I'm so excited to be more back into the swing of coupon-shopping again; how I've missed it!
This week, we just hit Dillons. I'd planned to hit Aldi, too, but we didn't get out of the house in time. However, I was very happy with what we ended up with from our Dillons' shopping trip and we likely really wouldn't have saved much more to have taken the extra time to hit Aldi, too.
Here's what we bought:
My favorite score for this week was the six bottles of Santa Cruz Organic juice that I got for $0.66/bottle (they were on sale for $1.66 and I had coupons for $1/1 from organic coupon booklets I picked up at the health food store). {Edit: I just found out from Lorrie's blog that there is a PDF coupon available here, too! So if you have a Kroger store and your juice is on sale and you didn't get any of the organic coupon booklets, you can use that coupon to pick up some juice very inexpensively!}
All in all, we spent $41.40 for all the groceries pictured above. According to our receipt, we saved $76.92. However, I pretty much never pay full price for most anything, so those numbers aren't exactly accurate. But it's still fun to think how much using coupons and stocking up on the sales really does save us money compared to paying full price.
We're under budget for this month, even though I went a little over our $40/week grocery budget. We've spent less than $40 for the past four weeks, so I still have some surplus to work with.
And speaking of our grocery budget, as many of you know, we raised our grocery budget to $60/week while I was pregnant to accommodate for more splurging, quick foods, and buying extra protein. There are seasons of life when you just need to cut yourself some slack when it comes to couponing and budgeting and much of this past year (with moving, a big job change for my husband, pregnancy, and a number of other factors) was definitely one of those seasons.
But now that I'm almost recovered from pregnancy and the birth and am feeling much more energetic, we've decided to lower our grocery budget back down to $40/week–at least on an experimental basis. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to do it, since we've moved to a new town with fewer stores to choose from and no CVS at all, but I'm enjoying this new challenge! And so far, it's going a lot better than I anticipated!
I'll post this coming week's menu on Monday so stay tuned for that! And if you're new here and wondering how on earth we'll get a week's worth of meals from the groceries pictured above, be sure to read my post here which explains more how I grocery shop.
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Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below.
Note: Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.
How awful not to havea CVS near you anymore. I just had a super CVS trip, which I plan to post about later tonight, tomorrow or Friday.
Crystal, I realize you probably get coupons from lots of places but are there some real regular ones you clip from — for example do you always check the redplum, smartsourtce, etc?
I have finally gotten the courage to give couponing & CVS-ing a try and am getting coupons from my local paper (it has all kinds of inserts). I’m just wondering if there are other good places I should look.
I live in Jewel-Osco land (same as Kroger) and have been a loyal ALDI shopper for years. I look at the pics of your shopping trips and think “I want all of that!” so I’m thinking I could have all of that, or close to it, if I just knew your magic formula. 🙂
Crystal the best I have found for my bathtub is Mr Clean Magic Erasers. I stock on up on these when I find them on sale matched with a coupon. It is great for getting rid of stains that will not disappear. Love your post on how to stockpile shop. At first I didn’t understand how to do this but in the last year I have started to stockpile. It makes it easier for me plan a great menu and spend less on stuff I buy regularly.
I think I used Mr. Linky wrong (my 1st time).
Anyway, I found free sunscreen stickers!
They turn red when it’s time to reapply.
I linked to them on my (very new) blog: http://www.birkenmommy.blogspot.com
Katy
Thanks so much for the tip-off on the Santa Cruz juice! My husband and I bought just two bottles last week (.75 each at my Kroger after using the PDF coupon) since we’d never tried it before and wanted to make sure we liked it before stocking up too much, but it was delicious, and now I’m eager to really stock up on it next week!
Love your blog! Does your $40/week budget include just food or food/toiletries/cleaners/diapers (i.e. everything you need to run a house)? Thanks so much.
Crystal – Will you please remind us what you do for meat?
Are you guys not eating much meat at all, or did you purchase a bunch at one time?? I never seem to see meat in your shopping pics.
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Money Saving Mom here: I only bought beef hot dogs and sliced turkey this week. Last week I bought a big bag of chicken which we’ve still not opened and we also have quite a few steaks and ground beef already in our freezer from previous sales and stock ups.
I haven’t been buying much meat recently because our freezer is full of meat and people were bringing us dinners. And I likely won’t be buying much meat for the next few weeks since we still have at least 4-5 weeks’ worth of meat in our freezer plus at least 2 weeks’ worth of casseroles/frozen dinners I made up before Silas was born.
I try to have at least two to three weeks’ worth of meat in our freezer at all times so if there’s a week when there are no good meat sales, I can just skip buying it.
However, we likely eat less meat than many families just because we’re a smaller family. A pound of ground beef can easily last us for two meals and a bag of chicken can be stretched for at least 4-5 dinners, if not more. We also usually have at least one meatless meal per week. So we can easily just consume a few pounds of meat per week.
Hi,
I have been following your blog for a couple of months now. You have some awesome ideas and you are a Sister in Christ!! I do have a couple of questions…. do you make a menu and then shop or vise versa? Do you buy in bulk?
I have been seriously couponing for about 8 months now. My family is on a budget but I think we can save even more(especially after reading your blog) I have started food shopping once a month(preparing for retirement and the drive to a military post to shop) and I have been able to actually put money back into our budget.
Great job this week. Also, what cleaning products are you talking about? I make my own laundry detergent and would love to be all natural in cleaning.
Have you tried baking soda for your bath? I use it on my kitchen sink and it works wonders.
Thanks for all of the great coupons and deals.
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Money Saving Mom here: I usually menu plan based upon what we already have on hand (that I’ve previously stocked up on with a good sale) and what’s on sale at the store. So I make the menu while I’m making my grocery list. I sometimes revamp it if I run into a really great sale at the store, or if I’m inspired to be creative with things we already have on hand.
We don’t buy much in bulk aside from yeast at Sam’s since it is significantly less expensive. And we stock up on good deals at the grocery store when we have wiggle room in our budget per the Buy-Ahead Principle I wrote about here:
https://moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2009/06/one-of-my-biggest-grocery-saving-secrets.html
I usually use Basic H, Basic G, and baking soda for all of my cleaning–aside from laundry soap and dish soap.
Went to my local Kroger, and they refused the coupons saying they shouldn’t have the same upc code at the bottom of the coupons….so not wanting to make a scene I put all 8 of my lemonaides back and went home and checked my other manufacturer coupons to see if the manager was right and to my suprise…not really….they all had the same upc numbers….I’m a little ticked at kroger today! But thanks for the tips..and hope everyone else gets to use them!
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Money Saving Mom here: Gina, in the case of a PDF coupon (as this one is) so long as it is hosted on a reputable site and has correct information on it to be submitted by the store for reimbursement, it should be accepted and the store will be reimbursed. However, because there have been a number of fraudulent coupons produced in the last few years, many stores are more leery of printable coupons.
I’m sorry you had a difficult time! 🙁
Thank you so much for the 75 cents pdf coupon – Kroger in the Detroit area has this lemonade on sale for $1.25 (4 for $5) so these coupons will make them $.50 each! Love your blog! Thanks for all your hard work.
Glad to see you got the Santa Cruz drinks! Here they are $1.25 each, and with the .75 coupon they are .50 cents! I’ve gotten 32 bottles so far this week. Sale runs until the 20th, so I plan on getting more. It’s a great price for organic juice!
That is our favorite lemonade, and our Whole Foods has it on sale for $.99 a bottle…so I may by 24-40 bottles with the $.75 coupon! Thank you for the link!
Oops. Yes, I meant Basic H, not Special H. Thanks Crystal!
You did awesome!
I recently discovered your website, and I was so excited to see the organic lemonade coupon today, since my husband and I eat as organic and/or local as possible. Our Kroger currently has the lemonade on sale at 4 for $5, making the bottles $0.50 each with the coupons! So thank you!
We have neither Dillons, Aldi nor Kroger! Our new Publix doesn’t even have coupon booklets. At least our CVS is the friendliest store ever… now if they could just carry that cheap milk I keep hearing about.
Thank you for this post. I love seeing how everyone is saving! I am great with finding sales but I need to do better about keeping track of my spending. And this is helping me be more accountable.
You are amazing to get all that for about $40. I love your blog and read it almost daily.
Please check out my blog as I am having my first ever contest which will help support another homeschool, single mom like myself. Thanks!
I can’t believe the good deals you can get. I remember living in Utah, then Michigan, then California, with the groceries getting progressively more expensive. No way that organic lemonade is $1.66. What a steal!
Thanks for the chance to link. Our town has an Aldi’s going up right across from my Kroger Marketplace…I’m looking foward to shopping there again!
Best to you!
I’ve noticed on the last few weeks that you’ve been buying the individual snack size bags of fruit from Chiquita. (At least thats what they look like they are in your picture) I looked at the store the other day and they just seemed to be priced outrageously. Do you have coupons for these somewhere?
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Money Saving Mom here: Yes, the manufacturer actually sent me some coupons for free products which is why I’ve been “buying” them. (I often get coupons for free products in the mail because of things I’ve signed up for previously or, on occasion, I’ll get sent a few free product coupons because I blog about coupons–which was the case in this instance.)
These are certainly handy, but I wouldn’t buy them without the free coupon unless I could get them for next to nothing as I agree that they are regularly priced very high.
I’m just curious. I see you purchased several Lysol cleaners. I thought that you used Special H pretty much exclusively. Do you feel that you need to supplement with other cleaners? I have been trying to use up my other cleaners, so that I could save and be more eco friendly with Special H. I was just hoping to be done buying other cleaners, but maybe not?
As always, I LOVE your blog and your insight! Thank you!
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Money Saving Mom here: Ah! Someone was observant! I was curious to see if someone would notice or not. 🙂
I do use Basic H pretty much exclusively, along with Baking Soda and Basic G and have done so for a few years. However, the Lysol cleaners were half-price and I had a $1/1 coupon for each of them making them $0.47 each. I’ve been struggling with some persistent stains in my bathtub so I’m going to try the Lysol and see if it makes any difference in the bath tub (anyone else have suggestions for me?). If these don’t work, I’ll just donate them to someone or somewhere as I really prefer to only use all-natural cleaners, but I also want my bathtub to be clean!
I had to smile when I viewed your picture my b/f absolutely loves the Edy’s Double Fudge Brownie ice cream. We have had to adjust our budget as well. Thanks for all the tips. ~ Amy
Thanks, Crystal!
I’ll trade you my CVS for a Dillions and Aldi any day!
No Dillions in Florida and my closest Aldi is 45 min away 🙁
http://www.manateemomssave.blogspot.com
We have had to adjust our grocery budget for summer. With 3 boys home, the old budget just wasn’t going to cut it. I was feeling bad about that, but I guess you’re right, cut myself some slack.
Thanks for hosting!
~Liz