experiment

Two of my favorite blogs are Money Saving Mom and Grocery Cart Challenge. Both of these women do a phenomenal job of feeding their families on a tight budget. Their methods are not quite the same, but they both work and I learn so much from each of them.

Every week each blog posts a recap of the grocery trip--where they shopped, what they bought, what they spent. They give a chance for other bloggers to "link up" and post their own grocery shopping successes. I am in the process of trying to apply some of the tips from these ladies to lower our grocery bill. I thought if I participated in the shopping recap each week, it would hold me accountable to my goals and also allow me to chart my progress (at least I hope there's progress!).

I don't have pictures of my haul like they do, so this will just be a summary. Maybe next week I can add the photos. I also did not browse store ads or use coupons this week; I will try to add that in next week, as well as perhaps participating in the menu planning prior to shopping that GCC hosts. I'm just winging it this week (for the record, so far this week we've had country ham, lentil tacos, and pasta bake. Tonight it's pork chops).

Here's what I bought:

Dollar Tree:
dishwasher detergent
oxygen stain remover
women's shaving cream
shampoo
men's body wash
2 tubes toothpaste
Total: $7.67

Food City:
Dannon vanilla yogurt $2.99
1 doz. eggs $1.29
extra sharp cheddar $3.99
rotini pasta $.89
spaghetti sauce $1.67
Lay's potato chips $3
Valu Time frosted flakes $1
Valu Time honey nut oats $1
vegetable oil $2.19
Hillshire Farms roast beef $3.99
omeprazole $7.65 (normally this is a separate purchase from groceries, and normally we buy Prevacid, but we needed it immediately and this is what they had).
Total: $32.15

Nelson had gone on a quick run to Food City the day before because I was completely out of coffee (very bad thing). He bought coffee and orange juice. He spent $9.48 on that trip (coffee is expensive).

Grand total: $49.30 We'll see if I can lower that as the weeks go on!

This post linked to GCC Shopping Roundup.