Thrifty Coupon Mama

The $60 Grocery Budget

2010-04-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

Lately I've gotten back to coupons and menu planning. I realized that my grocery spending was getting a bit out of control again and I wanted to reign it in a bit. I've been reading Danielle's posts at DenverMetroMom and her $40 a week grocery/household budget. We eat a tad differently so I think I might need a bit more per week, but it's been interesting to see how successful(and disciplined) she is with her spending.

As you can see from our weekly menu, we keep things pretty "whole foods", I would say that probably 85% of our diet is that way(mama loves her Snickers and coke). Basically we avoid heavily processed foods, High Fructose Corn Syrup, and white and/or bleached flours. Those are the biggies on my list. I should work harder on cutting out white sugars, but I haven't really found an alternative that we like, so for now I just use it in limited quantities. Oh, and I should care more about where our meat comes from, but so far I haven't been able to suck it up and pay $5.99 a lb(on sale!!) for Bison or chicken breast. And, last but not least, I don't buy organic. I know, I know...

Anyway, so the guidelines I watch for our menu are pretty simple- Nutritious, vitamin/mineral packed foods for each meal, with as many raw fruits and veggies as possible.

So, now you know my challenge. I'll try and post my shopping list for each week so you can see what I'm buying and how I'm doing budget wise :)

2010-03-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

It's Monday!!!

This week should be pretty easy food wise, we aren't busy which means I'll have time to cook properly and we are going out on Friday to celebrate our anniversary.

Breakfasts- eggs, toast, granola & yogurt, oatmeal

Lunch- Leftovers, mac & cheese, tuna, fruits/veggies

Dinners-

Monday- Beef tacos w/ the usual veggies(onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers)

Tuesday- "Really good" Chicken and Noodles and a salad

Wednesday- leftovers, or something easy like sandwiches since we have bible study.

Thursday- Thai salad with beef

Friday- Micah and I are going to the mountains for the day sans Gabby to celebrate our anniversary, so we'll just be eating out :)

Saturday- leftovers and other "easy" foods.

Sunday- Easter dinner!

Items that I purchase with coupons

2009-11-19T15:02:00.000-08:00

Groceries-

- No sugar added juices
- Yogurt
- Sour cream(daisy brand)
- Butter
- Butter & Olive Oil spread(butter, olive oil, salt- no other ingredients)
- Tollhouse chocolate chips
- Tuna fish(both in pouches and cans)
- Cheez-Its
- Salsa
- Tortillas
- Condensed Milk
- Evaporated Milk
- Corn Starch & Baking Powder
- Various spices
- Iced Tea(Steaz in a can)
- Mac & Cheese
- Blocks or shredded cheese
- Canned veggies(usually donate these since we don't eat much of them)
- Canned soups(both broth and cream based)
- Steaks
- Mayo
- Mustard
- Dried fruits
- French's onions
- Nuts
- Frozen veggies
- Peanut butter

Personal Care-

- Cough drops
- Theraflu
- Shampoo and Conditioner
- Styling products
- Various meds(asprin, excedrin, triaminic, zantac, etc...)
- Toothpaste, tooth brushes, listerine
- Vitamins
- Makeup

Household-

- Tissues
- Toilet paper
- Laundry detergent/softner/dryer sheets
- Cleaners

Baby-
- Wipes
- Diapers
- Formula(when we used it)

I'm sure there are more that I'm not thinking of off the top of my head.

I rarely pay more then $.50 for something when I'm using coupons, and often items are free. Wipes are $.29 a box(or free if you use toddler flushable wipes) at Target, as is the Steaz Iced tea(don't worry, I'll share links ;). They also have some really good grocery deals depending on what coupons you have. I picked up cream-of soups for $.25 a can and Del Monte veggies for $.28 a can as well.

King Soopers(or Kroger to the rest of the world) doubles coupons under $.50, and up the value of those under $.99 to a $1. This how I ended up with free Tuna, and cough drops. I also paid less then $.50 for Activia Yogurt(we are not yogurt brand picky and will eat any of it as long as it's HFCS free), Cheezits, chocolate chips, and a couple other things that I can't think of right now.

Alot of the personal care items I "purchase" at Walgreen's, they are almost always free, I rarely pay more then $1-2 at checkout. Sometimes items are a "money maker" like the Theraflu was a couple of weeks ago(and like Aussie shampoo is this week). Walgreen's also gives you "register rewards"(rr) when you purchase special items.

Feel free to ask questions!

Oh, and coupon links!

Steaz Free iced tea at Target

Cheap baby/toddler wipes

Walgreen's 11/11

2009-11-11T20:43:00.000-08:00

Tonight I left early for bible study, no kid means less hassle and more time to run in and out of the 3 Walgreen's on my way to church. And yes, there are 3 of them in a 5 mile stretch of road. It's a bit rediculous and in my BWG(before walgreen's) days I made fun of it. Not so much anymore.

Today's "score", after 3 stops.

13 bottles of "no sugar added" Ocean Spray cranberry juice. ($26)
20 boxes of "extra soft" Kleenex(yes, the namebrand) ($45.8)
1 Peppermint Bark Ghiradelli chocolate bar($1.99)
1 bag of Wasabi Soy sauce flavored Almonds($1.39)
2 Bayer glucometers ($30)

-$1/1 Kleenex coupon- $20
- $1.20/1 in-ad Kleenex "coupon"- $24
- $5 off $25 in-ad coupon -$10
- $1/1 Cranberry juic coupon- $13
- $14.99 off 1 Glucometer coupon(this is a manufacture coupon from the sunday paper)- $30

Total coupon savings- $97

Total saved- $269 (with coupons and sales)
Total spent- $3.88

The secret to Walgreen's is watching for awesome in store coupons. The coupon for Kleenex is for $1 off/1 package and they are on sale this week(with an in-ad "coupon) for $1.08. After the in-ad coupon, and the store coupon they are then $.08 a box. Great price for stocking up!

The Cranberry juice is also a killer deal, it ends up being $.99 a bottle, and because of this weeks $5 off $25 it was free, for me anyway. That part totally depends on how your store's registers are programmed. One of our stores was a stickler for the "rules" on the coupon and would void it off (automatically) if your total with coupons dropped below $25. The other store wasn't voiding it, which is how I could get my totals so low.

King Soopers 11/4/09

2009-11-05T21:17:00.000-08:00

So yesterday morning I was reading the KS ad and realizing what great deals there are this week! I was especially excited to see a sale on Ricola cough drops as I have some BOGO(buy one, get one free) coupons that expire this week and I did *not* want to pay full price for them. I organized my coupons yesterday morning and then made a relatively quick trip, it would have been even faster but who knew they keep granola bars in the baby food aisle?

Anyway, I spent about $18 oop(out of pocket) and saved nearly $80.

Couponing

2009-11-05T21:09:00.000-08:00

Back in May I got hooked on "couponing" at Walgreen's after reading a forum thread regarding coupons. I was amazed at what I could get for free, or for just pennies. In fact, I found that I could get paid to shop. As a person who loves shopping the thought of getting a "fix" for free was very tantalizing, and so my journey began.

Walgreen's was an easy way to get started, I think I spent about $20 that first week but nowadays I rarely spend more then $5-10, spending about $2.50 on the average trip and saving more then $40 on each transaction. Total I probably save close to $100 each week and I'm walking away with TONS of product.

Because I have now mastered Walgreen's I've decided to move on to tackling coupons + grocery stores. I am buying 3-4 Sunday papers and printing lots of coupons off the internet. Purchasing my newspapers at the $ Store is also a money saver. Oh, and if I see a particularly good deal coming then I will also purchase coupons on Ebay(or rather, someones time to cut them ;)

Hopefully you can learn with me, I love talking about my current hobbies and couponing is one that I currently adore :p