I broke the budget....well sorta, kinda. I don't think I did too badly, because I only spent about $12 total for the past 2 weeks. The last time I did a big shop, was the week before Christmas.
I was doing so well with coming in under $75 for the week.... and then I went to Aldi. Well, my game plan isn't just to only spend $75 every week. I want to average $75 per week. Some weeks have great sales & some weeks you only need 2 or 3 items. For years I've just checked my year end total then divide it by 52 weeks to see how much I averaged per week.
I stopped at 4 stores this week (no drugstores, since I didn't need anything).
Walmart $45.65
Kroger $19.10
Meijer $12.00
Aldi $15.59
Total OOP this week $92.34
Earned $3 Ibotta & $1 Kroger Cash
$12 at Meijer was for 4 newspapers. Is it just me or are the first Sunday of the year's coupons kinda blah lately? I used to buy 10-20 papers for many years, because we got at least 6 inserts and most stores had great sales to combine with those coupons. I miss those days.
Kroger was an impulse Mega Event sale and it came back to bite me in the behind. I wanted the Veggie chips (straws) since it was supposed to be $0.99 each and there was a 50c DQ. Well I only found one bag (and it's a good thing too) which ended up costing me $2.49...grrrr. I know I got the right one, because it looks just like the pics I saw online. There were no price tags on the shelf, so I didn't know this beforehand. It also didn't deduct $1 ME discount from 1 toothbrush (I got 2 identical toothbrushes). Plus Kroger prices are displayed in a weird way when you scan items. It shows the original price, then whatever discount with your card. Only when you're ready to pay does it deduct ME discount. Confusing much.
$5 was a splurge for DH. I can only find his favorite popcorn at a few stores, so when I do see it, I buy it.
We only needed bread & onions at Aldi, but then I saw blueberries on sale and got 2. I'm a berry girl. I love all kinds of berries, but blueberries tops the list for me. Then as I was waiting in line at checkout, I saw a huge display of the veggie chips I like (not the veggie straws type {I only buy that because DS likes it}, these are the ones that lists just veggies, seasoning & maybe oil only as ingredients). Aldi hasn't had this chips in about 3-4 months, so I ran and got 2. They're $2.79 each, but I really don't care about price at this stage. I'm thinking of just going back and stocking up on this chips before they run out again.
Next week is gonna be pricey too, because I need to go to Sams. We still have meat in the freezer, but I'm just gonna pick up more chicken and do freezer cooking. There are several items that were OOS the last time I was at Sams, so I'm planning to pick it up next week. The good news is that I still $40 Walmart gcs to use, so that will help with the budget. Sams wouldn't allow me to use the gcs last month, because I had purchased alcohol. I can understand that they don't want you to use gcs on alcohol (which actually doesn't make sense to me, because a gc is as good as cash), but my total was over $200 and I only had one case of beer in the entire order. I also need to go to the produce market, so I'll just do that next week too. Then I can cherry pick the rest of the month.
I buy what I need when I need it and it usually comes in at about $50/week. Some weeks I only buy bananas and milk.
ReplyDeleteThat's great that you're spending so little Linda!
DeleteIsn't it aggravating when you think you are gong to get a deal and you don't?
ReplyDeleteTell me about it Kim. The downside to couponing.
DeleteThat sneaky Kroger! I don't have one but I watch a Youtuber who coupons and I hear all about those "hiccups".
ReplyDeleteI hear ya on the inserts....our area never gets the RMN ones anymore(about a 1+ now)and some brands that come in the SS are also MIA for us. It's hardly worth picking up even 1 paper some weeks here.
The same thing happened to us before with RMN. We stopped getting them for about 2 years, then they started including it in the weekly RMN mail packages. One day the RMN magically reappeared in our newspapers (in only one of the 2 Sunday papers) & we still get the mailer. I'm hoping that yours will return too.
DeleteI feel like I only get the "deal" price about half the time. It's so irritating, & largely why I avoid anything but the most obvious ones
ReplyDeleteThat's rather frustrating HP. You're wise to do the ones that works for you.
DeleteWe don't get many inserts in the papers here in Saskatchewan. I usually try to do online searches or just stick to sales.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the total yearly spend and then dividing by 52 to get your weekly spend.
God bless.
Sticking to the sales is a good idea Jackie. The coupons & deals vary by location here, so I mainly stick to the sales too. It's still helping us save money.
DeleteI don't get it about the beer and GC, but did you think to have them remove the beer from your order, pay with a GC, and ring up the beer separately and pay for it with cash?
ReplyDeleteI could have done that, but it was easier to just pay for it and use the gc on my next trip. I use self checkout (much faster) and would've needed to get carded for the beer purchase again.
DeleteI don't understand why you can't pay for alcohol with a gc, because a gc's as good as cash. Silly Sams.