Publix trip - Best Savings Ever!

I just got back from my Publix trip, and it has to be the best trip I have ever had. I spent a total of $280, but that included $250 in gas cards, which makes my total groceries only $30!! My total savings was $134.93, which is over 80%!! Including the gas card coupons, I had over $100 in coupons!! Oh, and I forgot to give him a $2.99 off coupon, so I am going back for that. It was for Suave Hairspray, and I only bought it because it was free, so that will put me at 83% savings.
I have saved that high of a percentage before, but I was usually only buying a couple of things. This was on a buggy full of real groceries, i.e. organic milk, boston butt, frozen vegetables, strawberries, grapes, etc. Woo Hoo!! :)

Publix $10 off Gas Card

I am so excited this deal is back again! In the upcoming Wednesday ad for Publix, they are going to run the "$10 off a $50 Gas card wyb $25 worth of groceries" promotion! I love this deal! I go buy my groceries $25 at a time, and I get $10 off each time! Just think, that is 20% off gas! No gas card can beat that deal!!!

Week 1

(Pic is of my Publix trip)
So, here we go.... Week 1 of the "All You" Grocery Challenge.

The problem for me is this is week 4 of the month, so I am pretty much out of money, so this week we went to the stockpile, leftovers, etc. to eat. The best deals this week were the "Think Thin" bars at Publix (they paid me $.25 to take them!), the Bayer Advanced ($.50), and the Tylenol Precise Cream (Free!).

Here is what I bought...

Trip 1 - CVS
2 Transactions

Transaction 1

• Gain Dish Soap - On sale for $.97 - Used $1.00 coupon that they adjusted down to .97 = Free
• Hershey's Bliss - $5.99 - Got back $5.99 in ECBs = $0.00 net
• Colgate Toothbrush - On sale for $2.79 - Used $1.00 coupon - Got back $2.00 in ECBs = -$.21
• Used $5.99 ECBs from last week
• Total OOP with Tax = $2.57 - Received $7.99 in ECBs. Net = -$5.42

Transaction 2

• Pampers Box of Diapers (96 diapers) - On sale for $20.00 - Used $1.50 coupon
• Huggies Pack of Wipes (216 wipes) - On sale for $6.00 - Used $.75 coupon
• Used $7.99 in ECBs from previous transaction
• Total OOP with Tax = $17.84 - Received $10.00 in ECBs for buying $25 worth of diapers and wipes. Net = $7.84

Wal-Mart - needed some sausage for a recipe. No one had the kind I wanted on sale, and I had a store credit to Wal-Mart

• Johnsonville Sausages - $2.50
• Total with Tax = $2.70

Publix - My main shopping trip every week is to Publix on Wednesdays because that is when the new sales flyer comes out and I can get the Mystery Penny item. This list is a long one.

Transaction 1

• YoBaby organic Yogurt - $2.50 - Used $.50 coupon (doubled for $1.00 off)
• Eggland's Best eggs - On sale for $2.00 - Used $.50 coupon (doubled for $1.00 off)
• 4 pack Carrot Nut Muffins - On Sale for $1.50 (this was my splurge of the week - I LOVE these muffins!!)
• 2 Knorr Sides - On sale for $.79 each - Used $1.00/2 coupon
• Duke's Mayo - On sale for $1.50
• Bananas - On sale for $.60
• Blueberries - On sale for $2.00 - Used $2.00 off produce coupon
• Fresh Express Salad - on sale for $2.00 - Used $.50 coupon (double to $1.oo off)
• 3 Packs Publix Frozen Vegetables - $1.39, $1.79, and $1.49 each (paid full price - I should have bought more the last time they were on sale!!)
• Tylenol Precise Cream - On Sale for $4.99 - Used $5.00 off coupon
• 4 Think Thin Bars - On Sale for $1.25 - Used 4 competitor coupons for $.50 off + Used 4 manufacturer coupons for $.50 off (doubled to $1.00). (so they paid me $.25 to take these, and I love eating the on the way to the gym at 5:30 in the morning!!)
• 2 Power Bars - Used 1 store BOGO coupon and 1 manufacturer BOGO, so $0.00
• Publix Brand Oatmeal - $1.99
• Publix Apple Juice - Mystery Penny item, so $0.01
• Somewhere along the line I had another $1.50 in coupons. Either the cashier messed up, or there are some I can't remember, but there is another $1.50 off my total that I can't seem to come up with.
• Total OOP with Tax = $13.69!!!!!

Transaction 2 - I went to another Publix later in the day. I realized I forgot to buy bread, and my favorite Publix was out of the Bayer, and my husband needed some for his shoulder.

• Bayer aspirin - $3.49 - Used $2.00 store coupon and $1.00 manufacturer coupon
• Sara Lee Whole Grain White Bread - $1.99
• Total OOP with Tax = $2.92

Total OOP for the week = $39.72 plus I have $10.00 in ECBs leftover at CVS.

Total Regular price of items is $107.82

Approximate savings is ~68% off, not including the $10.00 in ECBs.

I don't think this is too bad for the first week of the challenge, especially since this included a 96 count box of diapers and big pack of wipes. However, I didn't have to buy many items for dinner.

Here is what we ate for dinner:

• Sunday - Leftovers
• Monday - Leftovers
• Tuesday - Beef Strogonaff & Broccoli
• Wednesday - Sausage Primavera (this was so good that Arnold took it to lunch, so I didn't get to use leftovers for another meal, but that's ok, since it meant he didn't have to buy lunch out for a day!) - Here is the link to the recipe - http://www.stockpilingmoms.com/2011/03/johnsonville-three-cheese-italian-style-chicken-sausage-oven-roasted-pasta-primavera.html
• Thursday - Frozen Pizza and salad (went to visit a friend with a new baby in the hospital, so we had to do something quick)
• Friday - Ham & Rice & Green Beans
• Saturday - probably out somewhere because we are going to my niece's all-star game

Ok, I am tired of writing now, but I have journaled my whole week 1 in one post, so that's not bad! Also, I came in under budget! Now, I can link up to my first "Friday Finals" on www.southernsavers.com. I always read them and feel inspired, but I never submit my own.

Couponing to Stay Home Full-Time

Ok, so this is my first post on my new blog. No promises that I will be able to keep this up regularly, but I am going to try this out...

So, here is my story... a little over a year ago, I had my beautiful daughter Olivia! Even though I had a really good job, after having her, I had a hard time with leaving her in daycare and going back to work. In order to not make any rash decisions that I would possibly later regret, we decided that I would go back part-time and give it 6 months to see if I wanted to keep working or stay home full-time. After 6 months of working 3 days a week and being home with Olivia for the other 4, I decided I wanted to be home with her everyday!! However, in order to do that, we had to take a big cut in income. That part was hard, but we sat down and looked at the numbers and realized it was possible. It just meant that we had to tighten our spending belts a little. One of the big things I did was to start couponing. I don't mean just cutting coupons out of the Sunday paper and using a few here and there. I mean REALLY watching sales and matching coupons to the sale and only buying things at the lowest point possible! All of this while not giving up the health of our family (mainly our daughter who gets $4.00 per half gallon Organic Milk and organic yogurt everyday)!!


I have been really couponing for the past few months, and so far, I have made budget every month and we have a lot more supply at the end of the month, i.e. plenty of paper towels, toothpaste, shampoo, deodarant, and items in the pantry and freezer. However, at the end of every month, we still exhaust all of the money we have set aside for groceries and feel broke. So, that brings us to now, I have decided to take on the "All You" Grocery challenge. It is a 4 week challenge where you can only spend $25 per person per week for groceries, so that is $75 for my household. I plan to journal my efforts on this blog, and hopefully, once the challenge is over, continue to meet this new budget. That way we won't feel so broke at the end of every month, we will have a little bit of money to do things we want, and then we will have some money to save towards the many big items we need (new siding on the house and a new car in the next year or two). Hopefully through my efforts I will also be able to save some family and friends money also!