OUR $200/MO. GROCERY BUDGET: WHAT I SPENT & SAVED (8/23-8/29)

See the details of my $200 a month grocery shopping trips and learn the things that I do to save and live well on a low budget with my family of five! 

There are affiliate links in this post for your convenience.  Please read my full disclosure policy. 

Some of you have wondered where I get my printable coupons. Here are the main coupon sites that I use: Coupons.com,  Smart Source, Ibotta, and Fetch Rewards (use code GEOEG at sign-up for $2.00 in points!).  Manufacturer websites and Facebook pages are also great sources.

If you are new here and unfamiliar with my weekly What I Spent & Saved posts, it probably is helpful to understand a bit about how I shop.  I do something called stockpile shopping.  This simply means that when I see an item at rock bottom prices that I regularly use or know that I can use, I’ll buy several of it.  This might seem kind of crazy, but it honestly saves me hundreds of dollars a year!  Simply put, by buying 6 bags of frozen veggies when I can get them for $0.50/bag with a coupon and sale instead of paying the full price of $1.50, I save $6.00.  This savings adds up pretty quickly! Want to know more about this kind of shopping?  Check out my post on How to Start Building a Grocery Stockpile. 

I also buy meats and veggies in bulk.  The meat I either can or freeze and then obviously have it on hand whenever I need it.  I purchase large quantities of fruits and veggies when they are in season and I can get them at really great prices.  By canning or freezing them, I save a lot and we are able to enjoy great produce for less cost all year long.  I do still buy some fresh fruits and veggies too.  In fact, every 7 to 10 days I go to our local farmer’s market and get several heads of lettuce so that we can enjoy salads at least 4 times a week.

I hope that helps you make sense of some of this.  I realize at first glance it can look like we eat rather strangely but I think we really eat quite well!  Of course, if you have any questions feel free to ask them in the comments!  I’ll be more than happy to try to answer them.
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Total Spent: -$11.38 (negative due to gas reward savings)
Total Saved with Coupons: $39.05
Total Saved with Sales: $37.42
Total Saved: $76.47 + $59.98 gas reward savings

CVS: $12.41
Saved with Coupons: $20.70
Saved with Sales: $16.35

I was down to my last dozen of eggs, so I was pretty happy when I saw that CVS had them on sale again this week.  I never thought I’d be buying eggs at the drugstore because it’s cheaper than Aldi or Giant, but I am!  I really miss being able to buy them from the farm.  I used to have a local Amish farm that I could get them for $1.25 a dozen and it was awesome!  But they stopped keeping chickens, and I haven’t found anywhere else that is conveniently located that has them that price.

It was tape stock up time!  The invisible tape was only $0.39 after sales and the packing tape just $0.49- both great prices.  I used a raincheck and coupons to get the deodorant and body wash for totally free.  It’s not often that I can get body wash free anymore, so that was a nice deal.

BOUGHT:

• 6 Kreider eggs $1.69 each
  – got back $0.20 via Ibotta (good on any brand eggs)
• Caliber invisible tape $1.49
• Scotch packing tape $1.99 (bought with rain check)
  – used $0.50 Scotch printable coupon
• 2 Gear deodorant $4.00 each (bought with rain check)
  – used two $2.00 Gear printable coupons
• 3 Irish Spring body wash $4.00 each (bought with rain check)
  – used three $2.00 Irish Spring printable coupons

OTHER COUPONS USED:

• $10.00 in Extra Bucks earned by purchasing items previously at CVS

GOT BACK:

• $1.10 in Extra Bucks for purchasing the Caliber tape (CVS coupon that can be used on next purchase of any item)
• $0.99 in Extra Bucks for purchasing the Scotch tape (CVS coupon that can be used on next purchase of any item)
• $10.00 in Extra Bucks for purchasing the Gear and Irish Spring (CVS coupon that can be used on next purchase of any item)

Rite Aid: $1.15
Saved with Coupons: $3.15

Saving Star occasionally has offers where you can get inexpensive items for totally free.  This week they had one for a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar, so since I managed to get to the store before the offer expired, of course, I took advantage of it!  There is an amazing chocolate chip cheesecake recipe that we love that uses one of these bars, so I’ll probably be making that sometime soon.

The Jergens lotion was a moneymaker of $0.62, which was the whole reason I bought it.  I’m not exactly a Jergens fan, but since I could make money on it, I figured I’d buy and then donate to the local homeless shelter.  I love when I can bless others as a result of my couponing without needing to spend a dime.  Kind of almost feels like it’s not true giving though, because it doesn’t really hurt at all.

BOUGHT:

• 2 Jergens Natural Glow lotions $2.69 each
  – used $2.00 Jergens Rite Aid in-ad coupon
• Hershey’s bar $1.15
  – got back $1.15 via Saving Star (was their Freebie offer)

OTHER COUPONS USED:

• $3.59 in Plenti Points earned by purchasing items previously at Rite Aid

GOT BACK:

• $4.00 in Plenti Points for purchasing the Colgate (can be used on next purchase of any item)

Giant: $27.51
Saved with Coupons: $11.00
Saved with Sales: $4.17

I did several gas reward deals this week, all of which were free or moneymakers.  The Luigi and Huggies were part of the same deal and basically, I got the Luigi for free and paid $0.43 each for the Huggies wipes!  I was actually getting kind of low on my stockpile of wipes, so this deal was quite timely.  The Carefree pantiliners were a gas rewards deal from several weeks ago, that I had a rain check for.  Even without coupons, they were a moneymaker, but I was able to find some printable coupons which made my savings even better and all told I made $9.10 on them!

The Kraft BBQ sauce and banana were free after coupons and sales.  The milk was simply an item we needed.  We try to buy our milk from a local dairy when we can, but it’s located on the way home from my husband’s work.  And since he is only working 1 day a week right now, it can get a bit tricky getting enough to last us until the next day he works.  So we sometimes need to supplement with store-bought milk.

BOUGHT:

• Luigi Italian Ice $2.00
  – used $0.50 Lugi coupon from Sunday newspaper coupon inserts (doubled to $1.00)
• 7 Huggies wipes $2.25 each
  – used four $0.50 Huggies printable coupons (doubled to $1.00 each)
• 2 Kraft BBQ Sauce $0.99 each
  – used two $0.55 Kraft BBQ Sauce printable coupons (doubled to $1.00 each)
• Banana $0.25
  – got back $0.25 via Checkout 51
• 10 Carefree pantiliners $1.49 each (purchased with a rain check)
  – used four $0.50 Carefree printable coupons (doubled to $1.00 each)
• Giant brand milk $3.61

GOT BACK:

• $10.00 in gas reward savings for purchasing the Luigi/Huggies
• $20.00 in gas reward savings for purchasing the Carefree

Weis: $11.76
Saved with Coupons: $4.20
Saved with Sales: $16.90

If you read my Menu Plans, you know that we typically have Baked Oatmeal or homemade granola for our breakfasts.  Not only are they much more nutritious than store-bought cereals, they also are more filling and frugal too.  But I’m not above buying bought cereal when it’s cheap enough.  We rarely eat it plain, but instead often put it on top of our homemade granola.  I also like to have it on hand for when we have guests who might not enjoy our homemade options.  Anyway, this week I was able to get 2 boxes of Post Raisin Bran for only $0.38 each after coupons and sale!  The neat part is that it’s my husband’s favorite cereal, so I had fun surprising him with it.  It’s the little things, right?

I got more free Kraft BBQ sauce.  We don’t use BBQ sauce that much anyway, so between the bottles that I got at Giant and here at Weis, we should be set until I can get it for free or nearly free again!

If you hadn’t noticed, I decided it was time to stock up on sour cream.  When it’s only $1.00 each and you have to buy 10 to get that price, what are you to do?!  I almost didn’t do the deal since that’s a lot of sour cream, but with cooler weather coming up, we’ll start eating soups soon and I have quite a few soup recipes that use sour cream, so I figured it was probably a good idea to get it now when it was cheap.  Aldi’s price is $1.29, so I saved $2.90 from what I would normally pay.  The thing that I’ve discovered with sour cream is that it will be good for quite a long time after it’s “expiration” date if it’s left unopened.  Knowing that always makes me more okay with stocking up when it’s on sale like this!

Oh and you probably are wondering why some of the sour cream is Weis brand instead of Breakstone’s.  They didn’t have enough of the Breakstone’s in stock, so the lady at customer service offered to swap another brand.  I was more than okay with that since it was easier for me than needing to get a rain check and make another trip back.  And it also helped the store out too, since stores make more money on their own brand of products.

BOUGHT:

• 2 Post cereal $1.88 each
  – used two $0.55 Post coupons from Sunday newspaper coupon inserts (doubled to $1.00 each)
  – got back $1.00 via MobiSave
• 2 Kraft BBQ Sauce $1.00 each
  – used two $0.55 Kraft BBQ Sauce printable coupons
• 10 Breakstone sour cream $1.50 each
  – saved $5.00 instantly for buying 10 Breakstone
  – got back $0.20 via Ibotta (good on any brand sour cream)

Credits: $64.21

* $59.98
The last couple of weeks I’ve been buying various items that are part of the Giant gas deals.  Basically, you get points for purchasing the products and then you can redeem those points for gas.  I was able to get $59.98 worth of gas for free as a result.  And since I only buy the grocery items that are part of these deals because they either get me free gas or make me money, I put the savings back into my grocery budget.  (To see the details of these purchases, look at my previous Giant purchases under my What I Spent & What I Saved posts.)

* $4.23
If you have a good memory, you might remember that last week I majorly overcharged for some Dove shampoo that I purchased at Rite Aid.  When I was there this week, I showed them the error and they were super great about it and gave me the cashback what I was overcharged.

AUGUST MONTHLY BUDGET SUMMARY

I was almost scared totally up this month’s budget summary!  I knew I had spent a huge amount because of all the peaches that I bought to preserve as well as quite a few other groceries.  I typically try to keep tabs on how things are going throughout the month but had gotten kind of lazy with it for whatever reason.  So, it was a big relief to discover that after it was all said and done, I was only over budget for the year by just under $5.00!

In case you didn’t know, we look at our budget as an amount for the year.  So while we budget $200/mo. for groceries, as long as I don’t go over that amount by the end of the year, we consider it a success.  Throughout the year, there are months that I go over that $200.  Other months, I’ll be well under it.  So it all kinds of evens out, if that makes sense.

Last month I still had a nice cushion left from when I was under budget several months earlier this year, so that really helped me out now!  I think I’ll be fine through the end of the year now since the only really big purchase I have yet are the apples that I buy to make applesauce.

August Grocery Spending by Week:
Week 1: $75.55
Week 2: $108.92
Week 3: $105.96
Week 4: $84.94
Week 5: -$11.38 (negative due to gas reward savings)

Total Spent for the Month: $363.99

Total Saved with Coupons for the Month: $131.23
Total Saved with Sales for the Month: $123.26
Total Saved for the Month: $254.49 + $103.46 in gas reward savings

Over budget for the month by $163.99
Over budget for the year by $4.68