• Living on a Budget: Groceries $40 for 4

    It was a busy week but in between appointments I was able to make it to a couple stores.  I was able to stay under budget and stock up on some goodies, including produce and diary products!  Here is my weekly update on our Groceries $40 for 4.

    Groceries from Ingles and Save A Lot | RiteAid

    Ingles Groceries:

    • $10.03 at Ingles for 1 fresh Coconut, 1 container fresh Celery, 1 container fresh Mushrooms, 1 container fresh Cherry Tomatoes, 1 bag fresh Oranges (4 lbs), 1 package Summer Sausage (Everything I bought this week at Ingles was on sale, marked down, or on clearance except the summer sausage which was a special treat I bought for my husband this week.  All the produce including the bag of oranges were marked down to 99 cents!)

    Save A Lot | RiteAid Groceries:

    • $22.74 at Save A Lot | RiteAid for 1 bag Bagels, 1 box Poptarts, 1 container Country Crock Spread, 1 box Mrs Freshley Chocolate Cupcakes, 1 container Cool Whip, 1 box Tropical Jr Pops, 2 boxes Yogurt Tubes, 4 cans Cream of Mushroom, 1 container Parmesan Grated Cheese, 1 can Pinneapple Chunks, 1 jar Salsa, 1 two liter Orange Crisp, 1 gallon Milk, 1 bag Carrots, 1 bag Grapefruit (3 lb), and 1 box Cream Cheese.  (All the items were on sale or clearance plus I used a couple of coupons!  The bagels, Mrs. Freshley Cupcakes, Tropical Jr Pops, and Yogurt Tubes were marked down to clearance “special today” prices.)
    Groceries, Household Items, & Other Goodies from Walgreens

    Walgreens Groceries:

    • $0.49 at Walgreens for the grocery items – 4 boxes Baking Soda and 3 bags Chewy Spree Candy.  (The total for this entire purchase was $2.06 including tax for 30 items making it $0.07 per item which is how the 7 groceries items cost $0.49 at Walgreens this week.)
    Groceries from Kmart

    Kmart Groceries:

    • $1.50 at Kmart for 1 box Saltines, 1 pack Orange Gatorade, and 1 box Ritz Crackers.  (Jake ended up getting sick this week so on my way home from a work appointment I stopped by Kmart to pick up some stuff for him.  Thankfully, I had a $5 Kmart Gift Card and all the items were on sale this week at Kmart).
    Groceries, Household, Baby, Beauty and Gift Items from CVS

    CVS Groceries:

    • $0.21 at CVS for the grocery items – 1 loaf Sara Lee Whole Wheat Bread, 1 loaf Sara Lee White Bread, and 1 box Candy Canes.  (The total for this entire purchase was $3.16 including tax for 42 items making it $0.07 per item which is how the 3 groceries items cost $0.21 at CVS this week.)

    This week I spent $34.97 on groceries.  Even though I was only a little under on my budgeted amount for the week I was able to stock up on some items at the same time.  I did not anticipate my husband being sick but we had enough flex in the budget and hit the sales to cover the extra expense.  I hope that next week is better week and we can come under budget!

    It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.

  • Living on a Budget: Groceries $40 for 4

    I am slowly adjusting to quieter grocery shopping trips, I miss the girls chit chat.  Here is my weekly update on our Groceries $40 for 4.

    Groceries from Dollar Tree and Rite Aid | Save A Lot

    Dollar Tree Groceries:

    • $1.00 at Dollar Tree for a loaf of Nature’s Own 100% Whole Wheat Bread.

    Rite Aid | Save A Lot Groceries:

    • $5.24 at Rite Aid | Save A Lot for a package of Cheese, fresh Peaches, fresh Plums and fresh Nectarines (the fruit was on sale and were great for the girls lunches).
    Groceries from BiLo

    BiLo Groceries:

    • $9.97 at BiLo for 2 gallons of Milk and 1 container of Country Crock Spread with Calcium (BiLo still has the least expensive milk on our side of town $3.49 per gallon and the Country Crock was on sale.  I used two reusable bags and BiLo gave me 10 cents off my entire purchase, every little bit helps.)
    Groceries from Ingles

    Ingles Groceries:

    • $21.60 at Ingles for 1 bag Bananas, 1 container Red Raspberries, 1 container Grape Tomatoes, 1 bag Green Grapes, 2 containers Strawberries, 2 Turkey Lunchables, 2 Chicken Lunchables, 1 Sweet Onion, 1 package Cube Steak (about 3 pounds) and 1 package 93% Lean Hamburger (Everything was marked down on clearance or on sale except the Lunchables which were $1.  The girls asked if they could have them at least a couple times a month as a special “treat” for their lunches at school, I decided to be extra nice and see how well they eat them, the ones I picked up don’t expire until Nov / Dec so we have a couple months to try them out).

    This week I spent $37.81 on groceries.  Even though I was only a little under on my budgeted amount for the week I would like to see it even lower.   This week I was able to stock up on several staple items as well as lunch bag items that we were needing.  I wish the milk prices would go down because that is a large chunk of the amount we spend on groceries each week.  Hopefully next week is an even better and we can come under budget for the week.

    It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.