Week 19: How I Saved $122
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 19 – May 7 – 13
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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.
If you want to learn how to slash your grocery budget in just 5 days, check out the FREE Grocery Shopping Makeover Challenge!
Here are the deals!
Meijer Shopping Trip:
Like last week, I was lucky enough to get a great deal on allergy nasal spray. It stays good for over a year, so I stock up in the spring, since I need it all year long.
This week, the awesome coupon was on the Rhinocort brand. (Which makes me feel like a rhinoceros hehe.) It was regular priced at $14.49, and I had two $10 off newspaper insert coupons.
Meijer also had a promotion where they would give an instant $7 discount if you bought $30 or more on Zyrtec or Rhinocort items. I was surprised to see that it came off, since technically I spent $29.98, not $30.
Unbelievably, I paid $2.98 for two bottles of Rhinocort! ($29.98 – $20 (in coupons) -$7 (instant savings) = $2.98)
I also purchased:
- (2) Bush’s Fiesta Pinto Beans (19 cents each) – Priced at $1.19, less two $1 off one newspaper insert coupons
- Dawn Dish Soap (99 cents) – On sale for $2.99, minus a $2 off coupon that printed at the register last time
- (2) Grown in Idaho Frozen Fries ($1.50 each) – Sale priced at $2.50, with two $1 of one newspaper insert coupons
- (2) Sunny D (50 cents each) – On sale for $1, less two 50 cent off one newspaper insert coupons
- Meijer Snack ‘Ziploc’ Bags ($1) – sale price
I also used the $3 reward that I earned last week.
Amount Saved: $41.25 (sales + coupons + reward)
Amount Spent: $6.35
Percentage Saved: 85%
Kroger Shopping Trip:
If you shop at Kroger, be sure to check Kroger Krazy and Bargains to Bounty for a full list of sale items and coupon matchups.
Here’s this week’s Kroger deals:
- (2) Colgate toothpaste (FREE) – Sale priced at $1.79, less two $2 off each newspaper insert coupons
- (4) Sure deodorant (27 cents each) – On sale for $1.27, and I had four $1 off each newspaper insert coupons
- Snuggle fabric softener ($1.49) – Sale priced for $1.99, minus a 50 cents off Kroger digital coupon
- Kroger brand tortilla chips (35 cents) – On sale for $1, with a 40 cents off coupon that Kroger mailed me. I also had an Ibotta rebate for 25 cents off any bags of chips, which made it 35 cents.
- Lindt chocolate bar (FREE) – Free Friday digital coupon
- Bananas (3 cents) – Regular priced at 39 cents per pound. I bought 2 bananas (for 28 cents), and used an Ibotta rebate for 25 cents off bananas.
I also bought bread, but it was full price at 89 cents.
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: $19.95
Amount Spent: $4.34 (Ibotta rebates deducted below)
Percentage Saved: 78%
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.
At Aldi, I bought:
- 3 lb bag of apples ($2.99)
- Frozen hashbrowns ($1.65)
- Salad kit ($1.99)
- Almond milk ($1.89)
- Cotton swabs ($1.89)
- (3) Super huge jars of salsa ($2.89 each)
- Cucumber (39 cents)
- Roma tomatoes ($1.39)
- Head of lettuce (97 cents)
- Applesauce ($1.39)
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: $23.22
Amount Saved (assuming 30% savings): $6.96
I use a collapsible shopping basket like this one for my Aldi shopping.
Ibotta Savings: 75 cents
25 cents each off Any Item, Any Chips, and Bananas
New to Ibotta? Click here for a $10 welcome bonus! You can cash out your earnings or use them to get a gift card to tons of awesome places like Amazon, iTunes, Nike, Target, Uber, and many more!
Gasoline Savings:
I didn’t need gas this week, thankfully.
Miscellaneous Savings:
I ordered a birthday gift for someone from Kohl’s, using free shipping and 30% off promo codes, in addition to awesome sale prices.
And of course I went through Ebates to get cash back!
If you order things online, you simply must be using Ebates. They have cash back offers for most retailers! Just head to their website, search where you want to shop, click through to that site, and shop like usual. Then they’ll send you a check every quarter for the cash back you earned. It’s SO easy!
Click here to try Ebates. You’ll get an extra $10 back when you make your first purchase over $25 when you use this link.
Do you get Bath and Body Works coupons mailed to you every month? I’m not sure what I did to get on their mailing list, but they always send me a coupon for a free item priced $5.50 or less. I popped in there and grabbed a free lotion with my coupon.
Amount Saved: $52.95
Grand Total Savings for Week 19: 122.17
Total Saved Year-to-Date: $1664.12
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?