In a Pamper Craze (2 Weeks Spending)

Since I haven't posted last weeks spending yet and I'm done shopping for this week I thought I would post both weeks at the same time. They aren't necessarily in the order that I bought them.

And let's just say that our baby will have a very dry and clean behind. With all the great deals on Pampers and Huggies this week I stocked up. I also have a couple of baby gifts that I wanted to give and thought I would add a pack of pampers to what I already purchased.

CVS - (Baby - $13.59)

After the ECB these pampers were $4.00 a bag. With tax it came to $13.59. The mouthwash and toothpaste were FREE. One of them was actually a $1.00 moneymaker

Walmart - (Groceries $5.23)
(Home Care $4.04)

It's a noodle bonanza!!!! :) 23 bags of noodles are WAY more then we need. I gave 15 bags to my mom. In exchange, she gave me 1 quart of french dressing, 5 lbs of sweet potatoes and 1 fresh pineapple. Guess it's called bartering. The total of what I paid for the noodles are included in the Giant Eagle total below.

Giant Eagle - (Groceries 39.28)
Most of my expense was in the hamburger and the butter. I had $7.12 worth of butter and $24.35 in hamburger.

Rite Aid - (Baby $1.65)
The Organix shampoo & conditioner is B1G1 this week. They also have a tag on them that states you can try it for free so after I get my rebate money back they will both be free. Can't wait to try this shampoo and conditioner. Looks awesome!

Giant Eagle - (Groceries $25.24)
The ham was $18.42 so that was the bulk of the cost. My favorite purchases this week:
10lbs of flour for $1.00
Semi-boneless ham for $.99 a lb
Cream Cheese for less then $.60 a box
(Joe and I are going on a little get away this weekend. Some people call it a baby moon. :) My parents are watching the kids. I am planning on sending a bunch of food along down. With the many mouths my mom has to feed she always welcomes food. The cinnamon rolls and biscuits are a few of the things that are headed that way.)

Walmart - (Groceries $10.50)
ALWAYS double check your grocery receipts. At any store. I have made it a habit and it is amazing how many times I am overcharged for an item. I have found customer service reps to be AWESOME 95% of the time. I try to be very polite. Today I had a B1G1 coupon for soy sauce. I saw her mark it but when I looked at my receipt I was charged for both of them. I collected my $1.42 from customer service and then the kids and I took the money and put it in one of those fun round things that goes to a Children's Hospital. $1.42 really isn't a big deal but just in today's shopping I saved $6.42 by checking my receipts and visiting customer service. It all adds up.)

Rite Aid - (Baby $1.65)
This transaction was the same as the earlier one except I got some FREE candy to go along with the shampoo and conditioner. The rebate on the shampoo and conditioner is one per household. I gave this one to a friend who I thought could benefit from it and she is applying for the rebate. I wanted the Huggies.

CVS - (FREE)
With the coupon these were actually a $1.50 moneymaker

Target -(Home Care $3.59)

Rite Aid - (Groceries $2.29)
(Baby $5.52)
Like I said earlier, our baby should have a nice and clean behind. :)

Other expenses not pictured:

Aunt Wilma's fresh brown eggs - (Groceries $4.00)
Rite Aid - (Groceries $2.29) (Home Care $ 1.05)
Marathon - Sunday Papers (Groceries $3.25) (Home Care $3.25)

Totals for 2 weeks

Baby - $22.41
(6 bags of pampers, 2 wipes and Desitin.... Yeah!)
Groceries - $92.08
(I am finding myself stocked to the gills. I am thinking next month may be a low key shopping month while I use up some of the stuff I've stocked up on.)
Home Care - $11.93
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

March totals (4 weeks)

Baby - $22.41
Groceries - $182.00
Home Care - $41.16

Although posting my spending has been a bit time consuming I have found it to be really good for me. To sit down, analyze what I'm buying, how much I'm spending and what I'm spending it on.

What does your grocery budget look like?
How much do you spend?
What items do you buy? Etc......

This Weeks Spending

Paypal - (10.41 Groceries)

Do you think it looks like our thirst may be quenched? :) I was able to use my raincheck this week and finish my annual stock up project on Gatorade. The Gatorade was free after coupon plus I got a $4.00 Catalina to use towards next weeks groceries. As you can see I did spend 10.41 on the coupons. If you figure in the coupon price as well as the Catalinas I paid $.32 each.

Giant Eagle - ($2.97 Home Care)
($16.66 Groceries)

CVS - ($.81 Home Care)
Big spender, eh? There were a few other items that I wanted but had to settle for rainchecks. Joe is always happy when I can get another razor to add to his collection. Cheap disposable razors are NOT for this family.....

Aldi - ($8.94 Groceries)
What a fun picture. :) I'm sure you've always wanted to see a bunch of lettuce, some broccoli and some cheese. This was the third store that I checked and couldn't get romaine lettuce. Must be a shortage out there..... Guess all my friends at church carry in will get to eat iceberg lettuce this time.

Rite Aid - (10.92 Home Care)
I was quite excited to get this shampoo. I've heard it's really good and it was a money maker. After my single check rebate I made a dollar on it. It pained me to pay $10.00 for the White Strips but they never end up being free. Guess I should be happy. The original price on them was $44.99. Who really pays the actual sticker price at drug stores?????????

Target - (FREE!)
I didn't actually walk out of the store with a balance of $0.00. I helped Hannah pick out a birthday gift for one of her friends and we paid for the gift along with getting these free items.

Buehlers - ($10.05 Groceries)
Purchased last week after I had posted my spending so it gets added into this weeks. Let's just say I should have purchased 5 bags of those tomatoes. They were AWESOME! They were almost as good as eating candy. I know- I sound like I've lost a few marbles but they really were THAT good. Pregnant women and their taste buds.....

Marathon - ($4.75 Home Care)
I bought 3 Sunday papers this week because there were a lot of coupons that I thought I could use down the road. I'm still trying to figure out a way to get more coupon inserts without having to pay for them. If anyone out there is tossing their inserts, please send them my way!

Weekly Total
Groceries - $46.06
Home Care - $19.45

Weekly Spending

In the interest of keeping myself accountable in my spending habits and for those of you who have asked what my weekly spending looks like. Here's an attempt at showing you. I think over a months time you will have a more accurate picture of how I attempt to do things. I'm learning as I go.

I have 3 separate categories: Groceries, Home Care and Baby.

Groceries = Food

Home Care = Personal Care Products, Laundry Detergent, Styrofoam Plates, Etc.

Baby = Recently started fund to purchase pampers at great prices instead of waiting till we need them.

This weeks shopping was a bit abnormal. On Monday evening the kids and I hitched a ride to Wooster with Joe. While he took his guitar lesson we went to CVS and Rite Aid. After his lesson we stopped at Kohls and Walmart.

On Wednesday I had to take the car to Massillon for an oil change. So I stopped at Walgreens, Giant Eagle, Walmart and Kmart.

I am not a big advocate of driving all over creation for deals but I like to have lists made in case my errand destination coincides with a store that I like I can make a little pit stop.

Walgreens - $1.00 (Groceries)

Kmart - $9.04 (Home Care)

-216 loads worth of detergent @ $9.04 = $.04 a load

Walmart - $5.66 (Groceries)

-Milk was marked $3.38 a gallon. Priced matched it with Fishers and got it for $1.77 a gallon.

Giant Eagle - $16.21 (Groceries)
-My husband and brother LOVE Wheaties Fuel. I was able to get 5 boxes for $5.00. You may think that buying a bunch of Gatorade isn't that budget friendly. I have found it is for our family. Joe used to run to the gas station down the road before many hockey, softball or volleyball games and get Gatorade at the gas station price. Last year I bought 30 bottles of Powerade at a great price and it lasted till now. So I got 10 this week and got a rain check for 20 more. We should be set for another year. :)

Rite Aid - ($3.50 Groceries & $.74 Home Care)

Walmart - ($14.24 Groceries)

Marathon - ($3.25 Groceries)

~some weeks the Sunday paper expense gets taken out of the grocery budget and some weeks it gets taken out of the home care budget

Weekly Total

Groceries - $43.86

Home Care - $9.78

(Side Note: Last month I did some serious stocking up on bonesless, skinless chicken breast while it was on sale and went over my grocery budget just a bit. I'm going to try and keep it around $50.00 a week but I'm also placing my garden order from Henry Fields and think that should probably come out of my grocery budget too. Hopefully the garden will pay me back this summer. :) I'm also planning on buying an apple tree. Yeah~!~ :) Wish me luck! )