I hit 2 grocery stores on Wednesday of this past week.
I spent a total of $99.69.
I am still under $300 for January, but just barely.
At the local independent market I did well, spending $31.38.
$19.42 of that was "planned" purchases for tomato paste stockup, clams, lettuce and OJ.
The other $11.96 I spent was "unplanned" good deals like 6 of my brand of yogurt for .48¢ cup, a cantaloupe for $1.99, 2 bottles of a brand of diet cola I can drink for .99¢ each and a 6" tall bottle of All Spice for $4.99(which I was out of).
And then I stepped into the snake pit called Weis(PMITA)Markets.
I spent $68.31 in there without batting an eye.
Ugh.
I spent for my "planned" purchases of 4 x spaghetti sauce and 2 x Kielbasa which cost me $10.37.
Then I spent another $33.15 on "unplanned" but good buys.....$14.35 of this was fresh produce and $18.07 of it was other buys like fresh seafood, a pack of lunchmeat for $1.19(after instant $2 Off Q), 2 x Bakery Dept. 50% off buys and 3 4-packs of sugar-free pudding for .88¢ each(so I don't go binge on sugared up snacks).
What did me in there was an "88¢ Sale" on certain products when you buy in multiples of 8.
Because of this and #2 Son's wants, I let another $25.52 fly outta my pocket.
Many MANY cans of chili and Mtn. Dew, plus boxes of ramen noodles and peanut butter Pop-Tarts later for stuff he will eat/drink, I am $25.52 poorer. If I hadn't gotten this stuff on sale I would have shelled out $40.02 instead so the damage to the budget wasn't as bad as it could have been.
But then again, if some of this hadn't been on sale, I might have NOT bought it......but then again again, I might have bought other items he wanted, which in the end might have cost even more. 8-))
I have $2.63 left of my $300 food budget for January at this moment.
And I have 7 more days to get through before the month is over.
So the plan, once the menu for this week is finished today is to shop in the freezer, fridge and stockpile/pantry for the rest of the month's meals. I still have a free birthday meal from Red Robin I haven't used so that leaves us 5 days of eating dinners(Saturday's is planned and here, then take 1 day from the next 6 for the eating out). We have plenty of food so this shouldn't be a problem, besides making the family stay out of the grocery stores! lol
And if there are any irresistible deals this coming sales week, I can go on next Saturday before the ads end as it is February 1st and I'll have a new food budget available. Yay! ;-)
I need to rethink going to Weis as much as I do each month.
I just can't seem to get out of there without spending on some unplanned stuff!
Albeit, it's usually unplanned GOOD STUFF but still.....
Maybe I'll limit my trips there to once every other week instead of weekly, which is my usual routine.
That chain is very good at drawing you in, ya know?
Can you resist the deals and the crap grocery stores tempt you with?
Sluggy
I spent a total of $99.69.
I am still under $300 for January, but just barely.
At the local independent market I did well, spending $31.38.
$19.42 of that was "planned" purchases for tomato paste stockup, clams, lettuce and OJ.
The other $11.96 I spent was "unplanned" good deals like 6 of my brand of yogurt for .48¢ cup, a cantaloupe for $1.99, 2 bottles of a brand of diet cola I can drink for .99¢ each and a 6" tall bottle of All Spice for $4.99(which I was out of).
And then I stepped into the snake pit called Weis(PMITA)Markets.
I spent $68.31 in there without batting an eye.
Ugh.
I spent for my "planned" purchases of 4 x spaghetti sauce and 2 x Kielbasa which cost me $10.37.
Then I spent another $33.15 on "unplanned" but good buys.....$14.35 of this was fresh produce and $18.07 of it was other buys like fresh seafood, a pack of lunchmeat for $1.19(after instant $2 Off Q), 2 x Bakery Dept. 50% off buys and 3 4-packs of sugar-free pudding for .88¢ each(so I don't go binge on sugared up snacks).
What did me in there was an "88¢ Sale" on certain products when you buy in multiples of 8.
Because of this and #2 Son's wants, I let another $25.52 fly outta my pocket.
Many MANY cans of chili and Mtn. Dew, plus boxes of ramen noodles and peanut butter Pop-Tarts later for stuff he will eat/drink, I am $25.52 poorer. If I hadn't gotten this stuff on sale I would have shelled out $40.02 instead so the damage to the budget wasn't as bad as it could have been.
But then again, if some of this hadn't been on sale, I might have NOT bought it......but then again again, I might have bought other items he wanted, which in the end might have cost even more. 8-))
I have $2.63 left of my $300 food budget for January at this moment.
And I have 7 more days to get through before the month is over.
So the plan, once the menu for this week is finished today is to shop in the freezer, fridge and stockpile/pantry for the rest of the month's meals. I still have a free birthday meal from Red Robin I haven't used so that leaves us 5 days of eating dinners(Saturday's is planned and here, then take 1 day from the next 6 for the eating out). We have plenty of food so this shouldn't be a problem, besides making the family stay out of the grocery stores! lol
And if there are any irresistible deals this coming sales week, I can go on next Saturday before the ads end as it is February 1st and I'll have a new food budget available. Yay! ;-)
I need to rethink going to Weis as much as I do each month.
I just can't seem to get out of there without spending on some unplanned stuff!
Albeit, it's usually unplanned GOOD STUFF but still.....
Maybe I'll limit my trips there to once every other week instead of weekly, which is my usual routine.
That chain is very good at drawing you in, ya know?
Can you resist the deals and the crap grocery stores tempt you with?
Sluggy
Our Weis always has really good meat deals. I usually stick to discount stores bc if I impulse there it costs me 10 not 50 lol. I haven't been to a chain but aldis in months :)
ReplyDeleteThere comes a point where no store has a sale that tempts me. The on-sale meat it too expensive, the sales are not sales to me because I can get it cheaper down the street. I have access to about 15 different grocery stores or sales ads. Some are right here in town. Others can be accessed by using ads from towns about 60 miles radius around here and price-matching at WM.
ReplyDeleteOne week, there was just nothing to buy that I used or was really a sale. I bought milk that week. This past week, there were sales but I had 2 cents in my checking account--$0.02. So, that is two random weeks of no- or low-spend. I tend not to feel bad when I cannot shop because I am out of money. I focus on what I did spend on and how I saved. LOL...what choice do I have? Then, I shop from pantry and have plenty most of the time. Running out of milk, Cokes, and bananas does distress me.
When I find 8 oz. Kraft (chunk shredded or whatever) Cheese for $1.49, I cannot resist! That and a few other deals are why I have no money for food for the rest of the month. I do have a refrigerator full of cheese!I have to talk myself down from the ledge of extreme frustration.
Your son and my son seem to be on the same diet!
ReplyDeleteYou can't ignore the "unplanned" but good buys. I know it adds to the total, but it helps you save in the long run. You know I get sucked into those too...
ReplyDeleteYour weakness is Weiss and mine is Wegmans. I tell my friends that I shop "ghetto" now so I can live the Wegmans lifestyle when I retire!
I shop 2x/month at aldi and weis; that's it. I only look at the weis ad for the week I plan to shop. I always use a list and have my coupons ready for weis (aldi does bot accept coupons). we have plenty of groceries in and we never starve. I broke my weekly habit years ago. and I thank bob for aldi; 80% of what I need they have at the best prices!
ReplyDelete