Feeding a Family on $50 per Week: Part 3

Are you new to this series?  Don’t forget to read Part 1 and Part 2!

As I have mentioned before, I did not get to my current weekly budget overnight.  When I started my journey to (what I like to call) Psychotic Couponing, I was spending approximately $150 per week.  At the time, I was pretty proud of myself because that total was after sale prices and about $30 in coupons each week.

That was just over a year ago. 

There’s a few things that I need to mention as they are a huge part of how I am able to keep my grocery bill so low:

1.  We have no food allergies in our house (other than the allergy my husband seems to have to healthy food)

2.  I live in an area where all grocery stores double coupons up to $.99.  A $.75 coupon has an actual value of $1.50.  This fact alone makes it much easier for me to keep my grocery spending so low

3.  I am a stay-at-home mom who lives less than 5 miles from 4 major grocery stores, a Rite Aid, 2 CVS stores and (soon) a Walgreen’s.  While I don’t visit all of them each week (typically 1-3 per week), I do have the flexibility of just “popping in” to one if I am on my way home from a playdate or appointment.

In Part 1 I spoke about the importance of using your freezer and pantry to hold your stockpile.  The question is, how do you create your stockpile with a minimum amount of money?

1. Find the coupons
2. Get them organized
3. Either create a price book or find a site that details the best deals at your area grocery store.

The first, second and third are easy.  I could take up space here going over them, but just by clicking on the links you will get all the information you need.  Let’s skip right to #4 & 5!

4.  Look for items that you can get for free or close-to-free each week with a sale and coupon (and that you will use, not that you need right now) and stock up on those items as much as you can. 

Almost every week, there is something that you can get for free (if your store has double coupons) or close to free. Occasionally it will be your favorite products, but very often it is a new-to-the-market product.  Sales at the store are often subsidized by the company, especially in the beginning as companies hope to to hook you on their new product.  The best recent example I can give is Green Giant Valley Steamers.  Since they came out there have been lots of $.50 coupons and just as many 10 for $10 and 4 for $5 sales…..and I haven’t paid a penny for one of them.  If you have a CVS, Walgreens or Rite Aid near you, there is almost always shampoo, toothpaste or something similar that is free after Extra Care Bucks, Register Rewards or Single Check Rebate.  Get in the habit of scouting out those deals until you have a nice little stockpile! (still not convinced on the value of stockpiling?  Click here )

One of the reasons that my weekly budget is so low is because I no longer pay for shampoo, conditioner, body wash, toothpaste, toothbrushes, baby wipes and many other toiletries.  I have stocked up on these items when there was an amazing deal at the drug stores and now I don’t even have to think about buying those things.  I just keep an eye out for the next deal (and the good thing?  They come with enough frequency that I either skip a bunch or get them for free and donate them!)

5.  Look for Catalina/ECB deals.  Roll your Catalinas/ECBs for as long as you have coupons or storage space.

When I say that my grocery budget is $50/$57 (depending on if I am counting in my diaper budget) per week, I don’t include Catalinas and ECBs.  My budget is based on the money that I physically pull out of my wallet, not the total at the register.  Almost all stores (I believe that WalMart is an exception…shocking, I know!) offer Catalina deals and when you can combine a Catalina deal with double coupons, you can seriously clean up!  Check out this post, this post and this post to see some examples of how Catalina Deals have helped me to stock up on an obscene amount of groceries for an average of 95% off.  Incredible stock-up opportunities like that happen about once every 4-6 weeks and I take full advantage of them.  They help to make up for the weeks where I “only” save 50%!

Repeat #4 & #5 the following week and every week until you hit the lottery and hire a personal chef and shopper with your $624 million(and don’t forget to invite your friend Mindi to your mansion.  I’ll bring Bisquick!).

The next post (and possibly final) post in the series?  You get to go shopping with me, see how my $50/week breaks down and what I feed my family!