Frugal Friday

I'm not a motor cross fan, but this shirt sums up my super-awesome fun I'm having with couponing. The man half of our BFF couple, upon being regaled with yet another of my couponing success stories, said, "Wait. Is this an addiction?" KakiBlack and I just laughed. Like all good addicts might say, "NO! I can stop anytime I want". But with savings like these, why would I?

Seriously, I do have to check myself often because there are deals and freebies and coupons and special offers all over the place and every time I turn around on the world-wide-tangled-web. They're all great, but they aren't all necessary for the life of our FabFive. If the couponing is helpful at winnowing our spending, GREAT. If the couponing is creating mental clutter and sucking time better spent somewhere else, NOT SO GREAT. Once again, it's an area in which I will have to continually refocus and reset my aim so I don't just go cuckoo with it...or become an addict.

Having said all of that, I am so pleased with the results of this week's shopping excursions. To help frame up the success, here are my goals in the area of shopping:
-Spending no more than $100.00 per week on food, toiletries, paper goods, and cleaning supplies combined

-Not compromising healthy snacks and meals for convenience or expense

-Stockpiling items, BUT only when they are at their lowest cost (like FREE)

-Keeping an organized system for coupon and sales flyer storage

-Maintaining an organized system of coupon sorting for the week's shopping list

-Compiling an orderly and concise shopping list, covering three+ stores, that can be shopped in two hours or less

I'm working through all of these goals, tweaking here and there. I'm still finding my way through the process, my style, my coupon comfort zone.

***Wait. I just realized I'm writing a post about coupon shopping. For my family. Of five. Huh. I'm really not twenty years old anymore. The weirdest things drive that reality home. Anyway...***

So here are this week's totals:
Kroger
18 items purchased
$ 64.36 total retail value
$ 32.56 total spent
$ 31.80 total saved
That's a savings of 49% off of the retail value.

Target
45 items purchased
$156.50 total retail value
$ 70.35 total spent
$101.15 total saved (I got back $10.00 in gift cards and will receive $20.00 in rebates - that was added to the $70.15 that I saved at checkout)
That's a savings of 64% off of the retail value.

Publix
44 items purchased
$105.24 total retail value
$ 32.01 total spent
$ 73.23 total saved (Shut UP. What, then?!)
That's a savings of 70% off of the retail value.

My combined totals are:
107 items
$326.10 total retail value
$134.92 total spent
$206.18 total saved (including $10.00 gift card and $20.00 in rebates)
That's a savings of 63% off of the retail value.

Hip, hip, hooray, I've got to say. Here's just a sample of some of the loot:
14 jars of organic baby food
formula
fresh produce
fresh frozen vegetables
shampoo and conditioner
deodorant
2 Frog Princess DVDs
band-aids
cereal

And here are items that I have stockpiled enough to last AT LEAST through summer:
shampoo and conditioner
deodorant
toothpaste
dental floss
toothbrushes
soap
dish soap
laundry detergent
cereal

I have other smaller stockpiles of other goodies (laundry detergent, granola bars, paper products, cake mixes...). I LOVE it. Three times this week the us-es and our fabulous neighbor kiddos were out playing and I had snacks aplenty for them. Ah, the joy.

Thus concludes this week's installment of Frugal Friday. Oh, happy day!

P.S. I am not a candidate for stockpiling ready-to-bake cookie dough or canisters of cake frosting. My selected mode of storage is my belly. I had my suspicions to this fact. I removed all doubt last week by plowing through the stash. Ouch. Talk about driving it like you stole it...