So, to help out with my new year goals, I have committed to save $120 a month on groceries.  My goal is now to spend $120.00 a week.  Now, depending on where you live and the size of your family that may seem like a lot of money or a little.  With a 17 year old boy in my home, that amount sounded like something I could actually meet.

On Thursday I went to my grocery store deal page (right now I only have So. Cal stores listed) and compared the lists and decided which store had the best deals for the week.  Once I had determined that Stater Bros. was the best store this week, I started making my general list.  Then I read carefully all the deals that were listed and started cutting out coupons for these items and working my dinners for the week around what was a good deal.  I will admit this took me about 30 minutes.  I hope that as I do this more often the time will decrease. 

Yesterday, I confidently drove to the store, anxious to see how this trip would compare to the old ones.  There was only one deal that I came in prepared to buy that the store did not carry.  So all but one of my coupons was used.  My cart was piled so high I was putting items underneath!  I was getting nervous as I approached the check-out.  I saw the amount after she rang everything up and thought, oops, I have made a big mistake.  But then she started deducting the coupons.  It was slow going.  Because I had a lot of coupons that I had printed off the internet, the cashier examined each one.  She even had to call someone about 2 of them.  But in the end all the coupons were good and I walked out spending $118.69 of my $120 budget!  I saved $65.01 by using coupons and taking advantage of the deals the store was running.  The big difference was that I came home with a lot more food than I normally do.  I stocked up on Top Sirloin, ( I never buy meat like that and now I have extra!) and have enough laundry detergent to last at least 1 1/2 months. 

At this point I feel like my 30 minutes were well spent in preparing my list and getting my coupons together.  I will try it again next week and let you know how it goes!

So, to help out with my new year goals, I have committed to save $120 a month on groceries.  My goal is now to spend $120.00 a week.  Now, depending on where you live and the size of your family that may seem like a lot of money or a little.  With a 17 year old boy in my home, that amount sounded like something I could actually meet.

On Thursday I went to my grocery store deal page (right now I only have So. Cal stores listed) and compared the lists and decided which store had the best deals for the week.  Once I had determined that Stater Bros. was the best store this week, I started making my general list.  Then I read carefully all the deals that were listed and started cutting out coupons for these items and working my dinners for the week around what was a good deal.  I will admit this took me about 30 minutes.  I hope that as I do this more often the time will decrease. 

Yesterday, I confidently drove to the store, anxious to see how this trip would compare to the old ones.  There was only one deal that I came in prepared to buy that the store did not carry.  So all but one of my coupons was used.  My cart was piled so high I was putting items underneath!  I was getting nervous as I approached the check-out.  I saw the amount after she rang everything up and thought, oops, I have made a big mistake.  But then she started deducting the coupons.  It was slow going.  Because I had a lot of coupons that I had printed off the internet, the cashier examined each one.  She even had to call someone about 2 of them.  But in the end all the coupons were good and I walked out spending $118.69 of my $120 budget!  I saved $65.01 by using coupons and taking advantage of the deals the store was running.  The big difference was that I came home with a lot more food than I normally do.  I stocked up on Top Sirloin, ( I never buy meat like that and now I have extra!) and have enough laundry detergent to last at least 1 1/2 months. 

At this point I feel like my 30 minutes were well spent in preparing my list and getting my coupons together.  I will try it again next week and let you know how it goes!