Weekly Totals - Week of 7/31 - 60%

So, do you ever just feel like throwing the budget out of the window and taking a break for a week? Well, that is how I felt this week! I have been really busy, plus I have really worn myself out with going to the store too many times. I have decided that I have a new goal to go along with the budget. I am going to attempt going to the grocery store only once (or twice max) per week, plus one drugstore. Ok, so that is why I went over budget this week, I bought enough stuff on Wednesday at Publix to get me through until next Wednesday (I think). If I find out about some great deals, I may stop back by, but I am going to try to make it until next Wednesday.

For this week, I spent $93.58 (OUCH!! Way over my $75 per week budget), but I bought a box of diapers, laundry detergent, toilet paper, and paper towels. We are brand loyal on both the diapers and laundry detergent, so when I find them on a decent sale, I have to pick them up. do have $6 in ECB still sitting in my wallet waiting on next week, so with that, plus not going to the grocery store until Wednesday, I am hoping to make up my deficit and still be within budget for the two weeks.

I am not detailing every transaction this week. It just takes too much time. I will tell you about one good deal I found if you are brand loyal to Tide. At Publix, the Stock up on Savings booklet has a coupon for "Free Stain Release wyb Tide". I don't really use the Stain Release, but it did allow me to use a $2 off man coupon for both the Tide detergent and the Stain Release, so I ended up getting the Tide $4 off the sale price, ($11.99 - $4.00 = $7.99 for the 100oz!!) plus I have some free Tide Stain Release!

Here's the summary of my transactions:

• Publix 7/30 (I know this is last week, but I already did my totals on 7/29, so I included this in this week's) - This was a last minute run before company came over plus I included a pack of diapers, so I could use one of my $5 off transaction coupons. It is not very good savings because I had to pick up some things that weren't on sale - Paid $20.76 for $38.80 worth of groceries for a savings of 40%
• Aldi 8/1 - I got a lot of produce and stocked up on juice, plus got some frozen fish - Paid $27.37 for what would have cost me $37.33 on sale at Publix, for a savings of 27%
• Publix 8/2 - I ran to Publix to pick up the last of the sale items I wanted - Paid $11.53 for $27.53 worth of groceries, for a savings of 71%
• Publix 8/3 - I picked up the big sale items, grabbed the Tide sale, plus stocked up on enough of my weekly items, i.e. milk, yogurt, etc to get us to next Wednesday - Paid $33.27 for $85.24 worth of groceries, for a savings of 61%
• CVS 8/5 - I decided to make a last minute run to CVS because I checked my account online and they gave me a $4 off $20 coupon. They didn't have what I wanted, so I got a raincheck on those items. I then decided I would pick up a few things that we are running low on and use the $4 off $20 plus burn a few ECBs. My subtotal was negative (much to my cashier's dismay - see how to do this at www.simplycvsshopping.com - it is all about coupon order). I paid $.65 with tax for $35.41 worth of groceries for a savings of 98%!

So, for the week, I paid $93.58 for $236.97 worth of groceries, for a savings of 60%! It is probably a little more savings than that because I was very conservative on my Aldi estimates.