Another week of doing Groceries $40 for 4. I was able to stock up on some items but overall it was a quiet grocery shopping week. I stocked up on non-perishable products this week.  We are trying to eat up our perishables this week since we have a lot of produce already in the fridge from previous weeks and the garden.  A lot of the items we picked up will be great for the upcoming road trips we have this summer!  I am hoping to get back on schedule next week with grocery shopping.  Below are my grocery shopping adventures for the week!

Publix Groceries:

• $4.36 at Publix for 1 Capri Sun Fruit Punch (10 packs), 1 Inglehuffer Wasabi & Horseradish (on clearance and great dip with fried green beans), 1 French’s Mustard (on clearance), 1 Publix Vanilla Waffer (1 penny with a $10 purchase, bought 3 birthday cards and a dog treat for Skipper which brought my total up to $10 so I could get the wafers for $0.01).  I used a coupon to get the 1 penny Vanilla Wafers and a $2 coupon for the 3 Hallmark cards (not pictured but helped bring up my total to $10).

Dollar Tree Groceries:

• $10.15 at Dollar Tree for 1 box Alphabet Crackers, 1 box Lance Chocolate Cookies (6 individually wrapped packages), 1 box Animal Crackers (6 individually wrapped packages), 1 Stax Sour Cream & Onion, 3 Kool Aid Freezer Pops (24 Count), 2 packages of Nature’s Own 100% Whole Wheat Bread, and 1 box of Minees Cookies (10 individually wrapped packages).  These items are great for summer activities and traveling. I am looking forward to our upcoming road trip adventures with the family!

Family Dollar Groceries:

• $1.75 at Family Dollar for Old El Paso Taco Dinner Kit, Mrs Freshley Chocolate Chip Cookies, Vitners Potato Chips Sweet BBQ, and Vitners Potato Chips Triple Cheese. All these items were on clearance and will come in handy for our upcoming road trips.

Walgreens Groceries:

• $0.00 at Walgreens 2 Cheeseburger Hamburger Helpers Meals. These items were on clearance and I used a register reward to pay for them.

I am excited to be back doing our Groceries $40 for 4 budget again.  This week I spent $16.26 on groceries.  Even though I wasn’t even close to the budgeted amount for the week  I was still able to stock up on several items.  Thankfully I was able to keep the amount within reason although I would like to see a little extra left over for those weeks when I find a really good deal or go a little over.  Plus I hope to have more time next week to do more regular grocery shopping.  We were down to one vehicle this week because the van was in the shop so it was a little more difficult juggling 4 schedules with 1 vehicle but we managed to make it happen!

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.