March Stockpile Challenge - Week 1

I've joined a "live off your stockpile" challenge on HCW for March. The challenge is to use as much out of your stockpile and spend as little out of pocket as possible. After thinking about it more and seeing our February spending (which was a little over $400), I decided to up our goal spend from $200 to $350. I felt this was a more realistic goal.

Our first week has gone very well overall!

Total spent: $82.13
Total saved: $191.68 or 70%

Thanks to rules of the challenge allowing for deducting rebates & cash gifts in our total, our actual out-of-pocket spend was $29.28. I think that's a great start!

Here's a breakdown:

Kohl's
Total before sales and coupons: $40.00
Total spent: $0
Total saved: $40.00 or 100%

Thanks to an act of kindness by a faraway relative, we have two cute new outfits for Stellie to sport in the spring.

Walgreen's
Total before sales and coupons: $37.33
Total spent: $1.39
Total saved: $35.94 or 96%

Free Purex deal was wonderful! I'd go back out for more but it was such a hassle the first time, I think I'll just count myself lucky and leave it at this.

Harris Teeter
Total before sales and coupons: $17.27
Total spent: $2.08
Total saved $15.19 or 88%

Used lots of FREE coupons I had received in recent train envies.

Food Lion
Total before sales and coupons: $5.54
Total spent: $1.50
Total saved: 73%

Tried to score 6 free candies with B1G1 tearpads I had lucked into but it didn't work. Cashier rung these in at the half price they wound up ringing up for due to their B1G1 sale.

Kroger
Total before sales and coupons: $59.71
Total spent: $23.56
Total saved: $36.15 or 61%

Lots of produce and fresh fruit, as well as some drumsticks for tonight's dinner.

Lowe's Foods
Total before sales and coupons: $44.83
Total spent: $9.50
Total saved: $35.33 or 79%

Still stocking up on free Trident Layers after coupons.

Super Target
Total before sales and coupons: $69.13
Total spent: $44.10
Total saved: $25.03 or 36%

Maybe I need to steer clear of Target. Tried for some freebies but couldn't find lots of the corresponding items. I stuck with what we needed- Clif Bars (no coupons for these unfortunately) and various other grocery/household items.

Belated Friday Finals

My husband and I ran a half-marathon on Saturday so I'd like to think that is a good excuse for being late on Friday Finals. 8-) Normally, I'd post a store-by-store breakdown but this week I'll just report my incredible savings at Kroger thanks to their Mega Event (which continues through this week!).

Last week, I spent a total of $47.37 on $434.60 worth of groceries at Kroger. We are incredibly well-stocked on Uncle Ben's rice, Betty Crocker fruit snacks for kid's lunches, deli meats and Propel waters. Also picked up fruits and veggies, several packages of turkey cutlets, other meats and other grocery items. I also have several boxes of pancake mix to donate to our nearest food bank.

In my most impressive stop, I spent $3.36 out of pocket for $110.43 worth of groceries - and came out with catalinas worth $6.50 off my next order! The woman behind me practically had to pick her jaw up off the floor when she saw how much I saved.

Friday Finals - 9/26

Thanks to HT's triples promotions & Rite Aid's Huggies deal, this week was a PHENOMENAL week for saving in our household! All told, I wound up paying $35.67 out of pocket for $476.63 worth of groceries and household items...and I'll be getting $27.99 out of that back in Rite Aid Single Check Rebates and a Kellogg's Special K jeans rebate promotion. When you subtract the rebates I'm anticipating from the total out of pocket, it's as if we've saved a jaw-dropping 98%!

Here is a store-by-store breakdown:

Harris Teeter
Total before sales and coupons: $383.78
Total spent: $13.24
Total saved: $366.05 or 95%

Oh, triple coupon weeks...how do I love thee? Let me count the 366 ways! I need to get pics up of our growing stockpile because it is truly amazing. We're all set for soups and frozen veggies for the winter thanks to this triples go-round. I am awestruck at how much we got for so little- the GM & GG deals were the icing on the cake this week at HT.

Kroger
Total before sales and coupons: $19.57
Total spent: $13.24
Total saved: $6.33 or 32%

Kroger is our go to store for cheap cottage cheese and produce specials. Since winetags have been mysteriously elusive for the past few weeks (oh how I miss them!), I was stuck paying full price on most items bought at Kroger- still less money than I would have paid elsewhere for same stuff, so I'm happy.

Lowe's Foods
Total before sales and coupons: $15.76
Total spent: $1.11
Total saved: $14.65 or 95%

One of the few Lowe's stops I make are for rock bottom deals such as the Special K one going on this week. I bought 2 boxes of Special K cereal and three boxes of bars for $1.11 and promptly mailed out the jeans vouchers on each to earn a $10 jeans rebate. I've heard the rebate check is good for anything though! Can you say moneymaker? Love it!

Rite Aid
Total before sales and coupons: $52.57
Total spent: $20.57 (zero out of pocket thanks to a gift card)
Saved: $32 or 60%

Took advantage of Huggies diapers & wipes SCR deal, as well as the Proantinox moneymaker. Should get my September rebate check in the mail in the next couple of weeks. These are processed quickly. I love the SCR program!

Target
Total before sales and coupons: $3.56
Total spent: $3.56
Saved $0

Our Z bar coupons we had on hand expired and hubby needed them so I paid full price. Shame on me, I know. Anyone have any Clif coupons they're willing to spare or trade??

Whole Foods
Total before sales and coupons: $1.39
Total spent: 3 cents (sales tax)
Total saved: $1.39 or 100%

I rarely make stops to Whole Foods due to their regular high prices but did so this week thanks to a free Yo Baby meal coupon and the promise of an October coupon flier featuring a free gallon of milk and free carving pumpkin coupon good for separate weeks (thanks go to Jenny @ SouthernSavers for the fabulous tip!). You'll need to buy something to get this coupon flier...at least at the Cary location. They don't have these up front to pick up. A cashier will put one in your bag after ringing up your order.

All in all, this was a blockbuster week for us. How did you fare?

Friday Finals 9/18

It's a late edition of Friday Finals! Here's the week's spending & saving round-up...

Harris Teeter

Spent $23.52
Saved $313.28

Lots of great triples finds! Greatest deals involved the General Mills, Old El Paso and Green Giant promos. We are well stocked on frozen veggies and will continue to beef up supply over the next several days. Other good finds: you can get two Propels for free if you have the .50/1 coupons as they're B1G1 at $1.39. You can also get two containers of Hillshire Farms deli meat for $1 with .55/1 coupons - they're running a special where you'll get $3 off the pair when you buy 2.

Lowe's Foods

Spent $6.15
Saved $16.78

Made one quick trip for the B2G3 free Old Orchard juice and B1G1 Thomas' bagels. I had actually hoped to spend less but unfortunately my .50/1 hangtag coupons did not double for the juice. Still a great bargain though!

Rite Aid

Spent $0 thanks to use of a gift card
Saved $15.00 in coupons

Picked up 10 Johnson & Johnson baby washes. I'll get a $15 Single Check rebate and have $29.90 spent towards earning a Gift of Savings gift card.

Walgreen's

Spent $0 thanks to use of a gift card
Saved $15.97 in coupons

Picked up 18 copies of last Sunday's paper, a Murine ear drop medicine and a couple of True North nut snacks (later used Register Rewards earned on these purchase at Harris Teeter).

Target

Spent $19.34
Saved $49.33

Stocked up on more Healthy Choice meals (4 cents each after coupon!), bagels, puffs, Fiber One bars and free string cheeses (thanks to a Target printable).

Kroger

Spent $50.84
Saved $61.92

Bought even more Healthy Choice meals (20 cents after coupon), 10 capri suns and assorted groceries, fruit & veggies. Will also use capri sun purchase towards a $20 Nabisco rebate.

Grand Totals:

Spent a total of $99.89 (Yay! Under $100!)
Saved a total of $472.28 in sale prices & coupons
Saved an additional $25.25 by using gift cards

Total savings: 83%