No, I’m not writing a tribute to Andy Warhol, but I am singing the praises of my sweet, wonderful husband who has really gotten into this coupon-clipping, penny-pinching grocery store shopping game in a BIG way. Thanks to his resourcefulness (and his daily checking of message boards like Slick Deals and, of course, Money Saving Mom), we managed to buy a dozen Campbell’s chicken noodle soups at Target for 35 cents each! This is a real bargain to us because Lulu LOVES chicken noodle soup (or at least she did last week). We purchased the soup on sale for 2/$1.20 and then used 50 cents/2 coupons to further reduce the price. Our total spending on this nice little stack of soup was a mere $4.20 + tax. This is but one example of the way that simply paying attention to what is available will enable you to reduce your spending. Of course, it helps to have a husband who enjoys the game! How does your family work as a team to reduce your expenditures?
On a related note, how do those of you who are on tight grocery budgets work bargains into your budget? Do you allow a little bit of “fudge” room for those great deals you can’t pass up? Do you budget a little more money than you actually need just so you can stock up on those great deals?
To read about more “Super Savings,” click on over to Money Saving Mom!
I have a set monthly food budget. That way, if there’s a good deal one week, and I need to spend a little more that week- I know I can, but I’ll cut back the next week. I hope that makes sense!
My husband I work as a team by just not buying lunch out, and when one of us wants to go out to eat (unplanned) we’ll talk the other one down from the ledge
I found you from MoneySavingMom.com You got a great deal!
I’m just beginning to coupon, but we have made it a family hobby. My boys clip & sort the coupons. I do the research & make the “MASTER PLAN” Sweet, awesome, handsome, adorable husband goes shopping with me on Sunday.
Coupons have changed the way we shop. It’s not a browse through the store & pick out whatever we want ordeal. It has become a treasure hunt of sorts. Shopping is much more relaxed & we laugh and play and flirt (and drive the other customers crazy, I’m sure!)
Then we come home and set up photo shoots of our “haul.” This is weird.
I haven’t been doing this long enough to give advice about budgeting. This week, I’m testing out this method : $35 in cash to spend on this week’s needs – milk, meat, bread, produce. $100 to stockpile future food/household. I think this is the best plan so far. If I don’t spend the whole $100, I’ll save it for next week.
I’m excited to hear what other people are doing, maybe I can get some advice on the best way to budget.
My family is just me and SO (and two dogs) right now. Unfortunately, he’s a spendthrift and I have to be forceful when it comes to budgeting. I’m hoping he’ll be ‘enlightened’ soon.
As far as working the deals into my budget, I usually only the do the deals if it’s meat. That seems to be our biggest expense. I just cut back on other things that week in order to get the deal. So far, so good. My freezer has been full since November and I only needed to supplement it with ground beef.
I’m new at this, but I feel like if I stockpile the good deals whenever I can it will cut the bill down in the long run. That is something I have always done, even before I started this whole couponing thing. And it really helps…especially if you have a lean week because of some unforeseen expense…there’s always something to eat in the garage!
Anyway, we’re shooting for 100 dollars a week, and so far the stockpiling has sent me a bit over that, but I know as I have more necessities stockpiled I will be able to stay under, even while stockpiling other things. Hope that makes sense!
I too, found you from moneysavingmom (found her from my sister!) I just started ‘playing the grocery game’. So far, in 4 trips to 3 stores, I have saved over $200 and still have $10 ECBs for Cvs and $10 RR at Giant Eagle. Also, will be getting $32 in rebates. Unfortunately, it was not ALL necessity items, but will either become the beginning of my stockpile or be donated to the assisted living home I worked at 5 years ago. I know from experience how much needed and appreciated lotions, soaps, and shampoos will be there! My husband is amazed at the free or almost free stuff I have gotten and has bragged at work about it! For the first time in a LONG time, going to the store is fun! And for the first time in my married life (12 yrs, 3 boys later) I am going to pear down my grocery bill to $100 a week. Last week I did pretty good w/a trip to Save-a-lot for $60 and 6 days worth of dinners (without many extra snacks and almost no household items) this week I’m running around $125 oop, and a lot of extras. I got carried away w/ deals and bargains! lol They were too hard to pass up! So now I need to get myself to a happy medium where I can figure on dinners AND the other stuff for around $100. We have a few goals for this year- one is to start the envelope system (money set aside for certain things-groceries, clothing, eat/take out, entertainment, etc) and to start a christmas club for this year (have some catching up to do on that), a vacation fund, monthly $ into kids bank accounts, and by March to get my paychecks direct deposited into savings. THat will be a big difference. All that and will still have extra to decide what to do with. It will be a HUGE difference to finally budget ourselves…but he seems willing…so far! lol