Saturday Savings!

Here is how the shopping trip went this week...not as amazing as last week (how could it be when last week was Kroger's MEGA-sale?), but I am still happy with how I did. I saved more then I typically would, and if I had been paying better attention (I'll explain in a second), I would have been much closer to my $50 grocery goal then I was.

Ok, to start, I was lucky enough to come across a blog that mentioned a $4 off Purina cat food coupon and a $2 off Goody Ouchless hair tie coupon. The blog mentioned that if you went to Walmart, the items would be free or close to free. Turns out my Walmart is a little more pricey then hers, but still, I got the following items:


for a total of $4.66! I saved $12.00. And, to make things better, I have a mail in rebate on the chapstick, so I actually I spent $2.12. B and I typically get our catfood bulk because we have so many cats to feed, but how can you resist 3.5lbs of catfood for $.78? And I'm really happy about the hairties, because I am using my last one...I lost the rest that I had in our move.

CVS this week had a lot of interesting deals. I am trying not to spend over $20 out of pocket (oop) at CVS each week, although I made an exception this week because of the opportunity to earn ECBs. I see a lot of people buying things that they don't need at CVS just because it gives them an opportunity to make equal or more in ECBs...but I don't want things I can't eventually use. So, I might have a more difficult time mastering the ECB program then I thought...but this is only my second week, so I'm giving it time! Ok, I bought:

for a total of $22.93. I saved...$31.30 through coupons and use of my ECBs from last week and my first stop this week (I didn't buy enough batteries the first stop to get the ECB bonus...so I went back today...pictured and talked about though is my ENTIRE CVS purchase for the week...and it turns out it was a good thing I didn't buy enough, I used my ECBs from the first stop to pay for most of my purchase on the second stop!). Are these items necessities? No. But, they are things that B and I will use eventually and it doesn't hurt to have them. I now have $20 in ECBs...which means in reality, I only paid $2.93 I guess. Although, in reality, the ECBs don't count since I'll be talking about how I saved using them next week! Confusing...

My last stop was of course, Kroger. I bought all of this:


for $71.26. And saved $56.28. Sooo....I spent more then I saved. BUT. I'm not disappointed. I'm still much lower then my old $100 orso a week. And, some of it was my own stupidity. I bought the wrong size pumpkin because I wasn't paying attention...which makes a big difference actually...as purchasing the wrong size cost me $3.00. I paid $2.00 a can rather then $.50... I also bought Ritz when they weren't on sale and I only had a coupon...and I probably didn't need to buy the Oscar Mayer bacon that was BOGO after I found the $.99 bacon (manager's special...love those tags since I don't care since I just freeze anyway!), but I decided to get it because bacon is not BOGO very often and I've NEVER seen the $.99 bacon before...and I look for it (and technically, I saved another $10 by buying the manager's special bacon...it just doesn't show up as savings when you get rung up)! I was excited to get both the Cottonelle and the Duncan Hines cake for free though. I love free stuff!

So all in all, this week I spent $98.85 (less then last week!!!) and saved $99.58! I still saved more then I spent! Whoo!

Let me know if you find any deals...and I strongly encourage you to check out my frequently visited blogs...they are where I find most of the deals and coupons (in addition to the ones I clip from the Sunday paper), as well as ideas of how to combine all offers to get the lowest price! Good Luck!