I thought I was going to go way over my spending in April since there was so much of it at the beginning of the month so I'm really happy with how things ended. In fact, I actually bought some junk food the last couple of weeks and if I hadn't done that I wouldn't have gone over. That just tells me that I need to get back on track with the healthier eating and resist buying the expensive junk food at the stores.
My goal is to spend $300 or less on groceries and health/beauty items.
I spent $305.72. This brings my average spending so far this year to $304.81/month.
I ended up saving $34.94 in coupons towards budget items and $40 in coupons towards non-budget items. This continues with the trend of me not being able to use as many coupons as I have been in previous years, but it's still a good amount.
Showing posts with label coupon savings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label coupon savings. Show all posts
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
March Coupon Savings and Budget spending
Just a recap...what is included in the budget spending that I'm keeping track of is dog food/treats, all groceries, makeup/nail polish, and health/beauty items (excluding prescriptions). My goal is to be under $300.
Here are the numbers:
Budget
Coupon Savings: $24.31
Advertised Savings: $30.56
Spending: $322.81
Non-Budget:
Coupon Savings: $34.69
Advertised Savings: $56.52
Reward Points/Rebates: $16.62
Total Coupon savings for the month: $59
Total Advertised savings for the month: $87.08
I went over the budget again in March, but by a tad less than $23. I'm not too upset about this though because I know why it happened. I bought $23 worth of electrolyte chews and drink tabs from REI (they are the only place that carries one of the brands I wanted so I stocked up since I don't live near the store). At first I didn't think about it being a budget item but then realized that if I had been able to buy the items at a grocery store or Target/Walgreens, I would have included it in the budget. I bought a lot in order to stock up for awhile, so it's not an expense I'll have again for a couple of months. Now that I consider this a budget item, I'll be better prepared.
Roughly $36 of the spending was not on groceries, the rest was. That worries me a bit because the time will come soon when I need to buy some health/beauty items and that's going to put me over the budget really fast. I know part of the grocery spending was high because my Husband dragged me to Walmart to get some deli meat and while there he picked up snacks for himself (since I don't normally buy snacks anymore). So it was full price and rather expensive. The $36 was basically on dog food too..which is a normal expense. I'm going to stick with the $300 budget for the rest of this year though, but might have to increase it next year. We'll see.
Here are the numbers:
Budget
Coupon Savings: $24.31
Advertised Savings: $30.56
Spending: $322.81
Non-Budget:
Coupon Savings: $34.69
Advertised Savings: $56.52
Reward Points/Rebates: $16.62
Total Coupon savings for the month: $59
Total Advertised savings for the month: $87.08
I went over the budget again in March, but by a tad less than $23. I'm not too upset about this though because I know why it happened. I bought $23 worth of electrolyte chews and drink tabs from REI (they are the only place that carries one of the brands I wanted so I stocked up since I don't live near the store). At first I didn't think about it being a budget item but then realized that if I had been able to buy the items at a grocery store or Target/Walgreens, I would have included it in the budget. I bought a lot in order to stock up for awhile, so it's not an expense I'll have again for a couple of months. Now that I consider this a budget item, I'll be better prepared.
Roughly $36 of the spending was not on groceries, the rest was. That worries me a bit because the time will come soon when I need to buy some health/beauty items and that's going to put me over the budget really fast. I know part of the grocery spending was high because my Husband dragged me to Walmart to get some deli meat and while there he picked up snacks for himself (since I don't normally buy snacks anymore). So it was full price and rather expensive. The $36 was basically on dog food too..which is a normal expense. I'm going to stick with the $300 budget for the rest of this year though, but might have to increase it next year. We'll see.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Coupon Savings and Spending - February 2011
I did so much better keeping within my spending budget for February compared to January. In fact, so good that I'm on track for the year now.
Just a recap...what is included in the budget spending that I'm keeping track of is dog food/treats, all groceries, makeup/nail polish, and health/beauty items (excluding prescriptions). My goal is to be under $300.
For February I only spent $236.03! Woohoo! I'm so excited about that! It would have been higher by about $30 except that when I stopped at Target to get dogfood over the weekend, they were completely out. Either way, it would have still been in my budget. Almost all of that spending was on food and keep in mind that most of the grocery shopping is being done at Whole Foods or if at regular stores..it's still mostly on organic items.
The reason I'm so excited my spending in February was so low is that I did so bad in January! I spent $361.53 on budget items in January. However, if I average the two months I have an average of $295.35, which means I'm right on target for the year.
I saved a total of $169.21 by using coupons, although only $47.05 of the coupon savings was on budget items.
I saved a total of $55.02 in advertised sales, when known.
This gives me a total amount saved of $236.03 for the month. Not too bad!
I am keeping track of spending on clothes and shoes (including running/sports items), just for fun. I bought a new pair of running shoes this past month and a couple of running items. I spent $110.47. Still not bad when you factor in the cost of running shoes as being close to or over $100. I should be set for running shoes for most of the year too...unless I waiver and decide to go with a minimalist pair of trail shoes..which is possible.
Just a recap...what is included in the budget spending that I'm keeping track of is dog food/treats, all groceries, makeup/nail polish, and health/beauty items (excluding prescriptions). My goal is to be under $300.
For February I only spent $236.03! Woohoo! I'm so excited about that! It would have been higher by about $30 except that when I stopped at Target to get dogfood over the weekend, they were completely out. Either way, it would have still been in my budget. Almost all of that spending was on food and keep in mind that most of the grocery shopping is being done at Whole Foods or if at regular stores..it's still mostly on organic items.
The reason I'm so excited my spending in February was so low is that I did so bad in January! I spent $361.53 on budget items in January. However, if I average the two months I have an average of $295.35, which means I'm right on target for the year.
I saved a total of $169.21 by using coupons, although only $47.05 of the coupon savings was on budget items.
I saved a total of $55.02 in advertised sales, when known.
This gives me a total amount saved of $236.03 for the month. Not too bad!
I am keeping track of spending on clothes and shoes (including running/sports items), just for fun. I bought a new pair of running shoes this past month and a couple of running items. I spent $110.47. Still not bad when you factor in the cost of running shoes as being close to or over $100. I should be set for running shoes for most of the year too...unless I waiver and decide to go with a minimalist pair of trail shoes..which is possible.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Coupon savings and spending
One month is (almost) over for the new year, and already I've failed at my budget. Boy do I hope this isn't a sign for things to come.
As a reminder, my goal is to spend less than $300 on groceries, dog food, makeup, beauty and bath products, and household cleaners.
I not only failed to keep it below $300 this month, I also didn't even keep it below $330 which was my budget goal for last year. haha!
Here's how I did:
I spent $361.53, saved $67.63 in coupons, and $60.80 in advertised savings on items towards my budget.
Going over what I spent, I know that the majority of that was on groceries and I bought dog food twice this month. Early in the month Husband and I got items for several dinners that we normally only make every couple of months because we freeze it. So I know that was part of it. I also know that each time I went to Whole Foods I went on the weekend and Husband decided to come with me, and he bought meat. I'm not saying I don't want meat bought at Whole Foods, because I do, it's just that I wouldn't have bought the meat and it would have kept the spending down. I was also out of a lot of basics that we keep on hand at the beginning of the month and that caused the bills to be higher.
I am happy that very little of that spending was on health and beauty items and cleaning supplies. In fact, the only cleaning supplies bought were laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent, both of which were great prices. The health and beauty supplies bought were also at great prices or were needed (such as the bottle of store brand Ibuprofen I bought because we were out and I needed it).
Still, I was only about $62 over the goal. That's not too bad, until I remember that I also used a $75 gift card at Whole Foods. If I hadn't used that, we would have gone way over the budget!
I'm hoping next month will be better. We have plenty of ground beef, or at least I think we do, but I have no idea what Husband plans to cook next month. We have other meat too. We have lots of soups and other items in the freeze that we made in January.
As far as spending and coupon savings for items that don't count towards the budget, I did pretty good. I'm keeping track of all the savings, but only the spending on clothing and shoes. I spent $120.64 on clothing in January. Other than one coat that was discounted to $61, the rest was spent on running clothes. I should be set for winter though. No more running clothes being bought unless it's at a deal I just can't pass up. I saved $57.68 in coupons and an additional $276.14 in advertised sales. Not to bad!
When combined, here are the totals:
Total saved: $462.25
Broken down that comes to $125.31 in coupons and $336.94 in advertised sales.
Total spent (for items I'm keeping track of): $482.17
As a reminder, my goal is to spend less than $300 on groceries, dog food, makeup, beauty and bath products, and household cleaners.
I not only failed to keep it below $300 this month, I also didn't even keep it below $330 which was my budget goal for last year. haha!
Here's how I did:
I spent $361.53, saved $67.63 in coupons, and $60.80 in advertised savings on items towards my budget.
Going over what I spent, I know that the majority of that was on groceries and I bought dog food twice this month. Early in the month Husband and I got items for several dinners that we normally only make every couple of months because we freeze it. So I know that was part of it. I also know that each time I went to Whole Foods I went on the weekend and Husband decided to come with me, and he bought meat. I'm not saying I don't want meat bought at Whole Foods, because I do, it's just that I wouldn't have bought the meat and it would have kept the spending down. I was also out of a lot of basics that we keep on hand at the beginning of the month and that caused the bills to be higher.
I am happy that very little of that spending was on health and beauty items and cleaning supplies. In fact, the only cleaning supplies bought were laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent, both of which were great prices. The health and beauty supplies bought were also at great prices or were needed (such as the bottle of store brand Ibuprofen I bought because we were out and I needed it).
Still, I was only about $62 over the goal. That's not too bad, until I remember that I also used a $75 gift card at Whole Foods. If I hadn't used that, we would have gone way over the budget!
I'm hoping next month will be better. We have plenty of ground beef, or at least I think we do, but I have no idea what Husband plans to cook next month. We have other meat too. We have lots of soups and other items in the freeze that we made in January.
As far as spending and coupon savings for items that don't count towards the budget, I did pretty good. I'm keeping track of all the savings, but only the spending on clothing and shoes. I spent $120.64 on clothing in January. Other than one coat that was discounted to $61, the rest was spent on running clothes. I should be set for winter though. No more running clothes being bought unless it's at a deal I just can't pass up. I saved $57.68 in coupons and an additional $276.14 in advertised sales. Not to bad!
When combined, here are the totals:
Total saved: $462.25
Broken down that comes to $125.31 in coupons and $336.94 in advertised sales.
Total spent (for items I'm keeping track of): $482.17
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Coupon Savings and Monthly Spending - a year in review
Overview
This year I had decided to keep track of not only how much I was saving by using coupons & rebates but to also keep track of how much I saved by buying items on sale (when known). I also decided to give myself a budget and to track the spending to see if I could stay within that budget. Now, the budget was only for items spent towards food (including dog food) and health/beauty items (such as over the counter medications, lotion, body wash, etc). Husband and I charge everything (and yes we pay off the credit card every month) so the budget is more of a virtual budget than actual cash. If I went over, no big deal, but the game was in trying to stay below that number.
My monthly budget this year was $330. I came up with that number by looking at my spending for part of 2009. In June 2009 I decided to start keeping track of how much was being spent on food and health/beauty supplies and was surprised that 4 of the months I went over $400. That seemed really high for a family of 2. I thought $330/month would be a challenge yet within my grasp.
A couple things, before I show you the numbers. I track coupon savings for everything, not just those items I include in my budget. I also know that I didn't mark all the coupon savings because I forgot, usually this would pertain to restaurants and online shopping. These numbers do not include gift cards either. The advertised sale number is only from items found at grocery stores and stores such as Target, Walgreens, etc. So basically, mostly just on food and health/beauty items.
Savings
I saved $2,017.25 by using coupons and rebates. Seriously! That's a lot of $$$$ just for clipping coupons and sending in rebate submissions. Now, that is down $256.92 from last year, however, since I also changed my eating habits that meant I was using less coupons at the grocery store, so I'm ok with that.
The coupon usage isn't just limited to what I can get out of the Sunday paper. I also printed some coupons from the internet. I also used coupons at book stores, restaurants, craft stores, and clothes stores. Basically, if I'm going shopping, I'll look for a coupon before I leave the house. As you can see, the time it takes me to clip/search for coupons pays off.
I saved an additional $2,881.56 by buying things on sale. I didn't happen upon the sales either, at least not most of them, I'm one of those who looks at the ads every weekend to see what is on sale and what I have a coupon for. If I can get an item on sale and I have a coupon, that's when I buy it.
Between coupons and advertised savings, I saved a total of $4,898.81. That comes out to over $400 a month. I couldn't imagine spending an extra $400 a month on stuff! Now, I realize that on a lot of items I stockpile, so chances are I wouldn't have paid an extra $400 each month, but over time I would have spent that much.
Also, I mentioned we use a credit card for all our purchases. We do this because we get points that we then redeem for cash. In August of this year we redeemed enough points to receive a $500 check. I didn't include that with the coupon/rebate savings since I didn't think it counted towards either one.
Spending
As far as sticking to a budget, I did a lot better than expected. Remember, my goal was to spend no more than $330/month. My average spending was $286.52. I do believe I impressed myself. haha! I didn't go over $330 at all, although I came close two months ($329.57 and $323.95). What is impressive is that I had 7 months where I spent below $300.
The two months that I spent the most were during the summer and I imagine that was due to having family over for pool parties and that meant we spent more on groceries. We also had both sides over for Christmas, yet in December I spent below $300. I think that's because both sides helped out with the food.
I was thinking about how it is I was able to cut my spending down so much. Part of this was paying even more attention to sales and buying items when I could match coupons, sales, and rebates. Oh yes, there are several items I bought where I actually made money because I could match up all three. Part of this was also do to the fact that I was able to take advantage of some sales and stockpile items and therefore didn't have to buy them for the last several months (such as body wash, shampoo, contact solution, etc).
I think the most important factor, however, was being aware of what I was spending. Now that I was paying attention to what I was spending, I was a lot less likely to buy something that I wanted, but didn't need.
Next Year
I will continue to track spending and savings for 2011. It's going to be interesting to see how 2011 goes. Now that I eat more organic items, my grocery spending is going up. Now that I'm more aware of harmful chemicals in every day items, my health/beauty spending is more expensive. However, in some areas this is causing me to spend less. I don't buy as much junk food or processed foods like I used to, not even close. I think this kinda cancels out the increase of spending on groceries. I also don't use as much paper towels, cotton balls, etc as I used to, which means I spend less on those items. Keeping all this in mind, I had a tough time coming up with a new budget for 2011. However, knowing that I spent less than $300 most months in 2010, I finally decided that my budget would be $300/month. This will include groceries and dog food, and all health/beauty supplies. I believe I bought some stuff online or at specialty stores that I forgot to include in the spending budget last year (because it never dawned on me that I should), so this year I'm going to include that as well. I'm also going to include all make-up and fingernail purchased, not just those at your normal stores but also the specialty stores (where I buy most of mine). So, not only am I lowering my budget, I'm also adding things to it.
Wish me luck!
This year I had decided to keep track of not only how much I was saving by using coupons & rebates but to also keep track of how much I saved by buying items on sale (when known). I also decided to give myself a budget and to track the spending to see if I could stay within that budget. Now, the budget was only for items spent towards food (including dog food) and health/beauty items (such as over the counter medications, lotion, body wash, etc). Husband and I charge everything (and yes we pay off the credit card every month) so the budget is more of a virtual budget than actual cash. If I went over, no big deal, but the game was in trying to stay below that number.
My monthly budget this year was $330. I came up with that number by looking at my spending for part of 2009. In June 2009 I decided to start keeping track of how much was being spent on food and health/beauty supplies and was surprised that 4 of the months I went over $400. That seemed really high for a family of 2. I thought $330/month would be a challenge yet within my grasp.
A couple things, before I show you the numbers. I track coupon savings for everything, not just those items I include in my budget. I also know that I didn't mark all the coupon savings because I forgot, usually this would pertain to restaurants and online shopping. These numbers do not include gift cards either. The advertised sale number is only from items found at grocery stores and stores such as Target, Walgreens, etc. So basically, mostly just on food and health/beauty items.
Savings
I saved $2,017.25 by using coupons and rebates. Seriously! That's a lot of $$$$ just for clipping coupons and sending in rebate submissions. Now, that is down $256.92 from last year, however, since I also changed my eating habits that meant I was using less coupons at the grocery store, so I'm ok with that.
The coupon usage isn't just limited to what I can get out of the Sunday paper. I also printed some coupons from the internet. I also used coupons at book stores, restaurants, craft stores, and clothes stores. Basically, if I'm going shopping, I'll look for a coupon before I leave the house. As you can see, the time it takes me to clip/search for coupons pays off.
I saved an additional $2,881.56 by buying things on sale. I didn't happen upon the sales either, at least not most of them, I'm one of those who looks at the ads every weekend to see what is on sale and what I have a coupon for. If I can get an item on sale and I have a coupon, that's when I buy it.
Between coupons and advertised savings, I saved a total of $4,898.81. That comes out to over $400 a month. I couldn't imagine spending an extra $400 a month on stuff! Now, I realize that on a lot of items I stockpile, so chances are I wouldn't have paid an extra $400 each month, but over time I would have spent that much.
Also, I mentioned we use a credit card for all our purchases. We do this because we get points that we then redeem for cash. In August of this year we redeemed enough points to receive a $500 check. I didn't include that with the coupon/rebate savings since I didn't think it counted towards either one.
Spending
As far as sticking to a budget, I did a lot better than expected. Remember, my goal was to spend no more than $330/month. My average spending was $286.52. I do believe I impressed myself. haha! I didn't go over $330 at all, although I came close two months ($329.57 and $323.95). What is impressive is that I had 7 months where I spent below $300.
The two months that I spent the most were during the summer and I imagine that was due to having family over for pool parties and that meant we spent more on groceries. We also had both sides over for Christmas, yet in December I spent below $300. I think that's because both sides helped out with the food.
I was thinking about how it is I was able to cut my spending down so much. Part of this was paying even more attention to sales and buying items when I could match coupons, sales, and rebates. Oh yes, there are several items I bought where I actually made money because I could match up all three. Part of this was also do to the fact that I was able to take advantage of some sales and stockpile items and therefore didn't have to buy them for the last several months (such as body wash, shampoo, contact solution, etc).
I think the most important factor, however, was being aware of what I was spending. Now that I was paying attention to what I was spending, I was a lot less likely to buy something that I wanted, but didn't need.
Next Year
I will continue to track spending and savings for 2011. It's going to be interesting to see how 2011 goes. Now that I eat more organic items, my grocery spending is going up. Now that I'm more aware of harmful chemicals in every day items, my health/beauty spending is more expensive. However, in some areas this is causing me to spend less. I don't buy as much junk food or processed foods like I used to, not even close. I think this kinda cancels out the increase of spending on groceries. I also don't use as much paper towels, cotton balls, etc as I used to, which means I spend less on those items. Keeping all this in mind, I had a tough time coming up with a new budget for 2011. However, knowing that I spent less than $300 most months in 2010, I finally decided that my budget would be $300/month. This will include groceries and dog food, and all health/beauty supplies. I believe I bought some stuff online or at specialty stores that I forgot to include in the spending budget last year (because it never dawned on me that I should), so this year I'm going to include that as well. I'm also going to include all make-up and fingernail purchased, not just those at your normal stores but also the specialty stores (where I buy most of mine). So, not only am I lowering my budget, I'm also adding things to it.
Wish me luck!
Monday, December 6, 2010
Coupon Savings for November
I just realized I never created a post regarding my coupon savings and budget spending for November.
The good thing about November is that retailers are more likely to have coupons which helps with my holiday spending, er, savings.
My goal is to keep all the grocery (including dog food) and health/beauty spending under $350/month. This year I was able to keep that goal by only spending $271.57.
I ended up saving $214.58 by using coupons and an additional $93.03 in advertised savings (when known). This makes it a total of $307.61 saved for the month. I just love when the amount saved is more than the amount spent!
Only one more month for the year and it will be difficult to stay within the budget. Husband and I are hosting my family for Christmas this year, so I'll have a lot of food to buy.
Do any of you keep track of your spending? How did you do this past month?
The good thing about November is that retailers are more likely to have coupons which helps with my holiday spending, er, savings.
My goal is to keep all the grocery (including dog food) and health/beauty spending under $350/month. This year I was able to keep that goal by only spending $271.57.
I ended up saving $214.58 by using coupons and an additional $93.03 in advertised savings (when known). This makes it a total of $307.61 saved for the month. I just love when the amount saved is more than the amount spent!
Only one more month for the year and it will be difficult to stay within the budget. Husband and I are hosting my family for Christmas this year, so I'll have a lot of food to buy.
Do any of you keep track of your spending? How did you do this past month?
Friday, October 1, 2010
September Coupon Savings
September was a weird month for me, regarding coupon savings and grocery shopping etc. I thought I would end up way below by monthly goal because I wasn't doing much shopping at the drug stores, but I ended up doing a lot of extra shopping at the grocery stores and that caused me to spend more than I expected
My monthly goal is to spend no more than $330 on groceries and drug store purchases (my normal stores are CVS, Walgreens, and Target).
I ended up spending $319.33.
This is still under my goal but more than I had expected for September.
I saved $126.40 in coupons and rebates. This month that number does include two rebates that were received, the total for the rebates was $17.99. I ended up saving an additional $18.96 due to advertised savings (when known..which means at CVS and Walgreens usually).
Overall..not the best month I've had this year but I stayed below my goal and that makes me happy. I know a big reason why I didn't do as well as expected was because I was in a cake decorating class this month and that caused me to buy a lot of powdered sugar, some butter, etc. since I had to make large amounts of icing each week and baked goods.
My monthly goal is to spend no more than $330 on groceries and drug store purchases (my normal stores are CVS, Walgreens, and Target).
I ended up spending $319.33.
This is still under my goal but more than I had expected for September.
I saved $126.40 in coupons and rebates. This month that number does include two rebates that were received, the total for the rebates was $17.99. I ended up saving an additional $18.96 due to advertised savings (when known..which means at CVS and Walgreens usually).
Overall..not the best month I've had this year but I stayed below my goal and that makes me happy. I know a big reason why I didn't do as well as expected was because I was in a cake decorating class this month and that caused me to buy a lot of powdered sugar, some butter, etc. since I had to make large amounts of icing each week and baked goods.
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