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Print this coupon here or visit here. Or enter coupon code AUGUST for online purchases.
Hurry, offer ends tomorrow, Thursday 8/6!
Remember: This is the last week you can redeem the premuims printed on the bottom on your Pick ‘n Save receipts. The redemption period ends August 8, so make sure you get to the store ASAP.
I have 19 premiums, one short of the 20 I need for a $50 gift card. Bummer! I guess I’ll have to limp along with my $35 gift card.
How many premiums do you have? What do you think you’ll get with the extra cash — will you use it to defray normal grocery costs, or will you splurge on something you don’t normally buy?
In early June of 2008, my newborn daughter was six weeks old, my maternity leave was coming to an end, and I was struck with the impending dread of routinely feeding five people after a long day of work.
I panicked.
I took to my cookbooks and soothed myself with favorites — The New Basics, Madhur Jaffrey’s lushly photographed Indian cookbooks, The Best Recipe, even Rachel Ray’s quick recipes.
I earmarked recipes during nursing sessions and made grocery lists on the back of receipts, trying to decipher what Nat Med Flr might have been from my last shopping trip a few days ago.
I unloaded cart after cart of groceries. I chopped, sauteed, steamed and baked. I roasted and rinsed and minced and cooked. I froze meals. I containered whatever I thought might help my family (and me) transition to being a two-income family again.
In July, I was back at work but hardly working. The pace was slow. I was stuck at my desk for eight dreary hours a day, trying to appear busy. I spent a lot of time surfing the Web, learning about random things like sewing underwear. (Because, you know, that’s exactly what I wanted to do with my free time: Sew my own undies.)
That’s when I started reading up on personal finance. I had a budget, but I hadn’t really updated it in months, if not years. So I added up my latest month’s worth of grocery receipts from my credit card’s online statements, just to see where I stood.
I panicked.
In June alone, I had spent roughly $1,000 on groceries for two adults, two young children and a nursing infant. My official budget had been $500/month.
The turning point
From personal finance blogs, I graduated to frugality blogs. From there, I hit up the forums on sites like Hot Coupon World. That August, I seriously clipped coupons for the very first time. I tracked my spending. I got a paper subscription for the coupons. I limited shopping trips to once a week on double coupon day. I learned the tricks to get free toothpaste, and I stocked up too much on laundry detergent. But most of all, I saved.
That was a year ago, and I have come even further since then. I haven’t bought toothpaste or detergent in months because I don’t need to. I’ve budgeted for organic milk and almost all organic produce (and locally grown when it’s around). I still buy my “splurges”: artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, pies from the Amish bakery, fancy cheese. Yet my budget rarely exceeds $600/month and usually hovers around $500/month — nearly half of what I spent last June.
Then and now
This July was surely the biggest month I’ve had in the stores since starting this journey, but at least I know where I stand. And I know how to cut back in other areas so a larger grocery bill doesn’t threaten our financial security.
We also carved out larger chunks from our budget, like refinancing our house in October, saving us over $400/month. But grocery shopping remains one of my favorite places to save — and certainly spend — money. Every month, it’s an easy gauge to see how well I’m doing with my budget.
Even though America, and the world, is in a tough financial spot right now, I am grateful that I have some control over our finances — especially the part that helps me feed my kids.