extreme couponing #7

I went over my grocery budget of $200 this week by about $20. So this week grocery shopping was backed up a day due to Mike working at the farm. There are some very cool developments happening at our friends dairy farm that makes me wish ML had a blogger because it would be very cool to watch this all unfold. Not only were we a day late, but we had both girls with us as well. We don't normally have the kids with us when we shop, so I'm sure that inflated the bill a little bit. That's my story anyway.

Actually I am not upset with the money we spent. I have some coupons that are due to expire and there was some really great deals to be had, so I went over to build up a little bit. For example Oil of Olay body wash was on sale for $3.99 and I had two $5 off coupons when you bought two. So that means I got two of the four bottles for free. I also picked up 6 deodorant for Mike that were on sale for $1.99 and I had a bunch of different coupons for those, $3 off when you buy 2 and $1 off one. I ended up paying $4 for all six. I also stocked up on some shampoo combining admatching with coupons.

I redeemed a lot of coupons this week. Mike almost fell over when the total bill rang up at $275, so only paying $219 for that was pretty awesome. Have I also mentioned that we pay for our groceries with our WalMart mastercard which I then pay off when I get home? We get 1.25% cash back when we shop at WalMart and 1% everywhere else. So far we have $120 on our card and we plan to leave it there until Christmas.

Beyond the stockpiling of toiletries groceries were pretty normal with a few extras. Like I mentioned the kids are never with us when we go shopping, so I don't mind allowing them to pick out a few treats.

As for the bottom line, it was out biggest savings yet....

Ad-match - $17.76
Discount - $24.60
Coupons - $30.71
Total - $73.07

Total Savings to date - $333.46

extreme couponing #6

Well this week was "good". I mean.... I went over budget... $210, but I was doing a little stockpiling, using up some coupons before they expired and I bought some non-food items, like a picture frame for MyPie's school picture. Abby's is framed and "up" if you count leaning up against the wall in the living room "up", but Maya's is still in the envelope it came home from school in.

No picture either this week, since grocery day was delayed by all the wingding festivities and my house looked like a bomb went off in it, but I'm good with that because wingding was up, almost a thousand more than last year. Boo-ya! I am immensely proud of that. Let the laundry pile up! That kind of news is just good for my soul.

So how did I do? I redeemed $17.04 in coupons and stock piled some shampoo and body wash before the coupons expired. I also had some free product coupons to use for vitamin water and yogurt. There wasn't much in the way of ad-matching, but I did ad-match some tp and then knocked a bit more off with a coupon. Yep, I've got a little toilet paper stock pile going. The chili master would be impressed with how much my cost per roll has been these past few weeks. Don't worry I haven't hit hoarder status or anything yet, my TP numbers are still in the low double digits. The freezer was also getting low, we don't have a big freezer, but just the one in our fridge, so I took the opportunity to fill that baby back up.

So what was the bottom line?

Coupons - $17.04
Ad-Match - $10.59
Discount - $23.55
Total saved - $51.18

After deducting all of that we spent $216.53 on groceries, a little over our $200 budget, but I'm good with what we got for that.

Total savings to date $260.39

extreme couponing update #5

Oh my gosh this was my best week ever! Are you kidding me? I may have woohoo-ed out loud. At the register. For real life. Yeah I'm that crazy grocery lady. Lord help me... I am cool. A little bit. Sorta. My Mom says I am.



Picture taken with my phone since my rechargeable batteries for my camera have pooched out on me and I need new ones.

So it was a pretty standard shopping trip with a little stockpiling and a little treat or two that was too good of a deal to turn down. Even though I got 4 boxes of sandwich bags last week I picked up two more this week since another store had them on for $2.49 and I had a $2 off when you buy two coupon. So one of the boxes only cost me 50 cents. Also grabbed some more TP for a really great price. And drumsticks as a treat since I ad-matched them for over $4 off.

So what was the bottom line?

Coupons - $6.54
Ad-matching - $16.86
Discount - $17.73
Total Savings - $41.13

After deducting all of that we spent $166.23 that's $33.77 under our budget!

Total savings to date - $209.21

extreme couponing update #4*

Well I kind of missed last week's update in amongst the Easter/birthday festivities last week. Grocery shopping was thrown off too since we shopped a day early... Friday is usually grocery day, but all the stores were going to be closed due to Good Friday and most of the flyers didn't start until the Saturday and we were having company for the weekend and we were shopping off the cuff. Still it wasn't too bad, we spent $210, which is $10 over our budget, but still pretty good considering the extras that a holiday weekend with company comprises of. I was proud of that.

Now Thursday night is supposed to be my night to peruse the flyers and see what items I can ad match or, better yet, ad match in addition to using a coupon. This past Thursday night, however, I may have wasted away an entire evening playing two games of scrabble online with my pal TC. She's a horrible cheat, by the way, and I'm not just saying that because she's been handing my ass to me. So grocery shopping was a bit by the seat of my pants, but I did look over the flyers during my lunch and found some fantastic ad matches this week.

And I took a picture of my haul!



So this it what's going on here... I bought little in the way of produce since there was sit lots left over from last week. This weekend was Jammie Movie Night's second birthday, so there's some fun extras to celebrate that. I also indulged in some minor stockpiling. There was some great deals on at other stores so I took advantage of that.

The Jane's nuggets are $10.97, but another store had them on for $4.99. I had a great coupon for buy 2 ziploc products and get 2 free. Time to stock up on sandwich bags.... yes I know they are horrible, as are chicken nuggets, but if it makes you feel better I only buy Jane's nuggets and only if they are on sale. I eat the egg whites every morning for breakfast and since they were on for a dollar less at another store I bought a couple to store in the freezer. I would have bought more, but we only have the little freezer on top of our fridge and it's already at capacity. It took all of Mike's former big name shipping company mad plane packing skillz to get everything in there.

And now... the bottom line -

Coupons - $6.54
Ad Matching - $19.24
Discount - $19.04
Total Savings $44.82

After deducting all of that we spent $174.82. That's $25.18 under our budget.

Total savings to date - $167.86

extreme couponing update #3

Lots of people dislike grocery shopping, but I happen to enjoy it. I can already see how working out the best deals can become a real addiction. Now when I sit down to do my meal plan and grocery list it involves the laptop, all the grocery store flyers for that week, my folder of coupons and most of the kitchen table.

I can't say that my heart was exactly in this week, but it was a chore that had to be done. Supplies were dwindling here quickly since grocery day came and went without us getting groceries. There wasn't much to ad-match this week, a lot of the same things were on sale at all the stores.

I did mean to take a picture this week of my haul, but really we were just on autopilot and had them mostly put away before I even thought about it. This week I picked up milk, egg whites, cheese, butter, frozen veggies, ice cream, ground beef, chicken, lunch meat, hummus, ricotta, cereal, taco fixings, lasagna fixings, peanut butter, jam, oats, iced tea, lemonade, coffee, hot chocolate, pitas, bread, buns, mushrooms, and lettuce. Non-grocery items were two decks of cards, razors, lightbulbs, vitamins and q-tips.

And how did it all come out?

Coupons - $5.00
In store savings - $6.00
Admatching - $4.96
Discount - $22.10
Total Saved - $38.06

Total savings to date - $123.04

Not too shabby!

extreme couponing update #2

Okay so yesterday was week two of our extreme couponing experiment. Did any of you watch the show on TLC this week? It's a little frustrating as a Canadian to watch. Coupons up here take a lot of work and I'm going to find out if it's worth it. Once again there is no picture. Like I said Mike and I grocery shop right after work on Friday afternoon. The kids get off the bus at the sitters and chill out there for an hour or so. It's a better situation for everyone... my wallet included. Anyway by the time we get home everyone just wants to sit down and have dinner, but we force ourselves to get the groceries away first. I'm sure you can imagine how much whining and complaining go along with that, but the rule is you don't help put away, you don't get to eat. To put it mildly, it's an exercise we all want completed as soon as possible.

Our meal plan for the week: shepherds pie & salad, grilled chicken, rice & veggies, chicken nuggets, veggies & salad, pancakes, cinncinati chili.

Our grocery list included: milk, cheddar, egg whites, yogurt, cream cheese and eggs. Ground beef, chicken thighs, ground beef, hot dogs, lunch meat. Beef broth, crackers, peanut butter, flour, oil, cereal, chocolate chips, wing sauce, spaghetti sauce and nachos. Wraps, pita bread, bread, buns and croissants. Lettuce, clementines, bananas, and hummus. Dryer bar, toilet paper, body wash and toothpaste. This is just a rough overview and a complete list

Bearing in mind that we had been spending in excess of $200 a week on groceries and I'd like to work on getting it under $200. How did we do?

Coupons - $11.50
Ad-matching - $7.10
In Store Discount - $2.00
10% Discount - $21.77
Total Savings - $42.37

After deducting all of that we paid $193.75 for groceries this week.

Total savings to date - $84.98

Are you making changes to the way you shop?