The Coupon Challenge

Hampton Roads (Virginia) Coupon Blog

Budget

January & February 2011 Grocery Tally

by Dana Zeliff on
in Budget

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

I’m WAY behind!  I didn’t get my grocery tally up for January and our February just ended on Friday.  I didn’t do too much shopping in January, so we had extra money.  LuLu just had her birthday the beginning of March, so I spent a good portion of the last weeks budget just on cake supplies, without coupons.

We have a $70 per week or $280 per month grocery budget.   Want to learn more about my family and our spending habits? Read THIS post
*I use the  free Savings Tracker to track my grocery spending

January 2011

Total Shelf Cost: $460.05
Total Savings: $295.54
Total Rebates Owed: $2.50
Savings Rate: 64.24%

Total OOP in January: $167.36 or $41.84 per week
Total Remaining from Budget: $112.64

February 2011 

Total Shelf Cost: $589.67
Total Savings: $349.91
Total Rebates Owed: $0
Savings Rate: 59.36%Total OOP in February: $239.76 or $59.94 per week
Total Remaining from Budget: $40.24

How have you done with your Grocery Budget in 2011?

2 comments

December Grocery Tally & 2010 Finals

by Dana Zeliff on
in Budget

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

My December savings is atrocious!  My shopping basically involved running in the store for holiday party items & whatever else struck my fancy that month 🙂 

December 2010

Shelf Cost: $355.21
Savings: $199.33
Total Paid: $156.18

Average per week $39.05
Total Remaining $123.82
Savings rate 56.03%

My 2010 Savings 

Total Savings: $5624.89
Rebates Submitted $193.90
$56.60 weekly spending average
Variance for year (leftover from budget) $876.78

My plans for 2011 spending:
Not slack off too much but remember to give myself coupon breaks 
Continue to add more natural & organic foods
Increase donations

How did you do in 2010?

No Comments

My 2011 Financial Goals

by Dana Zeliff on
in Budget, Uncategorized

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

I posted my personal goals for 2011 yesterday, so today I wanted to mention our financial goals for the new year.  Thankfully, our only debit going into 2011 is our mortgage!  Our plans are to save more & enjoy life as a family. 

Financial Goals:

– Save for Disney: We’re planning a family trip to Disney in either June or November.  My mom was planning to take the kids, so she’s paying for them.  Yeah! 

– “Car payment”:  My explorer is only a 2004 with 80K miles, but we’ve had a LOT of problems with it.  We’re planning to add a car payment category to the budget sometime this year.  The money will go directly into savings, so we can pay cash (I hope) for a new vehicle.  Our hope is my truck will last at least 3 more years, though.

– Ski weekend in February

– Weekend trip to mountains this summer

– Increase retirement savings

– Increase monthly payment to the principle on our mortgage

– New dishwasher

– Paint & landscape outside

– Add to general savings account

– Kids & Derrick want a dog

– Remodel kitchen (gotta dream big right 😉 )

* Derrick wants new tires for his jeep.  Since that is not a necessity (tires are good for another year or 2) he better start working some overtime!

What are your financial goals for 2011?

2 comments

November Grocery Tally

by Dana Zeliff on
in Budget

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

My savings rate is pitiful this month.  I like to see it between 70-75% or more.  I know I’ve purchased a lot of items without coupons for the holidays & kids.  That trend seems to be continuing into December.  Oh, well.  I’m still under budget for the month.  Also, Derrick bought a 1987 jeep wrangler (he didn’t have a personal vehicle), so I dropped our grocery budget to $280 from $300 to accommodate the additional insurance cost. 

Total Shelf Cost:    $ 568.94     Monthly Budget:  $         280.00
Total Coupon Savings:  $ 276.55     Variance:    $           52.42
Total Savings:    $ 341.36          
Amount Paid (after rebates):  $ 227.58     Rebates Owed:  $           10.98
Savings Rate:   60.00%     Amount Paid (exc. Rebates)  $         238.56

 

I just copied everything directly from the savings tracker this month.  See more about my families spending habits here.

My weekly average was $59.64 (not too bad)

How did you do in November?

2 comments

September Grocery Tally

by Dana Zeliff on
in Budget

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

Yes, I realize it’s already the 9th of October. September was another 5 week month for us, so my month didn’t officially end until the 6th. I have to give myself a big pat on the back. I came in $93 under budget!

A few healthy changes we made this month:

1. Kids are only drinking organic milk
2. Family mostly consuming wheat or whole grain bread

The kids are only drinking organic milk, but Derrick and I are still drinking regular milk. Since we go through 2-3 gallons of milk per week, it saves me a little money. Second, we’ve always eaten wheat bread when I could get it super cheap and store brand white bread, under $1, other times. I’m not eliminating white bread from our diets, buy I’m spending the extra money to make white bread more of an exception than the norm.

I also made 2 “extra” shopping trips this month without coupons:
Trader Joes $42.17
Sam’s Club $25.41

Now on to the good part:
We have a $75 per week or $300 per month grocery budget. I don’t allow an additional $75 during a 5 week month

Want to learn more about my family and our spending habits? Read THIS post

Total Shelf Cost: $719.93
Total Savings: $524.87
Total Rebates Owed: $11.00
Savings Rate: 72.91%

Total OOP in September: $206.06 or $42.21 per week
Total Remaining from Budget: $93.94

Have you made any changes in your budget?

1 Comment

August Grocery Tally

by Dana Zeliff on
in Budget

Disclosure: This post may contain an affiliate link.

I came in under budget again this month!  I didn’t come in as far under budget as in July, but under nonetheless.  I also went to the commissary with my MIL at the end of the month.  I spent $110.91, slightly over my intended budget.  My savings rate looks pitiful since I can’t factor in my commissary saving (other than coupons) and that was 1/3 of the monthly budget.  However, it worked out beautifully because we’ve spent less than $30 so far in September. 

We have a $75 per week or $300 per month grocery budget.  Want to learn more about my family and our spending habits? Read THIS post

Total Shelf Cost: $794.10
Total Savings: $528.12
Total Rebates Owed: $0
Savings Rate: 66.51%

Total OOP in August: $265.98
or $66.50 per week

Total Remaining from Budget: $34.02

How did you do in August?

2 comments

Categories

Join Me on Pinterest!

Best of…

:: Weight Watchers Banana Bread Recipe
:: 16 Other Uses for Listerine
:: Quick Easy Chocolate Frosting Recipe
:: Busch Gardens Williamsburg Discount Tickets
:: Yankee Candle Printable Coupons
:: Printable Snack Coupons