this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

So far I've spent $163.21 at the grocery store this month, which is almost $2 under my new budget of $55/week. I've only spent about $5 on non-food items so far, so I'm hoping to end up quite a bit under this month, and looking at the grocery ads for next week, I think I can do it.

This week various products were on sale 5/$7 (you had to buy five to get the promotional price), I paired that up with a coupon, so I got some cereal, oatmeal and syrup (yes, more cereal) for $1.20 each. I also picked up some grapes, some of which I'll be throwing in the freezer.

And now for the tips.

I've been running low on cream of chicken soup, so I've been checking the ads for a sale. I didn't find one, but did check the price of them last week while I was at the store. And wow, they were on sale! Not quite the stock up price from last October (50 cents) But at $0.54, it was pretty darn close. I would have never known had I not just checked. It was not advertised in the weekly ad. So, tip #1 is randomly check prices on items you usually stock up on so you can take advantage of an unadvertised sale.

On my list this week was ketchup, I went straight for the massively large bottle because Bug really like ketchup. I took note of the unit price because I'm a smart shopper (or at least pretend to be) and then noticed that the next smaller size was actually a better deal. I thought that odd, since usually that's not the case, and luckily checked the smallest size just in case. Guess what? It was on sale and by far the best deal. I grabbed a few. So, tip #2 is check the unit price on all the sizes, especially if there is a sale on one of them. That said, don't buy more than you need! If you don't have a three year old who practically inhales ketchup, don't buy the big huge bottle even if it's a great deal.