Saturday Savings

I'd like to begin this week's post with a round of applause for me... Late Thursday night my husband approached me with a bunch of numbers scribbled on some scrap paper. I knew he'd been in the back room entering final numbers into our April budget and I was nervous. I thought for sure he was going to tell me I'd gone over (by only a couple of dollars of course) on my grocery budget. Instead he told me for the first time ever, I came in substantially under budget! WOOHOO! I was $16 under budget for the month of April, which means I spent only $294 last month to feed our family and keep us stocked in paper products, cleaning supplies and toiletries. Yes!

Ok, enough of the gloating - now on to this week's savings! As always, the first trip of the month is a big one as it includes the monthly trip to Sam's Club. Total spent (including Sam's) was $116.70 and here's what that bought me:

5 pound block of cheddar cheese
3 pounds of pitted dates
4 pounds of Goldfish
French Toast Sticks
4 large bottles of apple juice
Whole Milk - 3 gallons
Skim Milk - 1 gallon
Peanut Butter
Cream Cheese - 2 blocks
Bread - 2 loaves
Chocolate Chips
Tortillas
Graham Crackers
Diced Tomatoes - 1 can
Bananas - 6 pounds
Dove Deodorant
Rite Guard Deodorant
Trident Gum 3 pack
93% lean Ground Beef - 5.20 pounds
Whole Chicken
Kellogg's Frosted Flakes
Kellogg's Apple Jacks
Kellogg's Fruit Snacks - 2 boxes
Pace Picante Salsa - 2 bottles
Colgate Toothbrush
Tomatoes - 2 large
Eggs - 18
Deli Ham - 1.25 pounds
Freschetta Frozen Pizza - 2
Tortilla Chips
Ragu Sauce
Cascadian Farms Organic Granola Bars
Breyers Ice Cream
Shredded Mozzarella - 4, 8oz bags
Strawberries - 2 pounds
Iceburg Lettuce
Pink Lady Apples - 6 pounds

Impressive list, huh? I snagged some great deals this week, so I really stocked up on some of this stuff (some items had limits as too how many I could buy).

The Deals: My first stop was at Walgreen's where I snagged the Dove deodorant for .99 (normal retail of $3.49 so 71% off). I got that great price by "stacking" a Walgreen's coupon from their sale flier this week with a manufacturers coupon I already had. I also found the Trident 3 pack for only $1 after sale and coupon. Next I hit up Hy-Vee where I got strawberries for .99 a pound (67% off!), Ragu Pasta Sauce for .69 (normally I make my own, but when Ragu is this cheap I buy it to have on hand), Breyers Ice Cream for $1.75 (56% off), Pink Lady Apples were $1.99 per 3 pound bag (50% off) and the Cascadian Farms organic granola bars for $2 (59% off).

Price Chopper had some truly fantastic deals but only if you shopped at a Cosentino's Price Chopper (PC's in this are are owned by several different groups). At Price Chopper the 93% lean ground beef was only $1.88 a pound (45% off), the fruit snacks were only .99 a box (65% off) and the Pace Salsa was $1.31 each (51% off). That's not all though. I also got my Colgate Toothbrush for FREE (on sale plus a coupon), I got the Kellogg's Frosted Flakes for only .67 and the Apple Jacks for .17! Yes, .17! I saved about 95% on those boxes of cereal.

I also was excited to see milk dropped in price a bit more at Aldi! Whole milk was down to $2.15 a gallon and Skim was $1.86.

(Below totals do not include stuff from Sam's)
Total cost before sales, coupons and tax: $145.01
Total cost after sales, coupons and tax: $73.33 (49% off)