April 2012 Budget Results.......Food and Toiletries Spending

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for APRIL 2012.

I have posted April's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2012 and updated the Yearly Totals.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in April.  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 16.
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BAKERY OUTLET
OOP   $9.89

Value   $38.41

Savings  74.25%

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $78.54

Qs/Ads  $47.11

Value  $125.65

Savings  37.50%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $142.60

Qs/Ads  $144.47

Value  $287.07

Savings  50.33%

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 APRIL

Rite-Aid SCR....$6.00
Subtotal........$6.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
Nothing

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$6.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES
Nothing

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bakery Outlet at 74.25%, Weis at 50.33% and Shursave Grocer at 37.50%.  Ok, so I only shopped at THREE STORES all MONTH!lol

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$231.03

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$220.10

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$451.13

TOTAL Savings of...................................48.80%


TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$6.00
TOTAL Out of Pocket After Rebates........$225.03
TOTAL Savings including Rebates...........$226.10
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$451.13
TOTAL Savings After Rebates...................50.12%

This closes out the April spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into April with $300 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month.  I was able to stay well below my budgeted amount, even with hosting an Easter dinner for what turned into a Feast for 7 at the last minute.
I used very few coupons in April, though I did buy many meat items.   Using those store clearance meat dept. coupons assisted my budget there.  I didn't shop at any drug stores this month, especially Rite-Aid where I have or have close to 100% savings rate.  That is why my overall savings percentage is only 48.80% in April instead of 60-80%.  But even though the rate is much lower this month, I'll gladly take it.  Besides the paper products I bought this month, I bought no other HBA or non-food items.  An almost 50% savings rate on just food items is wonderful!  Especially when I only used 3 ManuCoupons, 2 PeelieCoupons and 2 CatalinaCoupons.

As for the discounts I used in April....
*3 ManuQs
*2 Catalina WYB Qs
*2 PeelieQs
*12 Meat discount Qs
*16 Store Qs(4 of which were Free item Qs)

Besides the few coupons I used, utilizing UTOF meats, in season produce, buying at lowest sale price in the cycle in the stores and finding alternate sources for groceries(outlets), helped me spend less of my cash in the grocery store than my neighbor on identical items this month.

LOOKING AHEAD TO MAY.....My Daughter will be coming home to stay in another week.  My oldest Son will be coming home for 10 days or so with his girlfriend in tow next week.  So we will be a family of 6 for 1/3rd of the month and then a family of 4 for the remainder of the May.  More people means more food spending.  My oldest has already asked me to make him some favorite foods while he is home and of course they are not cheap foods.  Most of them involve smoked meats so I'll be firing up the smoker soon. ;-)

I will be increasing my food budget to $400 for May.  As for the meats I'll need for the smoker, I'll be going to the restaurant supply store this month for the best deals locally.  I'll continue to seek out in-season produce, store loss leaders/lowest priced in the store cycle goods and keep my eyes peeled while in the store for instant discount Deals.

How did you do in April with your Food Budget? 

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