The Great Grocery Experiment

Great Deals at Target Today

2009-03-29T11:16:00.002-05:00

I broke down and bought my boys a Wii for Easter. Shhhhhhh. Don't tell them! Today, at Target there is a sale where you buy 2 Wii games and get one free. Of course the free one is the least value game you buy. I also happened to get a home mailer awhile ago with a $5 off any Wii game coupon. I also had a coupon for spend $75 and get $5 off. Well, today's flyer also had $10 off any $100 electronics purchase!

I bought Mario Kart for $49.99, City Folk for $49.99 and got Carnival free (a $39.99 value). But, my $10 off a $100 electronics purchase wouldn't work because the Carnival game rang up for $0. So, I went and found a rechargeable battery for the Wii remote for $10.38 and was able to to use the $10 off coupon along with the other two coupons! My total, after tax, was $95.00!

As a side note, I noticed that the extra Wii remote controls were on sale for $19.99. They are normally $39.99!! I didn't buy one and am thinking that I should.

The other great deal is the Pepsi. They are buy 5-12 pks for $15 and get a $5 gift card. Our local grocery store had a coupon in today's flyer for buy 3 pepsi 12 packs and get a free 12 pack of diet product!

I coupled 5 pepsi and 1 diet sierra mist with 4 boxes of eggos for $2.14 each. I had 4 manufacturer's coupons for $1 off 1 box of eggos and 2 target coupons for $1 off 2 boxes of eggos. I also had a coupon for $5 off any grocery purchase of $25 or more. My beginning total was $26.xx. After coupons, I paid $13 and I got a $5 coupon. Technically I would have only had to buy 4 pepsi, 1 sierra mist and 4 eggos. My total would have been $10 even and I would have gotten a $5 gift card!!

I'm going to be doing the pepsi deal again! I can get more coupons for the pepsi at the store (when I stop there to buy something else on sale) and I have one more $5 off $25 grocery purchase coupon.

Save on Kids Clothes

2009-03-28T19:55:00.002-05:00

I think almost everyone has heard about Sears KidsVantage Club. If not, here is a link to some very brief information . . .http://www.sears.com/shc/s/nb_10153_12608_NB_kid+vantage?adCell=A3 The 15% off isn't really my motivation. It's the next paragraph where Sears will replace any clothing or shoes that your child wears out. It has to be the same size though, so you can't keep trading up for a new size.

I've never really shopped much at Sears just because I can get better prices elsewhere (including garage sales). But, my oldest son goes through shoes and pants like crazy. He can trash either one in a matter of months.

Last fall I decided to buy him a pair of Sketcher shoes. I checked out Sears because he has already worn out a million pairs of shoes and decided I'd try their KidVantage Club replacement service.

I picked out a pair of shoes and was a bit disappointed because they were about $10 more than I could get them elsewhere. However, as I was preparing to leave the shoe department, I found a different pair of Sketchers in his size on clearance for $20. Not bad! When I got to the cash register, they rang up for $10!!!!!!! That is awesome.

Well, fast forward six months later and he's got holes in them and they are absolutely falling apart. So, I decided to take them back to Sears yesterday. I took my receipt and was nervous that they'd just offer me the $10 since I'd bought them on clearance.

They didn't even ask for my receipt. They just told me to go find the shoes in the same size. Of course they didn't carry the EXACT same shoe anymore. So, they replaced it with another pair of Sketchers in the same size. The price on the box? $45!!!!

So, now he has a brand new pair of shoes that have a value of $45 for $10. Plus, we've gotton six months of wear out of a different pair.

I love it!

I should have done it with his coat. The zipper broke within 3 months on his coat. I was so upset. Of course I'd bought it on clearance somewhere last year and couldn't return it.

Grocery Store Tip

2009-03-27T12:10:00.003-05:00

At my local grocery store, they were having a great sale on the generic cheese slices. For a package of 16 slices, the cost was $1. Normally the generic is $2.19, so that's a great savings. I went this morning to grab several packages and was disappointed to find out they had 2 packages left.

I could have gone to the service counter and asked for a rain check. Instead, I found an employee and asked them if there was any more in back. He indicated that he was out of the generic slices, but offered me the Kraft slices for the exact same price. Those are normally $2.49 per package when they are on sale!!

I took 5 packages of the Kraft slices at $1 a piece. It paid to ask! Whenever my grocery store is out of a sale item, I always ask if there are any more in back. Almost every time, if there is no more in stock, they offer me a name brand replacement for the same price. It's worth asking! The worst they can say is no, right?

I Have a Problem

2009-03-17T12:07:00.002-05:00

Despite my grocery budget and knowing where I am in this budget (thanks to my sidebar), I can't stop from shopping deals. I just went and spent another $13 today at Target. Grant you that I got over $25.00 worth of groceries, but still . . . I shouldn't have spent the money if I look at my budget. I did buy things that my family uses and needs on a regular basis. Things like waffles ($2.14 per box x 4 boxes- $6.00 in coupons= $2.56 for 4 boxes), macaroni and cheese ($1 per box x 8 boxes= $8), french fries ($2.49 x 2 bags - $1.00 coupon = $3.98 for 2 bags) and chips ($1.75 per bag x 2 bags = 3.50). I then had a $5 off a grocery order of $25 or more.

I struggle constantly between getting these good deals on things we eat/use regularly and trying to stick to my budget. If I buy them, I can go over budget. If I don't buy them, I may end up going over my budget later on.

Setting Financial Goals

2009-03-13T10:25:00.002-05:00

I was reading another blog today which talked about financial goals. It occurred to me that I'd never really had financial goals. Heck, I've never really set goals in my life at all. I just go from one thing to the next.

My husband and I have a general financial goal of wanting to retire at the age of 55. We continue to invest despite the continuing falling market. We're hoping that this market will enable us to reach that early retirement goal. While we regularly invest in retirement accounts, I can't say that we've ever sat down and laid out a plan on how we'll get there. We simply sock away as much money into retirment as we can. Really, to the point that we've never had much money saved outside of retirement.

Well, except this year. I sat down at the beginning of the year and decided that we needed to develop an emergency fund of $10,000. I sat down and figured out where that money would come from. I've done pretty good at sticking to the plan. Of course, the plan was simply to stick our entire tax refund, bonuses and money saved from not having to pay daycare over the summer into the emergency fund.

On the other hand, I've thought about spending some of that emergency fund to help offset the cost of building an addition so that we don't need to take such a large loan.

I've also thought about other financial goals, but never written them down and developed a plan on how to achieve those goals. As a result, I think I'm going to try to sit down and develop some financial goals and a plan to achieve those goals.

Get Real or Get Tough?

2009-03-06T12:57:00.002-06:00

I've been pondering for a couple months whether I should get real or get tough. On what? On my grocery budget. For the last several months, I've consistently gone over my $300 grocery budget by about $50. Oh, let's get a little bit real. I only just started budgeting in January and I've never stuck to my $300 grocery budget.

So, the question really is if I should simply increase the budget to $350 or if I should buckle down and try harder to stick to $300 per month. I really tend to blow most of my budget within the first week of my month. I find a lot of sales that I think are too good to pass up and then I end up limping along the rest of the month.

Look at March already. I spent $114 in the first week!! It's nearly half my budget. Of course, I did my big shop in the first week, stocked up on soda to last us at least a month, bought diapers (but I still need more), and have enough toothpaste to last me about 20 years (but I give it all away to friends and family).

Fortunately I don't need much this week. Tombstone pizzas are on sale. My husband has been begging me to buy him some. They are just so expensive, even on sale! My goal is to spend around $30 this week so that I'll have spent about $150 which will last us to halfway through the month. That will be right on budget!!

Wish me luck.

Update my Walgreens Scenario

2009-02-27T12:01:00.002-06:00

Well, I just found a $.075 off any Colgate coupon. I'm going to raid my mother-in-law's house to see if I can find another one. So, I've updated my scenario below:

#1 Colgate for 3.29 - $0.75/manufacturer's coupon + tax. At checkout I'll get a RR for 3.29 (a RR is a coupon towards your next purchase of anything at Walgreens)
#2 2 12 pks of Mountain Dew for $8.00 - $3.29 RR= $4.71 and I'll get a $3 RR.
#3 Colgate for 3.29 + tax - $3 RR = $0.29 plus tax and I'll get a RR for $3.29.
#4 2 12 pks of Mountain Dew for $8.00 - $3.29 RR = $4.71 and I'll get a $3 RR
#5 Colgate for 3.29 + tax - $3 RR = $0.29 plus tax and I'll get a RR for $3.29
#6 2 paks of diapers for $9.00 - $3.29 RR = $5.71
#7 Colgate for $3.29 - $0.75 manufacturer's coupon + tax and at checkout I'll get a RR for $3.29
#8 2 paks of diapers for $9.00 - $3.29 RR = $5.71

So, with this newest coupon find, I'll be spending $26.50 plus tax. An even better savings!

Why I Love Walgreens

2009-02-27T08:31:00.003-06:00

Walgreens. How I love thee.

Walgreens is a great place to get some deals. Next week I have quite a few things that I want/need. I'm able to see the Walgreens ads for the next several weeks by using the website http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/walgreens/ It's also great because people analyze their coupons and help you figure out good deals.

On my grocery list for this next week are diapers and Mountain Dew. When I originally made my grocery list I found Mountain Dew on sale 3 for $11. I noticed at a different store (signficantly further away) that it was 3 for $10. I figured I'd spend $10 on soda this next week. Plus I need diapers. I usually buy two big Target packs at a time for $10.59 each. So I figured about $31.18 for diapers and soda for the next week (which should last us nearly a month).

However, looking at the Hot Coupon World website, I noticed that Mountain Dew and their Walgreens brand diapers were on sale starting Sunday. I've used Walgreens brand diapers before and I really like them. They are pretty good. So, for next week I've planned the following transactions at Walgreens . . .

#1 Colgate for 3.29 + tax. At checkout I'll get a RR for 3.29 (a RR is a coupon towards your next purchase of anything at Walgreens)
#2 2 12 pks of Mountain Dew for $8.00 - $3.29 RR= $4.71 and I'll get a $3 RR.
#3 Colgate for 3.29 + tax - $3 RR = $0.29 plus tax and I'll get a RR for $3.29.
#4 2 12 pks of Mountain Dew for $8.00 - $3.29 RR = $4.71 and I'll get a $3 RR
#5 Colgate for 3.29 + tax - $3 RR = $0.29 plus tax and I'll get a RR for $3.29
#6 2 paks of diapers for $9.00 - $3.29 RR = $5.71
#7 Colgate for $3.29 + tax and at checkout I'll get a RR for $3.29
#8 2 paks of diapers for $9.00 - $3.29 RR = $5.71

I end up spending a total of $28 plus tax I'll get 4 packs of Mountain Dew (instead of 3), 4 packages of diapers (which are slightly more diapers than 2 Target packs) and 4 tubes of toothpaste. Less than I would have spent shopping grocery store sales and buying Target diapers. Not bad!!

Now, I don't do all these transactions at once. I'll probably break it up in 3 or 4 trips to Walgreens. Fortunately they are just about a block away and I pass one almost every time I get in the car to go anywhere. I could do them all in one trip, but it starts to look a little bit suspicious (even though there is nothing wrong with what I'm doing).

I'm so glad we did it!

2009-02-25T19:38:00.002-06:00

We just got our paychecks. The first paychecks AFTER adjusting our withholdings. Yay!! It was well worth the 2 minutes it took us to adjust those withholdings. The adjustments may well pay for our addition!!

Scrip Programs

2009-02-24T15:18:00.002-06:00

Ever heard of them? They are a fabulous program available to non-profits. Essentially it is a program whereby you can buy gift cards to major retailers (and some local ones). You pay the face value of the gift card and the non-profit gets a percentage. For example, I buy my groceries at Copps grocery store. Through the scrip program at my son's school, I can buy a $100 Copps gift card for $100. It's worth exactly what I pay for it. But, the school gets 4% back for a purchase of a Copps gift card. Thus, the school gets $4 of every $100 I purchase in Copps cards. Different retailers have different percentages.

It's a fabulous fundraiser as you are only buying what you'd spend anyway. No buying useless junk. Our school does it every week. I think they make quite good money.

I despise traditional fundraisers, but love this program. To start your own scrip program for a non-profit, check out this link http://www.glscrip.com/index.aspx?gclid=CPWWkMeK9pgCFSIeDQod2XZEcw You can also check out all the retailers. They include Walmart, Lands End, Sears, etc. Lots of gas stations, grocery stores, retailers, restaurants, etc.

Our school gives us an added bonus. Any percentage they receive from your scrip purchase, they give us half of it as a tuition credit. Last year I made $100 towards my son's tuition.

The other advantage to scrip for me is that it promotes the use of cash or a cash equivalent for me. Basically, I don't put gas or groceries on the credit card anymore. I win all around!

I did it!

2009-02-21T10:29:00.002-06:00

I actually updated my withholdings. Yay! And Lance did his too. We didn't claim 5, we did 4 instead. We want to see what the end of the year holds before we adjust higher. I'm paranoid that we'll end up paying in a ton of money if I go to 5 deductions.

We met with our financial planner the other night. Although I'm not sure why. With the market the way it is, we have no money left! Fortunately we're relatively young and have plenty of time to pull through this recession. We're busy plugging away money into our Roth IRAs in the hopes that we'll benefit when the market finally turns around.

The boys college funds and UTMA accounts are a joke. There is nothing left to them. They are invested very aggressively though since the boys are so little. Again, we're still putting money into them in the hopes that it will really turn around before they need to go to college.

Grrrrrrrrrr. Watch limits on sales.

2009-02-20T12:28:00.002-06:00

Darn it. Darn it. Darn it.

I do this every time I go to the grocery store. I find a good deal (which I've previously located in the flyer and dutifully written on my shopping list) and decide to stock up. I congratulate myself all the way home. Until I look at my receipt. Ugh. I realize that there was a limit on the sale item and I didn't get the sale price on all the items I bought.

This happened to me today. In my flyer, Ritz crackers are on sale for 2/$5.00. I have two coupons for $2 off when you buy 2. So, I buy 4 boxes of Ritz crackers for $10-$4=$6. Good deal for me! Except that I missed the wording in the flyer which says the limit is 2 boxes. So, I only got the money off of the first two boxes I purchased. Basically I spent an extra $0.98 because of the limits.

I've had this happen before to me. I've done it on macaroni and cheese before at this store.

Lesson learned. Before stocking up on an item, double check to make sure there are no limits.

Being Smart With Money

2009-02-15T13:55:00.003-06:00

I have a confession. We are one of "those" people who get huge tax refunds. I'm embarassed to admit that we've not updated our deductions since we got married. That's right, we only have taxes withheld as if we are a family of 2, not 5. Dumb!! We're giving the government (state and federal) an interest free loan. If we had gotten that money over 12 months, we would have had nearly $400 extra per month!!! See what I mean?

It is my goal for this week to get both my husband's and my withholdings updated. No more excuses.

So, if you don't see me back for a week or two, you'll know why. I'm too ashamed to come back and post that I haven't done it. :)

Have I Taken Frugality Too Far?

2009-02-14T22:27:00.002-06:00

I'm cheap. I'm not offended by the word. I embrace it. But sometimes, even I wonder if I go a little too far.

Best example, parking when I teach. I teach a course at a university. Parking is horrible. You will NOT find a spot at a meter on the street. You could waste an entire tank of gas driving around looking for one.

Nearest parking costs $5 for the less than 2 hours I'm there. You can park at meters in the parking garage. It will cost you around $2.50 if you've got the change. Better, but not fabulous.

I've discovered that there is a lot about 4 blocks away (about 3/4 mile) that is normally parking by permit only. However, at the time I arrive in the evening, the gates are up and you can go in and park!! I think they do this because it is at the end of the traditional work day and they simply open up the gates so that you can exit via any gate. Well, it's also an entry!! I've parked for free for a couple weeks now saving me around $10-$20 depending upon where I'd have to park otherwise.

But, it's been below zero degrees for several weeks. That stinks. But not enough for me to consider paying to park. Last week though, it rained. Hard. That did make me think about whether or not my frugality was worth it all. Fortunately I had an umbrella. Ultimately I decided that it WAS worth the effort to continue walking despite the bad weather.

Back again, back again!

2009-02-06T20:24:00.001-06:00

Sorry! I've been super busy and then had a sick family. I'll try to catch up with my February budget.

Unexpected expenses

2009-01-20T20:24:00.002-06:00

Just when I think I'm getting us back on track, unexpected expenses come up. While some of these expenses truly shouldn't be "unexpected", they aren't monthly expenses. Thus, they haven't made their way into the budget yet. For example, we have life insurance policies through my husband's work. We pay those premiums on a quarterly basis. So, that's an extra $50 we need to come up with next month. I do budget for "insurance", but I only budgeted enough for car insurance. I had forgotten about the life insurance. Drat.

Some of the expenses truly are "unexpected." A good example is the notice we got from Brady's school today. They have a 3 year old preschool program. The notice today was to sign up Reed. Great. No problem. We were planning on doing that. Except, that they wanted a $50 registration fee. That fee is due February 3. Oooooooooookay. That's another $50 we need to come up with in the next couple weeks.

I really need to start a printing press in my basement. It would really be more handy than budgeting for these things.

Frugal Tip for Cards

2009-01-16T21:45:00.003-06:00

I don't know about you, but it chaps my hiney to buy cards. Gosh, they want so much money for them! You can easily spend $4-5 for a card. Seems like such a waste. Maybe I'm cold, but when I receive a card, I read it and then throw it. Okay, I'll admit it. I also shake it for money. But honestly, someone just spent $4 on something that went right into my garbage can. What a waste of money!!

I discovered that those party outlets or paper outlets are terrific!! We have one here and I just went the other day and purchased 6 cards. And I spent $4.62 for 6 cards. The most expensive ones were $0.99 and some were even $0.49. Yes, I could make cards for free. Better yet I could have the kids make cards, but that seems a little too cheap for me.

The great thing about these card outlets is their cards aren't cheap looking. They are just like the ones you'd buy at any other retail store. And they aren't all dumb or boring cards. I've been very pleasantly suprised. I've found some very witty cards that I've not been embarassed to give.

I'd recommend that you give it a try. What do you have to lose? And you might just save some money while you're there.

Monthly Budget

2009-01-14T21:38:00.002-06:00

So, for the first time I sat down and actually did a budget. Yes, I know. How have I been operating up until now?! I have no idea. I had no idea how much more than our income we were spending. Yes, I just admitted we spent more than we made. Kinda. My bonuses actually kept us afloat. We spent all of my bonuses as well. My new goal is to spend significantly less and just live on our income in order to save my bonuses and any other extra money that comes in (like tax return).

Well, now that I've done a budget, it's really tough to stick to!! I budget us really thin as you can tell. We save a good sum into our retirement and the boys college accounts every month. Aside from our usual monthly bills, I get $200 for gas (which might be a bit high), $300 for food and $164 for extras.

Well, unexpected expenses come up and can blow a budget very easily. This month it just happened to be a $200 insurance bill. We decided to purchase an umbrella policy. We hadn't had one before. Here is a relatively easy read on what an umbrella policy is and why they are important. http://http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Insurance/Insureyourhome/P35349.asp

So now I'm trying to come up with an extra $200 in our budget. We only spent $140 on gas this month and I have some money coming from a garage sale my sister held earlier this year. These two things give me around $110. It's interesting to see where you can get a bit of extra money if needed.

My new years resolution this year was to not use my credit card except for certain things that require a credit card (I have one membership that charges my credit card each month). I'm proud to say that I've charged a whopping $2 this year. For parking when I had no cash on me. That will be reimbursed by work though. So far so good!!

2 Week Meal Plan

2009-01-09T19:53:00.002-06:00

I made my two week meal plan. I planned 13 meals (we have a holiday party this weekend so we don't need a meal). The meals are:
Fish
Crockpot Pork Chops
Brats
Lasagna
Burritos
Chicken Fried Rice
Eggs
Beef Roast
Grilled Chicken
Tacos
Pizza
Ham

I put vegtables and potatos with the meat meals. I broke this shopping up into a shop on Wednesday (to take advantage of double coupons) and today. I spent $24. I saved something like $18 dollars between coupons and discounts. I went today and finished my big shop. I spent $45 today. For $70, I got all the food I need for 2 weeks. I'm sure I'll have to go back for milk and fruit, but otherwise I'm set. Yay!

December Financial Recap

2009-01-04T20:31:00.002-06:00

Well, the month of December was a bomb. Of course, I knew it would be with a trip to Texas involved. I came in at $47.67 over my grocery budget. Not bad. Especially considering I stocked up on enough chicken to last us all year and laundry detergent to last a decade.

My miscellaneous budget was blown by $597.33. About $200 of this was for hotel rooms for 2 nights. About $150 was fast food on our trip and about $142.00 was Sea World admission. So, actually we didn't do bad. Especially since Christmas was mixed in there too. Of course we hadn't saved for the vacation. So, I'll be trying to figure out how to pay for it for the next couple months!! We did pay cash for a substantial portion of it. It was our Christmas money.

Hopefully January will be better. Especially since it is my New Year's resolution to stop using my credit card. It's hard to spend money when you're out of cash!!

Long time- no post!

2009-01-04T14:41:00.002-06:00

Well, we're back after having been gone visiting family for about a week now. Needless to say, my tracking has gone by the wayside. I'll have to estimate the costs for the beginning of January.

So far I've made good on my goal to not use my credit card in 2009. Of course, we have some Christmas money laying around. That makes it easy. It makes it hard on the budget though.

Another challenge is that diapers are on sale at Walgreens. Over the summer I've become a Walgreens diaper convert. I always used Target diapers because they were so cheap. But, I really like the Walgreens diapers. They are $5.99 per package. Size 3 has 40 diapers and size 4 has 34 diapers. Not too bad. Normally they are $8.99 per package. Naturally I have the urge to stock up which always blows my budget.

Again, I'm going to try to budget $300 for groceries for the month. I've got to work out the rest of our budget yet.

Will I make my grocery budget this month?

2008-12-20T11:41:00.004-06:00

Hmmmmmmmmm. Not sure. I guess I didn't think about how tight $300 was when I decided to include things like paper products, personal products and diapers in it. Wow. I have only $17.17 remaining for the next 11 days.

Fortunately, we'll be eating at my mother-in-law's tonight. At my parents' houses on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (although I need to bring a shrimp platter which cost $9.99). Then, on the 27th we leave for Texas.

I won't need to do a big shop before the end of the year. I've got plenty of food for the meals, but need some other stuff. Here is my list . . .

Milk -- $2.59
Hot dogs -- $2.00
Graham crackers -- $1.50
Pretzels -- $2.50
Chips -- $4.00
Vinegar -- $2.00
Syrup -- $2.50
Shrimp platter -- $9.99
TOTAL -- $27.08

This also doesn't take into account that we are out of bananas, grapes and almost out of apples. Many of the snack foods are for our trip to Texas to keep the kids occupied. We might have to see if we can get by without the hot dogs, vinegar and syrup. That will cut $6.50 out. We might be able to avoid buying milk too. We've got 1 and 3/4 gallons in the fridge. We should be able to make it on that. That would keep us in our budget. Barely.

My miscellaneous budget is another story. It's gone. And more. If I hadn't done Christmas cards though, we'd be okay. And, I did buy some things we didn't really need. It doesn't include gas though. I've bought about $150 worth of gas gift cards this month. I buy them through my son's school and we get some money back on them towards tuition. We'll use all of that this month with the holiday traveling we'll be doing. We'll spend more than that because of trip to Texas.

Oh well, my budgets were a nice idea. Better luck next month. My goal for 2009 is to not use my credit card (except for things that only take credit card or online purchases). Hopefully I'll be able to make that goal!

Strict Budget Experiment-- a partial flop

2008-12-14T10:56:00.005-06:00

The next step in my experiment was to try to strictly stick to my grocery budget of $100 for the big weeks and $50 for the mid-cycle shop. I started this about a month ago. The first big shop I did, I chose not to buy a bunch of snack food. Snack food is expensive. It is nearly $4 for a bag of chips which my family can eat in 2 days. No granola bars and no desserts. Instead, I bought more fruit hoping that my boys would eat this instead of junk food.

This was my first flop. By not buying some snack foods for my family, my husband became desperate for junk. So desperate that HE stopped at the gas station and bought a small bag of chips for several dollars. He did this a couple times each week. Suddenly we were spending MORE money on junk food. Lesson learned. I can't be so strict that I cut out all junk food. My family is too addicted.

It was a partial success. My boys are eating more good things. More bananas, apples, apple sauce, grapes, etc. This makes me happy.

Now I buy one bag of chips each week and a bag of pretzels. The pretzels often last me two weeks. They eat the pretzels when the chips are gone. The pretzels are cheaper and healthier.

So, I'm happy with my experiment and the results, even if I had a flop.

Bi-Monthly Grocery Shopping Experiment

2008-12-12T09:32:00.003-06:00

After about a month of weekly grocery shopping with a list, I'd been able to reduce my weekly grocery budget to about $80. That was fabulous as I'd been previously spending about $100-120 per week (I think). I was very pleased.

The next step of my experiment was to shop for 2 weeks at a time. I knew I'd still need to stop in between to get fresh fruit and milk though. So, I started making my menu plans for two weeks and making a 2 week grocery list based off the menu plan.

I headed off to the grocery store for the first time after making my 2 week shopping list and when I checked out, I was disappointed to see my bill was $80. I didn't save anything. Then it struck me, I'd just picked up groceries for 2 weeks, not 1!!! Wohoo!

To date, I've continued doing the two weeks of shopping at one time. I like it that way and I seem to spend less time at the grocery store. I still go in between for a mid-cycle shopping trip to pick up fruit, milk, etc. At that time, I also pick up things that are on sale as well.

Big Grocery Shop

2008-12-10T22:37:00.003-06:00

In spite of the fact that it isn't my usual shopping day, I decided to go grocery shopping tonight because it was double coupon day. My local grocery store (Copps) doubles up to 5 coupons (up to a $1 value) with a separate $25 purchase. This could add up to an extra $5 savings. So, I decided to head out tonight. MISTAKE!!!!

I've fallen for this before and I can't believe I fell for it again. I get so angry every time I go. Since I work on Wednesdays, I always wait until after the boys are in bed. It's around 9 pm by the time I get there. Since there ad cycles end on Wednesday, they are busy tearing down the old ads and putting up the new ones. This means that other than to hunt and compare to the ads, I have no way of knowing what's on sale and if I'm purchasing the correct items. Plus they are regularly out of what is on my list. Like bread. It drives me crazy!

So, while I did get doubled coupons which saved me an additional $4.50, I did not find many of the other sale items which would have saved me as much money and a lot of frustration. So, I think I'll end going to Copps on Wednesday and go back to my usual Friday grocery shop.

I also spent quite a bit of time at Walgreens today. I couldn't pass up the spectacular deal on laundry detergent. You can probably tell because I bought 12 of them yesterday!! I got them for $8.51. This was for the 32 load arm and hammer liquid detergents. Fabulous deal! That's a bit over $0.70 a piece.

Here's how I did it: Walgreens is having a special where if you spend $25 (before coupons and discounts), you get a $5 Register Reward (essentially a $5 coupon towards anything in the store). I purchased 4 detergents at a time. Original price is $6.99 each. That rings up to $27.96 plus tax. On the back of their 3 day flyer that runs from December 10-13 there is a Walgreens coupon for the detergent bringing the price down to $1.99 each or $7.96 plus tax for the 4 of them. For one transaction, I used a$1.00 off coupon too but for the other 2 transactions I did not. Anyway, after you pay, the $5 Register Reward prints. So, while you'll pay $7.96 plus tax the first time you do the transaction, the next time you'll pay only $2.96 plus tax. Since I already had a $5 Register Rewards from last week (toilet paper), I never did pay the full $7.96! Yay!

I also bought Campbells Tomato Soup because it was on sale 4/$2, plus I had a coupon for $0.40 off 4. We use quite a bit of tomato soup. So I bought 4.

I got 3 boxes of Reynolds Wrap for free as well. I had a coupon for $1 off Reynolds Wrap. Walgreens has Reynolds Wrap (the 20 foot roll) for $0.99 after Walgreen's Coupon which was found in their ad. So, I actually made $0.03 on the rolls.

I bought two 3 packs of scotch tape because Walgreens had them on sale for 2/$2. Then, Walgreens has a rebate of $2 on 2. So they were free.

Finally, I bought 3 boxes of mead envelopes. Normally they were $1.09 each, but with a Walgreens coupon they were $0.59/each. Since we need envelopes, I bought 3.

Whew. That's a lot of shopping for one day. I might have to hit up another Walgreens tomorrow for some more detergent. We go through a ton of detergent here with 3 little boys. Can you believe it?

Grocery List Experiment

2008-12-09T13:15:00.003-06:00

After creating my first weekly menu plan, there were obviously items that I needed to round out the meals. This included things like milk, fruit, etc. Plus a few basics. So, I decided that in addition to my meal plan, I should create a shopping list for the grocery store.

I couldn't believe how much it cut down my grocery bill to have a shopping list! It was amazing. At first, I didn't stick strictly to the list. Nevertheless I saw improvement in my grocery bill.

Additionally, I didn't find myself wasting time running to the store mid-week because I didn't have something I needed for a meal. Not only did I save myself time, but money. Every time I went to the grocery store, I found something else I "needed" besides what I'd gone there for. Things I definitely didn't really need.

Overall, I'd call the grocery list experiment a success!

My Weekly Menu Plan Experiment and This Week's Plan

2008-12-08T20:23:00.002-06:00

I usually have my meal plans run from Friday to Saturday. I usually plan 5-6 meals per week figuring that the other we end up eating either leftovers, eating at my in-laws or grabbing McDonalds or something (usually if I'm gone Lance will do this with the boys). I don't assign days of the week to the meals. That way I can just pick whatever I'm in the mood for or works into our schedule off the meal plan. It works for me. I think that if I planned certain days of the week, that I'd get up that day and not be in the mood for whatever I'd planned. Then I'd be tempted to stray from my carefully planned meals and order out.

I also don't bother to plan lunches, even though we're home 4 days per week. I just keep the house stocked with macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, macaroni noodles, spaghetti sauce, cheese slices and sandwich bread. Sometimes I buy ham or turkey cubes or frozen chicken nuggets. I never really know what the boys will be in the mood to eat at lunchtime and I like to let them call the lunch shots. I often just eat leftovers from the night before. If there are no leftovers, I usually make a sandwich.

This weeks menu plan is:

1. Cheesy Chicken over Egg Noodles
2. Steak, potato and corn
3. Beef Roast, potato and beans
4. Grilled chicken, potato and corn
5. Enchiladas

I made enchiladas for dinner tonight. My husband was gone all weekend on a guy's fishing trip. So,despite the fact that I usually get enough leftovers for two lunches, today I only had enough leftover for one lunch. Apparently he was hungry for something that wasn't fish and was homemade.

At night I usually look at my weekly meal plan and decide what we'll have the next night. For the 3 nights per week that I work, I plan easy meals such as scrambled eggs, something in the crockpot or something else that is pretty quick. Tomorrow will be steaks. I'll take them out of the freezer tonight and put them in the fridge so that they are thawed by dinner time. Of course we're in the middle of a HUGE snowstorm. My husband doesn't think there will be school tomorrow. I wonder how he'll feel about grilling outside in the middle of the storm.

Menu Planning Experiment

2008-12-07T20:23:00.002-06:00

After completing my inventory of my freezers and pantry, it didn't take much thought for me to conclude that we HAD to eat up all that food. Much of that food was going bad before we could eat it. It was crazy how much we had. The solution? Make a meal plan that included everything we already had.

For the first month or so I only had to buy minimal things from the grocery store. Milk, bread, fruit, etc. I had plenty of boxed potatoes, frozen vegetables and meat in the house.

But I quickly realized that we were eating the same thing over and over again. Apparently I lack imagination. So, I made myself a list of all the meals my family likes to eat. I found it really helps me to plan a variety of meals. I can look through the list and determine what we haven't had in awhile.

Today I still use that list of meals to make my menu plans. Occasionally I add things. Occasionally I take things off the list.

Sidebar features and Budget Goals

2008-12-06T21:15:00.008-06:00

I've added two sidebar features to help me budget and keep track of my progress.

Grocery Budget

The first is the grocery budget. I've established a bi-weekly budget of $150 for groceries or roughly $300 per month. Typically I spend $100 buying all my food for two weeks. The next week I've budgeted $50 to pick up the in-between stuff plus some cushion. I could probably get by on less on the in-between week, but I use the extra money to stock up on things. I intend my grocery budget to include all paper goods (toilet paper, kleenex, etc.) and toiletries (toothpaste, shampoo, etc.).

The prime example of stocking up is the chicken breasts that I bought. Those are great chicken breasts that are perfect for grilling or baking. I use this type when I'm not cutting up the chicken or putting it in something else. Typically at My Menu those 3 lb pages sell for $12.99 each. I got them on sale for $6.99 which is the cheapest I've ever seen them. We have chicken breasts about every other week. I calculated that we needed 24 lbs to carry us through the whole year. Because I was thrifty at the grocery store in the previous week (during November), I was able to fit these chicken breasts in my bi-weekly budget.

While I've successfully been sticking to the bi-weekly budget for about a month now at the grocery store, I've never included what I pick up at Target, Walgreens or anywhere else when it involves grocery items. This is my new goal.

Miscellaneous Budget

I've set this budget at $400. I've not been working on this budget and don't intend to focus on it for right now. My philosophy is one step at a time so as to not overwhelm myself. The main reason that I added this sidebar feature is to start keeping track of my spending on other items. I will include everything here except food, gas and my monthly bills. All entertainment, eating out and miscellaneous purchases. My guess is that I'll blow this in a big way. Especially this month when we've got a trip to Texas planned for the end of the month which will involve a few hotel room stays, gas and food.

This will be an interesting experiment for me. Right now I'm going to focus on bringing ALL food, toiletry and paper products purchases into the $300 monthly budget. Of course, just today I bought enough toilet paper to last us a full calendar year!!

Freezer Burned Food Experiment

2008-12-01T09:42:00.002-06:00

When I found all that freezer burned chicken in my freezer, I just couldn't bear to throw it away. After all, it had probably cost me around $6 per bag or $36 total. Thus, being the cheap person that I am, I held onto it. One day I decided to try to cut the freezer burn off of the chicken. I let it thaw for awhile until just the outside was thawed and the inside was still quite solid. And low and behold that freezer burn came off! Quite easily too.

I cooked up that chicken in a crock pot meal with sauces and it was perfect! You couldn't even tell it had been freezer burned. Wohoo! I probably wouldn't want to make it without being in a meal which masks some flavor of the chicken. Plus, the crock pot helped to make it more tender.

I've thrown freezer burned chicken into the crock pot without cutting off the freezer burn. Again, as long as it was in something, I couldn't tell. I usually make it in a chicken and rice meal or cheesy crockpot chicken recipe.

It took my family almost 7 months to eat all that chicken. But, I'm pleased to say that we did it. We didn't waste any of it.

Genesis . . . the Beginning of the Experiments

2008-12-01T09:24:00.002-06:00

I always think the best place to start is at the beginning of a story. So, let me rewind approximately 8 months for you . . .

On St. Patrick's Day (March 17), 2008, I gave birth to my third son. My other two sons were 4 and 1 (today they are 5 and 2). While on my maternity leave from work, I was pumping milk for my son and freezing it. However, when I went to put it in my stand-alone freezer, I realized there was no room. But what was in there? I had no idea.

I immediately decided to find out. It was like a great expedition into the Arctic! Sadly, I found that I had 6 bags of badly freezer burned chicken, 15 packages of hot dogs, 10 ring bologna and about 8 packages of pork chops. This doesn't include all the various bags of frozen vegetables and other miscellaneous things (like the 6 boxes of margarine). What a potential waste! I compiled this list in a small notebook.

Then, since I was so motivated, I came inside and inventoried our refrigerator freezer. Imagine my surprise when I found even more chicken, hot dogs, ring bologna (4) and pork chops. Along with frozen breast milk from my second son!!!

I threw out some of the obviously bad and old stuff. But I just couldn't bring myself to throw out all that meat. Even though it was freezer burned. This lead to my very first experiment . . . and my next post. I'll continue telling this story along the way between my other posts.