The Grocery Game - First Attempt

I finally got talked in to trying The Grocery Game. You can get a month's trial for free, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

I've been very hesitant about trying TGG because you have to pay to get the information. There's so much out there that's free, and since the point is to save money, I didn't want to spend money.

So, I signed up late last week. First of all, the lists go up on Friday, with a final list on Sunday after the coupons for the week are released. This allows for a list that contains unadvertised specials, not just the flyer specials, which is what the free sites have. The list is color coded to indicate which items are free after coupon, good deals and decent deals. It also includes original price, sales price, how many to buy, coupon match and percentage off.

I headed down to the local Harris Teeter this morning, list in hand. How did I do? Well, my end savings weren't much more than usual. However, I bought an absolute ton of groceries for $108, and my weekly budget is $120. I've got so much stuff to put in the stockpile I've been dreading it all day. The $108 also includes items I don't normal buy at the store unless I can get them for a steal like Ziploc bags, aluminum foil, etc.

TGG took a lot of the thinking out of the process for me today, and I appreciate that. If I think about what I would have bought this week without the list, I would probably have spent the same amount and got less stuff. I wouldn't have known that I could get a bag of steamfresh veggies for free, or a strip of yeast for free.

Right now, my monthly budget for groceries is $480 for my family of four. I'm trying very hard to get it down to $400. I'll update and let you all know if TGG is the secret to getting it down for us.

Free Apples at Earth Fare

Print out this coupon, get a FREE 3 pound bag of honeycrisp apples at Earth Fare!

http://view.earthfare-email.com/?j=fe62157371610c7f7116&m=fec815747367037f&ls=fdf1127177610775711d7774&l=fe9415797666017c73&s=fe9612717d61067d76&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe2315757c670274771677&r=0

I love honeycrisps. When you get a really good one, it tastes like candy!

Thanks Money Saving Mom!!

Coupon for homeopatic kids products

One of my big things lately is trying homeopathic products. While I definitely reserve a place in my medicine cabinet for the more mainstream products like Tylenol, Delsyum and the like, I have begun to incorporate an initial, more natural treatment for all of us. These products aren't for the green crazies, either! Ever tried Zicam? Well, that's homeopathic! My family thinks I'm nuts, but I don't see what's wrong in trying something that's been used for centuries to treat common ailments.

I use primarily Borion and Hyland's products because those are the most familiar to me right now. I recently received a package of samples for kids from Borion, and it will be interesting to see how they stack up to the ones I'm already using from Hyland's. Right now, I'm loving the Hyland's Cough Syrup with Honey. It worked really well with Little Man, and he doesn't like honey.

The downside to almost anything you put in your medicine cabinet is that it gets expensive. So to help you out, check out the link below for a $1 off coupon for Borion products.

http://children.boironusa.com/images/BoironChildCoupon200909.pdf

Also, check out your clearance tables at CVS/pharmacy. I was at a local one last week, and they had several different Hyland's products on super dooper clearance. I picked up cough syrup for 79 cents, and I grabbed three boxes of their Sniffles and Sneezes for Kids for 69 cents. No, there's nothing wrong with them. Homeopathic meds also don't expire like conventional meds, so no worries there! It just might be worth checking out if you're stopping by soon.

Another Triple Coupon Week

I was just looking at some of my old posts, and I saw one from a few months ago on my first Triple Coupon savings day. Well, here's the results of this past Monday, which was my latest Triple Coupon day:

Spent: $78
Saved: $71.88 ($46.58 in coupons, $25.30 in shopper card savings)

Woohoo!!! My couponing has gotten better - our weekly budget for groceries has gone from $140 to $120, and as you can tell, I spent well under that. In fact, I've spent less than $100 each week this month.

It's been worth it to start couponing. I do get funny looks sometimes when I'm walking around the store with my 3 ring binder in my hand, but I've saved nearly $700 in the past six months with coupons and shopper card savings. I only count the shopper card savings because I've started actively shopping the sales, but it all counts! It's all money saved!!

How are you doing?