Lesson One

I mentioned before that the budget is for diapers and gas, as well as grocery items. Let me clarify something by saying that I am lucky in that I do not need a lot of gas money. I could walk to my grocery store, my parents house (the babysitters), and G’s workplace if I needed to. So I only have to fill up my gas tank every couple of weeks at the most. And I only buy diapers if they are on a tremendous sale that I can combine with a big coupon. For example, two weeks ago at my CVS (store #6402-shout out!), they had Huggies, 34 count, size 4, for sale at just under $10. I found a $5 off coupon online at www.coupons.com and printed out 4 of them. So I got 4 packs of diapers for around $4 a pack. And last week they had Pampers (same size and count) on sale for 2 for $18, which is not a very enticing sale, but combined with the $10 of ‘extra bucks’ I had from previous shopping and 2 $1.50 off coupons, I got 2 packs of diapers for a total of $5. (Don’t throw away those CVS receipts…they always have coupons or extra bucks on there somewhere!) I already had diapers at home, but knew I would need them eventually so I went ahead and took advantage of those sales. When there aren’t amazing deals on name-brand dipes, I go to BJ’s and buy a box of the Berkeley and Jensen brand diapers for $24.99. (There are, I believe, 240 diapers in each box) And their brand of wipes come in boxes of 720 for $14.99, which I also buy. This allows me more of the $100 budget to spend on food…
My first step in planning my family’s meals every week is looking online for the weekly specials every Wednesday morning. While my big bundle of joy takes his morning nap, I am on harristeeter.com. (I secretly get excited for Wednesdays). These weekly sales decide for me what foods we will be eating that week. I’m also looking for any other nonfood item that is on sale. A very important tip is to always buy something that you regularly use whenever it is on a very good sale, even if you don’t need it at the moment. (Like I did with the diapers). You will always need toothpaste (hopefully), toilet paper (again..), etc. and can stock up so you will never have to pay full price. I NEVER PAY FULL PRICE. I look in my beloved coupon organizer and see what coupons I have for those on-sale items and plan my grocery list. I love the BuyOneGetOneFree sales… those are usually the sales that I participate in. And at my store of choice, Harris Teeter, I don’t have to buy the two items to get the sale. I can buy one and get it at 1/2 price. They also double coupons up to 99cents every day! And they have several triple coupon weekends and regular promotional giveaways (currently it’s a $50 gas card if you spend more than $40 in one week for 14 of 16 weeks) (I do not work for Harris Teeter.)
Another tip is that about once every 2 weeks I frequent the wonderful store, Aldi. Heard of it? The closest one to me is in Mooresville off of exit 36. They have some of the best deals I’ve found in my area. They can do this because you have to provide your own bags and bag your own groceries, pay a quarter to get a cart (you get your quarter back when you return the cart), and they have things displayed similarly to a warehouse store. Aldi is where I usually buy my eggs, oats, some of my fresh produce, cheese, sugar, flour, canned vegetables and fruit. A can of diced tomatoes is about 30cents a can, whereas at a regular grocery store, it can be almost a dollar. Their prices change, depending on the food costs for that week. Last week I got a dozen eggs (I always buy 3 at a time..G and the little one eat a lot of eggs) for 65cents a carton! And a gallon of whole milk was $1.65! But, Mooresville is out of the way for me so I only go there about every other week.
And every so often Food Lion will have a sale that forces me to shop there. Usually it’s a frozen item or produce. They sell frozen bags of tilapia fillets that are very good, and I buy them when they go on the BOGO sale only. Sometimes they have avocadoes for under 90cents or grapes for under a dollar a pound and I’ll go get some. (I only buy grapes when they’re that cheap.) But it’s very rare that they have something that my trusty H.T. doesn’t have for equal or better…and they don’t double my coupons!!
The morals of this extremely long story is that you have to look at all your local resources. Be patient for a sale, it will come. Don’t pay full price just because you’re in a hurry and desperate. Just don’t put yourself in that position. Compare prices and then only take advantage of the best deal. Take the time to do that research and cut and print those coupons, even if it takes you an hour. An hour or so each week can save you $50 to $100 in food costs. weekly. honestly.