Saturday, January 7, 2012

All about money...............

Good news first I guess.

Went grocery shopping and only spent $42.22 and had coupon and discount savings of $11.78, bringing my monthly grocery spending up to $47.74, with savings of $17.52.  There were no cleaning or toiletries bought though this week, that was all food and included some ground flax seed for Molly.

However did get fresh meat, veggies, fruit and milk, plus numerous other items.  I am going to have a baking and cooking session on Sunday and will do my meal planning for the week then.  My best deal for the week was picking up 2 x Special K cereal and a package of Special K Fruit Crisps, which are a cereal bar and actually very yummy, all for $2.99, thanks to a FPC for one cereal, a FPC for the bars when you buy a Special K cereal and a $1 off coupon for the actual cereal.  I was a little surprised they took all coupons?  While I was in No Frills yesterday a woman in front of me gave me another coupon for another FPC for the bars when I buy more cereal.  In return I let her take all the diaper coupons from my P & G brand coupon flyer I had with me.

My sealed jar is filling up nicely seen as I have dh on board with that, he is putting his silver in there.  My other pot for the loonies and twoonies isn't doing as well, as I haven't had any in my change this week.  So I think that only grew by around a dollar or two.

Put my money in my birthday, Christmas and whatever pots.  I only have two more weeks and will have saved enough up in my whatever pot for the wedding gift in February.  So that will be another thing out of the way.

Got the oil tank filled, first time in two months which is a surprise as this time a year we normally fill every month.  Anyhow, it cost just over $400 for the past two months worth of oil which is really, really good.  It helped also that the price of oil had gone down by 3 cents per litre from last time I bought it.  It is certainly paying off all the work we did to insulate this house.

My no spend days though were practically non existent this week, as despite me not leaving the house a couple of days, I still managed to pay bills online.  I think I ended up with having two no spend days, Tuesday and Thursday.

I did however earn money as I worked on Thursday, so will get paid at some point for that.

All in all though not too bad a week.  Money was put in the savings, mortgage payment increased.  Came in well under for my grocery total.  Paid bills that were due, and put all the money in my pots.  Plus we had hot meals on the table and a warm house to live in, all in all life isn't bad!!

How was your week money wise?

***FPC = Free Product Coupon

12 comments:

Lindsay said...

Just to give you an update. About 3 years ago I followed your example - I looked every day at my bank balance and transferred the last three digits into a savings account - I now have over £5,000 !!!!!!!

Maggie said...

Well done with the grocery shopping and the pot saving!

I started off well in December but ended up spending more than i wanted too, never mind, DH pay day next Friday so i can start a new month :-)

Jane and Chris said...

Three cats for annuals next week...that'll dent the bank balance.
Jane x

Piece by Piece said...

You did very well with your savings this week. I am living out of my freezer and pantry this month. Jan. groceries so far $27.73 only used $1.00 off coupon this week.
The weather we are currently having is also helping with the heating bill.
Patricia

simplicityinthemaking said...

Do you have an Independet store near you? Next week they have a dollar sale. With the coupons in the newspaper this week and this dollar sale there are some freebies in the end. I wish that ti were only the two of us some days. I don't buy diapers, or cleaners, and yet it adds up so quickly.I still have four children at home and my tally this week was $54.83 which was pretty good but I bought only Salmon for meat, which means lots of beans!! I am finding vegetable prices crazy this time of year. I have a cold cellar but still fresh is nicer.

Debby said...

Sounds like you had a good week! Everytime I read about the "pot savings" it cracks me up, what a fun phrase and great idea!!

Joolz said...

You do really well with your coupon savings. We don't have much of it here in Australia, although it is creeping into some store. I am interested in your pot saving and may try that.

Cheers - joolz

Kaisievic said...

Oh dear, I don;t think that I have any day as a no spend day now that I have discovered ordering cross stitch kits online! lol!

Yesterday, DH and I spent heaps: we bought 2012 calendars and diaries, DH bought 3 or 4 new shirts and two new paris of jean plus we bought two pizza stones - all of this was on sale. Then we went to the movies and had a quick dinner out - oh, I had better not add all of that up!

Hugs, Kaye xoxox

Kaisievic said...

P.S. Plus I spent a lot of money saving money at Costco on Thursday. Aaaaggghhh!

Hugs again, Kaye xoxox

Rose said...

Wow, I had never thought of that last three digits thing...that is an idea to try.

I have put change in the change jars...have money for the Christmas/gifts pot...but have to decide what is going to be my pot for that. Need to make a decision on that one...

Boyett-Brinkley said...

Well, I have been putting change in the pots, don't know how much I have added. I have had all but one no-spend day and I couldn't help myself -- I bought a magazine at the bookstore. I am getting really, really good at not spending and it feel really, really good. The food, yeah, I don't know. I give my coupons to DD as so money of them are for things I don't really buy. Guess I need to take a closer look at them but even if I don't, I need to start keeping better track. I need to find a set grocery shopping day so we aren't running to the store every few days. You would think I would be old enough to figure that out!!!!

~Carla~ said...

You're a great shopper! I get the odd deal here & there, but not like you! I did get a free baby travel set last week though! :) Since I'm having my no/low spend this month there isn't much to go into my sealed pot... I think it's only been fed around $5-6 since the beginning of January! Oh well, I'll have more extra change next month! :)

{{{SIGH}}}

Tuesday was a mixed bag type of day. Had the appliance repair guy come again to install another circuit board in the fridge.  When hubby got...