Week 10: How I Saved $135
Each week I share how I saved money, hoping that some of these frugal ideas could be helpful to you.
Check out the Resources Page for tons of other money saving resources!
If you’ve read other How I Saved posts, feel free to skip down to the deals.
If you’re new, here’s a little background about why I share my savings…
You’d be surprised how much money you can save when you really put your mind to it. It’s the accumulation of lots of small choices and habits that dictate the path your finances take.
The money that you save might seem meaningless in small amounts, but it truly adds up. It leaves more money in your bank account that you can use to pay off debt, save for the future, or do more of what you enjoy.
I absolutely love saving money and wanted to start sharing how I save each week. Not to show off, but to hopefully demonstrate different ways to save and maybe inspire you to want to do the same.
I strive to save on groceries, eating out, clothes, gifts, gasoline, etc. You name it, and I want to save money on it.
My main motivation for saving money is to pay off our mortgage in the next 2-3 years. Every dollar saved is in honor of that goal.
We’ve paid off thousands of dollars in debt over the past couple years. Wouldn’t it feel so awesome to be completely debt free? And get to keep most of your paycheck instead of immediately sending it away to pay bills? I think so.
I thought I’d share how much I save each week by using my favorite savings formula: combining sales and coupons. Or whatever other ways I come up with to be frugal. Hopefully some of these methods can be applied to your life.
You can get caught up and read the rest of the How I Saved posts here.
Related: Flat out broke? Try these 5 tips.
Here are my savings for Week 10 – March 5-11
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Grocery Savings:
This is the easiest way to save money. Each week, plan your shopping trip(s) based on what’s on sale. Then combine those sales with matching coupons to get the most bang for your buck. I always aim for at least 50% savings.
Related: Use one of these 5 easy meal planning strategies to make the most of your grocery budget.
I use coupon matchup sites to plan my deals. My favorites are Kroger Krazy, Meijer Madness, and Bargains to Bounty. They make it so easy by spelling out exactly what the sale items are, and which coupons to use. Such a couponing time saver!
The absolute best place to print coupons is coupons.com. It’s where I get all my printable coupons.
Here are the deals!
Meijer Shopping Trip:
Last time I was at Meijer, a coupon printed at the register for $5 off a $50 Meijer gift card. That’s like getting a 10% savings off my purchase, on top of the other deals. I stopped at the self-checkout and bought the gift card before I shopped, so I could use it when I paid.
Here are some example of other deals I found.
I had a manufacturer coupon (that came with the newspaper) for a free Area cream cheese. I’m getting quite the cream cheese collection!
There was a printable coupon available for a free Chobani yogurt. I was able to print 3 of them, using different email addresses. I found out about the coupon from the Kroger Krazy website. The coupon states only one coupon per visit, so I used one at Meijer and one at Kroger, and will use one next week.
I had 2 coupons for $1 off any Wet’n’Wild product that came in the Val-pak envelope that comes in the mail. I looked for items that were $1 or less, and I got 2 makeup brushes for free!
There were printable coupons from coupons.com for $1.50 off Chunky Maxx soup (isn’t that name hilarious?). Meijer has them priced at $2 each, making them only 50 cents each. These are perfect for my husband’s lunches.
I used a $3 off any Bic disposable razors coupon that came in the newspaper inserts. The Silky Touch razors are priced at $2.99, making them completely free.
Meijer also had their brand vitamins on sale buy one, get one free, so I stocked up on probiotics, Vitamin C, and multivitamins.
Amount Saved: $68.88 (including $5 savings from gift card purchase)
Amount Spent: $40.46 (the vitamins do add up, but it’s better than full price)
Percentage Saved: 63%
Kroger Shopping Trip:
They had my favorite Kroger-shopping scenario going on: a Mega Event! During Mega Event sales, they have totally awesome prices on certain items, as long as you buy a specific number of items. The signs will let you know how many participating sale items you need to buy.
Here are some of my favorite deals (buckle up, there’s quite a few).
My Mega Event savings:
- Welch’s fruit snacks for 49 cents (priced at 99 cents, with a $1 off two printable coupons)
- Quaker chewy granola bars for 79 cents a box (priced at $1.29, with a $1 off two digital coupon)
- Kind bars for 74 cents a box (priced at $1.99, less a $1.25 off per box newspaper insert coupon)
- Green Mountain Keurig k-cup pack of 12 for $3.49 (priced at $4.99, less a $1.50 off digital coupon)
- Garnier Fructis shampoo and heat protection spray for 29 cents each (priced at $2.29, less $2 off coupons)
- Angel Soft toilet paper for $3.99 (priced at $4.99, less a $1 off newspaper insert coupon)
- Ball Park buns for 74 cents (priced at $1.49, minus a digital Kroger coupon for 75 cents off)
- My favorite Kroger deal was free toothpaste! It was priced at $1.99, and I had a digital and two paper coupons for $2 off each. There was also a Catalina (that prints off at the register) where a $2 off your next shopping trip coupon printed when you bought 2 Colgate products. So the toothpaste was free, plus I have a $2 off my next Kroger purchase.
I used one of the free Chobani yogurt coupons, and 2 Bic coupons for free razors (like at Meijer).
There were Kroger digital coupons for free Area cream cheese (seriously, what am I going to do with all this cream cheese?) and free Solero frozen fruit bars.
There was a Kroger digital coupon for 75 cents off their brand of nail polish remover. The remover was on sale for $1, so I got it for 24 cents.
The Newman’s Own frozen pizza was on sale for $4.99, and I used a $1 off digital coupon. There was also a $1 off Ibotta rebate, making the pizza only $2.99.
I always make sure to do the survey on the bottom of my Kroger receipts, because that gives me 50 bonus fuel points. You can do a survey once every 7 days, which ends up being 200 extra fuel points a month. That gives me 20 cents off per gallon of gas. I’d say 95% of their receipts have surveys, so be sure to check!
Amount Saved: $64.35
Amount Spent: $25.86
Percentage Saved: 71%
Ibotta Savings: $1.50 ($1 off Newman’s Own pizza, plus 25 cents off ‘any item’ each at Kroger and Meijer)
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Gasoline Savings:
I didn’t need gas this week, hooray!
Miscellaneous Savings:
In the mail, I received some Bath & Body Works coupons. There was one for a free item priced at $5.50 or less, so I picked up a little lotion.
For my birthday every year, I ask my mom for my favorite lotion – Victoria Secret’s PINK Fresh ‘n’ Clean. They mailed her a packet of coupons last week, which she passed on to me. There was one for a FREE full-sized PINK body product, so I got a body spray in my favorite scent. I was very excited : )
Amount Saved: I wouldn’t have bought this stuff without coupons, so I can’t really include the savings.
Grand Total Savings for Week 10: $134.73
Total Saved Year-to-Date: $907.40
You can read the rest of the How I Saved posts here.
Don’t forget to check out the Resources Page for tons of other money saving resources!
What are your tricks for saving money? How much did you save this week?
