SHOP THE SALES!
Today I finally went grocery shopping. We've had a nearly-empty refrigerator for the past few days as I tried to get it as empty as possible before giving it a good cleaning. Even if it means seeing my children act as though they're going to starve for a few days, it's all worth it to see their excitement when they come home to a clean fridge full of food! (It's a little twisted, I know, but I don't get out much...and that's just my idea of fun these days.)
Anyway, Smith's had a really great sale that ended today. You buy 10 or more items that they have grouped together on their ad, and then you get them at pretty inexpensive prices. Like $2.00 for Pam cooking spray, Palmolive dish soap, and Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips; $1.50 for Lehi Roller Mills brownie mixes; and $1.00 for apple pie filling and Duncan Hines frosting. I also had three coupons for $1.00 off every 2 packages of the chocolate chips, so those only cost me $1.50 each. I had 75-cent coupons for Pam spray, so they were only $1.25. And 50 cents off Palmolive dish soap, which ended up being $1.50. That's only a sampling of what I got today.
I stocked up on a lot of baking items this time, partly because that's what was on sale but also because I typically don't buy a lot of pre-packaged foods. I bought 6 bags of chocolate chips (assorted flavors) and put them in the freezer. The rest of the items went into food storage. Every single item I bought today, even down to the milk and eggs, was either on sale or bought with a coupon. That doesn't happen every time, but it sure felt good today! I watched the total come to $267.54, but after coupons, sale prices, and cardholder discounts, my final total was $159.68. I completely filled up my minivan with groceries. It felt so good!
Every item I bought today was an item I would have purchased at some point. What I mean by that is I didn't buy anything just because it was on sale or just because I had a coupon. Even though my weekly grocery budget is $50 (including nonfood items), I felt completely justified spending the extra $120 today because I know that it will help me stay under my budget on future trips to the grocery store.
I do have to admit that I visit the Bishop's Storehouse about four times a year, so I don't buy much meat (other than salmon and other seafood). I'm also able to stock up on a lot of items there like sugar, flour, rice, pasta, spaghetti sauce...and even nonfood items like toilet paper, toothpaste, aluminum foil, and plastic wrap. Still, I enjoy cooking and baking, and if I'm careful, I'm able to buy fun and different foods and try out at least one new recipe each week.
My husband was always a very good provider, and I have to say that I never used to be one for budgets, especially at the grocery store. If it looked good, I bought it! But hopefully even after Syd comes home and money is not so tight, I'll remember all the things I've learned and make our money stretch as far as possible.
4 comments:
Smith's just launched a similar sale starting today. I also read on my Comcast news that store prices will be coming down on everything from groceries to clothing.
Kim, I'm a big sale shopper! I think where I'm at Albertson's is where you can get the best deals most of the time. Years ago, I started a project, it's kind of like a price book...I listed a bunch of different items that I usually buy and put down the best price that I saw them for. That way, when I see a price listed in the ad's I'll know if it's a good sale or if I sould wait until I see it for a better price. Just last week, I got that price book out and started updating it. I usually save all the grocery ad's in a kitchen drawer. And I had months of ad's in there that I was able to look through and update prices in my price book. Surprisingly, most of the sale items were still coming down to the same sale prices they were when I started the book 5 years ago. I know, I'm weird. Like I say, I just have the worst memory, so to just remember what a good price is from trip to trip to the grocery store doesn't work for me. I do much better if I've written it down.
Lori, I'm always wanting to put your comments into a new post. I heard about price books but have never taken the time to start one. I plan on doing just that, since keeping track of prices is essential to saving money! I can remember some things, but definitely not everything!
Just start saving up your grocery ad's each week...and then in a few months you'll have a good base to go off of. You can check your receipts too, but a lot of times sizes and stuff won't be on there, so to go off the ad's might work better.
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