Thursday, February 23, 2017

February Grocery Challenge Days 16-23... Staying the Course

I've done a pretty good job staying out of the store the last couple days due to a combination of not needing anything, working, running, and attending kid's activities. In other words, I was too busy to shop! Not a bad thing...

Thursday Feb, 16th
No spending.
Made chicken enchiladas for dinner.

Friday Feb, 17th
No spending.
Made venison stew in the crockpot for dinner. I had to work in the evening so this way the family could eat whenever they got home.

Saturday Feb. 18th
No spending.
There were no coupon inserts in the weekend paper this week so I didn't buy any papers. I ran a 10K in the morning and was starving by the time I got home. I really didn't want to cook so I was thinking about putting a frozen pizza in the oven when I got home. I was actually overjoyed to find that my daughter had already cooked a frozen pizza by the time I got home.
Days like this are exactly why I have back up frozen pizzas in the freezer!

Sunday Feb. 19th
2 gallons of milk at Aldi for $2.30.
For dinner I pan seared more chicken breasts that I had marinated in a garlic, pepper, onion, soy sauce and sugar combo. Turned out pretty tasty. Had spinach sautéed in sesame oil with a bit of garlic, onion and sesame seeds on the side. Out of chicken now.

Monday Feb. 20th
No spending from the budget.
We had our one restaurant freebie today. Took the family to India Garden for lunch. The kids had the day off for President's Day.

Tuesday Feb. 21st
18.5 lb bag of dog food from Meijer.
$9.99 + $0.70 tax = $10.69 - $5 Meijer coupon (from previous purchases) = $5.69 spent

Pasta with meatballs for dinner.

Steak'n Shake $7.16
I picked up my daughter from cheering at her last away game and she was starving. I didn't feel like making more food at 9:30pm so I buckled and bought her drive-thru.

Wednesday Feb.22nd
No spending.
Turkey burgers for dinner.

Thursday Feb 23rd
I realized that today was the last day of the Kimberly-Clark catalina deal where you could get a $5 coupon off your next purchase at whatever store the catalina printed if you bought $25 of Kimberly-Clark products. Walgreens has a sale on Scott paper towels this week. 6 rolls for $4.99 - $1.00 instant coupon. I am down to my last 2 rolls of paper towels and need some. They also have Cottonelle toilet paper 12 rolls for $4.99 - $1.00 instant coupon. So...

5 6-roll packages of Scott paper towels @ 4.99 each sale price (regularly $6.29)
2 12-roll packages of Cottonelle toilet paper @ 4.99 each sale price (regularly $6.29)
subtotal 34.93
- 7 (1.00 instant coupons)
27.93 (which kept me over the $25 threshold as instant coupons count as store discounts for the catalina)
- 2 (0.55 Scott paper towel coupons from the Kimberly-Clark website)
- 2 (0.55 Cottonelle toilet paper coupons from the Kimberly Clark website)
25.73
+2.45 tax on $34.93
$28.18
-20.00 (redeemed 18,000 Balance Rewards points)
$8.18 paid out of pocket; received $5 Register Reward catalina for my next purchase

Paid $8.18

Next stop was Meijer. Maxwell House coffee cans were on sale for $2.99 with $5 off when you buy 5 participating items. I had a whole stack of $0.75 off Maxwell House coupons because they came out the same weekend I bought 10 newspapers for the Arm & Hammer coupons. I also had 2 days left to spend $9.56 more to get another $6 off your next order mPerks coupon. So...

5 cans of Maxwell House coffee @ 2.99 each sale price (regularly $3.99)
4 Roma tomatoes @ 1.06
subtotal 16.01
- 5.00 instant savings
- 5 (0.75 Maxwell House coupons)
$7.26; earned the $6 off my next order as I got credit for spending $16.01

Paid $7.26

We're having homemade pizzas with turkey sausage, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, sweet peppers and cheese for dinner tonight.

5 more days this month! Can I make my goal of staying under $200? I'm planning to buy my newspapers at Meijer on Saturday as they have 10% off general merchandise this weekend. Also planning on stocking up on more coffee and I have to think up some more meals for the rest of the month.


February Grocery Spending: $155.35
February Donation Spending: $18.94

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