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My $40 weekly grocery budget shopping trip

February 9, 2009 by

I typically post this on Saturdays, but the stomach bug that got my kids all last week finally got to me, so I’m a little behind on everything.

If you’re just starting to read my blog, you may want to click here to read about my challenge for 2009, so you’ll get a better understanding of how this all works. My Kroger stores triple three like coupons up to .35 face value and double three like coupons up to .50 face value. My Randalls stores triple one like coupon up to .35 face value and double one like coupon up to .50 face value.

Here’s a summary of my shopping trips: (my total spent for groceries for the week was $34.09)

Target: Total OOP = $3.17. I used a $10 gift card I got from Lila Guide, so my total before the gift card was $13.17. The chicken breasts were on sale for $5.99, the Pop Tarts were .19/box using coupons, the Carnation Instant breakfast was $2.29 per canister using coupons, and the dog treats were $.92/each using coupons. Check out this post to see my coupon match-ups and find other Target coupon deals.

Kroger: Total OOP = $51.60. There are some items in this picture that don’t “count” toward my weekly $40 budget (like the diapers, the dog treats, and the toilet paper). I just included them so you could see the “big picture.” My total OOP without the diapers, dog treats, and toilet paper was $30.92. I will also get $2.25 back from Caregivers for the Huggies.

The match ups for the Daytona items are listed here, so I won’t be listing them in this post. I had originally purchased Pull-Ups because they were on sale also and other areas had them listed as being part of the deal, but they are not part of the deal in my area, so I had to return them and exchange them for some diapers.

Here’s what I got: 3 packages Cottonelle (used 2 $1 printables and 1 .50 printable which doubled plus a .25 Cellfire coupon), 6 cans Kroger broth, 2 gallons milk, 3 bell peppers (they are on sale 3/$1), bananas, sirloin steak, 2 cans Vienna sausage, 4 cans tomato sauce, 1 can chickpeas, yogurt (free coupon from Kroger mailer), eggs (I bought Egglands best so I could use the .35/1 coupon which tripled), and dog treats. Then, from the Daytona deals, I got: 3 packages Huggies, hot dog buns, Totinos pizza rolls, 3 boxes Ritz crackers, 8 jars Ragu sauce, 6 cans Chef Boyardee, 4 cans Pillsbury biscuits, 3 boxes Betty Crocker Fruit Stickerz, and one bottle of Kroger dressing.

Here are my updated savings totals: (if you’re new to my blog and not familiar with my savings goals, click here)

Baby Emergency fund – $764.92 (Goal = $1000)
Gift savings – $132.42 (Goal = $1500)
Rolling entertainment fund – $0 (Goal = $500)

Sadly, I didn’t add anything to any of my savings funds this week. I had a great mail week, though. Here are some of the highlights: (off the top of my head!)

*$20 in Target gift cards thanks to Swagbucks. (When you cash out for gift cards, they are actually “E-cards” but I used that to pay for regular gift cards!)

*My “freebies” from the Kraft instant win game –
*1 coupon for a free package of any Kraft regular, 2% milk natural cheese, cracker barrel, or Polly-O (any variety of shredded, chunks, cubes, cracker cuts or string, up to $3.99)
*1 coupon for a free planters snack product (up to $5.00)
*1 coupon for free Nabisco cracker product (up to 16 oz. up to $4.49)
shows Ritz, Triscuit and Wheat thins on the coupon

*My free Kid’s “Boost” coupon – click here to get yours

*A free coupon for tomatoes from DelMonte

*Free samples of Emergen-C Kidz from SheSpeaks

*Kroger coupons

*A 20% off Gymboree coupon

Here’s how much I have saved at individual stores:
Total Target savings – $165.40 to date (47% savings)

Total CVS savings – $272.75 (84% savings…this would probably be higher, but I do buy my stamps there to go toward my quarterly ECB earnings and you can’t use ECBs to pay for those!) – this # has not been updated because I have not entered my receipts for the week into my spreadsheet yet

Total Kroger savings – $228.25(55% savings)

Total Randalls savings – $76.33 (88% savings)

**If you’re looking for spreadsheets to help you track your savings, there are some good ones here on the Mommy Snacks blog

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Savings Saturday: CVS deals for the week of 2/8

February 7, 2009 by

Here are the coupon match ups for the upcoming week: (YMMV on coupon amounts because they are different in different areas)

I do these coupon match-ups myself and it takes a LOT of time. I don’t mind if you share this information with others or on your blogs, but please make sure you are giving credit by posting a link back to my blog! Thanks 🙂

ECB earning deals:

*Advil tablets 150 ct, liqui-gels 135 ct, or PM 80 ct, get $2 ECB (limit 3 per household)
$1/1 printable coupon here
$2/1 from 2/09 All You magazine
$2/1 Advil PM printable here
$1/1 Advil PM, Any 16 Ct. + – 01-25-09 RP
$1/1 Advil Tablets, Caplets, Gel Caps, Liquid gels or Migraine, Any 40 Ct. – 01-25-09 RP
*Aleve – get $4 ECB when you buy Aleve 80 or 100 ct (excludes 80 ct liquid gels) – limit 2 per household
$1/1 Aleve printable coupon here
$1/1 Aleve Product, Any 20 Ct. + – 01-04-09 SS
*Buy Bayer Contour Blood Glucose test strips (25 ct), get $5 ECB (limit 1 per household)
*Buy 3 Cheerios cereal (12.25-14 oz), get $1 ECB (limit 1 per household)
.50/1 MultiGrain Cheerios Cereal, any – 01-18-09 SS
.50/1 Frosted, Fruity, Apple Cinnamon, or Yogurt Burst Cheerios – 2/8 GM
$1/3 Cheerios (and other GM cereals) – 2/8 GM
$1/2 Cheerios printable on Bettycrocker.com
*Claritin Liqui-Gels 24 ct. – $19.99, get $5 ECB (limit 1 per household)
$2/1 printable coupon at Claritin.com
*Ecotrin – $6.99, get $2 ECB (limit 1 per household)
Print a $1/1 coupon here (register first)
*Excedrin 100 ct, Express Gels 80 ct, Benefiber powder 48-62 dose, chewables 90-100 ct, or stick packs 28 ct – $8.99, get $3 ECB (limit 1 per household)
$2/1 Excedrin Product, Any 80 Ct. + – 01-04-09 SS
$2/1 Benefiber Stick Pack Product, Any – 01-04-09 SS, 12-14-08 SS, 11-16-08 SS
$2/1 Benefiber Product, Any – 01-04-09 SS, 12-14-08 SS
$2/1 Benefiber Chewable or Caplet, Any – 12-14-08 SS, 11-16 SS
*Garnier Nutritioniste Ultra-Lift Pro Deep Wrinkle Roller, Ultra-Lift Pro Deep Wrinkle Cream, or Ultra-Life Pro Deep Wrinkle Dual Eye – $16.99, get $7 ECB (limit one per household)
$1/1 printable here
$1/1 Garnier Nutritioniste Cleanser or Moisturizer – 02-08-09 RP, 1-4-09 SS
*Garnier Nutrisse or 100% color – $5.99, get $2 ECB (limit one per household)
$2/1 Garnier Nutrisse Shade or Multi-Lights Kit – 02-08-09 RP
$3/1 Garnier 100% color vibrant colors – 11/9/08 RP
*Gillette Fusion Gamer, Venus Embrace or Spa Breeze razor (1 ct) – $7.99, get $4 ECB (limit 1 per household)
$4/1 Gillette Fusion – 2/8 PG
$2/1 Venus – 2/8 PG
*Buy any 3 Hallmark cards (priced at $2.49 or higher), get a $3 ECB (I’m guessing that this will be “American Greeting” cards in some areas) – (limit 2 per household)

**UPDATE: It has been reported that this is working on the .99 cards. If your area has the American Greeting cards, the limit is 1. If your area has Hallmark cards, the limit is 2.
*M&Ms Cupid’s Mix (12.6 oz) – 2/$6, get a $2 ECB (limit 1 per household)
*Miralax (30 doses) – $18.99, get $3 ECB (limit 5 per household)
$3/1 Miralax 30 dose – 2/8/09 SS
Print a coupon here
*Buy Nicoderm CQ Stop Smoking AidPatch 7 mg, 14 mg, or 21 mg 14 ct, get $10 ECB (limit 1 per household)
*Spend $10 on Nivea for Men, Nivea Body, or Nivea Lip care, get $3 ECB (limit 1 offer per household)
$1/1 Nivea body product – 2/8/09 RP
$1/1 Nivea lip product – 2/8/09 RP
*NyQuil or DayQuil liquid twin pack (20 oz total), caplets or liquicaps combo pk (40 ct total) – $9.99, get $2 ECB (limit 5 per household)
$1.50/1 Vicks Nyquil Or Dayquil, Any – 01-18-09 PG
*Buy Olay ProX lotion, cream, wrinkle treatment, eye restoration, discoloration complex (.4-2.5 oz or starter kit), get $5 ECB (limit 1 offer per household)
$5/1 Olay Professional Pro-X product on any ONE, 2-8 PG
$25 MIR when you buy $50 of Olay products by 3/8/09 printable here

*Buy Omron manual, wrist, or ComFit cuff blood pressure monitor, get $10 ECB (limit 1 per household)
*Pepcid AC EZ chews (50 ct) – $18.99, get $5 ECB
$2/1 Pepcid printable here
$1/1 Pepcid Product, Any – 12-14-08 RP
*ReNu MultiPlus solution twin pack (16 oz total) or Healthy Compliance pack – $9.99, get $2 ECB (limit 1 per household)
*Viactiv calcium, multi-soft chews (60 ct or 100-110 ct) – $8.99, get $2 ECB (limit 5 per household)
$1/1 Viactiv Soft Chews Dietary Supplement, Any – 01-04-09 RP

BOGO free deals:
*Arm & Hammer toothpate

*Chase & Sanborn coffee

*Colgate Total 4.2 oz toothpaste, kid’s 4.6 oz toothpaste, Plus/Wave/children’s toothbrush (PSA $1.99) – limit 6 items
.75/1 Colgate Adult Or Children’s Toothpaste, Any 4 Oz. + – 02-01-09 SS
$1/2 Colgate Adult Or Children’s Manual Toothbrush, Any – 02-01-09 SS
$1/1 Colgate Total Advanced Whitening, Colgate Total Advanced Clean or Colgate Total Fresh Toothpaste, Any 4 Oz. + – 02-01-09 SS

*All CVS Spectravite

*Maybelline powder, blush, concealer, or lip product (PSA $3.99)
$2/1 Maybelline Foundation, any – 02-08-09 RP
$1/1 Maybelline Lip Product, Any – 02-08-09 RP

*Nature’s Bounty or Flex-a-min vitamins or supplements (PSA $4.89)
$1/1 Nature’s Bounty Supplements, Any – 02-01-09 RP
$2/1 printable here

*Osteo Bi-Flex
$5/1 Osteo Bi-flex Product, Any – 01-11-09 RP

*Revlon foundation, powder, blush, concealer, or lip products (PSA $^.49)
$2/1 Revlon Color Cosmetic Product, Any – 01-11-09 SS, 2-8-08 SS
$1/1 Revlon Color Cosmetic Product, Any – 12-07-08 SS
$1/1 Revlon Color Cosmetic Product, Any – 11-16-08 RP

*Right Guard Xtreme, Sport, or Dry Idea deodorant
.50/1 printable here

*Russell Stover chocolates ($8.99)
$1/1 Russell Stover Boxed Chocolates, Any 8.25 Oz. + – 12-14-08 SS

BOGO50% off:
*All Schick disposables
$2/1 Schick Quattro Disposable Razors, Any – 01-11-09 SS

Other deals:
TWO DAY SALE – Coke 12 products – 4/$11
*Hershey’s kisses, hugs, miniatures, kissables, nuggets, Reese’s, Rolo, or York (9-17.25 oz) – 2/$5
$2/2 Hershey Kisses, Minatures, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures, York Peppermint Patties OR 16.4 Oz. Reeses Peanut Butter Mix, Hershey’s Chocolate Mix, Twizzlers Mix or Jolly Rancher Mix – 01-25-09 SS

*Keebler or Nabisco Fig Newtons, Lorna Doone, Soft Batch, Chips Ahoy, Oreos, Nutter Butter (5-8 oz), Cheez-It, Wheat Thins, Ritz, or Club crackers (4-5.25 oz) – 5/$5
$2 off any 2 ritz, wheat thins, or triscuit varieties 01/25 SS

*Save $15 on Madagascar 2 DVD when you buy $20 of P&G products on this page: Tide 2X liquid (24-32 loads) – $6.49, Bounce or Downy liquid (41-51 oz) or sheets (120 ct) – $5.49, Duracell batteries – $5.99, Pampers jumbo pack diapers – $9.99, Pantene Pro V – 3/$9.99, Crest or Oral B Pro-Health paste or rinse – $3.96, Dawn dish liquid – $.99, Always pads – 2/$6, Bounty paper towels – $6.99, Charmin 16 pk toilet paper – $9.99
From 2/8 PG insert: .25/1 Bounce Dryer Sheets on any ONE any size, .25/1 Bounty paper Towel on any ONE, .25/1 Charmin on any ONE, .75/1 Crest Rinse on ONE, 946 mL or larger, .25/1 Downy Dryer Sheets on ONE any size, .50/1 Downy Liquid Fabric Softener on ONE any size, $1/1 Pampers Diapers or Pants on ONE any size, $1.50 Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive diapers on ONE

*some papers got a $3/1 Madagascar manufacturer’s coupon in the Friday/Saturday papers, which would make it $2 after the instant discount and manufacturer’s coupon!
*Kodak Picture DVD – $9.99 – use $5 printable from Coupons.com (see the link on the right sidebar) – some people are also getting $5 CVS CRTs, which will make the DVDs free!
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Savings Saturday: My $40 weekly budget

January 31, 2009 by

If you’re just starting to read my blog, you may want to click here to read about my challenge for 2009, so you’ll get a better understanding of how this all works. My Kroger stores triple three like coupons up to .35 face value and double three like coupons up to .50 face value. My Randalls stores triple one like coupon up to .35 face value and double one like coupon up to .50 face value.

Here’s a summary of my shopping trips:

Randalls: Total OOP = $7.59 – I went to Randalls to pick up a few ads so I had some extra copies of the $30 coupon for new or transferred prescriptions since they are good until March. I wasn’t planning on buying anything, but as I glanced at the ad, I noticed that they had 4 12 packs of soda for $7.99, which was a deal I couldn’t pass up. I had thrown in some Twizzlers also. For some reason, even with the Twizzlers, it only rang up at $7.59 after I gave them my Randalls card. I checked my receipt and everything that I bought was listed, so I’m not sure what happened, but I am not complaining 🙂

Kroger: Total OOP = $32.76 (I went over budget by .35 this week. I should have been just under budget, but when I got to the register, I realized that I had an extra bag of cheese in my cart that I hadn’t planned on buying and I just went ahead and bought it anyway….there was a long line and I didn’t want for someone to have to put it back) Here’s what I got: 13 bags of cheese (yes, you can freeze cheese, but all of the expiration dates are May or June, so we will probably use them all before then…I used the .75/1 blinkies on these), 2 boxes of Kleenex (used .40/1 coupons which doubled), 1 container Daisy sour cream (used .50 coupon which doubled), 3 cans Rotel, bananas, Juicy Juice (used $1 coupon), cucumbers, cantaloupe, carrots, clery, rice, DelMonte grapefruit (used free coupon from home mailer), Dannon yogurt (used free coupon from home mailer), 2 Vienna sausage, avocadoes, roma tomatoes, 3 packages Jell-O pudding (used .50 coupons which doubled), chicken marinade, ricotta cheese, parsley, one gallon of milk

Here are my updated savings totals: (if you’re new to my blog and not familiar with my savings goals, click here)

Baby Emergency fund – $764.92 (Goal = $1000) – I got $16 in rebate checks

Gift savings – $132.42 (Goal = $1500)

Rolling entertainment fund – $0 (Goal = $500)

I also cashed out for $35 in Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks (which technically could go toward my gift savings because that’s what it will be used for).

Here’s how much I have saved at individual stores:

Total Target savings – $139.27 to date (45% savings)

Total CVS savings – $272.75 (84% savings…this would probably be higher, but I do buy my stamps there to go toward my quarterly ECB earnings and you can’t use ECBs to pay for those!) – this # has not been updated because I have not entered my receipts for the week into my spreadsheet yet

Total Kroger savings – $172.54(57% savings)

Total Randalls savings – $76.33 (88% savings)

**If you’re looking for spreadsheets to help you track your savings, there are some good ones here on the Mommy Snacks blog

Question of the Week: Where’s the beef?
You may notice that my weekly grocery trip this week didn’t include any sort of meat. One of the beauties of having a stockpile is that sometimes you don’t have to buy meat. This week, I chose to use my budget to stock up on other items that I will use (like cheese) because I already have plenty of meat in the freezer and there weren’t really any good sales this week.

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Savings Saturday: CVS ad for the week of 2/1-2/7

January 31, 2009 by


Here are the coupon match ups for the upcoming week: (YMMV on coupon amounts because they are different in different areas)

I do these coupon match-ups myself and it takes a LOT of time. I don’t mind if you share this information with others or on your blogs, but please make sure you are giving credit by posting a link back to my blog! Thanks 🙂

ECB items:

FREE AFTER ECBs and coupons:
*Excedrin Extra strength – 10 ct vial – $2.49, get $2.49 ECB (limit 1 per household)
$1 Excedrin CVS CRT

Other ECB offers:
*Buy Axe shampoo, conditioner, or styler – 2/$12, get $2 ECB (limit 5 per household)
*Brita pitcher filters – $17.99, get $5 ECB (limit 1 per household)
$1/1 printable here (you have to register)
*Centrum Cardio 120 ct – $14.99, get $2 ECB (limit 1 per household)
$3/1 Centrum Cardio Vitamins, Any – 01-04-09 RP
$1/1 Centrum Product, any except 30-ct – All You, February 20, 2009
$3/1 Centrum Cardio, excluding 30-count – 11-16-08 RP
*Buy $15 of the following Colgate-Palmolive products, get $5 ECB (limit 1 per household): Speedstick – 2/$5, Lady Speedstick Clinical proof – $7, Colgate toothpaste/toothbrush – 2/$5, Softsoap – $1, Soft Soap Spa – 2/$7, Irish Spring bar soap 3 pk – $2, Palmolive – .97, Fabuloso or Murphy oil soap – 2/$5, Suavitel – 2/$7
$1/1 Colgate Toothpaste, Any 4 Oz. + Adult Or Kids – 01-18-09 SS
.75/1 Colgate Kids Toothpaste, Any 4 Oz. + – 01-18-09 SS
.75/1 Colgate Toothpaste, any (kids or adults) – 2/1 SS
$.75/1 Speedstick 24/7 – 2/1 SS
$.75/2 Speedstick – 2/1 SS
$.35/1 Softsoap – 2/1 SS
$1/1 Softsoap Spa – 2/1 SS
.25/1 Palmolive – 2/1 SS
.50/1 Irish Spring 3 pk bar soaps – 2/1 SS
*Claritin liqui-gels (40 ct) – $29.99, get $5 ECB (limit 5 per household)
$2 printable coupon here
*Cortizone 10, Plus or Intesive Healing (1 oz) – $4.99, get $1 ECB (limit 5 per household)
*Excedrin Menstrual Complete – $6.99, get $3 ECB (limit 5 per household)
*Buy $50 of iTunes gift cards, get $10 ECB (limit 1 per hosuehold)
*GenTeal drops (10-15 ml), Clear Care, or Aquify 12 oz – $8.99, get $2 ECB (limit 1 per household)
$1.50/1 GenTeal Dry Eye Relief, Any – 10-19-08 SS
*Gillette Gamer (manual or power razor) – $7.99, get $4 ECB (limit 1 per household)
(if you did this offer last week, it may not reset….buy something else first and see if your receipt shows that the limit is reached)
*Glade essential oils jar candle (4 oz), PlugIns fresh refills (3 ct), scented oil refill (1 ct) or scented oil candle refills (3 ct) – 4/$10, get $5 ECB (limit 5 per household)
$1.50/2 Glade 4 oz jar candles (exp 3/14/09) – 2/1 inserts
$1/2 Glade Plug-ins refills (exp 2/21/09) – I’m not sure what insert this is from, but it is listed on The Coupon Clippers
$1/1 Glade scented oil refill packs (exp 3/14/09) – 2/1 inserts
*Buy 2 Jergens 4-21 oz or Curel 13 oz lotion, get $5 ECB (limit 1 per household)
$3/1 Jergens Naturals Moisturizer, 16.8 Fl. Oz. + – 01-11-09 SS
$1/1 Jergens Moisturizer 7.5 fl. oz.+, or Jergens Natural Glow Face fl. 2 oz, or Body 4 fl. oz+ – 12-07-08 ss
$1/1 Curel Moisturizer, Any 3.5 Oz. + – 01-11-09 SS and 12-7-08 SS
*KY Yours + Mine – $19.99, get $10 ECB (limit 1 per household)
$5/1 from 2-1 inserts
$5 printable coupon here
*Buy 2 L’Oreal Revitalift products, get $10 ECB (PSA $5.99) – (limit 2 per household)
Get a $1 printable coupon by doing the consultation (lower right hand corner) here
$2/1 L’Oreal skincare from 1/4 RP
*Buy 2 L’Oreal EverPure shampoo, conditioner, or styler (PSA $6.99), get $5 ECB – (limit 1 per household)
Get a $1 printable coupon by doing the consultation (lower right hand corner) here
$2/1 in 2-1 inserts
*NicoDerm CQ – get $10 ECB when you buy an 7 mg Stop Smokign Aid patch (limit 1 per household)
*Get $10 ECB when you buy any Omron manual, wrist, or ComFit cuff blood pressure monitor (limit 5 per household)
*Pantene, Herbal Essences, or Head & Shoulders shampoo or conditioner (23.7-25.4 oz) – $5.99, get $2 ECB – (limit 5 per household)
$1/1 Head & Shoulders Shampoo Or Conditioner, Any Excluding Trial Size – 01-18-09 PG
*Buy 2 Theraflu 6 ct, 8.3 oz, or Triaminic 14 ct or 4 oz, get $5 ECB (PSA $6.59) – (limit 5 per household)
$2/1 Theraflu printable here
$1.50/1 Theraflu Product, Any – 01-04-09 SS
$1/1 Triaminic Product, Any – 01-04-09 SS, 12-7-08 SS
*Secret or Old Spice deodorant – 2/$5, get $1 ECB (limit 1 per household)
.20/1 Secret Product, any excluding trial size – 12-28-08 PG
$1/2 Old Spice Anti-Perspirant Deodorant, Any (2) or any (1) Pro Strength Product – 12-28-08 PG
*Welch’s grape juice (64 oz) – 2/$7, get $1 ECB (limit 1 per household)
*Zantac 75 80 ct or Zantac 150 65 ct – $18.99, get $3 ECB
$1.50/1 Zantac 75 Product, Any, Any – 01-18-09 SS, 12-14-08 SS
$1/1 Zantac Heartburn Relief, Any – 12-14-08 SS, 1-18-09 SS


BOGO free items: – don’t forget to use 2 coupons (if you have them) on BOGO free items!

2 day sale: Valentine Card Exchange kit (Sunday-Monday only)

*Alka Selzter plus
$1/1 Alka-Seltzer Plus Product on any (not sure what insert this is from, but it’s listed on The Coupon Clippers)
Alka-Seltzer Product buy any (excluding Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold products) get FREE Alka-Seltzer Wake-Up Call, to $6.00 (possible freebie? I dont’ know what insert this is from, but it is on The Coupon Clippers)
*CVS alkaline batteries
*Kleenex facial tissue
.40/1 Kleenex Lotion Facial Tissues on ONE, excluding individual Kleenex Pocket Pack or Juniors Tissue (not sure what insert this is from, but it is on The Coupon Clippers)
*L’Oreal lip colors ($5.99-12.99)
$2/1 L’Oreal HIP Eye or Lip Product on any
$1/1 L’Oreal Lip Product on any
*Magnivision reading glasses (PSA $7.99-39.99)
*Nature Made vitamins (PSA $3.99)
$1.50/1 printable here (when you register)
**Don’t forget about the $1 rebate from The Caregivers Marketplace
*Progresso soups (PSA $2.99)
$1.10/1 printable coupon here
*Select men’s and women’s fragrance gift sets (PSA $4.99-35)

Other deals:Electrasol – 20 ct ($2.99)
$2.50/1 Finish/Electrasol Powerball Tabs, Gelpacs or Quantum, Any – 01-04-09 SS (expires on 2-1, so hurry and use this if you have any left!)

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Savings Saturday: My $40 weekly budget

January 24, 2009 by

Even though it was a “short” week for me because I didn’t have to work on Monday, it still seems like it took forever to get to the weekend and now that the weekend is here, it’s flying by way too fast!

I always like to add a little disclaimer before I post this. I am able to “make it” on a $40 weekly budget because I have been couponing for a long time and my garage looks like it could double as a grocery store thanks to my stockpile. I am also blessed to have several grocery stores that double and triple coupons regularly and I don’t have any family members with allergies or dietary restrictions. If you aren’t able to make it on $40/week, don’t feel bad or pressured. My goal is just to help you find ways that you can save money. Challenge yourself to do better, even if it’s just cutting your grocery bill by $10 a week (that will give you $40 extra each month!)

Here’s a summary of my shopping trips for the day!


Target: Total OOP = $0 (spent $3.33 on a gift card). The Ocean Spray juice was “free” using the $1 Target printable and the $1 manufacturer’s printable. Details and links to the coupons are here. The Pop Tarts are on Price Cut for $1.67 right now. There are $1 off peelie coupons on some of the boxes making them .67/box!

Kroger: Total OOP = $49.28 (the total for all of these items before coupons would have been $142.63!) – Technically I am over budget for the week, but I had $10.05 left from last week that I never spent, so I am applying that toward my grocery allowance for this week. Here’s what I got: 3 packages of Cottonelle TP, 3 boxes of Kleenex, 1 bag of dog treats, 9 bags of shredded cheese, 1 bag of pizza rolls, 1 graham cracker crust, 1 bottle of Juicy Juice, 3 containers of Daisy Sour cream, 1 container of Ricotta cheese, 1 box of Carnation Instant Breakfast, 2 bottles of mustard, 1 bottle of Cattleman’s BBQ sauce, 2 bags of Green Giant steamers, 1 bag of frozen ravioli, 2 bags of bread, 2 gallons of milk, 1 box of eggs, 1 loaf of french bread, 2 boxes of Rice a Roni, 2 packages of Fast Fixin’ chicken strips, 2 packages of Goldfish, 2 boxes of cream cheese, 1 bottle of Kens salad dressing, 1 can of Rotel, 1 package of corn tortillas, 2 packages of Pilgrims Pride chicken breasts, 2 loaves of Sara Lee bread. There are way too many coupons to list, but you will find most of them included in my scenario that I posted here.

CVS: Total OOP = $0 (used $10/50 CRT, 2 $1.50 Huggies coupons, $1.50/2 Wisk coupon, $2 Gillette coupon, 3 $2 Advil printables, $1 Advil CRT, $2 St. Ives printable, $1 Johnsons Buddies coupon, and a $27 ECB adjusted down), earned $15 ECB…I burned more ECB than I had planned because they did not have the Gillette Fusion razor I had planned on buying and for some reason I thought the Wisk was 2/$7 when it is actually 2/$9. The Wisk detergent was a quick alternative that was around the same price, I had a coupon for it, and it’s something that I will actually use. (The moral of the story is….always have a back up plan when you shop at CVS) My CVS scenarios for this week can be found here.

I thought I would share this picture also. I found all of these in the $1 spot at Target. If you’re new to couponing or just looking for a way to organize your coupons, here are a few possibilities. I am planning a post on coupon organization soon. I love the accordian style holder. That is what I use to organize my coupons for all of my weekly trips. I have a section for each of the stores I shop at most often (Kroger, CVS, Walgreens, Target, and Randalls) and put all of my coupons/scenarios in each section when I go out to do my weekly trips. I also have a coupon binder where I keep all of my coupons. I loved these dividers because they are a lot more sturdy than the ones I am currently using. I use baseball card holders in each section to hold my coupons.

Here are my updated savings totals: (if you’re new to my blog and not familiar with my savings goals, click here)
Baby Emergency fund – 748.92 (Goal = $1000) – I got my $50 “bonus” from opening an ING Orange checking account. I posted about this here. They are still offering this promotion, so if you haven’t taken advantage of it yet, you should definitely check it out! They also give you a $25 bonus if you open a savings account with a balance of $250 and are referred by a current member, so if you are interested in that, e-mail me (my e-mail is in the upper left hand corner of the blog) and let me know.

Gift savings – $132.42 (Goal = $1500)
Rolling entertainment fund – $0 (Goal = $500)

Here’s how much I have saved at individual stores:
Total Target savings – $139.27to date (45% savings)
Total CVS savings – $272.75 (84% savings…this would probably be higher, but I do buy my stamps there to go toward my quarterly ECB earnings and you can’t use ECBs to pay for those!)
Total Kroger savings – $110.86(53% savings)
Total Randalls savings – $39.47 (100% savings) – I have paid for everything here with gift cards/coupons so far this year

**If you’re looking for spreadsheets to help you track your savings, there are some good ones here on the Mommy Snacks blog

Question of the Week: What do you do when you don’t have anymore money left for the week in your budget, but there is a great sale going on?

I thought this was a great question! In the past, I have always budgeted a certain amount per month, and this is really my first time doing a weekly budget. When I was doing a monthly budget, I could float money from one week to the next so that I had money when good sales came along, which is basically what I did this week. Now, I also keep a separate savings for “stockpiling” and I can always dip into that, too, if a good sale comes along!

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