My Grocery Bargain Frenzy

$40.65

Since I am taking the time to blog about this, you can tell that I am slightly proud of myself. Yes, I am proud of myself! Who ever thought that little materialistic, shop 'til you drop me could actually catch on to saving money on groceries?!

I have to say that this couponing thing is a lot of work and some days I wonder if it's really worth it to put all the time in to cut and print coupons, match up the good deals, read the coupon blogs, and make extra runs to the grocery store. But this week, I definitely think it's worth it! The thing I like about all of my bargains this week is that it's pretty much all food that we would buy anyway. (Okay, maybe not this much ice cream, but it was such a great deal and hey, it's almost August and I'm pregnant!)

Also, these were not my only purchases for the week. I did get milk and cheese at Costco and a few non-grocery essentials at Wal-Mart. But I am getting to the point now where I am pretty well stocked on lots of essentials so that I can focus my budget on stocking up on whatever is on sale for a great deal. It's a completely different way of shopping for me, but I'm really starting to like it and see the benefits of it on our grocery budget.

The pictures above are not the best because my photography skills were not able to fit everything in and get a very good photo. So, here is the breakdown:

For $40.65 (including our 6% sales tax) I purchased
4 12 oz. bottles of Spray-N-Wash Max stain remover
2 15 oz.cans of Dole Mandarin Oranges
2 boxes of Raisin Bran Crunch (18.2 oz.)
2 boxes of Raisin Bran Extra (14 oz.)
1 box of Special K pretzel bars
2 boxes of soft pretzels
1 box of Eggo Bake Shop pastries
9 pints of Breyer's ice cream (chocolate, vanilla and butter pecan)
2 packages of Klondike bars (6 to a package)
3 packages of Jet Puffed marshmallows
2 boxes of Ritz Crackerfuls
1 32 oz. jar of Miracle Whip
2 16 oz. containers of sour cream
2 8 oz. packages of cream cheese
7 containers of Nesquik chocolate milk (5@16oz., 2@32oz.)
1 bunch of bananas
4 peaches
4 nectarines
1 11oz. container of blueberries
2 bags of Fresh Express salad

This was all purchased at Albertson's and compared to their normal prices, I saved about $100. However, I would never pay Albertson's normal prices so I like to compare to what I would have spent at Wal-Mart. Based on years of shopping at Wal-Mart and knowing their prices pretty well, I am estimating that I saved about $50.

$50 isn't a huge amount of money, but over the course of a year, that could add up to a whole lot! Now, I just need to find some really good bargains on diapers and formula and we'll be set!

:-)