How I Saved $220 This Week
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.
If you’re looking for ways to save money, just keep reading!
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 21 – May 21-27
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Grocery Savings:
This is the easiest way to cut back on spending and 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:
I stopped into Meijer to pick up a few random deals:
- Ground beef ($1.79/lb.) – I bought 8 lbs since this price is amazing. (I use my Foodsaver to preserve it in 1 pound portions.)
- (4) Vlasic dill relish (49 cents each) – On sale for 99 cents each, less two $1 off 2 coupons
- (2) Ortega taco seasoning packets (FREE) – I used 2 coupons for free taco seasoning packets when you buy taco sauce or taco shells. We were out of taco sauce, so I chose that. All the Ortega products were 25% off, so I got the smaller bottle for $1.04, and the larger bottle for $1.76.
I also bought eggs for 98 cents (regular price) and potato salad for $2 (on sale). And I earned $2 off my next shopping trip with an mPerk reward.
Amount Saved: $22.91
Amount Spent:$21.08
Percentage Saved: 52%
If you want to learn how to slash your grocery budget in just 5 days, check out the FREE Grocery Shopping Makeover Challenge!
Kroger Shopping Trip:
This week at Kroger, I bought:
- (2) Quilted Northern 6-pack Mega Rolls ($3.11 each) – Sale priced at $4.99, less two $1.25 manufacturer newspaper insert coupon, and a $1.25 off $5 or more toilet paper purchase store coupon (in the mail)
- (2) Secret deodorant (25 cents each) – Regular priced at $1, minus two 75 cents off newspaper insert coupon
- (2) All laundry detergent (99 cents each) – On sale for $1.99, less two $1 coupons (both Kroger digital and printable)
- Ore-Ida curly fries ($1.69) – Sale priced at $2.69, less a $1 off Kroger digital coupon
- Screamin’ Sicilian frozen pizza ($3.49) – on sale for $5.49, minus a $2 off coupon that Kroger mailed me
- Lara Bar (FREE) – Free Friday digital coupon
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: $26.65
Amount Spent: $13.88
Percentage Saved: 66%
Aldi Shopping Trip:
Aldi is one of the most effortless ways to save money on groceries. You’re going to save 20-50% on most items there, compared to other stores. You don’t have to wait for sales at Aldi. Some items are a little cheaper during certain seasons, but everything is always affordable.
I buy many staple items there, or whatever else I need/want that I can’t get cheaper elsewhere. For the purpose of these How I Saved posts, I’m going to estimate a 30% savings (and I think that’s being conservative). I am saving money by shopping at Aldi, so it totally counts.
This week at Aldi, I purchased:
- (2) 40 oz Crunchy Peanut Butter ($2.79 each) – Marked down from $3.49
- Trash Bags ($4.59)
- Garlic Powder ($1.19)
- Angus Beef Burgers 6 ct. ($5.99)
- Napkins 250 ct. ($1.49)
- 3 lb Apples ($2.99)
- (2) Mini Bagels (89 cents each) – Marked down from $1.89
- Gel seat for biking ($7.99) – Half the price I’ve seen the same seat for elsewhere!
Related: Here are the 70 best things to buy at Aldi.
Related: Want some basic grocery savings ideas? Here are 5 ways to save money without using coupons.
Amount Spent: $31.60
Amount Saved (assuming 30% savings + markdowns + bike seat savings): $20.88
I use a collapsible shopping basket like this one for my Aldi shopping.
Ibotta Savings: 25 cents off Any Item at Kroger
New to Ibotta? Click here for a $10 welcome bonus! You can redeem your earnings for cash, or use them to get a gift card to tons of awesome places like Amazon, iTunes, Nike, Target, Uber, and many more!
Gasoline Savings: $2.62
I noticed the gas price has spiked 35 cents a gallon, so I drove up the street a bit and found that Kroger hadn’t marked theirs up yet. Plus, you always get 3 cents off per gallon with your Kroger Plus Card.
Miscellaneous Savings:
We vacuumed the car, and washed it twice saving at least $12.
We changed out Sprint cell phone plan, which will save money, and allowed me to sign up for ‘Auto-Pay,’ which offers a $20 per month discount for doing so. That’s a hefty savings! Plus, it came with Hulu for free, a $7.99 a month value!
Our car insurance was due, and here’s how we save on that:
- We set up to pay our car insurance every six months, instead of every month, which saves 5%.
- They also offer another discount if you elect to have that payment automatically deducted on the due date.
- We use our Chase Freedom Unlimited card and save an additional 1.5% (FYI: If you’re responsible with credit cards and want an awesome deal, the Freedom Unlimited card is currently offering $150 cash back if you spend $500 in the first 3 months. And 0% interest for the first 18 months.) We always pay it off when the bill comes of course.
In total, those insurance discounts saved us $76.55.
Meijer had their mulch on sale 5 bags for $10, so we picked up 15 bags. That saved us $17.85. And saved far more compared to having mulch delivered from a landscaping company.
I’ve been having sinus headaches quite regularly, and was in need of more Zyrtec D. It was on sale at CVS for $19.99, plus I had a $4 off coupon from the newspaper. Between the sale and coupon, I saved $8.50.
Amount Saved: $142.89
Grand Total Savings for Week 21: $223.20!
Total Saved Year-to-Date: $1965.17
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 favorite ways to save money?
Linking up with The Thrifty Couple for Thrifty Thursday
The savings was great at the grocery stores. I actually implemented a no eating out rule for a month. We have been working on saving at the grocery store.
Hi Michelle! Your no dining out for a month rule is awesome! It can get expensive very quickly, so that’s an excellent way to save money!