September Grocery Money Journal

It was a BIG shopping month. I managed to get all my receipts recorded in my notebook, as I went, but not electronically, until now. We are well-stocked, and close to completing my list of "needs" for this winter.

Sept. 1 At Dollar Tree, buy 1 bag of potato chips, 1 box of graham crackers ($2 total, but used "found" money, so doesn't count against budget for month), and 1 box of baking soda -- spent 59 cents out of grocery budget.

Sept. 5 Cash and Carry wholesaler -- checked their online ad that's good for 2 weeks and found a few things I need on sale. Bought 6 gallons of white vinegar ($2.47 ea), 3 five-lb bags of frozen peas ($3.54 ea), 13 oz. container of curry powder ($4.24), 9 oz container ground ginger ($2.88) and 3-lb bag of dried cranberries for holiday and winter baking ($5.87). Spent $38.43.

Sept. 8 Albertson's for canned green beans, 14.5 oz cans for 49 cents ea, w/coupon, limit 12. I buy 12 cans of cut green beans, wax beans and French beans, spending $5.88.

Sept. 8 Dollar Tree, I pick up a box of lasagna noodles and 2 quarts of soy milk. Spent $3

Sept. 12 Cash &Carry wholesaler. This is where I spent a good chunk of grocery money this month. They had some great specials. I bought a case of chunky peanut butter (six 4-lb jars) for $35.88, three 5-lb bags of shredded mozzarella cheese for $11.98 each, one 50lb bag of whole wheat flour for $12.99, and 2 and 1/2 cases (6 #10 cans per case, so total of 15 #10 cans) whole peeled tomatoes for $14.22 per case. They just had 1 bag of whole wheat flour in stock, so I'll come back next week to pick up the other one. Total spent this day, $120.36

Sept. 15 QFC is next to the bank, so whenever I have some banking to do I park between the two buildings and pop into QFC to check for markdowns. I also was needing ground cloves for some baking, and this store has a bulk spices section. On markdown, I found tofu (freezes well -- I used some of the frozen tofu last night in a mushroom gravy over Yorkshire pudding for a simple supper), at 99cents/ lb. I bought 4 cartons. Also found beef hotlinks for $2.69 package (bought 2 packages). These are just a tad fatter than hot dogs. I buy them, freeze 2 to a pack, then when I want pepperoni for a pizza or casserole, I can slice thinly, to use as a pepperoni substitute. It works out to about $3 per pound for pepperoni, (ready sliced pepperoni runs about $5 per pound here).And I found skim milk for $2.49/gallon. They had several gallons there on markdown, but I only bought 3 gallons. I prefer higher fat milk for my kids to drink, but this will work fine in cooking. I also picked up a smidge of ground cloves for baking, at 98 cents. Total spent today, $17.79

Sept. 16 back to Cash & Carry for that second 50-lb bag of whole wheat flour, another 5-lb bag of shredded cheese and while perusing all the aisles, I find #10 cans of Libby's pumpkin for $4.25 each (I buy 4). The pumpkin is the equivalent of a little over 7 of the 15-oz cans of pumpkin each #10 can. So my price per 15-oz is about 60 cents, a great price. I spend a total of $41.97

Sept. 16 My daughters are with me today, and butter is on sale w/coupon ($2/lb) at Fred Meyer (a tip left on my facebook page). There's a limit of 2 lbs, but plenty of coupons at the door. So, my 2 daughters and I each buy our 2-lb limit. They also have whole grain pasta on sale for 79 cents/box (I buy 4 of linguine). Total spent for 6 lbs butter, 4 boxes pasta, $15.16

I'm now up to $243.18 spent for the month, and only half-way through the month.

Sept. 20 Coupon still good at Fred Meyer, and again my daughters are with me as I run errands today. So,armed with our coupons, we buy 6 lbs of butter, plus find  6 gallons of 2% milk for $1.99 each, on markdown. Total spent between the 3 of us, $23.94.

Sept. 26 We're at the fabric store, which also has a $ Tree and Safeway grocery store in the shopping center. I buy 1 bag of marshmallows at $ Tree ($1), and find 1 gallon of whole milk on markdown for $1.74 (I'll use for making yogurt). Total spent $2.74

Sept. 26 Walgreen's has canned olives on sale for 89 cents/can. We pick up 8 cans, spending $7.12

Sept. 26 Cash & Carry -- this week they have onions and carrots on sale, plus still #10 cans of pumpkin. I buy 50-lb bag of onions for $7.98 (I'll store about half of these in the garage fridge. They'll keep through December.) I also buy one 25-lb bag of juicing carrots for $7.98, 2 #10 cans of pumpkin ($4.25 each), and 2-lb bag of yeast for $6.78. Total spent $31.24

Sept. 28 Fred Meyer for eggs (4 dozen for $5, I buy 4 dozen) and find 1 gallon 2% milk on markdown for $1.50. Spent $6.50

Total spending for the month -- $314.72 !!! Wow! That feels like a whole lotta money. However, when I look at my pantry and fridge, we are pretty well stocked.

What did I buy over the month? Lot's of canned tomatoes, canned pumpkin, 15 pounds of frozen peas, canned olives, milk, butter (12 pounds, which will carry us through the holidays and into 2015), fresh carrots, onions, some spices, canned green beans, yeast, whole wheat flour (100 lbs should last 8 months), some eggs (enough for 1 month), 20 lbs of shredded cheese, 6 gallons of vinegar, 3 pounds of dried cranberries, 24 pounds of peanut butter, tofu, pepperoni substitute, and baking soda.

I still have a few items on my list to stock up on, like all-purpose flour, tomato paste and sugar. I'm hoping October won't be nearly as expensive as September.

We had a budget of $160 for groceries for September. I spent all of the $91.55 surplus from previous months, going over budget plus surplus by $63.17. That amount will be taken from October's budget, and hopefully we'll be caught up by November 1. I try not to overspend, but occasionally I have a month with a lot on sale that I want to stock up on. This was one such month!

We spent an average of $73.43 per week, for the month of September.

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