What do I spend each month?

Since I started diligently and strategically couponing, I have been keeping better records. I am spending less than half what I used to spend but I seem to be buying much more. Go figure. So I thought I would share my results for the last three months, particularly for those who do not believe coupons are worth the time. We are a family of five with four pets. I include all the pet food and toiletries in these numbers. We occasionally eat out (cheaply, usually with coupons) maybe twice a month which I include in entertainment budget not grocery so those numbers are not in these. My children eat lunch at school which I include in childcare expenses so those numbers are not in these as well. My goal is to keep true out of pocket at $400 per month.

So I kicked butt in August for value primarily because CVS had great $/$$ coupons and deals. I think that lead to September's low numbers. The money to be returned is either rebates (like Walgreens, Rite Aid and MIRs) or FSA dollars which I unfailingly apply for and get back. I have a spreadsheet that calculates these results after I enter total information from the receipts. So if you were to add school lunches into the True OOP, it would still be lower than The Thrifty Plan that the government uses to calculate food stamps (for my family of five it would be $647 per month not including toiletries). I would love to get it even lower like JANE4girls who has an $800 budget for the entire year and still has $128.54 left. She is amazing. I don't think I will ever be that frugally good. However, I am really happy with our progress into the conservation of money!

Kroger Trip 11/3/2008

Kroger is awesome! I have made two trips so far, and though I had to rearrange my plans somewhat due to availability, I pretty much used the coupons that I planned (see November 3rd post). So I won't go into the details again. Here is the total:

Total: $199.46
Coupons: $81.15
Sales: 60.19
OOP: $58.12 including $10.27 in tax. Thus, saving 76%.

Check out Thrifty in Cincy who also shopped this sale and did amazingly!

I won the Kreative Blogger Award!!!

I won a award!!! Thanks so much to Julie over at Coupon Saving Family. She has awarded me with the Kreativ Blogger Award! I have seen this award on other pages, and I feel so honored to have another blogger think so much of my page to award it to me!

Now I have to tell you six things that I am thankful for, and then I have to award six people with this award.

I am thankful for:

1. My Family
2. My Friends (including internet)
3. Mine and my husband's employment
4. My Home
5. Mine & My Families' Health
6. The opportunities that living in the US has provided

Now for the hardest part of all, awarding it to only six! It's a hard choice because I wish I could choose a few more (actually I chose seven) but here it goes:

Deal Dad of Dadof2Boys' Deals. He is a working teacher dad of two boys and one of the few couponing men online (you go!). He has some great deals.

Carrie at Shoplifting with Permission. She is a young(ish), urban(ish), fun-loving stay-at-home mom who gets great deals.

Justine at Justine's Grocery Brags. She gets great deals, has great pictures and awesome links to printable coupons.

Melissa at I Robbed that Store Legally. She's funny, and gets awesome deals. She's also brave enough to tell you about her mistakes which we all make.

Jamie at Thrifty in Cincy. She is a mom of two, shops at the same places that I do and has some amazing deals with great pictures.

Michelle at Leaving Excess. She is a CPA turned SAHM (with four kids) turned somewhere in between. She gets great deals and has wonderful pictures.

LizzyJane at Lizzy's Language. I've just started reading her blog. She has some awesome deals and scrumptious recipes.

They have a lot of great deals, check out their sites!

My Plan for Kroger's 10 Item Mega Event

Kroger is having one of my favorite sales. It's where you buy 10 items on their list and get $5 off, up to 30 items and $15 off. If you can match their items to coupons, you can get them really cheap or free. I've come up with three transactions based on my coupons. Just so you know, IP is internet printable and MF is Manufacturer. If you have any of these coupons, you can use them as I have shown or mix and match to make your own deals. Also, Thrifty and Chic has some links to coupons that match the sales as well. Click picture to enlarge. Have fun shopping!

Fashion Bug $10 off of $50

$10 off $50 offer valid online only until 10:59 P.M. PT on 11/5/08. Use code 776248205 at checkout. Fashion Bug currently has a 40 to 50% off sale going on right now. Could be a good opportunity to buy Christmas presents.

SAVE $1.00 on any SYLVANIA Energy Star Light Bulb

Save $1 on any Sylvania Energy Star Light Bulb (printable coupon) and get a free grocery tote with purchase (MIR).

New Printables!

Check out the new printables at Fiddledeedee! There are some great ones. A few will be great for triple coupon weekend coming up at Harris Teeter. My H. T. doubles/triples printables, some do not.