Wednesday, February 16, 2022

My creative February grocery budget

Hi everyone

It's been a minute since I've posted anything. Not much happening at Casa Goose. I had another back injury (slipped and fell on the ice) that had me out of commission for a few weeks. So guess who's behind again. 

I did manage to get out and grocery shop last week. I just did all my errands in one go. I figured if it's all out of the way, then I can just stay home to rest & heal. Here's what I did:


Produce market  : $61.04


Sams : $48.56 (picked up a bunch of stuff )

Less $40 Ibotta gcs (40.00)

OOP : $8.56


Meijer  (buy 5 save $5 sale. price is after discount)

10 x Kraft cheese $18.90

Less bottle refund (11.40) cashed in some pop cans

Less Kraft DQ (0.50)

OOP $7.00

Earned $1.25 Ibotta


Kroger

5 x half gallon milk on sale for 0.87 each = $4.35

2 x 5 lb potatoes on sale for $1.47  = 2.94

1 x O Mayer smokies 2.79

1 x Snuggle softener 2.99

Less Free OM mailer Q (2.79)

Less Snuggle Q (1.50)

Less KC (7.25)

Tax : 0.18

OOP $1.71


Walmart 

OOP : $31.18

I didn't need much, but decided to add  a few more canned goods. I found the big mushroom cans again and bought 4. When I packed it away, I noticed that the can is bigger than the old ones. So I compared the weight and they're both 8 oz, but the new can is taller (not slimmer though). Scratching my head at Walmart wasting extra aluminum for the same amount of product. 


Then I noticed that I have CVS & RA rewards expiring this week. So off to the stores I went again.

Aldi : $26.63

I only went to Aldi for their $2.99 bag oranges, I swear...lol. I saw in the ad 2 weeks ago that some locations might have samosas. Be still my heart. I'm so there. I didn't expect to find any, but was pleasantly surprised to see they were fully stocked. I would seriously have bought it all if stores didn't enforce limits. I only bought 4 boxes though, because I'm considerate of others :) I actually convinced another shopper to buy some too. She asked me about it when I got mine and I, of course, gave it rave reviews. Aldi should've given me a discount for that sales pitch...lol So that's how my Aldi total ended up so high. No regrets. I will gladly break the budget for samosas. I grew up on this stuff, so it's nice to have a little taste of home. They do cost 70c more than Trader Joe's samosas, but Aldi is much closer to home. I'm gonna have to hit up a few more Aldi's to stock up. Even though I get creative with my grocery shopping, food is one thing that I will absolutely not skimp on. If I have to pay more for a taste of home or better quality food, then I will gladly do so. I don't mind cutting corners on others things, but food is in a league of it's own. I'm not embarrassed to say that DS & I already finished one box :)  It's very strange to me that they have a dipping sauce, because I've never had samosas with sauce. That would ruin the flavor. We used to eat tamarind as a candy when I was a child.



Target 

3 x Downy $35.97 Paid with a gc

Earned $10 gc

Ugh, I wanted Tide & Downy, but noticed that the deal only works on $19.99+ Tide. Sneaky Target. I'm low on fabric softener and Sams/Costco only have to floral scent which I don't like.



Rite Aid

1 Blow dry brush $10.59

1 x Revlon mascara 10.49

1 x Revlon mascara B1G2nd 75% off 2.62

Less Revlon DQ (4.00)

Tax 1.42

Less BC (19.00)

OOP $2.12

I read that RA will be changing their reward program. The details are still fuzzy, but it looks like they're going the WAGS way with redeeming only certain increments. At least that's what I think. I have to go check it again. I wanted to get more gcs with bonus points, but decided to just cash out my rewards. I don't want to mess with another complicated rewards programme. Wags gives me more than enough gray hair with theirs.

I was really happy to find my favorite mascara on sale. I've been wanting to get more, but was waiting on a good WAGS sale. Yes, I'm old school. I still use a blow dry brush, because I hate the flat iron. 



CVS

2 x Garnier shampoo 7.00

3 x Pantene shampoo/conditioner 12.00

1 x Pantene conditioner 5.29

2 x Tresemme 9.00

2 x Colgate t/p 7.98

Less Ganier Q (4.00)

Less Pantene DQ (5.00)

Less Tresemme DQ (3.00)

Less Tresemme DQ (3.00)

Less Colgate DQ (2.00)

Less 4/25 Shampoo DQ (4.00)

Less EB (10.00)

Tax 2.22

OOP $12.19 Paid with a Swagbucks gc

Earned 17 EB ($10 Pantene, $2 Tresemme, $5 Colgate). Should get another $3 Beauty EB

I didn't know I had 2 Tresemme DQs, but there's lots of glitches at CVS this week.

Oy, CVS. I knew that my total seemed rather high. I mean, I write out a detailed list before going shopping. I did have a Loreal makeup deal on the list, but my store didn't carry that Loreal line. Even so, I just knew I was paying too much. CVS was my last stop for the day, so when I got home I checked my receipt. Bloody hell, they charged me for 4 Pantene instead of 3. That 4th one cost $5.29!!! No way. Got back into my car and back to CVS I went (thankfully the store is on my doorstep). As I got out of my car, the CVS bag broke. Now I'm really aggravated, because I was picking up beauty products in the parking lot. Got into the store and the 2nd bag broke (I took everything back to show what I purchased). Grrrr. I just dumped everything into a shopping basket.

So long story short. I explained what happened and the manager starts ringing up a credit. Total credit $1.47!!! WTH?! You're charging me $5.49 for an item I never purchased and want to refund me $1.47?!! Are you crazy?! I didn't say that out loud, but I sure thought it.  Manager said it's because I used coupons. I didn't use any Qs on that item, but the 4/25 and EB affected the price. So manager asked if I would just prefer the extra Pantene instead of the refund. I agreed, cause I'm better off this way. I would never pay that much for a shampoo, but it was better than the $1.47. 

So my total OOP for groceries this month : $138.24

Happy Dance!! I've proven to myself that I can get by on a lower budget. I just have to be creative. Besides, we have a full stockpile, so there's no need to go crazy at the stores. Only one week left of this month and I still have $61.76 left to play with. We don't need much. Just a few produce items and bread rolls for DS.  I'm thinking of setting a $300 budget for next month. I'd like to spend less than that, but I'm giving myself wiggle room again.

I'm thinking of skipping the produce market for the next few months. They have gotten way too expensive. I'm just gonna keep cherry picking produce deals at the grocery stores. 

So that's my month to date. I cashed in pop cans, redeemed rewards and gcs to help keep my OOP low. I'm very happy with the results. 

Hope everyone stays safe & warm. 

12 comments:

  1. Oh, too bad you fell on the ice. I hope you get better and don't slip on ice again.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Linda. It was a bad fall on the concrete, but I, thankfully, didn't break anything.

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  2. Oh no, I’m sorry you slipped and fell on the ice. I hope you are feeling better. Good thing you are able to stay home and rest now.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Belinda. I'm doing much better now.

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  3. I am sorry you fell! And glad to see you are seriously stocked up!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Anne! A stockpile sure comes in handy when you're down & out.

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  4. Yikes, nothing like a back injury to hold you back pardon the pun.

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  5. Great shopping.

    I am so sorry that you slipped and hurt your back. I quite agree that getting out shopping only once and then resting was your best way to help your back heal.

    God bless.

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  6. Hope your back feels better! And, those Trader Joes samosas are my favorite. (We don't have Aldi here.)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you HP. I love the Trader Joe's samosas too!! I've had other samosas before, but nothing compares to Trader Joe's. The Aldi ones are almost as good as TJ's. I love everything about Trader Joe's. I just wish it was closer to me.

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