Parents Blogs The Thrifty Frugal Mom Weekly Spending Summary (10/21-10/27)

Weekly Spending Summary (10/21-10/27)

November 1, 2012 at 7:25 am , by

Favorite deals this week:

  • Free hand soap
  • Inexpensive Cabot cheese ($2.12/lb.)
  • Getting 25 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken thighs for a great price

Total Spent: $72.90
Total Saved with Coupons: $30.14
Total Saved with Sales: $40.20
Total Saved: $70.34

CVS: $0 (gift card)
Saved with Coupons: $13.75
Saved with Sales: $3.98

All that I bought was either free or a moneymaker after coupons and sales.  Love that!

Bought:

  • St. Joseph Aspirin $5.00
  • Di-Gel $5.00
  • 3 Hallmark Greeting Cards $0.99 each
  • CVS Brand Toothbrush

Coupons Used:

  • $2.25 St. Joseph coupon from Sunday newspaper coupon inserts
  • $2.00 Di-Gel coupon from Sunday newspaper coupon inserts
  • $2.00 Hallmark printable coupon from Facebook page
  • $1.00 CVS coupon from Red Coupon Machine in store for any oral care product
  • $6.50 in Extra Bucks (CVS coupons that print at register)

Got Back:

  • $3 Extra Bucks coupons for purchasing the St. Joseph item (can use on next purchase of any item)
  • $3 Extra Bucks coupons for purchasing the Di-Gel (can use on next purchase of any item)
  • $3 Extra Bucks coupons for purchasing the Hallmark cards (can use on next purchase of any item)

Rite Aid: $0 (gift card)
Saved with Coupons: $4.00
Saved with Sales: $1.98

I loved getting soap for free…since it seems we are always needing it.  I think that I’ll be dumping it into other bottles though.  :)

Bought:

  • 2 Dial Hand Soaps $2.00 each

Coupons Used:

  • $4 in UPRewards (Rite Aid coupons that print at register for purchasing specific items)

Got Back:

  • $4 in UPRewards for purchasing the Dial hair care (can use on next purchase of any item)

Giant: $2.00
Saved with Coupons: $12.39
Saved with Sales: $2.95

I had quite a bit of grocery cash right now so I decided to use some of it to purchase this to help keep my expenses down for the month.  My out of pocket expense would have been $9 otherwise.

The cheese came to just $2.12/lb. after coupons and sales!  I typically try to stay under $2/lb. but we think Cabot cheese is some of the best and so I decided to get it even if it was a tad over my usual buy price.

Bought:

  • 4 Cabot Cheese $2.50 each
  • 2 Yoplait Simplait Yogurt $0.50 each
  • Dixie Plates $2.50
  • Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs $5.89

Coupons Used:

  • 2 Free Product Cabot Cheese coupons from manufacturer ($2.50 each)
    - got when I called about some cheese that we bought that had weird chunks in it
  • 2 $0.40 Yoplait printable coupons (doubled to $0.50 each)
  • $0.50 Dixie coupon from Sunday newspaper coupon inserts
  • Oscar Mayer Free product coupon from Facebook promotion ($5.89)

Got Back:

Glenwood Foods: $14.22

I was in the area of this bulk food/salvage store so I thought I’d stop and see what I could find.

I often purchase cheese in big bags like this since I can typically find it for less money than I can otherwise.  Since I won’t use it all immediately (goodness, if I did I think we’d be needing some Senokot!) I split it into smaller portions and freeze it.  Then I just pull it out as I need it.  Takes a little bit of extra time but for the savings it is totally worth it to me!

Bought:

  • 3 Cream Cheese $1.09 each
  • 5 lb. Mozzarella/Provolone Cheese $10.95

Yoder’s Country Market: $56.68
Saved with Sales: $31.29

I saw this store was having a meat sale and since I was getting low on chicken I thought I probably should take advantage of it.  They had boneless, skinless turkey thighs on sale for $1.49/lb. and since we actually prefer those to chicken I figured I’d get them.  Well, after traveling almost a 1/2 hour to the store I got there and found out that they were out of the turkey thighs.  I was kind of frustrated for not having called first but I just figured that it was in the middle of a 3 day sale and they would have it in stock.  So I decided to purchase the  boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead for $1.69/lb.- still a good price but not quite what I had been planning.

I also got about 10 lbs. of ground turkey.  As I’ve said before, we don’t care for ground turkey just by itself but mixed 50/50 with ground beef we don’t really think about it.  And it is definitely cheaper and supposed to be healthier too!

When I got home I fried up a bunch of the ground turkey and put it in the freezer.  I did various things with the chicken.  I put 10 thighs, uncooked, in the freezer.  I’ll use them for things like Herb Roasted Chicken and Homemade Shake and Bake.  And I trimmed the fat off the rest and put some of them into pints and canned them (14 pts. worth) and the rest I cooked, then chopped and froze. It was the first time I tried canning chicken and it was so incredibly easy!  A friend had canned some for me last year when I was on bed rest and I loved having it for chicken quesadillas, chicken wraps and the like.  The chopped, frozen chicken I use primarily for soups but if I think ahead and get it out in time to thaw I use it for other things too.  And of course the broth from the cooked chicken that I froze I saved and froze too.  I love having it to use in soups!

Cooking meat ahead of time is one of my favorite time saving tips.  It makes meal prep so much faster!

Bought:

  • Approx. 25 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs at $1.69/lb.
  • Approx. 10 lbs. ground turkey at $1.39/lb.

Centerville Bilk Food: $0 (used cash)

I was in the area where this store is so I figured I might as well stop by and stock up on ingredients for my granola recipe.  I got oatmeal, sunflower seeds and wheat germ.

Misc.: $0 (cash)

My mother-in-law got the sour cream for me and I paid her from my grocery cash (it was $5.99 for 5 lb.) and the organic lettuce and onions I got at our local farmer’s market and paid cash for as well.