End of the Year Savings Update...and 2009 Goals Revisited

Before we revisit the goals that I posted for 2009, here's a final look at our savings for 2009. I had hoped to save a full $2000.00 in 2010 (either by coming in under our allotted budget for groceries and household items or by saving money using coupons and sales), but we didn't quite make it. In December, we saved $179.41. That brought us (drumroll, please) $1885.82 saved in 2009 and that's something to be proud of!!

You might remember this post from last January where I outlined a few goals that I had for 2009 (I don't do resolutions).

*The Great Purge of '09 was completed and successful! We got rid of a LOT of stuff and made a couple hundred dollars at Yard Sales!

*Wedding Photos...nothing happened here. Maybe we'll get something done there by our 10th anniversary :)

*All photos are printed and in albums through 2008. All the 2009 photos are uploaded to my computer, edited and ready to print. Goal: Completed!

*The last 20 pounds...This one didn't happen either, but that's about to change too!!

*Home Improvement Projects
The Hallway still looks like it did last January (but now that my photos are up to date, I feel a little less overwhelmed about re-doing the photo collage in there!).
The guest bath still has white walls (but there are some really great bathroom re-do ideas floating around in my head that will hopefully affect both bathrooms in 2010).

When I look at this short list, I could very easily kick myself and throw a pity party about how I didn't meet my goals and how I can't accomplish things. However, what you don't see on this are the things that I DID accomplish. I don't feel like I could have done any more than I did in 2009, so I'm okay with not getting a few completely irrelevant things done. After all, welcoming my new niece into the world far outweighs painting a bathroom. Spending time with family and friends (especially those who don't live close by) is a greater thing to do than organizing wedding photos. At the end of the day, or the year for that matter, goals are just that...things I would hope to get done. Being a good wife, friend, daughter, sister and aunt are things that MUST be done. I'm working on some goals (some old, some new) for 2010. Check back soon to see what I'll be getting myself into this year!!

Happy New Year!!!

November Savings Update

With only one more month left in 2009, we are REALLY close to meeting our goal of saving $2000 on groceries/household items this year. I know that December can be filled with extra gatherings, which usually translates to more food to make which means more food to buy. However, I'm going to try my best to save as much as I can by making foods based on what we have on hand (and if you're attending a Christmas gathering with me this year, have no fear...I'll try my best to make the food enjoyable :) ).

For November, we didn't really come in under budget (we traveled for Thanksgiving and dining out several times made up for anything we saved at the store!), but we did save $162.18!

That brings our 2009 savings to $1706.41!!

Now, if we can only save the remaining $293.59 this month, we'll reach our $2000.00 goal!! Check back at the end of the year to see how we did!

December, here we come!

October Savings Update

I can't believe that November is just around the corner!! November means Thanksgiving is soon. Thanksgiving means Christmas is soon. Christmas means 2009 is almost over! Where has the year gone?!?!?

Here's the update on our budget for the month of October. We came in $3.46 under budget. Not a lot, but every little bit helps, right?

Total Savings for October (coupons, sales and under budget): $150.52

Total Savings for 2009:
$1544. 23

Holy cow, that's a lot of money!! Thankfully, our pantry is stuffed, our fridge is full and the freezer is overflowing with good food. Our goal for Thanksgiving is to only buy things we absolutely have to have for the meals I've planned out (trying to plan meals around the things we already have on hand to keep from buying even more food) or things that are very cheap or free or things that we need for gatherings for the Thanksgiving holiday. This should cut our grocery bill in half, which means more money for... Christmas shopping!! Yippee!!

September Savings Update

I've added the numbers for September over and over and over again and couldn't figure our why we were so far over budget. And then I realized that I bought groceries 5 times last month, instead of the usual 4, and there was a random receipt that got added to the stack because it wasn't included in the August calculations. However, even after being over budget, we saved a LOT, so I'm thankful for that! Here's where the totals stand as of now:

Savings (via coupons and sales) for September:
$256.04

Total Savings (via coupons, sales and under budget amounts) for 2009:
$1393.71

With Christmas coming up, I am not entirely sure if we'll make it all the way to $2000 saved this year, but I'm crossing my fingers, eating lots of pb&j sandwiches and hoping for the best! Check back to see what happens!

August Savings Update

Well, my hopes of major savings in the month of August were short lived, but that's ok. We had to purchase a few bigger ticket items and while it didn't set us back, it put us over budget a little, making our "Saved" total decrease a bit.

However, even with going over budget, we were still able to save (via coupons and sales) $37.76 this month!

And that brings our grand total for 2009 to $1137.67!!

The end of the year will be here before we know it and while I'm not entirely ready for it to be here just yet, I AM really excited to see how big this number will be at the end of the year!!

Happy September!

July Savings Update

July has been a hecka crazy month (see the previous post)!! I always have these lofty ideas of being at camp for 2 full weeks, which means meals and lodging provided, which SHOULD mean less money spent on food. Any my lofty ideas are yet again shot to the ground. For starters, anyone who has ever been presented with the lovely camp food options knows that pb&j and cereal QUICKLY become your new best friend. So, in addition to buying enough food to keep us from feeling like we might implode at any moment there are also little things that creep up on the shopping list to make camp a more desirable experience...like sunscreen and bug spray and 2 box of Puffs Plus and a box of cold meds when you catch the Camp Crud. And then, there's also the driving to places that are 5+ hours away for weddings on back to back weekends and all the expenses that come along with that. Even though I'd hoped to save more, I'm pleased with what we were able to save this month. We'll be parked at home for most of August AND a lot of the crops from our little garden are starting to come (post coming soon) so I'm gearing up for some MAJOR savings!!!

Here's the deal for July:

We were $54.06 under budget.
We saved $68.49 with coupons and sales.
That brings the monthly savings total to $122.55!!!

And we're finally over the $1000 mark!! In 7 months, we've saved...

$1099.91!!!

The freezer and pantry are busting at the seams...bring on August!!

June Savings Update

Well, my plan to not spend as much on groceries while we clean out the pantry and freezer hasn't gone quite as I had planned. We still came in under budget this month, but I was hoping we'd save more! Thankfully, we've got back to back weeks of summer camp coming up which means 2 full weeks of not buying groceries! While eating camp food isn't my favorite past time (think rectangle pizza and corn), it's free!! With a few pb&j sandwiches mixed in there, we'll be fine :)

We've also been trying to refine our budget a little more and cut back on our spending even further, so for the rest of the year, I'm gonna have to be even more creative in my shopping and meal prep so that we still come in under budget. Hopefully that will all work out!

And now, we've reached the halfway point of the year. We set a goal to save $2000 this year and we're right on track to making that happen!

So, here's how it all when down in June:
We were $52.47 under budget.
We saved $163.22 with coupons and sales.
That puts our May savings total at: $215.69
And that means our total yearly savings is up to...

$977.36!!

People, that's almost $1000!! Some people say that coupons just aren't worth the time...but I beg to differ!

May Savings Update

With summer very quickly approaching, I'm looking forward to a big ol' fridge/freezer/pantry clean out! I've been stock piling items for about 7 months now, and we're running out of room! So, for the next few months (or until we start to run out of food), I'll continue to look for sales, but am planning to buy only the necessities for a few recipes or items that are too cheap to pass up. Our meals could get a little...uh, creative. :)

For the first time, this month, I was finally able to save more than 50% on a single transaction...and I did it twice!! Once was at Ingle's and the other was at CVS. And it was on the same day. Talk about making this girl happy!!

Here's the update on our savings for May.
We were $45.21 under budget.
We saved $102.91 with coupons and sales.
That puts our May savings total at: $148.12
And that means our total yearly savings is up to...(drum roll, please)...

$761.67!! WOOHOO!!

Savings Update

Well, April came and went before I could realize what had happened, so I'm a little late with my Savings Update.

Before I go into detail about the amazing savings of this month, I must begin with some news that has made me smile every time I've thought about it...our new Ingle's opened on April 4th. HALLELUJAH!!! If you'd ever been forced to visit the old Mars Hill, you'd know why I'm rejoicing so much over this. Before, I would drive 12 minutes to the Ingle's in Weaverville just so I didn't have to subject myself to the cramped aisles and stale milk smell and fly infestation that was the Mars Hill location. Out new Ingle's is big and open and everything's fresh and pretty and nice and it's only 3 minutes from my house! So, WOOHOO!

And now...on with the savings update. While standing in line at said new Mars Hill Ingle's the other day, I had a GREAT revelation. It hit me that we were saving more money than I had been reporting on here, or that I had even realized that we were saving. I was just reporting what we had saved on groceries and had failed to include money saved at Wal-Mart or CVS...AND I realized that every time we've come in under budget, that that was more money being saved!! HOLY COW! Since I don't have all my receipts from the past 3 months, I'll have to start including all that info from now on. Bring on the extra money!!

Here's the lowdown for this month:

We saved $116.40 with coupons and sales (that's 33% of our total bill!) and were $137.92 under budget! That means for this month alone, we saved...
$254.32!!!!
So, now our yearly savings total is up to...
$613.55!!!!! YOWZERS!!

This means we're WAAAAY ahead for our goal of saving $1000 by the end of the year, but that doesn't mean we're slowing down! Check back next month to see how we're doing!

Savings Update

Well, here we are at the end of another month and that means it's time to see how much moo-lah we've saved in the past 31 days. I feel like our cabinets and fridge and freezer are busting at the seams and we're still saving TONS of cash!

For the month of March, we saved at total of $120.92!! I didn't realize that it was that much until just now! HOLY COW!! It would have been more, but thanks to the lack of baggers at Ingle's I got distracted and TOTALLY FORGOT to give them my coupons one week. It would have been about $10 more in savings. Bummer. I won't be too sad about that for too long, though. How can I when we just saved FORTY PERCENT this month!!

That brings the yearly savings total to $359.33!! At this rate, we'll hopefully be to $1,000 by the end of the year. And that, my friends, makes me want to do a little dance!

Savings Update

It's time for an update on how things are going with my grocery savings.

In January, we saved $142.86 on our total grocery bill which was a 40% savings.

For February, we only saved $95.55, but that was still a 36% savings for the month.

So the running total is: $238.41 for the year! WOOHOO!!

Savings Update

First of all, where in the world did January go?? Didn't 2009 just start yesterday?? All of a sudden we're here at the end of the first month of the year. And with that thought in mind, I thought I'd give a little update on my experiences in couponing.

I'll admit that it's taken some time to get a good system up and running. Sometimes it seems to take a long time to get my grocery list together and other times its seems like I'm finished before I begin. In the end, though, I've enjoyed the challenge and the cheap thrill of getting things and paying next to nothing for them. Here are some of my best deals this month:

Birds Eye Frozen Bags of SteamFresh vegetables: FREE
Big boxes of Cap'n Crunch cereal: 50 cents a box
Progresso Soup: 75 cents a can (these cans are normally $2.27!!!)
Cans of Manwich mix: 25 cents
Boxes of Puffs tissues: 25 cents
Cottonelle toilet paper (4 pack): $1

Considering I rarely buy things at regular price without a coupon, I could seriously go on for days listing all the things that I've gotten at great prices.

So at the end of January, I'm happy to report that we saved FORTY PERCENT on our grocery purchases!! We saved $142.86 in ONE month!!! And I can also say that we haven't had a single time when there was "nothing to eat". Our cabinets are stocked full with food! At this rate, we could be near the $2,000 mark of savings by the end of the year...holy cow, that makes me so excited I can hardly stand it!!!

Check back next month to see how we're doing! If you're finding new ways to save on groceries or purchases in general, I'd love to hear about it! Leave a comment and let me know of your strategies for saving lots of money!!

Tuesday's Tip

So this is a day late...the sad thing is that I typed it 3 days ago as to have it ready to post yesterday. Here's to hoping that the rest of December isn't as crazy as this week is!

Some of you have been interested in my new money saving grocery tactics, so here ya go!

I recently began "couponing". My friend, Eli, had talked about it to me a while back, and in November I decided to give it a shot. Before, I went to the grocery store only one time a month. This required TONS of planning (from our menus at home, to dishes to take to other events throughout the month, to coupons galore) and several hours of actual shopping. Then, there was the whole process of putting groceries away. And while it was quite a time consuming task, I really liked the fact that I only had to do it once a month. But when I realized that I could go to the grocery store once a week and save a lot of money, I figured I should give it a try.

Here's a pretty basic summary of the different parts of "couponing":

*Coupons are a must.
We buy at least one, if not two, Sunday papers every week as to give us the best shot for the best coupons. I always buy one to start with and check it to see if there are 2 or more coupon booklets inside. If there are, I buy another. There are TONS of options for setting up a coupon organizing system that works best for you. I have a pretty basic system...a little coupon file folder divided into sections like dairy, cereal, beverages, toiletries, household items, etc.

*Get over brand preferences.
The key is to buy what you can get at a super cheap price, rather than to buy items that you might normally buy. I'm not gonna lie, I love Angel Soft toilet paper. But, if I can get a pack of Cottonnelle for 5o cents, you better believe I'm gonna go for it! I've found that, the majority of the time, I end up liking a new brand better than my old stand by brands,

*Buy items based on price, not necessity.
Obviously, things come up and last minute trips to the store are a must. The object, though, is to plan ahead as much as you can to save the most money possible. I've begun planning a week and a half in advance, and that seems to work pretty well.

*Save your coupons & watch for sales.
These two kinda go hand in hand. Some sites suggest that you do a month's worth of research on your most purchased products to figure out the lowest sale price for those items, and then only purchasing them at that lowest sale price. While that totally works, I've adapted my own little system. Instead of doing all the research, I simply wait for the sales ads, check out the items that are on sale and match them up with my coupons. The majority of the time, the items that are in the sales ads are near their lowest price.

*Stock up.
If at item is on sale and you have 4 coupons, use them and stock up!! It's better to keep 3 extra bags of frozen vegetables on hand and get them for 50 cents a piece than it is to only buy 1 bag at 50 cents and then have to pay full price for the other 3 bags later. This goes for items that you might not have coupons for, too, like meat. If a meat item is on sale, we buy enough to make 4 or 5 dishes.

I know I've forgotten some things so please feel free to hit me up with questions or even other ideas you might have for saving money on your groceries! Check out the links under "I Love Bargains!" on the right side of the screen for some tips from other money savers. I can't wait to hear how much you save on your next grocery bill!