~ Weekly Grocery Shopping Trip Totals ~

 So this is real life.  I'm trying to make the most of my household budget.  I'm already a pretty thrifty shopper, so sometimes I wonder where on earth am I going to cut back to make my family's hard earned dollars stretch farther?  That's where taking a picture of what I'm buying will help, with any luck.  We all buy unnecessary stuff.  We all buy things we should have passed on, and should quit all together, I guess that's were being totally honest with your spending and keeping things in balance comes into play.  I hope I can get better!

First off, this picture is from two weeks ago, the week BEFORE Superbowl Sunday, the deals were pretty good.  The week of the Superbowl, not so much... didn't really buy much last week and my hubby and kids put the groceries away immediately mostly since it was perishables, so I didn't get a picture, but it was mostly meat from our local packing house which is always a great buy!  I don't always feel as though I'm saving $$/lb. there, but the quality is unmatched, and it's local beef, pork, and chicken, and bought from a small business. And I'm buying a larger quantity of meat, often times two or three months worth.   Their prices are still much cheaper than the grocery store though, so buying quality meat in bulk is a good deal for me.

Now, two weeks ago, there was a pretty good deal on boneless center cut pork loins at our local grocery store, Giant Eagle, $2/lb., and I had them cut a smaller loin into all chops.  Aldi had the $5 off hams again, and still had some of the hams at about 10 lbs., so I picked up two more for the freezer, ham can last for months, so I'm not worried at all about this purchase, and at about 50 cents/lb. for ham, that I will slice for sandwiches and omelets...I can't go wrong there when deli ham is usually about $5/lb. on average!  Aldi also always has a good price on frozen ground beef and pepperoni for our homemade pizzas.  Homemade pizza can't be beat, and is SO much cheaper than buying or ordering take out!

When I get home from making a bulk purchase, I package into smaller portions immediately if possible, it's so much easier that way.  You can see from the picture will all of my purchases, I bought freezer bags for obvious reasons!  We typically eat about five pork chops for our family of four, so that's how I package them.  It's wonderful to be able to pull out just enough for a meal.  I don't mind leftovers at all, but my hubby seems to have an aversion to leftovers for dinner since sometimes he takes leftovers for lunch, so I try to plan on no leftovers if possible on meat unless it's planned.  Even then it doesn't work out so great because my hubby has considered a NY Strip steak a 'snack' at 10 pm before!  Crazy, but making just enough saves me money in the long run!

My deal of the week!!  Our local Giant Eagle had Sunbelt Bakery Granola Bars on sale for $2.50/box.  I had three 75 cents off coupons, so doubled, I got $1.50 off each box!!  These also happen to be my family's favorite store bought granola bars so getting them for $1/box was like hitting the jackpot!!  Great, and going into the 3rd week, we still have about four granola bars left!  They are huge in this house; soccer, snack for my kids to eat going to or from school, they throw one in their book bags, my hubby loves the fudge dipped coconut bars for his snack at work!

And it was a huge week for coupons!  I had coupons for the Dial Soap (we buy the glycerin bars, they don't leave that soap scum behind like regular bars), Swiss Miss which my youngest daughter is addicted, the Sunbelt Granola Bars, the Knorr Pasta Sides (which I buy for my brothers), the Wishbone Italian Dressings, and a few more...all doubled!!  And being the end of January, start of February, I feel the pressure of Old Man Winter like anyone else.  I try and try and try to keep up with muck, mud, and ice from getting into the house, but it gets the best of me sometimes!  I use a regular mop and small towels on the end of my Swiffer to keep up with the mess on our hardwood and tile floors, but sometimes I need sanity, and break down and use the convenience of a Swiffer type cloth, this one is from Bottom Dollar, and costs about $1 less than Swiffer's do.  I usually use a water/vinegar/ammonia/essential oil solution for the tile floors, and a water/essential oil solution for the hardwood, but this time of year, sometimes I need some sanity too.  :)  And of course...the cat needs to eat!


So I have to pull out my receipts from two weeks ago for my totals, and I will, but I did manage to keep close to my $100 mark.  This included five gallons of milk for the week...we went over and bought seven...I know...lots of milk is consumed in this house!!  Healthy bones!!

Till next time...have a great day!!  :)

~Weekly Shopping Travels ~

Okay!  Here it is, my weekly shopping trip for household groceries for January 16th!!  

My goal is to keep the groceries/basic household items at or under $100/week for our family of four, and I help out two of my brothers who need a bit of help making ends meet, so I do buy things in mind for them sometimes.  It's an ambitious goal, but over the course of the year, I think I can do this.  I typically buy beef, pork, and chicken in bulk at our local packing house, but sometimes run out before I get back out there for another order, or sometimes I find a great deal that it hard to justify passing up, that usually happens after a holiday.

This is what I bought yesterday for our weekly groceries.  Everything on this table cost a total of $114.75.  That was a pretty big success for me, because I bought some typically more expensive non food items this week, and a few 'treats for the family to keep them in line with my strict grocery budget'!  I was able to get the Purina One dog food, 16 lbs. for $16.99, typically it's almost $21.00/bag.  It was on special and I had a competitor's coupon for another $2.00 off.  Now the big thing here is that I got lucky, this store is not going to accept competitor coupons after January 21st, and the coupon didn't scan, and the cashier told me they would only accept coupons that scanned, but luckily, I called first to make sure they would take the coupon, then told the cashier and they had to override the system to accept the coupon, BUT, even though they accept the competitor's coupons until next week, they already had it out of their system!  ALWAYS SPEAK UP, MOST STORES ARE COUNTING ON YOU NOT ASKING QUESTIONS OUT OF FEAR OF BEING WRONG OR EMBARRASSMENT! But don't be, ask, it saved me $2.00 and the frustration of going back next month with a coupon they won't accept any longer!  I also got a much needed covered garbage can for the bathroom for $8.99 and some Loreal hair color for $3.99 with my $3.00 off coupon!  (Sometimes WE need to feel good too, and I got the better hair color for the price of the hair color that typically will do funny things to your hair!)  :)  Coupons also were used for the dish soap.  That empty crumpled baggie in the center of the pic is from a jalapeno/cheddar bagel I bought for 89 cents...not smart, but I forgot to eat and this was the first stop of three stores I was shopping at, so it prevented me from eating something more stupid and expensive later!

Deal of the day!!  I was thinking of buying a ham from the first store, Giant Eagle, but decided against it because it was a whole ham and we don't eat a lot of ham, so I thought I could save that 99 cents/lb. for something else.  Another thing I always do while shopping is LOOK FOR UNADVERTISED SPECIALS IN THE STORE!  As I mentioned above, sometimes certain meats or seasonal items will be drastically reduced after a holiday.  At Aldi, one of my favorite stores to shop at, I always look for their tags that just simply say 'Manager's Special' usually with a red tag. As I was walking past a freezer, I spotted the ham and the $5.00 off sticker!  I bought two for just under $10.00.  That was an exciting buy, because I put one in the freezer as soon as I got home, and the other I've cooked and already sliced for sandwiches, maybe some ham barbecue, and saved the bones for some split pea soup I'll make on Sunday or Monday!  I'll freeze most of the sliced ham too, I've found that it defrosts quite nicely!

Now, none of the stores around here offer the 'bring your own bag' discount anymore, it used to be 2-5 cents, depending on the store, but that nice little reward for not wasting plastic has gone away, but I love my shopping totes!  Totes in general, they can be used for almost carrying anything, not just groceries!  I haven't been to Joshua Tree National Park (in California), but my daughter and son in law have.  They have a lifetime goal to visit every National Park, and currently live out west, so they are getting a bunch off their list!  A perk for me is that they buy me a bag at most of the parks they visit!  I also have one from Yellowstone, and two from the Grand Canyon. One I got myself when we visited last year...awesome place, but that's another post!

My tally:  Total spent: $114.75
               Food:        82.00 (I still have enough to buy five more gallons of milk for the week)
               Non-food: 36.75
               Gas:           75.00 ~ so far, I'll probably have to add another $25. (I decided to keep track of this too, since gas prices are crazy.  This will help me stay on track with the cost of driving too!)
'Til next time, have a great day!!  :)