I saved 40% on my grocery bill!

Here is a little background to catch you up. I have been clipping coupons since mid October. I started reading money saving blogs and got intrigued by it all. I thought "I can do that".  I read their blogs daily and they do all the work for me. I know I don't have a big family of 4+, but its still fun for me to save money. We are on Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball plan and this is just one way that I can contribute by not overspending, but by saving money. I told David yesterday that it was a rush! I am over-exaggerating a bit, but I thought it was fun.

This is the most I have saved since starting this little adventure. My average savings is usually around 30% each bill. So this was pretty big for me. My store of choice is Kroger. It's close to the house and they have great sales and good quality. This week was a MEGA sale event where you buy 10 items from a predetermined list and you get $5 off your total bill. This makes for .50 off each item. Here is where the fun comes in. You match your manufacturers coupons from Sunday papers and online with the sale items and you get even more money off! This week I actually got that box of cereal for FREE and I think one of the cheeses and dressings absolutely free. I know I am getting way more excited than most of you are so just bear with me.

So for my grocery budget for the month, I only had $50 left to spend. I usually spend about $70-80 at the least on groceries so this was going to be a challenge. I did have half a beef roast and some chicken frozen from previous weeks good deals so that would help me out a lot. I needed to buy a lot of fresh vege's (asparagus, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, peppers, etc.) which they hardly ever give coupons for produce. So the grand total before the coupons and kroger card was $78, man was I nervous. It wasn't the end of the world if I went over, but I was determined to be under. The amount I actually paid was $46!!! That is a pretty great deal for all this!

Here is a picture of my Coupon Organizer. I use a photo organizer I found at Michaels and wrote my coupon categories on the tabs. When I get my list made for the week, I put it on the back of an envelope(my mom has always done that and I do it now too) and you can put your coupons in the envelope instead of lugging this around to the store. I go one step further by organizing the coupons by aisle or how I walk through the store. I was only in the store an hour, but sometimes I'm in there for 1.5 hours just trying to see what my coupons are for and I'm running around the whole place.

Here is the actual receipt that I am so proud of!

 

Now comes the fun of making food with all this good stuff. I want to start posting my menu plan for the week. I'd like to say that I shop every Sunday, but that just doesn't happen sometimes as this week it was Wednesday. I will post the recipes after we eat them so you can enjoy as well.

Meal 1- Chicken Lo Mein (Kraft foods) One of Davids favorites!

Meal 2- Italian Sausage Calzones (Fairhope Foodie Blog)

Meal 3- Chicken Giardino (olive garden recipe) Thanks Jen for telling me they have them online!

Meal 4- Slow Cooker Beef Roast with Sweet Potatoes ($5 Dinners Blog)

Meal 5-Baked Ziti (no recipe, just my own concoction)

Well, I'm pretty sure this all sounds super psycho, but this is what I do and I really enjoy it.