Grocery Budget Buster: Forgetting the Groceries
I poured over the ads, coupons and multiple couponing blogs to put together an awesome list for Meijers and Kroger last week. I was stoked that I found multiple items for free and had survived the five hours of errands with my two children.
I quickly unloaded my bags of groceries for pictures and found I was missing a bag. Somehow I had left all of the Healthy Choice entrees at the store that I had gotten on sale for about $6 total. A whole week’s worth of lunches for Tim were either sitting in some forlorn cart or abandoned at the customer service center, where I had to visit to use my high-value $5/5 coupon.
I called Krogers and there was no trace of my bag. They offered to let me bring in my receipt and get new boxes, but I declined as nap-time was approaching and we had plans for the rest of the day. I doubted whether they would let me bring in my receipt the next day, and I was too timid to go back, thinking that they might not trust me.
Although I scored some great deals, especially at Meijer’s, I was a little bummed that I had forgotten food at the store and wasted money. The best way to stretch your grocery dollars is to use your food up, and that’s hard to do if you leave the food you’ve paid for at the grocery store.
Chock this to a lesson learned in frugality. To see more frugal posts check out Life As Mom’s Frugal Friday.
Krogers Trip Jan 9
I went to Kroger’s on Saturday and picked up all of the above items for $10.71. The produce was all on sale and I was able to stack this e-coupon with an online coupon to get the meals for $.07-$.20/each. These will make very cheap lunches for my husband!
I am doing a scaled-back version of moneysavingmom’s eat from the pantry challenge. This week we only needed to buy produce, milk and cheap lunches and will be creating the rest of our meals from items in our fridge and freezer. So far, by using what I already have, I am $30 under budget for groceries. My goal is to save $50 by the end of the month, or 25% of our food budget.
Drugstore Trip 1/8
I decided to brave the cold this morning, and with coupons and list (and a diaper bag, baby and dawdling toddler in tow), try my hand at drugstore couponing again.
Although I didn’t get everything I wanted, I got some things on sale. Here’s some of the items that I got this week. Sorry there’s no pictures, my camera battery was dead.
2 pkgs Stayfree pads: $0.29 after 3/1 BOGO coupon and in-store coupon
1 Revlon Eye Shadow: -$.01 overage with $2.00/off coupon and in-store coupon
Desitin: $1.99 after online coupon
2 pkgs Christmas after sales candy: $0.24
Tax: $0.83
Total: $3.34
2 Oust Sanitizers: $3.99 with 1/3 BOGO Coupon, earned $6 ECB
1 Palmolive Dish Soap $0.96
Tax: $0.63
Total: $5.58
ECBs earned: $6.00
Check out Common Sense with Money for more drugstore deals.
Free Classical Music
Here’s a free album of classical music from Amazon. I’m downloading mine right now.
Getting Back Into Couponing
So I’ve taken about a month-long break from couponing and CVS shopping, but now I’m getting back into gear. I did my major grocery shopping last week but I went to CVS and Kroger’s this morning to pick up a few other sale items. I was also hoping that Kroger’s would have some mark-downed produce and dairy products. I was out of luck, I guess 8:30 in the morning is too early for the mark-downs to be out.
CVS
Scott Paper Towels: $4.99 (I’ll use them for homemade baby wipes)
Colgate Total: $2.99 each ($2.99 ECBS earned for each) -$0.75 coupon
Total:
$10.99
ECBs earned: $6.00
Krogers
Total: $4.65
4 rolls Cottonelle ($0.43 ea after coupons)
1 box Kroger’s instant oatmeal ($0.65 after sale and catalina)
1 bag Kroger’s 8 oz cheese ($1.05 after sale and catalina)
1 box 20 ct freezer bags ($0.99)
Although I didn’t stock up on any amazing deals I was still pretty satisfied with what I picked up. I plan to drop by CVS again this week and rotate my ECBs.
New February Printable Coupons
It’s the start of a new month and that means new printable coupons on my sidebar.
Here are just a few of my favorites:
Save $0.50 on Cottonelle TP (Kroger’s will double this coupon, making the tp free!)
Save $0.50 on WackyMac pasta
Save $1.00 on YoPlait YoPlus
There are many more available, but be aware that the good ones go fast and may only be up for a few days.
IRS Free File
Did you know that if your adjusted gross income for 2008 is $56,000 or less, you may use selected tax softwares and efile your federal taxes for free? Go here for details and make sure you access the software through the IRS’s site.
We took advantage of this program the last couple of years when we were poor college students. Using tax software certainly made it easier for us to understand the tax code and we received our refund through direct deposit within two weeks. We found TaxSlayer to work best for us and when we compared it to TurboTax, we got the same amount of deductions. We even used this when our taxes were a little more complicated, i.e. Tim owned a business, worked as an independent contractor and we had to file in multiple states with multiple W-2s. Keep in mind that if you want to use tax software to file your state taxes you may be charged, depending on the state.
We are now gathering up all of our tax documents and preparing to file online again this year. We still qualify to efile our taxes for free, and it’s nice knowing that with all of the headaches of preparing taxes, at least we don’t have to pay for preparing them this year.
50 Free CVS Prints
I picked up my 50 free prints from CVS this week and didn’t pay one dime for taxes or shipping. CVS is running a special where new photo customers get 20 free prints for signing up and an additional 30 free prints for linking their CVS card to their account.
I am so excited because now we have photos to put in the picture frame Tim bought me for Christmas and have photos to send to grandparents too.
Free Suze Orman Book
Until January 15th you can download a digital copy of Suze Orman’s new book Suze Orman’s 2009 Action Plan. I’ve had a chance to glance through it and she offers basic advice on savings, getting out of credit card debt, spending less and saving for retirement during this recession.
I have found a few good tidbits in this book but for the most part this is a very basic glance at personal finance. It’s a great book for those who are just getting into saving money but if you have already read some of Suze Orman’s, Dave Ramsey’s or other personal finance books this book offers few new ideas.
Still, it’s free and worth glancing through when you have a few minutes.
Cheap/Free Garnier Fructis Hair Products
Walgreen and CVS are running a deal on Garnier shampoo, conditioner and styling products this week.
At CVS you buy one product for $2.99. receive $2.00 ECB. Limit 1. Pair this with a $1 off coupon from the 1-4 paper and it’ll be free. Garnier frequently has coupons in the paper and there are six out right now good on either shampoo/conditioner or a styling product. Go here for specific inserts.
At Walgreens Garnier is on sale for $2.99. Pair it with a 2.00 coupon from their easy saver catalog and a manufacturer’s $1.00 coupon for free product. There isn’t a limit as far as I know but the popular types of shampoo were out when I went yesterday.
From both of these deals I am stocked up on shampoo and hair products for awhile. Since I rarely use hair products the hair spray, mouse and styling gel should last me a while and I won’t need to buy shampoo for a few months.
