1. Shopping: I spent a grand total of $6.06 on groceries this week. With that money, I got: 2 avocados, 3 mangoes, 5 oranges, 6 boxes healthy spaghetti noodles, 1 box Annie's Organic mac 'n' cheese, a can of refried beans and a box of tortilla shells. Nothing this week was purchased at regular price.
Produce- mangoes and oranges were reduced produce, $1.00 per bag. One orange was a free sample. See below for avocados.
Avocados and shells- I used one printable coupon and an identical rebate ($1.00 off 1 Old El Paso product + 2 avocados), in addition to a $0.25 generic avocado rebate in order to get all of it (retail $3.50) for $1.25. The avocados were on sale for $1.00 each. Since I bought everything in order to get the avocados cheaper, I figure that my end price was $0.63 per avocado and the taco shells were free.
Pasta- Spaghetti was on sale this week for "buy 6, end price is $0.49 per box". I took advantage of that deal to buy the more expensive pasta and also used a $0.10 Mobisave rebate to get a final price of $0.47 per box/lb. Two of the boxes (vegetable pasta) were only 12 oz., so they cost $0.63 per pound. Still cheaper than the Dollar Tree OR bent 'n' dent.
Mac 'n' cheese and refried beans- these were Free Friday deals. Lately they have had some great, healthy Free Friday deals at Kroger. It is worth your time to get a Kroger account just for the freebies.
2. Cooking: Made rice in the Instant Pot, made ham broth in the Instant Pot, made yogurt and had leftovers for several meals.
3. Worked on RV cushions. This was my main project for the week, as we are planning an upcoming RV trip. We did end up buying two new 5" foam pieces for the back seats, but were able to salvage one of the old 5" thick pieces to make a 3" piece for the bed.
4. Ordered a free photo book from Shutterfly (+$8.00 shipping) with pictures from our trip to Panama last year.
5. Lined dried two loads of laundry. My indoor line worked even better than last time. I washed two smaller loads, so I didn't have to use the shower curtain rod this week. I used an old milk jug to make a holder for my extra clothespins that I can slide along the line as I work. This makes hanging and taking down the clothes even faster.
6. Made rubber bands from a dish-washing glove that got a hole in it. I read about this years ago in The Tightwad Gazette, but never had a chance to try it. The rubber bands are actually quite sturdy. :)
Produce- mangoes and oranges were reduced produce, $1.00 per bag. One orange was a free sample. See below for avocados.
Avocados and shells- I used one printable coupon and an identical rebate ($1.00 off 1 Old El Paso product + 2 avocados), in addition to a $0.25 generic avocado rebate in order to get all of it (retail $3.50) for $1.25. The avocados were on sale for $1.00 each. Since I bought everything in order to get the avocados cheaper, I figure that my end price was $0.63 per avocado and the taco shells were free.
Pasta- Spaghetti was on sale this week for "buy 6, end price is $0.49 per box". I took advantage of that deal to buy the more expensive pasta and also used a $0.10 Mobisave rebate to get a final price of $0.47 per box/lb. Two of the boxes (vegetable pasta) were only 12 oz., so they cost $0.63 per pound. Still cheaper than the Dollar Tree OR bent 'n' dent.
Mac 'n' cheese and refried beans- these were Free Friday deals. Lately they have had some great, healthy Free Friday deals at Kroger. It is worth your time to get a Kroger account just for the freebies.
2. Cooking: Made rice in the Instant Pot, made ham broth in the Instant Pot, made yogurt and had leftovers for several meals.
3. Worked on RV cushions. This was my main project for the week, as we are planning an upcoming RV trip. We did end up buying two new 5" foam pieces for the back seats, but were able to salvage one of the old 5" thick pieces to make a 3" piece for the bed.
4. Ordered a free photo book from Shutterfly (+$8.00 shipping) with pictures from our trip to Panama last year.
5. Lined dried two loads of laundry. My indoor line worked even better than last time. I washed two smaller loads, so I didn't have to use the shower curtain rod this week. I used an old milk jug to make a holder for my extra clothespins that I can slide along the line as I work. This makes hanging and taking down the clothes even faster.
6. Made rubber bands from a dish-washing glove that got a hole in it. I read about this years ago in The Tightwad Gazette, but never had a chance to try it. The rubber bands are actually quite sturdy. :)
7. Signed up for a free course with The Herbal Academy. Through the month of January, the online herbalism school is offering a six-part course on how to create your own materia medica notebook. I'm only two lessons in and I have already utilized several of their free printables. The company has other courses that you pay for, but this one is completely free if you sign up before the end of the month.
My New Shopping Tool
In the past few months, I have been working hard to improve my shopping skills. I've been shopping at different stores besides Walmart, to see who has the best deal on what... who has the best coupon policy, the best rebates and best sales. I like all of the stores, but they have different strong points and weak points. It is so hard to keep track of everything- what is on sale where, which rebates apply to which store, when they expire. And then there's coupons. Where to even start with coupons.
Last week, I made a printable grocery shopping list/comparison chart to keep track of all of the sales, coupons, and rebates at each store. This was my first week using the chart. All of the deals worked out like they should have, because I put all every piece of information on paper in an organized manner, BEFORE I went to the store.
My New Shopping Tool
In the past few months, I have been working hard to improve my shopping skills. I've been shopping at different stores besides Walmart, to see who has the best deal on what... who has the best coupon policy, the best rebates and best sales. I like all of the stores, but they have different strong points and weak points. It is so hard to keep track of everything- what is on sale where, which rebates apply to which store, when they expire. And then there's coupons. Where to even start with coupons.
Last week, I made a printable grocery shopping list/comparison chart to keep track of all of the sales, coupons, and rebates at each store. This was my first week using the chart. All of the deals worked out like they should have, because I put all every piece of information on paper in an organized manner, BEFORE I went to the store.
I have tried writing sales and rebates down before, but inevitably I would re-write things or forget to write things, or confuse which deals went with which stores. It is so much easier with the chart. Last week it took just about 20 minutes to go through all of the sales, coupons and rebates for each store and fill out my chart. I was able to save over $2.00 on stuff I would have bought anyway. $2.00 doesn't sound like much, but for someone who spends less than $20.00 per week at the grocery store, it is a 10% reduction!! I will be putting the downloadable Excel file of the chart in my next newsletter, so if you aren't signed up for my emails already, be sure to do so!
Til next time,
-Bethany
Til next time,
-Bethany
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