Martins coupons!!

Have you seen these great coupons printing out at the register!  It certainly has me coming in more often to make the most of my purchases. Today I scored free eggs with a $5.00 purchase. Be sure to stop in and see what savings print up for you!

Coupons = Money

If you really pay attention to your receipts and where you buy specific items you spend less.  I treat my coupons as money.  This lineup of coupons on my desk is as good as cash to me. They are what you call catalina coupons. aka those pesky printed papers the cashier hands you with your reciept.  This week Martin's and cvs have some good ones!!  They are coupons for items we will need and use and best of all I can coupon stack. For example, the cvs coupon is a store coupon good on cookies, chips and crackers. I happen to also have nabisco and pringles coupons that I can use in addition to save even more off of my grand total! With two kids in the house we go through snacks like crazy so these are as good as cash in my wallet.  :-)

Great deals at Save A Lot!!

Today I decided to take a look at Save A Lot.  They can have some great pop up sales with more than 50% off the price you may find at Martins and Walmart.  Today I found Perdue turkey sausage for ONLY $1.00!!!!!!  I was so surprised by the price I actually watched as the cashier rang it up just to be sure! 
Not only that but they had apples for only $1.43 per bag! Yay
These prices are so good!! I really need to shop at Save A Lot more often:-)   You should too!

Tonights Dinner: Turkey sausage and spaghetti.....apple crisp

Super Cheap Cereal Deal!!

I you are in need of cereal, head to Walmart and right infront of the women's clothing you will find Spooners cereal for $.50 cents a bag!!! Super great price. I could'nt pass up!! I bought four bags!!

Also do not forget to browse their clearance room in the front of the store. I was able to score some super cute hair accessories for my daughter that I will be using as stocking stuffers!!
Good Luck:-)

Finding Hidden Coupons!

Sometimes couponing can be a scavenger hunt. You never know where one will pop up! I bought this Smart Balance butter for only $1.00 at Martin's yesterday and when I opened it up I found a buck!  Yes I know it clearly show $.50 , but at Martins it doubles to a buck and right now Smart Balance is only $2.00!   Be sure to keep a look out for those hidden dollars ;-)

This Week's Grocery Shopping.

When trying to stick to my $50 per week grocery budget I have to say it was not easy.  I managed to spend less than my average weekly shopping trip but more than my goal. I spent $90.  I figure as long as I stick to my goal and spend less than my previous average, I'm making some sort of progress right? LOL.

I used about $15 in coupons and made sure to buy the cheapest version of the items I needed.  The meals I had planned include:

1.Homemade pizza. I have a left over frozen dough ball in freezer from a previous week and only had to buy Great Value Brand Sauce for $1.00 and Cheese for under $3.00

2. Spaghetti. (I had noodles stocked up from Target's Market Pantry Pasta Sale I bought weeks prior for 3/$2.  I only had to buy a jar of Ragu.

3. Chicken Patty & Tater Tots. I already had a few frozen Chicken Patties, I bought a bag of Tater Tots for $2.00 and a Pack of Schmidt's  Potato Rolls.

4. Creole Pork Chops. I already had the rice, but I had to buy Worcestershire sauce for under $2, 4 Thick Pork Chops for around $5 and a Can of Tomato Sauce for less than $1.00.

5. & 6 Beef Vegetable Soup. I needed about 5 different canned veggies, bag of carrots, Potatoes, Celery, Beef Broth, Beef Cubes - Let's Just say this took up a bigger part of my budget with all that goes into making it but the good news is that it makes so much that we can have it for dinner two nights in a row AND Freeze some for the next week to have for dinner as well!

7. Hot Dogs & Macaroni & Cheese, I bought Macaroni & Cheese for less than $1.00 and already had the Hot dogs in the freezer from a previous week. (SEE how the freezer can really SAVE you money!)

The rest of my bill was for lunches where I bought deli meat, salad, cucumbers, tomatoes, cheese, rolls, Fruit, bread and some juice, water and soda. 

I will say I didn't buy much of anything I wasn't certain I would use.  And I kept it minimal with the snacks for the kids. They don't need too many choices at once anyway!
Keeping my fingers crossed I can do as good or better shopping for groceries next week : )

Grocery Shopping Challenge: $50 a Week!!

It seems like every time I go grocery shopping I spend at least $75 per trip. Even using coupons!!! Sometimes I feel like I haven't even really bought much of anything to have spent that kind of money!  I will say that now, that my kids are starting back to school it will be much easier to stick to a certain budget when I can shop ALONE!!  If you have little ones you know what I mean, when they pick a special snack or food item that they think they just cannot live without! LOL

So I have decided to take part in a Grocery Challenge.  Maybe this will only last a week or two but I'm ready to give it a try.  I have read on many money saving sites that there are a lot of households attempting this challenge and I am super motivated to find a smaller food budget that will work for my family of four.  I will post my shopping trips on here and let you know how I do, if I go over or under budget, how many coupons I've used or left out and where I have purchased my items. 

This is going to include a lot of planning on my part for sure, and discipline!!  Sometimes your favorite picks are not always on sale! Also I will have to make an effort to distinguish what it is that we absolutely need now. For example a gallon of milk versus say a box of cookies when we already have other snacks at home to choose from.

I will also have to plan meals more efficiently and choose recipes that do not include several ingredients.  Hopefully this will get easier as I go!  Will you be attempting to Challenge your grocery budget? 

Here are some ways I plan on making it easier to stick to a tight budget:
1. Shopping at Aldi and Save A Lot
2. Sticking to store brand when they are available
3. Using coupons
4. Paying extra attention to store ads and double coupons at Martins
5. Taking my $50 (in cash) with me so that I do not go over budget!