Monthly Food Budget - very detailed

Warning - This post may be long because I'm detailing everything.

Most of you know that I use coupons and save 50% or more on our grocery bill. I love doing it and it gives me great satisfaction knowing that I am saving our family hundreds of dollars a month. I'm a SAHM so any savings is a big help to us.

I wanted to write a post about our monthly food budget not only for you guys, but for myself too. It'll be a chance for people to see how much I spend and save each month on groceries, pet supplies, and household goods. And this will (hopefully) make me stay on top of it this month as far as documenting everything.

First off, I set a budget of $300 a month, or $75 a week, for our family of four, along with three dogs, one cat, and a chinchilla. (I know, it's a zoo in this house.) If I buy toilet paper, it comes out of this budget. Shampoo, laundry detergent, and pet food comes from here too. So you see, the $300 is not just on food.

It can be hard to stick to the budget, but I love that I know how much I have to spend and really helps you to stick to your grocery list. I think another thing that has helped me is planning out meals for the week. With the help of Pinterest, it's not boring anymore and actually fun to find new recipes to try.

As of today, June 6th, I have spent $50.54 and saved $48.94! Still within the budget and actually under it for the week!

My first trip to the store was just for milk on the 4th. I spent $3.19 on two gallons of milk ($1.57 each) and saved $2.04. I know, not impressive enough. But wait, there's more.

The second trip was to Fry's last night where I spent $44.00 and saved a total of $44.62. (I consider it a WIN if I save more than I spent!)

I also went to Safeway and spent $3.35, saving $2.28.

Here's the breakdown of my Fry's trip -

General Mills cereal was on sale 3/$5, or $1.66 each. I had two coupons valued $1/3 making each box $1.33. I got 6 cereals. (Normally, I don't consider $1.33 a stock-up price but we were running low and they had kinds my kids like. < $1 is a great price.)

Kellogg's Gluten Free Rice Krispies on closeout for $3.14. I had a $.50 coupon that doubled to $1 making the box $2.14. (Again, not a stock-up price, but good for gluten free)

2 Minute Maid Lemonades on sale for $1 each.

Kellogg's Pop Tarts on sale 3/$5. I had two $1/3 coupons so I got six for $1.33 each. (I have never bought pop tarts for my kids so this will something different to have once in a while.)

Heinz 40 oz Ketchup was on sale for $1.99 and I had three $.50 coupons that doubled to $1, making each bottle just $.99.

Two gallons of milk on sale for $1.57 each.

All Laundry Detergent on sale for $2.77. I had a $1 off coupon, making it just $1.77.

Snuggle Fabric Softener also on sale at $2.77 with a $1 coupon, making it $1.77.

Kroger Cottage Cheese on sale 4/$5. I got two at $1.25 each.

Orville Redenbacher Popcorn Butter Oil, not on sale, for $4.39. (EEK! I hate paying full price and this one killed me. Gabe better love me because I got it for him.)

Kroger White Popcorn Kernels on "sale" for $1.79. (Apparently the normal price is $1.99 so woo! for $.20 savings.)

I had a raincheck for Angel Soft Toilet paper 12 double rolls for $4.99. Then with a $.25 coupon upped to $1, it ended up being $3.99.

The breakdown of my Safeway trip - 

There were only a few things I needed to get  here and of course, they were out of one. (Oh well, I guess that's what I get for waiting until the last day of the sale to go shopping.)

I got three ears of yellow sweet corn 2/$1. (Not a great price but we've been dying for some corn.)

And then one Motts for Tots Applejuice at $1.79. (Not a great price but it's something I don't get the kids too often, so I went for it.)

A glimpse into my stockpile. This is my laundry/household cleaner shelf.

So there it is. I did not get to make a menu for the week yet, so this was not my typical grocery trip. I did get my laundry stockpile filled up now with 7 detergents and 5 fabric softeners in my stockpile. I should be good for the next six months. :) And that ketchup should last us a couple of months until the next sale comes around. With the milk, I now have four gallons in the freezer to last us until the next milk sale (Usually every 2-3weeks.)

Worth It Wednesday - Why Coupons are Worth It

This past week I was reminded of why I love using coupons. This was a hard post for me to write because I don't want to sound smug, braggy, or bossy. I do want to get my point across that coupons can be very helpful and should have a place in every home.

I've been couponing now for just over a year and while I have taken breaks now and then, I have still saved my family hundreds of  dollars. This past Monday and Tuesday, I made two trips to our local grocery store, Fry's, and saved a total of $129.70 while only spending $70.99!

Those trips included name brand products such as Hebrew National beef franks, Oscar Meyer hot dogs, Ragu, Kraft cheese slices, Welch's juice, Mission Tortilla chips, Hunt's tomatoes (free), Ken's Dressing, Brawny paper towels (free), Skintimate and Edge shaving cream, Wolfgang Puck coffee (free), Post cereals, Eddy's ice cream, milk, and produce. I already have enough meat and chicken, so none was needed this week.

A few of those things were needed and others were to increase my stockpile. I proudly have a 6 month - one year supply of many items and I credit it all to coupons. See?

Let me give you an example... You can go to CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, or wherever you shop and get a can of name brand shaving cream for $3-4 (YIKES!). With coupons, you wait until it goes on sale and then buy. I got two cans of Skintimate and two cans of Edge shaving cream this week. They were on sale from $2.99 down to $1.49. I had a .55 cent coupon for them. Our grocery store makes all coupons equal to $1. So that .55 cent coupon was upped to $1 and I got each can for just .49 cents. So for what I paid for all four cans, a non couponer would have only gotten one at regular price.

And it's not just health and beauty products. You can easily find coupons for MANY food/drink items that you regularly consume.

Let's do some math. (I know, what am I doing making you think?!) I'll do the math for you so just follow along. If you save $100 every week on your grocery bill, in one month, you would have already saved $400! Multiply that by 12 months and you will have saved $4800.00!!! Um, that's big. Like you should be running out and finding yourself some coupons... NOW!

Getting started seems like a giant, daunting task. And it kind of is if you're doing it alone. Lucky for you, there are nice people out there who do most of the work for you. :) Awesome, huh? Using the help of Google, you can easily look up and find bloggers in your area who will find deals, match coupons to sales, and post them to their site so you can go on it, get the coupon, and shop.

For those of you in Arizona, I HIGHLY recommend Cents'able Shoppin. She lives in Phoenix and does the grocery match ups for us and is always posting new deals and coupons for us. I have met her and she is such a good person. Once military herself, her husband still active duty, and with three kids, she still manages to find all kinds of good deals for us.

I encourage all of you to just give coupons a try. It will seem pointless and hard for the first month, but I guarantee if you push through, you will see the benefits! And of course, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Happy couponing!