Week 28: How I Saved 66% on Groceries

Welcome to Week 28 of the How I Saved Series! I was able to fit in a several errands for deals I just couldn’t pass up this week.

If you are interested in learning some grocery shopping saving tricks, keep reading to find out how to combine sales, coupons, and Ibotta rebates to stretch your grocery budget.

If you’re new, you can check out the rest of the How I Saved Series here.

I share my savings every week with the hope that these money savings tricks can be useful in your life. You can put that savings toward something that is important to you.

We’re putting all the money we save toward paying off our mortgage early. What would you do with all the extra money you could save?

Tip: Check out the Money Saving Resources page to see the resources I use to plan my shopping trips!

This post may contain affiliate links. You can view my full disclosure policy here.

ON TO THE DEALS!

Here’s how I saved the week of July 9 – July 15:

GROCERY SAVINGS:

Meijer:

I ran into Meijer to grab a few things. I had two (Catalina) coupons that printed at the register last time totaling $4 off my order. They were about to expire, so I had to make sure to use them. I also had a $3 mPerk reward that I earned on my last shopping trip.

My purchase included:

• (3) DiGiorno Thin & Crispy pizzas ($1.33) – On sale for 3/$10, with a $6 off three printable coupon. A Catalina coupon printed at the register for $2 off my next shopping trip. Factoring in that coupon, I basically paid 66 cents for each pizza.
• 12-pack Diet Pepsi cans (FREE) – For some reason, Pepsi mailed me a coupon for a free pack of Diet Pepsi.
• (2) Morningstar veggie burgers 4-packs ($1.63) – On sale for $3.50 each, less a $1.25 off 2 mPerk digital coupon, plus an Ibotta rebate for $1.25 off each. I used the same rebate last week, and Ibotta put it back in my ‘gallery’ to use again.

I also used a 25 cents off Any Item Ibotta rebate.

Amount Spent (not including Ibotta rebates): $2.74

Amount Saved (not including Ibotta rebates): $23

Percentage Saved: 89%

I also came away with that $2 off my next shopping trip Catalina coupon, and earned $2.75 with Ibotta. So technically, I earned money!

If you want to learn how to slash your grocery budget in just 5 days, check out the FREE Grocery Shopping Makeover Challenge!

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Aldi:

Aldi is one of the best grocery shopping saving tricks, because you don’t have to worry about sales or coupons. You’ll save at least 30-40% automatically, just by shopping there.

Related article: Check out the 70 best things to buy at Aldi!

This week I picked up:

• Pasta side dish (89 cents)
• Breakfast sandwiches ($2.99)
• Brown sugar ($1.29)
• Chicken taquitos ($3.79)
• Salad kit ($1.99)
• 40 oz Peanut butter ($2.49)
• (2) Pasta sauce (99 cents each)
• 3 lb Apples ($2.99)

I use a collapsible shopping basket like this one for my Aldi shopping.

Amount Spent: $18.41

Amount Saved (assuming 30% savings): $5.52

Kroger:

If you ever shop at Kroger (or any of its many affiliates), make sure you’re signed up for their free savings card. That’s the only way to get the sale prices, and you’ll have access to tons of great digital coupons.

Every Friday, they have a Free Friday digital coupon available. You must ‘clip’ the coupon that day, but you’ll have at least 2 weeks to stop in and get the free item.

I was able to use 3 Free Friday coupons on this shopping trip:

• Dave’s Killer Bread bagels (FREE)  – Using a Free Friday digital coupon
• Sour Patch Kids (FREE) – Using a Free Friday digital coupon
• Ghirardelli chocolate bar (FREE) – Using a Free Friday digital coupons
• Suave deodorant (FREE) – Kroger mailed me a coupon (another perk of having their savings card!) for $1 off deodorant, and the Suave was priced right at $1.
• Crest mouthwash (99 cents) – On sale for $1.99, less a $1 off one newspaper insert coupon

Amount Spent: 99 cents

Amount Saved: $11.97

Percentage Saved: 92%

Ibotta Savings: $2.75

As mentioned above, my Ibotta rebates were:

• 25 cents off any item
• $2.50 on Morningstar veggie burgers ($1.25 back on each pack)

I earn cash back from Ibotta on almost every shopping trip. You can redeem your earnings for money or gift cards to zillions of places.

New to Ibotta? Sign up below and earn an extra $10 on your first rebate.

Click here to sign up for Ibotta, and get a $10 welcome bonus through this link!

Signing up through the app instead? Use code uwhaflc to get your $10 bonus.

Gasoline Savings: $7.14

I get annoyed by how often gas prices change, so I always take note of different stations’ prices as I pass by. When I see one station has spiked their price, I know the rest of the stations are soon to follow. If I catch it in time, I can usually find another nearby station that hasn’t yet raised their price, and I fill up (if I need to).

When I went to Aldi, I noticed that Speedway’s price had spiked 31 cents, so I looked across the street at the Meijer station. They hadn’t raised their price yet, plus I had a 10 cents off per gallon mPerk digital coupon. I filled up, and saved 41 cents per gallon.

I hope these grocery shopping saving tricks were helpful to you in some way. Lots of little savings really add up over the course of a year!

GRAND TOTAL SAVINGS FOR WEEK 28: $50.38

TOTAL SAVED YEAR-TO-DATE: $3165.01

Related articles:

• 5 ways to save money on groceries without using coupons
• 10 money myths that are keeping you broke 
• Where to start when you’re flat broke
• 5 easy meal planning strategies for beginners
• 12 things frugal people don’t do
• 12 *more* things frugal people don’t do

You can catch up on 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!

Were you able to save any money on groceries this week?