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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MAY 2012.

I have posted May'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 May.  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(3-6 at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 16.
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BAKERY OUTLET
OOP   $5.89

Value   $27.74

Savings  78.77%

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $151.77

Qs/Ads  $90.87

Value  $242.64

Savings  37.45%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $180.82

Qs/Ads  $134.15

Value  $314.97

Savings  42.60%

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 May

Rite-Aid SCR....$2.00
Subtotal........$2.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES
Nothing

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$2.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES
Nothing

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bakery Outlet at 78.77%, Weis at 42.60% and Shursave Grocer at 37.45%.  Ok, so I only shopped at THREE STORES again this MONTH!lol

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$338.48

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$246.87

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$585.35

TOTAL Savings of...................................42.17%


TOTAL of CASH Rebates........................$2.00
TOTAL Out of Pocket After Rebates........$336.48
TOTAL Savings including Rebates...........$228.10
TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$585.35
TOTAL Savings After Rebates...................42.52%

This closes out the May spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into May with $400 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month.  I was able to stay well below my budgeted amount, even with more kids home and more mouths to feed.
Of course, by not actively couponing and doing the drugstore deals, my savings percentage didn't come anywhere near to the 70 or 80% I can pull out of my ass when I try hard.

I used very few coupons again in May. My 40%ish savings was mostly just buying what was on sale and/or buying meat with store discount stickers on them.  Ok, I have a few Catalinas I used too.  I spent almost NO TIME working up scenarios or ways to devise more savings on my shopping trips.  This debunks all those naysayers who think you have to spend lots of time fooling with(fooling=clipping, getting, organizing)coupons in order to save substantial money at the grocery store.  Just buying on sale and stocking up at lowest price in the sales cycle can reap you significant savings.  And buying on sale/lowest price only requires you to keep track of the week to week selling price of goods.  Not a big time hog in my book.  ;-)

LOOKING AHEAD TO JUNE.....

I will be keeping my food budget at $400 for June.  I just don't know what is going on yet this month.  This week we have family coming to stay.  2 weeks hence #2 Son leaves for camp and I'm not sure when he is returning.....could be the end of June, could be end of July.  I'm not planning on any stock ups but you never know with me. lol
I don't feel like I'll "need" all $400 but I've got it there just in case....but I don't plan to use it all.

How did you do in May 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