty broke after I paid bills last paycheck, two weeks ago. Still, I didn't have to buy any meat yesterday except for some chicken, because I manged to get so much at the brown-bag meat sale last month. We don't eat a lot-lot of red meat, so it takes a long time to go through it, especially because I usually buy large steaks when they're on sale and then cut them in half to freeze.

Unfortunately, with everything that's been going on lately, I also hadn't been cutting out my coupons and going through my organizer to weed out expired stuff like I usually do, so I had a HUGE stack of about ten inserts to cut through, sort, and then weed out the expired stuff. It took me a long time, like over an hour. Argh. It's worth it, though.

Without further ado, here are the numbers:

Items purchased: 125
Coupons used: 42
Coupon savings: $46.20
Club savings on sales: $38.04
Total savings: $84.24 (22%)
Cash off per gallon when I get gas earned: $1.40 (I have a 13gal tank, so that's about $18, if I don't earn any more between now and then. The way gas prices are going, though, I will be trying to earn another $.40 so I can get basically free gas next time.)

I also finished accruing points towards my 20%-off-the-entire-trip coupon, which I have to use by the 26th. Since that will be around the next time I will need to shop, it works out perfectly. I'll probably focus on cooking with more meat until then, since I'll be able to get it when it's discounted next time.

While this isn't as much money as I usually save, I spent less, so the percentage was about the same. Plus, I did splurge on a few seasonal items.

How are you all doing, those of you who have started cutting?

6 comments:

Cherish said...

Ive been waiting for you to do another one of these posts! Im still not clipping coupons because we dont really have them around here, but I have certianly done really well with cutting my grocery bill down.

Last month (about 3-4 weeks ago) I did a really big shop where I bought lots of meats and supper-type things. I spent 15 dollars on a ham but I was able to get two nights of just the glazed ham slices and then I froze the rest in cubes for pea soup. I just made the pea soup two days ago and ended up freezing half of it for a fourth meal. So even with all the other ingredients for those four meals, I still didnt spend more than $20 which means $5/meal for four of us. Ive done much better with chicken and beef too averaging around $3.50/meal.

Ive been baking a lot more at home then buying pre-packaged snacks and I cant tell if that is helping. Its nice to have these healthier options that arent full of chemicals and dyes but for how often Im baking, Im going through an aweful lot of baking supplies.

I need to find ways to cut down on lunch costs and breakfast too. I usually give the kids cold cereal in the morning because its quick but that can add up with the high cost of milk. I dont like the pre-packaged waffles or oatmeal either so Im kinda stuck. I did find bagels for .88/pkg last month and froze a bunch but we've run out of those now.

Sorry for the long rambling post! I love it when you do these though cause it gets me all excited about grocery planning again, lol.

Kristin.... said...

Woman, you rock. We've clipped coupons FOREVER, but we don't have those kind of club savings like you do.

d e v a n said...

I really need to start clipping coupons...

creative kerfuffle said...

i used a few store coupons this weekend, bought sale items and the bogof deals and cut my bill from $260 something to $210 something. i thought that was pretty good. i have no idea how many items that was though--a cart full that's for sure.
i have started paying more attention to the store fliers though and planning a little more, thanks to your SAGE advice : )

Erin said...

I LOVE THE GROCERY ROUND UP REPORT!

I got some good sales on staple items in the past month, including a few which tend to be pricey (graham crackers... so $$!) but stock well. I feel good about that.

Also, I've been trying to bake breakfast stuff to freeze, for myself when I'm working in the field, and for the boys on the weekend. WAY cheaper than buying them already made.

Deleted said...

I would so be into something like this, I just hate that they don't have many coupons 'round these parts. And when I do get the odd one that I wouldn't mind using seems to expire to quick :(

How do you remember what is going to expire within all those coupons in your binder?