Tag: shopping

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:

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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

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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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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:

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

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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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Hello my friends.  And we are back to grocery shopping again.  So soon!  It seems like I spend an inordinate amount of my time shopping for something each week.  For someone who hates shopping, this is not a happy thought.  A thrift store or a yard sale?  I can search for treasures there all day long, but Wal-mart, or Food Lion with the masses?  No thanks.

Many, many moons ago, I used to try to shop once a month.  I haven’t even tried that in quite a few years.  I don’t know how I would fare.  How do you grocery shop?  Each week?  Once a month?  Every few days?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Last week I tried my best to stay out of the stores.  I think I did pretty well.  The kids and I went into the city, and anytime we make the hour and half treck, I always try to hit a store that’s not available in my tiny town.  This week Sharp Shopper won our hard earned money.  I LOVE that store.  Who doesn’t want to find Boom Chicka Pop for $0.79 a 7 ounce bag!?  We bought all kinds of goodies – Oscar Mayer Maple Bacon, 16 ounces for $2.49, Capri Suns for Liv for $1.49, Cheez It’s for Hayden, it was a Costco sized box – I have no idea what the size on that thing was but it was $4.99. (I looked at the box – 3 pounds) The list goes on and on.

Yes, yes, I can hear you.  All I listed was snacky type foods.  Don’t you buy snacky type foods for your people?  We’ll divert with a story time story for a moment:  When Hayden and Liv were really small, about two and four at the time, Granny Joyce and I were sitting on her back porch talking.  Granny Joyce was the lovely woman who lived in front of us when the kids were tiny and that’s what they called her from the time they could talk.  We were talking about Liv’s food allergies and all of the things that we had to constantly keep away from her, when she turned to me and said, “You still let Hayden have those things, though, right?”.  And I can remember that hitting me like a lightning bolt.  Because we didn’t.

I have a niece who cannot stand chocolate.  So we always try to have some things that she will like every time we have an Eatin Meetin.  But that doesn’t keep us from making things with chocolate.  I’m so thankful for Granny Joyce.  She influenced me in ways that she will never understand.  And I know that Hayden was grateful to her for being able to eat M & M’s, peanuts, and Cheez It’s.  Even when his sister couldn’t have them.  So, yes.  I buy all of my people snacky foods when they want them.  Life is short.  Story time over.

All of that to say, here is what we spent on groceries last week:

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                                                       Sharp Shopper  $100.11 on 06.07.19

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Total spent for the last week: $100.11

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02  Yikes  

June $157.45

And that’s it in the grocery haul department for our house.  Are you keeping up with your grocery spending this year?  Are you staying on track or do you just go with the flow?  Going with the flow is killing my food budget!

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. Save

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Hello my friends.  Let’s talk groceries.  We are six months into the year 2019.  Seriously, how does the time go so, so fast!  At this point I have to concede the fact that I am NOT keeping up with a grocery budget this year, but instead, I am tracking what we are spending.  Two very different things.

I know that you already know the difference but let me clarify:

If I was actually keeping a grocery budget, I would:

    1.  Set an amount and stick to it.  No matter what.

    b. Make a strict list each week and stick as close to it as humanly possible.

    Trois.  Shop at ONE store while sticking to said list.

    4.  Let my family throw themselves onto the floor in a meltdown when I won’t buy the Oreo’s because they are almost $4.00 a box.  Wait that would be me, not my family since Denton won’t eat pretty much anything with sugar lately, and Hayden wouldn’t eat an Oreo if you paid him a gazillion dollars.  Liva might be on the floor with me though.  At least one member of my family knows what’s good!  Have I ever mentioned the fact that we have a beloved dog named Oreo?  What a coincidence.

Now what I am actually doing is tracking my spending each week.  Which isn’t doing  my bank account any favors of late.  Let me show you how I do it.  Instructions follow:

   1. Keep a white board in your kitchen and let anyone and everyone – including the dog and the cats – write down what they want for that week.

   Dos.  Write out a very loose list of everything that’s on the whiteboard in my grocery notebook, and then go through my fridge and pantry to see what we are actually running low on….

    III.  Go to any and all grocery stores that I happen to be near at that moment and buy EVERYTHING in a willy nilly fashion.

Quattuor.  Tally all of the evidence up at the end of the week and stare in horror, while trying to figure out how this happened – again.  (All the while, knowing exactly how it happened – because you were there.)

Sigh.  Yes, this seems to be what I have been doing all year long.  I am going to advise myself to get my arse in gear for the second half of the year.   We shall see if myself listens.  I certainly hope so…..

All of that to say, here is what we spent on groceries last week:

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                                        Food Lion $51.54 on 05.27.19 | Walmart $49.42 on 05.27.19                                         Food Lion $8.43 on 05.28.19 | Walmart $57.34 on 06.01.19

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Total spent for the last week: $166.73

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $1,047.02  Yikes  

June $57.34

And that’s it in the grocery haul department for our house.  Are you keeping up with your grocery spending this year?  Are you staying on track or do you just go with the flow?  Going with the flow is killing my food budget!

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. Save

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This is very, very late.  But, it’s here!  The good, the bad and the ugly of our grocery budgets and hauls for the last two weeks.  I tried my best to cull out anything that wasn’t edible, because – hello, this month’s total cost is going to be exorbitant already.  I don’t need to add in anything that we didn’t eat, like washcloths and dog food.  🙄

BTW, did you see my post on Instagram?   Do you have yellow pears where you live?  Apparently, we don’t grow them in Virginia.  Or import them either, hahahaha.

One of my many grocery hauls over the past two weeks.  How do you like my new to me beach hat?  Denton was not impressed.  Good thing we’ve been married so long or that might have hurt my feelings.  This one has a string to hold it on my head.  Last year I lost my brand new hat on day two, due to the wind.  I am prepared this year.

To all of you Mama’s and Daddy’s out there who feed lots and lots of people at your houses each week – you have my undying admiration and respect.  Also, if I ever do win the lottery I need to figure out a way to help individual families with their grocery bills without just handing over money to a giant corporation.

Feeding lots of people, multiple meals a day is stressful and costly!  It was so, SO worth it to have our families with us for Liv’s graduation.  On a side note:  Have you ever wondered how often drink company’s put their products on sale?  I just realized that I’ve bought Pepsi products the last few times I’ve bought soda.  I’ve looooong been a Coca-Cola girl, but I also LOVE Dr. Pepper.  I can happily switch between the two constantly.  But Denton asked me the other night why I hadn’t been buying Coke.  Well, my darling, it’s because Coke hasn’t been on sale.  If it’s not on sale, I don’t buy it.  Step up your game Coca-Cola, because right now Dr. Pepper is getting all of my business…..

All of that to say, here is what we spent on groceries the last two weeks:

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Food Lion $7.66 on 05.13.19 | Walmart $64.69 on 05.16.19 | Walmart $118.94 on 05.17.19 |                Food Lion $58.41 on 05.20.19| Walmart $2.56 on 05.21.19 | Food Lion $29.91 on 05.22.19 |         Walmart $21.89 on 05.25.19 

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Total spent for the last two weeks:  $304.06

January $740.71

February $631.00

March $689.00

April $405.44

May $937.63   Yikes, May isn’t over yet!

And that’s it in the grocery haul department for our house.  Are you keeping up with your grocery spending this year?  Are you staying on track or do you just go with the flow?

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. Save

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