Monday’s MST: Groceries – A New App & Savings

I’m sorry this is just posting, but if you saw my post earlier about the problem I was having with pictures, you know that I’ve had this written since Sunday, but couldn’t get pictures to upload.  Thanks to Chelsie for sending me an email of a way around the problem.  Html worked great. 

This is more of an example of my savings this week in groceries versus a specific money saving tip.  If you’ve been following my blog, you know we prepare for grocery shopping by researching the savings at different stores and collecting any coupons there might be (we don’t use a lot of coupons though).

Most of you may know about this, but thought I’d share anyway – Tom Thumb has a cool coupons program.  You sign up at Safeway.com with your Rewards card info and simply check the coupons you want to take advantage of.  I did ALL of this on my iPhone while I was in the store because I forgot a coupon and thought I’d try it.  Worked great.  We never shop here unless we’re buying something on sale.  This place is way too expensive for other items.

At Tom Thumb, I got Picante sauce, salad dressing, Jif peanut butter, and four Sunkist Ten (it was the only flavor they had). 

Sorry this picture is crummy.  It’s a cell phone picture at night.

All of those items cost a total of: $5.27!!!  Regularly, the dressing and two Sunkists cost that alone.

Here’s the breakdown:
Picante sauce (24oz) – 3.59 (-1.80) = 1.79
Salad dressing (16oz) – 3.29 (-2.30) = .99
Jif PB (18oz) – 3.79 (1.30) = 2.49
4 Sunkists (12oz each) – 3.96 (-3.96) = FREE
Total Savings – $9.36 (saved more than I spent).

So, if you’re a shopper at Tom Thumb, definitely sign up for this online or download the app on you phone. 

We also went to Albertsons to get some 93% lean ground beef and fruit.  I bought 2.38 pounds of beef, 1 lb of strawberries, and 1 pint of blueberries for $12.12! 

Breakdown:
Beef – 3.99/lb (2.3lbs), but on sale for 2.98/lb = 7.12
Strawberries – 3.99, but on sale for 2/$5 = 2.50
Blueberries – 3.99, but on sale for 2/$5 = 2.50
Total Savings – $5.03

I did the rest of my shopping at Walmart.  I’m trying to be less wasteful with the food we already have, so I did a lot of my shopping in my pantry/fridge first.  I bought all the items pictured (PLUS paper towels and milk) for $47.14.

This is the bulk of our groceries.  The paper towels AND organic skim milk are not pictured.  Paper towels alone are almost $9.  It pains my hubby that I use so many paper towels.  In my opinion, it’s worth every penny!

This is how I write our grocery list and meal plan for the week.  I keep an ongoing list throughout the week on a small white board on our fridge.  I did get some string cheese that I did not plan on buying. And I did not get the mascara, bronzer, or batteries (waiting for coupons).  During basketball season when my husband is gone a lot, I do not cook as much.  This is a pretty small list relative to what we usually get.

I spent a total this week of ($5.27 + 12.12 + 47.14) = $64.53

And everything is accounted for in our budget book.  My new Receipt-Wallet system is still working great!  These groceries should last us till next Monday, the 14th, or more.  We’re currently at $123 for groceries.  We budgeted $300.  I should come very close this month!  We figure $100 per person in a household.  Now that Beckham is eating all solid foods and drinking whole milk, he has taken over more of his “$100.”  His milk alone is about $25 extra a month.  There’s one good reason to exclusively breastfeed right there.  I can’t imagine how much money we saved. 

Hope that gave you an idea of what our grocery shopping looks like and informed you about Tom Thumb’s app (if you don’t have a smart phone, they still have the coupons in the paper ads that you can cut out for the same deal).  I feel stupid posting this as I’m sure everyone uses that if they shop there, but maybe a couple of you are just now learning about it.  I’m sure there are tons of other apps for other stores that help you save money.