Week #4 Grocery Shopping-$30 Challenge

The meat for this week I already bought during Week 3 here.  So this week the budget leftover after the meat purchase is $20.  There were some good sales this week and alot of them to use coupons with, which I love.
It seriously bums me out to check out at the grocery store and not use any coupons.  It always seems like I bought a little of nothing and spent my whole budget.
It took me 2 hours yesterday to throw out expired coupons, print the ones I needed, clip all my new ones, make my list, and matchup my coupons to my list.  It is mornings like those that make me want to quit couponing, then of course I take a look at our grocery budget and I quickly realize that I can't quit.  I was super excited about this weeks trip because Kroger was having a great buy 10 get $5 off sale with many items I had coupons to match.  I always get my best coupon information from freetastesgood.com.  She is in the Ohio area so most of the time our sales match up really nicely.  There are exceptions though.  It seems at least once a month I plan for this great deal I have read about online, so sure that it's going to work, I make my list based off of this great deal and then it doesn't work.  Last week it was the bologna I thought I was going to get  a $2 catalina when I bought it, but the catalina didn't print and the store manager couldn't find anywhere on the website that there was supposed to be a catalina printing.  Needless to say, that week my trip didn't turn out as planned.

This week was one in the same.  I saw a great deal and catalina printout that was supposd to be for Bayer Aspirin.  They were $2.19 each, you buy 2, use a $4.00 off of 2 coupon and pay $0.38 for both, then get a $3 catalina printout.  It was a moneymaker!!  I was super excited and had planned on buying 4 and getting 2) $3.00 catalinas paying for my milk purchase.  However they did not have the smaller bottles of Aspirin and it was not a moneymaker with what they had in stock.  So no deal.  I was bummed.  All the other items were on the buy 10 get $5 off so if I eliminated 1, I would lose all the sale prices on everything else in my cart.  It was a lose lose so I ended up going $2.63 over budget.  I told my husband how aggravated that made me and he just laughed and said "Lisa, it's $2.  It's not a big deal."  Regardless I worked really hard to keep myself within budget and then to go over, it's like my work was for nothing.

Ok enough rambling and complaining, here's what I got this week:

 

4 containers of KoolAid drink mix $0.99 used 2) $1.00/2 coupons and paid $0.49 each

4 containers countrytime lemonade mix $0.99 used 2) $1.00/2 coupons and paid $0.49 each

1 Reynolds wrap foil 75sq ft $3.29 use $0.75 coupon that doubled to $1.00 and paid $1.79

7 containers Reynolds cupcake liners $0.99 used $1.00/1 coupon and they were all free

3 boxes Reynolds mini cupcake liners $1.09 used $1.00/1 coupon and they were $0.09 each

2 bags frozen green gant steamers$ 0.99 each

2 boxes multigrain cheerios $1.99 each used 1) $0.75 coupon that doubled to $1.50 making one of them $0.49 and  got a catalina printout or $2

2 boxes Trix cereal $1.99 used 2) $0.60/1 coupon and paid $0.80 each

1 box Hershey's Cookies and Cream cereal $1.99 used $0.75 coupon and paid $0.49

2 boxes Oatmeal Crisp $1.99 each used $0.75/1 coupon and paid $0.49 each



6- 1/2 gallons of milk on managers special for $1.00 each
1/2 gallon Turkey hill lemonade $0.75
Welch's Juice cocktail $2.09 used $0.75 coupon that doubled to $1.50 and paid $0.59
Flour $1.42
Coffeemate Creamer 32oz 2.49 used $0.55 coupon that doubled to $1.10 and paid $1.39
Jennie-O Turkey Franks $1.99 used $0.55 coupon that doubled to $1.10 and paid $0.89
Beechnut baby cereal $1.58 used $0.75 coupn that doubled to $1.50 and paid $0.08 (we don't have an infant in the house anymore but I have multiple family members with who just had babies that can get good use out of this and we all know how expensive babies are and every little bit helps when you're a new parent)

Total Spent- $22.63 ( I did 2 transactions using the $2 catalina from the cheerios to pay for 2) 1/2 gallons of milk, making them free.

Even though not getting the great deal I had planned is frustrating I'm really satisfied with my loot I brought home.  The lessoned learned here is to not base your list and total out of pocket spent on a catalina or deal you haven't seen for yourself in the store.