I have to admit budgeting is a new concept for me. I was never really taught how to spend wisely or smart shopping tips and sticking to a list never happened. All common sense right! Well it wasn’t’ until I recently lost my job that I really took a look into things. For the first time I balanced my checking account and I did it backwards. The first of July I added all deposits and deducted it all in various categories for the month of June. This worked well as I only had debit transactions so all money was accounted for. I found for the month of June I had spent $961 on food, and housewares not including out to eat (which was $371) This is for a family of four with an income of $2500. When the income was reduced to $1500 I needed to find a way to help especially after this realization. I cannot believe many people (Including me) blindly spend hard earned money which causes added stress and no satisfaction. I found that with a little bit of effort budgeting a certain amount of money for food amongst other things and simply creating a shopping list within the sales can alone save a lot of money.

The month of July I budgeted $60 per week for food/$240 a month. I spent $300 on food for the month of July simply buy setting a budget and shopping within the sales and actually shopping consciously. I considered myself a smart shopper, I had less stress and much satisfaction. Simply paying attention to what you are purchasing, sticking to a list, and meal planning can make a huge difference in you final price. Still common sense right? It really was more fun to try to stay withing the budget and stick to the meal plans than to have the freedom to purchase whatever my heart desired. So with just a little common sense I slashed my food bill by more than half in the first month!! Simply by not shopping blind.
So I recently discovered Meijer Mealbox deals after researching more ways to help save. I started getting the Sunday paper that week, had no coupons prior to that. My last 3 shopping trips ( going once a week also has helped in saving ) have been decent with ad savings totaling about $60 and only about $4 in coupons from various links on the web.  So I’m thinking maybe this is just not for me. I kept getting the paper 2 per week and continued reading about ways to save. I decided to try my luck at Walgreens today Sept 10, 2008, it seemed too many sales to resist. I have been trying to put my list together since Sunday spending a total of about 4 hours in 3 days which I know I will do better at next week. I kept asking myself do I need this or that or is it worth it going through coupons and I need to get those organized as now I have a mighty collection. I spent more time than I needed to going through coupons over and over. But like people say it is a learning process and I will get better at it.

So now for the good news (I am still in shock)

I got $64.48 worth of stuff at Walgreen’s for $9.49 yes It is true
If I just could’ve resisted the M&ms it would’ve been $6.30

But if you really think about it a lot of that was sale priced items. If I were to add the sticker price the total would be $87.30 and here is the breakdown

1 can Cambells Chkn soup
1 can Camblles Tomato soup
1 can Cambells Tomato soup
1 Glade Fabric And Air Spray
5 Packages chex mix
1 Crest Pro Health Mouthwash
1 Aquafresh extreme clean whitening toothpaste
3 Packs Plain index cards
1 Pantene Pro-v Shampoo
1 Pantene Pro-v Conditoner
1 base+top coat revelon nail polish
1 Pantene spray Gel for curls
1 Crest Pro Health Toothoaste
M&M Peanut medium bag
Duracell 4 pack AAA batteries

So $87.30 Sticker Price
- 16.82 Store Sales (No coupon required)
- 6.00 ($3 off coupon purchase of $10 I had 2 coupons)
__________
$64.48
- 22.60 Walgreens ad coupons + Sunday coupons + web coup(chex mix)
__________
$41.88 Out of Pocket cost
- 3.17 somehow they double charged me for an item I had to go back in
_________

$38.71
- 1.00 (I forgot the coupon for the crest they refunded it and rung it back up and gave me $1.00 cash. I cannot believe i left the store and went back in a second time to redeem the coupon how’s that for a newbie.)
__________
$37.71 Total cost
- 4.50 Instant Register Rewards
_________
$33.21
- 7.99 Rebate on chemistry hair product
- 5.00 Rebate on Pantene
- 4.79 Rebate on Nail polish
- 3.79 Rebate for crest pro health
___________
$11.64 Total Price

Walgreens rebates add up to $21.57 then add 10% bc I want the gift card
$21.57 * 10 % = $2.15
$11.64-$2.15= $9.49 and If I wouldn’t have gotten the M&Ms it would be $6.30 I still cannot believe it OMG I am waiting for it only to get better from here. This is a lower out of pocket cost than items purchased.

So I will have (21.57+2.15)=$23.72 to go back to walgreens with to take advantage of more savings and sales and free stuff. Even the Walgreens website tells you won’t have the need to spend extra money after initial purchases due to all the sales and savings and rebates. Walgreens is my new best friend.