Challenge: To trim down the grocery bills by at least 33%

According to the US Department of Labor, the average American family of four spends $8,513 per year on groceries. This statistic breaks down to $177 per person a month. My family is not the traditional nuclear family. In addition to me and my husband, we have four children -- three teenagers, a two-year-old, and a mother-in-law. Applying the above figures, our grocery bill for a family of seven should approximate to $1239 per month. And astonishingly, it has regularly fluctuated in the range of $1000- $1300. My goal is to trim this monthly pile of receipts down to $830,(including diapers, wipes, hygiene products, and restaurant bills) if not less. Being able to frugally feed my nutrition-conscious husband and appease the voracious appetites of my teenagers will be my main challenge!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Tomorrow's the last Hallmark special day

Stop and Shop's special coupon for $5 off a purchase of 3 Hallmark cards will be ending May 12th.  If you haven't had a chance to buy some nice cards, you still have until then.  I purchased three more today and 2 Gerber Pre-K snack containers (apple wagon wheels).  The snacks cost $2.19 each, but if you purchased 2, a thank-you coupon for $1.50 would print out.  The register total was for $7.35, I applied a $5 coupon from a previous card purchase and ended up paying $2.35, with a $1.50 coupon back for my next purchase, my real total was 85 cents for otherwise expensive finger food, which is great for teething toddlers.  (There is also a deal that if you purchase 5 of these Gerber snacks, you get one for free, but I didn't have any coupons to match it, so only bought 2).

Concerning the register coupons, I always check and confirm that I received the coupon among the receipt and other items printed out.  Today it happened that I did not receive the $1.50, so I needed to go up to customer service and ask them for it.  Generally when this happens, I receive cash.  My husband would be utterly embarrassed to see me have to do this, but it was something I was counting on and I otherwise would not have bought the baby snacks at that price.

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