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I went to the store this morning with a $70 food budget, a few required non-food items, and no other grocery list. Recipe for disaster usually, but it really went well until I went to pay and didn’t have the right card. *sigh*. But I did come in at $65.50 for food without really trying.

Non-food:
3 papers, $2.00 each
kids’ cold medicine, store brand, $4.00
Oral-B toothbrush, $1.99 – $.75
dry dog food, store brand 17lbs, $7.99

Food:
6 donuts, $4.50
1 gallon milk, $3.99 – $3.99 (WIC)
3 Bagel Bites, $2.49 each – $2.49
2 Rice Krispies Treats, $4.49 each – $1.00
Ritz Munchables, $3.99 – $1.00
Triscuits, $3.69 – $3.69
2 12pks. Coke Zero, $3.67 each
Near East couscous, $2.49
Mrs. Baird’s bread, $1.49
4 Fuze, $1.00 each – $2.00
6 McCormick Recipe Inspirations, $.99 each – $.50
2.65 lbs. pork chops, $5.19/lb – $2.59/lb
2.35 lbs. pears, $1.29/lb
9 apples, $.33 each
bagged romaine, $2.99
grape tomatoes, $2.99
5 lbs. potatoes, $2.59
8 oranges, $.20 each
5.07 lbs. bananas, $.62/lb

Total before: $108.48
Total after: $86.26
20% coupon savings

Meal Deal – Spaghetti & Meatballs (UN, MSWT, AM) – 9/7-20

• Buy 1 Hormel refrigerated entree
• Get 1 can of Food Club peas, green beans, or corn
• Get 1 Betty Crocker casserole potatoes

I know some people have CVS stores that they don’t like for one reason or another, that aren’t cooperative, or employ obnoxious people.  The one I go to, by comparison, is a dream.  True, they’re often sold out of the better deals by Sunday afternoon, but a rain check is a piece of cake to get.  Anyway, I say this because I hit mine up today for the week’s deals.  I didn’t do as well as I should have, and I did have to get 2 rain checks, but all in all a good time (and deal) was had.

I’m still holding on to a rain check for Skinny Cow single candies from when they were $.99 with a $.99 ECB, but once they finally had them back in stock (weeks later) they’ve been on sale better than that so I haven’t used it.  For instance, today they were $.50 each.  Here’s what I got today:

7 of the aforementioned candies: $.50 each – 1 b1g1 coupon
1 box of Ritz Crackerfuls: $2.50 – $2.50*
1 80ct. tub of Lysol wipes: $5.00
1 2pk. Airwick scented oil refills: $4.99**
1 Airwick iMotion starter: $4.99 – $4.00
2 Finish power ball dishwasher detergent: $2.99 each – $.75 each
$50 iTunes gift card
2 bottles of Xtra laundry detergent: $1.49 each
1 Dawn dish soap: $.99 – $.50***
1 Duracell 16pk AAA (actually a 20ct bonus pack): $9.99 – $.75
1 Charmin 16 roll pack: $9.99 – $.25
1 Bounty 16 roll pack: $12.99 – $.25
1 10ct. CVS allergy medicine: $3.69
2 boxes of BandAids: $3.59 each
1 Neo-to-Go Neosporin spray: $6.89 – $1.50****

When I walked in I had a $5.00 coupon for completing a survey online and $7.99 in ECBs from previous purchases.

*ALWAYS scan your CVS card at the coupon machine before you shop.  Today I got a $5.00 coupon from previous Beauty Club purchases (and they’re pretty liberal about what constitutes a “beauty purchase”, as I’ve never bought a single cosmetic product) and a free Crackerful or Newton Thins package.

**I had planned to get 2 of the iMotion kits, using a $4.00 coupon on each, but my store only had 1 so I fell back on the refills with no coupon.  I get them regularly anyway so it was no big deal, except it wasn’t as great a savings as it could have been.

***Again, could have been a slightly better deal if they hadn’t been sold out of the Dawn Hand Renewal, for which I had a better coupon.

****The $1.50 coupon was for Neosporin AND BandAid together.

Total before: $134.77
Total after: $105.28
Total savings: 21.9%

However, because it’s CVS, I walked out with extra “cash” for next time: $36.69 in ECBs:
$3.00 for purchasing $12 of BandAid and/or Neosporin products
$3.69 for purchasing CVS allergy medicine
$10.00 for purchasing $20.00 of select household products (Lysol, AirWick, and Finish)
$10.00 for purchasing $25.00 of select P&G products (Charmin, Bounty, and Duracell)
$10.00 for purchasing a $50 iTunes card

Oh, and I almost forgot: Those rain checks are for St. Joseph’s aspirin ($2.00 in store, $1.00 coupon, $1.00 ECB) and Bengay ($5.49 in store, $5.00 coupon).

When I consider that $50.00 (almost half) of the total price was the iTunes card, and from the $55.28 remaining I earned $26.69 (almost half) in ECBs, I think I did pretty well.  And the way I burn through iTunes $ around here (iBooks, anyone?), it’s always best to buy at a discount or with a bonus when I can.  This was one of my more expensive trips, to be sure, even discounting the iTunes purchase; but I’m a little out of practice.  That $36.69 will go pretty far the next time I’m there.

I can’t stress this enough: ALWAYS SCAN YOUR CARD FIRST!  You never know what you’ll get.

Ok, it’s been a long time.  6+ months, in fact, since I last wrote a savings post.  It’s not that I haven’t been shopping well and saving plenty – I wish I had a record of it because there was some good stuff in there – I just haven’t written about it.  I kind of feel silly doing it again actually, given how long it’s been, and how I never remember to take pictures before putting things away.  Here goes nothing…

Primary reason for shopping today:
5 newspapers for coupon inserts and birthday cake and pizza for tomorrow night (A turns 13, heaven help us all).
Total price for those: $33.97 after $3.00 coupon off the 2 DiGiorno pizzas (tear pad at the store from a beer company that didn’t require the purchase of any beer, I thought it was odd)

Items WIC paid for:
1 gallon of milk, 1 lb. of colby cheese, 1 dozen eggs, 2 bottles of grape juice, 1 box of Dora cinnamon cereal, 1 box of Kix cereal, 1 jar of Jif peanut butter, 2 loaves of Sara Lee whole wheat bread, and 1/2 lb. of bananas (ok, it was 1 banana, but I only had $.55 left in fruit/veg allowance).  Total value: $32.33

Free items:
6 cans of Chef Boyardee dinners, free coupons from House Party.

Items with coupons (besides the DiGiorno pizzas above):
2 Stonyfield kids yogurt 4pks: $2.99 each – $1.00 each
Superpretzels: $3.19 – $.50
2pk. of emery boards: $2.99 – $1.00
2 4pks. of Duracell AAA batteries: $1.99 each – $.75 each
12pk. of Charmin big rolls: $8.99 – $.75
8 1ltr. bottles of Ozarka water: $.99 each – 4x $1.00/2
Hormel beef tips entree: $5.99 – $3.99
1 can of corn: $.79 – free with Hormel purchase
1 box of Betty Crocker scalloped potatoes: $1.25 – free with Hormel purchase
2 8pks. of 12oz. Coke bottles – $4.00 each – $.50
2 DiGiorno 200cal. pizzas – $3.00 each – $.75 each
2 family size boxes of Triscuits – $3.50 each – $2.00 (with purchase of Cokes)
1 box of Fiber One 90cal. brownies – $3.49 – $.75
2 boxes of Quaker Smash Bars – $3.49 each – $1.00 each
1 small box of Truvia packets – $3.29 – $1.00
3 Poptart mini-crisps – $2.99 each – $1.00
1 pkg. of Oreos – $2.99 – $1.00 (with purchase of milk)
1 bottle of Bisquick shake n’ pour – $2.69 – $.70
2 Hidden Valley salad kits – $2.69 each – $1.00 each
1 box of Cars cereal – $2.50 – $.75
2 boxes of Rice Krispie treats – $2.50 each – $1.00
1 pkg. of Kraft Homestyle mac & cheese – $2.49 – $.75
1 pkg. of Minute individual serve rice – $2.19 – $.55
4 cans of Pringles – $1.67 each – $1.00
4 pkgs. (11.02 lbs.) hamburger patties – $3.69/lb. – buy 1 pkg. get 1 free
3 boxes of Oscar Mayer bacon – $3.99 each – $2.00
2 pkgs. of Hillshire Farm deli lunchmeat – $3.50 each – $1.00

Other:
1 loaf of sourdough bread from bakery: $3.99
1 pkg. of hair ties: $2.99
1 Twix bar: $.69
1 vitamin supplement – $5.99
2 cans of non-stick spray – $2.69 each
1 12ct. box of (store brand) pop-tarts – $1.99
2 bags of corn chips – $1.50 each
1 can of bean dip – $2.50
2 bags of hot dog buns – $1.29 each
1 bag of hamburger buns – $1.29
1 bag of mini marshmallows – $.99
1 large bag of flour tortillas – $4.38
2 pkgs. of Oscar Mayer Carving Board roast beef – $3.99 each
3 pb&j Lunchables – $.99 each
2 pkgs. of hot dogs – $.89 each
2.9 lbs. of pears – $.69/lb.

Total before: $306.42
Total after: $210.70
Total savings: 31.3% 

Hopefully as I get back into the swing of things I’ll get back to linking up to other savings posts, and maybe have shorter shopping lists. I always feel funny when the posts I link to have 15 things on them and I have 40. lol

Summer Collect & Win game is over and in-store coupons have expired.  I should have information for a new set soon.

Meal Deal – Spaghetti & Meatballs (UN, MSWT, AM) – 9/7-20

• Buy 1 Hormel refrigerated entree
• Get 1 can of Food Club peas, green beans, or corn
• Get 1 Betty Crocker casserole potatoes

Somehow I managed to only skip one of last week’s planned meals.  That one is now Monday night this week.

Monday:
turkey breast, asparagus, french bread

Tuesday:
sausage, pierogies, random frozen veg

Wednesday:
To each their own

Thursday:
ham, mac & cheese, random frozen veg

Friday:
beef stir-fry, rice, broccoli

Saturday:
leftovers

Sunday:
roast beef, stuffing, random frozen veg

Nothing terribly interesting, but I *should* be able to pull it off with no shopping, and that’s always a plus.

It’s 3 days in, and so far it’s looking pretty good.  The weather forecast SWEARS that our temps will drop 10+ degrees tomorrow and the following week.  I made myself a new plan of action for the month and I haven’t screwed it up yet. *knock wood*  I’m definitely seeing improvements over even the first part of this week, never mind the whole of August.  I suppose it’s a little early yet for being so excited, but the sad truth is that it was entirely likely that everything would fall to pieces today, even after only a couple of days on the bandwagon.  Weekends have a tendency to do that, to throw me off track, no matter how much I think I want to go forward with what needs to be done.  If there’s no burning reason – like a school bus – to be up before dawn, why bother getting up at all, right?  Which is not to say that I didn’t sleep in this morning, but it was an hour, not three, and I’m pretty proud of that.  I’m also sore from yesterday and the day before but I still managed 15 minutes with the Kinect this morning.  Consistency is my mantra for the month.

On the weight loss programs: I have found that I primarily like Weight Watchers and Spark People.  I get a lot out of SP, and I’m a sucker for earning meaningless points.  I like that Weight Watchers (more points, I see a trend here) makes it easier for me to see what choices are better at any given time by giving me only one number to compare, but at the same time Spark People gives me more information to analyze after the fact.  I can make it under my daily WW points and then see that maybe those weren’t the greatest options after all because these numbers are skewed, and learn from it.  I’m at a loss (ha) with LoseIt.  I really like the Twitter aspect of it, but I’m not a big fan of their interface and entering food 3 times was just too much.  So for now I’m only entering exercise into LoseIt so that it posts to Twitter, and everything else into WW and SP.  However, I do have one major complaint about all 3 programs right now.  My primary source of exercise, at least for now, is Wii and Kinect fitness games.  Many of the Wii games and ALL of the Kinect games are impossible to log properly, on any of the programs.  I’m hoping that will change, but it seems to me that it already should have.  Anyway, the best I can do is guess as to which of the few Wii games that are listed more closely match what I really played.  It’s cumbersome and tedious, but there we are.  The fact that I have enough time tracked on the machines to be bothered by the difficulty in tracking it is impressive enough (to me).

Come on September, let’s keep it up!