June's Budget Review

Monthly Review for June

Retails: $912.54

Total Spent: $193.97

Percent Off: 79%

I was able to get all the fresh fruits and veggies, milk, eggs I needed for the month.

PLUS, I was able to stock up on quite a few things, including baggies, brownie mixes, drink mixes, salsa, steak sauce, lunch meat, sausage, tabasco sauce, seasonings, hot dogs, yogurt, pasta sauce, salad dressing, cheese, shrimp, roasts, pre-made meals, shaving gel, toilet paper, mustard, deodorant, peanut butter, ice cream, baby granola bars, lobster tails, ziploc containers, band aids, marshmallows

By combining store savings (sales) with manufacturer savings (coupons) I can get stuff for so cheap that I can afford to stock up, meaning that the next time I need salad dressing I will be able to get it off my shelf for a fraction of the price it would cost me to get it when I needed it. Also, we're able to live much better this way. I never used to get name brand products and now that's almost all we get. This takes planning but where we just used to get by, we are now able to build up a food storage.

albertsons

Happy day for me! My Albertsons let me use both the 2 doubles from Wed ad and the 3 doubles that came on Sunday at the same time because they have different numbers on them.

Retails: $15.43

Total Spent: $0.68

Percent Off: 96%

How did I do it?

• sales: $4.45
• manufacturer's coupons: $5.00
• double coupons: $5.00
• I have gotten all of these Hefty coupons from a blinkie (those coupon dispensers) right in front of the baggies. This time they were all gone, but I was able to dig around and find these where people had randomly put them down. If I see good coupons in the store in those blinkies for items I may use, I'll snag a few just in case. They usually don't expire for months later.

Money Left for the Month: $6.59

what in the world are doublers?

I've had a few people ask me about doublers or double coupons. If you are lucky, you live in an area where stores regularly double coupons. If, however, you live in the World of the Cheapskates (aka: Utah Valley) you don't because the stores would loose WAY too much money with all the good mommies that take their shopping seriously.

Albertsons has somewhat recently started to somewhat regularly put a few double coupons out. (aren't I a great writer?) What that means is they will match any manufacturer's coupon up to $1. They only allow so many per store per day around here, whatever the amount that they come grouped in. For instance, there were 2 on the actual ad on Wednesday so Albertsons would accept 2 per store per day. There were more that came in Sunday's paper as a separate insert so Albertsons will take those 3.

Are they worth it? That's up to you. I live just around the corner from an Albertsons so for me saving 3 dollars a day totally is. But I only have to drive a few minutes and put one child in and out of a carseat. If you live further or have tons of little monkeys then maybe they're worth it if you are going there anyways and get more mileage out of your coupons? I don't know but I LOVE them. Pinching Your Pennies always has a thread of what is free/super cheap with the doublers. Here's this weeks.

Hope that helps!

albertsons x 2

I hit both of my local Albertsons this morning, praying they would have those pouch tunas that are SO cheap, but they both were out and will be through tomorrow when the sale ends. Darn it. I was waiting because I heard there would be a catalina on the Mac & Cheese that would start on Sat. The long and short is, that catalina doesn't start until July 3 and they were out of tuna on Saturday as well. I guess you win some and loose some. It's just that I really wanted to win some tuna.

The good news is there were 3 double coupons in the paper yesterday, and since I get 3 papers, that means 3 sets! (they only let you use 1 set per store per day)

Enough of my pointless rambling.

I got milk and the brownie mixes at the 1st store and the baggies at the 2nd.

Retails: $21.16

Total Spent:$0.67

Percent Off: 97%

How did I do it?

• Sales: $8.15
• Manufacturer's coupons: $5.75 (milk on coupons.com- for ID and UT only. IE or Firefox)
• Double coupons: $5.75

Money Left for the Month: $7.27

menu 6/24 (oops. again.)

I am so bad with posting menus lately. Sorry.

Menu:

• pizza joes on homemade rolls (like sloppy joes with a hamburger base, but with anything you'd put in a pizza in it: pepperoni, olives, peppers, etc. Spaghetti sauce is the sauce.)
• ranch round steak
• Hawaiian calzones
• shredded beef pork salad with homemade tortillas
• pork sandwiches
• Frozen Bertolllis (just livin' on the edge!)

Sides:

• fresh/frozen/canned fruits and veggies
• potatoes: salt(cook'scountrymag, p13)/mashed/fries/hash browns
• rice
• salad
• beans
• homemade rolls

Need for the meals:

• Nothing, good thing (see total left for the month. yikes.)
• I did need eggs and milk and bought that today.

A New Post: Shocker

I hit 3 stores today, happy day.

Buy Low

Retails: $7.81

Total Spent: $3.63

Percent Off: 54%

How did I do it?

• made my list from savvyshopperdeals
• only bought what was on sale or already at my price point (price I'm willing to pay)

I got a thing of honey, a dozen eggs, 2 lbs of fuji apples, an avocado, 2 lbs onions.

I had to get to Buy Low. Sam has been BEGGING for "apple" all week, poor little guy. What a good mom I am. I really wanted to get their Foster Farms chicken nuggets, but they ran out and replaced them with other nuggets that were the same per pound but in a much bigger package, costing $10. That wasn't going to work with my budget like it is for the month so I got a raincheck. Hurray!

Albertsons 1

Retails: $7.01

Total Spent: $.56

Percent Off: 92%

How did I do it?

• sales: $2.58
• manufacturer's coupons: $1.75
• double coupons: $1.75

Albertsons 2

Retails: $11.70

Total Spent: $1.15

Percent Off: 90%

How did I do it?

• sales: $4.07
• manufacturer's coupons: $3.00
• double coupons: $3.00

Money Left for the Month: $7.94

one delicious trip

After the DELICIOUS Father's Day meal, Matt demanded that I buy some more lobster tails at Albertsons. We grilled it with this marinade and I do have to say that it was one of the best things I have ever had. Mmmmm.

The lobster was $15. Yikes. But look at the total here. The sugar, koolaid, and candy bar were just under 50 cents (tax was 55 cents). I love it.

Retails: $32.01

Total Spent: $16.02

Percent Off: 50%

How did I do it?

• sales: $11.73
• coupons: $2.79
• favorite deal: The koolaid was on sale for 10/$1. I had a $.50/10 coupon for the koolaid. Plus, I had another coupon for $2 off sugar when you buy 10 koolaid packets. So for 50 cents I got 10 things of koolaid and 4 pounds of sugar. Nice.

Money Left for the Month: $13.28