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!

Monday, August 1, 2011

Price Chopper Deals This Week

Price Chopper boasts an amazing "Earn an additional $1.10 off per gallon of gas" this week in their flyer.  In order to achieve that, you need to purchase a dozen rose bouquet, among other things.  I am not too keen on spending $20 for 8 Kellogg's products (namely sugary cookies and cereal, even though my kids would love it) just to save 20 cents a gallon.  However, their "Spend $25 or more on any unilever products in a single transaction, get 30 cents off per gallon" sounds achieveable, plus Unilever will donate $3 to the MDA with every qualifying $25 purchase.

By matching the Sunday flyer coupons with the store sales, buying the Dove Shampoo for $3 will also get me a free Dove Treatment.  Dove Men+ Care Body and Face Wash is on sale for $3.99, plus I can use a coupon of $1 off in the Sunday paper.  Buying the Dove Ultimate Women's deodorant for $3 will also get me a free Dove Men+ Care deodorant.  The Degree Women's invisible deodorant is only $2, plus I can use a coupon of $1 off from the Sunday paper.  Add to this a few jars of Ragu sauce at 3/$5 (I have a $1 coupon clipped somewhere in my purse), two bottles of WishBone salad dressing at 2/$3 (I have a $1 coupon clipped somewhere in my purse), and two cartons of Breyers ice cream at $3 each, and I have my total of $25.99. 

After deducting my coupon total of $4, plus possibly another dollar if I can find my Breyer's coupon from long ago, and maybe another dollar from one more Ragu coupon, I will have spent $22 and have 30 cents off per gallon on my next fill-up.  For my guzzler, that equates to $5.40, which knocks down that $22 to $16.60 for all of those items, plus the free Dove Treatment and Dove Men's deodorant.  Not free, but not too bad, especially if ice cream is involved in the deal.

Check out that flyer.  There are a bunch of other grocery items that can be selected, like Lipton tea, Knorr pasta sides, Country Crock tubs.  I only chose more of the non-grocery items because I had matching coupons.  Have fun!

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