New Year's Resolutions

My New Year's Resolutions:
1 - Make a monthly budget and stick to it. (see below for January's goal)
2 - Limit impulse buying by discussing all $20+ purchases with DH first.
3 - Plan monthly goals for improvement. (see below for January's goals)

January Goals:
1 - Budget for food/household/eating out: $500 (basically this should cover everything except for routine bills and gas...will start with a high limit this month and try to work down each month of the year)
2 - Read more books to DS.
3 - Convert the dining room to a playroom for DS.

Harris Teeter 1/1/09

Here's an HT trip that I forgot to post a few days ago....this was using triple coupons, too! I had coupons for everything except the Tostitos (which I was craving!) and the milk.

+ 3 Gerber Graduates pasta pick ups
+ 4 Gerber Graduates fruit strips
+ 2 Gerber Graduates yogurt melts
+ 2 Gerber Graduates crunchies
+ 1 bag Tostitos tortilla chips with lime
+ 2 Beechnut yogurt/juice
+ 1 Dannon Yogurt (large)
+ 1 gallon HT Skim Milk
- Coupons
+ Tax
=$19.73 out of pocket, $28.74 saved, 59% savings
Avg. cost per item: $1.23

your December total is...

Keep in mind, this included lots of Christmas presents in addition to our regular shopping.

CVS:
*Total OOP = $0.28
*Total on GC = $7.46
*Total Saved = $299.15
~100% Savings

Kmart:
*Total OOP = $2.81
*Total Saved = $21.88
~89% Savings

Kroger:
*Total OOP = $41.33
*Total Saved = $312.62
~88% Savings

Lowe's Foods:
*Total OOP = $91.17
*Total Saved = $99.26
~52% Savings

Misc.
*Total OOP = $141.51
*Total Saved = $72.61
~34% Savings

Target:
*Total OOP = $230.71
*Total Saved = $72.74
~24% Savings

GRAND TOTAL:
*Total OOP = $507.81
*Total Saved = $885.72
~64% Savings

Harris Teeter Triples!

Triple q's up to $0.99 this week at HT and also doubles of P&G q's between $1-$2. We did three transaction tonight. Overall, we bought 67 items, spent $73.93, and saved $100.73, for an overall savings of 58% and an average cost of $1.10 per item. The savings could have looked a little better, but I had to stock back up on fresh fruit, tofu, and dry beans for baby food making since we'd been out of town for the holidays for about two weeks--and of course, there were no coupons for any of those items. Those 10 items alone cost $24.87 before taxes--so taking that into account, the rest of the items were really a deal!

Transaction #1:
+ 7 Gerber Lil Entrees
+ 3 Kellogg's Poptarts
+ 6 Lipton Knorr Rice Sides
+ 1 Pace Queso 4 Cheese Salsa
+ 3 Jello instant puddings
+ 3 Luzianne decaf tea boxes (48 ct. ea)
+ 1 Skippy Peanut Butter
+ 1 Beechnut yogurt/juice
+ 2 Wet Ones canisters
+ 1 Wet Ones travel
+ 1 Uncrustables
+ 1 Lloyd's Chicken BBQ tub
- Coupons
+ Tax
=$31.04 out of pocket, $48.50 saved, 61% savings
Avg. cost per item: $1.03
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Transaction #2:
+ 2 Martha White muffin mixes
+ 2 Betty Crocker frostings
+ 2 Minute Rice boxes
+ 1 Kellogg's Poptarts
+ 3 Lipton Tea Bags (16 ct. ea.)
+ 3 Luzianne Tea Bags (48 ct. ea.)
+ 1 bag dry organic black beans
+ 1 bag dry organic pinto beans
+ 1 bag dry organic chickpeas
+ 3 Pounce cat treats
+ 1 can Glory black-eyed peas
+ 1 Karo light syrup
+ 1 Aquafresh toothpaste
+ 1 Organic Tofu
+ 1 bunch bananas
+ 1 bunch red seedless grapes
+ 4 Fuji apples
+ 2 Sargento shredded cheese
+ 1 Blistex lip balm
- Coupons
+ Tax
=$37.41 out of pocket, $40.23 saved, 52% savings
Avg. cost per item: $1.17
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Transaction #3:
+ 1 Pringles stixs
+ 1 Pringles minis
+ 1 Bounty Big Roll
+ 1 Pantene 2 in 1 Shampoo
+ 1 Tide to go pen
- Coupons
+ Tax
=$5.48 out of pocket, $12.00 saved, 67% savings
Avg. cost per item: $1.10

CVS Frees!

Since I had a ton of ECBs stored up from shopping on Black Friday and because my mom was with me, I decided to just do one huge transaction instead of breaking it up like normal. Although I did end up buying one of the deodorants separately just to save on my OOP a little bit. I didn't think my receipt would ever finish printing for Transaction #1! lol

CVS Transaction #1:
+ 5 Listerine Cool Mint 500 ml mouthwash
+ 1 Zantac 150 8-ct.
+ 2 bags Halls Natural Herbal cough drops (the limit for free after ECBs is one on these, but I had a 50 cents off 1 coupon and also a BOGO coupon--so I got 2 for free, plus made 50 cents)
+ 3 Right Guard Professional Strength
+ 1 Excedrin Express Gels 20 ct.
+ 2 Crest Pro Whitening toothpaste 4.2 oz
+ 5 Arm & Hammer Essentials cleaner starter kits
+ 2 Sally Hansen Nail Polish
+ 2 L'Oreal Hip Metallic Eye Shadow
+ 1 Benefiber Stick Pack 16 ct.
- Coupons (totaling $20.29)
- ECBs (totaling $78.93)
+ Tax
=$3.17 on GC, $0.00 out of pocket, $121.19 saved, 100% savings
Avg. cost per item: $0.00
*Plus I earned back $96.72 in ECBs, a $5 off any $15 purchase coupon, a $2.50 off any Pain Reliever purchase of $10 coupon, and a $2 off an $8 Hair Care purchase coupon!

CVS Transaction #2:
+ 1 Right Guard Professional Strength
- ECBs (totaling $4.00 from previous transaction)
+ Tax
=$2.14 on GC, $0.00 out of pocket, $7.99 saved, 100% savings
Avg. cost per item: $0.00
*Plus I earned back $6.00 in ECBs!


In total, I spent $5.31 on my gift card and $82.93 in ECBs. I walked away with 25 items, saved $129.18, and have $98.72 in ECBs in my pocket. So, if you take the ECBs I now have and subtract the ECBs I spent and the money I spent on my gift card, I actually EARNED $10.48 for buying all this stuff!

Crappy Kroger! :(

I am so bummed. I got all of this for only $0.61, but my catalinas didn't print out! Apparently, the catalina machine was broken and the 16 year old cashier didn't know what he was talking about. I should have gotten 7 x $0.50 OYNO and a $2.50 or $3 off 3 coupon for Johnson's. Instead, I got nothing. So, even though I saved over $45, I still left feeling bummed. :(



Kroger 12/19:
+ 7 Fleischmann's Active Dry yeast strips 3 ct. ea
+ 3 Cottonelle toilet paper 4 ct. single rolls
+ 2 Ronzoni elbow pasta
+ 1 Ronzoni spaghetti
+ 1 Ronzoni Rotini
+ 4 Ragu pasta sauces
+ 4 Reddi-Whip
+ 3 Johnson's Buddies soap bars
- Coupons
- OYNO (I used about $12 in these that I earned by buying the yeast strips)
+ Tax
=$0.61 out of pocket, $45.26 saved, 100% savings
Avg. cost per item: $0.02

Toilet Paper Heaven!

All of this for only $3.53 and I earned back $5.00!!!

Kroger Transaction #1:
+ 8 Cottonelle toilet paper 4 pk. single rolls
+ 3 large Jello chocolate pudding cook and serve
+ 1 Cool Whip
+ 5 Fleischmann's Rapid Rise yeast strips 3 count ea.
+ 3 Johnson's Buddies soaps
+ 1 bunch Bananas
- Coupons
+ Tax
=$2.60 out of pocket, $26.96 saved, 93% savings
Avg. cost per item: $0.12
*Plus I earned back $2.50 total in OYNO catalinas and a $2.50/3 Johnson's baby soaps catalina!
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Kroger Transaction #2:
+ 6 Cottonelle toilet paper 4 pk. single rolls
+ 5 Fleischmann's Rapid Rise yeast strips 3 count ea.
+ 3 Johnson's Buddies soaps
- Coupons
+ Tax
=$0.93 out of pocket, $18.89 saved, 97% savings
Avg. cost per item: $0.07
*Plus I earned back $2.50 total in OYNO catalinas and a $2.50/3 Johnson's baby soaps catalina!

Target Thursday!

Target 12/18:
+ 1 head Green Giant fresh broccoli
+ 2 heads Green Giant fresh cauliflower
+ 2 Beggin' Strips dog treats 6 oz. ea
+ 2 Hefty trash bags 40 count ea.
- Coupons
+ Tax
=$12.90 out of pocket, $13.28 saved, 51% savings
Avg. cost per item: $1.84
*Plus I got a store coupon print out for $1 off Tide.

I know I could save more money on trash bags by buying a cheaper brand, but we really love these bags. We've never had a split or a leak and they grip the top of the trashcan and never slide in like cheaper brands tend to do. Plus, after coupons, I got these for $4.64 and $5.64 a box, which is a really good price for these. So the trash bags were the majority of my out-of-pocket cost.

The broccoli and cauliflower cost $0.33 each after coupons and the beggin' strips cost $0.24 each after coupons!