2017 Food & Toiletries Spending....March Update

* Posting my grocery totals a bit early as I am done food spending for March.  If for some reason I shop again this week, this amount will go onto April's spending.*

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MARCH 2017.

I have posted March'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 March.  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(3-4 at home this month). No kids under 21.

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BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $22.00
Value  $83.02
Savings  73.50%

DOLLAR TREE
OOP  $12.00
Value  $35.76
Savings   53.42%

MAINE SOURCE
OOP  $129.32
Value  $249.91
Savings   48.25%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.00
Qs/Ads/PPs  $67.52
Value  $67.52
Savings  100%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $82.52

Qs/Ads/Gift Cards  $271.98

Value  $354.50

Savings  76.72%

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 100%, Weis Markets at 76.72% and the Bread Outlet at 73.50%.  My WORST savings rate was Maine Source at 48.25%.
Ok, having a "worst" savings rate of almost 50% is not too shabby..... ;-)

I shopped at 5 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket..........$245.84

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$617.39

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$863.23

TOTAL Savings of ..................................71.52%
TOTAL Savings w/o Rite-Aid of ..............69.10%

This closes out the March food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into March wanting to stay under $300 spent OOP on food and toiletries.
Thanks to using some gift cards I stayed $54.16 under budget.

The monthly food spending savings percentage went UP by .33% in March to 69.10% compared to February's 68.77% savings average.

With 3 months accounted for, I have spent a Grand Total of $1,091.06 on food/toiletries in 2017 which averages out to $363.69 per month spent in 2017. 8-)


LOOKING AHEAD To April........
Though College Boy won't be home for Easter we will most probably host the Brother in-law and Nephew for that meal.  I already have a ham in the freezer I picked up for free at Weis at Christmas, I'll make my own rolls and deviled eggs(with eggs I already have here), so the only expense will most likely be fresh or frozen veggies I'll pick up in April.  Easter this year shouldn't break the bank.
Plus we'll  have a good bit of ham leftover for other meals in April(though I really don't eat ham anymore the Hubs and Daughter can eat it).

As for the rest of April,  I want to try for a $200 grocery spending month.  We've got lots in the pantry/freezer/stockpile heading into April.  If April turns into a good stock-uppurtunity month I have $477.89 in gift cards for places that sell food/toiletries(though I rarely pay money for toiletries) Ican put some of the food purchases on($205.01 in Weis cards, $60 on a Visa Debit Card from Kohl's purchases, $125.44 in Target gift cards, a $25 Giant Markets gift card, and $62.44 left on my Rite-Aid gift card).
I don't plan to stock-up on things in April but I have the means to pay for it if it happens.

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 March?
*  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

Ramblings About My Grocery Purchases This Week

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