October Budget Results.......Food and Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for OCTOBER 2011.

I have posted October'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 October.  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.
******************

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $12.78
Value  $43.40
Savings  70.55%

BIG LOTS
OOP  $50.33
Qs/Ads  $40.00
Value  $90.33
Savings 44.29%

CARONE'S(small local independent store)
OOP  $257.26

Qs/Ads  $159.96
Value  $417.22
Savings  38.34%

FOOD LION
OOP  $36.87
Qs/Ads  $11.57
Value  $48.44
Savings  23.89%

GIANT PA  

OOP  $17.78

Qs/Ads  $24.74

Value  $42.52

Savings  58.19%

REDNER'S
OOP  $63.79
Qs/Ads  $74.56
Value  $138.35
Savings 53.90%

SAVE-A-LOT
OOP  $14.21
Qs/Ads  $6.40
Value  $20.61
Savings  31.06%

WEIS (local chain Grocery store in my town/doubles up to $1 total)
OOP  $152.04
Qs/Ads  $317.94
Value  $469.98
Savings  67.65% 

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
Pinecone...$3.00
Subtotal........$3.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
$0.00
TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$3.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

2 MyBlogSpark Giveaways

1 Shampoo & Conditioner to Test

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bakery Outlet at 70.55%, Weis at 67.65 and GiantPa at 58.19%.
I shopped at 8 different stores in October.


TOTAL Out of Pocket....sit down for this one!.....$605.06
TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$665.79
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1270.85
TOTAL Savings of...................................52.40%


TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$3.00
TOTAL Out of Pocket After Rebates........$602.06
TOTAL Savings including Rebates...........$668.79
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$1270.85
TOTAL Savings After Rebates...................52.62%

This closes out the October spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month-I did indeed go WAAAAAY over my $250 food budget, as planned.  But there was a method to my madness here.  The local independent grocer has a 5 week program where if you hit a certain amount of purchases during that time, you get a gift certificate at the end of November.(They also threw in another Buy $30 of baking items, Get a $10 Catalina Q deal so these items qualify you for both certs.) So I've been buying items there to get me to the total I need for those 2 certs.  It's stuff I'd be buying anyway maybe in the next couple of months, so I'm just buying them a bit earlier to get the bonus cert.  I have been waiting until items go on sale, so at least I am not paying full retail for them, but I am not, for the most part, able to use coupons on the items there.

It's weird after 9 months(and the year before this one as well)to have spent so much money on groceries in 30 days time.  I look back about 4 years ago, to when I use to go the the grocery store with a "sort of list" and no meal plan whatsoever.  I would regularly spend $150-$200 a week and barely have anything left at the end of the week.  If I had to replenish staples(eggs, flour, butter, etc.), I'd spend even more.

What's ahead for November.....
I've still got some more spending to do to get to my gift cert. at the local independent grocer.  As for Turkey Day provisions, I'll need a bird and a few other things but not much to make that meal.
I'm going to try to use down the frozen foods I have here in November.  The freezer can use a clean out and a defrosting before winter sets in.  I'm going to shoot for $300 in food spending in November.

With 2 months left in the year, we have spent a total of $2,509.75 of our income on food/HBA in 2011.
That comes out to $251.27 per month.
We brought home items with a reg. retail value of $12,469.57.
That's a savings of $9,959.82 or 79.85%.

How did you do in October with your Food Budget?
What are your challenges for November?  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