This week seemed to last forever...but then again the weeks that my husband has work on the weekends generally do feel more like a month than a week. It's not so much that he's not around to help, it's just that when he's got a long week it becomes rocket science trying to schedule normal daily activities. I'm just exhausted, and our midnight ER trip yesterday really didn't help my energy levels. Somehow, I still manage to score some sweet deals this crazy week.
CVS
Merchandise total: $54.33
ECBs spent: $35.97
OOP spent: $3.36
ECBs returned: $34.98
The major highlight of my CVS trip this week has got to be my $0.09 per diaper deal. Apparently it's reported to be a limit of 2 on that deal, so I'm half tempted to repeat it again with the new $3/$15, but my stockpile is starting to get really full and I would rather spend the day in my PJs.
Walgreens
Merchandise total: $52.33
OOP spent: $23.06
Rebates expected: $15.49
Total OOP after rebates: $7.57
I love double-dip days, especially when there's a $5/$20 coupon. I'll take any coupon that I can get, but I'm not so much a fan of the $10/$40 coupons, so I'm really glad that a $5/$20 came along. Of course, thanks to Walgreens & CVS I now have 36 rolls of toilet paper in my house...they wouldn't fit in my stockpile closet so they've had to be temporarily stored in the baby's room!
Commissary
Merchandise total: $77.54
Coupon savings: $35.30 (45%)
Total OOP: $46.12 - that's $3.88 under our $50/week commissary budget!
This is the most that I've saved at the commissary so far, and most of the items that I bought were stock-pile items too that we do not necessarily need this week. This is such an achievement for us, because six months ago we were spending $150 at the commissary every 2 weeks but seemed to have no food in the house. Now we're spending less than $50 to eat grand healthy meals and have a sizable food stockpile!
Totals for the week
Merchandise total: $184.20
Total OOP: $72.54 ($57.05 after rebates)
Total savings: $111.66 ($127.15 after rebates)
A new thing that I'm starting to do is to dedicate myself to donating 10% of our total savings each week to charity. Whether this is in the form of a monetary donation to deserving families like the Deckers, or in the form of merchandise for the USO, every week I will be giving back 10% of our savings. This might increase in the future once I see how it affects our budget, but for right now my comfort level is 10%. Part of the reason why I coupon and go deal-hunting is so we can do more with our money...and one of the things that I would like to do more of is to give back. I encourage all of you to do the same and give back a percentage of your weekly savings.
We didn't do too shabby for the week, considering it's been a really hard week with my being sick half the time and now the baby being sick. It's getting close to the end of the month, so I'm really looking forward to wrapping up our budget spreadsheet and seeing how we did as a whole. We failed miserable on the fast food budget (again), but we should be doing pretty good everywhere else.
On the flip side though, we did have two HUGE unexpected expenses this month that just can't really fit in the budget...that being the rent mess-up housing considerately threw on us, and the surprise student loan we had to pay off. They're rather huge sums that total around $3000 when combined, so it ends up affecting our savings. I'll have to reorganize our savings spreadsheet and see how we're doing there this month. I'll probably have the monthly budget roundup by the end of next week, and I'll be sure to share how we did...!
CVS
Merchandise total: $54.33
ECBs spent: $35.97
OOP spent: $3.36
ECBs returned: $34.98
The major highlight of my CVS trip this week has got to be my $0.09 per diaper deal. Apparently it's reported to be a limit of 2 on that deal, so I'm half tempted to repeat it again with the new $3/$15, but my stockpile is starting to get really full and I would rather spend the day in my PJs.
Walgreens
Merchandise total: $52.33
OOP spent: $23.06
Rebates expected: $15.49
Total OOP after rebates: $7.57
I love double-dip days, especially when there's a $5/$20 coupon. I'll take any coupon that I can get, but I'm not so much a fan of the $10/$40 coupons, so I'm really glad that a $5/$20 came along. Of course, thanks to Walgreens & CVS I now have 36 rolls of toilet paper in my house...they wouldn't fit in my stockpile closet so they've had to be temporarily stored in the baby's room!
Commissary
Merchandise total: $77.54
Coupon savings: $35.30 (45%)
Total OOP: $46.12 - that's $3.88 under our $50/week commissary budget!
This is the most that I've saved at the commissary so far, and most of the items that I bought were stock-pile items too that we do not necessarily need this week. This is such an achievement for us, because six months ago we were spending $150 at the commissary every 2 weeks but seemed to have no food in the house. Now we're spending less than $50 to eat grand healthy meals and have a sizable food stockpile!
Totals for the week
Merchandise total: $184.20
Total OOP: $72.54 ($57.05 after rebates)
Total savings: $111.66 ($127.15 after rebates)
A new thing that I'm starting to do is to dedicate myself to donating 10% of our total savings each week to charity. Whether this is in the form of a monetary donation to deserving families like the Deckers, or in the form of merchandise for the USO, every week I will be giving back 10% of our savings. This might increase in the future once I see how it affects our budget, but for right now my comfort level is 10%. Part of the reason why I coupon and go deal-hunting is so we can do more with our money...and one of the things that I would like to do more of is to give back. I encourage all of you to do the same and give back a percentage of your weekly savings.
We didn't do too shabby for the week, considering it's been a really hard week with my being sick half the time and now the baby being sick. It's getting close to the end of the month, so I'm really looking forward to wrapping up our budget spreadsheet and seeing how we did as a whole. We failed miserable on the fast food budget (again), but we should be doing pretty good everywhere else.
On the flip side though, we did have two HUGE unexpected expenses this month that just can't really fit in the budget...that being the rent mess-up housing considerately threw on us, and the surprise student loan we had to pay off. They're rather huge sums that total around $3000 when combined, so it ends up affecting our savings. I'll have to reorganize our savings spreadsheet and see how we're doing there this month. I'll probably have the monthly budget roundup by the end of next week, and I'll be sure to share how we did...!
1 comment:
I can so identify to the long weeks when the hubby is gone for the weekend!
Great job!
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