Okay so its obvious to me right now, that this $35 a week grocery/household budget will work best as the “average spent per week” over the span of the month. This allows me to take advantage of stockpiling (not hoarding) the really really good deals as they come along. I’m not sure how the E-Mealz Review is going to fit with this experiment.

As I am able to stockpile specific goods while they are at their lowest price I will be avoiding the need to buy them at times when they are not on sale. There are times when deals come along that are way better than a regular sale price. By stacking coupons on top of sale prices and utilizing rebate offers (as I can find them) or other reward programs (such as Walgreen’s Register Rewards and Rite Aid’s Up Rewards) I can expect to get some of the best prices offered. At times you can get free products.

I’m afraid this post is going to be more lengthy than I’d like. I’m going to focus on the items bought in the picture below, sharing how I got these deals and then give you my approximate total spent this week. Keep in mind, some of these purchases will stretch for weeks and months for us. The low prices I got this week, will be worth going over budget a little this month, if I have to.

About the great deals in the picture:

Noble’s Pond Buehler’s:

Tuesday’s deal of the day (see ad)  Milk Half-gallons:   4 @.79 each =  $3.16

At Canton’s Acme:

4 boxes of Wheatables Crackers plus $4 in free produce. 

Here’s how:

• Wheatables were on sale Buy1Get1Free
• I had 2 separate coupons offering: $2 in free fresh produce when you buy 2 Wheatables.

• AND I sent in this rebate to get money back on one box of my Wheatable’s. {I think the rebate has been pulled. The link to it is showing a blank form so- I don’t know? Maybe they are only allowing a limited number to take advantage of it???}

• This deal potentially (still waiting on the rebate money of $3.69) will result in 3 free boxes of Wheatables, $4 in free produce ALL  for the price of that 4th box of  Wheatables for $3.69.

10 boxes of Ronzoni SmartTaste Pasta @ .75 cents each. Total $7.50

Here’s how:

• Ronzoni is on sale for $1.25 a box until Jan. 28th.
• I visited the Ronzoni company site and was able to print 2 coupons for $1 off 2 boxes (each coupon) and you have to hit the BACK button on your computer to print the 2nd coupon.  NOTE: There is more than one Ronzoni product site so Google “Ronzoni” and check each one for coupons.
• I asked some of my family if they could print off some coupons for me too.
  

Rite Aid:

6 packages of Stayfree @ .25 cents each = $1.50 (before tax and after you figure in the savings from the  $6 in Up Rewards. The cottonballs were $1/bag.

• I signed up for the Rite Aid Up Rewards program (free, see cashier) so I could do the Stayfree deal. It was buy 2 for $5 and get $2 back in Up Rewards coupons.
• I follow blogger’s like these gals who share when the Stayfree coupons are reset.  I had 3 Buy1Get1Free coupons for Stayfree.

Note:  I was allowed to apply my $4 in UpRewards from my first Stayfree deal to my 2nd Stayfree deal and I still received another $2 Up Reward coupon.

Aproximately spent out of  pocket for the week:

Buehler’s:   $6.00
Acme:        $23.00
Walmart:   $6.00
Rite Aid:    $6.00 ………….Total:  $41.00

Starting total for January: $35/wk x 4wks = $140

Aprx. Spending:

Week 1: $74
Week 2:      $41

Total spent:  $115

Balance for the rest of the month:         $25

The milk may get us through the next two weeks, the pasta for the next several months, and the Stayfree for several months. The Wheatables…{with the way we’ve been eating them} we will be lucky if they last into next week 🙂

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