Monday, August 27, 2012

$20 Challenge--Week 1

For the fun of it (and to see if I have enough self-control) I have put myself on a $20 challenge.  That means I get $20 each week to spend on groceries.  I want to see how much stuff I can get for just $20.
Keep in mind, I am not making meals here.  I coupon and so I buy large quantities (stockpile) of things when they are a smokin' deal.  Which means I already have food in my freezer and pantry for my meals for the next month or so.  This has allowed me over the last year to simply look for the best deals and then put those things together for meals in later months.
So, no, we are not eating hand soap this week...

What I got:
4 boxes Fiber One Brownies
5 boxes Fiber One Granola Bars (delicious!)
2 Viola Birds Eye Frozen Meals (FREE)
2 containers of raspberries
2 half gallon milks (I already have some in my freezer)
1 loaf bread
1 package baby wipes
2 small bottles dish soap (FREE)
2 bottles hand soap (FREE)
2 packages feminine pads (FREE)
2 bottles Ken's salad dressing
1 package cupcake liners (FREE)
3 bags mozzarella cheese
2 boxes Yoplait Gogurts
3 bottles hand soap (FREE)
4.5 lbs bananas
4 lbs. grapes
4 cobs of corn
1 head lettuce

Total Spent:  $24.42
Earned a $3 off coupon for my next purchase
Saved (Coupons and Sales): $96.33

I went a tad bit over this week, hopefully I will make up for it in subsequent weeks.  I got some good stuff that we need for upcoming meals (produce and cheese) and got some things that we will probably end up donating (hand soap).
I'm going to try to keep this up until the end of October.  I may cave around Halloween though since I will need to get candy for tricker-treaters and the like.
All in all, I think I am off to a good start. :)

2 comments:

  1. How do you do that? I shopped today and used a ton of coupons. I got a $5.00 Target card and earned a $10 Mastercard, and I got about $30 off just in coupons between the two stores, but I still spent a lot more than $20. You are just awesome.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Joy! I think saving $45 is great savings, especially if they were things you needed! For me, this was a particularly good week where sales and coupons matched up very well. I could write a whole post on "how I do it", which I will if you would really be interested. It started off slow because I had to switch from buying for that weeks meals and a few things for food storage to a mentality of getting a lot of things that are the best deals and putting the meals together later. So if pasta sauce is a good deal this week and not pasta, no sweat. I also have limits of how much I spend on certain things (i.e. I never spend money on toothpaste.) Maybe if we move to the midwest and we have similar stores we can be coupon buddies! (I totally want a coupon buddy. :)) Let me know if you really are interested in my shopping mentality and I will spill my guts! Love ya!

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