"What I Got for the Money" Wednesday

This week I had $67 in cash (I thought it was $62, but I had an additional $5). I ended up doing this in several trips. I went to Walgreens on Saturday to take advantage of the sale on hair care products and dish detergent that was going to expire. Then Monday night I had some free time while Dawson was at Scouts, and didn't want to waste gas money driving all the way home, so I went to Aldi. Then yesterday I did the rest. Here's how it went:


WALGREENS
(2) Fructis shampoo 1.98 (coupons)
(2) Fructis conditioner 1.98 (coupons)
V05 conditioner .24 (clearance)
Electrasol dishwashing tablets .99 (coupon)
Total: $6.53



ALDI
(2) 1 lbs ground turkey 2.38
Can mandarin oranges .45
Can sweet potatoes .69
Artificial sweetner 1.19
Sliced swiss 2.09
5 lbs. sugar 2.11
Multi-grain waffles 1.29
(2) instant chocolate pudding .98
Baking soda .43
Bananas .88
3 lbs. apples .99
Potato chips 1.29
Corn chips .99
Gummy vitamins 3.99
Tortilla chips .99
Total $ 22.51



WAL-MART
French loaf 2.16
Bulk goldfish crackers 5.98
Oatmeal creme pies 1.43
Carnation instant breakfast 4.58
Rice .88
(2) pop tarts 2.50 (E and B snack choice)
(2) chocolate chip cookies 5.00 (K and D snack choice)
Apple juice 2.27
(6) South Beach breakfast bars 2.00 total (coupons ~ see story below)
Bulk bag cereal 3.66
Eggs 1.00 (ad match)
Peanut butter 1.69 (ad match)
Total $ 37.82

WALGREENS
Cover Girl pressed powder 2.19 (on clearance ~ see story below)
Total $ 2.38

WONDER/HOSTESS STORE
Loaf whole grain bread 1.39
Total $ 1.51

Total Spent for Week $70.75 (That's $4.25 under goal, but I haven't bought milk or sliced cheese yet, which will be about $10 more. Are you getting that I am having an impossible time staying under my $75 per week goal? And I had a few extra dollars laying around that I paid for the rest of my groceries with.)

Now, lest I beat myself up for not staying under goal. I am still way under budget, and that's what really counts. Each dollar under my actual budget of $500 per month are snowflakes to add to our snowball of deleting debt, or money to go into savings for something special to reward for hard work! And, I can't imagine what I would have spent this month so far had I not given myself the $75 per week goals ... whoa! I didn't have to buy many meal items this week because of last week's freezer finds, but I did stock up on lots of snacks as you can see.

Now, about the South Beach Bars. A fellow blogger told about the South Beach website where you could get $2.00 off coupons. I was able to print a total of 4, and then found another link to print two $1.00 off coupons. Reasor's had these bars on sale for 2 for $4.00, so I spent $12.00, but had $10.00 in coupons, so I got 30 yummy high-protein breakfast bars for $2.00 total!! Good deal! Then I had gone back to Walgreens because I needed facial powder and they had many brands with B1G1 free. I'm also going to need mascara soon, so thought I would see what they had. Then I found a pack of Cover Girl pressed powder on clearance for $2.16. So I bought it instead and decided to wait on mascara.

I was thinking how I really need a sale for $1 per box cereal. As luck would have it, Reasor's has Cap'n Crunch and Life cereal on sale for $1.77 a box next week, and a deal that if you buy 5 participating Quaker products you get $3 off. So, I'm going to go and get 5 boxes of cereal for $1.17 a box .. close enough!!!

For better shoppers than me, go see Gayle at Grocery Cart Challenge.