Friday, March 7, 2014

A Challenging Goal and My Grocery Budget for February

During the month of February, I set myself a pretty challenging goal:

 ONLY SPEND $200.00 
ON GROCERIES, TOILETRIES, DIAPERS, WIPES, CLEANERS
 AND ANYTHING YOU THINK YOU WOULD BUY AT THE STORE.  

$200.00 for a family of 5, two of which are in diapers and five of us that really like to eat.  You read that right.  Of course I used coupons and shopped the sales and became completely obsessed with reaching this goal.... Here are some pics of the grocery shopping trips - you know I like to take pics.













So, I'm sure you wanna know - Did I do it?  Well.... ALMOST.  I went over in a moment of weakness.  I put off getting somethings that I had to have in a timely manner and then I ended up picking up a few other things that I didn't really plan for and what do you know, I went over by $32.66.   BUT I SAVED OVER $800.00.  Here is the breakdown:

DateStoreOriginal PriceOut of Pocket$ Savings% Savings
2/7/2014ShopRite$54.92$68.40
2/7/2014Weis$5.58$30.5084
2/7/2014Food Lion$3.30$1.87
2/8/2014ShopRite$10.32$62.57
2/10/2014CVS2.48 GiftCard$19.5989
2/11/2014Walgreens3.88 GiftCard, .91$7.1860
2/11/2014ACME$1.79$0.00$1.00100
2/11/2014Walgreens$2.00$6.3876
2/11/2014ShopRite$17.62$80.14
2/11/2014Martins$2.00
2/12/2014Rite Aid13.77 GiftCard
2/14/2014Food Lion$4.62$14.50
2/14/2014Walgreens$1.72$13.8891
2/15/2014ShopRite$17.75$83.13
2/15/2014Food Lion$4.40$16.38
2/15/2014Martins$2.50$0.49
2/18/2014Food Lion$5.45$13.00
2/19/2014ShopRite$18.29$105.51
2/21/2014Rite Aid1.34 GiftCard
2/21/2014CVS.86 GiftCard 6.84$19.6074
2/21/2014ShopRite$10.13$98.75
2/22/2014ACME$8.55$12.9060
2/22/2014Martins$32.49$3.69
2/24/2014Martins$29.97$10.92$19.05
2/25/2014ShopRite$11.79$71.16
2/25/2014Walgreens1.39 GiftCard
2/25/2014Walgreens$2.68$9.8975
2/26/2014Rite Aid5.30 GiftCard
2/27/2014ShopRite$3.45$62.16
2/27/2014Martins$9.43$2.18$7.25
DateStoreOriginal PriceOOPSavings% Savings
$232.66$828.97

What I've learned for March - 
  • I need a slightly bigger budget.  After all, March has 31 days.  So I'm shooting for $250.00.
  • I'm super thankful for ShopRite and there dollar doubles promotion.
  • I go to the store a lot.  Thanks to my wonderful husband for working so hard so that I can do that.  
  • Saving money is an awesome feeling.
  • I think I like budgets.
  • Cash is the way to go.  It is so easy to see what you have remaining when it is right in front of you. 
  • I need to go buy some Diet Coke - I just drank the last one! 

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