2015 Food & Toiletries Spending......April Update

*I am posting this a few days early since I am done shopping for the month.*

 Onward to April's food spending report.......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for APRIL 2015.

I have posted April's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2015 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.  I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in March.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals SumMy spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 3(2-3 at home this month). No kids under 19.

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DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $9.00
Value $18.50
Savings  51.35%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $112.79
Qs/Ads $80.63
Value $193.42
Savings  41.69%

PRICE CHOPPER
OOP  $27.64
Qs/Ads $20.03
Value $47.67
Savings  42.02%

RITE-AID *(see below)
OOP  $1.55
Qs/Ads/+UPs  $66.13
Value  $67.68
Savings  97.71%

 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $13.23

Qs/Ads  $6.09

Value  $19.32

Savings  31.52%

TARGET
OOP  $33.76
Qs/Ads $33.41
Value $67.17
Savings  49.74%
 

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $103.44

Qs/Ads  $85.65

Value  $189.09

Savings  45.30%
 

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 97.71%, Dollar Tree at 51.35% and Target at 49.74%.  My WORST savings rate was the Shursave store at 31.52%.



I shopped at 7 different stores this past month. 

TOTAL Out of Pocket........ $301.41

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$241.44

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$542.85

TOTAL Savings of...................................44.48%
TOTAL Savings WITHOUT Rite-Aid.............36.89%

This closes out the April food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into April wanting to do a $300 monthly spending and actually accomplished this....if you don't count the $1.55 I spent at Rite-Aid which put me $1.41 over.  ;-)

The monthly savings percentage went down by 25.28% in April to 44.48% compared to March's 69.76% average.
Didn't I tell y'all when I stopped buying stuff at Rite-Aid my percentages would plummet? 8-(

The savings rate for the year so far now stands at 65%.  That's a 3.70% decrease in savings over March's YTD total.  It's still hanging in well over a 40% savings rate for the year but will be going down further unless I jump back into Rite-Aid shopping at a savings rate comparable to before they ditched the +Ups Rewards Program.

I have spent a total of $1,233.86 on food/toiletries in 2015.  That averages out to $308.46andahalf per month.
I'm pretty happy with that.

LOOKING AHEAD To MAY.........

I want to continue to eat down some of our stockpiles of canned/boxed food and empty out the freezer a bit more. We will be back up to 3 adults for May since College Boy comes home on the 9th for the Summer.

I will mostly probably need to increase my food spending in May to accommodate another mouth to feed and buy items Hubs and I don't eat but that College Boy considers essentials.

I won't set a number yet but will play things by ear.  We'll be traveling for part of May so the eating out/vacation spending will increase and the food budget spending may actually not increase even with another person to feed.

What I am trying to say is that May will be a total crapshoot.  8-)
 

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

 

*  How much did you spend on food/toiletries in April?
*  Do you track your yearly food spending?
*  What was your savings percentage buying on sale and/or with coupons vs. buying at regular retail price last month, if you track that sort of thing?
 

Sluggy