Friday, April 3, 2009

$40 Challenge - 1st Week

Ummm. I blew it. This was the first week of our $40.00 Grocery Challenge and I went over budget. Ugh. This is gonna be harder than I thought.

I got a bit overzelous at Martin's and Shoppers this week. Both had good sales going on and, well, I blew it.

Here's how the week shaped up:

First up, Martin's:

I went to Martin's early in the week because they had sweet potatoes on sale for $0.39/lb. They won't be that cheap again until Thanksgiving, so I stocked up - about 10 pounds of sweet potatoes. They're also the only place I can find the really large boxes of dry milk which I needed.


Total before Sales & Coupons: $41.21
Total after Sales & Coupons: $24.94

Coupons used:
$3.00/$30 store coupon
$2.00/next order Catalina coupon from the recent Kellogg's deal
$3.00/1 Infusium coupon
$0.50/2 Domino Sugar coupon, doubled

This wasn't the best trip I've ever had, but it did pretty well and I'm was under my budget for the week at this point. The powdered milk was the most expensive - $14.55 for 20 quarts = ~$0.27/ 1/2 cup of powdered milk. Real milk is definitely less expensive, but I use this in our homemade yogurt and in the hot chocolate mix I make. The sweet potatoes I've baked, mashed and frozen for future meals - just over 7 pints. Bananas & celery are both cheaper at Shoppers this week, but then I'm not sure I could use my $3.00/30 coupon, so maybe it was a wash.

Second up, Shoppers:

I went to Shoppers today, Saturday, because they're running double $1.00 coupons through tomorrow. I really wanted to avoid going to the grocery store on Sunday again, so I was determined to go. I also was fortunate to find a website that does coupon matchups for Shoppers. If you frequent Shoppers, you should definitely visit RedemptionUnlimited. I'd also checked out Gina's (MoneywiseMoms) trip The problem with my trip came when my calculator died in the middle of my shopping! I looked at it and suddenly, everything I'd entered was gone! Very frustrating. So at that point, everything was done with my leaky brain.



Total before Sales & Coupons: $90.26
Total after Sales & Coupons: $32.31 (64% savings!)
Plus: $5.00 Catalina (Post Cereal); $0.75 Catalina (Dole Mandarin Oranges) for Next Order

Coupons used (ALL coupons doubled except the free milk):
Free/1 gallon of milk (Catalina from Kellogg)
1 $1.00/2 Post cereal (manuf. coup.)
1 $1.00/2 Post ceral (store coup. - mine doubled!)
2 $1.00/2 Post Select cereal (manuf. coup.)
(6 boxes Post cereal free after coupons, Catalina and $1.00 extra earned for next order)
2 $1.00/1 Bounty papertowels (free after coupons)
2 $1.00/1 Starkist Gourmet Seas (free after coupon)
2 $1.00/1 Quaker Rice Snacks (free after coupons)
2$1.00/1 McCormick spices (pepper grinder - free after coupon)
2 $1.00/2 Barilla whole grain pasta (free after coupon)
2 $0.50/1 Barilla Piccolini pasta (free after coupon)
1 $0.75/1 No Yolk noodles, printable (free after coupon)
1 $0.50/1 Wacky Mac, printable ($0.25 after coupon)
1 $0.65/1 Clabber Girl baking powder, printable ($0.29/each after coupon)
2 $1.00/3 Dole canned Fruit ($0.33/each after coupon)
3 $0.50/1 Betty Crocker Tub frosting ($0.50/each after coupon)
1 $1.00/2 Palmolive dish liquid ($0.59 after coupon)
2 $0.55/1 Barilla pasta sauce ($0.90/each after coupon)
1 $0.65/2 2 lb/bag Dominio sugar ($1.07/each after coupon)
1 $1.00/1 McCormick spices (ginger - $1.29/ech after coupon)
2 $1.00/3 Birdseye Steamfresh Veggies ($1.33/each after coupon)
1 $0.55/1 Ziploc Steamer bags ($1.35/each after coupon)
1 $1.00/3 Jello pudding + 1/2 gallon milk, printable

Total Spent this week: $57.25
Total Saved: $73.25

I'll have to take next week's grocery budget down to $33.00 to make up for the overage spent this week. If I pay attention(!) and take a working calculator, this shouldn't be too difficult. We're already very well stocked on meat, produce, eggs, & milk, so unless something comes up when I do menu planning I don't think I'll need much.

Now, so long as I don't get sucked in by another good sale!

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