Grocery Budget

I saw a post on a friend's Facebook Wall today asking how much people have in the budget for food.  This is a tough question for people to answer, and to compare from family to family. Some people buy all organic (we do not), have food allergies, fussy eaters etc. We are definitely guilty of processed food, and I don't feel guilty about it at all.   In my food budget, I do not count toiletries, cosmetics (who am I kidding, I don't use these!) or cleaning supplies.  Some people do. If you count those things in your food budget that is going to add quickly to your weekly budget. 
I have a family of 4, 2 girls a hubby and myself.  We allot on average $125 in the budget for food.  We don't always spend this much, but there are some weeks with amazing deals and then we stockpile! 
We have a deep freezer that we have full most of the time.  Currently we are in the middle of an "eat the freezer" time.  A few times a year we try to eat everything in the deep freezer to circulate the food, and also it really helps the budget. 
Our freezer usually has frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts from Costco, ground beef I buy on sale just before it expires, bread, pizzas, cheese, garlic bread, ravioli, tortellini, peppers and frozen fruit.  These are items we stockpile and of course there are other types of items.
Blocks of cheese freeze well.  When cheese comes on sale I buy lots and freeze quite a few bars that I plan to use for shredded cheese on items.   
Our pantry is also bursting at the seams with canned goods, baking supplies, dry pasta, treats, and a few bags of potatoes. See my pantry blog for more information. 
My hubby has a whole bin of items he uses just for his breakfast. He goes to the Bulk Barn and Walmart for this, as there are so many things in it that he blends together instead of using cereal. I have no clue what's in that bin, but I know its within the budget:) He has added he has just cut out the almonds and is trying a combo of peanuts and sunflower seeds as they are cheaper. Way to go...he is paying attention to the budget!
To save money at the grocery store I try to get most of my items at No Frills or the Super Store. I look in the flyers on Wednesday nights for items with bonus PC points (Superstore only) and this will help me determine if I go to the SS for the item, or just price match at No Frills.  I am working on using food in the item to meal plan.  I attempt to decide what we will eat at least 3 nights a week, this area also needs to be improved.  First thing on Thursday morning I also load my PC Points offers on my phone.  See my PC Plus blog for more information. I find that using this program earns us on average $20 a month to use as cash for groceries.  Also, because Loblaws has purchased Shoppers Drug Mart I got an email that I could trade my Optimum points to PC plus points, giving us $170 towards groceries.
I always search Superstore, No Frills and Sobeys for the magical pink clearance stickers. I buy bread, meat and produce close to expiration date to freeze.  I chop the peppers up for the freezer, and old bananas take them out of the peeling to freeze for smoothies. 
I get my milk each week at Shoppers Drug Mart, cheapest place in town and its not advertised in the flyers to price match. I have a friend that sells ground beef and I have ordered a lot for the freezer. It is  a bit more expensive then the store, but we know where it was raised and this makes us feel better.
I coupon!  I buy whatever I can using a coupon, and find this also helps keep food prices lower. I know that I need to start cooking more meals from scratch, and start using the bread maker.  I feel that if I start cooking these items I may see the weekly food budget go down $10 to $15 a week. 
Please comment below any tips you use to keep your food budget down, and also perhaps leave your food budget amount and how many people.  Share this blog and join Guess Who's Cheap on Facebook.

Budget...find the leak.....

It is soon the start of another month… Budget Time.  Today was a holiday and I thought that I would spend some time working on the budget.   I laid it all out, thinking of all the events that will be happening this month.  This will be a more spending money budget then normal: oldest daughter’s birthday party, 2 days in the city for performances (tickets are paid for but meals and Costco…) and registration for Spring and Summer kid activities. 

Once I had the budget done, I thought I would go through and find the average I am spending on items within the budget. I found a leak….I am spending a lot more money than I thought on used clothing items at Frenchy’s and Value Village…oops.   Now that I am aware of this, I am going to cut down on my visits.  For those that know me I am going to TRY to do one visit a week.  

We go through and plan where every dollar goes. A great app of Dave Ramsey’s for Apple Products is Every Dollar or online at EveryDollar.com

We started 7 years ago with this site.  

http://www.gailvazoxlade.com/resources/interactive_budget_worksheet.html

Everyone has different categories in their budget. A great place to start is to go through your credit card and average out how much money you have spent in 3 months on each category. Some items are fixed and pay separate from your cards, so don’t get fooled. Example: if you have a car lease or a monthly payment to a furniture store.  Don’t worry, it takes a few months to work this out.   Write down every source of income you have, salary, child tax benefits, and kijiji or online sales.

Mortgage

Insurance (house, car, health and life)

Property Taxes ( this bill comes every 6 months, we put monthly amount aside)

Internet

Cell Phone

Power Bill

Lottery

Gifts

Clothes

Groceries

Restaurants

Stockpile

Kid Activities

RRSP

RESP

Gas

Car Payment

Entertainment

Selling things online

My house is FULL of stuff we don't need.  Recently my youngest daughter outgrew her clothing size.  I went through all of her clothes and threw them in the box. 
We often go through rooms and use the same strategy, things we don't need get thrown in a box. 
Then I take things out of the box and take pictures of it with my Ipad.  These aren't always the best pictures, but I find uploading a picture online much easier from my Ipad.  If an item is a name brand and excellent condition I sell it as an individual item. When I have a few similar items that are not a brand name I sell them together. 
In my local area there are many Facebook Buy and Sell groups. I think this is the way it is in most areas now. 
I find items sell much faster on the Facebook groups then on Kijiji, perhaps because people get notifications. 
I list the item description and price and wait.  I usually have many ads online to sell at any given time. To help organize it better for me, once an item is posted on Facebook for sale I put it in a Rubbermaid Container. One is kid items, and one is household items. 

In a few days, if an item doesn't sell on Facebook I put the item on Kijiji if it is an item over $10.  Selling here I find there isn't as much traffic. Perhaps this is because most of the items I sell are kid items, which are very active on Facebook.
Items on Facebook if I am not flexible on the price I write available under my picture to bump it up, or write my price that I will sell the item for, which also bumps the item up the Facebook page.
Items that I think would sell under $2 I put in boxes to save to sell in a Yard Sale.  Every summer I usually have a yardsale which usually brings in around $100.  I also bring out the items that are in the Rubbermaid containers, and start fresh.

 A few times a year I make an album on Facebook of all the items and just write pm if you are interested to see if any of my friends are interested in the items.
Before a yard sale I have passed on some kid clothes to friends.
After I have a Yard Sale, I take all unsold items to Value Village.  Value Village gives stamps to use for percentage off while shopping. 
Selling online is a lot of effort. I find it worth it, every little bit helps towards the final goal. I don't find adult clothes sell often, but a lot of my items aren't brands this may be why. In two years we made enough to pay for a trip to Disney World using this method.  Just this week, I sold my favorite purse, a Michael Kors one year old bag. I am trying to purge the things that we don't need to help reach the goal. 

Ebates...online shopping cashback

Online shopping is a pool I am slowly dipping my toe in.    I joined Ebates.ca a website that you provide your email address, and home address.  Almost daily I get an email from a store that is part of Ebates.ca of a promotion they are offering. How this site works, is every time you shop you get a percentage of your total back.  The cashback sits in an account, and a few times a year they mail you a cheque. When your account is over $5 a cheque is sent.  If your account is not at the $5 at the time of the cheque mail out, no biggie, it sits there until next time.  That's it, no extra things to do.  Just log in to Ebates.ca and click on a store where you want to shop. Click on stores tab...then A-Z to see all stores provided
Some of the stores I frequent are Amazon.ca, and  Walmart.ca .  Banana Republic, Under Armour, Chapters, Michael Kors and Expedia.ca are some of the stores that peak my interest :)  
Click on my referral link below and sign up. I would really appreciate it, as I get a $10 bonus for referring friends.  Just comment below so I know to look for it.  Then you can email your friends your referral and the love is passed on.

http://www.ebates.ca/referrer?referrerid=dmI00Ysp2yY%3D%0D%0A    


Shout out to my friend Emmi who suggested this as my blog topic.  Please comment or get in touch any posts you would like to see.  I am a teacher and was on March Break....now I am back in the grove...stay tuned for more posts, and also join Facebook Group Guess Who's Cheap for up to date posts notices

Dining out...the splurge...the save....

It is March Break...and we have been on the go, which means meals eaten out.  At times, it kills me to do this, other times it is A-ok and part of the treat.
We have a box in our pantry that always has snacks in it. This box joined us on the trip for fast snacks. 
We went to the city for the weekend and stayed at hotel.  At night, we knew that we were planning to do a very expensive dinner out. There is a restaurant that is fine dining that I have done in the past. When I saw it pop up on Groupon a few months ago to spend $18 and get a $30 credit I was all over it.  When we eat out we usually do not order beverages. We decided to splurge and order a half litre of wine. Our meal still cost out of our pocket...but it was a fantastic meal and it is March Break. We are doing the Staycation thing while we are getting out of debt so the nice dinner was a vacation treat. Remember when you eat out at a restaurant always tip your server. I was a server for 3 years to help pay for university and know how much those tips help out.  Also, when using Groupon tip on the amount before Groupon is taken off the bill.
NOW...WE FEEL BETTER ABOUT THIS SPLURGE MEAL BECAUSE WE HAD A CHEAP LUNCH....
Previously that day we went for lunch....at the Super Store grocery store.  We walked downtown from the hotel along the waterfront and had a great stroll, taking lots of nice pictures along the way.  We ordered 2 sandwiches, a large salad and a large water for about the cost of one entree at a restaurant.  While we were there we also picked up fruit, pastries, and juice for our breakfast at the hotel since it wasn't included in the hotel package.

Waste Not....

Tomorrow is garbage day, and pay day Happy Thursday!
This entry is a small thing we do to save money, but really these little things all add and up and that's what this blog is all about.
I bought these two large recycle bins at a yard sale 2 summers ago. I paid $5 each.   I put my house number on each one. I use one for the plastic recyclables and one for the paper.  After the first time using them my husband cut pieces of old plywood down to be tops. This avoids things blowing out of the bins.
I find one of these holds the equivalent of 2 blue bags.  Tomorrow I would have used 4 blue bags, at the cost of 33 cents a bag each.  $1.32 every two weeks saved works well for me!  4 bags every two weeks would be $35 a year.  ON SOMETHING TO HOLD MY GARBAGE??????
We fill up about one kitchen liner every two weeks of garbage, and don't need black bags often. I used to stick the kitchen liner in a black bag then realized this is a waste both for the environment and our budget, so I just put it out at curb, and like magic it works. I did a quick google search, and they sell for $66 each at Staples and cyclinder ones at Walmart for $32.  It helps save the environment as they are reusable.

***Our dog is vain and likes being in pictures, isn't she cute? She was also free and we love her to pieces!
JOIN MY FACEBOOK GROUP GUESS WHO'S CHEAP 

Coupon Overage

Sometimes there is a magical coupon that is a hot commodity.  The coupon that gives you an item for free, or under a dollar. And then…there is the overage coupon.   They don’t come around often, but when they do, as a couponer it makes me excited. 

What am I talking about?   Coupons all have a face value, how much off of a product.   When an item comes on sale, try to use your coupons then, as it increases the OOP (out of pocket) you pay.  YES, YOU CAN USE COUPONS WHEN AN ITEM IS ON SALE!

Today, I went to Walmart armed with $2 off of any Tums products coupon.  I had 2 of these, knowing that Tums are 98 cents a roll.   I picked up 2 rolls, and I picked up 2 cucumbers that were on sale for $1 each and headed to the cash register. 

KNOW THE STORES COUPON PRACTICES  When I went to the check out, the cashier grabbed a pen and was about to write on the coupon, and I stopped her. I said that you ring it in as $2 and I can either get a Walmart gift card with the balance, or use it towards another purchase. She said that wasn’t a rule, and I asked her to get a manager.  The manager came over, and I explained what I was doing, and she said to the cashier yes she’s telling the truth.  ALWAYS BE POLITE, CAUSE MANY EMPLOYEES DON’T KNOW THE RULES, AND PEOPLE DON’T OFTEN ASK.  The manager then said that she has never seen this and was happy to see it happening.  I then applied the extra money towards my 2 cucumbers, with a grand total of 19 cents OOP.  She said she watched the show Extreme Couponing and it reminded her of that, I told her about my blog!

Walmart and Giant Tiger are the only two stores in my area that do this, if anyone knows of others, please let me know!

Mail In Rebates

Mail In Rebates are a great way to build up your stock pile (oops, I moved the composter for this picture and see now this needs to be cleaned hahah)  I have not paid for these finish dishwasher tabs or the Jet Dry and cleaning agents.  These are the most popular Mail In Rebate Offers I see.   You can do it too, it just takes some patience.
Most of the time I find the Mail in Rebates in the inserts within the local newspaper and at times inside the flyers.  I ask people to save me their inserts, and my father gathers them from his friends. It is important to remember that you can only receive one Mail In Rebate per address.  I use my address, my father's address, and my in-law's address.
Mail In Rebates  require you to send in the original cash register receipt. You need to circle the item on your cash register receipt, and write at the top the numbers as they appear on the UPC (THIS IS THE BARCODE).
I purchase my items for Mail In Rebates at stores where I can get points.  On days when Shoppers Drug Mart has 20x the points day when you spend $50 I try to get a Mail In Rebate to help get me to that total.  My other favorite store to purchase Mail In Rebate Offers is Sobeys, so I can collect Airmiles on the total price. Remember if you are at Shoppers Drug Mart and paying, purchase a Shoppers Drug Mart gift card in a separate transaction to receive your Optimum points. At Sobeys pay with your gift card that you have from buying them during their promotions.Then you get your cash back when your cheque arrives.
I buy my stamps at Costco. They are the cheapest place to purchase them. 
A cheque is mailed out to you within 4-6 weeks. I find them come much faster. 
For the price of a stamp, Mail In Rebates help build up your stockpile and Optimum points as well as Airmiles.  Items that I will not use I usually still do the Mail In Rebate to donate them.  Recently I used some of the items to give to a local refugee family, and my daughters' Girl Guides Penny Auction.  Random times I fill up a bag of things that I have gotten for free that I don't use and when people visit I tell my friends to take a few things.
Please share and leave a comment on my blog. Thanks for stopping by.