Krogers shopping 01-17-2012

Just to show that I post everything, this is one of my way less than 50% shopping trips. With that said, these were items I wanted/needed and some items that I didn't have coupons for. Two of the items purchased, even though they were higher priced, will help me save a large amount of money in the end. I'll explain in a minute. First the picture:

And the receipt:

Now, let's talk about the items. I had coupons for: the Budding products, the butter, the Alouette cheese, the soup, the Ravoli, the lunchmeat and the Ortega shells. Everything else I didn't have coupons for. Believe it or not, there were two things I forgot that I will go back and purchase by Saturday. One is potatoes and the other is the sausage on sale for $1.00. Note: The Ortega 10-pk shells were marked $1.36 with a $.50/2 coupon that makes them $.86/ea. I checked the expiration and they are good until 2013 so I was happy to purchase them for that price and put them down in the store.

As you can see I only saved $17.23 which is a meager 25% savings, however overall for the month, I purchased $271.93 worth of groceries, paid $152.05 which is a 45% savings so I'm a happy camper. Remember, my monthly budget is $200.00 and I have spent $152.05 of it so I only have $47.95 left for the month so I have to be very careful in how i spend it. I already know that I will be taking advantage of the CVS coke special this week and will be buying 8 12-packs for $2.50/ea. so that's $20.00+tax that will be going there. I also want to purchase 10 of the applesauce from Meijers so that is another $6.60 which leaves me approximately $20.00. Of that $20.00 I will purchase 10 of the sausage products from Krogers in the 10 for $10 sale and the bag of potatoes for $1.99. So I will be right at my budget.

The great thing about this is that I will hardly need to purchase anything for next month so I can be very very picky about what I purchase and when. I plan to fix all meals from the pantry and stockpile next month and see if I can go for the month without purchasing anything but staples (milk, butter, egges, bacon). This should be an interesting challenge don't you think?

Whatever is left over next month will go into the savings account. Of course the challenge to myself will be the keep as much of the $200.00 in my pocket as possible.

By the way....notice the Borax and Arm and Hammer in the picture on the back left. That's for the laundry detergent I will be making this weekend. Yes I will show you how and you can save a ton of money making your own laundry detergent. It really works!!!! Been doing it for a while and even convinced some friends to try it and they love it as well. Very simple and very few ingredients.