My Smith's Trip 1/28/11

Super savings at Smith's today. I did 2 transactions, partially because it was just me and the girls and I was getting 4 cases of bottled water and that pretty much fills up one cart and leaves little room for the rest of the groceries. And partially because the before-mentioned bottled water is part of a Catalina event, as well as Kleenex, so I used the coupons received from the first transaction on the second transaction.

Transaction #1:

(4) 24pk Arrowhead Water $2.99

(9) Kleenex (200 ct) $.99

Used (3) $.50/3 coupons

(2) Bar S Franks $.89

Used $1/2 coupon

(2) Finish Electrasol Tabs (20 ct) $2.99

Used (2) $2.25/1 coupons

(2) Whisker Lickins Cat Treats $.49

Used $1/2 coupon

(1) Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers $.99

Total before coupons & discounts: $60.46

Total OOP: $23.97

And I received 2 catalina coupons totaling $7.00

Transaction #2

(2) Desitin Diaper Cream $2.50

Used (2) $1/1 coupons

(3) Pampers Baby Wipes $1.49

Used (1) $1/1 loadable coupon

(2) $1/1 coupons

(4) Reach Advanced Toothbrushes $.99

Used (2) $2/2 coupons

(3) Dinty Moore Beef Stew $.99

Used (1) $1.50/3 coupons

(3) Hunts Canned Tomatoes $.49

Used (1) $1/3 coupons

(4) Hormel Chili Master $.79

Used (4) $.75/1 coupons

(4) Rotel Canned Tomatoes $.49

Used (1) Buy 3 Get 1 Free coupon

(4) Hormel Chili $.79

Used (2) $.55/2 coupons

(6) Finish Electrasol Tabs $2.99

Used (6) $2.25/1 coupons

(9) Kens Salad Dressing $1.49

Used (9) $1/1 coupons

(2) Frenchs Spicy Mustard $1.19

Used (2) $1/1 coupons

(6) I Can't Believe It's Not Butter $1.29

Used (3) $1.50/2 coupons

(2) Gallons Milk

(1) Dozen Eggs

10 lbs potatoes

Also used the $7.00 in Catalina coupons.

Total before coupons & discounts $156.37

Total OOP: $29.79

So I got $216 worth of groceries for $53.76 for a 75% savings!!

Wanna see how I did it? Check out Savvy Shopper Deals!

So I have been tracking my savings so far this year. We originally had set a budget for $500/month for groceries, but since I lost my job (boo!) we're going to try and shoot for a $350 budget instead. I'm going to have to watch for those deals! Anyway, in January I bought $806 worth of groceries for ..... drumroll please..... $390!!!

Which means I made my original budget by $110 and only missed the new budget by $40. Looking back I know I could have only spent $350 this month, but I wasn't anticipating loosing my job. Then again, does anyone anticipate that? This is amazing! In December we spent $550 on groceries AND $130 in restaurants. In January we didn't eat out once. Well...ok I guess I had Little Caesars this past week, and Starbucks, and Carl's Jr but that's all cause I was stuck at work cleaning up and we got hungry. So not too shabby! Bring it on February!!!