Have y'all heard about this? All You Grocery Challenge

All the couponing blogs I read are talking about the All You Grocery Challenge. Here are the details from All You:

We're thrilled that you're joining the ALL YOU Grocery Challenge! Show off your shopping smarts by spending no more than $25 per family member per week on groceries over a four-week period beginning July 13. That's $100 a week for a family of four. You could win a $1,000 grocery card plus a year's supply of Knorr side dishes and the chance to appear in ALL YOU magazine.
Follow these guidelines:
During the contest, groceries that you purchase count toward your weekly total. However, feel free to grow, barter or use stockpiled food to supplement your meals. Creativity and ingenuity count!
If you eat at a restaurant or buy takeout, the cost must go toward the week's total.
Household supplies and toiletries do not count toward each weeks total.
Keep track of your money using the optional Spending Log.
Save receipts--you will be required to submit them if you are a finalist.
Post your strategies on our Grocery Challenge blog, and be sure to tell us your money-saving tips
Click here to sign up
Official Rules
The contest starts July 13 (we'll send you a reminder email), so start planning your strategies now. Good luck!

$100 a week for my family of four and it doesn't include household supplies and toiletries??? Seriously???

I'm wondering if I should do this. July 12 is the sign-up deadline.

If anyone wants to try it (and I totally think y'all should!) - be sure to check your favorite couponing blog to see if they have a sign-up link. I think they are getting some kind of kick-back from All You and it's nice to support those that help us all out so much. If I sign up, I'll do it through Common Sense with Money. I believe I saw a link over at Southern Savers as well (and thank you Lourdes for recommending that site).

hmmm....decisions, decisions.

I haven't abandoned y'all!

We have just had a crazy few days. A quick wrap-up on my $500 challenge:

$3 - Jackson and I went to the movies
$2 - We were driving past a garage sale and I spotted a carboy - Derek was thrilled! It's for beer making and usually costs around $35.
.67 - CVS - I used a $4 ECB to get the lens cleaners I mentioned before, a 3-pack of Ivory soap for my homemade laundry detergent, and a travel pack of baby wipes. I earned another $10 ECB

Grand Totals!
$500 Challenge Totals:
food & eating out (includes HBA): $201.39 ($184.23savings)
- (eating out $53.36)
gas: $110.74
clothing: 24.69
coffee & beer making supplies: $52.05
household necessities (like air filters, etc)
entertainment:
- Derek allowance: $22.46
- Wendy allowance: $18.85
- Kids' allowance: $9.08
crafting supplies: $45.38
gifts: $12.88

Total spent: $497.52
Remaining: $2.48!

So, we did it! It's back to the envelopes for me, though. I did not handle the big lump sum well. I still stuck with my envelope limits, for the most part. I just have to be firmer with myself on letting the amount in a designated envelope be IT. No more switching amounts around.

I'm going to take a little break and decide where I want this blog to head. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

StyleScience moneymaker at CVS

I saw this on common sense with money last night and ran right out to do it.

This week's buy 2 sunglasses get $10 ECB deal is also working when you buy two .99 packets of lens cleaning cloths. I had to search the whole store before I finally found them hanging on an endcap. They're small - like 2 in x 2 in.

Here are the barcode #'s that are working:

Lens Cleaning Tissue: UPC 8 8301900550 7
or UPC: 0 30048 47128 9
Lens Cleaning Tissue pre-moistened 20 tissues UPC 0 30048 47129 6

The link above also has pics if you need them. Good luck!

(I'll update my $500 challenge totals later today - I spent a whopping .67 at CVS.)

$500 challenge - update

Tom Thumb run on Sunday

Lucerne Butter - 1.99 used $1/1 catalina coupon
1 package of hamburger buns - .79 on sale w/ad coupon
3 organic peach yogurts - marked down to .25 ea
1 cantaloupe - .97 on sale

spent $3.50
saved: $8.04

$500 Challenge Totals:
food & eating out (includes HBA): $200.72 ($180.23savings)
- (eating out $53.36)
gas: $110.74
clothing: 24.69
coffee & beer making supplies: $52.05
household necessities (like air filters, etc)
entertainment:
- Derek allowance: $20.46
- Wendy allowance: $18.85
- Kids' allowance: $6.08
crafting supplies: $45.38
gifts: $12.88
Total spent: $491.85
Remaining: $8.15

So, still under the $500 - but now at $252.77 for groceries, eating out, and coffee. A little bit over my usual $250, however I usually don't include eating out in that total. We won't need any groceries before Friday, so that should be it. Movies on Thursday should wrap up the month.

I think I may try upping my budget to $300 a month and have that total include all groceries, eating out, bulk coffee purchases, and Derek's beer-making supplies. If I do that for a couple of months, I think I'll be able to work it down to $275 and hopefully, eventually, back down to $250. What do you think?

getting started - organizing coupons

You know how sometimes you make a bigger deal of something than it really is? Maybe that's just me. Anyway, I've had writer's block lately. I'm just going to stream-of-consciousness this - please let me know if you have any questions or if it doesn't make sense!

Let's start with organizing. The hardest part about couponing, for me, is organizing my coupons. I've used several different methods and I've basically settled on this system:

1. Browse through insert. Clip coupons for products I know we use and for items that I suspect will be moneymakers.

2. File those coupons in my binder (actually a photo album). Here it is. The smaller one is where I keep my ECBs and coupons I'm planning on using at CVS.



3. Write the date of the insert on the front cover and file it in a magazine file. My magazine files have lived several different places. Currently, they reside in a laundry basket, so I can haul it out whenever I need it and hide it, when I don't need it. Don't let this scare you:


Now, that's in a perfect world. The reality is that I usually make my lists by scanning the ad previews on hotcouponworld and the "best of" weekly posts on the blogs over in my sidebar. In that case, I just clip as I need them. As I've mentioned before, I file them in envelopes with my list on the outside. My envelopes are usually tucked inside the front cover of my binder:


That covers inserts, but there are lots of other kinds of coupons - tearpads, booklets, blinkies, home mailers, internet printables, and so on. This is where I still struggle. I'm great at locating them - not so great at organizing them. As a result, I usually have a box like this:


This works for me for now as long as I put anything coupon related into it. At least I know right where to look for missing coupons or I-thought-I-had-a-blah-blah-blah coupons.

It is very easy to drown in a sea of papers when you start couponing. The secret to big savings is to have multiples of the same coupons - that means a. lot. of. paper. Try to find a system that works for you. If it's not working, change it.

I do not clip every single coupon and I honestly don't think you should either. It takes so much time and unless you're planning on regularly going up and down every single aisle of every store you shop - it will be time wasted.

Here's what I try to clip for sure:

• organics
• high dollar coupons for toothpaste, shampoo, make-up, etc. These are the moneymakers.
• products that I'm ok to get conventional - rice, pasta, frozen veggies, cheese, eggs
  
• diapers and wipes

Here's what I usually have waiting in designated envelopes:

• Kroger - home mailers that I know I'll use, catalinas that I think I'll use, Eggland's best eggs - these are usually cheapest at Kroger for me and I know where to find the coupon if I need it at another store
• Tom Thumb - catalinas that I think I'll use, ad coupons that I've clipped
• Target, Walgreens, CVS - I try to clip and add coupons for upcoming sales when I can - it helps me to remember to watch for the sales.

oops - K's up from her nap - that'll have to do for now. questions? comments? is anybody out there?

homemade mustard

Recipe for the homemade mustard over on my other blog. Woo-hoo - two blog posts in one!

$500 challenge - quick update

I am so ready to do a big grocery shop.

recent spending:

Tom Thumb - gallon of organic milk marked down - spent $2.30 (saved $3.70)

Jackson requested "trousers and suspenders" (I kid you not) for his wedding attire. I hit the clearance rack at Macy's for his trousers - reg $32 and I spent $7.55 after tax. Seersucker pants, so cute.

I found suspenders on ebay, he selected a spring green shade - $6.15

I did a little garage sale run yesterday. I found a long sleeve calvin klein button-up for $1.

$500 Challenge Totals:
food & eating out (includes HBA): $197.22 ($172.19 savings)
- (eating out $53.36)
gas: $110.74
clothing: 24.69
coffee & beer making supplies: $52.05
household necessities (like air filters, etc)
entertainment:
- Derek allowance: $20.46
- Wendy allowance: $18.85
- Kids' allowance: $6.08
crafting supplies: $45.38
gifts: $12.88
Total spent: $488.35
Remaining: $11.65

And that's where we are now. Derek and I both have half a tank of gas, so we should be fine there. I'm taking the kids to the movies and the gym this week, so that's $6.

I think we'll be under the $500, but I am going to go a smidge over $250 for our groceries (again, including all eating out and our coffee buy from the beginning of the month). Teri gave us a big container of mustard seeds and Derek immediately started a batch of homemade mustard (recipe in this month's Gourmet). He wants to have hamburgers today with his fancy mustard and apparently homemade bread won't cut it (the mustard, get it???).

So, I'm going to get hamburger buns and probably a little bit of fresh produce - I'll post the totals later, but I'll probably spend about $3.

Walgreens, CVS, and Target all have deals I want to take advantage of this week - come on Friday!!!