It’s been awhile since I have done one of these posts. I usually do my grocery shopping early on Saturday morning and my son has swimming lessons also on Saturday mornings, so by the time I get home from shopping, I’m running around to make sure that everything gets put away and that we get out the door in time and I don’t get a chance to take a picture. By 10 in the morning Saturday, I had hit up four different grocery stores and Target. I don’t normally go to that many grocery stores, but there were some deals that I just didn’t want to pass up and I’m lucky enough to have them all down one street within minutes of my house.

Here’s the breakdown:

Fiesta – 2 cantaloupes (.99/each) and 2 bags of rice (.99/each) – total spent = $3.96

HEB – 3 Lunchables ($1/each), strawberries ($1.50) and cucumbers (2/$1) – total spent = $5.50

Kroger – I did two separate transactions here utilizing the Daytona deals (see the breakdown/coupon match-ups here). On my first transaction, I bought 6 boxes of fruit snacks, 3 cans of Chef Boyardee, and one bottle of Kraft BBQ sauce. I earned a $3.50 OYNO catalina from the fruit snacks which I applied to my second transaction. On my second transaction, I bought: 2 boxes of Lucky Charms, 1 bag of Banquet chicken nuggets, 2 brownie mixes, 4 packages of hot dogs, Kroger cheese slices, 2 Kraft cheese slices, A1 sauce, and watermelon – total spent = $13.08 ($4.83 on transaction #1 and $8.25 on transaction #2)

Randalls – 10 boxes of Pop Tarts (in the add it says that they are $.99/each for every five you buy, but at my store, they actually ended up being $.79/each), 4 bags of Goldfish (.99/each!), 1 gallon of milk ($1.99), Precious string cheese (they had $2 peelie coupons making them $1.99/each!), Mrs. Baird’s bread ($1.29 w/ in ad coupon), blueberries – $1.88, raspberries – $2.50, and Rosarita refried beans ($.99) – total spent = 17.50

Target – grapes (they were .99/lb), 4 Eggos bake shoppe items, and 3 Dreyer’s ice cream mini containers (the Eggos and Dreyer’s aren’t pictured because after all that running around, they needed to go straight into the fridge) – total spent = $4.55 (paid with a gift card)

Total OOP = $40.04
Total savings = $100.19!

This week I decided to combine all of my shopping trips into one picture. My total OOP for everything pictured here was $24.94. I also spend $7.10 earlier in the week (not pictured here), so my total grocery spending for the week was $32.04.

Here’s the breakdown:

Kroger – 2 cans beef broth, 2 cans enchilada sauce, 1 package tortillas, Roma tomatoes, 4 avocadoes, Uncle Ben’s boxed rice, 1 gallon milk, 3 boxes GM cereal, Total spent = $13.80, Total saved = $5.62 (26%) (used $1 Uncle Ben’s coupon, milk was free with the purchase of 3 GM cereals, and used 3 .55/1 GM cereal printable coupons)

Randalls – 1 12 pack Pepsi, 2 12 packs Mountain Dew, 4 cans 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup, 10 boxes Quaker granola bars, Kashi frozen entree, Total spent = $11.14, Total saved = $31.98 (74%) (used store coupon – 3 12 packs of Coke/Pepsi products for $6.99 w/ minimum $20 purchase, used 3 $2 Pepsi drinks coupon from Frito Lay Super Bowl rebate coupon book, Quaker granola bars are on sale buy 2, get 3 free, used 2 $1/2 Quaker granola bar printables, used free Kashi entree coupon)

Target – 5 bags of Cheetos (used $1 Target IPs), 2 jars of Pace (used $4 coupons), 1 lb asparagus, cilantro, Sara Lee bread, 2 lbs bananas, 3 bags dog treats (used .75 coupons), Gillette Gamer razor (used $2 coupon), Gillette shave gel (used $1 coupon), Total spent = $0 (I used a $5 gift card for the razor/shave gel and got a $5 gift card back and used a balance on another gift card to pay $4.35 for what was left), Total saved = $24.45

I also bought 1 gallon of milk, sub rolls, and cheese earlier in the week and spent $7.10.

I posted a poll earlier this month asking how I should pay for my freezer group meals. Most people voted that I should spend $30 a week instead of $40 and use the remaining money to put toward the freezer swap. That was my intent this week, but it didn’t quite work out as planned. I had to fill a prescription for my son and planned to use the $10 Target coupon at Randalls, and then use the gift card toward my grocery purchases, but my Randalls no longer accepts competitor coupons, so that put a kink in my plans! I was still happy with what I saved, though.

My husband and I started the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class about a month ago. This was my first week shopping with just cash and my first week using the envelope system. I have to say that it’s totally empowering to shop with just cash! Statistics show that you spend 18% more when you use “plastic” to shop (even your debit card) and I can see how that would happen because it’s easier to justify those here and there purchases.

Also, if you’re wondering about why there’s no meat this week, we’ll be using the stockpile of meat in my freezer this week. I took advantage of some good sales to stock up on some of those “splurge” items that my husband and kids love so we don’t end up spending big on them later. In the long run, it all works out.

Here are my shopping trips for the week (with the exception of my Randalls trip which is here). There weren’t a lot of groceries I “needed” for our weekly meals, so I bought things to offset the cost of items I needed to take for various upcoming functions.

Target: 4 bags of Cheetos (used $1 Target printables), 1 bag of Dole baby spinach (used $1 Target printable), 2 bags of rice, 1 jar of Pace salsa (used $4 printable), 4 bags of Artisan french bread (used $1 Target printables), 2 cans of black beans, 1 can of butter spray, 2 boxes of pudding, 3 pounds of bananas, 1 bag of jumbo marshmallows (we’re going to use these to make the super cute bunny treats here), total OOP = $10.23 (saved $8.98)

Kroger: 2 packages Cottonelle toilet paper (used 2 .50 printables which doubled and a .25 Cellfire coupon), 2 pounds grapes, strawberries, 2 cans cream of mushroom soup, 1 can cream of celery soup, 4 cans mushrooms, 2 gallons milk (not pictured), total OOP = $14.46 (saved $6.12)

CVS: 6 bags of Huggies diapers (used 6 $3 printables), 2 Skintimate shave lotion, total OOP = $0 (paid w/ ECBs)

So, my total OOP for the week (including the $14.45 I spent at Randalls) was $39.15.

You may have noticed that I haven’t updated my savings totals recently. My husband I recently started Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, so we are in the process of re-evaluating the savings plan so that we can start our debt snowball. I’ll post updated savings information (and a debt snowball ticker, too) once we get everything figured out!