This will be my last weekly post on my grocery challenge unless I get some major protest from you. I will still post periodically about money saving ideas, just not necessarily weekly. I did not meet my grocery budget of $105 instead it was $150.58 Problem was spending to too much at CVS and one unplanned Zaxby’s trip
- Do not buy anything that is not on sale or that you can not get a great deal with by using a coupon. I really cannot stand to buy things at full price now, so if I go over our weekly budget a little bit, it is worth it for our monthly budget to not have to pay full price for an item. I think it is more important to stay within your monthly budget. I have cut our monthly budget by close to $200 by doing this challenge.
- Buy as many household items at CVS and do not buy them at the grocery store. Even when household items go on sale at grocery stores, it is still not that great of a deal. Plus you get 10 percent back of what you purchase quarterly at CVS. If you go online to CVS website it is helpful and be sure to type in your Extracare card number. You can even call them and ask them questions and the number is on their website (I got through to a person within 1 minute with my questions).
- Figure out the Extrabucks deals at CVS. For instance this week if you by 4 12 pack of Pepsi’s you get $3.00 bucks back which I did this week. They print your extrabucks at the end of your receipt. You must present the extrabucks coupons to the cashier to redeem this money. So, I turned right back around with
- Cut coupons in Sunday’s paper. It is a lot of fun to save so much money. Last week I had $6.00 worth of coupons and then Kroger doubles my coupons up to .50 cents so it ended up being $11.00 worth of coupons! Bi-Lo also doubles your coupons now, I think up to .60 cents. Try to wait to use the coupons on an item till that item goes on sale so you can save the most money. With coupons on items I know we will need in the next month, I write when they expire in a notebook and I look at it weekly. I keep all my coupons in 1 big zip lock bag and the ones I am going to use that week in a small zip lock bag. The 2 main online sites for coupons that I go to are: http://www.couponmom.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=25082ccc8a5e4e1bcc9f5bda7c1cbb84&cid=242 http://www.bettycrocker.com/Coupons-Promotions/Coupons/Default.aspx
- Make a grocery list based on sales in the Sunday’s paper. If chicken is on sale at your grocery store, make a few meals based on chicken
- Meal plan, meal plan, meal plan. Do it every week. Usually Sunday nights is a good time to do it again based on the sales for the week. Plan breakfast, lunch and dinner for everyone in your family. If you do not plan, plan to fail!
- Do not go to a restaurant where you have a waitress under any circumstance. Go to restaurants like Chick Fil A for a treat. Since doing this challenge we have not gone to a restaurant that has a waitress (not to mention having an active 18 month old it is not worth going to a restaurant with a waitress). Even going to a sit down restaurant one time a week ends up being like $1500 a year
- Go to moneysaving mom for inspiration, when you do not feel like sticking to your budget: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/
- If you do not have a lot of time to match up coupons to the stores that you shop at, you can join the grocery game for just $1 at first. They do all the homework for you and tell you how to get the best deals with the coupons that are in the Sunday’s paper. They even tell you what date in your area that you can find the coupon at (on Easter Sunday there was no manufactured coupons…sad). Go to http://www.thegrocerygame.com/index.cfm?goto=help&faq_id=721
- Have fun with it! Just think - you are not going to Wal-Mart and spending $100 a trip, you are going to different stores and saving a ton of money and being rewarded. I have saved $170.29 at CVS in these last 6 weeks alone. However, I do still go to Wal-Mart to get my Spray and
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