Roundy's Cereal Deal

I was just talking to a friend at church this morning about being due for a cereal deal at Roundy's anytime now, and sure enough, there's one this week! It's for Kellogg's cereal (and also Keebler cookies and crackers). Buy 6 at regular price, get $10 off and a catalina coupon for a free gallon of milk (up to $3). The $10 off will come off instantly at checkout and you can use your milk coupon later or in your next transaction. My experience with the milk catalina from Kellogg's is that it takes off only the amount of milk (no overage).

To find out if this is a good deal, you would add up the 6 boxes of cereal, take off the $10 and then take off any doubled coupons you are using. Then divide that number by 6 to see your price per box of cereal to determine if it is at your "buy price".

Here are some coupons:
Several Kellogg's coupons (after you sign up)
$1/2 Townhouse crackers
There are also some coupons on coupons.com, but they are for money off flour, peanut butter, cocoa, etc when you buy Kellogg's cereal. So unless you were going to buy those items anyway, the ones on the Kellogg's website are better.

So here's an example: buy 2 Mini-Wheats, 2 Crispix, and 2 Rice Krispies at $3.50 each (I'm guessing on the price, but that should be close). $21 minus $10 promo minus $6 in doubled coupons (3 $1/2 coupons)=$5 which is already less than $1 per box, and we didn't even take into account the free milk! Under $1 per box is a "buy price" for me. :-)

**Note that you will need more items on this order to bring it up to $25, but you have room to double 2 more coupons so that shouldn't be a problem!**
Happy shopping! :-)

Roundy's Coupon Matches (Copps, Pick 'n Save, Rainbow))

Roundy's stores (Copps, Pick 'n Save, and Rainbow) double 5 coupons up to $1 per $25 order every Wednesday AND Saturday. However, THIS WEDNESDAY is double double daze AGAIN! Double 10 coupons per $25 order instead of just 5! There are several deals this week, so here are some printable coupon matches to help you make your list. Check your coupon stash to see if you can find more matches. For printing tips, click here. Questions? Feel free to email me!

$0.50/ea: Yoplait Light, Light Thick & Creamy Yogurt, 6 oz
$0.40/6 Yoplait Yogurt cups
$0.40/6 Yoplait Yogurt cups
==================================
BOGO free Yoplait Go-Gurt

$0.75/2 Yoplait Go-GURT Yogurt
==================================
$1.50/ea: Yoplait YoPlus Yogurt
$0.50/1 YoPlus Yogurt 4-pack

$0.50 ADC
==================================
BOGO free Yoplait Fiber One Yogurt

$0.50/1 Yoplait Fiber One Yogurt Multipacks
==================================
$2.50/ea: Hershey's Snack Size Candy

$1.00/3 REESE'S, KIT KAT, or HERSHEY'S snack size bags (9-22 oz.)
==================================
$1.98/ea: Nestle Fun Size Candy Bars (Limit 2)
$1.00/2 Nestle Fun Size bags
$0.98 each ADC
==================================
$0.68/ea: Bar S Meat or Turkey Franks
$1.00/2 Bar-S Beef Franks (if beef is included in sale)
Better than free ADC (coupon will double up to regular price)
==================================
$2.99/ea: Johnsonville Pork Sausage Links, Patties or Rolls
$0.55/1 Johnsonville Links, Patties or Rolls
$1.89 ADC
==================================
$2.50/ea: Wholly Guacamole, 7 oz.
$1.00/2 Wholly Guacamole products

$1.50 ADC
==================================
$3.99/ea: Wholly Guacamole, 14 oz.
$1.00/2 Wholly Guacamole products

$2.99 each ADC
==================================
$1.00/ea: Minute Maid Simply Juice or Lemonade, 12-13.5 oz.
$1.00/1 Simply Lemonade, Orange, or Apple Juice (Facebook)
Better than free ADC (you may have used this coupon last week on the full-size)
==================================
$1.89/ea: Zatarain's Dinner Mixes
$0.75/2 Zatarain's rice mixes or pasta mixes

$1.14 each ADC
==================================
$6.99/ea: Crisco Olive Oil
$1.00/1 Crisco Olive Oil

$4.99 ADC
==================================
$2.99/ea: Folgers Coffee
$1.00/1 Special Roast Can

$0.99 ADC
==================================
$2.00/ea: Hot Pockets Side Shots
$1.00/1 Hot Pockets (Facebook)
FREE ADC
==================================
$1.00/ea: Cole’s Garlic Mini-Loaf
$0.50/1 Cole’s Product
Free ADC
==================================
BOGO free Jose Ole Taquitos, Mini Tacos, and Mini Quesadillas
$1.00/1 Jose Ole Product
==================================
$4.99/ea: Wisk 2X Liquid Laundry Detergent
$1.00/1 Wisk laundry detergent

$2.99 ADC
==================================
$6.19/ea: Scott Paper Towels, 6-12 Roll
$2.50, on 8 or more rolls of SCOTT Extra Soft Bath Tissue AND 4 or more rolls of SCOTT Towels
==================================

Weekly Groceries

I did pretty good at Roundy's this week, only spending $18.90. These items were $1 or less: Pasta shells x4, Bush's Grillin Beans x2 (free), Reach toothbrush (free), eggs x2, broccoli, Simply Orange Juice x2, Welch's Healthy Start Juice, kleenex x2, and milk x3 (though I "paid" for them last week). I also bought 2 packages of spare ribs, bananas, and pancake mix x4.

Then I went to a one-day meat sale and spent $26.93 on chicken, ground beef, eggs, chocolate milk, ice cream, and puffcorn. So this week I spent $45.83 on groceries.

We also went to the apple orchard this week and spent $13 on 26 pounds of apples, with which we made applesauce and apple crisp! We've already eaten and given away most of the applesauce and all the apple crisp, so I'm thinking we need to go back to the orchard to get more apples, now that I have so many helpers to process them!

All You Magazine--$0.83 per issue!

Reader Rae Ann emailed me with a great deal on All You magazine--only $0.83 per issue! All You comes with a bunch of great coupons every month, and is definitely worth subscribing to if you can get it for under $1 per issue, as you will likely save at least that much each month with the coupons inside.

This is a fundraiser for her daughter's kindergarten, but since it is such a good deal, she wanted to share it with all of you, too! Simply click here and then search for All You. Select whether you would like a new subscription or a renewal. If you select 30 issues, you can get it for $25, which comes out to $0.83 per issue. There is no tax or shipping. Thanks Rae Ann!

Weekly Groceries--Pizza Savings!

No pictures again this week, but boy, did I shop! I went to Roundy's twice this week and did a total of 6 transactions--once I realized just how great a deal the DiGiorno pizza was after the surprise catalina, I HAD to go back to buy more on Saturday! They were advertised as 2/$10, buy 2 get a free gallon of milk, which I was willing to pay. But when I bought 2 on Wednesday, I got a catalina that took the full $3 off milk (even though it was $2.45), PLUS I got a $1 catalina that was able to be doubled, essentially taking off a total of $5, making the pizzas 2/$5--an unbeatable deal for DiGiorno! (Since I was buying the milk anyway, I counted the $3 milk catalina toward the pizza--my husband laughs at my "voodoo economics", but I think it's legit!)

After I explained how good a deal it was, my husband told me to go back and buy 8 more pizzas--and he made room for them in the freezer (he loves his pizza)! We have found that we really like the stuffed crust DiGiorno, and are replacing our monthly Pizza Hut splurge ($24 for 2 pizzas) with DiGiorno ($5 for 2 pizzas with this deal), which will save us $95 over the 10 pizzas!

That being said, I blew the weekly budget and spent $86.85. This next week's total should be lower, because I still have 4 free milk catalinas and 2 $1 OYNO catalinas (that can be doubled), which will take off $16 from next week's order, so I should be able to remain on track for the month.

I took advantage of the Pillsbury deal, spend $25, get $10 OYNO and free milk (for buying cookies). I bought 2 Grands biscuits, 2 Pizza Crust, 6 Crescent rolls, and 4 cookies and I ended up paying $0.34 TOTAL after catalinas and coupons! I just now realized I was charged for an extra pizza crust--I should have checked my receipt more carefully--Oops! Those items would have all been better than free if I hadn't been charged for the extra pizza crust--$1.66. Oh well.

These items were free or better than free: Oatmeal x2, Jimmy Dean breakfast bowls x2, Reach floss, YoPlus 4-packs x2, Mentos gum x5, and a donut (free after perks).

These items were $1 or less: string cheese x 11 ($1 is my stock-up price), Dannon yogurt 4-packs x3, Dannon 32 oz x2, El Monterey Tornadoes, FlipSides x4, Keebler cookies x2, Fiber One yogurt 4-packs x2, Lysol toilet bowl cleaner x2, Hunt's tomato sauce x4, RoTel tomatoes x3, Oreo Fudge Cream cookies x2, bread x2, and the above Pillsbury items.

I also bought milk x4, bananas, lettuce, chicken breasts x5 lbs, Cascade x2, Nature's Source toilet bowl cleaner, whipping cream, and pizzas x10.

Roundy's General Mills Cereal Deal--A Deal?

Roundy's has a different General Mills cereal deal this week. You might wonder if you can hit your target price for cereal (mine is less than $1 per box) with this new deal.

General Mills Cereal Deal: Buy 6 cereal, get catalina coupons for free milk, eggs, 4 Yoplait yogurt cups, and Toaster Strudels
Coupons available:
Various General Mills cereal coupons here and here
More cereal coupons (the same as above) and here

Unfortunately, you don't get the $10 off like you did with past deals (usually $10 off and at least 1 gallon of free milk--approx $13 value). This one is just shy of a $10 value, IF it takes off the full amounts listed and not just the sale amounts (will it take $3.29 off your bill even if the milk is $2.45?) Likely the price of the cereal will be around $18-$23 for 6 boxes before your cereal coupons. So how do you know if it is a good deal or not?

Here's what you do: add up your 6 cereal, AND the cost of milk, eggs, 4 yogurt cups, and Toaster Strudel (even though you aren't buying them in the same transaction). Then take off your doubled cereal coupon values and the values of the catalinas and that will give you your total OOP (out of pocket expense). Is your OOP divided by 6 less than your per box target price?

The problem is we don't know if the catalinas will take off the actual amount or the full allowed amount (will it take off $2.45 for the milk if that's what you paid, or will it take off $3.29, giving you overage on the milk to apply toward the cereal?) Since we don't know, to play it safe I'd basically call the catalina items free, in which case you are paying for the cereal minus the doubled cereal coupons. Unless you get overage from the catalinas, it won't make your cereal any cheaper--since you have to buy those items, it's not money off your purchase. Does that make sense?

That being said you *might* be able to use coupons for the "free" items (yogurt and toaster strudels) in addition to the catalinas (not sure if that would work or not) in order to make this a better deal. Anyone want to try and give us a report?

Coupons available:
$0.40/6 Yoplait Cups here and here (you'd have to buy 2 extra yogurt cups)
$0.50/2 Toaster Strudels here (you'd have to buy one extra Toaster Strudel)

When all is said and done, I am doubtful that this will be as good a deal as it has been in the past, unless you were going to buy milk, eggs, yogurt AND Toaster Strudels anyway. Here's hoping they bring back the old deal!

Weekly Groceries--$57

This week I did 4 transactions at Roundy's. I did 2 on Wednesday, and then went back to do 2 more on Saturday because my family wanted more Keebler FlipSides Crackers! :-) I was willing to oblige because we had room in our budget for the week and they were $0.82 per box after the promotion and milk catalina (which I count toward the crackers, since I buy the milk anyway)--a great deal in my book and no coupons needed!

All together, I spent $57.08 for the week, and I still have a $3 off milk catalina for next week.

These items were less than $1: 16 boxes FlipSides crackers, 2 packages Keebler cookies, Dannon and Yoplait yogurts x 24, bananas, Skippy Naturals peanut butter x 2, eggs, FREE Pillsbury Biscuits x 2, and FREE M&Ms.

I also bought 2 boxes pancake mix, Fruitables juice boxes, 5 gallons of milk (I made yogurt this week!), 3 lbs of grapes, caramels, and 4 All laundry detergents.

I am well stocked on laundry detergent for awhile because for some reason those seem to go on sale a lot. Why can't dishwasher detergent go on sale like that? Then I'd be all set!

Weekly Groceries--$61

We went out of town for a few days so it's a little late, but here are this week's grocery runs! My total for the week was $61.23. At Roundy's I did 2 transactions and spent $32.12.

For $1 or less I bought bread x3, bananas, broccoli, italian dressing, diced tomatoes x3, chicken nuggets, sliced cheese x3, shredded cheese x7, Reddi-Wip x2, bread crumbs x2, and Barilla pasta x4 (these were free). The only things over $1 were whipping cream, pizza x2, and milk x2.

At Walmart I spent $29.11 and got 12 pounds of Gala apples ($0.50 a lb!), 10 lbs of bread machine flour, 5 1/2 lbs of chicken, Jiffy baking mix, salt, applesauce x2, and iced tea mix.

Weekly Groceries--$60

Ted was out of town this week so I was going to wait until Saturday to do my Roundy's shopping. But then I found out it was double doubles (double 10 coupons instead of 5) on Wednesday so I HAD to go, even with all 5 kids in tow! I decided to do only 2 transactions and made sure to have my coupons ready. We were in and out in about an hour--I was shocked!! I knew it would be worth it, and it was--I got all that is pictured for only $5.64! I bought 6 boxes of cereal (free after coupons and promotion), 1 gallon of milk (free after catalina), 6 Greek yogurts (almost free), grapes, apples, toothpaste (free after markdown and coupon), Gain dishwashing soap (free after coupon), 2 chocolate milks (almost free), 2 boxed dinners, Chex Mix, and 8 boxes of pasta (overage after coupons and raincheck).

At Aldi I spent $28.65 on milk, sugar x2, dish detergent, tortillas x3, celery, cheese x2, tortellini x2, applesauce, peppers x3, bananas, broccoli, turkey pepperoni, and eggs. I went to another store and spent $26.06 on pizza dough and sauce, vegetables (fresh and frozen), fruits, cottage cheese, and chicken. So this week I spent a total of $60.35 on groceries.

Did you do double doubles on Wednesday?
Did you snag any other great deals this week?

Weekly Groceries: Under $52

I'm not promising that I'll be able to post pictures every week again, but this week I got my shopping done in less than 1/2 hour so I had time to take a picture. Of course I had also bought groceries at Aldi the day before, so that helped. Here is my Roundy's trip:I did two transactions and spent $27.12 with a savings of $56.67 or 84%!
These items were free: Yoplait Delights x2, Dreamfields Pasta x2, Quaker oatmeal x2, Pace salsa (last free coupon that I won playing sweeps), and Gain dish liquid (free coupon in the mail).

I also got chocolate mix (to make more homemade hot chocolate mix for Ted's coffee), Life cereal x2, Quaker oatmeal x1, Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup, Hillshire Farm ham x2, chocolate milk x2, and 7 pounds of fresh chicken breasts. (See what I did with all that chicken right away here.) I got a raincheck for the Ronzoni Pasta BOGO free, which I have several coupons for, so I'll be getting that in the next week or two.

I also got groceries at Aldi the day before. There I spent$24.61, making my total for the week $51.73. I got a butternut squash, baby carrots, edamame x3 (F and I discovered we love them! Thanks Sara C!), milk, a mango, tri-color peppers, tortilla chips x2, marshmallows x2, plain raisins and yogurt covered raisins, animal crackers x3, macaroni and cheese x3, cranberries, and black beans x2.
*In case you're interested, I finally remembered to post the picture of last week's groceries here.

Weekly Groceries

It's been quite awhile since I've posted my weekly grocery run, though I assure you I have still been shopping! Some of you have mentioned that you miss seeing my pictures. Usually it's all I can do to get the groceries put away before I have to feed the baby, but since I got my shopping done in record time yesterday, and since she was still sleeping when I got home, and since you asked. . . I spent $53.68 and saved $57.58, or 52%. Not the best savings ever, but I also got 100 bonus box tops for our homeschool group, which is a value of $10! That's why I bought ALL those cookie and cake mixes! Ted and the kids were excited, too!

These items were free: Chi-Chi's meals x2

These items were $1 or less: bananas, bread x5, string cheese x7, YoPlus and FiberOne Yogurt x4, cake mix x5, cookie mix x9, frosting, and pudding x4 (remember how my hubby feels about pudding. . .!)

I also bought grapes, apples, 10 lbs of potatoes, milk x4, dish detergent, Wisk, and a DiGiorno pizza.

Don't worry, this isn't all we will eat for the next week! In fact most of these items will last us for several weeks or even months. When things are on sale, I buy enough of that item to last me until the next sale, so we have plenty of chicken, hamburger, tuna, pasta, fruit, veggies, cheese, cereal, and more in the freezer and pantry. Expiration dates are far enough out that stockpiling isn't only possible, it's smart!

Since I wasn't posting about my grocery runs, was I blowing the budget? Some weeks were lower, some were higher, but for the past 2 months I've averaged $250 a month on groceries, or about $60 a week.

Cindy emailed me and let me know that she bought 6 Hamburger Helpers for $2 (after coupons) and got a catalina for $3 off her next meat purchase. The deal is buy 3, get $1.50, buy 4 get $2, buy 5 or more get $3 off your next meat purchase. This catalina deal runs through 10/3. Thanks Cindy! Great shopping!

Walgreens Coupon Policy

I was glad to find out that Walgreens has posted their official coupon policy online. I was just telling someone this week that my local Walgreens is not very couponer-friendly, so you'd better believe I printed off a copy of their policy and added it to my coupon bag! This policy also clearly states the rules of using Register Rewards and store coupons, as well as stating that internet-printed coupons are accepted.

This policy should rectify some of the problems I've come across at Walgreens:

• When there is a buy one, get one free promotion, up to two coupons can be used, as long as the total doesn't become negative. (Previously I've only been allowed to use one coupon since the other item rang up as free.)
  
• A coupon that exceeds the amount of a sale item can be adjusted down. (Previously the coupon was often refused.)
  

If you are a teacher or homeschooler, remember that Walgreens is offering a discount on Wednesdays until September 15th! Check with your store to see if they are participating.

Mmm...Pudding

The following is a guest post from my wonderful husband, Ted, the father of our 5 beautiful girls!

Hi, I'm Ted, and I'm the husband of a couponer. When I was a bachelor, I did not eat well. I ate cheap. Breakfast was cereal or eggs. Dinner was on-sale frozen pizza, nachos, spaghetti, and brats wrapped in a piece of toast, mixed vegetables, and broccoli. Admittedly, lots of sodium and I'm sure a good proportion of mystery meat that I willinging pretended that it wouldn't matter. Recently I was introduced to the term "belly fill", for firefighters and such who need dense, calorie-rich food to sustain them through potentially long stretches between meals. I wasn't a firefighter, or even very active, but I was a grad student then post-doc, and stress can cause you to burn lots of calories too. The mixed veggies and broccoli arguably were the only healthy things I ate, but fortunately I loved them. I think they provided the much needed detox to my system from the onslaught of bachelor food.

The point is, I was cheap. I'm not embarrased to admit it. I bought the most calories to get me through the next day I could for the least amount of money. I traded nutritional diversity for convenience, with a few good choices, and lots of bad choices. But, except for the occasional store-brand on-sale cookie or oatmeal cream pie, I didn't buy that many sweets. A couple of small cookies to give me a quick fix, but anymore would have been wasteful -- because I hated going shopping, so that was another reason to not make my portions too big!

So, yesterday, after mowing the lawn, I treated myself to a small snack pudding that my wife often finds good deals on. Mmm... pudding. I would never have bought this for myself. I would probably never have found it on sale enough for me to buy it for myself. But, Jessica gets an incredible amount of food to feed our family, with much better nutritional content, for not too much more than I paid for myself as a bachelor. Through the coupons, deal-finding, and judicious stockpiling, our whole family can enjoy occassional creature comforts like pudding.

I am very grateful my wife is a couponer. She has tested and tweaked her approach and found what works for her. And I'm very happy to say, as I enjoy my snack pudding, that it works for me, too. Yum!

From Jessica: Stockpiling and saving money with coupons allows us to afford simple luxuries, like snack pudding. I know my husband likes it, so I make room in our budget for it. :-)

Overheard: Windmills are Like Coupons

Whenever we pass windmill turbines, we explain to the girls that they are generating electricity for buildings when they are turned by the wind. Ted even dreams of having one of his own someday!

Ted: Girls, look at the windmills!
H: But they're not turning, there's no wind.
G: Does that mean there's no electricity in the buildings so they can't turn on the lights?
Ted: No, when the windmills turn, it's like "extra". (Ted went on to try to explain a couple different ways that they don't generate instant electricity, but give a "credit". They weren't getting it.)
Jessica: Girls, windmills are like coupons. When they're turning, the people in the buildings save money on electricity.
H&G: Oh, that makes sense!

Everything comes back to coupons with me! :-)

Weekly Groceries--FREE Cereal!

I've been taking a break from posting my groceries (for good reason!), but I wanted to post about my cereal deal today! These General Mills promotions at Roundy's are the reason I don't pay for cereal, because I can always get it for free or better than free after promotions, catalinas, and doubled coupons. I did 2 transactions today:First transaction was 6 boxes of cereal, 2 red peppers, and whipping cream. I used one free Cheerios coupon and doubled 5 more coupons and my total was $3.57 with a savings of $24.33. I also got a catalina for $3.50 off milk and $1.75 off eggs to use next week.

Second transaction was 6 boxes of cereal, bananas, and 3 Reddi-Wip. I doubled 5 coupons for the cereal and my total was $9.21, a savings of $17.88. I also got a catalina for $3.50 off milk and $1.75 off eggs to use next week.

My total OOP was $12.78, of which $9.69 was for the items other than cereal. That means I spent $3.09 for 12 boxes of cereal, PLUS I have $10.50 in catalinas for milk and eggs! My experience with the General Mills catalinas is that they take off the full amount, even if milk and eggs don't cost that much, which means I will likely have overage on the eggs and milk. If eggs are $1.09 and milk is $2.60, I will have $3.12 in overage to cover the $3.09 I spent on the cereal, making all 12 boxes of cereal, 2 gallons of milk, and 2 dozen eggs FREE!!!

Fraudulent Coupons

More than one person has emailed me about some coupons for FREE items being passed around via email. They are attached as a pdf file that would be able to be printed multiple times. I've seen coupons for free Doritos, free Pepsi 12-packs, free Dannon 8-packs, and free Folgers coffee. PLEASE don't attempt to use these coupons, as they are counterfeit. Pass along this information to anyone you receive this email from, as I'm sure they don't want to be embarrassed at the checkout! Even if a person says they were able to use one of these coupons, please don't try, as the company will not reimburse the store for that item. Stuff like this gives couponing a bad name, and makes retailers less likely to accept legitimate coupons. Anytime you see a coupon that is "too good to be true" being circulated through email, 99.9% of the time it is counterfeit, especially if it is for a free item. Now you know! :-)

Read more here:
http://www.fritolay.com/about-us/most-common-questions.html#1
http://www.cents-off.com/body_coupon_counterfeiters.cfm
http://www.cents-off.com/doc/PSASmuckerfolgersMay192010%282%29.pdf
http://www.cents-off.com/doc/Reward_PepsiCo_May_3_2010.pdf
http://www.cents-off.com/doc/RewardPepsiCoApril72010.pdf

Weekly Groceries

I went over budget again this week, mostly because I wanted to put up some things in the freezer to use after baby is born. I spent $66.01 and saved $99.43 or 60%.

These items were free: Mom's Natural oatmeal x2, Tree Top juice boxes x2, Fiber One yogurt x4, and YoPlus yogurt x2.

These items were $1 or less: Welch's juice x2, Capri Sun, Carrots x3, whipping cream x4, Ziploc freezer bags x2, 3 dozen eggs, Simply Go-Gurt x6, Weight Watchers yogurt x10, and lettuce.

I also bought Johnsonville brats, 3 lbs of strawberries, bananas, cole slaw mix x3 (to make Mahndu), frosting x3 and cake mix (we have birthdays coming up!), 6 lbs of fresh chicken breasts, 4 lbs of boneless pork ribs, orange juice, 5 gallons of milk, ricotta cheese, and italian sausage.

Weekly Groceries

I was able to stay on budget this week, mostly because I only went to one store--staying home always saves me money! :-) If I run around chasing deals, I always end up spending more. There were some great sales on cheese and pizzas in December and January, so I had stocked up then. It was time for another stock-up, so no, this isn't what we are eating all week!

These items were free: Deli Creations x3, Old Orchard juice x1, DiGiorno 200 Calorie pizza x2.

These items were $1 or less: Kraft mac and cheese x4, Rhodes rolls x3, Totinos Pizzas x4, Old Orchard juice x2, Crystal Light x2, Frigo string cheese x2, sausage links, coffee filters (BOGO free-we're good for the year!), Ritz pretzel crackers, and Rhodes rolls x3.

I also bought oranges, broccoli, bananas, milk x4, pancake mix, shredded cheese x9, DiGiorno Pizza and Breadsticks x2 ($2 each after coupons!), Edy's ice cream x2 ($1.29 each after coupon), New York Garlic Bread x2, Nesquik (to make my homemade hot chocolate mix), and lasagna noodles.

I spent $56.80 and saved $82.61, or 59%. My monthly total so far for May is $130.27.

Weekly Groceries and April Total

I stayed under budget this week!  That was my goal, since I was over budget a couple of times this month.  I only did double coupon day at Roundy's, so this week I spent $44.55 and saved $72.32, or 62%.  That makes my April grocery total $218.85, an average of $54.71 a week.

These items were free:  Yoplait Delights x2 and 8th Continent Soymilk x2.

These items were $1 or less:  Mott's applesauce x2, Mott's apple juice, hot dogs, hot dog buns, broccoli, salad, Mission tortillas, Mission chips x1 (the rest were only $1.25 each after peelies!), Fruit Chillers x4 (raincheck), McCormick cinnamon, Star Olive Oil x2, Kraft mac and cheese x4, pasta sauce and Barilla pasta.

I bought blueberry pie filling and strawberry and raspberry jello to try to make some Rhubarb Berry Jam that Staci told me about.   I also got italian sausage, pancake mix x4, apples, bananas, ice cream, and 2 gallons of milk.

How did you do this week?  Did you use a lot of the coupon book coupons?

Weekly Groceries--A Much Better Week!

I kept myself to only one store this week, which always helps my bottom line! If I go shopping the loss leaders at other stores I always end up spending more. I guess sticking with what is simple is sometimes best. Over 4 transactions I spent a total of $39.94 and saved $92.41, a savings of 70%. Now that's more like it! :-)

These items were free or better than free (overage): Yo-Plus and Fiber One yogurt x8, Ronzoni x 7, Tree Top apple juice 3-pks x4, Pace salsa (won in sweeps), Vitamin D milk, and Uncrustables.

These items were $1 or less: V8 Fusion x2, Life cereal x3, and Quaker Oatmeal x2.

I also bought ricotta cheese x2, cheese slices x3, eggs, 2 more gallons of milk, chicken nuggets, Mission chips, 2 packs of Huggies Overnites, bananas, strawberries x2, and romaine lettuce. I wouldn't normally count the Huggies in my grocery budget, but I did use them as fillers to get up to $25 which is why I counted them. But if I subtracted the cost of the diapers ($5.49 each after coupons, a good price), then my grocery total for the week would be only $28.96!

**ENTER MY GIVEAWAY HERE!**