Weekly Grocery Shopping Results

I tried an experiment this week. I don't generally do my shopping at Wal-Mart. It's just too much hassle and takes too long to get around to make it worth my while. But, seeing how many people posted great deals over at the Grocery Gathering, I decided to give it a try. I don't guess I did too badly, but I'll have to consider how good next week's deals are before I give it another try.

Here are this week's results:
Wal-Mart
*Regular Price: $40.68
*Total Paid: $19.45
*Total Saved: $21.23
*%Saved: 53%

Kroger
*Regular Price: $110.63
*Total Paid: $41.78
*Total Saved: $68.85
*%Saved: 63%

Publix
*Regular Price: $18.71
*Total Paid: $3.193
*Total Saved: 15.52
*%Saved: 83%

Total Weekly: $105.60
Total Savings: 62%

Kroger Register Coupons Printed:
$1.50 off Black & Mild Cigars
$2.50 off any 3 Johnson's or Desitin products
$1.00 off any Uncle Ben's Ready Rice

Kroger Register Coupons left by previous customers that I grabbed:
$1.00 off any 2 bags of Eight O'Clock Coffee
$3.00 off any one box of Nice n Easy Root Touch-Up
$3.00 off any one Perfect 10 by Nice n Easy Haircolor
$3.00 off any one box of Nice n Easy Gray Solution

Fabulous deals I got:
Publix
Yoplait Gogurt - On sale BOGO ($1.45 each) and had 3 coupons for $1.00 off 1. Total price, $.45 each. To take advantage of this deal, go to Money Saving Mom and click the Coupons toolbar on the right. This is the last day of Publix sale this week though!

Kroger
*Tennessee Pride Sausage - 2.5 pound boxes of pre-sliced sausage. On sale for $5.99 per box, with coupons for $.50 off any Tennessee pride products(Found in 05/18/08 Red Plum insert), doubled = $1.00 off. $4.99 each box, which is great for Wes and I because we're low-carbing it these days. *NOTE: Kroger has Tennessee Pride Sausage Gravy on sale for $10 for 10. If you use the coupons on those, you get them for free!
*Zantac Cool Mint - Box of 8 for $4.59 with $5.00 off coupons. Made $.41 overage on each box. Total overage = $1.23 To take advantage of this, get the coupons here (page 3). Thanks again Money Saving Mom!
*Johnson's Buddies soap for $1.00 and had 2 $1.00 off coupons, so got two for free. You can get those here.

Note on using coupons at Wal-Mart: The Customer Service Manager told the cashier not to accept my internet coupons. However, I printed a copy of Wal-Mart's coupon policy to take with me, just in case! As soon as I showed them the policy, they shut up and scanned my coupons. It never hurts to go prepared. Wes was in awe of my coupon-fu this week.

How'd you do this week?

Weekly Grocery Shopping Results

Well, this week's shopping trip was kind of disappointing. Most of the things we had on our "needs" list weren't items I had coupons for. I did great on our stock ups though. I went to three stores this time. CVS, Publix, and Kroger. Against the norm, I did fabulously at CVS and Publix but not so great at Kroger.

CVS:
*Regular Price: $12.97
*Coupons/Sales: $2.00
*Total Paid: $10.97
*ECB PRINTED: $10.96
*Savings: 15% (Won't count ECB till I use them)

Publix:
*Regular Price: $85.34
*Coupons/Sales: $66.20
*Total Paid: $19.14
*Savings: 78%

Kroger:
*Regular Price: $103.89
*Coupons/Sales: $21.72
*Total Paid: $82.17
*Savings: 21%

Total Weekly: $112.28
Total Savings: 44%

Great deals I got this week:
Publix:
3 - FREE boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats with Chocolate Clusters
2 - FREE 8 oz. containers of Daisy sour cream
4 - 4 packs of Atkins TRD shakes for $3.00 each (Regularly $7.99)
2 - Reduced Fat Pillsbury cake mixes for $.15 each
CVS
2 - Bottles of Crest Kids mouthwash for $2.49 each ... and got $3.49 back in ECB each
2 - Packages of CVS Bandages for $1.99 each ... and got $1.99 back in ECB each

Want to share some of your awesome finds this week?

Weekly Grocery Shopping Results

I just got home from my weekly excursion with the grocery shopping. I have to admit that I had to work a little harder at it this week. I've been spoiled by the Grocery Game consistently having the Kroger list up early. This week it was running "on time" and not a day or two early. BUT, I don't have another free night this week so I had to do the legwork on my own :)

Without further ado, the results:
Publix:
*Regular Price: $53.37
*Coupons/Sales: $39.32
*Total Paid: $14.05
*Savings: 75%

Kroger:
*Regular Price: $202.12
*Coupons/Sales: $99.94
*Total Paid: $102.18
*Savings: 49.5%

Total Weekly: $116.23
Total Savings: 55%

Some fun things I tried this week, I loaded my Kroger Plus card with quite a few BOGO (buy one get one free) offers from Procter and Gamble, Unilever, and AOL’s eCoupons. I also had paper coupons for the same items.
*Pantene Shampoo and Conditioner: BOGO @ $3.33 with a coupon for $1.00 off two. Total for shampoo and conditioner - $2.33
*Aussie Shampoo and Styling Gel: BOGO @ $2.50 with a coupon for $2.00 off two. Total for shampoo and gel - $.50
*Oil of Olay body wash: BOGO @ $3.50 with a coupon for $1.00 off two. Total for two bottles of body wash - $2.50
*Wisk laundry detergent: $1.50 off eSaver with a coupon for $1.50 off one. Total for one bottle of laundry detergent - $.49

The fun one was the cereal. I've been having a blast stocking up on the cereal (why yes, I do know I'm a little odd!). Kroger has General Mills cereals on sale for $2.00 a box. I brought the following coupons with me: 1 store printed coupon for $2.00 on 5 boxes
1 - coupon for $1.10 off Curves cereal
1 - $.50 for Total that doubled
1 - $.50 for Cheerios that doubled
1 - eSaver coupon loaded to my Kroger card for $1.00

So, the final total on the cereal was $.78 per box for 5 boxes of General Mills cereal. GO ME! Although, I suspect that if I bring one more box of cereal into this house … we have 29 … Wes may mutiny.

Coupons - Making them work for you

There is an interesting discussion going on over at BoingBoing about coupons and how much they aren't worth the effort. Now, the girl given in the short example post isn't very realistic... sorry Christy. For one, she does her couponing at seven stores, primarily Publix, and even with coupons they're often significantly more expensive than (my favorite) Kroger, although sometimes they have FABULOUS deals and I snatch them up too.

So, the down and dirty plan for grocery shopping that has been successful for me goes something like this:
*Buy 2 copies of the Sunday Paper - If you buy them on Sunday, you can get them in one packet for $2.35 at Kroger or $2.36 at Publix. They are next door to one another where I live, so there's no real difference for me where I get them.

*Go to Grocerygame.com** on Monday and access the List for Kroger, Publix, and CVS. Check the running list of what I need against the sales prices and coupons I have for them.
NOTE: Grocery Game lists the week of the circular for the coupons, so I never clip them before I need them. I use a 3 hole punch and keep the circulars in chronological order in a binder until I need them.

*Check the personal finance blogs for tips on printable coupons for sale items that will make the price free or next to free. A few of my favorites are Money Saving Mom, Freebies 4 Mom, and Centsible Savings.

*Check my Miscellaneous Coupons pouch for any coupons I've received in the mail with my free samples.

*Do a quick Google search for any printable coupons for items on the list that I need but don't have a coupon for.

All of the gathering probably takes me an hour total. Then,

*I print the list for each store and put all of the coupons I need in the envelope for that store with the list.

*Mentally map my route to make one circle and not waste gas.

*Go to Publix and ONLY get what is on the list. - 10 minutes
*Go to Kroger and ONLY get what is on the list. - 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the checkout line.
*Go to CVS and ONLY get what is on the list. - 5 to 10 minutes.

As a general rule, I can feed my family of 5 on $75 to $80 a week, including all toiletries and miscellaneous household items. It takes me roughly 2 to 2 1/2 hours per week, including the shopping itself. This saves me a LOT of time. Before I shopped with a list and did my research before leaving the house, I made 3 to 4 trips to the store every week to pick up forgotten or needed things. I also ended up spending lots of extra money on impulse buys.

No additional expenditures on gas because I plan my route to maximize fuel economy. I also don't have to make those emergency runs to the store during the week anymore, so I am actually SAVING money on gas. I shop for gas at the grocery store, so I don't have to make extra trips to stop for that either.

Happy Dance Note: Yesterday I was out and about and stopped at Kroger just because I had cereal coupons. I got 4 boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats and 2 bunches of bananas for $.94 ...behold, the power of coupons.

**If you sign up at Grocery Game, please list sunshinedavidson @ gmail.com in the referral link.

Are you a pump watcher?

It's on the news, in the papers, and the topic of discussion around the water cooler at work. Are you watching the gas prices climb too? There is wild speculation on how high the prices will climb and how long they'll stay there. Some folks are flocking to GasBuddy to find out where the cheapest gas is in their area. Mapquest is even getting in on the action.

People where I work are talking about things they are having to cut corners on just to be able to make it back and forth to work. Does Dish Network cost less than Direct TV? How many of our cell phone services can we cut? Are we going to be able to go to Myrtle Beach this summer, like always?

I've been sending out referrals to the Grocery Game to everyone who mentions cutting costs. (If you head over there and decide to sign up, Momma would be very grateful if you'd use her email address for the referral: sunshinedavidson@gmail.com) I've also been shamelessly promoting the links to my favorite personal finance blogs and sharing tips from them whenever appropriate.

I know it seems a little odd, but I am doing my best not to pay attention to the gas prices at all. I have decided that it's just not worth the stress. I've been cutting our costs as I can, and have started my own Square Foot Gardens. I shop at Kroger every week, so I always have the $.10 off per gallon at their gas pumps.

Gas prices are going to go up, no matter how much I worry about it. I just remind myself that 25% of my 401k is invested in Natural Resources and try to hang on for the bumpy ride. What about you? Do you have tips for easing the pinch at the pump?

This week's Grocery Game, and some other stuff

Every day, the first thing I do when I log in is check out my favorite blogs (listed to the right). First up is Mommy Gets PAID. She lists freebies and surveys and other really cool deals every day. So, I always go get my free stuff first thing! Yesterday, she had a link to a coupon for a free Scotch Brite toilet cleaning starter kit. Normally, I wouldn't buy something like that, but my 10 year old cleans their bathroom and I thought it might be nice for her to have something easier to use.

This week's Grocery Game lists resulted in:
Publix:
Original Price - $34.34
Price Paid - $14.53
Savings - $19.81 or 58%

Kroger:
Original Price - $221.24
Price Paid - $108.96
Savings - $112.28 or 51%

Total spent on this week's groceries: $123.50
Snowflake for debt: $26.50

Received Register Coupons:
$1.00 on two Maple Grove Farms Sugar Free Syrup
$2.00 on any size Purina Fit&Trim Dog Food
$5.00 off (plus free shipping on orders over $39.00) for 1-800-PetMeds
*****Use Code:DOG46 - Expires 06/04/08

Grocery Shopping - This Week's Results

I'm still in love with the Grocery Game. If you're interested in joining, leave me a comment here and I'll send you a referral. For every 3 referrals that sign up, I will get 12 free weeks. :) Every little bit helps!

And now, for the results:
Publix:
Actual Price - $73.07
Price Paid - $36.25
Saved - $36.82 or 50%

Kroger:
Actual Price - $159.16
Price Paid - $80.89
Saved - $78.27 or 49%

CVS:
Actual Price - $24.74
Price Paid - $9.75
Saved - $14.99 or 61%

Total Savings of $130.08 or 51%

How I Know I'm Making a Difference

Wes tells everyone about my blog! Correction, he nudges me when we're out with friends and says "Tell him what you write about." and "Dude, you're not going to believe our trip to the grocery store yesterday, tell him babe!" He is astounded when we load the entire back end of the mini-van with groceries from 3 stores and the total spent was $115. He reads my entries and sometimes looks puzzled, then asks "How do you know all this stuff?"

Our quality of life is the same, if not increasing, as it was before we started cutting out the frivolous spending. Some of the noticable changes have been:

• Drastically decreasing the amount of nights we eat dinner out has made the entire family, myself included, appreciate those special nights more.
• Making the grocery list and clipping my coupons has not only cut my grocery bills, but also my shopping time. I don't wander around the store anymore looking for what I need. I get the items on my list and I leave.
• My freezer and pantry are both filling up more every week with the stockpiling I'm able to do with The Grocery Game.
• We're starting to thin down the clutter in our home.
• The children are starting to learn more about conserving their resources and prioritization of spending.
• Wes thinks I'm brilliant and working miracles. I'll take it!

I've learned so much already from all my other blogger friends, researching finance articles and reading books. When I started this blog, Wes said "I don't know why you read all this stuff, they all say the exact same things. Stop spending and start saving. What's so hard about that?" The way I really know I'm making a difference in our lives is that his tune has changed so completely.

Part 2 - Living frugally, yet well

This is the 2nd post in response to the question: “Can you explain how to save money while still raising a family and trying to keep up with what society seems to think a family needs to have?”

On Friday, I talked about Keeping up with the Joneses (AKA Society) and keeping Clothing purchases from breaking the bank.

To continue that theme, I want to talk a little bit about what Living Well is, to me. I suppose that "Living Well" is as subjective as you can get. It can vary drastically, even within households where everyone really has the same core values. I know that it varies for Wes and I frequently.

To me, Living Well means that I don't have to carry a lot of money stress around with me. It means that my children are happy, provided for, and healthy. It means that our basic necessities are met, with a little extra. Are we there yet? Mostly.

The path to really living well started with a budget. And then, some discipline. There are NO easy answers or quick fixes to getting your finances in order. But, there are definitely some quick wins. For me, the first quick win was understanding that "It's only $10" is a crappy response to buying something you don't need.

Use a free tracking service to load all of your bank accounts, credit cards, and/or gas cards. Mint is fabulous for this! Once you get all of your transactions loaded, review the categories. Make sure they're accurate, and take a good hard look at where you spend your money. Do you spend too much money on video games? Is dining out your weakness? Do you just HAVE to buy expensive crafting materials or the latest magazines to hit the news stands?

The first time I downloaded all of our bank account transactions into Microsoft Money, it was to prepare our taxes. When I categorized our expenditures for the previous year, I found out that we spent FOURTEEN THOUSAND dollars on eating out. That's more than our mortgage!

If you're married, go over the results with your spouse**. Discuss ways to compromise and make changes to your spending. Figure out how to work together to get your financial house in order. Unless everyone is on the same page, there will be sabotage. Sometimes, it'll even be you!
** This discussion should only happen when you're both prepared for it. Don't ambush your partner. No good can come from that.

Once you've determined your spending patterns, work on your budget. Get all of your fixed and mandatory expenses in there first. House payments, rent, and utilities should be at the top of the list. Next, your fluctuating expenses. While you're working out your budget, discuss where you can make cuts without having a negative impact on your household. This can be as simple as teaching the children to turn the lights off every single time they leave a room, to setting a timer for showers, or eating more vegetarian meals to cut meat costs.

Can't go without cable or high speed Internet? Bundle your telephone/cable/Internet packages for big savings on those utilities. Grocery shop with coupons, and use The Grocery Game (my favorite) or Coupon Mom, or another coupon and sales tracking program.

Can't go without eating out? Use the referral link from the Coupon Mom website to go to Restaurants.com. You can get a $25 gift certificate to your favorite restaurant for $10 through Restaurants.com .. and with the referral link from Coupon Mom, you get an extra 40% off. That's a $25 gift card for $6! You can buy more than one, if you choose. Watch out for the restrictions though.

Love books and magazines too much to give up? Go to your public library. They have most of the periodicals you could ever want. There is an endless supply of books. Have kids? GREAT! Go during story time and meet other parents and kids in your neighborhood.

While you're at it, start your own home play groups or a babysitting co-op, so nobody has to pay for sitters. If you aren't that ambitious, look for co-ops that are already in place. Time Banking is taking hold all over the country.

Don't dig the library for your reading fix? Try book swapping or Half.com. Two of the more popular book swap rings are Paperback Swap and Swaptree.

Do you need a shelf or table? What about canning jars? Do you have a bunch of baby clothes taking up space? Extra furniture stashed in the attic that will never see the light of day again? Use Freecycle! There is one in practically every neighborhood. You can find a home for just about everything you have no use for. If you're willing to put a little effort into it, you can also find just about anything you need there too. Can't find what you need on Freecycle? How about Craig's List?

These are just a few of the ways I've found to cut our costs in ways that don't hurt our lifestyle. They do require a little more effort than going out and plopping down your debit card or credit card, but they are worth it to my peace of mind. We're still Living Well. We're just doing it more consciously than we were before. The rewards are growing.

The Grocery Game - Unexpected Benefits

I posted last week about The Grocery Game. Since then, I've come to believe it's the smartest move ever!

The Investment
Cash
Each week, I spend $2.35 on a double edition of the Sunday Atlanta Journal Constitution. This gives me two sets of the week's coupons. The cost of the website is $20 every 8 weeks ($10 for the first store and $5 for each additional). So, for the service, I spend $2.50 or $.83 per store per week.
Total expense per week: $4.85

Time
I spend 30 minutes reviewing the list for each store on the Grocery Game website and checking the boxes of the items I'll be purchasing. I choose the option of hiding all of the items I'm not choosing, as well as all supplemental notes on the page, and print the pages.
Then, I get out the coupons and spend an hour organizing them. This includes:
-Labeling the current week's packet of coupons with the date they came out
-Clipping the coupons* for each grocery list I printed
-Putting the coupons and the list in the envelope**
Total Planning time: 1.5 hours

*I only clip the coupon when I need it. It's incredibly simple to keep up with and makes life easier, as all of the coupons on the Grocery Game are listed with the date and circular that the coupons came from. Instead, I write the date of the circular on the front and then use a large rubberband from the newspaper to hold the stack of circulars, then file them in date order when I'm finished clipping.
** I use one envelope for each store so I don't have to dig through the coupons as I shop. I know exactly what I have with me and exactly what I'm buying, so I only have to take the coupons out at the checkout line.

Shopping
The Publix and Kroger are across the street from one another. The CVS is on my way ho me. So, I stop at Publix first, drive across the street to Kroger, then hit CVS on the way home. I make one small circle and there is no running all over town.
Total Shopping Time: 1.5 hours, including driving.

Special note on the shopping time: I now shop with lists, so I don’t forget anything. I no longer have to stop at the store during the week, which saves me about an hour or so every week. This evens out the planning/clipping time completely.

The Benefits
Cash
Between the sales, the coupons, gas, and not stopping the store during the week to pick up random things and adding impulse buys, I save about $100 - $150 a week.

UPROMISE
SO many of the name brand items that I have coupons for are also UPromise items. These are things I would never buy the name brands of before it was exceptionally more affordable. (Rice A Roni for $.12 a box this week.) Not only do I get the food at insanely low prices, but I get a percentage of the original price applied to the children’s UPromise accounts.

School Donation
Another benefit of being able to buy name brand items at incredibly low prices are the Boxtops For Education labels. A good percentage of items I have coupons for have these labels. Our PTA program receives $.10 for every Boxtop redeemed. This is not a direct benefit to me, but it definitely helps out our children.

Other Donations
There are, often times, coupons and sale prices that combine to make the price of the items FREE. Except that, some of these free items, no matter how great, are not a good fit for our family. Diapers, Formula, and Cat Food are not items we will ever need. Wes is allergic to cats, and our baby days are far long gone. Rather than let these deals go to waste, I go ahead and get the free items and donate them to animal and people shelters. If one wanted to work the system, these donations are tax deductible at market value. I haven’t done this, but if it turns out that I make enough of these donations, I may just go for it.

I'm sure I'll post about this again, as I get ramped up. But, let me just say that my freezer and pantry are filling up. There is less money going out the door for food. My children are loving the variety of new things I'm stocking, and I'm saving enough money that I don't have to scrimp when it comes to rising food prices on fruit, milk, eggs, and meat.

The Grocery Game

Well, I've been reading about the Grocery Game for quite some time now. I'm happy to report that I decided to give it a try. I signed up for the 4 week trial for $1. Last night, I did the grocery shopping, using the Grocery Game's "game rules". Here are this week's results:

Store --- Full Price --- Savings --- Total Paid --- % Savings
Publix ---$71.00 ---- $43.93 ----- $27.07 ------ 62%
Kroger --$161.63 ---- $71.41 ----- $90.22 ------ 45%
CVS -----$42.09 ----- $23.74 ---- $18.35 ------- 56%

Total Spent: $135.64
Total Bdgt Wk: $150.00
Total to "Snowflake": $14.36

YAY for my first official Snowflake.