2017 Food & Toiletries Spending.....September Update

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for SEPTEMBER 2017.

I have posted September's totals on the Total Grocery Savings Page located HERE and have updated the Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in September.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Sum.  My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 3-4(3 at home this month). No kids under 21.

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DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $2.00
Value  $4.98
Savings  59.84%

MAINES
OOP  $50.36
Value  $83.39
Savings  39.61%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PPs  $146.17
Value  $146.17
Savings  100%

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $135.58
Qs/Ads  $105.87
Value  $241.45
Savings  43.85%

VA TRIP(various stores)
OOP  $36.12
Value  $42.98
Savings  15.96%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $143.93

Qs/Ads  $129.44

Value  $273.37

Savings  47.35%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, the Dollar Tree at 59.84% and Weis Markets at 47.35%.  My WORST savings rate was at the Various Stores in VA shop at 15.96%.

I shopped at 6 different stores this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$367.99

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$451.58

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$646.17

TOTAL Savings of ..................................47.26%
Total Value of Items Purchased w/Rite-Aid....$792.34
TOTAL Savings with Rite-Aid items..........53.56%

This closes out the September food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I wanted to stay under $350 spent in September and I ended up $17.99 over that mark for the month.  I blame 1 of those 3 pork butts I bought to smoke for later.  ;-)

The monthly food spending savings percentage went DOWN by 1.73% in September to 53.56% compared to August's 55.29% savings average.  We still have over a 50% savings rate so it's all good.

With 9 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $3128.33 on food/toiletries in 2017 which is a 68.09% savings rate for the year to-date and averages out to $347.59 spent per month so far in 2017.

LOOKING AHEAD To October........with the various deals for the Holidays coming up I am going to give myself $400 for food shopping this month.  If I go over a bit($50 or so)I won't be too upset.  With 3 smoked pork butts going into the freezer I won't have much room for stocking up on frozen items so I don't think we'll go over the $400 limit but you never know. ;-)
Since I buy 99% of our food on sale/discount/use a few coupons too, I always look to the "long game" because day to day you never know what will be a deal so I try to be prepared.  Sometimes this means going over budget on food in one month but eventually I have a inexpensive food month and it all evens out in the long run to give me a nice grocery savings overall.

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 Spetember?
*  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?
*  What are your methods for keeping your food spending in check?

Is anyone out there up for tracking expenditures and trying to spend less but still eat well?


Sluggy

Food Shopping This Week & Other Shopping Splurges

Went to Maine Source restaurant supply store this week for some produce.....

4 x assorted peppers
4 x English cukes
2 x cantaloupes
2 x hot house tomatoes
1 x package of hot dog rolls
1 x Arizona zero-calorie peach tea

$16.93 OOP
$28.85 regular retail


 Then it was to Weis(PMITA)Markets for milk and the mushrooms I forgot that I needed for fajitas on Thursday......

As you can see I also ran into some instant discount stickers for salad greens, bakery products and tube-type meats. lolz

1 x Baby Greens 50%off sticker=$1.99
1 x Asst. Salad 50%off sticker=$1.49
.63 lb. mushrooms=$1.88(cheaper than buying the containers of mushrooms)
1 x Kaiser rolls 50%off sticker=.99¢
1 x Sourdough bread 50%off sticker=$1.69
3 x Bob Evans sausage $2off sticker(and on sale)=$1.99 each
1 x Smithfield smoked sausage $2off sticker(and on sale)=$1.34
1 x Hebrew National reduced fat franks $3off sticker=$3.69
1 x 1/2 gal. milk=$1.72 *not pictured*

Total after sales/discount stickers=$20.76 OOP
Regular Retail total=$40.81
Savings rate of 49%......

And what am I doing with all those cukes?
Why pickles Watson!......

Refrigerator Bread and Butter Pickles with Red Onions

Total spent on groceries this week.....$37.69
I know it's more than the $20 I wanted to stay under but this is how I shop and frankly spending an extra $18 on food during a week isn't going to bankrupt us. ;-)

You never know when those lovely discount stickers will appear and on WHAT they will appear.
When they do(and it's something we eat), I buy them and either change the menu to use something up fresh or I freeze them(if they can be frozen like meats) for later use.
It doesn't usually add much to my food bill and it keeps me from having to pay full retail to buy it when it's needed later on.
So in the end, shopping a little now saves me more later.

Do this long enough and you may never have to pay retail for food again(except for a few items around here like milk which, thanks to the strong PA dairy lobby, never goes on sale and is price controlled).
I did pay full retail for the loose mushrooms too at Weis.  I wanted to make chicken fajitas this week because Maine Source had peppers on a good sale but they didn't have 'shrooms on sale.  Weis had containers of 'shrooms on sale but the bulk loose 'shrooms are cheaper at full retail than the boxed stuff on sale.
Go figure!....so these are my "go to" 'shrooms.

As of today we have spent $208.21 and have meals planned/food for though April 18th of this month.
$91.79 left to spend on food and 12 days left in April to eat.  That's highly do-able.

I want to mention that we went out the weekend before Easter and bought "non-food stuff".
I don't often buy stuff/wants, but we did at the beginning of April.

Macy's had their "lowest price of the season" sale going on.
Funny but they don't say which season it is the lowest price of.....lolz
Anyway, I bought this..........

A toaster oven
Don't ask me why.
Ok, ask......lol
It was under $18 and everything being equal I prefer a toaster oven to a toaster.
Toaster oven is more of a multi-tasker and seem to last a bit longer than any of the toasters I've owned.
Our toaster is still humming along but once it goes to the great small appliance heaven, we will be ready to unpack this bad boy.

As it was an awesome sale on some kitchenware stuff and we have 2 young adults who can use said kitchenware stuff we also bought the older 2 kids these.....

A 10 piece set of stainless steel cookware.
After a coupon, sale and tax, they were each under $50 for a reg. retail of $180 set.
Nice cookware for 74% off?
Yes, please!

Macy's had a cheaper SS set(their house brand)for under $40 BUT this one is heat safe to a higher temperature and I know my kids.......they only know 1 heat setting....HIGH!
So we laid out an extra $10 for these puppies.
'Nuff said. ;-)

These and the 12 bottles of mead we bought at the Meadery the end of March have been our big spurges lately.

No shopping at Rite-Aid this week, except to pick-up Rxs.

How is your food shopping going this week?

Sluggy