Albertsons Has Been So Good to Me

Look at all the stuff I got for $50 on Friday at Albertsons:


My total bill was $50.74, and my savings on that grocery bill was $44.36. I cut it almost in half!

Some of the bargain highlights of this particular shopping excursion:

• 5 cases (12-pk) of Dr Pepper for $11.88
• 3 pounds ground beef for $6.07 (3 meals worth for us)
  
• pork tenderloin for $5.99 (meat for another meal)
  
• 8 oz bag John Soules fajita chicken (also 2 meals for us)
• Gain detergent for $3.99 (on sale for $4.99, used a $.50 off coupon, Albertsons doubles it to $1 off)
• Nature Valley granola bars and Fiber 1 bars for $1.50 per box. (also using 2 $.50 off coupons that were each doubled)
  
• For $2.53, I got 2 boxes of Cap'n Crunch cereal, 2 cartons of Quaker oats, and Quaker breakfast oatmeal squares.

Yep, you heard me right on that last one! Want to know how?? There have been a number of Quaker items on sale with this promotion - 5 for 8.88 or 5 for 9.88. If you bought five of these items, they gave you an automatic $3 discount. (These were listed on the back side of the outer ad page for my local store - the ad that runs through tomorrow.) I chose four from the first category and one for the second category (you can always mix and match with these kinds of sales at Albertsons), which meant that I got those five Quaker products I listed for $6.08. This won't make sense if you're not looking at the same ad, but maybe it will be helpful to people in my area. I then used a coupon for $1 off 2 Quaker oats and then I used 2 $.50 off coupons on the cereals, which were automatically doubled by my good friend Albertsons. That brought my total down to $3.08. However, I used another $.55 off coupon for the oatmeal breakfast squares. Ta-da! Bringing my grand total on those five items to $2.53. I used a couple other coupons for sale items...Hunts tomatoes, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray, and took advantage of some great sale prices on a few other items. But WOW, that was one of the best savings I've had yet on groceries! Couldn't wait to share!

You, Too, Can Save Lots of Money on Groceries!

Several people have asked me what I've been doing to cut our grocery bill so much over the last 8 months, so it's time I finally organize and verbalize my "system." Hope this is helpful to some of you!

First of all, let me start off by saying that the main reason that I'm saving money is because I'm being intentional about saving money. I've followed a lot of money-saving systems, plans, and advice in this area before, and it got me nowhere. It was because my heart was somewhere else. I wasn't trying to do it because I felt this conviction from the Lord to be careful about my spending, save a lot more so that I can give a lot more, and that waste was a sin. I tried several times before, and it just didn't work. I wasn't disciplined enough. And I wasn't surrendered enough. I'm just saying this now, not to convince you to have the same convictions, but to tell you that if it's not a wholehearted, focused effort driving your changes in spending, then the following things I share will be a waste of time. If you're a spender and you don't deal with that issue at its root in your heart, you will always find ways to keep spending. You will probably have a hard time with these things, because it's not the strategies that will be your biggest help, it's the perspective-shift on waste/careless spending/laziness vs. financial responsibility/wisdom that will change things for you and your family. That was my experience, at least. I've had a lifestyle change that has led me to have an overall desire to save as much money as I can on my grocery bill and to not spend money on stupid things. I can write some other time about all of my issues with careless spending and why I've been striving to change that. But that's not the point of this particularly post. Anyway, to sum up this paragraph, you have to be seriously goal-oriented in this area in order to have real money-saving success. You need to somehow start looking at your shopping experiences as opportunities to prove how wise you are with your money. Your main question should be, "How can I best meet my family's needs (and other needs I'm called to help meet) while spending the least amount of money?"

Now. With that being said, the following are my main nuggets of advice for optimizing your money-saving potential with grocery shopping. There are plenty more that I haven't taken advantage of yet or may not know about, but here's what I do know:

1.) If you want to save money, you HAVE to shop at Wal-mart. I know. Few of us really like that store. But if you shop Brookshires (one of our local grocery stores here) instead because it's prettier and you don't enjoy going to Wal-mart, don't tell me you want to save money. I won't believe you. Why is Walmart such a money-saving jewel? Top reason: Price comparisons. For those who do not know, Walmart's policy is to match competitor's prices on everything in the store. So, here's what you do: every week on Tuesdays, you will receive your local grocery stores' weekly ads in your mailbox. You will "shop" each of those store's sales but you will get to take advantage of all the different stores' sale prices and just make one trip to Walmart to purchase everything there. If there are things in the Albertsons or Brookshires ad that are a great price and cheaper than what Walmart's price is, then you purchase those items at Walmart and show them the ad from the other stores. The cashier will charge you the other store's price instead of theirs. Easy. Simple. Doable. For some reason, everyone who starts this thinks that they might be the only person who does this. I was all nervous the first time, thinking how is this going to work? The kind people at Walmart have been doing this for years. You're not the first. They ALL know their store's policy, and I promise you, you won't be weird for asking them to do price comps for you. It's their pleasure. (Side note: Walmart is able to do this because they save a ton in advertising money because they don't send out weekly ads like the other stores. They don't do weekly sales. They have roll-backs that usually last for a month I think and they will periodically send out a circular advertising those.) So, each week when you are preparing your grocery list, your first step is to search the weekly ads for sales. (FYI...I've switched to a weekly budget for groceries, which I've found works so much better for me, and I get cash out for groceries every Sunday. So I do my weekly shopping trip every Sunday or Monday. That gives me at least five days, from the time I get my ads until I go shopping, to prepare my list and get it super precise. Just a tip I want to share. Having that many days to prepare saves me a lot! The more prep you do BEFORE going to the store is what will bring you the most savings.

2.) If you want to save money, you will plan your meals around what's on sale. For example, if chicken breasts are on sale somewhere, then well, we're going to eat more chicken meals that week. Let your weekly ads drive your meal-planning rather than let your meal-planning dictate your shopping list. I'm not suggesting this should be absolute. Sometimes I have in mind some other meals I'd like to make, so I watch weekly ads for sales for a few weeks, picking up different items for those recipes as they go on sale. Obviously, sometimes I make them even when most of the items aren't on sale, but I am adamant, in those circumstances, that I do NOT go over-budget for the week. So, with the meals I choose to make before seeing the ads, I weigh the costs of our other needed items that week to make sure it will work. I NEVER just buy what I want anymore without planning a way to make it work within the budget. Remember, if you think of it as a competition with yourself to get the most savings possible, then you're always thinking about ways to save and you'll do great with this. Oh, one thing I discovered really recently that I think will help add to savings is a website called Super Cook. It will give you recipes for those random ingredients and food items you have in your house, making what you have stretch as far as possible before having to go to the store. I'm loving this website!

3.) If you want to save money, you will want to take advantage of great coupon savings too. Couponing is an area that I've tried in the past with little savings success. I think I know why now. Let me first give you some examples of why people say they don't like to use coupons. And know that I've said them all before. "It always seems like the store brand is cheaper than the name-brand item with the discount." Not always. Especially not when the name-brand item is advertised in a weekly ad as being on sale. To sum up my main form of saving money: it's a combination of using weekly sales and coupons in whatever ways will bring me the most savings that week. What really gets me excited is when I can do both at the same time, on the same item. And you'd be surprised how often that works out! Then a name-brand item ends up being cheaper than the store-brand. "When I use coupons, it seems I end up buying more things than I really need, just because I have a coupon." Well, you just need to get smarter, then. =) Seriously, that's something you can help. Use common sense and discipline. Learn to tell yourself no when you need to. Here's one thing that will probably help. I once read in an Ellie Kay book that people who sort their coupons by discount save more money than those who sort them by expiration date. And that has made a HUGE difference for me this time around in using coupons! I clip a lot of coupons, more than a lot of people will want or need to. Since I have a more extensive coupon collection, it requires a more advanced organizational system. It would take me FOREVER to look through my coupons each week to find what I need, so I use an excel spreadsheet instead. This will only save you time if you save as many coupons as I do. Most people should not do it this way! It will be too complicated. But as for what I do, I log them in my spreadsheet, color code them by type or category of the item (ex. bread, frozen, snacks, etc), and mark them off when I use them. I include the price, not the expiration date, on the spreadsheet, and I sort it where the highest discounts are at the top of the page. This way, when I'm making my list using my ads for the week and I want to see if I have a coupon for an item I need, then I can see it quickly on my spreadsheet and I get to the better coupons first. I never look through my coupons first to help determine what goes on my shopping list. And I never use a coupon just to use it. About once a month, I go through my coupons and throw out the expired ones. And here's where my mindset is different than it used to be: I get excited to throw away expired coupons I didn't use! It means I refrained from buying something I obviously didn't need! That's SUCCESS. The only reason to be sad about throwing away an expired coupon would be if I know I bought that item anyway and didn't use the coupon. That would mean I had been lazy in my preparation and planning. And guess what, that just doesn't happen anymore! Only a few times in the last 8 months I've been doing this have I forgotten to plan and had to run to the store last-minute and just buy whatever I had to. Sometimes crazy life circumstances will necessitate that. But those times have to be VERY rare for you to save money. (Side note: Stopping those quick last-minute runs to the store for an item or two I forgot has been my main money saver. I was really bad about that. My lack of planning meant I would just run to the closest store to be quick since I was only getting one or a few things, and it just so happens that those were to the more expensive grocery stores here. Planning is crucial.)
**A few of my favorite coupon sources:
1.) I get a Dallas Morning News every Sunday to cut out coupons.
2.)www.printablecoupons.blogspot.com (My favorite one! The second page of the grocery category on that website is where I've found some of my best coupon savings.)
3.)Check out the bargain links on the right side of my blog for more coupon websites. A friend of mine from college, Lori, is The Bargain Shopper Lady, and she has been one of my main motivators. She'll help you out in a lot of ways...Check out her site, if you aren't familiar with it!
4.) Always do a google search for coupons for a particular item on your list before going to the store. There are a LOT of coupons out there. Just use the internet to your advantage.

4.) If you want to save money, you cannot be brand-specific. There are a few items I will always be a brand-snob about. You will find certain brands of things that just work best for your family. But you have to be willing to try different things. I found that I just always bought the same brands of things out of habit. It's just what I did. I always used a certain kind of detergent, and it certainly wasn't the most expensive kind, but I didn't take advantage of sales and coupons for other brands because I just didn't think about it. I was happy with what I was using. Now, I've tried almost all the common detergents, and I've found that I really like them all the same, so I'll use whatever kind is on sale and I see no difference in quality of function. Just had to get out of the rut. Be willing to get out of your shopping ruts! This also meant, for us, that Jonah's snack foods and lunch extras did not NEED as much variety as I was giving him. I don't owe him twenty different types of things to choose from that week. If applesauce and pretzels are what's on sale that week, that is what we get. Not everything else I can imagine he might like. I'm convinced it's a good life lesson for him to learn too. =)

5.) If you want to save money, you will want to be a part of CVS' Extracare Rewards program. (Walgreens has a great system for savings too, but I can't share the specifics of it because I haven't participated in theirs yet. I'm a CVS girl all the way.) You can find out details of how the program works and how you can use their program to get the best savings possible at a blog called I Heart CVS, and it really is inspirational! I look weekly at the CVS ad for great deals on toiletries, makeup, medicines, baby care, and household items, and I've had some amazing deals there, getting a lot of things for FREE, and it has helped my grocery budget in a big way as well since I take household products out of my grocery budget. I've always gotten great deals on diapers there as well. I always use Parent's Choice diapers from walmart, but I get Huggies or Pampers for baby gifts a lot, and I find great deals on those at CVS most of the time, using the ECB program. I have a friend who has used this system to get loads of really nice beauty products for really cheap and for free, and she's put together beauty baskets for the women in her family for Christmas gifts. And this isn't just in regards to CVS, but with bargain shopping in general, there are things you should never have to pay full price for because there are such good deals on them so regularly. A few that come to mind...cereal, toothpaste, feminine products, toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning products, and more. To save money, you must be willing to wait for the good deals that come around regularly. To keep from getting stuck in a bind without something you need, you must plan ahead.

Closing thoughts: This gets EASIER over time! It really does. What seems overwhelming and complicated before you start seems so easy within just a few weeks. If you approach grocery shopping with the goal to save and you do your part, you'll see results quickly. It's just not hard to do; there is SO much savings out there to be found all the time! It doesn't take long for bargain-shopping to become your new mindset. Really, I was the LAST person in the world likely to be good at this. It's soooo not my nature. I'm way less detail-oriented than this. But things have changed for me, and I'm seeing my friends' lives change too! Recently, a friend was sharing her disappointment in not having money to spend on clothes and how pregnancy body changes were necessitating some shopping. I told her I could save her enough that week in her grocery bill for her to buy a new outfit. I already knew what she was spending weekly on groceries and her family needs weren't all that different from mine, so it would be easy. She met with me, we came up with a list and a plan, and she spent $25 less on her first try. The next week, she called me and had saved $30. And the next week brought even more savings. By week three, she was hooked. And she keeps growing in her savings. She had been going about $50 over her budget every week prior to this. Now she saves $200 a month just doing these few "tricks." And I can tell she's going to save even more. These stories are so fun for me to know about! Mine is very similar, and I am so thankful for the freedom that has come from this. I just want to keep getting better and better at saving money! I have some new goals in it for this year. And if anyone would like some more personalized help in getting started with this, I could be available for consultation for a small fee. Or for a baby-sitting exchange. Or for some really cute little gift. =)

(By the way, I didn't even share the major savings I've started having at Albertsons. If you have one conveniently located near you, you'll want to take advantage of shopping their three-day sales and other amazing promotions they do regularly. Since this has gotten so long already and lots of you probably don't have one near you, I won't write the details on here. But if you want to know more, please let me know!! Albertsons is regularly-priced so high, but there are some great ways to save money at that store.)

New Addiction

Sorry for the lack of postings this week. I had written a really long post one night and realized it was really late so I had better wait to publish until the next morning when I would be able to tell if it made any sense or not. I don't know if anyone else has to do that, but I just can't rely on my usage of the English language at certain times of the night. Upon re-reading it the next morning, I realized how very boring it was. I wrote it and I thought it was boring, so I'm sure you would have thought the same. I was writing about my new addiction as of the last week or so: grocery coupons! I have learned a few new "tricks" recently about saving money on the grocery bill, and while I've tried using coupons before in an effort to save money on groceries, I have never been that successful. I'm realizing what all I had done wrong. I'm learning about new savings opportunities and resources, and I'm just having a blast with it. Two weeks ago, I was completely overwhelmed by the prospect of implementing some of these money-saving strategies, not thinking it was possible to do it well at this stage of my life. It takes too much time, I thought! I'm already not very skilled with time-efficiency. But it's a miracle! I'm doing it! I'm really doing it! And while I'm an amateur and have just begun, I've already seen incredible savings on my grocery bill. And that is such a thrill. I was telling friends, it's like working out...once you start seeing some results from your fitness efforts, it becomes so much easier to make time to go to the gym. Similarly, I have found plenty of time to plan and prepare for these grocery trips, and the savings I'm seeing just drives me to save more and more! It's like I've been in competition with myself all this week, trying to get better and better at this. And if I were completely honest...a competition with my mother too! She's queen of this, and I'd like to find one great deal or bargain...just ONE....that she doesn't already know about! That will be quite a challenge. So, that's what's been occupying much of my brain these last couple of weeks. I decided this time to spare you all the details of what these strategies actually are, but trust me, if you're interested, you can let me know and I'll be happy to share! Because it's exciting to me! And if I can have success in this area (with my struggles in the areas of organization, time management, details-orientation, productivity, and being the most physically tired this week than I can remember), anyone can!

And for those of you who have been asking to see nursery pictures, well...it's still not ready. But I'll give you some sneak peaks. I'm waiting on the rest of the bedding for the daybed (someone is making it and should have it ready pretty soon), some baskets to go under the crib for storage (because right now it just looks junky with all this stuff thrown under there), and I have one whole wall that is empty. I have a few ideas for the wall but haven't decided exactly what I want, but I think it won't be decorated until long after she's here because that wall might include pictures of her. But anyway, here's what the bedding looks like:



And my sweet friend Ame hung Parker's letters on the wall this week for me. I can't explain it, but it seemed too overwhelming of a task for me. God bless her servant's heart! She's great at making stuff like that look pretty. Much prettier than I could do, that's for sure!

And here's a glimpse of some of the fabric for the daybed:

It's been fun this week hearing of exciting news from a couple of friends: Alissa and Angela. I'm thrilled for them that God is adding new life to these families. Girls, I'm praying!

Missin' Cousins

We had such a great time with my brother and his family here, as always. Nathan seems so grown up to me, even since he was here in July, and Maggie and Jonah have really started to play well together. They're only five months apart, but it's only been since about four months ago that they really even paid much attention to the other one! Now they're buds. We celebrated Joel's 32nd birthday, went to a spray park with the kids, my parents took them to a circus, we went swimming at the pool, and just hung out tons over at Gigi's and Papa T's house. Blake captured Jonah's heart by reading him lots of books. Apparently, that's all it takes to be his favorite....nothing like feeding him, providing for him, etc. - Just read to him! Anyway, it was a big weekend, and we are going to miss those guys until we see them again at Christmas.







Last night was the big consignment sale, and it did not disappoint. At first, I was thinking it wasn't as great this time, as I couldn't find several items on my list of things I was hoping to find. But a big objective was 2T fall and winter clothes, and it didn't seem like much, but then I went through all my stuff and realized how much I got for Jonah - A LOT - and how little I paid. The average amount I paid for an item for him was 2 DOLLARS!!!! It was amazing. And it's really a fun night, for social reasons too. Ame and I went to Starbucks after our shopping, and we had a great time talking. I'm so blessed that God is really providing sweet girlfriends here....friendships that are really fun but also have lots of depth. Ame and I came up with a big plan to get together once a month to do meal-planning, grocery lists, share recipes, and find good deals on groceries....we are both needing some new energy in this area of domestication, and the accountability to be wise in these things will be a really great thing! We're also going to do some meal-swapping too. This should be good.

Garage Sale Treasure

Just so you know....I've turned into one of those people. For the last several weeks, I've not been able to stop myself from going to garage sales on Friday and Saturday mornings. I LOVE it. Here's a picture of last week's fun find/re-do. At first the tray looked like this:

And I'm sorry if you own a poinsettia tray. I, however, did not want a poinsettia tray. So here is what I did with it:

I think it may end up on my coffee table, I'm not sure yet. But, I love it. And go ahead and ask me how much it cost. 50 cents! Yeah, that's right.

My nephew Nathan is in Tyler for a week, and he's staying over at my parents'. It's been really fun seeing him. I am going to be one sad aunt in September when Nathan turns FIVE years old. Five is old. I'm sad. Anyway, Jonah ADORES his big cousin, and they have played so hard. We will be having Nathan over and going over to my parents' a lot in the next week, spending as much time with him as possible. Last night, my parents kept both boys, and I got in a crazy productive mood. I decided to repaint my kitchen. I've been planning to do it ever since I first painted it and it came out a horribly wrong yellow color. I didn't actually get home with the paint until almost 10:00 and spent the next several hours working on this transformation. Ok, I really doubt you'll be able to tell any difference in this picture. You may not even be able to tell a difference in person! But trust me, there is a difference! Subtle. But it's there. Here's the before, if you recall:


And FINALLY.....not so bright. It's a darker gold color:



So that's what I've been up to so far this weekend. Hope everyone is enjoying theirs!

Busy week

There is one week that all mothers in Tyler seem to live for. It is the big event that draws together so many different women and connects moms who would otherwise have nothing or very little in common. This is a very social town (sometimes in a bad way, sometimes not), but I believe this to be one of the top-rated social events going on here. Excitement has been brewing for months, and it's the most common discussion topic in any playgroup or circle of moms. I could feel the tension of anticipation everywhere this week, as the event got closer and closer. I had decided in my mind not to participate in the emotional contagion that accompanied this event, convinced that the women's enthusiasm was probably unmerited or at least excessive. The whole thing seemed a little borderline occult-ish, to me. Just kidding about that last part, but it is a BIG deal here. It's this huge, three-day children's consignment sale that sells brand-name kids' clothing, toys, items, maternity clothes, furniture, and home-decorative items. EVERYONE goes. No joke. If you sell items or volunteer to work at the sale, you get to attend a special preview sale, and I went on Wednesday night to that. I wasn't kidding about it being a social event. We met up, shopped, and hung out afterwards at IHOP until midnight. It was all anyone had been talking about for weeks, so I was preparing myself all this week to expect that it's probably not as great or fun as anyone says. I went into self-protective mode, wanting to guard against disappointment. Oh my goodness. You wouldn't believe how fun it was. I way underestimated how much good stuff I'd find. And yes, I spent too much money on stuff I didn't really need right now. At least now I know to budget for it every year, like so many friends here do. So, yep....I've been sucked in. My new obsession is this consignment sale (check it out - www.cccsale.com), and I'm already getting excited for the next one in September. Even if you live a few hours away, you should consider coming to this sale. You could stay with me! It's SO great. I found some clothes and shoes for Jonah, although maybe not quite as much as I'd hoped for in the size he's wearing right now. Also, I wasn't looking for baby items, but I found things that I know I'd want to have for a next baby whenever I do get pregnant again (Lord-willing), so I got a Moses basket that's so cute... and a Baby Bjorn for $15. Yes, that's right. I said $15!!! It's in perfect shape. I was thrilled. The Moses basket was my biggest splurge there (still way cheaper than in the stores), I hesitated since it's not really a necessity. My friend Kate was supposed to tell me that I didn't need it. She failed me. I went home with it. Joel didn't really understand that purchase.

Jonah got a new DVD and just one toy, because I've been trying to figure out how to get rid of some of the toys in our playroom. Somehow there's just too much. So I didn't let myself linger in the toy area for long, but I couldn't pass up this one toy - the Elefun game, where the elephant blows butterflies out of his trunk and you catch them with your net. Jonah was so excited about it, although he has yet to catch any of them in his net. He just gets really excited, almost deliriously so, yelling out the colors of the butterflies that shoot out. And then says "more! more!" each time we're done.

Speaking of my little man.....he's still so funny and getting even funnier by the day. One of his favorite mealtime choices is cheese-toast. Well, I made him some toast with strawberry jelly on it one day for breakfast, and he got really happy and said, "red cheese-toast!" I tried to explain that it didn't have cheese on it, but he had made up his mind that that's what he'd call it, and he's said it so many times since. His most common statement over the last three or four weeks has been the single-word "nnn-nere" which translated, means, "in there," (but also refers to "out there," "over there," and "through there") and has all of a sudden been replaced by multi-word phrases and entire sentences. I still can't believe how fast their speech develops once you hit a certain point! One morning this week, we got him out of bed and brought him into our bed for a few minutes before we got up for the day, and he said very clearly, "Daddy in there, on the bed" as we got into bed. As of this week, he rarely leaves out a part of speech. Prepositions and all. It's just funny, because my mom has talked a lot about how teaching kindergarten, she saw that every kid seemed to have a certain natural aptitude in an area of learning, either more skilled in language or in the math & sciences. So we've really seen this week where Jonah is probably going to be a language-boy. Some of the biggest enjoyment I have as a parent (and it was my favorite part of nannying too) is the process of trying to teach my child and watching him learn new things and especially getting to have little discoveries of the natural abilities and gifts God has given him. I think it will be most gratifying, exhilarating even, to see how he grows up to use those skills to influence his world and what God has created him to do. He's just seemed a lot older to me this week. I feel like he's not a baby anymore, and as fun as it is in a lot of ways, my heart is a little sad, realizing how fast he's changing and growing up. Just today, we had a big-boy moment that almost brought me to tears. We were in the car and Jonah was letting me know his nose was running, but since I was driving, I just handed him a Kleenex, and he wiped his own nose. HE WIPED HIS OWN NOSE! I thought, "he's not supposed to be doing that!" It seemed like such a grown-up thing to do. I think this mom is going to have a break-down the week of his 2-year birthday. I'll start praying now about having peace with this growing-up thing!

Tomorrow, we will be spending most of the day with family. My great-aunt and great-uncle from Gig Harbor, WA will be in town, and so aunts, uncle, and cousins are coming too, and we are all having lunch over at my mom's. I'm excited!