Overspending on Groceries

I just have to say it - how is it possible to spend $400 or more a month on groceries and toiletries for a family of 2??!! I really don't understand how and why someone would spend that much! I have never in my life come even close to spending that much! I know it's possible to spend that much if you shop at Harris Teeter with no coupons or a specialty store like, Whole Foods. Since we started couponing heavily in January 2011, we have been spending $230 or under on groceries and toiletries for the month. Our average monthly spending on groceries and toiletries for 2011 was $193.42. Some months we spent less, around $85-$130. Before we started using coupons heavily and shopping sales, we were spending $300 a month on groceries. It breaks my heart and makes me sick when I see someone, especially someone with kids, check out in front of me with a total of $100 or more and not hand over a single coupon! And then to look at what's in their cart and it's only enough food for the week and it's snack food, not even meats or produce - not saying that because I think they should eat healthy, I'm saying that because of costs - snack foods are not as expensive as meats or produce are. I can understand spending $100 on several packs of meat, some produce, and maybe toiletries when you're shopping at Harris Teeter, but not on just snacks and frozen food, that's spending too much! Even if you don't have the time or resources to cut out coupons, at least load your loyalty card with digital coupons to save some money. It takes 10 seconds to click on "save" to add coupons to your VIC card! And at Food Lion and CVS you can scan your loyalty card right when you walk in and coupons will print out for you! No clipping, no using your printer, it's way easy! If you buy your toiletries and/or groceries at Wal-mart, you're overpaying! Yes, you read that right. I've tried multiple times to shop at Wal-mart with coupons and their prices are too high! From week-to-week Wal-mart will go up on their prices and down on some items. Wherever they go down in price, they make up for it by going up a few cents on other items. For example, let's say they go down on the price of diapers from $10 last week to now it's $8.99, but the price of wipes goes up by $1. I have seen their prices go up each week on their Great Value brand. People think that they're saving money by buying the store brand at places, but for me, by using coupons I've found that name brand is always cheaper! With stacking coupons I'm able to get Huggies and Pampers for less than the price of store brand. With coupons I'm able to get Colgate or Crest toothpaste for 50 cents or free - I never buy toothpaste if it's over 50 cents! For ground beef, I won't buy it unless it's $2.75/lb or less for 80/20 pack. After seeing how little I can pay for items by using coupons, I'm not willing to pay more.

I get the most for my money at CVS, Target, and Harris Teeter. I get the most savings on diapers, toothpaste, soap, deodorant, and candy by stacking coupons at CVS. I typically get meat, diapers, wipes, and food at Target, by stacking coupons. With manufacture coupons, digital coupons, and eVic offers I primarily do my grocery shopping at Harris Teeter. Typically at HT I spend $1 or less per item. Last night I spent, with tax $11.16 and got 13 things. Over the weekend I got their meal deal - Perdue fully cooked chicken, Steamfresh vegetables, 2 liter of Coke Zero, and Alexia garlic bread for $2.06 with tax! We'll eat this meal one night and still have left overs and only spent $2.06 on dinner!

As a stated above, our average monthly spending on groceries and toiletries for 2011 was $193.42.My goal for 2012 is to average $175 a month. For this month we've already spent $114 on groceries so with 14 days left in this month, I only have $61 left that I can spend. I'll probably be under $175 for this month because our pantry is full and there's only 2 weeks left for sales to be going!

I'd really like to know where people are shopping to spend $400 a month on groceries, what they're buying, and if they're using any coupons and if not, why not! So if you fall into that category, I'd love to hear your answers!

Time is Passing by Quickly!

It's been a while since I blogged. What can I say, we have been busy because of the holidays and preparing for our baby boy's arrival! Christmas was great! We did things a little different this year. We spent Christmas Eve with my in-laws - opened presents with them and then went to N's aunt and uncle's house to eat dinner and have our first baby shower! We got a lot of fun things for baby that day! Grandma and Grandpa gave us 2 blankets, 2 airplane toys, 2 books, a crib sheet, baby's first stuffed animal - a polar bear, and some other neat things! We loaded up on clothes and blankets at the baby shower! Then we spent Christmas Day with my mom's side of the family. We got lots of candy, some cute baby ornaments, scrapbooking stickers, and some necessities - kitchen soap and car wash goodies. Then we spent the day after Christmas with my parents, Nana and Pap Pap and my brother. We loaded up on goodies for the baby - toys, clothes, and bibs.

Since the holidays have been over, we have painted the baby's room and organized his closet. We have a ton of clothes! We will probably have to change his clothes twice a day in order for him to wear everything once! We are very fortunate to have been given a lot of used baby clothes. We will likely not have to buy any clothes for him until he's 18 months old or older. We also have a lot of diapers and wipes already, thanks to my couponing. We are anxious to meet our son! Hard to believe I have less than 14 weeks to go until his due date! We still need a few items before he gets here, mainly his crib, changing pad, changing cover, and car seat - all necessities. So far I have 2 baby showers planned for me - 1 on February 19th which is books and toys themed and 1 on February 25th. I'm really looking forward to time with friends and hearing everyone's excitement and love for the baby will be fun!

I have been busy saving money! Super doubles ended today at HT. There were not as many cheap items as there have been during other super double weeks so I only went 3 times this week. The result of my 3 shopping trips was $321.43 worth of groceries for a grand total of $85.95 for 83 things!!!! That's 73% savings! I'm really pleased with my savings because our pantry and fridge are now filled with lots of goodies that will last us at least 4 weeks. Here are a few of the deals I scored this week with super doubles - 3 free milks, free pasta sauce, free cereal, 25 cents for batteries, 49 cents for toothpaste, 34 cents for paper plates, 50 cents for shampoo, 87 cents for 8 pack of crackers, 99 cents for baby oil, and many other great deals!

Here are pictures of each shopping trip -



My savings tip for this post - Know when to pass up an opportunity to use a coupon. By this I mean, just because you have a coupon to use and the item is on sale doesn't mean you should buy it. First you need to make sure it's something you need and will use. If it is then the next step is to determine if you believe you'd get the best price by buying it right then. One thing I have learned with couponing is there will always be sales so it's ok to pass up an opportunity to use a coupon. For example, today I could have bought Pepperidge Farm cracker crisps for $1.50 each after my coupon doubled. Well I decided not to buy them because 1. the bag is small so it would not be much food, 2. I didn't need it at that price, and 3. my coupon doesn't expire until the end of January so chances are there will be another, cheaper opportunity to use my coupon.