Grocery Haul(s) $96.46

These are all of my grocery shopping hauls for 09.02.19 through 09.08.19.

Hello my friends!  I hope you are having a great week.  I’m just sitting here in Virginia waiting for it to rain.  I know if you are on the east coast of our nation you probably had enough rain and wind to do you for a while with Hurricane Dorian.  I hope you made it through safely.  I was actually trying to remember the last time we had rain at my house.  I can’t remember.  Our grass is brown, crunchy and dying.  It isn’t pretty.  Actually you can see it if you look at the ground in the photo of my new horse.

My new horseHe’s awesome by the way.  The grass is more green in the photo than it truly is.  Plus, I just need to listen to some rain falling outside to soothe my soul.

Onto the food.  I kept myself out of the grocery stores last week.  This method is serving me well.  I sent Denton out to our teeny tiny country store to grab a gallon of milk in the middle of last week to keep myself from going into a store.  I know myself well.  There is always a sale and I would have come out of there with at least $100 of stuff.  However, teeny tiny country stores have a drastic markup on perishables.  He paid over $5.00 for that gallon of milk!  But, I have to look at it like this:  It saved us $95.00.  Right?  Right.

Liv and I did our normal routine on Saturday – yard sale to see if there were treasures we needed to bring home with us, and grocery shopping to fill in the things we were missing.  Such as:  sugar, eggs, bread, apples, a roast, heavy whipping cream, free yogurts from Kroger, frozen veggies – these were a hit at my house, and I love that they are waiting for me in my giant freezer in the garage instead of slowly dying in my fridge when I forget about them…..

I also stocked up on non necessary items like, Hershey bars for Hayden – it’s one of the few sweets I can get into his body, Vienna sausages for Denton – I think he was having a craving, and my beloved Dr. Pepper.  We were completely out.  I had to resort to drinking iced tea.  It was that bad.  But I didn’t cave!  See, I saved myself another $100.00.

So how did the grocery shopping go at your house last week?  What did you buy?


Walmart $59.88 on 09.07.19 | Kroger $36.58 on 09.07.19


Total spent for the last week: $96.46

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02  Yikes

June $361.33

July $704.96

August $760.65

September $96.46

How is the grocery shopping going at your house?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here

Grocery Haul(s) $45.80

These are all of my grocery shopping hauls for 08.26.19 through 09.01.19.

Hello my friends!  I hope you are well.

This past week was a lovely way to end the month because I ONLY SPENT $45.80 !!!!  I think that this is the least amount of money I’ve spent on groceries in years for a week and it felt glorious.  Now I want to achieve this every single week for the rest of my life.  Which we all know is not going to happen, but it’s a very happy thought.

My total for the week would have been even cheaper, but Batman our ancient kitty who is allergic to grain decided that he desperately needed to eat the bread that I had just bought.  He is now busily ripping out all of his fur.  sidenote:  All of my animals are lunatics.  He ripped open both bags of the butter bread that we eat and daintily took bites from most of both loaves.  Gahhh.  Sometimes they are worse than toddlers and you can’t take your eyes off of them for an instant.

The entire rest of that total is from milk, tortillas, jiffy corn bread mix (which Denton hates because its sweet) fruit and fresh vegetables.  Man I need to grow a garden next year.  $27.62 of my total this week was nothing but –

veggies

  • potatoes $4.76
  • carrots $0.82
  • romaine lettuce $2.48
  • 2 cucumbers $1.16
  • tomatoes $3.46

and fruit

  • honeycrisp apples $5.68
  • raspberries $2.98
  • blueberries $4.00
  • cantaloupe $2.28

I also need to grow a honeycrisp apple tree.  It’s the only one everyone in my house will eat.

What did you buy this week?


Walmart $28.91 on 08.30.19 | Walmart $16.89 on 09.01.19


Total spent for the last week: $45.80

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00


April $405.44

May $1,047.02  Yikes  

June $361.33

July $704.96

August $760.65

How is the grocery shopping going at your house?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Check out what that means to you here

Grocery Haul(s) $278.82

Hello my friends!  How has your week been going so far?  It has been so cool here, and I am loving it.  We are heading back into the 80’s later this week, but I’ll take all of the 70 degree weather that I can get.

Did you see that total up there?  That was for a WEEK.  I know.  But I have justifications!  Denton and I went into the city for one of his doctor’s appointments, which means I convinced him to go into Aldi with me – walking is walking I told him.  Which is all he is supposed to be doing for the next four weeks.

And then the weekend came; Liv and I were out finding yard sales and Kroger had a great sale going on…I also popped into Walmart and Food Lion for normal things like milk, bread and hair color….which brings my weekly total to a terrible, terrible amount.  More justifications later, it will all even itself out, right?  Right.

If you need to stock up on spaghetti sauce, Kroger has their Classico on sale for $1.49 until Wednesday.  We love this brand, it’s so, so good!

They also had Daisy sour cream in the squeezy tubes for $1.49 on Saturday.

Chips.  If you are going to buy them, buy them on sale.

Oh my beloved Dr. Pepper.  Hayden has been converted to Dr. Pepper now.  He said Coke tastes funny now and he prefers DrP.  These were $5.49 for 24.  Again, if you are going to buy it……

Philadelphia cream cheese for $0.99?  Yes, I’ll take 427.  I use these in my potato soup.  I also keep them in my lovely giant freezer in the garage until I need them.  Do  you freeze cream cheese?  I don’t think it affects the taste at all and this way I always have it when I need it.

Bologna.  Oscar Mayer has converted Hayden too.  It’s always had Denton.  I like a good fried bologna sandwich occasionally.  We say ba-lone-y at our house.  How do you say it?  At $0.99 each I stock up and freeze these too.

What have you bought at a great price this week?


Food Lion $51.17 on 08.20.19 | Aldi $107.78 on 08.21.19 | Kroger $102.91 on 08.24.19 | Walmart $16.96 on 08.24.19


Total spent for the last week: $278.82

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02  Yikes  

June $361.33

July $704.96

August $714.85

How is the grocery shopping going at your house?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

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Grocery Haul(s) $243.80

Hello my friends!  I feel like we are *slightly* getting back to normal at our house.  We are not normal and our routines are far from what they usually are but we are getting there.  Denton is healing and doing so great.  Thank you all for your prayers.  I need to sit down and write it all out, but I just can’t do it yet.  So let’s talk about something that’s easy to clarify – like the money I spent on groceries for the past two weeks!

I had to pull all of my receipts to be able to tell when and why I went to the grocery store.  One of the trips was because I wanted a roast and I didn’t have any more stored in my giant garage freezer.  I hate it when that happens.  While I was in Food Lion to pick up a chuck roast, I also grabbed some yellow tomatoes.  They were so, so good.  I think I’ve only had maybe five tomatoes on the two plants that I grabbed from the clearance rack at Walmart in the middle of July, so here’s to hoping that everyone is well next spring so that we can have fresh veggies right outside in the summer.

Also, milk.  We are still going through gallons and gallons of the stuff.

I didn’t get any other photos of everything else that I bought.  Do you know how awkward it is to take a picture of your food with people staring at you?  Well, it’s pretty awkward.  I need to take the photos when I get home, but when I got home I still had stuff on my dining room table from mine and Liv’s trip into the city from three weeks ago.  Yes, we are living real life right here.

Denton keeps telling me that my table is going to collapse.  I respond with – dining room tables are designed to hold massive amounts of food.  He says not in the way you are using it.  I think it’s just fine.  We will see who is right.  🙂

I looked back over my notebook that I keep in my purse to see what I actually bought too.  BTW, how do you keep your grocery shopping lists?  Just a scrap piece of paper, or a printable running list of things you by often?  I’ve done both, but for the past year I’ve used one of the kids 5 X 7 notebooks that they had used two pages out of and put into the go away pile.  I am loving this method.  It stays in my purse, it’s small enough that I don’t mind that it lives in my purse and I always have access to it.

When I make out my normal weekly grocery list, I just transfer what everyone has written on my big whiteboard during the week to my little notebook.  It keeps me straight, which is always a big plus in my world.  I use the right side of the notebook for my list and the left for a possible running weekly menu.

The only thing out of my normal weekly shopping in the past two weeks was a request from Hayden.  He wanted bologna of all things.  To my knowledge he has NEVER eaten a piece of bologna in his life, but that’s what he made for lunch one day last week and now he wants more.

So that’s what’s going on in my little part of the world right now, let’s see what the food totals are up to this time:


Walmart $89.90 on 08.09.19 | Food Lion $19.49 on 08.10.19 | Walmart $82.91 on 08.15.19 | Walmart $8.80 on 08.17.19 | Food Lion $42.70 on 08.17.19


Total spent for the last two weeks: $243.80

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02  Yikes  

June $361.33

July $704.96

August $436.03

How is the grocery shopping going at your house?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

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Grocery Shopping Trips: 07.29.19 – 08.04.19

Hello my friends!  It’s time to account for my grocery spending.  I don’t have to account to anyone for my spending.  This is just my inner control freak way to keep myself in check.  Sometimes.

To tally everything up this week, I had to dig hard.  I had to actually look at our bank account, paw through my purse, my wallet, and my car to finally find all of the receipts. But I found them all.  This week.  Sigh.

Olivia and I went into the city, which means that I made a stop at SharpShopper, my favorite grocery store of all time.

Where we stocked up on necessary items like:  Oreos for $1.49 a box, V8 juice for $1.49, Olive oil $4.99, black peppercorn $0.99, 16 ounces of honey $2.99 and Oreo’s favorite dog treats for $1.99 a box.

Our favorite Oscar Mayer Maple bacon $2.49, Kozyshack rice pudding $ 1.49 for six, and Dannon coffee yogurt $0.50 for four!  As you can see, some things were pilfered before I could even take a photo…..Unfrosted Pop-tarts for Denton $0.99, cereal for $0.79 and $0.99, glass bottles of lime juice for $0.50, Godiva chocolates $0.99 and $1.49, Thomas Everything Bagels $1.49 and Velveeta shells and cheese $1.49.  You know, the necessities.  

We always come home with something new to try.  This time it was:  Organic Acai Supergreens smoothies by Sambazon for $1.19.  We haven’t tried these yet, but Denton and Liv love this stuff, so I’m sure this brand won’t disappoint.  Target sells these for $5.99 each.

We also stocked up this week on more Dr. Pepper to support our families craving, lots of veggies, Nesquick, and milk, milk, milk and more milk along with a multitude of other things I know I have forgotten about.

I have bought more milk in the last month than I’ve bought in years.  I’m buying two gallons at a time, and I’m buying at least six gallons a week.  I think Denton’s body must be craving it, trying to repair itself.  And that statement is straight from Dr. Tracie and you can take it with a grain of salt, which is what it’s worth.

Please keep Denton in your prayers.  We spent this morning and part of the afternoon at the hospital doing pre-op things.  They have moved his surgery up.  He will have it this Wednesday.  The preparation we went through this time was so much more involved, so much so, that its actually frightening.  I will be so glad when this part of it is over – I can’t imagine how he feels.

Let’s see what the food totals are up to this week:


Walmart $73.43 on 07.29.19 | Sharp Shopper $137.89 on 08.02.19 | Food Lion $54.34 on 08.03.19


Total spent for the last week: $265.66

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02  Yikes  

June $361.33

July $704.96

August $192.23

How is the grocery shopping going at your house?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

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Grocery Shopping Trips: 07.22.19 – 07.28.19

Hello my friends.  How was your week?  Before we get to the grocery shopping hauls, in my normal fashion I want to discuss the weather, because it consumes my mind 24/7 while I wait – impatiently – for fall.  It also affects everything we do.  Right?  It does at my house.

We have had a picture perfect week of summer.  You know my feelings on the subject of summer, but this past week was glorious if I do say so myself.  We had lows in the 50’s and highs in the 70’s and very low 80’s and I enjoyed it.  Basically if summer came without humidity I would be a very happy girl.  It was lovely.  Even without any glorious rain.

Now onto the food.  On Monday I made an emergency stop at Walmart for Coca-Cola and Dr. Pepper because we were running dangerously low.  By Wednesday, I needed to run into Food Lion because they were running a special on their 80/20 ground beef for $2.99 a pound.  I’ve said it before, but we can’t find a better tasting alternative for ground beef other than our Food Lion.  It’s delicious.  Hard to believe, isn’t it?  And milk.  We are going through milk faster than ever right now.  Denton and Olivia both are craving it.

Friday Hayden, Liv and I made another trip to Walmart with the main intention of Hayden ordering his new glasses.  He hadn’t ordered them from our Walmart in the past few years and we discovered after waiting for the vision worker people to come back from lunch that our vision insurance isn’t accepted by Walmart any longer.  Well that was a kick in the teeth after he spent an agonizing hour picking out the new frames.  Now we are back to square one.  Which seriously sucks.

While we were there we dropped another 78 bucks on random pantry staples that should last at least a couple of months for those things.  Things like sliced American cheese, canned soup and ramen for lunches and mac and cheese.  I buy these things in bulk stick them on a shelf, or in the refrigerator drawer, and call it good until I need to stock up the next time.

What kind of stuff do you buy in bulk and how did your grocery shopping go for the week?

Let’s see what the damage was:


Walmart $14.66 on 07.22.19 | Food Lion $24.32 on 07.24.19 | Walmart $77.99 on 07.26.19


Total spent for the last week: $116.97

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02  Yikes  

June $361.33

July $631.53

How is the grocery shopping going at your house?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

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18 oz. Glass Water Bottles | 6 Pack for $9.99 | Free Shipping

Glass Water Bottles | 6 Pack | Free Shipping

We LOVE our glass water bottles.  I think this is an excellent price for these.  They are 18 ounces each and come with neoprene sleeves in cool colors.  The price equals out to $1.66 each – with FREE shipping!  That’s way less than what I paid for ours.

Here are some other things that I’m trying my best to not add to my cart today:

Large Artisan Studio Prints | 4 Sizes
$3.87
Introvert V-Neck Tees
$14.99
Large Farmhouse Essentials Art
$3.87
Vintage 90's Tees
$13.99
Personalized Phone Charger Decals
$3.99
Theme Park Mandala Tees | Youth + Adult
$13.99
Modern Kids Prints
$4.99
Audrey Carryall Satchel | 3 Designs
$22.99

Oh man….I have done so, so well in the purse department.  I am still carrying my lovely Kelly Green Kate Spade purse – that I’ve carried for over two years now.  I LOVE that purse.  But this one is tempting me…..

Personalized Plush Fleece Blankets
$28.99
'Made In' Year Custom Graphic Tees
$14.99

Here is a link to all of the deals on Jane today.  Let me know if you order any goodies.  I would love to see a peek into what you put into your cart!

Grocery Shopping Trips: 07.15.19 – 07.21.19

Hello everyone!  I hope you had a wonderful week.  The past week is a blur for us.  We are still in a holding pattern at our house, so everything is limping along as best it can.  Denton and I met with his neurosurgeon and they will be scheduling him for surgery in the next week or two.  Keep him (and the rest of us) in your prayers, if you would!

Sooooo, trips into the city and general fuzziness of my brain causes me to just buy whatever I happen to see on the shelves at the grocery stores.  This is my new excuse!  Exhaustion has EVERYTHING to do with all of the nutty buddies, oreo ice cream and orange swirl ice creams that ended up in our cart on Saturday and nothing to do with poor impulse control.  I’m sure there have been studies about this phenomenon, right?

But I did happen to buy other good things too.  A yummy Boston butt that has already made it’s way into my crockpot and been consumed completely, which you will see later tonight in my What’s for Supper post.

Rosemary, cilantro and mint plants that I’ve already set out on my front porch.  I’m counting these in my grocery budget, because…..we are going to eat them.  I would count them if I had bought them dried and in a container, so just because they are still alive and on the plant doesn’t mean anything.  These are the thoughts that are taking up space in my head.  I could try to blame this on lack of sleep and worry too, but that would be a blatant lie.  I would definitely be rationalizing all of this even if things were all sunshine and roses.  Sigh.

Honeycrisp apples are always a good chunk of our grocery budget each week.  We eat a LOT of these apples.  I usually spend about $10 to $12 on apples each week.  I most definitely need to buy a tree for the yard.  How much do you spend on apples?  What’s your favorite kind?  Gala’s are pretty cheap compared to the honeycrisp, but they break Hayden and Olivia’s mouths out.

I am loving the strawberries and blueberries right now.  They are so, so sweet!

How did your grocery shopping go for the week?

Let’s see what the damage was:


FoodLion $35.66 on 07.16.19 | Walmart $163.55 on 07.22.19


Total spent for the last week: $199.21

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02  Yikes  

June $361.33

July $514.56

How is the grocery shopping going at your house?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

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Grocery Shopping Trips: 06.30.19 – 07.14.19

Hello my friends.  I hope you are having a great week!  My Mama and I were having conversation the other day about the best way to save on your grocery bill.  It’s quite simple, if you can actually do it.  And all you have to do is stay OUT of the store.  Truly.  Yes, I know.  We are geniuses.  🙂

I know that’s not possible all the time, but if you can make what you have at home stretch for a day, and then another day…..I kept myself out of the stores week before last with this method until last Friday when we were completely out of fruit and other desperate necessities, like:

Swaggerty’s sauage.  This is the BEST sausage patties on the planet in my opinion.  I use others sausages for other things, but if I am craving sausage biscuits and gravy, this is what I’m going to use.  Every time.

Pedigree dog food.  I’ve been buying this for Oreo.  I have found that the better quality food we buy the fur babies, the less food they eat and they seem to stay full longer.  We leave their food out at all times so that they can regulate when they want to eat, but they still eat less with the better food.I use this in place of milk – when I remember to add it to my list –  when I make Hayden’s Alfredo.  It is SO good.

Fiesta blend cheese.  We put this stuff on everything.

The people who live at my house actually prefer the Walmart version of Honey Nut Cheerios.  Does your family have quirks like that?

And much, much more.  And then another week went by because life is crazy at my house right now.  Denton is still in terrible pain.  He had an epidural shot in his spine – gahhh – and our next step is to see the Neurosurgeon.  Keep him in your prayers.  He said to me this morning that so far this hasn’t been a stellar year health-wise.  Hopefully he will be pain free soon.  It is a horrifying thing to watch someone you love be in terrible pain, and not be able to do anything about it.  I hope you and yours are well!

So let’s see what the damage of the last two weeks was:


Food Lion $24.36 on 07.05.19 | Walmart $111.57 on 07.05.19 | Food Lion $44.47 on 07.09.19 | Walmart $32.79 on 07.10.19 | Walmart $102.16 on 07.13.19


Total spent for the last week: $315.35

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02  Yikes  

June $361.33

July $315.35

I have no idea how to gauge where we will end up at the end of this month.  We shall see.  How is the grocery shopping going at your house?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

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Grocery Shopping Trips: 06.23.19 – 06.30.19

Hello my friends.  It’s a brand new week!  I didn’t post anything last week about groceries, because we were at the beach ~ the glorious, heavenly beach, and I didn’t buy ANY food for my house.  Don’t you love getting away?  It’s always lovely to come home, but I love being away too.

We haven’t ventured beyond our tiny town since we got home.  Denton is having very debilitating pain with his back and the nerves running down his leg.  Say a little prayer for him.  We go to have an MRI done tomorrow.  So traveling for groceries is not on my priority list at the moment.

Walmart and Food Lion it is!  Liv and I did find a Great Value substitute for our beloved Boom Chicka Pop.  I LOVED it.  Liva was more – mehh.  But when I can’t run into a Sharp Shopper and buy Boom Chicka Pop for $0.79, this is a great alternative.  It was $1.98 I believe and it’s slightly more salty, so YUM.

Still loving the dill pickle chips from Food Lion.

These were a total fail.  We ended up opening two canisters of these knock off Pringles. They were both really, really gross.  They have a terrible aftertaste.  Hayden said it tasted like they had sat and absorbed the flavor of the can and the plastic lid.  Gross.

This is Denton’s absolute favorite coffee at the moment.  It’s all we buy and he is a major coffee snob.  I can take it or leave it, pretty much from any coffee brand.  I’m not a big coffee drinker; as we all know, Coca~Cola is my caffeine drug of choice.  But this is good.  Especially when you have a piece of chocolate cake to go with it, which is what usually motivates me to drink a cup of coffee.  Black of course.  The cake will provide all the sugar I need.

Okay, I promise that I did buy things other than potato chips, junk food and coffee at the store this past week.  So let’s see what the damage was:


Food Lion $74.88 on 06.25.19 | Food Lion $51.01 on 06.29.19 | Walmart $77.99 on 06.29.19


Total spent for the last week: $203.88

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02  Yikes  

June $361.33

This month ended better than last month, but that’s because we were away on vacation.  We’ll see what happens July!  How did your grocery budget do in June?

Here are some ways I recoup part of my grocery budget each week:

ibotta | Checkout 51 | Receipt Hog | Walmart Savings Catcher | Fetch (referral code – QF4TJ)

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