APRIL Budget Results....Food & Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for APRIL 2010.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in April.
These Totals include Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products & tax where applicable.We are a family of 5(4 at home) & 3 dogs. No kids under 14.


CARONE'S(small local independent store)
OOP $47.45
Qs/Ads $41.29
Value $88.74
Savings 46.53%

ENTENMANN'S OUTLET
OOP $16.67
Ads/Sales $33.33
Value $50.00
Savings  66.65%

PRICE CHOPPER Northeast
OOP $75.51
Qs/Ads $49.06
Value $124.57
Savings 29.40%

RITE AID
OOP $0.15 ($23.46 put on Rite-Aid Gift Card)
Qs/Ads $162.81
Value $162.96
Savings 99.91%

TURKEY HILL(convenience store)
OOP $4.80
Qs/Ads $0.00
Value $4.80
Savings 0%

WALMART
OOP $11.95
Qs/Ads $0.00
Value $11.95
Savings  0%

WEIS (local chain Grocery store that doesn't take IP Qs in my town)
OOP $41.66
Qs/Ads $27.21
Value $68.87
Savings  39%

I don't track CVS's ECBs & Walgreen's RRs. They will be included when used on purchases under "Coupons".   I'll keep track of what rebates are received monthly.  Rebate money/gift cards will be considered 'income' & will go into the Food/Toiletries budget, offsetting the Out of Pocket. Cash will go immediately into the Budget kitty, while Gift Cards will be calculated in when spent.

REBATE CHECKS RECV'D. IN MARCH
Johnson & Johnson Beauty Rebate...$20.00
Olay 3 items Rebate....$15.00

Olay 2 Cleansers Rebate.....$15.00
Pinecone Research....$6.00
Renpure Shampoo....$3.00
Rite-Aid SCR....$100.33

Subtotal........$159.33

FREE ITEMS

5 Gum  Free Pack of Gum

Johnson & Johnson  $10 Item

Welch's Juice  Free Juice Voucher

COUPONS

None

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
Rite-Aid P&G SCR $10 Gift Card

Rite-Aid $5 Nivea Gift Card

Rite-Aid $25 Heart Healthy Gift Card

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received..$100.33


My best 3 Store Savings Totals were from Rite-Aid at 100%, Entenmman's at 66.65% and Carone's at 46.53%.


TOTAL Out of Pocket...............................$198.19
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$313.70
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.............$511.89
TOTAL Savings of..........61.30%

TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$159.33
TOTAL OOP After  Rebates....................$38.86
TOTAL Savings of..................................92.40%

This closes out the April spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month-
Starting with a $250 food/toiletries budget we not only kept under that amount before the rebates were figured in, but after rebates we spent a mere $38.86 of the budgeted amount for the month!  And that is with my infamous Lobster Splurge too. 

I spent most of the month staying out of the stores and had DH pick up items as needed since I was injured for part of the month and couldn't drive.  His shopping for me did NOT involve using sales and coupons for the most part, thus even though we spent almost $200 OOP initially, not alot of coupons were used or items bought on sale, thus the lower savings ratio overall. 

What's ahead for May 2010.....

The May 2010 Food/Toiletries Budget is set at $300 cash out of pocket.  Any rebates received this month will offset this OOP spending.  Since the rebating has slowed to a crawl I don't see much coming in for May to throw at the food bills. (IE; My Rite-Aid SCR check is going from $100 in April to $8 in May.) I have raised the budget by $50 because #1 son returns from college next wekend, so I'll have more mouths to feed=more food spending in May.  Even with that adjustment, it will take a lot of self-control to keep within budget this month!  I did very little shopping really in April and got out of the coupon groove so I have my work cut out for me for May.

With a quarter of the year behind us, we have averaged $165.60 per MONTH on food/toiletries spending for 2010 for a family of 4 adults/teens.

For someone who use to....
*spend $500 and up per MONTH before I stockpiled, shopped to the sales and used coupons on a regular basis
*had less food/toiletries to show for it
*we ate a lot more store brands
*we ate a lot more of unhealthier type foods
...this THRILLS ME!


How did you do in April with your Food Budget?  Leave a comment or link to your post and let us hear!  By sharing our struggles and efforts we can help each other stick to our budgets and learn to be better guardians of our resources.

Sluggy