Saved 105% on Groceries....WOW!!!!

Hey bloggers!!!  Had a good experience at the grocery today.  Started going every week again to save more money.  My goal is by the end of Sept to have my grocery bill cut in HALF.....that's right HALF in ONE month!!  I told you last week my bi-weekly budget was $200 and I spent approx $150.  That meant I had $50 to spend today.....yeah I went a little over but my pantry is more full now then it's been in quite a while.  Starting next week my budget is going to be divided out weekly to $100 but I am going to try and cut back a little each week so by the end of Sept I am down to a weekly budget of $50.  Now back to today....before tax, coupons, and sale prices I spent $109.99.  Then you take away coupons, bonus savings on coupons, and in store ads I spent $53.45 and SAVED $56.54!!!  WHOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!!  I actually saved more than I spent and my frig and pantry are full!!!  The buy of the week for me was Johnsonville Italian sausages were on sale from $4.99 to $3.99 and I had 2 $1.00 coupons which made them $2.99 ea but the kicker was when I went to purchase them on the package was a coupon that if you bought 2 you got a package of the breakfast sausages FREE....that was a extra value of $2.99.  What an unexpected bonus because the Italian Sausages were already on my shopping list!!!  Also Dial handsoap that regularly sells for $1.76 and was on sale for .88 cents....on top of that I had a .35 cent coupon that doubled so my final price was .18 cents each.  Now that's a pretty darn good deal.  Well I hope this helps someone else save because it's so fun for me and I know it can be fun for your too.  Feel free to leave a comment or share tips!

Garage Sales can equal Big Deals!

Hey all just a little info to talk about garage sales.  I'm the first one to admit you have to really dig sometimes to find that diamond in the rough at garage sales...but this last Saturday I hit the jackpot.  I spent a total of $40 and with that money I got 19 pairs of jeans, 5 coats and 35 tops a beautiful 6' Christmas tree and some misc items for the home.  Now all in all that doesn't sound unusually amazing but all the jeans and tops except for like 12 total were name brand items like American Eagle, Hollister, Disney, Hard Rock, I mean real nice quality well taken care of items.  In this ensemble I did get 7 pair of jeans for my step daughter that fit her good and were desparately needed.  She has been telling me for weeks now she needed jeans and would like to be able to get some and I got her 7 pair for $3.50.  Heck if I would have taken her to the local dept store I would of been lucky to come out with one pair under $40.  Now this sale was not your normal sale of such nice items for such a low price but usually there is something in garage sales that you can get a great deal on.  Always remember to ask the seller if they can take less or come down on the price.  These ladies were so happy that I was purchasing so much stuff they gave me some extras only because I had asked a question about them and they felt like I deserved them.  So I got several items I didn't have to pay for at all.  Also a good idea is if they have something your very interested in ask if you can leave your name and number and if after their sale is over the item does not sell and they are still interested in getting rid of it that maybe something can be worked out.  I have also found in my garage sale experience that most of the time the higher middle class or the nicest homes offer the best items at the cheapest prices.  The average income homes tend to price items higher for the same merchandise.  So take the time to venture out on a fri or a sat morning and let me know what kind of deals you got.......Good Luck!!!

Savings at grocery was $95.56!

Hey all!  Just a little bit of info about my grocery visit the other day.  I ended up saving a whopping $95.56!!!  Not too shabby for about 2 hours prep time.  I know alot of you don't think you have time to prep but really if you think about it you do.  Everything can be done on your computer, making your menu and list and gathering coupons.  The total I spent was $150.35 and the amount of groceries will easily last a couple of weeks in addition to having lots extras that will start my stockpile effort.  My old grocery budget was $200 every two weeks so my plan with my extra $50 I have left over is to check their ad next week and ONLY buy items that are offered with the DEEP discounts.  If they are not offereing anything with deep discounts that we will use or any money I don't use will be put back.   After about a month or two of this I expect my grocery budget to be drasticly reduced because everytime I shop will only be the deep discounted items.  What is also really nice about seriously preparing and saving at the grocery is it really doesn't take that much time and my pantry and freezer are much fuller than when you don't prepare.  You can stockpile items and there will be times where you can even skip your grocery shopping and maybe take the money and go enjoy a special weekend away!  We really enjoy vacations so that is what I usually stash the money away for that way when we are on vacation we don't have to worry about the budget or oh we shouldn't do this or that because it costs too much.  Anyone have suggestion or comments you are more than welcome to post.  Thanks and have a great day!

Grocery Day....Time to Save BIG!

First of all I would like to clarify I am NOT one of those extreme coupon shoppers.  I'm just a regular person who tries to be wise about my shopping and saving.  I live in a fairly small town and choices of where I shop are somewhat limited compared to the big cities.  I have not let this discourage me and am always on the lookout for ways to save or bargins.  The trip to town today main intention is to get my groceries.  One thing I have learned is if you look and shop mostly for sale items on a weekly basis there is really no need to buy items at full price.  This takes a little time to get your pantry filled up with items that will not only will be used immediately but things that you can use for weeks to come.  Buying muliple items when on sale will save you more in the long run compared to only buying one or two on sale then a week or two later buying it again at full price.  Ok so let's get started!  First thing I do is go thru the stores flyer with a fine tooth comb.  Keeping special attention on items with the largest discounts.  Now that I know the sale items it's time to gather my coupons.  There are many MANY websites out there that will do all the hard work for you as far as matching up coupons with the ads.  You just need to experiment with this and find out which site is best for you.  I have used some and they constantly lock my computer up and I get very frustrated on waiting for it to unlock therefore  I like to look at different sites every week to see what is new out there.  I keep a list of my "favorites" and surf them weekly.  Next using my ad I plan out my menus for the following week.  I never used to do this but have found it to be very useful in several ways.  It sure cuts out the coming home after a long days work and not having a clue to what to fix for supper.  No longer do I have the 15 min conversation with my hubby....."what do you want for dinner?"  his reply "I don't know what do you want?" and so on...you are all familar with that conversation I am sure.  Also I don't always stick to what I have planned for Mon I might have that on Wed but I definately have a gameplan of what I need to purchase to have all the larger meals planned out for the week.  I also like to take my time in the grocery making sure I look for "manager specials" or meat that is marked down and would be perfectly fine to freeze and use later.  My store has a location where they put all their marked down merchandise regardless of whether it's past its selling prime because it is a seasonal item or if it might be an overstock or coming close to the "use best by" date.  Here you can find real bargins and everyonce in a while I just might have a coupon that will match up with it.  I will make sure and update on how much I saved on this trip and any special values I received that was not in the original plan.  I also save money on gas when I grocery shop not only because my store has a fuel incentive program but also because I plan to run other errands on the same day, picking up prescriptions, going to post office, and of course stopping in my favorite stores to see new markdowns and specials.  I hope this has helped you and any comments or suggestions you may have are always welcomed.  Thanks and enjoy your day!

My passion is finding bargins!

Hey all welcome to my blog!  I just love to shop and find bargins....on EVERYTHING.  I am not just talking about the occasional bargin we all run across, I'm talking that everytime I shop I look at as much as time permits and look for those FABULOUS bargins everywhere.  This is so fun for me and I thought that I would start a blog and let you know what deals I find and how you can find them too.  Also since I am just beginning this blog I will update you on all new bargins I find so you can find them too.  Here is an example.....I was in desparate need of one of those thick plastic rugs you put under you desk chair so you can roll around easily.  I had been looking as I was out shopping and decided I only needed the regular size 36x48.  I found these to range from $25-$40 at local stores and office supply stores.  So wanting to look at one final place we went to Staples on Sun. while we were out running errands.  We found one for $39.99 and one for $29.99.  I selected the one for $29.99 because I found out it was on sale....(was not signed so is always a good idea to ask like I did). When the clerk rang it up the she also provided me with a $3 coupon that was part of a promotion.  Bottom line my $29.99 hard plastic desk rug (nice and thick with studs to hold in place with your carpet) final costs was $14.99 minus $3 for a total of $11.99.  That was a savings of $18. on a much needed product.  I was so happy about this savings.  Just remember....don't buy on impluse....look around....shop around.....and the bargins are out there!  Check back for my next entry and we will shop and save together.