Friday, April 1, 2011

March and Current YTD totals

Ok, since it is officially April 1, 2011 (Happy Birthday to my beautiful daughter Serena who just turned 7 today!) I thought I would go ahead and put in my March Before and After totals and Percentage saved as well as my Year to Date (YTD) totals. So here goes.

March spending was off a little because I was so sick during the month of March. I didn't plan my trips as well due to how I felt so things were a tad off, but we still saved pretty good despite my being sick and not planning well. Our month of March totals were:
Total Before : $667.99 (before sales/coupons)
Total After   : $343.11 (after sales/coupons
Percentage saved : 48.64%
Not the 50 % and higher savings I aim for but I was close. This month I hope to do better!

Ok YTD totals. These numbers blow my mind because it's hard to imagine food costing this much (Thank GOD for coupons and sales!) but we do feed 4 and since we homeschool we're home all day long except for Eric while he's working. And 2 growing girls can go through quite a bit of food!!!  :)  So here are the YTD totals.
Totals Before : $2,248.60
Totals After   : $1,000.69
Percentage saved : 55.50 %

So for three months we've saved just over 50% on our groceries and cleaning supplies! I'm telling you if you aren't planning shopping trips and clipping coupons then you are just throwing money away! Now our family is on a very tight budget, so the coupons help keep our food budget nice and together as well as keeping our pantry nice and full! Since clipping coupons and planning my grocery trips we haven't had to worry about groceries running out before the next payday. We also are able to afford things I would once have said no way to due to having to pay full price for the items. Like last week I got 8 boxes of Betty Crocker Fruit by the Foot, Gushers, and Fruit Snacks for only like 88 cents each. Full price I wouldn't have been able to do that by no means! So it's nice to be able to get things like this for the kids. They also like the whole coupon thing! We've not paid more than a QUARTER for a 4pk of yogurt in months and yogurt is like a must have for my kids!  That stuff isn't exactly cheap either and at the rate they go through it... lets just say I'm very grateful for my coupons! Anyway, I hope this finds you having a great day and if you aren't already coupon clipping I urge you to start! Email me at dysblog@live.com anytime if you have a question! Thanks!