2015 Food & Toiletries Spending.....September Update

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for SEPTEMBER 2015.

I have posted September'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 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(2 at home this month + 1 kid home for 1 week in Sept.). No kids under 19. 

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BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $5.00
Value  $23.95
Savings  79.12%

FOOD LION
OOP  $2.36
Value  $2.36
Savings 0%

OLLIE'S
OOP  $13.61
Value  $33.70
Savings  59.61%

RITE-AID
OOP  $0.87
Qs/Ads/gift card $111.75
Value  $112.62
Savings  99.22%

 

SHURSAVE MARKET
OOP  $21.92
Qs/Ads $4.42
Value  $26.34
Savings  16.78%
 

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $168.49

Qs/Ads  $173.56

Value  $342.05

Savings  50.74%
 

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My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 99.22%, the Bakery Outlet at 79.12% and Ollie's at 59.61%.  My WORST savings rate was Food Lion at 0%.(I bought 1 thing and it wasn't on sale.)

I shopped at 6 different places this past month.  

TOTAL Out of Pocket........ $212.25

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$328.77

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$541.02

TOTAL Savings of...................................60.77%
TOTAL Savings without Rite-Aid...........50.66%

This closes out the September food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....
I went into September wanting to do a $350 food budget for the month and I only spent $212.25, leaving me with $137.75 still in the budget.  Not being able to walk and go to the grocery stores put a real crimp in my shopping activity.  ;-)

The monthly savings percentage went down by 4.19% in September to 60.77% compared to August's high 64.96% savings average.  Still a great savings rate though for September.

The savings rate for the whole year so far now stands at 59.20%.  That's a .12 increase in savings over August's YTD total(59.08%).  It's still hanging in well over a 40% savings rate for the year so it's all good. 

I have spent a total of $3,485.77 on food/toiletries in 2015 so far at this point in the year. That averages out to $387.31 per month.  I am finally back under $400 per month spent in 2015.
Yay!

LOOKING AHEAD To OCTOBER.........

We'll try for a $300 food budget for OCTOBER since it's just Hubs and I at home now, plus we have a trip planned this month so the food spending while on vacation will not come out of the food budget.
So we should be able to do the food shopping for less this month as it's not for a full 30/31 days of eating.
 

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 September?
*  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?
 

Sluggy

Food Spending OCTOBER Week 1, Meal Planning Week 2

 

Another Food Waste Poster from the US Food Administration during World War I

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I never got around to posting a plan so here is what actually got served last week.....at least what little I can remember of last week.....

Sunday--Fish Fry, Chips(as in Fries), Green Beans

Monday--Meatball Subs(homemade)

Tuesday--"BRINNER" This is breakfast for dinner--hash browns, sausage, pancakes, eggs were the options.

Wednesday--Leftovers

Thursday--Corned Beef & Cabbage

Friday--Pizza(I had a gift card)

Saturday--Subway sandwiches

Not a very well-rounded diet last week.  I did dine on spinach salad for lunches myself(we won't talk about the can of ravioli that one day though).  Lunches for the others?.....you'd have to ask them. lol

We did finish up the meatballs, spaghetti and the quiche leftovers from the week before.

The weekly food spending was  a whopping $202.06!  This included reg. purchases, Daughter's spending for work lunches, some stocking up at Weis(pound-me-in-the-ass)Markets and at Big Lots.(More on that later.).
I bought 3.3lbs. of Salmon at Weis,($5.99 lb.) as well as 4 qts. of Greek Yogurt(Cabot for $3 qt.), 8 blocks of Cream Cheese(Weis brand 4 for $5.00), 11 bottles of Ocean Spray Cranberry 100% Juice($2 ea.).  I also did the Buy 10 GG/BC/ assorted brand Items, Get $4 Off Deal.  Not a great deal but I bought the items on sale and used coupons(many of which doubled to $1).  I also did the Pepsico Catalina Deal(Spend $25/Get $5 Cat Q).  Unfortunately the Cat Deals at Weis now are based on Sale price, not Shelf price, so these aren't lucrative as they once were.  But I wanted to get #2 son stocked on junk food so I don't need to buy anymore until next year!lol  As part of that deal I bought 2 x 12 packs of Lipton Tea...they were on sale 2 for $10, I used a $1/2 ManuQ AND I'll get $5 back in my Saving Star account, so in the end the tea got my almost halfway to the $25 I had to spend and the tea ends up costing $4 for both packs.(Word is that SS is taking away the total spend of any coupons so I might have to buy $1 more in Lipton tea to get my $5 back.)

And did I mention that the Catalina Q didn't print?!?!....YET AGAIN even though I was well over the $25 amount?!?!
It just seems to me that not only are the Catalina deals worse(if you can find one!)but a PITA since they never seem to work right around here.....AND I have commented before that they seem to only run them this past year or so for the most processed crap there is!  They use to have a nice mix of items to select from to fulfill these Catalinas so that you could opt for the better, less processed products....Like instead of boxed cookie mixes and Pizza rolls you could get flour instead, or evaporated milk instead of hot chocolate mix, etc.  I use to get some better items and some junky items(at the request of the kids), but more and more I find the only items they offer in these deals are junk and my food bill seems much higher when I do them...even with the Catalina figured in at the end.

I've spent $202.06 of my $400 monthly food budget so far this month and I am not too happy about it overall.

I am going into the new week with these leftovers......Corned Beef and Cabbage.  That is it!

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This week's menu.....

Sunday--Salmon, Asparagus, Coconut Milk

Monday--Hot Dogs, Corn, Beans

Tuesday--Tuna Helper, Brussel Sprouts

Wednesday--Chicken Parmesan, Caesar Salad

Thursday--Tacos Salad

Friday--Rigatoni w/Sauce, Veg. TBD

Saturday--Leftovers

 

What I need to buy this week to serve this menu?.....Lettuce.   We need some fruit this week.  I'll try for $10 or less in food spending this week.

Wish me luck....lol

So what are you cooking at your house this week?

Sluggy