September Budget Results.....Food and Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for SEPTEMBER 2011.

I have posted September's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2011 and updated the Yearly Totals.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in September.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable.We are a family of 5(3 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 15.
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BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $8.78
Value  $38.11
Savings  77%

CARONE'S(small local independent store)
OOP  $89.28

Qs/Ads  $81.70
Value  $170.98
Savings  47.78%

RITE AID
OOP  $.50 (whole amount put on free Rite-Aid Gift Cards)=$.00 actual OOP
Qs/Ads/+Ups  $3.79
Value  $4.29
Savings  88.35% before gift cards/ 100% savings after free gift cards

WEIS (local chain Grocery store in my town/doubles up to $1 total)
OOP  $174.05
Qs/Ads  $93.89
Value  $267.94
Savings  35.05% 

I don't track Rite-Aid's +Ups here, nor 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 RECEIVED IN SEPTEMBER
Rite-Aid SCR...$22.99
Subtotal........$22.99

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
$0.00
TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$22.99

COUPONS and FREEBIES

Nothing.
Nada.
Zilch.
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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were from Rite-Aid at 100%,  the Bakery Outlet at 77% and Carone's at 47.78%.  I shopped at 4 whole different stores in September.....wow. lol


TOTAL Out of Pocket...............................$272.11
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$209.21
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$481.32
TOTAL Savings of...................................43.46%


TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$22.99
TOTAL Out of Pocket After Rebates........$249.12
TOTAL Savings including Rebates...........$232.20
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$481.32
TOTAL Savings After Rebates...................48.25%

Since my Rite-Aid shopping(which contains No OOP)always skews my savings percentages, I like to figure my Totals without the Rite-Aid numbers also.
TOTAL OOP after Rebates.....$249.12
TOTAL Value of Items Purchases(w/out Rite-Aid items)....$477.03
TOTAL Savings After Rebates(w/out Rite-Aid items).....47.78%

My food savings percentage seems to run about 50%-60% for the strictly food items only.
Those Rite-Aid purchases always boost up my savings total about 20% points.  This month Rite-Aid purchases only boosted my Savings Percentage a half of a percentage, since I only bought 1 item from there in September.lol
This closes out the September spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month-
With my rebate check added into my food budget I came in at right on my $250 target.
Yay me!lol

I confess that a lot of what I bought was junk this month, mostly bought for #2 son's after-school snacks and for his sleepover.  It I had held strong and not succumbed to his pleadings I would have only spent about half of my $250 budget.
Soda, pies, chips, pizzas......bleh!
What can I say?
He is my last one left at home and I am an old softee. 8-))

What's ahead for October.....
No big holidays this month, no birthdays either.  Daughter is coming home for 1 weekend though so more mouths to feed temporarily.
Yes, I have a COLLEGZILLA on the way home this coming weekend!lol

I am thinking about giving myself $300 per month going forward until the end of 2011 instead of $250.
Why?
First we can afford another $50 per month for food.
Second I plan to use the extra to stock up for Thansgiving/Christmas Holiday essentials since I don't think I can do that and my regular monthly foods for $250.  Somebody has to pay for the cost of remodeling at Weis Markets so it might as well be me! ;-)
Besides, I am just tired of keeping such a tight rein on the food expenses after the last 9 months of doing so.

Heck, I might just say to heck with the food budget for the rest of the year and just spend what I want but with an eye toward frugality.

What do y'all think?
Should I stick to the food budget?....but make it a bit larger?....or just go on a 3 month long binge?
I need help here people!!

With 3 months left in the year, we have spent a total of $1,907.69 of our income on food/HBA in 2011.
That comes out to $211.96 per month.
We brought home items with a reg. retail value of $11,198.72.
That's a savings of $9,291.03 or 83%.

How did you do in September with your Food Budget?
What are your challenges for October?  Any family coming to stay....Holiday Celebrations?.....or is your school/work schedule too busy to shop/cook/eat as a family?

Please leave a comment or link to your post and let us hear about your progress!  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