Spending Goals: Budget Check-Up

12 Weeks into the year and I don't feel like we are doing too bad, although I know we can do better.  At 12 weeks in, we've spent $826.29 on groceries and drugstore purchases.  That's $68.85/wk and about $76 more than we budgeted for.  Typically, when I go over budget, it comes out of my personal envelope.  Paul hates that I do this, but I figure groceries are something that I primarily deal with so if I go over budget, it's on me and I should take care of it.

As far as I'm concerned, our April budgeting period started on Friday (based on a 4wk budgeting period), and so far we are doing pretty well.  With 4 trips under our belt, we've only spent $25, which leaves us plenty to pick up more fresh produce throughout the week.

Total Spent This Year: $826.29
Total Saved: $1957.98 or 73.28%

Got Our Kitchen Prep Set (another great Housewares Deals deal)

My hubby brought in a package this morning with a shrug.  "I don't know what it is but it's too big to be a book".  When I finally got a chance to look at it, it took me a minute to remember that I'd ordered the deal I posted about last week from HousewaresDeals.com for the two cutting boards and three resin coated knives.

I was a little disappointed that they weren't orange, as they appear in the pictures, but red.  Could just be that my color is off on my laptop...lol.  But, I was happy with the overall product.  I'd mentioned it to Paul before ordering and he concurred that he thought it sounded like a good deal at just $14 (with another $4ish for shipping).  The package arrived quickly and we pulled the items out and they all looked good. 

I grabbed the paring knife this afternoon and used it to peel a kiwi.  Hubby had just commented on what a pain they are to peel and I had it peeled in about 30 seconds with that knife.  It was SWEET! And the Kiwi was pretty darn good too!

This is the second deal we've purchased from HouseWaresDeals.com.  The first was a spice rack, which we bought two of (one for my mom) and have been very happy with both the rack and the spices.

Coupon News: Ex-Target Employee Accused of Coupon Fraud

Maybe all these new coupons policies aren't so much because of their worry of abuse by couponers, but by the employees!

Evidently, this guy was working a scheme with some friends where they would come in with high dollar coupons for one item and then he'd override to allow them to use them on other more expensive items (like cell phones).  Evidently, he was also manipulating gift cards.

Read the article here.

Might Want to Get an Extra Paper Tomorrow!

This Sunday's paper is looking to be a GREAT one for coupons and you might want to pick up an extra copy or two.  We usually only buy 1, but we'll be buying 2 this week with all these great coupons.

Check this out (and these are just some of the ones that I personally am looking forward to)....

$1.50 Off Colgate Total Advanced
$2 Off Bic Disposable Shavers (Hybrid, Soleil, Flex 4, Comfort 3 Advance)
$1/2General Mills cereals
BOGO Clean & Clear Body Wash
$1/1 Clean & Clear any Save
BOGO Axe Shower Gel or Detailer
$1/1 Dove Beauty Bar 6- bar pack
$1/1 Dove Body Wash 10oz
$1/1 Dove Men+Care Body and Face Wash

Check out the Sunday Coupon Preview to see the list of what to expect tomorrow, and figure out how many papers you need to buy!

Publix Trip: $20.05 - I wish I had a picture

With the big changes we've made this last week, it's had a big impact on the way we shop.  We've decided to incorporate a LOT more fresh fruit and veggies into our diet and, as you all know, those can get expensive.  My husband's first instinct after last week's $30 Kroger trip was to up our budget. I felt (and still feel) like we can do this without changing our budget.  Granted, I've yet to stay exactly within the $50/wk budget but I'm getting closer and closer.  Last night we went to Publix and picked up a few sale items and a whole lotta produce and managed to spend only $20.  He's pretty set on exactly what he wants to eat but I'm a little more flexible, so I tried to look at what was on sale.  The four things he HAS to have are apples, grapefruit, celery & cucumber.

Here's what we got for that $20


Green Beans (packaged) = $1.41
2lb white seedless grapes (on sale for $1.69lb) = $3.36
Bag of Red Grapefruit (on sale) = $2.99
Celery = $1.49
Bag of Granny Smith apples = $4.99
Cucumber = $1.99 (on sale)
Package Strawberries (on sale 3/$5) = $1.67
Sliced Mushrooms (on sale) = $1.69
2 packages Kraft shredded cheese @ 2/$4 = $4
4 Kraft chunk cheese @ 2/$4 = $8
1 Weight Watchers Ice Cream bars @$4.89 BOGO = $2.45
Egglands Best Eggs @$2.59

=$36.63 (after sale discounts)
-$4/$40 Kroger Q
-$.50/1 Egglands Best (doubled)
-$1/1 Weight Watchers ice cream bars
-(2)$.55/1 Kraft Cheese
-(3)$1.50/2 Kraft Cheese (Target Q)
-(3)$1.50/2 Kraft Cheese (Publix Q)
-$1/1 Kraft Cheese
$1/1 (I have no clue what this was).

=$18.53 + tax = $20.05

As we were ringing out the guy bagging asked the other guy about the Publix Q for the Kraft Cheese, because it says "retailer coupon" but rings as a "manufacturer coupon". The guy ringing me is a csm (and my favorite cashier) and he said that yes it was a manufacturer Q but it didn't beep so he took them all. He still had another q to scan as he was saying this and I mentioned that it might not go through because I may have too many then. He said it scanned so no issue.  Cool!

Looking back at this, that's still a lot of produce for just $20 and we got the cheese basically free!

I Got Highlighted on the ChaChing Challenge!

Kaley over at Cha-Ching on a ShoeString, highlighted my blog yesterday and somehow I totally missed it until today.  She's been running a Cha-Ching Challenge where she shares her weekly savings and invites others to do the same, then she picks one each week to highlight.  This week she picked me and it makes me happy :)

Set Your DVR: Extreme Couponing Series Premier April 6

It's less than 2 weeks away, so it's time to set that DVR to start recording the new series of Extreme Couponing. Check out the preview below!