It’s Sunday again. Like every Sunday I try to bring you the deal of the week, or show you what we bought. A lot of times my readers or friends and family members tell me ” Is couponing really worth it ? ” “I never coupon because there are no coupons for the stuff I use” and so on.. Well today I’m gonna show you that you need to stop making excuses and move into the saving mode. Yes, there isn’t always a coupon for a product you want, especially meat and produce are hard to come by, or even bakery products. However they are out there, if you can’t find any there are still options
Option 1. Buy items with coupons that give you overage, meaning the coupons will pay for the item making the item FREE and then if the coupon is higher than the price of the item, the difference will be applied towards your grocery total, reducing the total that much, that’s what we call “overage”. So you can put that overage towards products that don’t have any coupons.
Options2 . If you just can’t find any products that produce overage and can’t find any Bread, Meat or produce coupons.. don’t worry about it, buy the cheapest product when it is on sale, the meat is easy. This week at publix they had Spare ribs $1.79/lb; this is a great deal, so stock up buy $15 or $20 worth of meat and put it in the freezer, that will last you for a few weeks till another sale rolls around, even though you had no coupon you bought the meat on sale and still got some savings.
So, this week our shopping trip was a little different, I had no time to prepare during week, so I took about 2 hours Saturday afternoon and looked at I Heart Publix and made my list, pulled my coupons and grabbed the kids and went to Publix. The hardest part, it’s Superbowl Weekend, everyone was at the store.. My kids were great, a big help…. So in less than an hour we made it back out and went home. This week was a great stock up week for anything Dairy from Shredded cheese to cheese singles and even cream cheese.
We went over our budget this week, our budget is usually $50/ week. We haven’t really shopped the last few weeks and stayed well under budget, so I wasn’t worried. I still think we had a great shopping trip and I don’t feel too bad about spending $90.14, we did save $170.96…!! Which brings me to… why I’m so excited to show you my trip…. It wasn’t the best trip ever, BUT on this trip I can proof to you that I did buy Normal, everyday stuff and still only spend $90 !!! We are now stocked up on Diary for the next few month as well as snacks and other stuff… so YES everyone can use coupons and save on the things you usually buy.. everyone buys cheese, bread and crackers…
Take a look this is what we bought today…..
This is what we bought……
10 packs Kraft Shredded Cheese
6 packs of Kraft Singles
1 Pedigree Dog Food ( 32 lbs bag)
10 Boxes Triscuit Crackers
3 loafs of Bread
10 packs of Cream Cheese
8 Jars of Pickles
4 boxes Velveeta Cheese ( 1 lb each box)
10 cans Rotel Tomatoes
12 Yoplait Yogurts
2 Packs of Ribs (about 4 lbs each pack)
4 Marzetti Vegetable/ Chips dip
5 Avocado’s
1 bag of Carrots
2.5 lbs Grapes
2 packs Guacamole seasoning
8 16oz Tubs Sour Cream
I think I got it all now… My register total before any coupons was $163.54
after coupons my total was $90.14 ( includes $ 1.19 Tax) and the savings on the bottom was $ 170.96 !!!! This is almost $300 worth of Groceries for under $100.00, now you tell me these items aren’t in your house???
I do have a funny story to tell, after I paid my Teen said “So mom, how much did you spend ?” So I told him “$90” both the Tween and the Teen said “WHAT?? So much mom, are you feeling okay…. Are you okay with that?? That’s a LOT of money!!”… So I told them I was fine with it, after all we had meat and the dog food, so about $35 products worth without coupons… so I’m fine not too bad… We get home my hubby comes out to help bring the groceries in the house and he asked “How much did you spend?” I told him $90…. He looked at me and said “What?? So much… are you okay….?? You sure the register did it right??”…. Am I really that cheap ?????…lol.. I just had to laugh… But yes…I’m fine, yes it’s above my $50 target, but I did get a LOT of stuff and wanted to show you guys that Everyone can save on everyday stuff…..!!!!!!!!!!!
If you need couponing help or have questions.. let me know, facebook me, e-mail me or leave a comment, I’m more than happy to help you save money… We have helped a lot of families save money, we can help you, too….
Happy Shopping……
SweepingMe says
Hi, I love this article! I had used coupons on and off. After my job loss. I use them all the time. I love them. Yes, I never get coupons on meat or produce but the money I save on crakers, cheese and all the rest is so great that it’s like getting the meat for free. I spend about 75 dollars a week on grocery’s. I would love to get this total down. Any suggestions? I also would love to know how the CVS, Walgreen’s, Rite Aid etc Care Bucks works. I am not sure. I don’t really understand it. I think I could cut my grocery bills more If I understood it.
Thanks for your time!
Mary
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Dianna says
Can you give tips on how you store the perishables that you buy? Do you have an extra fridge? (Thinking about the cream cheese and sour cream.)
Thanks!
mausekind says
Hi Dianna;
Yes we do have 2 Refrigerators and 1 upright Freezer, the upright freezer was the best investment EVER!!! Was about $200 or so and it has saved us money over and over and over, giving us the opportunity to stockup on meat and frozen products when they are super cheap. As for the Sour Cream and Cream Cheese, both have expiration dates that last very long, Cream cheese I think was almost June and the Sour Cream I think was April, both will be gone before than but they last a good time and something you can buy ahead, as for cheese that always has a long shelf life, too I think mine was June but we put our cheese in the freezer extending the life a lot longer… So a Freezer is key … if you have any questions, feel free to bug me 🙂