I’m currently challenging myself to stick with a $70 budget for our family of six (two adults, two teens, a pre-teen, and a baby). This includes almost all of our breakfasts, snacks, and dinners + most household products (toiletries, feminine products, etc.). Jesse and I usually eat lunch at home. The kids have lunch at school.
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Well, after last week’s accidental $82 shopping trip with Kroger Pickup, I was excited to get back to shopping in-store. And I’d planned that I was only going to spend $58 to make up for the overage I’d spent with pick up.
I was so excited because Kroger had sent me a $6 coupon good for any $60 or more shopping trip. I had my shopping trip planned and I was excited about the deals! I did my shopping and found lots of great deals… but when I got up to the self-checkout to scan and pay for my groceries, I couldn’t find my $6 coupon anywhere.
I went through all of the contents of my purse. It wasn’t there.
I looked through the shopping cart thinking it may have fallen. It wasn’t there.
I asked the lady at self-checkout if I could leave my groceries and quickly go look in the car for the coupon (I had gone later at night and there was almost no one at the store!). I couldn’t find the coupon anywhere.
So, I just ended up paying for my groceries and heading home.
Guess what I found stuck down on the side of the driver’s seat when I got home? The $6 coupon!!!
Of course, it expires tomorrow, so I couldn’t just keep it to use for groceries this coming week. Multiple people told me on Instagram that I should bring my receipt back to the store with the coupon the next day and they would give me a refund. Since I was going to be right by the store, I decided to try it.
Well, I found out that they totally would have given me a refund… only I hadn’t spent enough money to qualify to even use the coupon in the first place!! (The fine print says you have to spend $60 *before* tax!)
I thought some of you might find it encouraging that I still lose coupons and fail to read the fine print — even after years of shopping like this!!
Oh well, I’ll just spend $65 at Kroger this coming week and I’ll be within budget and it’s all good. And this is one good reason we budget out enough money to last for the next month in each category!
I also had to take pictures of both the produce markdown area and the bread cart. Because I thought it might encourage you to see that sometimes it’s really picked over at our store, too!
I did end up getting one loaf of Italian bread marked down to $0.79 to stick in the freezer, though.
I’ve been loving all of the yogurt markdowns they’ve had recently!
Kierstyn loves yogurt, so I’ve been buying the vanilla for her. And the plain yogurt is great to sub for sour cream, as well.!
Two of our older three still love those Danimals drinkable yogurt, so I pick them up whenever I find them marked down.
I’ve not tried the Sweet Biscuits before, bought I bought two cans and we’ll see what we think! And I picked up the cookie dough to use for when we had a group of teens over for dinner this weekend.
I couldn’t believe that our store was still so stocked with the $0.99 cereal!
Kroger Shopping Trip
- 2 Pillsbury Oreo Cookie Dough — marked down to $1.29 each
- 2 containers salmon — marked down to $0.79 each
- 2 Martha White Chocolate Muffin Mix — on closeout for $0.30 each
- 2 rolls Pillsbury Biscuits — marked down to $0.99 each
- 4 bags of frozen veggies — $1 each
- Kroger yogurt — marked down to $0.99
- Peach Greek yogurt — $0.29
- 2 packages Ore-Ida Tater Tots — on sale Buy One, Get One Free — $2.99 each
- Kroger Half & Half — $1.99
- Kroger Milk — $2.69
- Bananas — $1.62
- Tangerines — $2.99
- 2 dozen eggs — marked down to $1.49 each
- 5 boxes Post cereal — $0.99 each with the weekly digital deals
- Yoplait Yogurt — marked down to $1.29
- 2 Kroger Greek Yogurt — marked down to $0.39 each
- Whole Fryer — marked down to $3.38
- Strawberry Kefir — marked down to $0.99
- 2 packages of Danimal Yogurts — marked down to $1.49 each
- Kroger Cottage Cheese — $1.25
- Smoked Turkey — marked down to $2.39
- Hummus — marked down to $1.79
- Oregano — $1
- Kroger Flour — $1.49
- 2 boxes powdered sugar — marked down to $0.79 each
- Salad Kit — marked down to $1.69
- 3 pouches baby food — marked down to $0.39 each
- Italian Bread — marked down to $0.79
- Total with tax: $62.75
Kandra Hawkins says
I went to our local Kroger with my monthly coupons plus several buy 1 get 1 items, closeouts, “dented” produce and their mix and match to spend $73 before the coupons and savings…I only spent $60! So proud that I’m paying more attention to their deals and going there first before I finish at other stores!
Crystal Paine says
Woohoo!! That makes me so happy to hear!
Lea says
I’m always so surprised when people have to pay tax on groceries – I’ve lived in a state for over 20 years that does not charge tax on most groceries (prepared foods and some specialty items, toiletries, cleaning supplies are taxed) that I forget others are taxed.
That’s a terrific price for the cereal!
Lea
veronica vatter says
My kids went thru 3 boxes of that cereal this past week! 🤣. Only I had to pay more than 99¢!
Crystal Paine says
My kids love Honey Bunches of Oats and were so excited I got 5 boxes of it!
Amie says
I’m always encouraged to work harder managing our own grocery budget when I read these posts. Thank you for sharing! Maybe you’ve done this before, but I would love to learn more about how you store and keep track of what you’ve purchased so it isn’t forgotten about and gets used. Thanks!
Crystal Paine says
We just use our small kitchen pantry and kitchen fridge/freezer + garage freezer. I just keep a running inventory in my head of what we have on hand and what we need to use up.